Transformers Legacy Evolution Deluxe
Item No.: Asst. F7145 No. F7513 Manufacturer:Hasbro Includes:2 blasters and a slug rocket Action Feature:Transforms from car to robot Retail:$24.99 Availability: July 2023 Other: Based on an unreleased mid-1990s Generation 2 concept
Programming note: I'm cutting back to 2 a week for a little bit - between Toy Fair and other work trips, also the fact that I have no life, I'd like to free up some time but I'll still be posting new stuff here and on Galactic Hunter on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the month of October.
This pink and green G2 Universe Autobot Mirage is - or rather, was - a legendary prototype with packaging art and the works. A painted sample appeared and it was never made for wide release until now. The toy more or less delivers on a refined version of the original concept, picking and choosing elements from the toy and art to apply to the Earthrise mold previously used for Amazon exclusives. There are things it updates, and things it didn't quite bother to think through - and the end results are perfectly decent. I mean, I'm not crazy about this mold at all, and I wish we waited for a better Mirage toy to repaint, but I can't imagine they'll take another crack at these colors. So I bought it, and I am pleased. But, again, it could probably have been a little bit better. My main complet is it left the door open for a sticker upgrade set.
This toy did a good job assigning the pink and green colors to a modern mold, and even went the extra mile by painting a lot of green plastic with pink to make sure it better matched the original layout. It isn't perfect - the fists are black (and not pink), the face is silver (and not green), and numerous tampos/stickers were left off. There's also no Autobot symbol on robot mode, which is something I would have liked to have seen added, but was not part of the original concept. For Sideswipe, they were a little more literal - but Mirage got the black rocket, the silver gun, and generally most of the major landmarks. Will people be mad the feet aren't silver? Probably. But maybe they'll make a G1 toy mold again and get it closer next time.
The legs don't hold together particularly well due to how it transforms, and that's my main gripe about the toy. You might have to fidget with it some. Also you cant make the rocket launcher shoulder-mounted without additional parts or customizations, but that's true of other versions of this toy as well. There probably was no budget for an adapter, so what we got is close, but not perfect. He can hold his accessories, you can mount C.O.M.B.A.T. effects on them, and it generally looks more or less like the abandoned robot figure concept but with more articulation. They even got the gator spoilers on the shoulders with some of the scales on the legs. I would have loved more, but I assume they had a budget which was spent on a lot of pink paint. Given the plastic mold layouts, this is likely as good as it gets without running extra parts and throwing away the spare bits. I saw some complaints that the "toy head" wasn't used, and that the face was painted silver, but I'm fine with it. The painted yellow eyes look find to me and give him a little more life than a bare green head would have delivered.
I do not love this mold - the reason I didn't review Earth Mirage or G2 Leadfood is because I never can quite get all the parts to fit together, and pieces pop off sometimes. It's not an enjoyable transformation, and shoving the pieces together is a challenge I don't enjoy. Maybe you will! But odds are the general nuisance of changing him will leave him in robot mode.
As a fancy racing vehicle, it's pretty good - but it seems unfinished. Any toy based on an unmade 1990s prototype should have some updates, but some of them are kind of weird here. For example, the "188" marks on the toy's 1990s prototype artwork were on the chest and leg - which means it would be visible on the car. The car does not show it. You do get the gator on the spoiler, which is great, and the engine on the back is there. But it lacks some of the graphics on the original toy concept, and I would really lave liked to see those. The sticker makers will love this - but aside fom that, it's fine. The wheels don't spin super well, and the blaster accessories tend to cover up the markings on the toy when attached. It still basically looks like the concept, which is what matters - it's bright green and pink. The wheels aren't silver on the caps, but at least it's ridiculously bright. It's just shy of being the busy eye-searing 1990s nightmare we all hoped to get.
For a toy I thought would only exist as prototypes and customs, Hasbro delivered something perfectly acceptable given the nature of modern toy budgets. We've had no fewer than six toys based on the Siege and Kingdom Mirage toys, and while I wish they went with the Cybertronian one, thi sis good too. I could argue about how it isn't like the prototype, but toys change in development and this one took almost 30 years. As such, it gets the job done as a toy in the spirit of the original concept - an attempt to squeeze more dollars out of the original tooling using updated colors to refresh an old product. While it is not perfect, I'd be lying if I called it anything short of "mission accomplished."
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