Legacy Evolution Scraphook

Series: Legacy Evolution
Allegiance: Autobot
Categories: Deluxe
Year: 2023

Prelude: Viewers at home, hold on to your seats! You didn’t know it, but now you do, that there are Junkions out there that are not repaints or retools of a figure called Wreck-Gar. One of them is Scraphook, who looks like junk and can both transform and fall to pieces, a two-for-one offer! Make sure to read this exclusive Transformers Universe review, free of charge. And don’t forget, a day without scrapmetal is like a day without sunshine. So let’s say go!

Robot Mode: First, let’s check out whether Scraphook has sufficient Junkion cred despite not being a repaint or retool of Wreck-Gar. He’s mostly red, orange, brown, and beige, so the color scheme works nicely. He has plenty of spikes, long exhaust pipes, and other post-apocalyptic-looking car parts, also a plus. His face features something that could be a beard. Check. So overall, yes, he certainly does look like a Junkion. Maybe not one we’ve seen before in either the 1986 movie or the G1 cartoon, but he’s got the aesthetic down, so I’m good.

Junkion look aside, Scraphook is a Deluxe class figure with great articulation and lots of molded detailing, such as rivets, spikes, and even some minor molded battle damage (right shoulder, for example). His face features a riveted-on eye patch and there are lots of 5mm ports scattered all over his body, both for attaching weapons or parts of other Junkions. The paint also looks pretty good and overall I like this figure’s look very much.

In terms of weapons Scraphook comes with several options. First there is the crane and hook of his vehicle mode, which he can wield as a hand-held weapon. The two engine-block parts on his shins can detach and serve as handguns. The spiked wheel on his arm can be used as a throwing weapon or attach to other places on his body. Finally, the exhaust pipes on his shoulders detach as well and can be used as clubs or combined into a sort of grabbing claw.

So bottom line for the robot mode: great look, nice detailing, good articulation, and no flaws worth mentioning. Two thumbs up.

Alternate Mode: First thing I want to mention here: unlike previous fall-to-pieces robots (Weaponizers, Modulators, Fossilizers), Scraphook can transform from robot to vehicle and back without being taken apart. Sure, the arms are liable to pop off while you do it, but in theory at least there is no need for disassembly here. Scraphook transforms from robot to a somewhat Mad-Max-y tow truck.

The truck itself looks like your typical everyday tow truck that was remodelled for use in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, possibly featuring punked-out motorists with flame thrower guitars and spiked whips. Much like the robot mode, the truck features lots of sculpted detailing and the paint looks pretty good as well. One thing I noticed: while the wheels turn, the hub caps don’t. So if you attach something to the 5mm ports in the hub caps, it stays solid even if you roll the car across the floor. Nice piece of engineering here.

So bottom line for the car mode: solid. Not exactly the most revolutionary of vehicles, but a great execution with lots of attention to detail.

Now much like the Weaponizers, Modulators, and Fossilizers, the Legacy Junkions are not just robots that transform into vehicles, no. They are also designed to fall apart, so that their parts can either be used as weapon upgrades by other figures or you can recombine them in various ways, both in vehicle and robot mode. See pictures 14 through 18 for just a few examples, there are plenty more options.

Not much more I can write here. You either like the Weaponizer gimmick or you don’t.

Remarks: For decades the only Junkions we ever got were Wreck-Gar and various repaints and retools of Wreck-Gar. Sure, they got different names, different heads, maybe even some different parts, but in the end they were all Wreck-Gar. Starting with Legacy Evolution, however, we got a bunch of Junkions who are not and never were Wreck-Gar. Sure, most of them get repainted lots and lots of times, too, but not into a Wreck-Gar. Scrapheap has four retools under his belt so far and none of them is a Wreck-Gar.

Bottom line for this figure here: Scraphook works well as both a “normal” Transformer as well as a Weaponizer. If you don’t like the Weaponizer gimmick, you can simply leave it aside and not be bothered by it, just transform him from robot to truck and back. And if you’re into weird and insane combinations, Scraphook offers plenty of options, too. So while the character of Scraphook has pretty much zero media presence so far, the toy of Scraphook offers tons of play value. So unless you really don’t like the Junkion / Mad Max aesthetic, I don’t really see a reason not to buy this toy.

Rating: B+