Cliffbee.com Liger Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Liger
Series: Robot Masters
Allegiance: Cybertron
Function: Spy
Alternate Mode: F-1 Racer

   Note: This toy has the name "Rijie" on it's box, in English. However, the name "Liger" is the Japanese name for Mirage, who sports the word "Liger" on him (hence the name). So I'm calling this guy Liger, as opposed to the mistranslated name on the box.



RACER MODE
Height: 3cm Length: 11cm Width: 5cm

   A royal blue F-1 racer with a lot of white paneling, black tyres and silver painted hubcaps, it's really easy to work out that Liger is an incarnation of the Mirage (Liger) of G1. He has a Cybertron logo stamped on the nose, and just in front of this he sports the number "26" in black - which is the same number as on the original. On the sides he sports the word "Robotmasters" in white. The top of the spoiler is painted silver with the words "Robotmasters" and "RM-03" in unpainted blue, while the sides of this spoiler sport "RM-03" in white, to match the sides of the car. All told, it's a pretty nice colour scheme which matches the original's pretty closely, save for the differences in wording. I find it ironic that the word "Liger" no longer appears on Liger...

   So it's very apparent this is a Robotmasters toy, and to be honest I'd have preferred slightly less exposition. Despite this flaw, it's a much better tribute than Machine Wars Mirage, which used the same mould. That toy had less white, unpainted hubcaps and... wasn't blue.

   There's a small black seat back in the open cockpit, which is it's own piece of plastic, although there doesn't seem to be any need for this piece. Still, it's nice they bothered putting it in.

   There's not much play value in this mode - the wheels roll and that's it. The good news is that the front wheels are on an axle and all four wheels roll freely. I don't expect much more of a Formula-1 racer than rolling wheels, so the fact that Liger rolls well is enough for me. I guess we could ask that his weapons could attach in this mode, but that would involve there being a hole somewhere on the toy, which would have meant a mixed blessing.

   It's a simple vehicle mode, but it does what it has to do, so mouldwise I can't really complain. It's a good Mirage reincarnation, and the blue contrasts really well with the white. The stamped Autobot symbol and stamped racing number grace a toy of this mould together for the first time as well.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   In theory, lift the tail and Liger will transform himself thanks to internal springs. In reality you have to adjust his limbs a little as well - mainly for stable posing. It's about as close as you're going to get with an auto-transform on a poseable toy, mind you. He has two weapons - a chrome silver pistol and a blue shotgun that's stowed inside his shins in two parts. Attach one in either hand.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 10cm Width: 7.5cm

   Again largely royal blue with the white nose of the car now his chest, Liger has white thighs and hands, silver shins and the black tyres now sit on his hips and ankles. The colours more or less correspond with the G1 toy's, and the nose was the chest on that toy also. The front heels were behind the shoulders in G1, so the black tyres on his waist stand out - the cost of having an axle. Liger's insignia is now central on his chest, and it works well there. His head is blue with a lot of silver detail and a pretty complex sculpt. He has yellow eyes and the lightpipe works fairly well - the MW toy missed out on a lightpipe, BTW. All told, it's a good colour scheme that really works as Mirage.

   Liger has pretty good articulation - his neck, shoulders, hips and elbows are ball joints while his knees are hinged. The airdam forms his groin, and hangs over his thighs limiting his hips while the front wheels sit wider than his shoulders, limiting the arms. The hip restrictions bother me a little, since a lot of poses are ruled out. The tyres don't bother me so much, since they really only prevent the arms from resting at his sides, and I can deal with having to put Liger in action poses.

   You can remove the front half of the blue rifle, leaving Liger with a small blue pistol, and both modes look cool. The larger silver pistol has a magazine at the front and harks back to Mirage's original chromed gun. As with all Robotmasters, Liger's chrome gun is a new addition to the mould, but works better than most - making it a great addition.

   The airdam and tyres getting in his way are the only substantial flaws of this mode, but neither are enough to ruin it. The articulation is still meaningful and he comes with two cool guns. The colour scheme is great and again it works well as G1 Mirage.

VARIATIONS

   As mentioned, this is a repaint of MW Mirage - as well as a repaint of MW Prowl and Skid-Z of RiD. No actual variants that I know of, however.

OVERALL

   This is a great repaint that breathes new life into this mould. It's easily better than MW Mirage, and is a great Mirage tribute. This toy has good play value, which is slightly restricted by kibble in robot mode, but it's not enough to really hurt the toy. Liger comes with an extra gun, so even if you have a previous version of this mould, he's a toy I'd recommend - 7.5/10

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