Scourge

Height: 11cm long, 19.5cm wide in Vehicle Mode. 14cm to top of head in Robot Mode.

Articulation: 20 total points - ball joint neck; 5 points each arm: Double joint shoulder, pre-elbow swivel, hinge elbow, swivel wrist, hinged fingers; Swivel waist; 4 points each leg: Ball joint hip, thigh swivel, hinge knee, ball joint ankle.

Colors: Molded blue, white, gray, dark blue, purple, and transparent blue. Painted blue, silver, white, gunmetal, copper, black, and red.

Accessories: Guns x2.

Release Data: Released in early 2011 at an MSRP of $11.99.

Author: RAC

(more...)

Little is known about the origin of the immensely powerful hunter known as Scourge. He rarely speaks, and never reveals his secrets. Few who encounter him survive to tell the tale. More often, he descends on his target from the sky, lays waste to all who oppose him, and disappears back into the darkness of space.

And hangs out with a bunch of guys who look exactly like him. Narcissist.

So now we're down to the last of the three Movie Decepticons, having gotten a great Cyclonus in 2008's Universe line. Oh yeah, and a Galvatron. But the less said about him- outside of we need a new one already -the better. So, which of these two extremes does Scourge fall closer to?

Vehicle Mode

Let's start with what Scourge is not: he is not a Space Hovercraft, or Space Boat, or Flying Flatiron of DOOM. He's a blended wing body aircraft -the latest incarnation of the flying wing concept -based on the Boeing X-48. And the more I look at the design the more I like it. Even more than the final toy, looking at the photo on the Wikipedia page makes it pretty clear why they chose it for Scourge, with the three cylindrical things sticking up in the back. The toy's wingspan's pretty impressive at 19.5 centimeters. It's a good, solid Batarang size. Though it doesn't have the same configuration as G1 Scourge or the X-48, there are still three cylinders, two of which are larger and more integrated into the plane's body. The wings are less curved on the back end than the X-48, which is a pity because the more curved wings might've looked a bit more like the original animation model once you get to Robot Mode. The wings of the plane also angle down instead of up at the tips as the real X-48 does. On the underside of the toy are two miniscule fold-down rows of landing gears, which miraculously do help steady the plane when you set it down! There's also a couple C-joint rails on the underside- not sure how useful those will be if you don't have some kind of alternate stand for the thing. There's also one on the center cylinder, so you can mount one of the two guns to what will ultimately be Scourge's head. (Which, it should be noted, does pull up for this mode!)

The blue paint is a problem here. There's quite a few spots where white plastic shows through, particularly where the nose splits for transformation. In situations like that I really feel that the paint should wrap around, to make seams as unobtrusive as possible. Also, the paint stops at the main body of the toy- the stripes aren't painted on the wings. Maybe they're unpaintable plastic, but I doubt it- they don't look significantly different from the rest of the toy. (Also, United Scourge seems to have fully-painted wings, so I guess it just didn't cost out. In which case I'd rather have seen a strip across the top of the body similar to the original. Oh well.)


Transformation

The weird thing about transforming Scourge? Nothing moves in the direction you expect it to. The wings pull loose and then turn around, you have to pull the halves of the nose outwards and at an angle, likewise the feet, the arms slide out of the shoulder and turn 180 degrees... a lot of unexpected twists and turns, and I mean that literally. It's actually refreshing, because none of it gets frustrating after you've done it once or twice, and it all lines up pretty solidly in both modes without fiddling. It's definitely a case where you need to use the instructions first to avoid just tugging at things at random to no good effect. After that it's pretty easy, if not as intuitive as good old Cyclonus. The head on mine is on a very stiff slide, and raising it requires more pressure than I'm actually comfortable with, so be careful.

(One last thing: do you remember the last thing you bought with little sliders to move the hands up out of the forearms? For me, it's been a while!)


Robot Mode

It's based more on the second character model, with its more "heroic" proportions. In both coloration and styling, Scourge is pretty evenly divided between toy and character model influences. In terms of coloration and placement of the Decepticon symbol, the torso is definitely from the original toy. (I also especially like that his Decepticon symbol is purple-and-silver, not purple and white. Nice approximation of the look of the original decal!) His torso-plate also has this slightly flattened-out appearance I associate with some of the G1 movie toys- kind of a "how do we map these rounded details to a squared surface?" look. The legs also ape the coloration of the original toy, though they transform basically backwards relative to the original. (And look a lot better for it.) The arms' coloration and the proportions of the "disintegrator beam" on Scourge's head both hail from the animation. I'd credit the head as being more animation-derived too, but since technically the original toy's based on the animation model instead of the other way around, I'll just say it's more on-model than 1986 Scourge. The wings aren't as curved as the animation model, and I always liked that design, but it's a pretty fair approximation for something that still has to turn into something else real.

If the Robot Mode falls down anywhere, it's deco. While I do like that Scourge does have his red claws (well, actually a tasteful copper, but it works) there's no good reason that his eyes haven't been painted red. The tiny red dot on the tip of the disintegrator beam is painted, so why not his optics? Worst part is, it's a light-piped piece in clear blue, and said clear blue appears nowhere else on the figure. As you'll see in ExVee's review, the Japanese version tries to correct this... by painting translucent red paint over the still clear blue eyes. Huh? (Matter of fact, I'm thinking they might've done the same here, as the cockpit windows on his feet look black but have a slight purplish hue on closer examination. But if they did, it's completely imperceptible on the eyes.) The other deco issue is a more common one: the seams on the arms and legs aren't covered very well. The forearms are the most noticeable part, because white paint on dark blue is prone to bad coverage anyway, and the edges are sloppy as well. But the seam is noticeably darker than the rest, particularly down in the ridges on the forearms. The blue stripes on the shins are simpler, but it's the same problem of white stripes showing through the blue.

The head tilts in all directions and turns about the front 180 degrees. Do not force it to go further! What's stopping it from doing so is the beard, and ExVee had his snap off- thankfully not on his United Scourge -so treat it gently. (Honestly, the amount of force I have to apply to the slide to raise the head has me nervous enough.) The shoulders lift out to the sides almost 90 degrees but not quite, and swivels unimpeded provided you move the wings. Because the shoulder hinge is actually located before the swivel, it doesn't quite move in the ways I expect it to- it's an unusual configuration that takes some getting used to. The forearm swivel is unrestricted, the elbow gets exactly 90 degrees and no more, and the wrists swivel a full circle.

The wings have a certain amount of flexibility, but if you move them the wrong way they'll just disrupt the whole backpackish configuration. If you move them back too far, they hit one another as well. The waist turns completely, but it does hit the hinges for the wings at what would be a largely natural stopping point on a human. The shape of the thighs doesn't help the hips much, blocking about 45 degrees worth of forward range. Side-to-side it's great, too- such a pity. The knees are effectively single-joints since half the joint is for transformation, but they get a nice V- I've had double joints not do so well. The feet do well enough- the shape of the joint means they don't lean as far forward as you'd think they would due to the shape of the leg itself. But they manage okay, and the side-to-side range is good. I just wish the hips had a bit more resistance, as the legs do tend to fall out from under the figure in some poses.


Accessories

-Guns

Unlike Cyclonus and Nightstick, Scourge doesn't come with his Targetmaster, Fracas. What he comes with instead are a pair of guns- a longer pistol and a short double-barreled gun- that combine via C-joint. The shorter gun has a hinged piece that allows you to either use it separately or fold up the handgrip for a C-joint clip. The larger gun has the rail, and folds for storage. Both weapons can be stowed inside Scourge's wings, or of course you can clamp the small gun to the underside of the aircraft- or on top of his head.

I'm torn on these weapons. I'm assuming Fracas just wasn't financially possible- with that wingspan, Scourge likely takes up more plastic than Cyclonus. At the same time I'd almost rather they didn't package Scourge with Not-Fracas- it's somehow more disappointing than if we'd gotten a C-jointified version of his original pre-Targetmaster gun. Because with a reasonable facsimile, it's pretty clear this is all we're gonna get. Still, taken as just a set of weapons (*sigh*) it's pretty attractive, effective and versatile, if a tremendous tease.


Closing Remarks

Scourge is a pretty successful figure. You get what I'm willing to say is a definitive Robot Mode representation, and a neat vehicle to boot. The only reason Scourge suffers in my eyes is by virtue of comparison to Cyclonus, who was pretty G1 accurate in both modes and got to keep his Targetmaster in addition to just being a fun toy. Scourge is not flawless, but that reasonable point of comparison skews him a bit under the circumstances. He is a Very Good figure taken on his own.

-RAC