Review #79: Old & New - Mirage
-- Ultra Prime Review Series #2 --
After last time taking a look at Sunstreaker, we move on to the second review of this series. This time, we take a look at Mirage!
In addition to the recent Combiner Wars version of the toy, we will also be looking at the version of this character from the 2006 Classics toy line. The Classics toy will be on the left side of these photos, and the Combiner Wars one will be on the right. Well, let's take a look at them, shall we? |
Both Mirages turn into blue and white Formula race cars, just like their G1 counterpart. Unlike the G1 toy, however, the new ones lack sponsorship from "Citanes," although since that was actually a slight corruption of "Gitanes," a French cigarette company, dropping this reference is not a huge surprise. In its place, the Classics toy has sponsorships such as "Witwicky Sparkplugs" and "Lithonian Drivetrain" make references to things from the G1 cartoon.
The Combiner Wars toy, on the other hand, seems to lack any sponsorship, with the only words on his vehicle mode being "Circuit Racing." There is a Reprolabels set for him that will fix that quite nicely, but like with Sunstreaker, I don't have the Reprolabels yet, And so we will look at them separately in a later review.
The Classics toy is numbered 26, sharing that number with the G1 toy. The Combiner Wars version, on the other hand, seems to have a bit of dyslexia, as his numbering has changed to 62.
In vehicle mode, both of these Mirages are good Mirages! I might quibble a bit that the Combiner Wars version could have used a larger rear spoiler, but aside from that they are both just as good in this mode.
The Combiner Wars toy, on the other hand, seems to lack any sponsorship, with the only words on his vehicle mode being "Circuit Racing." There is a Reprolabels set for him that will fix that quite nicely, but like with Sunstreaker, I don't have the Reprolabels yet, And so we will look at them separately in a later review.
The Classics toy is numbered 26, sharing that number with the G1 toy. The Combiner Wars version, on the other hand, seems to have a bit of dyslexia, as his numbering has changed to 62.
In vehicle mode, both of these Mirages are good Mirages! I might quibble a bit that the Combiner Wars version could have used a larger rear spoiler, but aside from that they are both just as good in this mode.
You may have noticed that, unlike what I did in my review of Combiner Wars Sunstreaker, so far I have chosen to photograph Combiner Wars Mirage without his weapons attached. That is because, well, one of his weapons is a bit weird.
His smaller weapon is kind of like Sunstreaker's, in that it looks as if it could be used either as a sword or a gun. However, the "gun" peg, rather than being properly perpendicular to the main body of the weapon, comes out at an angle. And since that is the most logical peg for vehicle mode storage, the effect is that the whole weapon ends up jutting out at that angle. I suppose, in a way, it makes sense. If you were going to have a big blade on your car to slash other cars' tires, you'd want it angled out like that. But still, I cannot help but just think it looks weird, and feels a bit wrong somehow. |
Beyond that, as a Combiner Wars figure he obviously comes with the standard hand/foot gun thingy. It can be attached to a peg behind the seat of Mirage's vehicle mode. It looks alright there, but must provide some awful wind resistance when he is racing!
Since I didn't go into it much during Sunstreaker's review, I shall take this opportunity now to speak a bit more about the hand/foot gun thingies that have come with all four of the Combiner Wars limb bots I will be looking at as part of this series of reviews. Prior to this group, the hand/foot gun thingies have been rather uniform in color, such as the Aerialbot's black or white (depending on if you went Hasbro or Takara) or the Stunticon's purple. But these four actually have a rather nice looking two toned effect, with parts of the hand/foot gun thingies being cast in an unpainted dark grey plastic, and other parts being given a fabulous coating of silver paint. It really makes for a nice looking piece, and the extra touch of the paint on them is very much appreciated.
Since I didn't go into it much during Sunstreaker's review, I shall take this opportunity now to speak a bit more about the hand/foot gun thingies that have come with all four of the Combiner Wars limb bots I will be looking at as part of this series of reviews. Prior to this group, the hand/foot gun thingies have been rather uniform in color, such as the Aerialbot's black or white (depending on if you went Hasbro or Takara) or the Stunticon's purple. But these four actually have a rather nice looking two toned effect, with parts of the hand/foot gun thingies being cast in an unpainted dark grey plastic, and other parts being given a fabulous coating of silver paint. It really makes for a nice looking piece, and the extra touch of the paint on them is very much appreciated.
And here we come to robot mode! And, well, my feelings are a bit mixed. The Classics version was one of the first line of Classics figures back in 2006, and at the time I was happy with him. But looking at him now, with the Combiner Wars version next to him, he does look a bit weird. His proportions just seem a bit off, with his tiny head, super broad shoulders, and tiny waist.
On the other hand, though, while the Combiner Wars one is much better proportioned, and while he still looks like Mirage to me, other opinions I have seen on the internet seem to express a lot of disappointment at a Mirage who's vehicle's front end didn't end up as his chest. I have seen at least one fan-made alternate transformation that attempted to fix this, but any transformation that involves ripping off the arms and swapping them doesn't quite seem right to me. |
The shoulder missile the Classics version is sporting is accurate to the character, but like the Sideswipe we looked at along with Sunstreaker, it was an extra accessory included with Fansproject's trailer for the Classics Voyager Optimus Prime. As such, it alas has nowhere to store in Mirage's vehicle mode. (Good thing I have an Optimus trailer to throw these extra parts into when they're all in their vehicle modes!) Classics Mirage's hand held weapon, on the other hand, is made from detaching his vehicle mode's front wing, resulting in a weapon that makes it look like Mirage shops at the same gun store as Chewbacca. Even though it is a slightly odd weapon choice for Mirage, I do appreciate how well it integrates into his vehicle mode. One thing I miss a lot on newer figures is the complete lack of any attempt to actually hide the weapons in vehicle mode. "Robots in disguise" kind of give themselves away when you have a civilian vehicle with a giant gun attached to the roof or side!
Let us move on to articulation. The 2006 Classics figure is a little weird by modern standards, but not bad for a figure of the time. The head is on a ball joint, but it is a bit limited by how the head sits on the body. The arms are very nice, with ball jointed shoulders, an upper arm swivel, and a great double elbow. He has a waist swivel. He has ball jointed hips. One artifact of his age is that he lacks any upper leg swivel, which would be seen as awful on a modern Deluxe class figure, but wasn't entirely unheard of in 2006. You can cheat it a tiny bit with the ball joints in the hips, but not a lot. He has knees that bend 90 degrees, and you can use a transformation joint lower in his leg to simulate even more knee bend with careful posing. (From some angles, using that second joint just leads his leg to look broken.) There technically are no ankle joints, but the transformation joints in his toes can help maintain a flat-footed look in some poses where he otherwise wouldn't be flat-footed.
Let us move on to articulation. The 2006 Classics figure is a little weird by modern standards, but not bad for a figure of the time. The head is on a ball joint, but it is a bit limited by how the head sits on the body. The arms are very nice, with ball jointed shoulders, an upper arm swivel, and a great double elbow. He has a waist swivel. He has ball jointed hips. One artifact of his age is that he lacks any upper leg swivel, which would be seen as awful on a modern Deluxe class figure, but wasn't entirely unheard of in 2006. You can cheat it a tiny bit with the ball joints in the hips, but not a lot. He has knees that bend 90 degrees, and you can use a transformation joint lower in his leg to simulate even more knee bend with careful posing. (From some angles, using that second joint just leads his leg to look broken.) There technically are no ankle joints, but the transformation joints in his toes can help maintain a flat-footed look in some poses where he otherwise wouldn't be flat-footed.
The Combiner Wars Mirage sports pretty standard articulation for a Combiner Wars Deluxe, which fortunately is pretty good articulation! His head is on a ball joint, as are his shoulders. He has upper arm swivels, and his elbows bend about 90 degrees. He has a waist swivel. His hips have ball joints. He does have the upper leg swivel that is absent on the Classics version. And finally, his knees bend about 90 degrees.
To the right is a photo of Combiner Wars Mirage holding his weapon as if it were a gun, using the previously lamented angled peg. As you can see, he can hold it that way, but it is a bit awkward. So, when it comes right down to it, which one is the better Mirage? Like with Sunstreaker, I again feel it is almost a coin toss. Can you get past the slightly odd proportions on the Classics figure? Maybe that is the Mirage for you. Does the lack of the race car's front end on the robot mode's chest not keep you up at night? Then maybe you'll enjoy Combiner Wars Mirage. Have room in your collection for two Mirages? Then why not both? |
Now, just for fun, let us take a quick look at how he compares with Drag Strip. In vehicle mode, you'll see Combiner Wars Mirage along with the third party Drag Strip I own. And in robot mode, they will be joined (like with Sunstreaker, thanks to the magic of Google image search) by the Combiner Wars Drag Strip.
And once again, we can see how far a new head and a new color scheme can go to make two otherwise identical toys look like two completely different characters. Looking at Combiner Wars Mirage, I don't just see a Mirage shoehorned into Drag Strip's body to get another quick use out of a new mold. I see Mirage.
Anyway, as is my standard, we shall end things with a photo of the figures I've looked at today long with a standard sized DVD case to provide a size reference.
Anyway, as is my standard, we shall end things with a photo of the figures I've looked at today long with a standard sized DVD case to provide a size reference.
Ha ha... You know, looking at him straight on, he does still have funny proportions... But put him in a nice pose, and, well... Classics Mirage actually looks kind of bad ass in that last photo, doesn't he? Anyway, that's it for this time. Back again soon with the next review in this series.
Review added 10 January 2016 by Yotsuya. Comments are welcomed!
Review added 10 January 2016 by Yotsuya. Comments are welcomed!