Generations Scourge

Robot Mode: There is one thing that made the original Scourge unique back in the day. He was the first and for a long time only Transformer with facial hair (at least of those who got a toy of them made). He also had bat-like wings in the cartoon that never quite resembled those halves of its vehicle mode the toy had on its back and the blue gizmo on top of his head also became rather iconic. Now Scourge has returned in Generations and he still has facial hair, still has that blue gizmo on top of his head and the wings on his back, while still not quite looking like bat wings, at least look like wings and not bathtub-halves. So that’s all points in his favor. He also has those claws sculpted onto his fingers that he had in the cartoon, while the toy had to make do with standard fists-with-holes, which is another big plus.

In terms of posability Scourge easily complies with the current standard of Transformers figures, meaning quite good. No limitations worth mentioning. The wings on his back are posable enough that you can move them out of the way of whatever dynamic arm movement you want, so no complaints here, either. The wings also serve as storage space for Scourge’s two weapons, a single- and a double-barreled gun that can be combined into a single weapon. If you want you can also leave the wings open, giving him a wider wing-span in robot mode, but that still doesn’t quite resemble the bat-wing look from the cartoon, sadly.

What else to say here? Not much. This figure is clearly Scourge, no doubt about it. Now if they’d found a way to give him the actual bat-wing look he had in the cartoon... but apart from that, a pretty perfect robot mode for Scourge.

Vehicle Mode: Unlike the “flying bathtub” that G1 Scourge transformed into, Generations Scourge transforms into something that actually looks like it might be able to fly. It’s a kind of flying wing, similar to a stealth bomber, and based off the Boeing X-48 (or so I’ve read). The aircraft has a very wide wingspan, so large that it barely fit into the Deluxe-sized plastic bubble (making one wonder why Scourge wasn’t packaged in robot mode).

Despite being called a shell-former by some, Scourge is no such thing. The front of the jet is formed from his legs, the wings on his back become the wings of the jet, his arms become the engines and his torso forms the jet’s middle part. So we have a rather similar transformation scheme when compared to the original, but without the shell-former aspect. Nicely done. Figuring out how to transform the torso takes a moment to figure out, but once you have it down, it goes smoothly.

Scourge can attach his double-barreled gun on top of his vehicle mode or store both of them inside his wings again. The craft has a landing gear, though a very small one, so no complaints on that front, either. If there is anything bad to be said about this mode, it’s that it looks rather plain, but that’s the extent of its flaws. In all other aspects, a very nice vehicle mode.

Remarks: Like many 80s cartoon series, the Transformers cartoon had a few unbreakable rules. The good guys had to outnumber the bad guys. No one would ever die. Everything would return to the status quo at the end of an episode (or multi-part episode). Transformers broke those rules big-time with the 1986 Transformers movie and while the third season of the cartoon, which followed it, reverted to type for the most part, it did introduce one new thing: expendable bad guys. To be more precise, Scourge’s apparently endlessly replicable Sweep drones became the Decepticons’ red shirts. They could be blown up and destroyed by the good guys without fear of parental outrage, because there were always more of them to replace the ones who were gone. Only Scourge himself, leader (and probable source) of the Sweeps never bit the big one, at least not on TV.

Now while the name Scourge has been used multiple times in Transformers history, the original owner of the name has been pretty much neglected. He appeared in the rather short-lived Titanium toy line and got a Botcon figure in 2009, but that was it. Now, though, he’s back in mass retail and people can begin army-building their Sweep legions.

Generations Scourge follows the trend of bringing back Transformers from the “Sci-Fi” years (meaning TFs that used science fiction style vehicle modes) and giving them present-day alternate modes. Overall Scourge is a success and there is nothing wrong with him, but for some reason I can’t get that excited about him. Maybe it’s because I like the Botcon version better, maybe it’s the rather boring-looking vehicle mode, I don’t know. Nothing objectively wrong with him, but he didn’t knock me off my feet, either.

Rating: B