TFC-004 Gear of War Transformers Accessory Set for Mirage, Inferno, Sideswipe

Took me long enough to open and utilize these. For those new to the TF classics hobby, fans felt that figures like Inferno, Sideswipe, Red Alert, Mirage, and Soundwave was missing some trademark weapons. TFC catered to fan demand and created add ons such as Red Alert/Sideswipe's missile launchers, Inferno's ladder and arm cannon, Mirage's shoulder rocket and invisibility box, and an extra minion for Soundwave. The weapons were intended to be used for the Henkei versions due to the chrome/metallic properties, but they work fine with the Hasbro versions as well. The results.... well, see for yourself.

 

 

Box is box. Nice prologue on what's stored for the collector as he opens the toy box. On the last pic: (L to R) Mirage's invisibility box, instructions (poster in the other side), Inferno's Arm Canon/Ladder, 3 missile launchers, and Soundwave's Auto-scout plus 4 energon crystals.

First up: 

Universe 2.0 Inferno

 

 

 

 

Inferno definitely looks great here. He gets the ladder and arm cannon combo to replace the water missile in vehicle mode. Looks more like a fire truck if you ask me. In robot mode, you can stick his ladder on the side of his arms or his back though the latter is not mentioned in the manual; I randomly stuck his ladder on his back panel and it fitted fine. His ladder looks and feels generic however. It looks like something taken from a firetruck toy you see in stores. It can extend and it is an extra accessory after all so I should stop complaining. In other news, His arm cannon is the highlight of his robot mode, it really gives him the edge... that oomph... as he prepares for battle. That chrome is really nice looking and shiny. Fits fine on his hand and looking more awesome as ever. He is closer to looking like his G1 version though his head guard is still missing. Sadly, I still can't find a Maiden Japan accessory for him.

Mirage

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can still see you Mirage!

Mirage also benefits from having an additional weaponry. The toy set comes with 3 identical shoulder missiles: each shared by Sideswipe, Mirage, and Red Alert. Technically all 3 including Sunstreaker can use any colored missile though I decided to give Mirage primarily the black missile (though it looks dark brown to me). No complaints here though his missile can fall off his shoulder easily if you move his figure enough. No real harm though.

Next-up, Mirage's invisibility box he had in the cartoons. In the G1 verse, his invisibility played a crucial part in stopping Megatron from leaving Earth in the original 3-part More than Meet's the Eye series. Ever since then, Mirage has used his invisibility to sneak up on un-suspecting Decepticons in battle. He even used it in a story-board in Transformers: The movie though his scene was either cut out or never animated. He de-cloaks himself from his invisiblity state to shoot the insecticon Bombshell. He is successful though Megatron returns fire and an explosion subsequently follows in the room where Mirage is in. This led to speculation on whether he died or not since he never re-appeared in season 3. This also explains why Bombshell is badly damaged after the battle of Auto-bot city comes to a conclusion. He is never shown in the actual film on how he sustains his injuries and is re-formatted as Cyclonus though this is also controversial and I will leave it up to the viewers to decide.

As for the accessory, I had to fold the flaps together to form the box and it still turned out lop-sided. You stick Mirage in and that is it. What? You were expecting him to really turn invisible? That be cool but imagine if he did and I lost him, you be trying to find him as you lost your contacts. Okay, enough joking. It's a novelty his invisibility cover but unless if you are re-creating the show or something, then there isn't much this has to offer. This is a one time play and that's it.

Red Alert/Sideswipe/Sunstreaker

 

 

Mix and match

 

 
I didn't play with this one much. I gave Sideswipe the Red missile and Red Alert the silver though you can swap them with each other and Mirage if you want to... no biggie. Sunstreaker can use it too if you feel like it though his character wasn't originally designed to have one. The missiles are a little too big imo, but nevertheless, its a shoulder missile to fill the void. The missiles can detach to three pieces though it can be a chore to take out because they snap on so tight. The button isn't as loose so you won't have to worry about accidentally firing off the end tip of the missile. However, the button can't be fairly stiff you press sometimes. Also, you can mix and match the colors for some extra fun though I tried it a little as you can see with the four pics above. I had trouble removing some of the components like I said earlier so I was limited to a few modifications.

Auto-Scout

 

 

Perhaps, the most simplest but most unique add-on of this set. The Auto-scout comes with 4 energon bars to give you that cartoon feel that the Decepticons are trying to harness energon goodies. Very easy to transform and play with and the Auto-Scout serves as a extra minion to Soundwave and friends. The cassette mode is much larger than Soundwave's chest cavity, so it's not going to fit. Has a gun on it's tail making it battle-ready. It has wheels in robot mode so you can steer it in any direction you like. Easily avoided since most people wanted this set for the extra weapons though nice to have still.

Conclusion:

For a mere $30, this is a must get. You probably get the most bang for your buck on Inferno. It's nice to see the shoulder missiles on the others so that it makes them feel more like G1. It's a nice add on and definitely for completionists. As I write this I think every where is sold out on this toy set. I got this back in 2012 if my memory serves me correctly though its been out since 2009. Good luck for starters. Here is one final pic of everybody.

Oh and this time a better recreation from an old pic of mines: