TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:
Alternate Mode:
Box Art:
Technical Specifications:
STR
INT
SPD
END
RNK
CRG
FPR
SKL

Warcry's review of: Scavenger

Name: Scavenger
Allegiance: Vehicon
Function: Demolition Drone (really: Abomination)
Sub-Group: Vehicon Drone
"The road to ruin is short when I'm driving."

Perhaps Megatron's most horrific invention ever is his army of programmable drones which unquestionably serve his every wish. Falling under Tankor's charge of specialized tank drones, Scavenger's application is focused on one thing: brute force. Heavy armor makes Scavenger practically unstoppable. Galva-conductors on his back channel deadly electric currents. Enjoys nothing more than getting out and wrecking something.

You know, it's really hard for a figure to disappoint me when I pay less than half the original ticket price for it. Usually, when I get something for around $4 Canadian, I don't expect much. If it's even remotely decent, I'll be happy with it. But every once in a while, a Transformer is bad enough to miss even that mediocre target.

Meet Scavenger. Not only did he miss the target, he landed in a different time zone. In fact, he's so bad that I don't even get any pleasure out of slinging venom at him; I consider it a public service.

Vehicle Mode:
Scavenger's alt-mode is...hard to describe. Start by thinking of G1 Scavenger. Turn the shovel into a head and attach claws to the rear end for no reason whatsoever. Attach a totally unconvincing gattling gun and tiny, non-functional triple missile launcher to the shovel. Finally, spew pea-soup green and neon orange over it liberally. If the very image hasn't totally destroyed your mind, you should have a good idea what this Scavenger looks like.

First of all, why in the world would a demolitions drone be given an alt mode that can, at best, dig a few holes and knock down trees? [Actually, he can't even dig very well, since his neck has such half-assed articulation...] Some sort of bulldozer would have made more sense, IMO (though we'd likely be calling the guy Bonecrusher then).

Now, that aside, Scavenger is perhaps the ugliest thing I've ever seen. Ever. Not just for a Transformer. The green and orange clash in a way that I didn't even realize was possible [and one that I would have happily lived the rest of my life without knowing about].

And if that isn't bad enough, his parts seem to be configured totally at random. As mentioned before, his hands are blatantly dragging behind him in this mode. Also, his robot legs, uncovered save for the tracks on the outer sides, form the front half of his vehicle mode. As well, two tiny, ineffectual, blaze-orange weapons hang off of either side of the shovel, managing to look piss-weak and stick out like a sore thumb no matter what you do with them. His 'jaw' and various portions of his neck are articulated, albeit not very well.

The cockpit-like segment on the main body of the vehicle mode (or at least, it would be a cockpit in an Earth construction vehicle) conceals Scavenger's Spark Crystal. I should probably question why a Drone would have a Spark in the first place, but quite frankly I'm too disheartened by his crappiness to make the effort.

Robot Mode:
Well, this really isn't any better. It's not any worse either, but I honestly can't see how it could be.

OK, let's get this clear ahead of time. Scavenger has no head. He has a pair of optics coming out of his chest, but no head. Perhaps intended as compensation, his torso is comically huge, giving him something of a potbelly. The idiotic weapons that his vehicle mode was equipped with are attached on either side of his chest, but thankfully they can be folded more or less out of the way in this mode. Scavenger's arms are a bit on the thin side (though that's likely an optical illusion stemming from his huge chest), but come equipped with the long chrome claws that are essentially the only upside of this figure. His legs are equally thin, but the huge tank treads tacked onto the side mitigates that.

In robot mode, Scavenger is articulated at shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles. One would think that this would make him very poseable, but one would be mistaken. The tank treads on his legs limit the articulation there to nothing more than forwards and backwards, since the treads come into contact with his huge torso after only a few degrees of movement to the sides. The arm articulation is more sensible, allowing him to snap his claws menacingly at enemies in any direction.

As with the alternate mode, Scavenger is green and orange. Thankfully, though, the orange is reduced a bit here, with a lot of black evident in its place. This mode is thus a lot less eye-searing.

Bah! Enough of this. Scavenger goes into the Box of Shame, and will only come out when I need something that can scare away small children.

Transformation: 0 - I honestly don't know what to say. He turns from one illogical mess into another, slightly less offensive illogical mess.
Durability: 9 - Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to destroy him without the aid of a hammer.
Fun: 4 - He's got shiny claws and...uh...erm...that's about it, really.
Price: 0 - He's cheap, but exchanging any amount of money for him is a bad idea. In fact, taking him for free would be a bad idea, too. Even if someone offers to pay you to take him, you should think twice.
Summary: 0 - Yeah, that's right. Zero. A terrible robot mode, god-awful vehicle mode and ghastly colours don't a good toy make. If not for that bloody orange, he might have at least rated a 3. Which would still tie him with the lowest rating I've given out previously. Not recommended under any circumstances.