280-2
Hasbro- Transformers- Titans Return: Scourge and Fracas
Rating of worst to best of the Transformers movies continued; see review 208-2, 213-2, 217-2, 223-2, 226-2, 230-2, 234-2, 239-2, 243-2, 246-2, 249-2, 252-2, 257-2, 260-2, 264-2, 268-2, 269-2, 271-2, 274-2 & 276-2 for previous instalments:
Transformers Movie Rating #1 The Transformers: The Movie.
The Good: Re-visiting a movie from your youth as an adult is always a sketchy prospect as there is a good chance that you discover some stuff that makes you question your tastes, even as a kid. Thankfully the stuff I liked as a kid still holds up for The Transformers: the Movie.
The first thing that comes to mind is the super sick soundtrack. I'm a firm believer that a movie soundtrack can make or break a movie and The Transformers: The movie hit it out of the park with multiple 80’s bangers like “Dare”, “Nothing's gonna stand in our way” and finally “The Touch”. Also bonus points as a lifelong Weird Al fan to inlude “Dare to be Stupid” during the Junkions introduction scene. In fact, I just watched it again and literally got goosebumps from the initial Hot Rod/Danial intro sequence.
I also, for the most part, liked the reveal of all the new Transformers characters and the addition of new Transformers lore. Keep in mind at this time, The Transformers backstory was written during a coke filled weekend bender by a Hasbro employee trying to meet a deadline (Not substantiated at all but it WAS the 80s and it IS a bit of a crazy idea. For an amazing look at how The Transformers came to be check out the Netflix documentary “The Toys That Made Us”). The movie provided some more sussed out lore with the introduction of chonky Boi planet eater Unicron, the four faced Transformer creators (I think anyways) the Quintessons and of course all the new Autobots and Decipticons.
Lastly, and possibly most controversially, I like Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime’s story arch and how they made him the leader of the Autobots. This was a crazy movie and all but backfired for Hasbro as Robimus didn’t track very well fans, but since that time, outside of a brief few Beast seasons, it has ALWAYS been Optimus Prime. TIme to change it up and let the series grow a bit.
Pros: Much like Blurr (the Titans Return figure that preceded) Scourge is a perfectly good figure. Decent in both modes, fine transformation and a good amount of articulation.
Cons: Again, much like Blurr, Scourge is just kind of basic, uninspired and altogether boring. Sure, it does the job, but why are we getting yet another Scourge? Give me something new at this point. Also, and this could be only my version, but his joints, including his wrists, are loose. Lastly and again, something that is typical for all current Transformers of this era, there is a lot of gaps in the plastic and makes the figure cheap.
