novaBBS - alt.toys.transformers - Re: Dave's TF Rant: Studio Series SCOURGE

Dave's Transformers Studio Series Rant: '86 Voyagers

Scourge (Spaceship)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Studio/VScourge

So, for the 35th anniversary of the animated movie (TFtM), a big chunk
of Studio Series is being used for characters from TFtM, although a few live
action characters are still hitting stores (like Starscream from the
Bumblebee movie). Of course, much like when Generations and "Reveal the
Shield" muddied the waters, TFtM Studio Series toys and Kingdom movie-era
toys split things up across two lines. For a very glaring example, Cyclonus
is a Kingdom toy, but Scourge is a Studio Series toy. I expect I'll have
just as much trouble in several years remembering whether something was
Kingdom or Studio 86 as I now do trying to remember if something that came
out around 2010 was Generations or technically Revenge of the Fallen/Reveal
the Shield.

CAPSULE

$30 price point.

Scourge: Not a bad update, decent in both modes but the transformation
is mostly just "wrap the wings around everything." At the lower end of
recommended.

RANT

Cutting to the chase, while I considered the Kingdom Voyager Cyclonus to
be the best toy version yet, this one is merely decent. In terms of the
handful of designs that kept the hovercraft-like altmode, I'd say Titanium
Series Scourge was a smidge better. (Generations 2011 Scourge was more of a
flying wing.) I'd put this about even with Titan Master Scourge. It's a
pretty tight grouping, though.

Packaging: Same basic design as other Studio Series, but with the
cut-out faction symbol on the right side (as seen from the front) replaced by
a cut-out to show "86" in brown on red, and the series number on the left
side being replaced by a large "86" with a tiny sub-number practically hiding
as a decimal place. Which will certainly be fun when regular Studio Series
hits #86. The back of the box is similarly laid out to other Studio Series,
although the use of animated backdrops makes the red-tone version of the
backdrop stand out a little more clearly. The series logo various places on
the box is the gold/red chrome scheme TFtM logo as used on the 30th
Anniversary video release (the original movie posters had a variety of color
schemes, including the TV show's red/white/blue chrome effect).
At least as of the first wave, the plastic-reduction move hadn't hit
Studio Series, which continues to use clear plastic trays.
Notably, the Studio Series 86 Voyagers (and at least in this wave, only
the Voyagers) have Fire Blasts.

DECEPTICON: SCOURGE
Assortment: 86.05
Altmode: Spaceship
Transformation Difficulty: 19 steps
Previous Name Use: G1, BW, RiD01, Cybertron, Gen
Previous Mold Use: None
Movie: TFtM
Scene: Heralds of Unicron

UNICRON reformats THUNDERCRACKER into SCOURGE.

(Ironically, the Generations Scourge was in 2011, one of the years where
the late RotF-packaging toys got all mixed up with Generations, only that
time Scourge was Generations and Cyclonus was movie packaging.)

Packaging: Five ties hold the robot into the blister, one holds the
rifle, one holds the Fire Blast.
The backdrop is the gridline horizon bit from the reformatting scene,
with Kickback and Shrapnel(nel) covered in energy cocoons.

Robot Mode: He has his notorious pink claws. Generations gave him
orange claws, the G1 toy didn't paint his hands at all. While the more
recent Generations updates of most movie design made things more blocky, this
retains Floro Dery's more rounded look on things. The wings are merely an
approximation of the animation design, though, being mostly slightly folded
up vehicle shell bits with a couple of bat-wing panels that are there to give
the silhouette something like the proper shape. The right hand is in a fist,
while the left is partially open to showcase the pink claws. There's a
properly molded set of facial "hair," and the head-top turbine bit comes to a
pointy tip in this mode (it needs to be rotated 180 degrees for vehicle mode,
to present the 3mm stud that's currently on the back end).
6.5" (16.5cm) tall in mostly medium blue and very light blue, with a few
accent colors. Most of the toy is made of a slightly desaturated medium blue
plastic, although under UV it's possible to tell that there's two different
types. Very light blue plastic is used on the lower biceps, thighs (inner
and outer parts), and some of the vehicle shell bits. The Fire Blast is
clear rubbery violet plastic.
Very light blue paint is used on the face, the hands, forearm details,
the abdomen, the knees/tops of the boots, and some vehicle bits on the wing
shell. The facial hair is medium gray, the eyes and a dot on the front of
the head laser are red. The claws are hot pink, and weirdly enough there's
violet paint on the insides of the 5mm sockets on the shoulders and ankles.
Speaking of weird paint choices, the sternum is painted a slightly bolder
blue than the plastic it's on. There's an almost chibi Decepticon symbol
printed in violet on silver on the sternum.
The neck is a restricted ball joint, the weapon on top of the helmet is
on a swivel. The waist is a smooth swivel. The shoulders are universal
joints held on with screws rather than pins, there's bicep swivels, hinged
elbows (also screwed rather than pinned), swivel wrists. (Side note: more
than anything else, the extensive use of screws to hold this together and the
lack of rivets marks this as a design distinct from Generations style.)
Universal joint hips (these are riveted), the thigh swivels are via a shaft
that runs almost the length of the thigh inside it, hinge knees, ankles only
hinged sideways (the toes and heels are hinged for transformation, but it's
not really useful for posing). The wings have several hinges to let you
adjust their positions.
The hands can hold 5mm pegs, and there's 5mm sockets in the outer faces
of the forearms, the outer faces of the shoulders, the outer faces of the
ankles, the soles of the feet, and on two of the wing-like shell bits.
There's a 3mm socket on the underside of the pelvis. There's no "taking
damage" 3mm studs, just ones for vehicle mode on the back of the head cannon
and on the turbines on the wings. There's a socket on the backpack center
that initially looks like it's 5mm, but it's actually bigger (it covers part
of the head cannon in vehicle mode). A pity, it would have been a good place
to stow the rifle.
Speaking of which, the rifle is loosely based on the original G1 toy's
weapon. 3" (7.5cm) long with a 5mm peg grip and another 5mm peg on the right
side just ahead of that (but none on the left). The barrel tip is a 3mm
stud, and there's 3mm sockets on either side near the top of the gun above
the grip. These are probably accidental, and just meant for hollowing out
the shape.
The Fire Blast is 2" (5cm) long plus the length of the peg, which is a
5mm outside/3mm inside deal. It's shaped like a sphere at the base, then a
twisting and growing swirl.

Transformation: While there's a lot of little details along the way,
it's mostly dislocating the shoulders so that the arms can tuck against the
thighs, folding the head forwards on some struts and covering it with panels
that hide the face and make the head turbine match the two on the wings, and
then opening up the wings to fold around everything. It is, perhaps
inevitably, a shellformer, and it doesn't have a flat bottom due to the
front-back thickness of the boots.

Vehicle Mode: Like the original, it's supposed to be a spaceship but
really looks more like a hovercraft or even a boat, given that all the
thrusters are on the top side near the back, plus the general shape. (If you
fold out the medium blue wing bits, you get something of a hydrofoil look.)
From the top is looks fine, but from the sides the boots stick out too much
on the underside.
6.75" (17cm) long with light blue on the prow and sides, plus the
cowlings on the thruster nacelles. The rest is medium blue plastic (both
types still visible in this mode, although most of one of them is hidden).
The light blue on the cowlings and the top of the prow is paint, the rest of
the light blue is plastic. There's that dot of red on the helmet cannon tip,
and a violet on white Decepticon symbol on the front bit of the medium blue
hull. That's basically it for paint in this mode, I might go head and add
some of my own to the bridge windows area.
Negligible articulation, just the side nacelles are on transformation
hinges. There's a 5mm socket on either side of the "skirt" and the ones on
the soles of the feet are now in back where they can hold thruster Fire
Blasts. Each of the three nacelles has a 3mm stud at the front, and the
pelvis 3mm socket is accessible on the underside. The weirdly painted 5mm
sockets from the boots are visible, but too blocked to be useful.
The only storage for the rifle is the left side 5mm socket, there's no
underside or centerline storage. A pity the toy didn't come with three Fire
Blasts to let you put one on each nacelle.

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Derp, had Cyclonus on the brain.