Name: Scourge
Series: 6" Titaniums
Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Tracker
Alternate Mode: Futuristic Plane
PLANE MODE
Height: 5cm Length: 14.5cm Width: 8cm
A light blue boat-shaped plane with royal blue on the top and at the nose. The overall look is very similar to the original although the front is pointed rather than curved. There are three gun towers towards the back, two light blue ones on either side and a royal blue one in the middle. There are some gold and white painted details, the front of the guns are red and there are purple Decepticon logos on either side of the central blue section, facing out to either side. The overall effect is very similar to the original, without the use of stickers this time around. The colours are attractive - blues always work well in tandem and the mixture of plastic and metal shades is seamless.
There's not all that much to this plane mode - it's sleek and compact without real wings. There is a single jet at the back, which looks good even if there are holes in the shell on either side of it. It works for Scourge and his distinctive quasi-hovercraft look, even if he's not your traditional plane shape.
There's no play value here. Unlike the G1 toy, there are no wheels underneath and the guns are fixed. The upside of that is that the central gun - which was detachable on the original, isn't as easy to lose. Most of the front half is die cast save for the nose itself, while the core of the back half is also metal, which evens out his weight.
The plane mode looks good although it doesn't do much. As with many of the 6" Titaniums, the alt mode is really here to support his robot mode. Unlike some of the Titaniums, he holds together well. I really do wish he at least had wheels, but otherwise I'm fairly happy with this vehicle mode despite the simplicity.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Very simple, which is keeping with the original - one of the most blatant shellformers ever. Fold back the central tower to form his head. Split the plane down the middle, fold out the rear panels to form wings and reveal the robot's arms and torso. Rotate the front sections to form boots and flip up his feet.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 14cm Width: 16cm
Scourge now has a royal blue body with light blue boots and wings. There's a lot of grey on his chest while his face is white with red eyes and a grey moustache. There are blue and gold patterns on his wings while the blue gun is on top of his head, complete with a red nozzle. There's a stamped Decepticon logo on his right shoulder and dark brown fists round out the colours. Again the two blues work well together and the colours really work well for Scourge. The facial moustache is well represented, although the head is tilted forward a tad which conceals his face a little more that I'd like.
While Scourge is your traditional shellformer, the designer has really concentrated on making the robot mode work. The wings look like wings more than just shell halves. Sure, they're still shell pieces, but they've been designed specifically to work as wings in their own right. The wings are much wider than the robot itself - he'd be about half as wide if you take the wingspan away. The legs won't stand together - he'll stand "at ease" only, which is minor engineering problem, but visually it still works.
Scourge's hands lack holes since the gun is on top of his head. His poseability is slightly disappointing for a 6" Titanium - he's let down my some relatively minor issues. The head and waist are fixed while the shoulders swing, the elbows are hinged and his wrists rotate. It's actually easier to pop off the forearms than it is to bend the elbows which gets annoying, although they pop back on just as easily. The hips swing sideways only, and it's the ratcheting joints in his hips which limit his legs to an "at ease" stance. The knees are hinged with rotators, but the limited hips restrict what you can do with the legs.
There's not all that much die cast here, but there's a critical mass - enough to make him feel sufficiently heavy. The torso and boots are all we get, but compared to the thing wings, it's enough.
A satisfying robot mode despite the limited play value, since this version of Scourge displays in ways that the original wasn't able to. The wings and face work well, the wings alone make this a good robot mode. The elbows and hips really needed some more work for the sake of play value, which holds him back, but the enhanced wings really do wonders.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of.
OVERALL
A limited toy in many ways - even for a 6" Titanium figure - but visually Scourge works really well, the colours and details work well for the character and the wings are about ten times better than on the original. He's not much more than a display piece thanks to very limited play value, but other than the elbows everything holds together well. A better match for the animated Scourge than the original toy, if not a fantastic Titanium figure - 6.5/10
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