Toy Review: Scalpel

Scout Class: Scalpel

If there’s one reason I can forgive the new Transformers franchise, it’s these wonderful new toys. If you’ll remember my first review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Scout Class Wave I was pretty generous about them. The same reasoning still stands for this new set. I ran into a new shipment at Robinson’s Galleria the other day and despite the new price of p650.00, I couldn’t resist picking them up. Not only are they the perfect size to place on your desk while you work, but they also fit with any 3.75″ figures you own. Granted they aren’t to scale (Depth Charge is a BOAT), their robot forms are the perfect size for a no holds barred, knock down drag out fight.

Scalpel is on the other end of the spectrum from his Autobot friend. He’s a MICROSCOPE. Yeah yeah, I’ve heard all the gripes from the geek elite who must analyze every little thing and insist that a microscope is a pretty idiotic alternate form for a robot (remember all the debate about Perceptor and Soundwave?), but face it, having a tiny (or in the case of 3.75″ toys, incredibly huge) microscope is entertaining as all get out.

Scalpel was in the movie. He’s one of those characters that made people groan since he’s got an idiotic accent, and he’s pretty useless. He wasn’t vital to the plot and was more of something to ooo and ahh at. Like the Twins, I could do without him in the movie, but again, like the twins, the toy had enough potential for me to overlook what was presented on screen.

Just like his movie counterpart, plastic Scalpel is an itty-bitty microscope. Back in the G1 days, Perceptor was a human scale microscope that a kid could actually use to look at bugs at like 2x magnification. It was a lot of fun back in the day, trust me. These days, it’s hard enough to get kids to read a book, let alone take an interest in science, so this little guy isn’t functional and tends toward his scale on screen compared to his bigger cousins.

The alt form is nicely done, with no kibble whatsoever. It genuinely looks like a toy microscope. Naturally, he’s not in the same scale as he was in the movie, but he does look good in pictures. The lens assembly goes up and down on the central shaft which is a nice trick.

His robot form is about three times as interesting. It’s not the normal humanoid form, so he’s saved from a lot to the inconsistency between movie toys and their 3D models. Add to the fact that you only see him in select scenes that are short, and thankfully you won’t get many, “I’m going to pass since he’s not movie accurate”.

He is what he is; a robot spider/insect thingy.

Paint-wise, he’s a Transformer. That is to say, it’s minimal. He’s got some purple veining that is supposed to look like wires on his chest, and some more on his legs, plus a purple Decepticon faction logo on his back. The rest is cast plastic. Interestingly, they cast many small pieces in translucent plastic, which gives him a nice look under lights. His light-piping for example is a great touch.

His articulation isn’t all that great, but that’s to be expected given his size. He’s got two ball joints in each “leg”, but they’re a result of his transformation process, so aren’t really functional. They’re either out or in, and if you move them around, he’ll keel over since all his weight is in front. He’s got two “arms” up front that have two joints each, a ball “shoulder” and a hinge “elbow”. He can get some usage out of these at least, so that’s good. His head goes back and forth on hinges, so he can look down. Up? not so much.

So what’s my verdict? Is Scalpel a must have? No. His limited articulation and deviation from the Transformer archtypes preclude that. Is it a cheap toy? No. He costs nearly as much as what a Deluxe figure goes for these days, and paint applications and accesories are nil. Was he a big part of the movie? No. He was in two scenes that are barely 5 minutes of the films 2 and a half hour runtime and could have been replaced by a brain scanner and a generic fix-me-upper bot.

So why buy him?

‘Cause he’s FUN!