TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

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

Sir Auros' review of: Reissue Dirge

Name: Dirge
Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Warrior
Sub-Group: Conehead Jets
"Fear is the element that unites all losers."

The sound of his engines causes petrifying fear in those who hear them. He's a master at handling fear... other Decepticons are put off by his mournful, silent ways. "He gives me the creeps," says Ramjet. He carries two concussion missiles. Needs to control a situation; otherwise, he too falls victim to fear, making him useless as a warrior.

I'm not a fan of the "seeker" jet molds, but Dirge was on sale for a mere $12 and I didn't have any of the "conehead" style Decepticon jets, so I picked the figure up. While the figure isn't worth what Toys R Us originally charged for it, it was worth $12. I also might as well point this out now before you click on the pictures (assuming you haven't already), but yes, I did do an awful job applying the stickers to my Dirge. Mixed up the stickers that were supposed to go on the shoulders/intakes and also applied the Decepticon logos on the wings all crooked.

Vehicle Mode:
What's interesting about the conehead style jets is that each one had different wings, unlike Starscream/Thundercracker/Skywarp. Unfortunately, Dirge probably has the most boring wings of the three coneheads and I kind of wonder how his jet mode's supposed to fly. Dirge's jet mode looks more like a glider with two huge engines than a real jet. Unlike the first wave of Decepticon jets, Dirge lacks firing missiles or anything more stylized than two laser cannons. I think they're technically supposed to be missiles, but they look a lot more like mounted guns to me. Dirge probably displays best in this mode, but the wings connect by a single peg with a noticeable gap between the wing and the fuselage, so the robot in disguise thing kind of falls apart. The figure also lacks a place to hold onto the robot mode's detached fists.

Robot Mode:
Dirge's robot mode is just as craptacular as the rest of the G1 Decepticon jets. No articulation in the legs, hardly and in the arms, and the head is immobile and poorly detailed. The only non-sculpted detailing on the head is a sticker that's meant to be the eyes. It looks awful. The original instructions call for transforming the head the same way as you'd transform Starscream's, but I leave the cone part up since that's how Dirge was portrayed in the original G1 media and I wouldn't be able to refer to him as a conehead if I didn't. The lack of articulation really hurts both the display and play value of this figure and I'd really only recommend the robot mode if you're going for the figure due to sentimental value or something.

Transformation: 5 - Simplistic and detrimental to the robot mode. The way the wings attach hurts the vehicle mode's disguise and detachable fists that can't be stored in alt. mode is a terrible idea.
Durability: 7 - Since the fists can't be stored anywhere in jet mode, they're easily lost. The stickers on mine also seem to peel off on their own constantly.
Fun: 6 - Kind of interesting jet mode, but the robot mode is junk and I personally display mine in the TRU Reissue box. Looks better behind cardboard.
Price: 9 or 2 - If you can find it on sale, it's worth around the $12 you'll pay, but it's totally not worth the original price.
Summary: 6 - Really, I only bought it because of the low, low price and some sort of curiosity.