Ahhh, yep. That’s the Generations packaging. We just saw it a few days ago when I looked at Kup, so I’m not going to say a lot more about it. Scourge comes packaged in his alt mode and he fills the bubble out pretty nicely. His weapon is mounted alongside him.

Scourge’s new alt form is a flying-wing style bomber, and I really thought I was going to have a huge problem accepting it. In fairness to Hasbro, it’s a pretty good homage, considering they decided to go with a real world aircraft and not the sci-fi interstellar hovercraft thingy that the original G1 Scourge used as an alt form. Why they decided to make the change is another matter. The G1 inspired colors translate very well and there are a lot of other similarities at play here. Scourge can even poke his head out of his alt mode like he sometimes did in the G1 cartoon. Some sculpted panel lines add detail and there are two sets of folding landing gear that are a nice touch but really don’t support the aircraft. All in all, this alt mode comes close, and as much as I would have preferred a sci-fi alt mode, this bomber mode ultimately gets the job done.

Transforming Scourge is fidgity and not a whole lot of fun. Some of the parts shifting is stubborn and the hinges on his wings are prone to pop off at least once during the transformation process. I also tend to think that Hasbro over complicated his arm designs just to beef up the complexity of the toy. Nonetheless, once he’s in robot form, I’m willing to forgive an awful lot of this toy’s shortcomings.

Yep, that’s Scourge all right. There are obvious differences to be found, particularly in his legs and feet and the configuration of his wings, but when you look at where it really counts, this Scourge is close enough to the animated original to make me a very happy Transfan. The configuration of the chest is particularly nice as is the way he wears his offset Decepticon insignia. The head sculpt, though, that’s where this figure is a real homerun. The paint apps on my Scourge’s face aren’t quite as neat as I would have liked, but they aren’t bad enough to ruin the figure. And speaking of paint apps, they even painted the tips of his claws, just like the animated version. Sweet. You can split his wings to come up with something a little more like the original toy, but I’m content to leave them in the bomber configuration, as they don’t get in the way as much.

Scouge comes with a beefy gun that is a big tease because simply by looking at it, it seems like it could be a Targetmaster. But don’t get your hopes up, as this is not Fracas. The gun simply splits apart and folds up so that it can be stored inside his wings. It’s a cool gimmick, but with the tooling that went into making the gun do that, Hasbro could have just as easily given us a proper Targetmaster like they did with Universe 2.0’s Cyclonus figure. Boo!

In the end, Scourge is far from a perfect figure, but he does hit enough points to make him a big win in my book. Granted, a lot has to do with the fact that I love the character, so I may be willing to forgive a few more sins than the average collector. The new alt mode is something that I’m gradually getting used to, mainly because it undoubtedly captures the color and personality of the original toy. And in bot mode, Scourge needs to make no apologies at all. It’s only the troublesome transformation that blemishes this figure a bit for me. If you’re really a G1 purist, you may still want to consider the Titanium version, as it did a remarkable job capturing the spirit of the original toy, diecast and all. But believe me when I say, this Generations version is still an excellent update.

It may have been a while, but the packaging for Generations hasn’t changed a bit. In fact the only real difference I notice is that the bubble is no longer cluttered up with stickers advertising The Hub network or whatever else Hasbro is schilling. Kup comes carded in his vehicle mode with his “musket” mounted next to him and there’s the ubiquitous bio blurb on the back. I really don’t have anything else to say about the packaging. It looks ok, and it’s easy to tear into. That’s really all I’m looking for here. I’m guessing Hasbro lost the trademark to Kup somewhere along the way, only instead of just slapping the word “Autobot” in front of his name, they went with “Sergeant.” I’m cool with that.

Of course, long time Transfans will remember that the original G1 Kup was a futuristic pickup truck and the Generations version springboards off of that concept pretty nicely. This version is certainly rooted in a more realistic design with a touch of retro thrown in, but I think the homage is still pretty well defined. This Kup has a more functional truck bed and rolls along nicely on his wheels. He also pegs together really well in his vehicle mode and allows for his rifle to be stored underneith, where the barrel peeks out the back to become one of his exhaust pipes. The toy is cast in a color very similar to the original Kup, and features very little else in the way of paint apps. All in all, it’s an attractive alt mode, perhaps blemished just a bit by the seaming along the doors and the curious fact that you can see where some of the parts of the toy were removed from the mold trees.

Kup’s robot mode is a homerun, which made me somewhat surprised about how easy his transformation is. With the exception of fiddling with his arms to get them just right, and the fact that his shoulders don’t really peg in to anything, he’s remarkably simple to get from truck to bot and back again. While Kup’s lower half may be at odds with the original character, not to mention sporting some enormous feet, from the waist up, it’s pretty amazing just how Hasbro’s designers were able to nail this toy’s faithful look. I’m particularly fond of how the head sculpt turned out, as it’s remarkably close to his animated G1 predecessor. Yes, the arms are a little fidgity, particularly with the way the wheels on his shoulders just seem to float, but they’re serviceable and they can hold his weapon just fine.

The Generations line has yet to really disappoint me, and that record holds strong with Kup here. He’s a fantastic looking figure that manages to take the original character design, tweak it here and there and create a marvelous update to a character I really loved as a kid and still do. I was never satisfied with the original Kup toy (but then the original G1 movie-based toys were never my favorites) and Kup really hasn’t head any loving since, so this updated figure was long overdue.

You may have noticed that when I did my Transformers Classics week I left out the Lambor Brothers, better known as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. While this exclusion had a lot to do with me running out of time, it was also influenced by the fact that I knew I had a new figure based on this mold coming my way. Back in the day, Red Alert was a repaint of Sideswipe, so it’s only natural he gets the same treatment now.
Red Alert comes packaged in his vehicle mode on the standard Generations style card. While Red Alert’s gun stores under his vehicle mode, Hasbro chose to mount it in the bubble beside the vehicle. You can also see that Red Alert has the clear windshields from the Sunstreaker mold, rather than the painted windshields from Sideswipe. I know some folks don’t like to see their robot’s kibble through clear windshields, but I prefer this style to Sideswipe’s painted windshield. The back of the card has the usual biographic blurb, which is cool since it comes pretty close to admitting that Red Alert is paranoid and borderline crazy, which is always what I remembered about the character the most.

Hasbro did a fine job on Red Alert’s repaint. He’s sculpted in white with a red deco on his underside and clear plastic headlights. The only real structural difference with the toy is the added lightbar on the roof. Yep, he’s still got the removable engine component that both Sideswipe and Sunstreaker have. I really dig the Fire Rescue lettering on the doors and the hood deco is fantastic too. It’s not a perfect recreation of the original toy, but the inspiration is definitely there and I like it. Red Alert’s also got a new license plate that reads 05 Alert. As already mentioned, the windshield and windows are now clear and I love the way the Autobot insignia shows through from the top of the dash.

In robot mode, Red Alert’s new deco still looks awesome. The limbs are now red and grey and the red inserts on his thighs look really nice. The head sculpt is exactly the same as Sideswipe’s, which is accurate to the original toy. I’m going to be a real nitpicker and say that I would have preferred if Hasbro went ahead and colored his helmet red like the cartoon version of the character, but the black still looks nice. The only real downside here is that Red Alert’s engine piece won’t clip on his back in robot mode because of his lightbar.

Red Alert’s articulation is excellent. His head is ball jointed. His arms have ball joints on the shoulders, double hinged elbows and swivels in the biceps and wrists. His legs are ball jointed at the hips and ankles and hinged at the elbows. Like the Lambor brother’s he’s a fun action figure to play around with when he’s in bot form.

The only reason I can see to not pick up Red Alert is if you really are dead set against repaints or just don’t have any fondness or nostalgia for the character. Red wasn’t exactly one of my favorite Autobots in the G1 continuity, but he became fairly prominant in the cartoon and I still have fond memories of owning the original figure as a kid. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he’s based on one of the better molds in the Universe 2.0lineup, and that’s saying quite a lot. As Generations continues the heritage of updated figures for G1 characters, Red Alert here is a homerun.

Straxus Damn! Darkmount comes on the standard Generations cardback and packaged in his alt mode. As always, the back panel of the card has a little bio on him and shows the toy in both of his modes.

Darkmount’s alt mode can easily be dismissed as a tank, but on closer inspection, it’s actually a halftrack artillery piece, and a blue one at that! The sculpt on this mode is incredibly detailed with lots of panel lines and hatches and other markings. I especially like the two tone color on the treads and wheels that really make the superior sculpt pop. The turret rotates 360 degrees and the cannon can elevate. There are also three grey weapon pods that can be clipped and unclipped at various hardpoints of the vehicle, which allows you to do a little bit of customizing on the figure if you like.

Transforming Darkmount to robot mode is a little tricky and very clever, but not all that frustrating once you realize what’s happening. You can unclip all those weapon pods before doing it, because you’re going to clip those back on in different spots when he’s in robot mode to give him added firepower on his backpack. What is frustrating, however, is getting him back into his halftrack mode, because you need to remember to put the gun back in before closing up the turret.

In robot mode, Darkmount is simply awesome. There’s so much I love about this guy, like the way his front fenders form his shoulder armor, the way part of his tracks form a solid backpack to attach his weapon pods, and the sculpting in his arms. He’s also got working, hinged hands, which allow him to hold his axe in either hand or both. The headsculpt is really cool too. And check out that color scheme! The blue and the grey really look great with the red and gold accents and I really dig those triangular decos on his chest.

In the Marvel comic, Straxus’ trademark weapon was his axe and Darkmount’s cannon transforms into that weapon. Actually, it’s more of a war pick, but you get the idea.

Darkmount’s articulation consists of a rotating neck, ball joints in his shoulders and hips, hinged elbows and knees, swivesl in his wrists, hinged fingers and ball jointed ankles. You can get a lot of great poses out of him. He’s a bit backpack heavy, but I find you can still get him to stand pretty well.

If you can’t tell by now, I love this figure. He really came out of nowhere, but he’s quickly become one of my favorites in the Generations line, and that’s saying a lot, because I’m pretty much crazy over every Generations figure I’ve bought so far. If you’re a fan of the comic character, I think this figure should please you, but even if you’ve never heard of him before, this guy is a must have as far as I’m concerned. He looks great, and he’s ready to melt down some Autobots. I also like to pair him up with Hunt for Decepticons Hailstorm. Hailstorm just looks like he could be Darkmount’s Igor-like assistant who carries his axe around and spends his spare time cleaning out the huge Autobot smelting tanks.