As part of the celebration of the Transformers movie I felt compelled to do a review of a Transformer. Having grown up in the 80s I have a great love for Transformers being one of my favorite childhood toys and cartoons, and being a fairly selective collector these days its nice to still be able to appreciate the great things being done in a toy line that has spanned almost three decades.
I chose to review my favorite Transformer to date which is the Galaxy Force Scourge, but as I'm sure you noticed, the picture above is not the standard GF Scourge, so before going any further with the review I'll clear up what Scourge this is and why there are at least four different names for basically the same toy (Flame Convoy, Blue Flame Convoy, Scourge and Cryo Scourge).
Probably the first thing I should mention is that all Transformers designs have always initially been manufactured and designed by Takara in Japan. This is so even today, and the first version of any Transformer is always first released in Japan most often under a different name and with different packaging. This was true even with first generation of Transformers, although in Japan these transforming toys weren't called Transformers. The name "Transformers" was a name created and copyrighted by Hasbro to market the Japanese transforming toys to American kids. In fact the Japanese versions of Transformers weren't even all part of one single toy line. The two primary toy lines that most first generation Transformers come from were called Diaclone and Micro Change, but there were also other toy lines that eventually made their way into the Transformers line up, such as Takatoku's "Beetras" toy line that here in America we know as Insecticons. But how Takatoku's toy lines came to be part of the Transformers line is probably a whole article within itself.
So Scourge was originally released as Flame Convoy in Japan roughly a year before the American version was given the name of Scourge to be marketed and sold here in American to coincide with the Cybertron cartoon. There are some subtle differences in the actual Japanese and American figures. The plastic used for the Japanese version is slightly darker, especially noticable in the orange areas. Some people say the joints are tighter on the Japanese version, but I haven't noticed enough of a difference to make it an issue.
Next we move on to what the "Blue Flame" Convoy edition is. The Blue Flame edition (sometimes called the Sky Lynx edition) is a "lucky draw" figure, which are special edition Transformers given away as part of a registered drawing. Some Lucky Draw figures have been sponsored by Japanese magazines, or in the case of Blue Flame Convoy it was sponsored by Takara directly. Most of the Lucky Draw figures from the past were gold chromed versions. Also, Lucky Draw figures have always been limited to 100 pieces or less. In the case of Blue Flame Convoy the figure was limited to 50 pieces.
Anatomically and functionally the Blue Flame edition is exactly the same as the regular Scourge/ Flame Convoy. The reason I chose to focus on this figure is because it's such a great transformation design that works as well as any transforming figure can. Many Transformer designs have sacrificed a lot of their functional abilities, appearance and proportions of the robot figure in order for their vehicle counterpart to realistically look like the animal or car, but for the Flame Convoy design it's almost as if no sacrifice was neccessary. It looks great in both modes and works extremely well functionally. Both modes have a notable amount of articulation in most of the major areas. In fact the only area that doesn't have some type of articulation is the waist.
The transformation process is also excellent. It's not too simple or complex, and it feels like a relatively sturdy transformation process with a solid build on the figure. It's always reassuring to have a figure that feels like its going to be able to stand up to the test of time and can really be played with.
The details and gimmicks are really cool too. With two different sets of sounds that change depending on whether the power key is plugged in or out, you get the classic transforming sound, or a growl, and it has laser sounds of course with eyes that light up.
Yes this is one of my favorite Transformers, but I would also note that many of the Galaxy Force Transformers made some great improvements that incorporated some much improved visual appeal and overall coolness than what what was being done in the years immediately prior. The Scourge/ Flame Convoy is an example of what a Transformer can be in top form and I recommend it highly, but if you want to buy a blue flame version you'll have to fork out the bucks. The lowest I've seen them sell for is $450 and as high as $1600.
