HASBRO DONE SENT ME SOMETHING: Cyberworld Scorponok and Mirage Cyber Changer

So, Gene Kendall here with a full disclosure: Hasbro sent me these figures for review, perhaps following my look back at the 1987 launch of Headmasters, the line that brought us the mighty Scorponok in the first place. And I've been informed September 17th is Transformers Day, a day Hasbro is devoting to various promotions and some new YouTube content.

I have a passing interest in the toy world. I read about the industry, I watch people get very animated about shoulder joints and pricing strategies on YouTube, but I almost never buy any myself. Transformers, in particular, are something I admire from afar -- like outer space phenomenon, or other people's dogs. But here we are, and on my table is the Cyberworld Scorponok Strike Battle Set… and a tiny Mirage Cyber Changer who is very much not a car, which is already confusing this kid of the '80s.

Cyberworld, for anyone who hasn’t kept up with the ongoing multiverse of robots yelling at each other, is the latest kid-focused Transformers line. The premise: a group of Cybertronians are trapped in a game-like realm called (you guessed it) Cyberworld, where they get thrown into increasingly weird skill challenges by some unseen mastermind. It’s like a Saturday morning reality show from space, which fits the toys perfectly -- bright, chunky, and unapologetically made for kids rather than the adult collector market. That last bit is important: these aren't intricate engineering puzzles. They're quick conversions, the kind you can reset in seconds. Scorponok takes all of four steps to transform, a middle-ground between the original toys' transformations, and the endless series of steps in the contemporary mainstream line.

Let's start with the big purple (well, purple-ish) bug himself.

Scorponok, now branded the "Scorponok Strike Battle Set," arrives in a large white box, ideal for Walmart shelves: budget-conscious, with a sliver of painted artwork and no plastic window. It's not trying to woo collectors; it's trying to get a kid's attention on their way to the cereal aisle. Inside, though, he's surprisingly striking. The purple and orange color scheme is a departure from Scorponoks past, apparently inspired by the original toy's prototype, and it has a nice Halloween feel to it. (The green is now reserved for the translucent parts, which is a cool effect.) There's a decent amount of sculpted detail for what's essentially a toy aimed at the young'uns. The head sculpt, in particular, is pretty cool. I didn't realize at first that the translucent green visor could move down, but that is a cute touch. The clear plastic parts work out great with the light-up features and sound clips. There have been a few advances in toy technology in the decades since my youth, clearly, as the toy itself comes with the needed battery.

Articulation is better than I expected. I don't want to be unfair. We've got elbows here, and apparently elbow articulation is something collectors enjoy carping about online. The arms are delightfully mismatched: one's a giant pizza cutter, the other a grabby claw. There's also a large translucent sword that looks intimidating enough jammed into the claw hand, and can also serve as the stinger when in the scorpion alt-mode. The scorpion legs are hollow and look a bit cheap, but that's par for the course at this age range. The buzzsaw hand can also be used as a hoverbike for a smaller figure, a nice way to encourage kids to pursue more figures in the line. 

Meanwhile, Mirage Cyber Changers is… well, he's having an identity crisis. Traditionally Mirage is a sleek IndyCar. Here he's a jet. A tiny, pocket-sized jet that transforms in about four motions and has no accessories. Apparently, it's the Starscream mold in new colors with a different head. The packaging is that contemporary open-card style, just tied down on the card like he's a Decepticon hostage. He's painted in light blue and white with some red accents, which actually pop nicely. The head sculpt is unmistakably Mirage-ish, even if they gave him a visor instead of his usual eyes. Articulation is pretty basic, but reminiscent of the smaller Transformers from the '80s. Actually, this reminds me a lot of the tiny Transformers that came on a card and were once sold at low-price points, hanging on pegs at the drugstore. The majority of my Transformers, back in those days.

For their intended audience -- kids who want robots to smash together while watching the Cyberworld YouTube show -- they're pretty impressive. Scorponok is a big, loud, light-up chaos bug. Mirage is a bite-sized jet now. Okay. They do remind me that Transformers started out as toys, not collectibles, and it's kinda nice to see them just be toys again.