Scourge [Beast Alliance/Battle Changers]

It's been almost 2 years since we began our look at the Beast Alliance toys from Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and with all the excitement surrounding the upcoming Transformers Wild King line, now seems like the perfect time to finish the series. Today we'll be looking at Battle Changers Scourge. Since it's been awhile, Battle Changers were the lowest priced toys from the Beast Alliance series and as you can tell from the picture, pretty simplified figures. It is what it is and they are what they are.

For the price, Scourge looks pretty good. He's got a pretty decent sculpt that looks great in his limited deco. Honestly, he could pass for an Acroyear. Obviously, there's limited articulation (shoulders, legs at the waist), but he does have the weapon gimmick that other Battle Changers have, and that's a built in weapon that can be folded away. That's a nice way of giving the character a weapon, but including it as part of the figure and not another molded part (they've got to keep it cheap). Considering the Beast Battle Masters are compatible with all the other figures in the series, it's a good trade off. Scourge's weapon is the double bladed sword he used in the movie, and that oversized left hand is also a cannon. So he's coming out ready for a fight even without a Battle Master to partner with.

Transformation is obviously simple, but results in a decent enough truck mode. His robot arms are visible in alt mode, but one could argue they're part of the overall post-apocalyptic look he has. I have to laugh with some of these far out vehicle modes. They're robots in disguise, but who's not going to notice him driving by? Scourge is the last of the Battle Changers from Beast Alliance and one the better of the class, second only to Rhinox. I like the sculpting and the colors. Like I said, he could almost pass for an Acroyear. So obviously that's working in his favor. He has a neat design that can carry even the simplest of toys. Not to mention, it's good to have a bad guy now and again.

Scourge w/ Predacon Scorponok (Beast Alliance/Beast Combiners)

Coming back to the Beast Alliance figures from Rise of the Beasts is Scourge with Scorponok. This set is a nice departure from the other Beast Combiner. There's something about Scourge rocking the beast armor that just works. Like other Beast Combiner main bots, he is a more simpler figure. That doesn't take away from the pleasantness of him. He's a satisfying toy of the movie incarnation of Scourge with a little more color. In the movie Scourge is really dark while this toy gives us a little visual variety with a mainly copper/brown body. It makes for a good looking departure. He turns into a Mad Max style truck like other Scourge toys.

Scorponok is a pleasantly large partner figure. A scorpion (duh) that combines with Scourge (or any other Beast Combiner) easily by fitting over the base robots head and shoulders. His tail becomes a melee weapon that I like to think is a whip. Combined mode really stands out as it gives Scourge an extra set of arms and an overall gnarly look. It's worth noting that Scorponok fits onto Scourge facing forward as opposed to sideways across the shoulders like the other Beast Combiners. Thanks to Scorponok and Scourge's dirtier colors combined with the more monstrous looks... we get a pretty unique looking robot. There's a definite fantasy flavor to the super robot styling of this toy. I like it. This is a pretty unique Beast Combiner and so far the best looking one I've covered so far. We've got one more Beast Combiner to look at soon, but until then, let's appreciate this mutant freak.

The Scourge Tracker

I was lucky enough to stumble across Scourge from the new Transformers Studio Series 86 line. As opposed to normal Studio Series figures, the 86 line focuses on the original 1986 Transformers movie. Bringing nicer quality versions of the cast to store shelves with very screen accurate toys. Paired up with some of the non-beast Kingdom figures being released, this makes for a very good looking movie cast update. 

I've always liked Scourge. Visually, he's the transformers version of an evil sorcerer from your brothers Dungeons and Dragons books. In the 90's a fan described him and Cyclonus as wizard and knight bodyguards for Galvatron. I could never forget that mental imagery to this day. His beard, wings, pointy fingers, and collar just help give him an evil look. 

Toys of Scourge never really nailed his classic look from the movie and following cartoon seasons. They've come close. I think until the Titans Return toy, the closest was the Titanium figure. I really liked that one.

Scourge's transformation is pretty simple, though it doesn't look like it is. Head folds down into his chest, legs up, and his arms lay down his side by way of weirdly placed hinge at the shoulders. As you'd expect, those evil wings are the sides of his alt mode. Which is a spaceship that looks like a boat.

The term cybertronian hovercraft has been thrown around a lot, and it originally was intended to be a land based mode. I prefer it as a spaceship though. It's weird and funky looking. If the space robot devil changes some corpses into new servants, they should be weird looking. Dammit.

Scourge's rifle doesn't hide anywhere within his cavernous space ship, instead plugs onto the side. That's the closest thing I can find to a fault on this toy. I don't even mind it, but the point is a screen accurate depiction and that wasn't where he had it in alt mode. Also included is one of those special effects thingies that plugs onto his gun barrels for laser blasting effects action. It kind of looks like a cross between a loogie and a drill bit. I guess it kind of looks like his particular laser blasts in the movie.

This is an awesome toy. It looks just like how I'd think a toy of Scourge based on his 1986 movie appearance should look. Not just that, but it's specifically sharp. It's nice looking. I used italics because I fucking meant it. Upon seeing it at Target, my wife was very vocal about how cool he was and insisted that I get him right then and there. 

I hope to get more if not all of these new Studio Series 86 figures. I'm from that generation of Transformers fans who held the original movie up to an untouchable standard back in the day and kinda still do. Despite how many of these guys I already have, it's nice to have screen accurate figures of the cast specifically meant to represent that particular benchmark. 

The box also states he was made from Thundercracker. Somewhere there's a giant argument over that.

 

Scourge Of The Studios

Another way cool part of Hasbro's most recent Fan's First Friday was looks at some of the new Studio Series toys. Next year the line will shift away from the live action movies to focus on the 1986 movie. G1 is a heavy focus of Generations as is. You might ask yourself, well how did I get here? How do I work this? Where is that large automobile? At this point you've started singing Talking Heads and I'll kindly ask you to stop. 

What is a shotgun shack anyway? What are you doing with your life?

Despite the G1 focus of Generations, this is Studio Series, meaning a higher level of screen accuracy. So unlike that Hot Rod you got a few years from Titans Return, this one will look like the one that was fishing with Daniel. I'm excited for this. The original movie has always been one of the benchmark moments of Transformers for me and the generation of fans I come from. Even now as I'm getting older and it's various flaws are more obvious, it's still one of the more important parts of Transformers.

 

One of the new figures I'm definitely looking forward to is Scourge. The trio of Galvatron, Scourge, and Cyclonus have always been something badass to me. I've always thought of them as Galvatron the evil king. Scourge the dark wizard and Cyclonus as the dark knight. They're some Dio song turned into robots.

One of the more important details of Scourge was thankfully not left out. I'm talking about those pointy pink finger tips. Most people ask why he has those and it's simple. When you're sleeping, he sneaks in your room. Then he slips one of those long pointy finger nails up your nose and pokes your brain. True story.

Little Black Truck

 
It's said that dynamite comes in small packages, and I don't know if that's true but... that was a horrible start. Whatever. Robots in Disguise (2001) was the Transformers line that brought Autobots and Decepticons back into the fray and ended the beast era. Some like to argue that RID was part of the beast era due to the Predacon characters. I've also seen people argue with the cashier at Arby's that they sold cheeseburgers, sssssooooo....

Any who, RID was a unique line in the history of Transformers. Transtech was intended to follow Beast Machines as a hybrid beast/vehicle series. For whatever reason is given today plans were changed and the decision to go a new route was made. That new route ended up being Armada and needed a little more time to develop. In Japan Takara had already experimented with a more traditional TF show called Car Robots. Hasbro fast tracked Car Robots into Robots in Disguise to have a Transformers series on shelves and on TV to fill the time needed. Car Robots was a relatively short anime with a small toy line mostly consisting of repainted toy molds and a few new toys. Hasbro took that and added more repaints to fill out the line. One of the new Decepticons was a evil clone of Fire Convoy/Optimus Prime named Black Convoy/Scourge whom was a black and teal repaint of the G2 Laser Optimus Prime toy.

Hasbro expanded the Spy Changer by releasing same sized versions of the shows main characters. This was probably the most direct beginning of the Legends/Legion style of toys offering lower priced figures of the main characters. It was in this assortment that we got the really neat Spy Changer version of Scourge. Spy Changers were originally made from the G2 Gobots toy molds and were really great little toys. Basically you had a Hot Wheels size car that was even compatible with a Hot Wheels car track! They'd transform into simple robots full of charm. It's not hard for readers to guess I loved them.

For a short time it looked like this was the only toy of the character getting made and the Spy Changer versions were flying off the shelves! Unlike other Spy Changers, Scourge didn't come with a weapon, nor did he have his trailer. During this time there was a ton of people creating their own custom weapons and trailers for the toy. It was pretty fun to take in and watch.

In what has to be the only time it happened, a toy based on a repaint of another character got repainted into the original toys colors. Later a Spy Changers version of Optimus Prime was made from the Scourge toy as part of a line of Spy Changers based on the classic G1 characters. That was a mess of words that barley formed a coherent sentence and I'm not sorry for it. This little line was available as a discount line at Family Dollar type stores, though a year prior were exclusive to Kay Bee Toy stores in different packaging. Laser Optimus Prime was a good looking toy, Scourge was a good looking toy, so it goes without saying this was a good looking toy.

This little series was fun to collect, easy and cheap, you couldn't help but to acquire multiples without thinking or worrying about it. At a small local sci fi con, I had ran a Transformers panel and had them on hand as raffle prizes. I don't think I know anyone who hated them and if anyone did hate them... how? This great little mold got another use just a short while later in a really fun way.

I don't have to tell you the 2007 Transformers movie was a big hit. It's just a fact and there's no arguing that. Unless you're stupid and well, you're on your own there dummy. A movie meant to sell toys is going to have a ton of merchandise, it's why they made it. One such thing was a the pictured above pre-order exclusive for the DVD in Japan.

That pre-order exclusive was the last version of the great little mold, but what a way to go out! Now as the movie version of Optimus Prime the toy looks awesome. I distinctly remember the summer before the movies release (which is an awkward was of saying 2006) pictures of the movie characters first started hitting the internet and everyone was talking. Optimus's truck was shown before his robot mode and while some were hung up on G1, several thought they looked cool (money walks and bullshit talks). I saw the long nose truck and hoped for a repeat of the Laser Optimus toy as it was excellent and man those flames looked cool. While the actual toy was pretty different, I clearly wasn't the only one who had that idea.

Can Metroplex beat up the new Decepticons?

New Planes!

I'm in the middle of appreciating Cyclonus and Scourge getting such a great commercial and REALLY loving the announcers voice.