War for Cybertron Mirage Mayhem

I am not going to beat around the bush this time, if you read last week's blog all the way to the end you know that this week I am looking at Kingdom Mirage. This is because he comes packed with Grimlock in the first Battle Across Time Set. Now I did say that there would be a twist this week as well, and it came about while I was talking to a friend. I realized I had an opportunity to do a couple figures in my backlog and while it did triple my workload as far as pictures go, but I am really happy with how everything turned out. So not only am I doing Kingdom Mirage this week but I am also looking at Siege Mirage and Siege Holo Mirage.

If you recall, a while back I did a full review of WFC Trilogy Decepticon Mirage, and because of that I won’t be doing full reviews of any of these figures just to make sure I don’t repeat myself. I will for sure be skipping the articulation and transformation unless it is something I forgot to go over before or in Kingdom Mirage’s case new articulation entirely. I am also going to be skipping the weapons as they all have the same ones just in different colors. With all that out of the way let’s get right into it starting with…

Siege Mirage

Siege Mirage here was the only retail release of the mold, and is done up in his standard colors of white, blue and silver with some black and red accents. This color scheme is absolutely gorgeous on this figure. The head sculpt looks flawless in this royal blue and silver but I wish the eyes stood out more. The stark white chest with the fake car front looks quite nice and is broken up by the giant Auto-badge and silver front wing. Something I did forget to mention on my previous look at this mold, is that thanks to transformation he does have some forward butterfly joints, but they can look a bit wonky depending on how far out you move them. Not much going on in the arms, but the black and silver are a nice break from the white and blue of the rest of the figure. I know a lot of people worry about his legs since his shins are made of translucent plastic but I really like them. I think the clear blue on top of the white plastic just looks really nice, as it adds some nice depth and color variation. Vehicle mode also looks incredible in these colors and I especially love the cybertronian writing on the sides of the car. Luckily this version does not have the paint chipping issue Con Mirage does but he also doesn’t have nearly as much paint though.

Siege Holo Mirage

Moving on to Holo Mirage, who was released via the Amazon exclusive Fan Vote 3 Pack, which came with him, a Decepticon version of Impactor and Aragon, a character that NO ONE saw getting a new toy. Usually I would review multi-packs together but I sold the Impactor right away and since Aragon is just a Cog repaint I think splitting them up like this is just easier. Clear Mirage deco’s have become a staple of Mirage molds since they are pretty easy and make sense since his canon ability in the original cartoon was invisibility. This one is notable as it is done up in translucent blue instead of the smokey translucent plastic they have used on the others. Interestingly it is actually a different blue than the one used on the retail release as it is slightly lighter, also they used a solid light blue plastic for most of the joints which I think is smart as it should prevent breakage. The major difference here is the toy accurate head which has yet to be used on any other figure and that is a shame as it is incredible looking. He does have clear tampographs in various places, such as the chest and spoiler, but they are hard to make out unless they are in the right lighting. I should mention that the shoulder ports on my copy have both cracked just from putting the launcher in, I am not expecting any more cracks there as the launcher fits quite well now. Nothing too spectacular in car mode, just a two-tone blue space race car.

Kingdom Mirage

Finally we reached the main event, Kingdom Mirage. This figure is actually quite a bit different from the Siege mold but still uses a lot of the same engineering and, if my counting is correct, the two molds share about 20 parts. The one part I can’t tell if it is remolded or not is the head, as it looks slightly thinner, which would make sense considering the new chest transformation but it might just be the brighter blue used making it look that way. His chest is significantly thinner, leading to a better proportioned robot mode. He does still have the fake chest but this time in an Earth mode flavoring, and thanks to transformation this figure has an ab crunch which is SUCH a fantastic addition. The arms are probably the most changed, specifically the shoulders since they are a big part of the new transformation scheme mentioned above. Not only are the spoiler shoulder pads (spoiler pads) in the new Earth aesthetic, you can untab the shoulders from the torso to give him more fluid looking butterfly joints that go in both directions. This does come with a caveat though, because of these new joints, he no longer has any shoulder ports for his launcher, but he does have some ports on the back of his shoulders and I actually don’t mind this look. The legs aren’t that much different. A substantial amount of the parts are new but they all function the same. The first thing you will probably notice is that the lower legs are no longer made of clear plastic, they are solid blue. While it is a nice shade of blue they feel kind off plain and I think they could have done from some more paint such as the silver on the knee pads. Overall I don’t have a lot of complaints about this robot mode. My 2 main ones would be the 5mm port on his back is too big to hold anything, but that might just be my copy. My other one is more of a long term concern, as this figure has a lot of paint, specifically the chest, forearms and thighs are all white paint on blue plastic. I have already chipped some off the fake spoiler when I first transformed him, but it doesn’t seem or feel as fragile as the paint on Decepticon Mirage. Transformation is the same as far as the legs go, but the arms are the main difference, even though they end up in essentially the same spot. Vehicle mode is very nice, the back is much cleaner and thinner than the Siege version. The colors are very nice in this mode too but like in robot mode I find the blue kinda barren. You have probably already noticed that the autobot tampograph on the front of the car is off center, which is unfortunate but easily fixable. You can plug the guns in this mode, they go on the sides of the car now which I actually like a lot better than on top of the spoiler.

Overall I think that Siege Mirage has the better colors but Kingdom Mirage is the better figure overall. And Holo Mirage exists if that is more your style. That being said though all of these are good figures so take your pick of any of these and I am sure you will be happy. As for ratings, base Siege Mirage gets a 6.5 from me, Holo Mirage gets a 6, and Kingdom Mirage gets a 7. As far as this Battle Through Time set with Grimlock and Mirage the score averages out to a 6.5/10 which is pretty fair, nothing too special going on but the figures are good.  And with that I have covered every version of the Siege Mirage mold, as well as done galleries for all of them. If you want to check those out then you can click here, here and here for the 3 I covered today and here for the Con Mirage Gallery I did back in May. As for next week it is the first Commander Class figure I have bought and I am having a hell of a time with him. I hope you are all looking forward to it and I will see you all next week

Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege Springer

I hope you all enjoyed last week's review, it was a bit of a departure for me in all honesty but I thought it turned out rather well. Enough about that, let’s move onto this week's subject matter, which was decided with the help of some friends, Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege WFC-S38 Springer. Don’t forget to check out the full gallery afterwards for 126 pictures of Springer in all his glory.

For as much of a prominent character Springer was in the 1986 movie and third season of the G1 cartoon he hasn’t really gotten as many toys as one might expect and when he did reappear in the late 2000’s he was stripped of his main gimmick, which was triple changing, and he was relegated to be just a green repaint of existing figures that had similar alt-modes to one of his. Of course that all changed in 2013 with the Thrilling 30 figure, and as good as that toy looks, it is not the one I am covering today, even though I am sure I will eventually.

Siege Springer here is a one of a kind figure in multiple ways, he is the first G1 cartoon accurate Springer figure we have ever had and he is the only use of this mold, which seems very rare for Transformers figures nowadays, with most figures getting at least one repaint at some point. With that being said though, his design is pretty unique and doesn’t really share a lot of traits with other characters and his colors haven’t really changed all that drastically either so I can understand why the mold hasn’t been used again. 

On the topic of unique, Springer’s head sculpt is one of the most unique parts of his design and this toy absolutely NAILS IT. From the head crest that continues back to form the sides, to the thin mohawk-like section on top, to the cheek vents being a darker green than the rest of the head (plus the insides are even painted yellow). The face is done up in a very nice pale green that really separates it from the rest of the head. The sculpting here is very nice as well but I find that the mouth gets lost in the paint a bit and the eyebrows get lost underneath the helmet, at least it is not the eyes getting lost this time as they are done up in a nice royal blue, making them really standout from the rest of the head. The head is on a ball joint but because of the head shape and the length and size of the neck plate you don’t get a lot of back and forth or side to side movement.

His chest is technically the standard hood chest, but his is much more compact and angular looking than most, thanks to his very mid 80’s space age-esque alt-modes. It obviously has some of the almost universally disliked “ Siege battle damage” and you guys can have your own opinions about it, but I personally really enjoy it as I think it gives some character to the figures without going too overboard. Springer here is no exception and I think he is one of the better examples of it as it is in places that makes sense for the figure. Moving to the back which has one of my bigger issues with the figure, and that is the backpack. It doesn’t really like to sit still, the main section just kinda flops around as it doesn’t tab in anywhere and it can cause the hinge that is keeping it upright to untab. Other than that though it looks very nice and has storage for all of his weapons/accessories. Not much in the way of articulation here other than the waist swivel but even that is limited from going a full 360 by a transformation hinge, although it is enough to get some decent poses with. Before moving onto the arms I would like to mention that you should be weary attaching the arm struts to the back, as the panel they attach to is made entirely of translucent plastic and one of my tabs has sheared off. Luckily this doesn’t affect stability, as the arms also clip in at the top but figured it was something worth mentioning.

The arms don’t have a lot going on other than some rather good articulation including full wrist and bicep swivels and elbows that go slightly over 90 degrees. The shoulders are where they get a bit limited, the shoulder rotation is hindered by the arms transformation struts, but they can rotate 90 degrees in either direction which is good enough in my opinion and his signature shoulder pads stop the shoulders outward movement just shy of 90 degrees. While we are on the topic of the shoulder pads I know some people take issue with them as they can not rotate outwards to be fully cartoon accurate, and while I understand that complaint I don’t think it could have been done justice without sacrificing stability or some of the more necessary engineering already in the shoulders. 

The legs don’t feel quite as hindered as the arms in terms of articulation. He has full hip articulation and the engineering used for the hips is the best they have ever done, and I am very happy they carried it over through both the Earthrise and Kingdom lines. There is a full thigh rotation and I do believe the thighs are cast in green plastic entirely painted in the same pale green as the face but it is quite hard to tell, they may very well be cast in a pale green plastic. The knees bend just over 90 but are stopped due to the molding on both the thighs and lower legs. This is where another one of my bigger issues lie, which is that the shins like to untab from the strut the knee joint is on, while not the biggest deal it can get pretty annoying when trying to pose the figure. The shins themselves look very nice in the sand blue plastic with a couple of silver paint apps and battle damage, as well as the black from the wheels to help break it up. Now here is where we get to a section of the figure a lot of people seem to have issues with which is the ankles. Now supposedly Springer here can have loose ankle joints, which I can see why that might take away some enjoyment, but I guess I got lucky cause I don’t have those issues at all and he is extremely stable. He has incredible ankle tilt both forwards and to the side and it is a shame that some people can’t really experience that.

Last thing I am going to cover before transformation to the car mode is the weapons and accessories. He comes with two identical swords, two distinct looking guns and the rotor blade housing for helicopter mode. Now all the weapons have INCREDIBLY dumb yet great names, cause that was a thing they decided to do during Siege I guess. You have the “W-10 Airslice Chopper Blades” which are obviously the swords, the “JF-10 Warp Blaster” which is the more greebly looking gun with the tabs and 5mm port on the back, and the “C-10 EM Void Blast Capacitor” which is the other smoother looking gun. You can put any of these weapons wherever there are 5mm ports and like I said before you can plug everything on the back for storage, the swords even tab into the sides but it isn’t the greatest connection. The weapons can also plug together in all sorts of ways for a variety of larger rifles or swords. 

Transformation to car mode from robot mode isn’t too tricky. Your main issues are going to be flipping the chest piece up over the head especially since that entire apparatus is attached to clear plastic and that joint seems unnecessarily stiff, at least on my copy, and then getting the entire waist assembly shifted forward. This step is necessary to get arms and legs in the right positions otherwise you will end up with a lackluster and unsecure car. Oh and don’t forget to take the back fins out of the legs, while not necessary it is important for the accuracy and aesthetic. If you have gotten all those steps down, you should end up with a very solid, hefty and relatively accurate car mode. This car mode looks like one hell of a bruiser but also looks like it could break the sound barrier if needed. All of the newly revealed details are what really sell that look with the armoured plating around the cockpit area and the thrusters and fins at the back, not to mention the blast effect ports on the back to really help sell the illusion that this thing can cruise. As for functionality, it rolls well enough and it has all the same ports from robot mode so you can equip the weapons however you like.

Onto the final mode, the helicopter mode. Getting to this mode from car mode isn’t too hard and mainly involves extending the legs out to create the tail section, which is one of my favorite parts of Springer’s engineering, and of course creating the rotor using the swords and the housing. There isn’t a lot of visual difference between this mode and the car mode seeing as the main section doesn’t really move. The legs extend and the arms move back slightly, you do get some sort of wings/stabilizers from the forearm panels and obviously the main rotor section. Despite that you end up with is another solid mode, although there are quite a few small gaps especially in the back. This mode does have a free spinning main rotor which is EXTREMELY nice and the back rotor spins pretty well too, but then again they are just the back wheels, so that is kind of expected. You can also plug the guns in in almost all the same spots as car mode, the exception to that being the ones under the rotor as they can stop the rotor from spinning. To counteract this, you can now use the ones from the robot mode forearms, and attach the guns to the side of the helicopter, and while this is the official way to display them in this mode I prefer them on the front beside the cockpit. I totally didn’t forget they were supposed to go there for helicopter mode till after I took all the pictures. 

I think that is it, I think I covered everything, Springer has a quite lot more going on than Deep Cover so apologies if I missed anything, not to mention I feel like I went much more in depth on him but at the same time this will probably be my only time looking at the mold so i guess it makes sense. He is a really good figure and a great representation of the G1 character if that is what you're looking for. Speaking of looking, have a look through the gallery if you have the time, you might find a picture you really like.

Now for something new, well new for this place. If you know me, you will know I love to rank things so i figure I would give each figure a rating out of 10, and maybe rank each figure in a given toy line against one another, not sold on that one yet though, plus I should probably wait till I review more than one figure per line to start that. Getting back on track I give Springer here a solid 7.5/10, he is a very fun figure with some great engineering and play value, he just has a couple things that bring him down. I guess I should retroactively give Deep Cover a ranking too, so I will update his post to give him his, so check it out if you're curious. Anyways, that is all for now, see you all next week.