Mastermind Creations - EUPATORIUM!

Reformatted R-09 - Eupatorium (Warrior) - Mastermind Creations 2015

Finally we get to the figure that triggered my avalanche of 3rd Party Transformers figures this week.  Elita One is the basis all modern female Transformers.  Sure, through new backstory, we learn that Solus Prime is probably the originator of all the fembots, but way back in in 1985, a full year before we met Arcee, Elita One burst onto the scene in a blaze of pink.  The season 2 episode "The Search for Alpha Trion" blew my mind as a child.  I had never even contemplated female Transformers.  Then comes this mysterious episode loaded with females.  In the opening scene we meet Chromia, Firestar, and Moonracer on a clandestine mission to steal Energon cubes.  Eventually we meet their wise leader, Elita One and the backstory starts flowing.  The absence of females prior to this episode is briefly explained by the simple phrase "I thought they were all extinct."  We learn that Elita One was Optimus Prime's girlfriend back in the early days of Cyberton.  She and her tribe have stayed with me for years.

I specifically remember a really scandalous scene where Optimus Prime opens these panels in both Elita's and his own abdomen, then he pulls a cable out of himself and inserts it into Elita.  A lightshow ensues.  The rest of the ladies in the episode were great, too, but Elita One got all the attention (and then even got a follow-up episode highlighting a previous incarnation of Optimus and Elita as Orion Pax and Ariel).  I never thought I would get an action figure of this character.  She's too random and obscure (although she does get a lot of homages - like one of the motorcycles in Dark of the Moon and some BotCon exclusives named after her).  When I saw that Mastermind Creations was producing this Eupatorium figure, there was no doubt in my mind I would be buying it.
Let's check her out below!

Like with the previous two reviews, I got very paranoid and frustrated while trying to transform this figure into her vehicle form.  (My skills are really lacking in this department).  I gave up eventually.  Check out the images on the back of the box if you're curious.

The head on my Eupatorium always wants to slant to the side.  I think the ball of my ball-joint is mishapen or something because the head will be perfectly aligned one second and them slip into a cocked angle the next.

Once again, this figure shares the body of R-08 Azalea.  However, in keeping with the character of Elita One, I chose to remove the Arcee-wings from her back for most of these pictures.  I think it makes her look much more like Elita and less like a redeco'd Arcee.

Eupatorium comes with two hand blasters, an archery bow, and a flight stand for her vehicle form.

Here are some images of Elita One from The Search for Alpha Trion.

And a flashback image from War Dawn of a young Optimus Prime and Elita One as Orion Pax and Ariel.

And finally an images of the unfortunately cancelled fembot storyline from the Dreamwave Comics series.  

I would have been all over this.

Back with the wings just for kicks.

Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!

Here she is with the other two Mastermind Creations fembots in my collection, Salvia Prominon and Azalea.

And with the recent Chromia and Arcee Generations figure from Hasbro.

And with the only other Elita One item I own, the 2008 BigBadToyStore Exclusive bust from DST.

Cheers!