TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:
Alternate Mode:
Box Art:
Technical Specifications:
STR
INT
SPD
END
RNK
CRG
FPR
SKL

The Reverend's review: Overkill

Name: Overkill
Generation: One
Faction: Decepticon
Function: Warrior
First Cartoon Appearance: "Call of the Primitives"

"Too much destruction is never enough."
Whether talking, terrifying, or attacking, he does everything to excess. So busy proving how tough he is by snapping cars in half between his jaws, that he forgets his mission. Can record data as a cassette, rip open the hull of a battleship as a tyrannosaurus. Armed with 2 batteries of motion missiles -- each reacts to any moving object bigger than a baseball and explodes on contact.

A T-rex! A T-rex! Finally the Decepticons get one! After years of being kicked around by Grimlock, the Decepticons... miniaturize the concept, so their own Tyrannosaurus can, umm, bite ankles. Is it overconfidence or oversight? Hard to say.

Alternate Mode:
Overkill's cassette mode needs no real description, aside from confirming that it's a cassette. It doesn't really pass for one that well, being that his head makes up an entire corner and is overly visible. Thought that problem was solved with Steeljaw and Ramhorn, did ya? He does feature slightly molded cassette-reel teeth, and possesses the requisite cassette-detail sticker, although his is smaller and rather less detailed than some of his cassette comrades.

Robot(?) Mode:
Flip out the requisite parts (this really needs no description), but there's a surprise here. Overkill's hips separate from his cassette body ever so slightly, enabling him to stand up much easier. They learned from Ravage!!! Anyway, Overkill's a tiny tyrannosaur, with the addition of a horn on his nose. He retains the tiny, useless forearms of the breed, but carries two compact shoulder-mounted missile racks. His jaw opens and closes and you can move his head up and down a little bit. His tail assists in standing him, but his big hips and splayed feet... well, they make him look like a carnivorous kangaroo. I kid you not. Hopabout wallaby! Apparently he's not very good at his job, because he's nearly as flat as paper - guess the carnivorous kangaroo couldn't catch much after all? Jokes aside, Overkill's still tall for a cassette. Mainly white, with blue jaw, tail, and limbs, he's colorful without being too garish, and he does have little golden eyes. Posability is limited because of what he is and the priority paid to making him stable enough to stand, but there's some play value outside of having him stand around with his weapons, mainly due to his moving jaw. It's probably flapping all the time anyway, given that the Tech Specs indicate he spends a lot of time yapping and biting things.


Transformation: 2 - The hip joints are a surprise and I wager some people own Overkill and never even realized his legs spread a little. Other than that...
Durability: 7 - The joints may weaken, but not that easily, and there's no real projections or weak points I can spot.
Fun: 7 - Nice addition to the ranks, and just tall enough to terrorize Aerialbots and Protectobots! The attention paid to making sure he could stand on his own helps.
Price: Underhyped character means lower price.
Summary: A minor character, but stands out in display. My cats do like to knock him over.