Bot Reviews: Studio Series 86 Voyager Scourge

This is an odd one to write up, because I’ve actually had this guy for a long time, and just never got around to reviewing him. I think it has to do with the why-am-I-like-this angle of the fact that I got Scourge as a box-checker, to be a part of my shelf of Transformers: The Movie characters, alongside Kingdom Galvatron and Cyclonus. Certainly, out of the three Unicron-forged Decepticons, he’s got the least going on with him.

While he and Cyclonus both didn’t really get much of any characterization in the film, Cyclonus would at least go on to having a niche on the tv series as “the hardcore Galvatron loyalist,” as well as star-making roles in other media, like More than Meets the Eye/Lost Light, and Brian Ruckley’s Transformers. While Scourge was certainly a frequent presence on the show, and has popped up in other media, I couldn’t tell you much anything about his personality outside of him being a generic bad guy. He’s a hunter, and he has a small army of identical-looking soldiers, but those are moreso plot points, not character beats.

Speaking of those identical troops, the Sweeps, while Scourge here’s long gone off store shelves, he did get a minor redeco as a Sweep, which you can still find jamming up the shelves in my neck of the woods (to be fair, you’re meant to army-build them), so there’s perhaps some relevance in belatedly taking a look at Galvatron Minion Number Two.

 

Robot Mode 

Okay, in all fairness, while I spent most of that intro belittling the character, he does have one thing going for him: He’s got a really cool, unique, stylish design, just like all of the Transformers: The Movie-original bots designed by Floro Dery. And, to the figure’s benefit, it’s a design that was reproduced really well here.

He looks for all the world like a weird, dramatic vampire with his cape, beard, high collar, and nails, and that essential weirdness is preserved here. In particular, a lot of work was done to imitate the specific swooshy lines of his animation model, including details like the horizontal lines on his “muscles” at his abdomen, elbows and forearms, and, most importantly, his “cape,” which, thanks to being composed of alternate mode parts, is something no other figure of this design has really gotten right.

Even here, it’s still kind of messy, with parts hanging off of the back of it, but it gets the general shape right, which is more than any previous Scourge has done. To add to the drama, his left hand’s pre-posed in an opening, becking, gesturing position, a little twist I like (if you’re getting the Sweep version, it’s his right hand, instead).

He’s got an interesting thing going on with his colors, in that this is the first time (I think) a G1 Scourge has gotten the specific shade TFTM-blue right. Usually, new versions defer to the lighter blue of the original toy, but this one primarily casts him in a hard-to-describe, slightly grayer blue, matching his film tones in a way I like.

Outside of that, he’s not a terribly colorful bot, he’s got a more violet-grey undertone in places, a dark grey beard, a purple Decepticon logo on his chest, and, most critically, pink nails. To be clear, I don’t mind that he’s not terribly colorful. It’s film-accurate, and it’s a unique, interesting choice of colors.

If you’re after the Sweep version, you’re basically getting a hue-shifted, lighter-blue, toy-style version.

He’s solidly constructed enough in his robot mode, but has this weird thing where he doesn’t feel as poseable as he actually is, despite having the full Siege Suite, including wrists and ankles. It’s probably because those ankle tilts and hips both have a somewhat limited amount of articulation due to the figure’s sculpting getting in the way.

In addition, that cape makes him disappointingly back-heavy, and you’ve got to be careful when doing any kind of elaborate pose as a result.

One thing I do like: His cape can fan inwards around him, Batman style.

For accessories, Scourge comes with an impressively-sized rifle, cast in blue, and it’s big enough that he can hold it two-handed, thanks to the stock on the bottom.

To his credit, despite the pre-pose, his half-open hand can hold it, too.

Scourge’s other accessory is a big, purple, rubbery blast effect for his gun, a complicated energy wave. It’s interesting because very few non-Battle-Master, non-Commander-and-up figures actually come with these.

Meanwhile, while he doesn’t look like he can do it, he surprisingly contains weapons ports on his forearms, shoulders, feet, and one on his back.

Transformation to Vehicle Mode

So, Scourge is a shellformer, and while he’s generally pretty good about it, he’s not without his fiddly aspects. Basically, he faceplants, you fold his arms down and his head back, and the cape forms around him.

That shell’s a bit of a pain to get shut, though. Specifically, the middle third of it (the part over his shoulders and upper arms in the above picture) really doesn’t like to stay pegged down, and it’s that kind of annoying thing where I constantly find myself adjusting it.

Vehicle Mode

Scourge’s alternate mode has always been kind of odd and nebulous, a soap-shaped lump that’s apparently a “hovercraft,” something I perceive as a space boat.

For good or ill, it’s replicated faithfully here. I feel like the central tower should be higher, but it’s otherwise a pretty close match.

For colors, he’s seemingly missing a a shade of darker blue from his animation model, but otherwise is still a good two shades of blue, with a new Decepticon symbol out front, and some red dots on his guns uptop.

Again, he still feels fiddly in this mode, and I find myself making micro-adjustments to his shell, trying to clamp it down better than it is.

For features, Scourge has a weapon port on each side  of his alternate mode that can stash his gun, and you can put the blast effect on it, or mount it on one of his three top-loaded lasers.

It’s a pretty clean altmode, all things considered, with only stuff visible from the bottom. Oh, and he’s got a couple more weaponizer ports ’round back.

Transformation to Peekaboo Mode

Okay, so, here’s a big issue with this guy: There were these occasional funny moments in his animated appearances where he’d pop his head out of the top of his vehicle mode, and it’s something this figure replicates, which is a good idea in theory.

In practice, though, there’s way too much effort involved, in that you have to crack open and detransform his vehicle mode a significant amount, rather than just, like, sliding the head up. Like, he goes halfway to robot mode and back just to do this. I’m no toy engineer, but surely they could have just given him a telescoping neck or something?

Peekaboo Mode

The end effect is both accurate and goofy, but was it worth the journey to get there?

Honestly, between the panel out front, and the elevated platform in the back, it’s a bit too messy, on top of that.

Overall

I do feel like I was a bit too mean to this guy. He’s not *bad,* really. He’s accurate to his equal parts cool-and-baffling film design, and while he’s got a couple issues (mainly how complicated raising his head out of his vehicle mode is, and how his shell’s a bit fiddly), he’s competently executed. He just kind of, for lack of a better explanation, doesn’t really stir anything up in me. Maybe it’s how the character’s a complete non-entity, but not, like, in a fun way, like Hauler or Sideswipe (there might be something to the fact that he’s a non-entity despite having much, much more screentime than both of those), or maybe it’s just that the figure itself isn’t really doing anything special, or interesting to me. He’s just a decent execution of a character. A box-checker, a shelf-filler. He does the job. There’s nothing really bad about him, but nothing interesting.

So, while he’s not a bad purchase, and if you want a Scourge, for the character or for the display, he does the job, I almost don’t recommend him outside of that. There’s Voyager-class figures of better characters out there, figures that do far more interesting things, and have a lot more personality. Go get yourself a Jhiaxus, or a Blaster, or Wreck-Gar or something, unless you’re specifically after a Scourge.

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