Energon Energon Saber

Prelude: The mighty Star Saber (the combined Mini-Con weapon, not the Autobot from Victory) was one of the most powerful weapons in the Armada continuity. In Energon, a somewhat less powerful version of this weapon appeared in the form of the Energon Saber, mostly wielded by the most annoying human sidekick of all time, Kicker. So how do these Energon Mini-Cons measure up against the Armada originals? Let’s say go!

Many thanks to my buddy Fuchs Geronimo, who loaned me the Energon Saber for this review.

Robot Modes: The three robots comprising the team are retools of the Armada Air Defense Team, consisting of Skyboom (retool of Sonar), Scattor (retool of Jetstorm) and Wreckage (retool of Runway). The retooling is mostly on the jet shells the three little robots wear on their backs, so the robot modes look mostly identical to the originals apart from the colors. The Energon Saber Mini-Cons are mostly transparent yellow (the jet shells) with green, grey, and black parts in robot mode. All three retain the full articulation of their Armada predecessors, of course.

While the Mini-Cons are pretty neat in robot mode, they also retain the problems of their predecessors, of course, namely that the transparent parts tend to get brittle after a time and are prone to breakage. Seeing as all three of them have transparent parts that connect to joints (or even ARE joints), this means you need to be really careful when posing these little guys. Treat them like glass. Apart from that, though, very nice little robots. Among my favorites of the Unicron Trilogy Mini-Cons.

Alternate Modes: All three Energon Saber Mini-Cons transform into jets and this is where the retooling from the Armada predecessors becomes most obvious. Wreckage has changed the most from Runway with an almost entirely new jet shell, while Scattor and Skyboom just added some extra mini-wings to their modes. Add the color changes and they do appear sufficiently different from their predecessors to almost count as entirely new jets. Bottom line: still pretty neat jet modes for their size and with enough changes to make it interesting.

Combined Mode: The main point of this set is, of course, to combine the three Mini-Cons into a big sword. Skyboom becomes the hilt, Scattor the lower part of the blade, and Wreckage the upper part. The resulting sword doesn’t exactly look streamlined or particularly sharp, but it’s easily recognizable as a sword and can be held by pretty much every Transformers figure with a 5mm hole in their fists (meaning roughly 80% of all Transformers ever made, I believe). Due to the additional wings on the jets and Wreckage’s broader jet shell, the Energon Saber looks a good deal heftier than the Star Saber. Which one looks better? Again, subjective. Don’t try to smash either Saber against another figure, though, as it’s more likely to shatter than defeat your opponent. Still, my favorite of the Mini-Con weapons and this is the one mode where I personally think it looks better than the Star Saber.

Remarks: Despite being a retool of Armada’s Star Saber, the Energon Saber was an entirely separate weapon in the cartoon with no relation to the original. The component members had spent years embedded in a deposit of pure Energon, soaking up its power. They first formed into the Energon Saber during the battle of Plains City and were mostly wielded by Kicker from that moment on, who used it in combat or as a surfboard in space, too. It remained by Kicker’s side during the entire series, still serving as his surfboard when they witnessed the birth of a new sun from Unicron’s essence at the series’ ending.

At the end of the day the Energon Saber is nothing more and nothing less than a retool of the Armada Star Saber. The retooled shells of the jets look cool, though I must say I much prefer the colors of the original Armada bots. That is, of course, subjective. The Energon Saber molds were reused several times, i.e. for the Cryo Saber and the Chaos Saber. So bottom line: good Mini-Cons and a good weapon mode, so I recommend getting at least one version of this team. Which one you get is really just a matter of which colors you like best.

Rating: B