You wouldn’t know it from looking at my recent reviews, but I’ve bought a lot of the Generations TFs. I really should review them – some have been waiting quite awhile, but I wanted to rush Scourge to the front of the line. I’ve always been a Scourge fan and I’m ecstatic he’s finally got a cool toy.

I guess I should clarify or I’m going to get e-mails. Scourge has had a few toys before, but we could debate ad nauseam if they were “cool” or not. There’s the original (& the subsequent Targetmaster) of course, but I never got to have it as a kid even though Scourge was one of my favorite Movie designs. Allowance was limited and I just never got around to Scourge after Springer, Hot Rod, etc. There was a Botcon Scourge a year or two ago, but, ironically, my “adult allowance” is similarly limited (sigh) and it’s best if I stay away from Botcon sets (even when they’re Animated… let’s not talk about that, okay?)

Anyway, other Scourges weren’t really that cool. The original’s alt mode (a space faring boat, I guess?) was neat, but the robot form lacks charm. The Titanium and Botcon versions are okay, but I never really got into Titanium and I can’t afford Botcon sets, so they’re out. But a Scourge with an awesome robot mode at Wal-Mart for $12? Well, finally something my allowance can buy.

Scourge first appears in The Transformers: The Movie when he’s created from the remains of Thundercracker. Now, I’m sure I’ve bored you all with the heartfelt story of my Dad taking me to the movie before, but one of the things I remember is watching so many of my favorite Transformers die. It wasn’t traumatizing really, but looking back it probably should’ve been. My favorites were killed pretty quickly – Ironhide, Ratchet, etc. and then my favorite Decepticon got tossed out into space and left for dead. No, not Megatron, Thundercracker! For this trouble, Unicron remade Thundercracker into Scourge and, just as Hasbro intended, Scourge became my new favorite Deception.

Sad, isn’t it?

While Scourge was originally a “cybertronian hovercraft” this version is based loosely on a real plane, the experimental Boeing X-48. When I was a kid, Thundercracker was favorite of mine because he was an F-15 Eagle and he was blue (things aren’t complicated when you’re five), so Scourge now being a cool looking blue plane certainly doesn’t bother me one bit. I do appreciate that some of elements of the original Scourge were retained too, particularly the cannon on his head.

What’s really exceptional about Scourge’s new alt mode if that it’s nice and smooth. I love the Generations jets, but it’s always annoying to look under the plane and basically have the robot mode just scrunched up under the plane with the face starting out at you. Scourge folds up nicely inside his alt mode and he looks great from the top and from the bottom.

There are some boxy bits here and there, but most of the alt mode pretty accurately reflects the “flying wing” design of the X-48. Scourge’s blue and white colors also look great in this mode (though I wish the blue line extended to the wingtip) and the large Decepticon symbol is welcome – I’m not really enjoying the “Reveal the Shield” campaign in the 2010 line. It’s cool – I loved it as a kid – but, it’s a novelty that wears off. I’d rather they have true Decepticon & Autobot symbols.

Before I jump into his robot mode, I had to point out a hilarious extra feature on Scourge. During his transformation, his head pops up a bit to sit higher on his neck. If you leave his head in the higher position while transforming him into the plane, you can recreate one of the silliest things about Scourge – his penchant for leaving his head sticking out of the top of the “hovercraft” mode. It always looked odd when he did it in the cartoon and it looks odd here too, but it’s awesome that he can do it.

As much as I enjoy the plane mode, it’s his robot mode that really made me happy with this purchase. I have only one complaint – I wish he were a little taller because he verges on being almost too wide for as tall as he is. It’s a minor complaint, I know, but I wanted to get out of the way before I start heaping on a ton of affection.

I don’t really have a good way of showing transformation in these reviews. I doubt any of you really want to see pics of transformers amid the steps it takes to get them from one mode to another, but I can tell you that Scourge’s transformation is fairly straight-forward. The days of being able to transform them without instructions are basically gone for me, but I was able to pick up on Scourge’s back-and-forth after just one walkthrough with the instructions. The only problem I had is that the wings want to pop off. There are some parts that want to be in the same place at the same time. Nothing breaks, but the pegs on the wings pop out of the clips and it can be a real pain to get them back in.

After you get him transformed, you end up with a pretty cool figure. I think it’s closer to the original toy than it the animation and I’m cool with that. In the picture above, you might note that I’ve folded his wings out differently than what is outlined in the instructions or shown in Hasbro images. Online Transformers fans are a smart bunch and one of the “alternate transformations” that’s been discovered is to unfold the wings like in the pic above to better recreate Scourge’s classic “cape”.

The highlight of the robot mode is his head of course. He’s got one badass goatee, surely worth the $12 alone. I was surprised to see blue eyes on Scourge though, I’m sure they should be red?

Articulation is really nice on Scourge. He’s got ball-joints for his head and hips, and de facto ball joints for his shoulders, elbows, and ankles. Swivel cuts for this thighs, wrists, and waist, and hinged knees. Plus, the transformation joints add a bit more here and there.

Scourge included a gun that is reminiscent of Fracas, his old Targetmaster gun. It’s comprised of two pieces – a simple pistol that folds in half and another set of barrels that fits into the c-clip on top of the main gun. Speaking of c-clips, Scourge has three – two on the underside of the plane and another on top of his head.

Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out this cool little feature. His weapons store inside his wings! It’s particularly awesome.

Overall, I think Scourge is easily my favorite Generations Transformer. That’d probably mean more to you if I’d been reviewing them this whole time and you knew which ones I had, but rest assured I’ve got about a dozen of them.

Scourge looks great in his alt more and kickass in his bot mode. The head sculpt makes me happy and the blue & white color scheme really makes him pop on the shelf. I was happily snapping up Generations for $9 throughout the Christmas season and I’ll admit that I felt a little hesitant about going back to the $12 price, but Scourge is well worth it. The only problem I see is that I want more of him for use as Sweeps – combined with a few Wreck-Gars, I could get a cool biker gang going.

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