XEVOZ is a combination modular action-figure slash tabletop game created by Hasbro.
Originally designed as an amped-up take on the well-known Stikfas modular action-figure line, Xevoz utilises the ball-socket-jointing system that made Stikfas popular, this time using larger, sturdier and more unique parts to create distinctive characters (while in effect eschewing the generic elements that Stikfas was famous for.) This results in the notable blending of both the Standard Fantasy and Sci-Fi Settings by placing all these characters under six different races:
- NEO-SAPIENS. Humans by Any Other Name. No, not those other Neo Sapiens...
- META-BEASTS. The Beast Men.
- UNNATURALS. The Undead.
- BIOMECHA. Mechanical Lifeforms retaining their Neo-Sapien brains.
- HYPERFURIES. Energy Beings.
- SECTOIDS. Big Creepy-Crawlies.
Towards the discontinuation of the toyline, a new two-pack introduced two new races to the mix:
- ARCASTERS. Physical Gods.
- REPTOSAURS. Lizard Folk.
Just like tabletop games, individual characters are never defined, only by race and class. The game involves a unique hexagonal die with interchangeable faces, each assigned to a weapon or feature of its own figure. Dice are rolled, damage is taken, and reflected by removing the right number of body parts until one side has been literally reduced to nothing. For added flavor, some figures include "gag parts" that deliberately fly in the face of the whole action-fantasy theme.
Despite (or possibly due to) the uniqueness of the action figure-tabletop game concept, declining sales of XEVOZ toys led to Hasbro discontinuing this line, and letting go the development team — but it lives on within its strong fandom, and even newer Hasbro productions like G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 and Transformers: Animated utilise some design elements of this unique toyline.
XEVOZ provides examples of the following tropes:
- All There in the Manual: Before the tie-in comic was released (just 8 pages or so), the card backs and documentation (and maybe the game rules) was all it had.
- Animated Armor: Iron Spectre of the Unnaturals.
- Badass Longcoat: Quick Slinger and his duster. Infil-Traitor and his cloak.
- Bee People: The mention of a Queen Hive on the card backs implies this with the Sectoids.
- Body Horror: It's probably not an issue for the Biomecha (
and possibly the Unnaturals), but as part of the game, all the races are able to exchange limbs and other body parts WITH EACH OTHER. - Brain in a Jar: the Biomecha.
- Bug War: Heavily implied with the Neo-Sapiens and Sectoids. What with one race dressed like Starship Troopers and all.
- Calling Your Attacks: Literally. Each side of the die has TWO numbers rather than one, and they're shaded in black and white, so you're expected to call out "black attack" or "white attack" before you roll. Narmtastic, but it does Nerf the Game Breaking potential.
- Character Customization: Utilising the modular figure system, one could assemble his champion with parts from his entire collection. The only limitation is that both players must have equal numbers of parts (and all parts had to be attached of course). And there's no restriction to how you can arrange your parts either — feel free to own the tabletop with your personal Mix-and-Match Critter or Eldritch Abomination, that seems to be the intention.
- Combining Mecha: The Biomecha, by way of Character Customization.
- Cool Bike: Transcorcher's primary selling point was his giant ATV alternate form, his spring-loaded arms functioning as offroad suspension.
- Cyber Cyclops: The Sledge Troopers and Transcorchers of the Biomecha. Alpha Ranger's helmeted head invokes this.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Implied with the Biomecha.
- Elemental Punch: All the Hyperfuries, Hyper Guardian of the Neo-Sapiens, Runeslayer of the Arcasters.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Parodied in the Unnaturals' racial info:DISLIKES: Fuzzy Happy Bunnies.
- Fantastic Racism: The Neo-Sapien society believes that the other races are either rumors, terrorists, or an infestation.
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: The Hyperfuries.
- Frankenstein's Monster: Franken Punker of the Unnaturals.
- Fur Against Fang: The Moon Stalker/Hemo Goblin 2-pack.
- Game System
- The Gunslinger: Quick Slinger of the Neo-Sapiens.
- Humanity Is Superior: Neo-Sapiens are established as the dominant race from the get-go.
- An Ice Person: Cryo Katana.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Runeslayer.
- Law of Alien Names: Subverted. "Xevoz" is the only alien word used for some reason.
- Mad Scientist: The creation of Meta-Beasts is attributed to one Dr. Benjamin Hitmar.
- Magnet Hands: Literally. Shock Berserker's gag part. Seriously though, the modular system relies on everyone's weapons being able to fit in everyone's hands. Thunder Shaman, a gorilla with opposable big toes, can hold weapons with his feet.
- Meaningful Name
- Mega Manning: The comic explanation for Xevoz using each other's body parts, significantly less Squicky.
- Mega Neko: Razor Claw of the Meta-Beasts is a humanoid panther.
- Mobile-Suit Human: Hinted at with the Biomecha Infil-Traitor, who has an optional micro-Sledge Trooper that fits in his chest.
- Monster Mash: Moon Stalker looks like a werewolf. Hemo Goblin looks like a vampire. And then there's Franken Punker mentioned above, and...
- Mummy: Crypt Curse of the Unnaturals.
- Ninja: Shadow Blade of the Neo Sapiens. Cryo Katana of the Hyperfuries, Infil-Traitor of the Biomecha.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot:
- Skull Jack is a double flintlock-wielding skeleton pirate with a scope-eye instead of an eyepatch, and battle standards on his back, which combined with his BFS would make him a Samurai Pirate Zombie Cyborg.
- Franken Punker is a Reanimated Corpse Rock Star. Counting the Franken Punker as a zombie, it's possible to make a literal ninja pirate zombie robot.
- Obvious Rule Patch: Introduced halfway down the line, the Drain Attack allows you to add a part to your opponent's figure, with the effect of removing one part of the opponent with each turn. The only solution: roll for a recovery point and use it up to remove the Drain Attack instead of restoring a body part.
- One-Gender Race: The reason why the fandom is already sick and tired of fanart for female Xevoz. Could be averted though; It's possible that all races except the Hyperfuries have genders (and with the Biomecha and Unnaturals, they might have been female at some point....)
- Our Dragons Are Different: Actually, apart from being man-high and more humanoid, Firedrake of the Reptosaurs is pretty standard dragon.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: actually Moon Stalker of the Meta-Beasts probably doesn't count, since he can't turn human and exhibits civilised enough behavior as a wolf, but the connection is implied very strongly as he's banded in a two-pack with...
- Our Vampires Are Different: Hemo Goblin of the Unnaturals. With bat wings and optional Nosferatu head to drive it home.
- Palette Swap: the Alpha Ranger is recolored into the Omega Guard. Skull Jack is recolored into Tomb Wraith and Grim Skull.
- Playing with Fire: Inferno Fury.
- The Power of Rock: Franken Punker.
- Praetorian Guard: The Neo-Sapien Shield Breakers and Omega Guard.
- Punk Punk:
- The Neo-Sapien Street Punks parody this, living on the borders of civilization and building vehicles and weapons from Biomecha scrap.
- Quick Slinger of the Neo-Sapiens invokes Western Punk.
- Punny Name
- Psycho Electro: Shock Berserker.
- Red Boxing Gloves: Razor Claw's gag parts.
- Religious Bruiser: Thunder Shaman.
- Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: sometimes rolling the die can bring up the Bomb Attack, which deals damage to both players.
- Rule of Cool
- Rule of Funny: Why else would the Thunder Shaman have an optional chimp-in-a-fez head? Or the Preda Crawler with its teddy bear head? Or a big horking sombrero with the Dune Stinger?
- Shout-Out:
- Alpha Ranger and Omega Guard, the ones most resembling the Stikfas figures that Xevoz were based on, were named after the basic Alpha Male and Omega Male Stikfas.
- Of special note is that the Omega Guard colors seem to be based on Bruce Lee's Game Of Death jumpsuit.
- From the Street Punk's card back: "Never mind the beeswax, we've got Hex Pistols."
- Sky Surfing: Sky Grinder of the Neo-Sapiens.
- Space Marine: Alpha Rangers.
- Spider Tank: Preda Crawler of the Biomecha.
- Standard Fantasy Setting: WITH SCIFI!
- Sticks to the Back: Lampshaded. All the weapons have pegs that fit on the figures' backs or thighs or upper arms or the soles of their feet...
- Superhero: Hyper Guardian.
- Totally Radical: Invoked with the Sky Grinder's documentation.
- Transforming Mecha: The Transcorchers can be rebuilt as vehicles.
- Weapon-Based Characterization:
- Axes: Razor Claw, Sledge Trooper and Iron Spectre all carry axes. Franken Punker has two: an axe (instrument of murder), and an axe (the other kind of instrument).
- Arm Cannon: Sledge Troopers, Preda Crawlers.
- BFG: the Alpha Rangers.
- BFS: Skull Jack, Razor Claw, Cryo Katana.
- Bigger Stick: Shock Berserker
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Bone Cutter and Dune Stinger, a mantis and a scorpion, rely on their giant claws in combat (though they do come with weapons).
- Chainsaw Good: Sledge Troopers, Preda Crawlers, Street Punks.
- Energy Weapon: All the Hyperfuries. Hyper Guardian, Runeslayer.
- Epic Flail: Moon Stalker of the Meta-Beasts. Shadow Blade and Sky Grinder use nunchuks.
- Flaming Sword: Inferno Fury. Shock Berserker uses an electrified variant.
- Improvised Weapon: Franken Punker's bent iron beam. The gag parts. Street Punk can wield Transcorcher parts (they come in a 2-in-1 boxset).
- Katanas Are Just Better: Shadow Blade, Infil-Traitor and the aptly-named Cryo Katana.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Iron Spectre has an impressively large tower shield.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: Quick Slinger has four, two of which are larger than his torso.
- Wolverine Claws: Nearly all the figures carry the same iron-knuckle weapon. Razor Claw has claws on his hands and a clawed fist weapon at the same time. Shadow Blade also has a unique knuckle weapon. Crypt Curse has twin fist-blades.
- Infil-Traitor has bladed fingers by default.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The Biomecha are considered as their own race despite being Neo-Sapiens with mechanical parts replacing their bodies. Preda Crawler doesn't even hide this, as his Neo-Sapien torso and head are clearly visible.
- Winged Humanoid:
- Storm Wing of the Meta-Beasts, which has wings, legs and arms. And an optional chicken head.
- Hemo Goblin even has a second set of decorative "formal evening" wings.
- Tomb Wraith had wings added during the recoloring process.
- Zerg Rush: Implied with the Sectoids. There's only two kinds available, but the card back stating "warning: might swarm when attack" seems to indicate large numbers of each in existence.
