Signal
Flare
Vehicle mode is a kind
of futuristic "radar rover". I call it that because I've never seen anything
like it in real life. It's basically a rotating radar dish arm on a treaded
mobile vehicle base. This mode looks fairly nice for the most part, although
it's definitely an alt mode cleverly made from various parts of the robot
mode, and not visa versa like on most Transformers. There's no real cockpit
or doors on the sides to speak of. I suppose the two clear red sections
at the front could possibly be considered dual cockpits, but that's kinda
pushing it. The thing that really really bugs me about this mode, though,
is that the left robot arm just sticks so blatantly out of the rear. There's
just no real attempt to hide it at all. It doesn't look like anything,
it doesn't do anything. It's just... there. And it really detracts from
what is otherwise a pretty solid mode. My favorite feature about this mode
is the radar dish- turn the radar arm left or right, and the radar dish
spins with it, as if it were "scanning" something! It's a pretty cool feature
for a basic toy. The mold detailing is also great, as is the paint detailing-
there's many colors used just once for a highlight, and it really gives
you the feeling that a lot of thought went into the paint job. I especially
like the "electric surge" lines on the sides of the radar dish arm. I'm
not too sure I like the sky blue, though- it doesn't mesh completely with
the other colors. Perhaps maybe a dark or light brown?
Signal Flare's robot
mode is pretty darned cool, with no major flaws at all. Granted, I'm still
not too crazy about the sky blue, but that's really about it. He's got
fairly good articulation- he can move at the shoulders, the elbow on his
left arm, his hips, and his knees. (Although on the latter, it looks kinda
odd when you bend his knees very far because of his construction.) His
proportions are also pretty good (a rarity for Energon Autobots), and his
larger "radar dish" right arm looks pretty cool, even though it's obviously
a carryover from vehicle mode. The mold for his robot head also looks very
unemotional and stoic- definitely fitting for a robot that there's supposed
to be hundreds of copies of. Individually, Signal Flare's Energon weapons
are the aforementioned radar dish and a long shield, but they can both
be combined to form a pretty cool-looking sawblade. (Although on his off-days,
Signal Flare must work as a floor polisher!) The Energon weapon also has
plenty of hardpoints for connecting it to other things- It has a Minicon
port on the side of it, and a total of SIX Powerlinx ports, although one
is used to hold the weapon, and the four on the actual sawblade are too
shallow to really hold much on them. And because of his armguard, it's
a bit difficult to get Signal Flare to hold his own Energon weapon securely,
which was a definite oversight. But all in all, Signal Flare's got a pretty
cool-looking robot mode. His Autobot spark crystal is on his chest, just
like it is with all the Omnicons.
Signal Flare is a fairly
cool Transformer, but he's a bit below-average for an Omnicon, who for
the most part represent the cream of the Energon Autobot crop. His vehicle
mode has a VERY obvious robot hand sticking out the back of it, his sky
blue isn't my first choice for a main color, and a couple of smaller oversights
were done in regard to the connector ports on his Energon weapon. Still,
although not a must-buy, he's still a good Transformer. I mildly recommend
him.
Review by Beastbot