TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Box Art:

Sir Auros' review of: Nightcruz, Mirage GT, and Scavenger Triple-pack

Name: Nightcruz, Mirage GT, and Scavenger
Function: Autobot Warriors
First cartoon appearance: N/a

To kind of go along with the Predacon three pack in the Robots in Disguise line, Hasbro released this three pack of repainted Beast Machines Vehicons as Autobots. I think the paintjob on Nightcruz isn't better or worse than his Beast Machines incarnation, Mirage GT is hideously loud compared to Beast Machines Mirage, and Scavenger is a HUGE improvement. Mirage GT is bright yellow and black while Mirage from Beast Machines was a sensible black and silver, and yellow works on a VW Beetle, but not on a funky F1 wannabe. Scavenger actually looks presentable now that he's blue and white instead of neon orange and green and other fugly colors and the recoloring really changes one's perception of the figure as a toy, or at least it did for me anyway. The other main difference aesthetically is that now they don't have spark crystals and where the spark crystals were in the original molds, there are these red bumps. These guys came out later in the Robots in Disguise line and I wonder how widespread the distribution was because I rarely saw them anywhere but KB toystore. As I said before, they were the Autobot equivalents of the Predacon three-pack, so they were priced for the same amount everywhere that I ever saw them.

Vehicle Mode:
Mirage GT is the same F1 type of car and I think his vehicle mode is pretty good except for his head being clearly visible. Mirage GT is the only figure in this set that has the visible head syndrome that I really hate to see Transformers suffer from. That and the ridiculous bright yellow kind of annoy me, and he seems to have a problem keeping all four wheels level because sometimes the middle of the car is lower to the ground than either of the pairs of wheels so it takes a bit of fiddling to get all the wheels even and on the ground. I'd say Mirage GT's vehicle mode is pretty average because the robot mode is so apparent and he's so awkward. Nightcruz has the best vehicle mode as something that looks like a complete rip-off of the X-Men's jet...but that's not necessarily a bad thing as it's very aesthetically pleasing. In fact, Nightcruz's vehicle mode is so sweet the only criticism I can throw at it is the ugly red button on the top. They really could've gone with a better color that matched the rest of his color scheme instead of doing that just for consistency between the three figures. Scavenger sadly still has the worst vehicle mode because he really doesn't look like any practical construction vehicle and, well, it's just an ugly mode. At least he has a tasteful color scheme this time around, so the figure's not nearly as bad as it could have been and his robot mode doesn't seem to dominate his vehicle mode like Mirage GT.

Robot Mode:
I'm not overly fond of Mirage GT's robot mode mainly because I hate the way his legs look. I'm not fond of the front of the car not serving as his chest either. His head looks too large for his body too. On the upside, he does have hands and he's symmetrical, so he's got that going for him. Nightcruz...doesn't have hands and is asymmetrical, and I don't like that in a figure, but despite that, I really like his robot mode. His legs are REALLY cool with the way the feet work and the posing that it allows. His missile launcher arm and his claw arm are actually pretty flexible. I would've liked it if his head could move up and down in addition to side to side, but I guess you can't win 'em all. Scavenger has the best robot mode out of this bunch, and I actually think he has one of the coolest robot modes ever. He's poseable in his arms and legs, he has claws instead of hands, and a built-in missile launcher and chain gun. Sure, the other guys in the set have firing missiles, but Scavenger has a CHAIN GUN! Nobody screws with you if you have one of those. His robot mode also just looks like he could be this hulking behemoth of a robot and I think it would be pretty sweet to have seen his figure in a larger size just for a huge robot mode. The only bad thing about his robot mode is that his head isn't very well detailed and it's completely immobile. If only his head were painted and you could make out the details, I'd say this guy has a perfect robot mode.

Transformation: 5 - Nightcruz has a pretty simple transformation, so I have no beef with him. Mirage GT's transformation is somewhat confusing because it's entirely possible to have him in a few different robot modes and none of them really look that good. Scavenger is the only Transformer I've ever had that I cannot transform without the instructions, well, I can't put him back into a proper-looking vehicle mode anyway.
Durability: 8 - Nothing's broken on mine so far and nothing seems likely to break thanks to the ball and socket joints.
Fun: 10 - Oh, these guys are loads of fun. Mirage GT and Nightcruz have fun vehicle modes. Nightcruz and Scavenger both have great robot modes, but I must say Scavenger's robot mode is very enjoyable and I've played with him in that form more than any other Transformer lately. They can also be posed so that they look like they're pulling Three Stooges style hijinks.
Price: 7 - I wouldn't say that they're really worth it for the $15 the were originally, but at this point in the game, you can probably find them cheap online or even still warming shelves in some places. I got mine for $10 and I think that's a fair price.
Overall: 6 - They're a nice set if you like the influence the Beast Wars line has had on Transformers toys and don't mind a total sum of mediocre bots. Some of them shine in certain areas, but none of them can really be much more than average.