Decepticon reviews might become a little dry soon. I'm currently working on a project that will review a lot of them in a marathon of content. I've got one more planned before that point, maybe two depending on how long it takes to obtain it, all keeping to the theme of the Heralds of Unicron (Unicron review not included because I don't own one). So let's start things off with a review of the first herald to arrive on shelves recently: Scourge, the tracker.
Starting in the alternate mode and... I wasn't kidding about this being a space boat. Many of the designs made for the 1986 movie leaned very hard into the futuristic aesthetic, tossing away grounded earth vehicles for stuff that looked sci-fi enough to still be cool, but lent themselves to stupid community names. No one knows what Rodimus Prime's alternate mode is supposed to be, and everyone calls it a Space Winnebago as a result. Does Scourge's alternate mode resemble anything? No. Does it look like it could genuinely fly? No. On its own, it's nothing spectacular, but when considering ship designs like the Ark and other Autobot shuttles, it's got a decent "Transformers ish" design to the alt mode. This design isn't something that fits into the "robots in disguise" mentality, and it's very much a "fast travel" mode for Scourge. For the actual toy, though, the design is alright, though there is some undercarriage due to a bit of robot mode junk. However, I don't find it distracting, compared to something like the Combiner Wars Silverbolt mould, due to it being so far removed from anything that resembles a traditional airship. It's only an issue at the very front of the boat, thanks to a gap for the sake of robot mode. Everything else blends in well enough to at least look cohesive from a distance. While it is amusing that you can recreate the "head poking out of the alt mode" scene from the cartoon, this is without a doubt Scourge's worst mode.
Another significant fault of Scourge is the transformation. He is a shell former: a transformer whose alternate mode is a shell around the robot mode, with very few (if any) parts being used between modes. Almost all of Scourge's alternate mode ends up on his back, but in this particular case, that's not a bad thing. Unlike other transformers (such as the aforementioned Combiner Wars Silverbolt mould), the alternate mode parts that would otherwise be junk hanging off his back gives Scourge a strong presence on a shelf. It makes him look a lot more intimidating, and with the parts moulded in a way to make it look as close as possible to the design in the movie, it makes him look a lot more alive in the process. The shell former nature works to the figure's advantage in this case. If you remember, I put Scourge as one of the best figures I bought last year, and that's purely because of the robot mode, the presence he has thanks to the sculpting, how effortless he is to pose in intimidating positions. If it weren't for the rumours of there being a dedicated Sweep release of this mould, I would have bought even more of him to have a complete set of Sweeps in this mould (but the thought of buying at least two more of Scourge is still there). While there are some joints I wish he had, like double joints for the elbows and knees, the minor flaws I have with the robot mode can't bring down how good of a robot mode it is to me. I also love the fact that he comes with a blast effect for his rifle. I hope that trend continues in 2022 because the effect parts are great ways to add more playability and display presence to figures. It's also something I hope carries on into other Hasbro toylines, but that's a story for another day and a story that will require some... external support.
The alternate mode isn't great as a toy (though it looks great as a representation of Scourge's alternate mode). The transformation is laughable for a $50 toy. But the robot mode steals the show. I love the sculpting on the robot mode, and I love the proportions of the robot. I love that they painted his pink nails and beard (neither of which I was expecting). He's just a great representation of the character for the price. Perfect? No. Unlike figures like Hot Rod, he's not up to the same quality standard in terms of an overall package. If you're looking for a "mini-masterpiece" version of Scourge, this is not it. He doesn't do everything right, but the one thing he does right, he does so almost flawlessly. I've got another Lego set coming up this Wednesday, and next Sunday will be another 6-inch G.I Joe figure in the form of Roadblock.
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