Mirage
(Prime)
(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to RotF Legion class Sideways. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original DotM Legion class Sideways here.)
Despite the line he's
packaged under, Mirage here is actually a "leftover" release from the cut-short
Dark
of the Moon line. (His packaging-- despite having the exact same styling
of the other Prime Cyberverse packages, even down to having Prime characters
on the side of it-- does notably leave off the "Prime" subtitle.) Given
that this is the ONLY U.S.-released toy of this character, I wish I could
say this was a brand-new mold that did justice to the character from the
movie. Unfortunately, it's a just a redeco of Sideways in Mirage's colors,
and thus although it's not a COMPLETE mismatch, it doesn't really fit the
bill as DotM Mirage much at all, particularly in vehicle mode, where he's
clearly not a Lamborghini. However, this said, the fairly light red and
black colors do play off each other quite decently, even if it's not the
most original color scheme. Mirage also has enough paint apps to keep from
looking too one-tone in any large area, though I wish a bit more of the
silver had been used instead of practically everything on him being either
red plastic or black paint (his headlights and face are silver-- and his
eyes are a nice light shade of blue-- but that's it beyond those two basic
colors). Also, to give the mold credit, the headsculpt at this small of
a scale CAN actually pass for Mirage's, even though it hasn't been remolded
from Sideways' at all.
No mold changes have
been made to the "core toy" of Mirage, though he has been given holes in
his hands and on the sides of his vehicle mode to hold his Cyberverse knife-weapon
and/or other Cyberverse-scaled weapons, if you so desire.
As a toy taken totally
by itself, Mirage isn't that bad; the mold's more-or-less average for a
Legion, and the red and black contrast against each other quite well and
fit the vehicle, though I wish a bit more of a tertiary color had shined
through. However, as either a representation of DotM Mirage or a Prime-universe
toy, this falls completely flat. I'm not normally that critical of Hasbro--
I'm hardly one that knows the inner workings of a multinational toy corporation
and what led to this lone little redeco being the only physical representation
of the DotM Autobot-- but the fact that it's basically this or nothing
for U.S. customers is just sad.
Review by Beastbot