Animated Dirge

Series: Animated
Allegiance: Decepticon
Categories: Activator
Year: 2009

Greedy, grasping, and never satisfied, Dirge always hungers for more. More power. More fuel. More altitude. Whatever it is, Dirge wants all of it. He's another clone of Starscream who reveals the worst aspect of that fighter ace's ambition - the inability to ever be content with what he has.

Robot Mode: Dirge is a repaint of Activator Starscream, so I’ll keep this relatively brief. The Activator version of Starscream & Co. is, apart from the size, actually the somewhat more screen-accurate version. The arm cannons are a lot more faithful and there are no strange flaps hanging off his back. Articulation is pretty good, too, and there is really very little bad to be said about this figure, whichever of the Seekers it is used to represent.

Dirge comes in the traditional blue and beige colours of G1 Dirge, though without a cone head this time. Like all Activators he has an auto-transformation gimmick that makes the robot spring up from his vehicle mode at the touch of a trigger. So all in all, a very nice figure with no real flaws.

Alternate Mode: Naturally Dirge transforms into the same futuristic harrier jet as Starscream and all his other clones. Here the Activator fares a tad worse than the Voyager class version, as the jet looks a bit blunt (short nose) and you can clearly see the robot mode arms under the wings. Otherwise, though, still a nice-looking jet with a working landing gear and nice detailing. A fully sufficient vehicle mode for Dirge.

Remarks: Dirge is a toy-only character, as he never appeared in either the Animated TV series or the IDW comic books. His only in-media appearance was in the Allspark Almanac II, where it was revealed that Swindle swiped Starscream's cloning technology and created to clones of his own to serve as bodyguards. There was Thrust (representing Starscream's envy) and Dirge (representing Starscream's greed). Well, at least Dirge still got a toy. Thrust remains the only Animated Starscream clone who got neither a cartoon appearance nor a toy. He's got much to be envious about, thus.

The Activator Seeker mold is a pretty good toy. Given that the Activator line was aimed at a younger audience than the bigger figures (much like today’s Cyberverse line) the figure fully accomplishes what it set out to do. Sadly you can’t assemble Starscream’s full clone squadron in scale, as neither the Voyager nor the Activator class got all the clones (and Thrust was left out entirely), but still: if you want to build your own clone army, you won’t get past the Animated Activators. Recommended to all Animated fans.

Rating: B