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Xevoz
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Xevoz (pronounced: ZEE-vohs) are a line of action figures made by Hasbro. They were developed using a joint design and construction style licensed from the STIKFAS action figure line. The toys are noted for having posable, interchangeable body parts, and for being of generally high quality and aesthetic appeal. Xevoz enthusiasts particularly enjoy the high degree of customization options to which the toys lend themselves. Four waves of figures were released in the United States. The line still has a large amount of supporters and the cult status of the line has even prompted a band from Nashville, TN, to create a theme song for it.

Sizes

The line was made available in five "price points": Basic, Deluxe, Two-Pack, Vehicle, and Transporter. Additionally, a sixth type of figure, the "Special Value" series, was created exclusively for Toys "R" Us.

Basic: A single figure with accessories. Basic sets normally retailed for $5–8.

Deluxe: A single figure, similar to Basics, but with more accessories and at least one "action feature" (e.g., firing missiles, spring-loaded abilities). Deluxe Figures retailed for $9–$12.

The two special value figures came in the same packaging as Deluxe figures and sold at the same price point. The Special Value sets were created by combining a recolored Basic toy (either Alpha Ranger or Skull Jack) with a handful of recolored Deluxe accessories (from Sledge Trooper or Inferno Fury, respectively). The Special Value sets did not include action feature accessories, although Grim Skull included a recolored version of Inferno Fury's missile, without the launcher.

Two-Packs included two distinct figures, each with their own separate accessories. The Two-Packs also included a map-board for use with the Xevoz game pieces. The two-packs retailed for $14–$18.

The single Vehicle set included two distinct figures, one standard-sized (Street Punk) and one larger figure(Transcorcher) that could be reassembled into several vehicles. The set retailed for $18–20.

A single Transporter case was released, which contained compartments on the side to store pieces. When opened, it provided a platform to have figures battle one another. The Transporter case included one figure and sold for $30–$35. It came with the Iron Spectre figure.

Prices for the line fluctuated wildly from retailer to retailer. Basics were selling for $5 at Wal-Mart and $7 at KB Toys. The entirety of Wave One and parts of Wave Two could eventually be obtained for half the initial retail price or less as retailers looked to move the remaining stock.

Differences/Alterations/speculations

There have been multiple differences between the Xevoz production art and the figures themselves. First, Alpha ranger comes with what appears to be a sumo wrestler's head. This could mean that Alpha Ranger was originally to be in Shadow Blade's place. This is further supported by the pamphlet included in the figure's of Wave 1's case, where it shows an Alpha Ranger with the Sumo head, no armor, and a lone bayonet.

Moon stalker's pictures from the Assembly instructions shows the open mouth with orange teeth. However, the products' jaws have yellow teeth.

On Bone Cutter's instruction sheet, the bio in which they live is called "Northern Madragar Waste" instead of "The Queen Hive" as on Dune Stinger's bio.

On Bone Cutter's instruction sheet, the dragonfly axe had two female sockets. However, the toy had no female sockets.

On the Preda Crawler's instruction sheet, Preda Crawler's opening jaw is slightly different from the toy's and the drain attack sawblade is silver with green laserblades instead of being all green.

For the Hyperfuries bio, it states that they were "enslaved by human sorcerers". This implies that the Arcasters(human sorcerers) enslaved them. However, the Runeslayer Bio states that they are "Strongly allied with the Hyperfuries tribe". Unless a conflict similar to the civil war took place, the Arcasters would still hold control over most Hyperfuries and they would not be strongly allied with them (due to their enslavement).

FireDrake's and Runeslayer's bios say that they live in the Janu Mountains. The Janu Mountains were first stated in the ShadowBlade bio.

On Inferno Fury's and Shock Berserker's bio, there is a fiery mountain. However, on Cyro Katana's bio, a Snow-covered mountain is shown.

For the Cyro Katana/Preda Crawler 2 pack, the dual-sided mat shows a part of Cyro Katana's Snow covered mountain. However, electricity is shown underneath the center platform. This could mean that each Hyperfury had its own mountain.

On Razorclaw's bio, the name Razorclaw has a registered trademark sign instead of a trademark sign as with the other bios.

On Moon Stalker's Champion Sticker sheet of the bio, Xevoz is misspelled "Xevos".

On Preda Crawler's instruction sheet, a part with two female sockets on either end is not shown.

Gag Pieces

A special "gag" piece was included in most of the Xevoz kits. These pieces were usually irrelevant to the kit itself but were humorous nonetheless.

Wave 1 Gag Pieces

  • Bone Cutter: Lightbulb head
  • Razorclaw: boxing gloves
  • Alpha Ranger: Head with bowtie
  • Shadow Blade: SCUBA Diving parts
  • Sledge Trooper: Disfigured human hand

Wave 2 Gag Pieces

  • Dune Stinger: Parasite, Sombrero head
  • Hemo Goblin: Small bat-wings, Nosferatu head
  • Transcorcher: Brain in a jar
  • Shock Berserker: Magnet hand
  • Sky Grinder: Jester head, Tobacco pipe

Wave 3 Gag Pieces

  • Storm Wing: Chicken head
  • Shield Breaker: Hockey Stick
  • Quick Slinger: "Kick Me" sign
  • Crypt Curse: Chicken stick
  • Preda Crawler: Teddy Bear head
  • Cryro Katana: Snowman head

Wave 4 Gag Pieces

  • Thunder Shaman: Monkey head with Fez hat, Banana peel
  • Hyper Guardian: Dumbbell
  • Franken' Punker: Guitar
  • Fire Drake: Anvil, Chinese dragon head

History

Xevoz began shipping in January 2004, with early sightings of Wave 1 limited to Toys 'R' Us stores. Within months, however, the toys could be found at most major retailers. The first three waves of the line were all displayed at the New York Toy Fair in February 2004.

Wave 2 arrived in late Spring of 2004, adding a few new kits and a few new retail partners, including Wal-Mart and Target outlets.

Wave 3 came in late Summer and was unevenly distributed. The figures were found primarily in Target and at online retailers, although some Wal-Marts did receive cases, and when they did arrive, the new figures tended to sell out quickly. Single-packed figures like Tomb Wraith and Storm Wing rapidly climbed in value as a result.

The line ended with Wave 4, which was displayed at the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2004. The final assortment, Wave 4 was never released to brick-and-mortar retailers, although a few shops that also had online services did receive the Thunder Shaman set. Months after the line was thought to have been written off by Hasbro, Wave 4 figures began appearing in Asian stores. Finally, in the summer of 2005, Hasbro sold the remaining Wave 4 figures to various Internet retailers, including their own HasbroToyShop.com site, causing a run on the long-awaited series. HasbroToyShop.com's initial offering of the Wave 4 basics sold out within ten hours of their listing on the site. More recently, Wave 4 basics have been turning up at Big Lots and Tuesday Morning stores in the United States, with at least one person reporting finding the Wave 4 two-pack at a Tuesday Morning.

Videos and games

There have been two videos of Xevoz battling each other. The videos are incomplete, as they say "Part 1" on both videos. The videos use stop-motion technology. The two videos consist of: 1. Inferno Fury versus Razorclaw: A pack of Razorclaws fight an Inferno Fury. At the end of the video, it is shown that there are two more Inferno Furies. 2. Gothic Duel: This video consists of the Moon Stalker and Hemo Goblin two pack. A Moon Stalker hunts down a Hemo Goblin. Towards the end of Part 1, about five Skull Jacks are summoned by Hemo Goblin, with Moon stalker cornered. The only internet game released is entitled "Xevoz Showdown". In this game you can play as Razorclaw and Inferno Fury. In this game, you fight several creatures in the Madragar Waste, Razorclaw's homeworld, and the Hoarfrost Mountains, Inferno Fury's homeworld. There are two teleporters that warp you to either Tombstone Island(Razorclaw) or the Queen Hive (Inferno Fury). At the end of the game, The player must fight either Hemo Goblin (Razorclaw) or Dune Stinger (Inferno Fury). Throuought the game, the Player can obtain various weapons. Razorclaw starts with The Rune Slash (axe) and gets Alpha Ranger's Pulse Cannon in the Madragar Waste. In the Queen Hive, he gets Shock Berserker's Magnetelectro (Magnet) and Sledge Trooper's Multi-Blast(Rocket Launcher). Inferno Fury starts out with Skull Jack's Blood Blade (giant sword), and gets Shock Berserker's Arc-wielder(Sword) in the Hoarfrost Mountains. Inferno Fury gets Alpha Ranger's Pulse Cannon and Sledge Trooper's Electro-Shock (Claw) in the Queen Hive. In the Madragar Waste, Razorclaw fights a original draft of thunder shaman.

Future

Despite the unexpected sales of the figures on Hasbro's online store, it is unlikely that Hasbro has plans on continuing the line in any capacity. The future of this line is said to be non-existent as the Hasbro Xevoz team has been disbanded. Nevertheless, a small, vocal online fan base continues to support the line.

Figures

Species

The figures in the Xevoz line are divided into 8 species.

  • Neo Sapiens: Science-fiction-themed, near-future humans.
  • Meta-Beast: Anthropomorphic animals.
  • Sectoid: Giant insects and bugs, frequently larger than humans.
  • Hyperfuries: Elemental creatures.
  • Biomecha Almost completely mechanical cyborgs.
  • Unnatural Undead creatures.
  • Reptosaur Reptilian/draconic creatures.
  • Arcaster Originally named Runics. Fantasy-themed, magic-using humans.

Note: Reptosaurs and Arcasters were added in Wave 4.

Wave 1

Basics
Deluxes
Two-pack
Special Value" Packs

Wave 2

Basics
Deluxes
Two-Packs
Vehicle

Wave 3

Basics
  • Shield Breaker (Neo Sapien): S.W.A.T. Officer
  • Quick Slinger (Neo Sapien): Cowboy
  • Storm Wing (Meta-Beast): Eagle
  • Tomb Wraith (Unnatural): Winged Skeleton §
Deluxes
Two-Packs
  • Cryo Katana (Hyperfury): Ice Elemental
  • Preda Crawler (Biomecha): Four-Legged Cyborg

Transporter:

  • Iron Spectre (Unnatural): Armored Spectre

Wave 4

Basics
  • Infil-Traitor (Biomecha): Robotic Spy
  • Hyper Guardian (Neo Sapien): Superhero
  • Franken' Punker (Unnatural): Frankenstein's Monster
Deluxe
  • Thunder Shaman (Meta-Beast): Gorilla
Two-Pack
  • Runeslayer (Arcaster): Sorcerer
  • Firedrake (Reptosaur): Dragon

Unreleased Figures

Before the Xevoz line was canceled, 2 more waves of figures were scheduled to be produced. The production name for wave 5/6 onward was going to be Xevoz: Evostones of Power and include special weapons. Production art of some of these figures (Glacier Scout, Machete Mech, Mech Shell, and Rocka Huna) is known to exist, and the molds for the Wave 5 figures are rumored to exist, making their release a possibility in the future should Hasbro decide to re-launch Xevoz. A painted prototype of Mech Shell exists in the Stikfas Headquarters in Singapore, along with a display of other Xevoz. There have been pictures from the Xevolution forum board of Warlock, Mech Shell, and Scarabushi, meaning that wave 5's prototypes exist (and implies that Hasbro's cancellation of the line was last minute). There were rumors that there had been Mech Shell and Warlock molds in existence, which could mean that they were the basics of Wave 5. Due to how many figures there are, wave 4 may have been cut off.

The only information regarding these figures is provided below.

  • Ataknid (Sectoid): Spider
  • Dark Sentinel (Neo Sapien): ?
  • Glacier Scout (Meta-Beast): Lynx
  • Gore Goyle (Unnatural): Gargoyle
  • Helios Archer (Hyperfury): Air/Light Elemental?
  • Machete Mech (Biomecha): Cyborg
  • Mech-Shell (Reptosaur): Turtle
  • Rockahuna (Hyperfury): Rock/Lava Elemental

Rockahuna includes parts from Terra crawler,the only ones on the production art shown are Terra crawlers's Legs and left forearm.

  • Scarabushi (Sectoid): Scarab Beetle
  • Street Pursuit (Neo Sapien): ?
  • Ursa Major (Meta-Beast): Bear
  • Warlock (Arcaster): ?
  • Sledge Trooper 2.0 (Biomecha): Upgraded Sledge Trooper
  • NetGiest (Neo Sapien): Computer Hacker

NetGiest included parts from Ataknid, the ones on the production art are shown are Ataknid's arm.

  • Earth Mover (Biomecha): Bulldozer robot
  • Terra crawler(Biomecha): all terrain capture robot

(Note: Technically, parts of Sledge Trooper 2.0 was sold with the Omega Guard Value Pack, but never released as a whole figure)

§ denotes figures partially composed of recolored parts.

§§ denotes figures entirely composed of recolored parts.

This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).

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