Transformers Studio Series 86 05 Transformers the Movie Scourge Voyager Class review!

 

A vaccine that magically appears 6 months after Corona? No red flags?

It's 86 again! This time with Scourge. Let's just get started.

Boxing

If you look at the bottom left corner of the red part, it clarifies that Thundercracker became Scourge.

That is your packaging for you. No instructions were used for this review. I like how Scourge had his reformation scene for his backdrop. You can see the Silhouettes for Kickback and Shrapnel too. Scourge was in the middle of all when this happened which explains why he takes centerstage in this sequence. Most fans today accept the fact that it was most likely Thundercracker that was re-formatted into Scourge; TFwiki confirms this as well. I too agree that he was once Thundercracker. So that is that. The character who raised the most speculation on who became who was most likely Cyclonus. Most fans say he was Bombshell like I do but that is up to you. But this is about Scourge and he comes with a gun and a blast effect. 

Scourge the Tracker

Whoa. At long last, Scourge has his pink fingernails! I've owned the Generations, United, and Legends versions of him and he either had the wrong painted nails or he had none at all despite the United packaging depicted him having it; the final product had these weird red/rusty colored nails similar to his generations counterpart. As for aesthetics, this guy looks like the tv show/movie! He looks great. His colors resemble more of a navy blue which I like. His joints are tight. He handles very nicely. I felt he could do a decent amount of posing though he didn't feel as versatile as 86 Hot Rod. Thanks to his kibble (wings) He would stumble backwards from time to time. However, you can usually fix his  posing by fidgeting with his heels. 

What I did like about him in comparison to 86 HR was that he had weight to him. He didn't feel light like HR did though he lacks the ability to open/close his fingers like how HR could. His right hand has the 5mm peg-like hand, while his left hand gives him the ability to say hi... j/k. The weapon will fit in either hands for those who are wondering. He has a head, waist and wrist swivels though you may want to be careful on the latter as my TF buddy notified me that somebody's fingers snapped off while he was playing with his Scourge. It does feel tight honestly when you try to turn his wrist. But thankfully, mines hasn't snapped. Nor would I want it to after my connector port incident on HR. 

Alt mode

This mode took me a bit to get into. I would say it was intermediate level in transformation. In this mode he has three gun turrets in which I wish Hasbro gave us two extra blast effects so you could re-enact the scene where Scourge and the Sweeps quarter Ultra Magnus (in the original script that is). I don't know if you could raise his head up like how he did in the movie ( I tried, but no dice). But you could flip the flap in front of it to reveal his face. Once again, I'm not big in alt modes, but this mode was done nicely and it handles great. Aesthetically, it looks like his G1 show appearance (as it should). 

*Update* I just saw a fellow tf member sticking Scourge's head vertically upward. It can be done, but you need to raise the part connected to the back of his head up a little to do this. I'll check this out some other time. 

Scaling with previous figures

I lost Nightstick prior to this shoot. Not to mention, RTS Cyclonus does look small in comparison to Scourge.  Another hit in my wallet when Kingdom Cyclonus comes out. TR Galvatron seems to scale nicely though I need to do something about his facemask. Or maybe wait for Kingdom Galvatron or something. Generations/United Scourge was very floppy in comparison to 86. Kinda glad we got a masterpiece like Scourge now. Legends Scourge is small as well , and yeah, 86 Scourge is cursing him for not having painted nails. For the most part they can grapple each other's weapons which is a bonus. 

Scaling with 86 Hot Rod

Scourge is bigger and taller. I guess Hot Rod really does need to be Rodimus to scare some baddies off.

Bow before Scourge! 

Yep, this happened in the show.

Some other pics

Conclusion: I love 86 Scourge, he, imo, is a must get. He looks great and plays fine as well. I've been told there may be different color Scourges to replicate the sweeps in the near future though I feel some of us may purchase multiple Scourges just to accomplish this feat. Definitely the best  Scourge I've owned so far. Get him today.

Bandai Action Base black stand: Featuring some Transformers.

Aloha folks. It's been awhile since I did something with my figures. I've still got a whole lot of TF toys to open and review, but work and another part of life makes it difficult for me to do so. Tonight, insomnia got the best of me so I decided to play with a base stand I bought a while back. Today I do a brief review on the Bandai Hobby Action Base 1 display stand. With it, you can deliver the impression that your Gundam figures are flying and duking it out with other rivals while suspended in mid-air, perhaps re-creating a memorable dramatic scene you saw in the anime. But since I don't own Gundam figures, I will test out this stand with none other than my TF figures. So what you see is what you get.

https://www.amazon.com/Bandai-Hobby-Action-Display-Stand/dp/B000KG499M

The above link is the how the packing looks like. I did a take pic but it didn't come out well with all the glare in place. I just decided to include a link and if you are impressed then you can buy it after. 

 

 

 

Yep, assembly is required. Took me nearly half hr to 45 mins to assemble this stand. It's fairly easy if you follow the instructions but boy this took some time. Comes with three different holders based on your Gundam figure. Since my figures aren't Gundam, I'm already unable to use what I call the screw on holder and the pincher holder. I could only use the one that resembles a four way "Y" holder. I like to call it the fork. It comes in three different sizes each differing in width. The unit holding the fork is adjustable and can be extended a few inches giving your character some decent height and hang time. Now on with our first character.

Slugslinger guest starring Stepper.

 

 

 

 

I originally wanted to use Starscream but I had some difficulty using the forks on him though I was only using one size at the time. I gave up on using Screamer and utilized Slugslinger instead. I have to admit it looks neat to finally do some decent photography on flying TF's. The only drawback is that the stand can be fairly wobbly and your character (Slugslinger in this case) could spiral out of control due to how light the stand can be as opposed to the weight of your character. In an other words the fork can and will get loose at times. Due to TF characters not having the same anatomy as the Gundam figures, you had to find an opening for you to put the fork in. The fork will fit his buttock area whereas Starscream was nearly impossible.  What makes the action base stand impressive, providing that you can do the poses, is posing the character on alt mode. Look at the pics and tell me that Slugslinger doesn't look awesome flying! Only drawback is weight again which can cause your character to fall off or even cause the extender port to fall off completely.

However, another test character proved to be fairly tough: Next we have Cyclonus guest starring Galvatron!

 

I thought Cyclonus be a perfect fit for this category, but you can see how limited the aerial poses he had for this part. First off, the only way to have him fly decently in the air is to use the fork and shove it up his... or should I say ride it up his crotch area. And sadly, it doesn't grip on that well in comparison to Slugslinger. For his alt mode, I had to fork one of his feet and yet it still does not hold too well. Not to mention, if you shake the unit a bit, he already falls off. I tried a Superman pose with him but he kept crashing down. Moving on.




Conclusion: At this point I kinda gave up. It's a huge trial and error for every character. Some characters like Slugslinger works decently while it's a letdown on Cyclonus. I'll probably play around with this stand using other figures down the road, but for now, just a have a nice day folks. I would avoid this if you are using non-Gundam figures.