Scourge

"Have I got the wrong idea, or are these guys a bunch of wimps?"

Name: Scourge
Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Sweep Leader
Motto: "Desolation follows in my trail."

Profile: Scourge is the most fearsome and implacable hunter-destroyer created by Unicron from the wreckage of dead Decepticons. Scourge is leader of "The Sweeps," a specially created wolf pack of tracker-terminators designed by Unicron to hunt down and eradicate Autobots and their human allies.

Abilities: Scourge is possessed of scanning and locating equipment, which can detect machine or human presence even if it is as small as an amoeba in the ocean or a wind-up toy in the Sahara desert. And he is merciless and capable of using such weapons as acid rays, which dissolve his targets, laser blasters, disintegrator beams, and assorted demolition and fusion devices in eliminating his prey. He can transform to a scouring vehicle, a marauding automotive mode which handles any terrain and scans for "survivors."

Weaknesses: Scourge's only weakness is his arrogance.

Strength: 8; Intelligence: 8; Speed: 9; Endurance: 8; Rank: 9; Courage: 9; Firepower: 8; Skill: 8

G1 Animation Model

Robot Mode

Alt Mode

Alternate Versions

G1 Marvel Comic

G1 Toy

Third-Party Images

After my recent eBay purchase of X-Transbots not-Cyclonus figure, Eligos, I decided to pick up their version of Scourge to complete my trio of Unicron-forged future Decepticons. Enter Andras, the leader of the Swam (aka the not-Sweeps). Although Scourge had little to do in the movie, he came into his own during the third and fourth season of the animated series, and played a pivotal role in the Marvel comic.

The original G1 toy had a pretty decent alt mode, which looked a fair bit like the animation model, but as you can see above, it simply couldn't replicate the contours of his wings, chest, arms and legs in his  robot mode. Thankfully Andras remedies the vast majority of those issues, with a pretty 'toon accurate sculpt and colour scheme. Here's a shot of him striking a pose.

X-Transbots MX-II Andras

As I'm sure you'll agree, he looks very good. Of course there are minor differences from the official animation model, but said model often varied from scene to scene and on the whole Andras is a faithful representation of Scourge. While he lacks the spiked toes as seen in the model above, numerous episodes of the cartoon depict the feet exactly as they appear on Andras. Similarly, the grey face, arms, thighs and wing interiors of the G1 model were often shown to be the shade of light blue X-Transbots has used. The Transformers series inconsistent at best, so it's relatively easy to forgive minor deviations from the 'proper' model. Still, I can't help but feel that they grey would have helped to break up the already very blue colour scheme. It would have been eminently possible as none of the the aforementioned areas are visible in his alt mode, save for the arms, which are tucked away at the back anyway.

X-Transbots MX-II Andras

Speaking of the back, it is quite busy in robot mode, but Scourge's design necessitates that he's a panel former. Even so, the wings look very good and you can even choose to ignore the instructions and tuck the smaller wings away for a slightly cleaner look. You can also peg the Targetmaster companion into the back if you so desire.

X-Transbots MX-II Andras

Here's a closer look at a couple of the figure's gimmicks. First up we have a chest panel that opens up to reveal a couple of doors, which when opened will accommodate the Matrix from MP-10 (or a third-party Matrix if you have one). Secondly, there's an abdominal chamber that opens to reveal the key to the plasma energy chamber. Both of these are cute nods to a couple of Scourge-heavy episodes of the the animated series. You can also see the LED feature that lights both the eyes and the gun on the top of the head. I really wish that XTB had seen fit to include a set of metallic red eyes (as with Eligos) for those who don't want to use the LED feature, as they are otherwise dull and lifeless

X-Transbots MX-II Andras

Here we have Scourge's Nebulon Targetmaster companion, Fracas, or Rimshot as he's called here (surely there was a better synonym for fracas than that? Quarrel? Skirmish? Uproar?). It's a nice enough sculpt, but his joints are a bit odd and his gun mode doesn't peg together all that well. Truncheon (packaged with XTB's Eligos) was a better effort.

X-Transbots MX-II Andras

Here's s shot of the alt mode, which is actually quite close to the animation model and whilst retaining aesthetic elements of the original G1 toy. You can peg the Targetmaster into the top of the vehicle should you so desire, but I generally think that looks a bit naff. The acid ray gun that's included in the package will also tab into this slot, but looks even worse...

All things considered I really like this attempt at a Masterpiece style Scourge, but as I'm quickly discovering it's let down by some really poor QC. My figure arrived with a lot of paint chipping and flaking out of the box. This was very obvious on the light blue paint along the seams of the alt mode and on his biceps (among other areas) in robot mode. Mine also had a weird, dusty finish to the insides of his smaller wing pieces, but thankfully they aren't visible in robot mode and it didn't affect the larger wings. Even so, it's such a gorgeous sculpt that I can overlook some of these issues. If you get one without dodgy paint apps you'll be over the moon.