Reflector

“I can't believe the Autobots survived.” 

Name: Reflector
Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Reconnaissance
Motto: "See and you can know, know and you can destroy."

Loves to observe things: vegetation, architecture, Earthen topography, and particularly comrades' mistakes. Likes to blackmail his associates and is impressed with his own ability. Has highly-developed infra-red vision that can record images in darkness, through camouflage and at great distances. In camera mode, can emit powerful flash explosion that leaves enemy blind and disoriented for up to 15 seconds.

Strength: 7; Intelligence: 8; Speed: 2; Endurance: 6; Rank: 6; Courage: 7; Firepower: 6; Skill: 9

Animation Model

Robot Mode

Alt Mode

Alternate Versions

G1 Marvel Comics

G1 Toy

Third-Party Images

Fans Toys FT-11 Spotter

Fans Toys FT-11 Spotter

Fans Toys FT-11 Spotter

Fans Toys FT-11 Spotter

Fans Toys FT-11 Spotter

Fans Toys FT-11 Spotter

Fans Toys FT-11 Spotter

Fans Toys FT-11 Spotter

Review

Ah Reflector, that most anonymous of G1 Decepticons. As someone whose love for Transformers stems largely from the Marvel comics, I have never had any real affinity for the character due to his almost total absence from the series (he appears in one panel, lying deactivated on the floor), but the nagging voice in my head kept whispering 'you can't finish the More Than Meets the Eye cast list without him', so here we are. I actually owned the original G1 diaclone 'Camera-Robo' as a child, but didn't know what it was at the time because it bore absolutely no resemblance to the cartoon character. Apparently the original trio are named Spectro, Spyglass and Viewfinder, but to my knowledge the cartoon never used those names, instead referring to the three as a single entity named Reflector who spoke in unison and combined to form their alt mode of, ahem, a Polaroid camera.

After briefly flirting with the idea of buying the relatively cheap Maketoys Visualizers I decided that they weren't for me (for various reasons). That left me with two options: Fans Toys' Spotter and KFC's Opticlones. The former was sold out, unlikely to be reissued and commanded high prices on the secondary market, so I placed an order for the Opticlones reissue and waited patiently. Well after more than a month they still hadn't surfaced and that delay ended up costing me quite a bit of money, as I stumbled across someone selling Spotter for less than the cost of my child's soul. Even so, Spotter was still almost double the cost of the Opticlones, but in for a penny, in for a pound...

Anyway, that's the sorry tale of how I ended up spending a lot of money on a character I care little about just to satisfy my OCD, but I'm sure any Transformers fan reading this will be able to relate. As for Spotter himself (themselves?), is he actually worth it? Well yes and no, but thankfully more yes than no, if that makes sense?

In crafting Spotter Fans Toys has clearly been inspired by the G1 animation model, but a few liberties have been taken. As usual some of these are due to physics, but some are deliberate design choices that intentionally diverge from the source. What initially struck me as odd were the face sculpts. There are three expressions included with each bot for a total of nine faces, but the smirking and laughing faces are so goofy as to render them pretty much useless. The stoic expression isn't bad per se, but for reasons best known to itself Fans Toys choose to give each face a soul patch not present on the animation model. I'm not a fan and indeed both Makestoys' and KFC's face sculpts are superior for its omission. Thankfully the overall head sculpt is pretty good, with the instantly recognisable dome-like helmets being a close match to the character model.

Colour-wise Spotter also appears to be fairly close - although not identical - to source, but overall I think it looks to be the best of the three third-party options (at least in bot mode). I particularly like the darker green of the chest pieces compared to the lime green colour of the chests on the Maketoys and KFC figures. I also like that Fans Toys made the arms a darker grey than the thighs and pulled off the two-tone purple legs, although the latter creates its own issues (more on that below). The feet, while inaccurate to the cartoon, lend Spotter plenty of stability and don't look odd in and of themselves. However, both Maketoys and KFC did a better job in this area, or at least a more accurate one.

Proportionally Reflector is/are a bit of a top-heavy trio, with beefy shoulders and skinny legs. Spotter, while stocky enough up top, suffers from being entirely too lanky down below. Although not as tall as the Opticlones, Spotter is probably half a head too tall with the legs fully extended. It doesn't look terrible, but it makes him a little too tall compared to a car-bot and causes him to look lean instead of sturdy. Thankfully the way in which the knee articulation works allows you to mis-transform the figure and only partially extend the legs, whilst retaining full range of motion! This actually has a significant affect on the overall aesthetic and in my opinion makes for a much better proportioned bot. It might be cheating, but it's how I've chosen to display him.

So, the robot mode is pretty good, but what about the alt mode? Well, it's an admirable attempt, but it falls someway short of perfection. While the general shape and style is a fairly close match to the animation model, the colours are unfortunately somewhat off. This is largely due to the fact that the aforementioned dual-tone legs of the bots form the front of the camera, which means it is a light shade of purple rather than the grey it should be. KFC's Opticlones manage to present a far more accurate alt mode, but at the expense of the cleanliness and accuracy of the robot modes, so it's swings and roundabouts really. Personally I'd rather have more accurate and aesthetically pleasing robot modes over a screen-accurate alt mode, particularly when the alt mode is a camera. Colour aside it's still a fairly close approximation of the G1 cartoon model, so it's not all bad.

As for the transformation itself, it's a bit finicky and long-winded given the end result, but there's something strangely satisfying about holding a chunky plastic camera in your hand. As for QC and tolerances, my Spotter has a few issues with both overly tight and overly lose joints. The arms in particular felt like they were going to break when I first extended them and the hip skirts feel like they'll snap if I try to move them too far. Conversely, there are a couple of panels on the back of the legs that flop around way too much on the central bot (but thankfully remain relatively still on the other two figures).

Fans Toys has included a number of accessories with the figures, some of which are better than others. Although never pictured with weapons in the G1 cartoon, Spotter comes with three generic 'laser' guns that appear to have been inspired by the blasters from the 80s TV series 'V'. The set also includes three knives, which is an interesting departure from the norm and lends credence to the characters' status as an infiltration unit. The flash and lens assemblies also break apart and reconfigure to form sheaths for the knives and an assortment of heavy weaponry respectively, although this sort of parts-forming doesn't really do it for me and the end result isn't terribly impressive. Three energon cubes round out the set, but they are of the dull purple, solid plastic variety, rather than the more varied, vibrant pink seen in the Opticlones set (and indeed the Badcube Bug Corps set). Still, it's nice that there are a few options to add value to the overall package.

Personally speaking, while I find Reflector to be a bit of a nothing character, he is at least a unique one amongst the ranks of the Transformers. The first gestalt figure featured in the series (some time before Devastator), the character's hive mind and ability to seemingly clone himself to bolster the ranks of the Decepticon army at least make him interesting. While I never thought I'd care enough to own any incarnation of Reflector, least of all the most expensive one, I'm happy enough to have Spotter in my collection. As for whether you should drop serious amounts of cash on him in the secondary market, I feel as though each of the third-party incarnations have their own strengths and weaknesses, so it's really a case of what your preferred aesthetic is and what you're comfortable paying.