Name: Scavenger
Series: Robots in Disguise
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: Demolition Vehicle
VEHICLE MODE
Height: 7cm Length: 11.5cm Width: 5cm
While Scavenger's clearly a demolition vehicle, it's obvious he's not based on any real machine. While this is typical of Beast Machines moulds, it's more pronounced on Scavenger than on his teammates Mirage GT or Nightcruz. He's a mix of white, cobalt blue and black with some gold paint, some transparent blue and gold chrome (yes, chrome!) on the back. It's a really nice mix for the most part, although the gold doesn't really work with the rest of the toy - they should have just stuck with the silver used on the Beast Machines version of this mould. Having said that, the overall colour scheme works better than that of the BM toy. The cobalt blue and white works well, with the black largely limited to his treads, wheels and various other stuff at the base of the toy. The chrome doesn't fit, as mentioned, but I'll give them points for using chrome.
As I said, Scavenger is clearly not based on an actual vehicle. He has sloped treads at the front, which stick out like pontoons, along with large black wheels at the rear. The chrome is on his claws, which hang off the back and drag along behind him. He has a bucket on top, not dissimilar to that on G1 Scavenger, although this time it's more like a set of jaws than a single open scoop. The rest of the toy is a mixture of blue and white techo bits, and on the left side he has a white panel which flips down to reveal a seemingly random red dome - which once housed a spark crystal (on the BM toy). I can deal with the removal of the spark crystal feature, considering that he's an Autobot and not a Vehicon, but surely they could have made the featureless dome black or something other than red.
There's a lot of play value here for a basic toy - it's probably the most poseable vehicular Transformer ever. The claw sits on top of a blue arm, which has both a ball joint and a hinge at the base, as well as an "elbow" between the solid arm and the transparent neck. There's a false piston inside the neck, and pulling on the end (which sticks out behind the elbow) will lift the upper jaw and open his "mouth". There's a ridge on top of this jaw which does the same thing, so it's nice they actually added the piston - it's an added bonus. The jaw is spring loaded and will close if you don't hold it open.
While the arm and jaw are impressive in themselves, Scavenger's not finished there. The lower jaw is also hinged, so if you want him open mouthed, just flip down the lower jaw. It's not spring loaded so you can leave it open, and the hinge is tight enough that it wont flop open. There are white weapons on either side of the upper jaw, both of which are on swivels. The right side is a triple missile rack while the left is a gatling gun.
Thanks to the jaws, which form a sort of head, this mode feels like it's some sort of wheeled drone, although it lacks eyes. The colours on the head (particularly the gold) mean he bears an uncanny semblance to Trypticon. The Autobot symbol stamped onto the right tread ruins this illusion, of course. Incidentally, this is the only allegiance displayed anywhere on this toy.
The end result of the seven points of articulation on this toy? Well, his weapons can point in any direction you like, and he can actually grab stuff off the floor. He can roll along, thanks to hidden wheels inside his treads and there are a bunch of other robot mode joints you can utilise if you want to make your own fanmodes. The colours used are better than on the previous toy of this mould, too, although I could have done without gold. The versatility makes this a good vehicle mode - especially for a basic.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Swing the wheels up to the sides and alongside the jaws, which will bring the robot arms into place. Swing the treads down to form his heelspurs, while his legs swing down and his robot feet flip out. There's a small black panel on top which pops up slightly to form his robot head.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 11cm Width: 7.5cm
Again a mixture of white, cobalt blue and black, Scavenger's colours aren't as good as those of his robot mode thanks to the gold claws - which ruin what should be a good colour scheme. In the vehicle mode they were more or less minor, but now they're beacons. There's a lightpipe in his head, but the dark transparent blue used doesn't work at all - and the lightpipe is badly designed anyway. While the fact that this toy is a positive, what they've done with it hurts here - silver chrome would have looked really good.
His head is a small black panel on top of the central torso, and it's tiny. He ends up being a hunchback with nothing in the way of a mouth - which passed for the BM toy (a drone), but now seems strange for a RiD character. I suppose strange proportions are in keeping with some of the unusual design elements that characterised the Beast Machines line, but this is a RiD toy, so really you'd expect some vehicular kibble that's readily identifiable.
As you've probably already guessed, this robot mode is about play value. His ankles are hinged, the giant heelspurs attach to the outsides of his shins and can adjust. His knees, hips, shoulders and elbows are all ball jointed - there's even two ball joints per elbow. His claws open and close, and the waist swivels (this one isn't immediately obvious). The giant arm of the vehicle mode is now the core of his robot mode, and all that play value is still available. So all told, this is a ridiculously poseable and playable robot mode with 26 (yes, twenty-six) points of articulation. Again, lots of fan modes are possible, and the giant heelspurs make pretty much anything possible with a little bit of fiddling.
If you're wondering what the catch is... well, it's poseability at the price of looks. The head looks silly and he doesn't really look like he transforms into anything. If you buy your Transformers for display and don't care for play value, I wouldn't except you to think much of this robot mode.
Weird proportions and that damn gold paint really hurt the look of this robot mode. It's a lot of fun to play with, but if you're going to display him, I'd recommend doing so in vehicle mode. His poseability is really only limited by your imagination, so he's a lot of fun and for me this makes the robot mode worthwhile.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of, although he is a repaint, as mentioned. He was sold in a three pack with Mirage GT and Nightcruz.
OVERALL
Ridiculously fun to play with, Scavenger is well articulated for an Ultra - and he's only a basic. The vehicle mode looks pretty good, the robot mode isn't quite as pretty but features more poseability. It's _almost_ a great repaint, and if you missed the BM toy I'd recommend him. Of course, he comes with two other toys so it hinges on how much you want those two. He's better that Mirage GT but not as nice as Nightcruz - 6.5/10
|
