Mirage GT
Review by quinncat
With the popularity of Beast Transformers waning after the lukewarm reception fans originally had over "Beast Machines" it was decided that a formal return to vehicle alt modes was in order.
Although this line introduced many new realistic vehicle molds to the line, it still found ways to use past vehicle molds from the beast era. Most notably of which, the mega class 3 pack of scout class Autobots, all with vehicon molds from the very line people at the time were dissatisfied with: Beast Machines.
First from this set, a repaint of Beast Machines Mirage and sharing the same name, (Mirage GT) this figure is an Autobot like his G1 namesake, but features the color scheme of a Sunstreaker homage. Perhaps it was planned to be him instead?
These colors work really well for the formula racer alt mode. Better than the Beast Machines version in my eyes. What's really impressive here is the sheer amount of paint throughout. It's really inspiring how thoroughly detailed this car is. It's almost like Takara released it!
One more interesting aspect of this figure are the missiles of all things. They look as if they were for a motorcycle rather than a car, as the ends look like three exhaust pipes pointing upward, and the safety part sticking out the back looks just like a tailpipe. If this was intentional, I honestly don't get it!
The transformation is actually pretty interesting. The back of the car swings around forming the legs and feet while the spoiler becomes the arms. Everything else compresses down really tightly and precisely as the body and head.
Although the transformation was pretty cool in parts, this robot mode and I really have to talk. The color choice is fine, the paint is really good, but what are these proportions!
First of all, the thighs are so small they might as well not even be there, and the same goes for his pathetic little fists! The shoulders stick out at about 2/3's of the body's length and basically just leave the arms to just hang there! But I could deal with all of that no problem, if the feet weren't so abysmal! They stick inward as if they were assembled incorrectly, and they have no heels! On one hand, it's an interesting design for sure but, on the other it's just straight incompetence!
Articulation? Why even bother! The figure can barely stand let alone pose and, with proportions like those how good can any dynamic poses even look?
When he does stand, you can see Mirage GT is the tallest among the figures in the 3 pack. This also puts him at just under the size of a new Deluxe Transformer.
In conclusion, Mirage GT is almost a disappointment, but not quite. The paint is amazing, and the vehicle mode is stellar but the robot mode is just all around abysmal! Thankfully not only did I find this 3 pack for the price I did on Transformerland.com, because the other two figures in the set are worlds better.