Cliffbee.com Gobot Mirage Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Mirage
Series: Generation 2
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Counter Intelligence
Alternate Mode: F-1 Racing Car



CAR MODE
Height: 1.5cm Length: 7.5cm Width: 3cm

   A small formula 1 racer, Mirage has a black nose and cockpit with a yellow tail, with stripes of yellow and black on the engine section. It's worth mentioning that despite the wildly different colour scheme, this is the original Mirage, whilst Double-Clutch and SpyChanger Mirage, who both have colour schemes somewhat similar to the original Mirage, are not the original Mirage character. The base plastic is the black, BTW. He's got a yellow #5 on his nose with a red polygon around it on top of this nose. There are red 5's on his sides and black ones on the sides of the rear spoiler. His tyres are black with gold painted hubcaps. I guess some sponsors or something similar would be nice, but for 1994 the small number 5s are actually pretty good for a paint mask.

   The moulding detail's pretty good for such a small toy. There are supporting struts and axles on his wheels, above the actual axles (which are hidden), there's a steering wheel and even a cooling turbine above the engine. He has rear vision mirrors, too. The rear wheels are larger than the front ones. While this is the case on all six Gobot moulds, in this case it makes perfect sense.

   As with all Gobots, Mirage has front and rear axles, and can roll quite well, and is designed to fit into Hot Wheels tracks. He has twin sets of three mufflers sticking out the back, which mean he can't roll on anything that's not a flat surface - such as the hills of a Hot Wheels track.

   This is my least favourite of the Gobot moulds. The car mode's not bad, but it's a little small compared to the others and the low clearance works against it. The colours are nice, though.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Pretty simple. Pull down the rear to form the legs, fold down the hood to form the chest, pull out the arms.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 6.5cm Width: 4.5cm

   The black now dominates and the yellow disappears. His chest, arms and lower legs are black, his thighs and head are silver, his face is painted red. His has the yellow 5 on his chest, and the red polygon around it, but he's still really dark. The thick red paint of the face means there's not much visible detail, but there's not really much moulded detail on the head anyway.

   The feet are the mufflers from the car mode, which means Mirage has feet that hardly point forward at all - he often falls forward when placed on a surface with his hands at his sides. Add this to the small size of the toy and this robot mode's shape doesn't work that well.

   Poseability is about what you'd expect of a Gobot - his shoulders rotate. Of course, pointing his arms forward or giving him his silver gun makes him more likely to fall forward. His shoulders are too far down his torso for him to look very good with posed arms - the resulting stubbly arms can't clear the chestplate that is the car's nose.

   As you might guess, I'm not really a fan of this mode at all. The stability, lack of real feet and plain scrawniness (small arms, small for a Gobot) all work against it. The colours work in this mode, though. Sure, it's sombre, sure, it's not really Mirage, but it works as a colour scheme.

VARIATIONS

   None as such, but a well worn mould.

OVERALL

   A poor mould, the robot mode really fails to impress, the car mode's okay but can't make up for the robot mode. Still, this is the best toy of this mould since the colour scheme works in both modes. It's not a mould I recommend hunting down, but if you only get one version, this is the one to get - 4.5/10.

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