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For starters, I really like the tab that was added at some point to his neck assembly in robot mode. For years, I've been transforming Laser Prime by grasping at his forehead and pulling his head out that way, but after getting Scourge it becomes clear to me now that the tiny little tab on Laser Prime's neck assembly is what you're supposed to use. I never knew that. Scourge's head is *much* easier to transform, thankfully, given that they enlarged the tab by a good quarter-inch or so. Was this on Black Convoy? Also, I noticed some mold changes made to the trailer. For starters, there's a little doohickey on the top of the trailer on the very back, on the right-hand side... I couldn't even begin to guess as to its function, but where Laser Prime's doohickey had a tiny little round protrusion at the end, Scourge has one that's longer and slightly cone-shaped. I can't imagine what purpose it serves, but I assume this thing was changed for authenticity's sake? What the heck *is* it? The hinges for the trailer sides were also changed, so that the parts of the hinge attached to the sides of the trailer are longer and, presumably, more durable. (I'm having trouble picturing a kid actually ripping off the sides of the trailer on Laser Prime, but hey, what do I know.) Also, the hole in the back of the trailer was enlarged, originally placed there to enable the assemblers to insert the pin that holds the central missile launcher in place. It strikes me as odd that they'd change this...the larger hole probably made the toy easier for the factory workers to assemble, though, so I guess that's something. Finally, we have the five-chamber missile launcher (the "ripple-fire" launcher, as it was heralded on the G2 packaging), which absolutely sucks on the Scourge toy. For the G2 version, the missiles were perfectly round and could be loaded any old way you pleased; somebody decided at some point, either for Black Convoy or for Scourge, that the missiles needed to have a notch in them so that you can only load them a certain way. The new design is less kid-friendly and less Zob-friendly, and I don't like it. Also, two of the missiles on my toy won't even stay loaded. They pop out with absolutely no provocation. (I hate when that happens in public.) There are a few more well-known documented changes, like the tip of Scourge's sword being rounded off, but I already know that's a change made for RiD. I'd like to know about the other changes, though.
Authenticity? No way. Scourge's tanker is way off from anything in the real world. He's as "real" as Armada Prime. Looks like it *could* be a real vehicle, but it's not. There's only one standard tanker design for class 8 (i.e. big) semi's, and it's used for EVERYTHING. Caustic sodium compounds (soap, toothpaste, shampoo---very common for trucks to haul), petroleum, vegetable oil, blood, sugar (liquid), milk, and everything else in the world, all use the same basic design. This is so all the pumps, valves, and hoses everywhere fit. Nobody would ever transport liquids by truck if you needed separate equipment for every liquid in the world. And Scourge isn't that basic design. Scourge has more of a round trailer, not a tanker. There's simply far too much "stuff" on, above, and below the tank itself, and forward of the tandems (dual-dual axels). Not to mention it's way too short and shaped wrong, but that's certainly forgiveable--nobody expects accurate proportions on a toy this big. But it's just overall a completely fictional tanker. |