Thundercracker turned from a blue Starscream into a guy of his own...at the cost of being an old fart. Not a bad thing since Scourge's design was pretty cool, and it amuses me that while Cyclonus was more of a Batman sort of design, Scourge is more Man-Bat by comparison. I never owned any version of Scourge before, and while I was dead-set on buying the Universe version of Cyclonus, I wasn't sure which Scourge to get. Do I get the Generations one or stick with the Titans Return version? Well, Studio Series 86 is here to say "FUCK THOSE ONES, GET ME INSTEAD". And now let's check out this guy in his review.
Here is Scourge in his vehicle mode...which looks like a bath toy. It's funny how Galvatron was the seed of Megatrons becoming tanks in some universes while Cyclonus went for being a badass space jet. Scourge? He's a patrol vehicle that looks more like a bath toy. It's the precursor to Cybertron Thunderblast, and had this been painted in pink, there would no doubt be a perfect crossover with sci-fi Barbie (or in the Hasbro property case, Pinkie Pie). IF you think the boat comparisons can't be stopped, look at how the light-blue border looks like either the front of a boat or the inflatable part of most boats. Then you have the three...cannons? Turbines?...that look like propellers. Scourge? More like Poopdeck!
The effect piece can be plugged on any of the turbines, and the gun can be stored on either side. If you want to have Scourge and the Sweeps gut Ultra Magnus, then you can reveal the face and hope he can see straight on without being distracted by the face cover looking poorly placed like that.
Here he is next to Cyclonus, who definitely shows how much of a contrast there is between the slick and advanced Cyclonus and the dumpy & archaic Scourge. I get that Scourge is an old fart compared to Cyclonus, but while Mr. FuckIfIKnow got upgraded into a cool robot, Unicron certainly gave Thundercracker a weak downgrade. It's like going from Windows XP to Millennium Edition.
Transformation for Scourge is somewhat simpler than with Hot Rod, as he's a shellformer once again. I'll give him credit by saying that the really unique thing about him is how he places the wing kibble as well as how he places parts of the torso from around the thighs back on him, but that's pretty much it. At least the robot mode looks pretty cool, and while the wing kibble is pretty clunky when viewed from the sides, it looks solid from the front. The design is very faithful to how he looked in the cartoon, what with the design as well as the colors used. It's mostly the same kind of blue with highlights of the bluish-white on the thighs or hands, but his fingernails are pink! Maybe he's obsessed with running a nail salon! The square holes on the thighs are annoying, and it's weird seeing the screws on the top. Also, his Decepticon insignia looks kinda fat.
Headsculpt looks accurate to him, though it is amusing to see Thundercracker go from a blue Starscream to becoming an old fart...at least he has some identity to him, though his hat looks stupid. Nice beard, though. Articulation is about the same as with every Studio Series 86 & WFC figure in the line. His gun can be held with no problem, and it looks pretty cool despite it being molded in blue plastic.
The effect piece can plug on his gun and make for a cool blast attack, but I'm not going to lie, it looks like a dildo! And that is a throwback to Chad Warden's diss on the Nintendo Wii! You don't get something like that under new YouTube!
If you think his arsenal is lacking, then you might want to reconsider going with Siege Skywarp's Fracas! He's a slightly pearlescent version of Firedrive, but it works well in his favor since he looks better. The gun and articulation are the same as before...
...but it's pretty cool that he has new blast effect pieces in terms of their color: orange-yellow instead of purple!
As far as the reuses are concerned, we get a Sweep...which is just said to be a toy-accurate repaint with mirrored hands. That's it! Pretty lame if you ask me. A Devcon would be cooler in Generations Selects.
And the Legacy line retools this guy to make A Hero Is Born Alpha Trion, who came with a Orion Pax that was retooled from Kup. He now has both hands with relaxed hands, a retooled torso, and arms that are altered. His cape makes for a cool change, though it's amusing how similar Scourge can be to AT.
And for another reuse, one that I felt was expected and honestly looked forward to, this is Senator Ratbat! It's cool that we're continuing the trend of Scourge being retooled into IDW's take of G1 Ratbat, but while the robot mode stands out the most, the vehicle mode is mostly the same. He came with a Miner retool of Megatron (but not a minor retool, eh).
For a comparison with prior versions of Scourge, here he is next to the Titans Return, original Generations, and Titanium Series versions of Scourge! I'm gonna be honest and say that Scourge was kind of a hard character to nail right. The Titans Return version just looked a little too blocky and its wings unimpressive (would work well for some Sweeps), and the Generations version had the alt mode yet was maybe a little too fat since the legs looked kind of skinny (on top of his arms being farther apart from the shoulders), but the flaws in those two pale in comparison with the flaws present with the Titanium version! The skinny arms, the clunky legs, and the oversized head make him look like a laughing stock compared to the other versions. It was one of the better figures from that line (because man was it a hell of a mixed bag), but while some old toys from that time period like the Classics guys hold up decently, the Titanium Series mostly doesn't work too well.
For another comparison, here he is with Kingdom Cyclonus! Many complained about the two figures not being of the same height, but I do believe Cyclonus was actually taller in the show compared to Scourge. That being said, they look pretty good next to each other, though there's no denying that Cyclonus is the better figure of the two. Now, all we need to complete this trio of 86 movie Decepticons is Galvatron.
While Scourge sucks on his blast-effect-that-totally-doesn't-look-like-a-penis, I want to say that he makes for a good version of the character in spite of me feeling his alternate mode is goofy and his transformation a little basic. If you do happen to see him, be sure to pick him up and enjoy him! As for whether or not we'll get Sweeps, we'll see.
Final ranking:
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