Right then, troops! Rally to me!
'Cos today we're stridin back into the Siege for one of its many unexpected bonus drops!
So throughout this whole Generations thing, we've been absolutely spoiled for most of the original cartoon cast,
so much so that the bulk of the Siege characters have shown up before in one form or another.
But today we're takin' a long lens leer at an oft- overlooked but weirdly high-profile nobody character!
Yes indeed, this is Siege Refraktor - aka Reflector -
aka Spectro, Spyglass, and Viewfinder -
aka Refraktor, Refraktor, and Refraktor -
whose little surveillance and support subdivision showed up a LOT in the G1 cartoon
as the original Decepticon ground force number-maker-upper
but they rarely seemed like particularly willing henchmen.
It was like they were only around so the bigger boys had somebody to pick on.
No! Please... Not me! No! [heartbreaking music]
And that appears to still be the case in Siege!
Like, all the A-list antagonistas are Voyager class,
so Refraktor perfectly settles into the gaps as a Deluxe class cannon fodder camera jobber.
And it's so weirdly good to see him!
'Cos it's not like I've got any particular connection to Reflector.
He never really made much of an impression in the show
and I can't think of anything else he's ever done!
Spotlight Wheelie? Eh...
I never had his original toy either.
They were mailaways! Who has time?
But still, something about him just feels like home, y'know?
I mean, his little normal-ass robot mode and nicely neutral lavender and lime colours
are so central to the whole old-school Decepticon aesthetic.
And that's precisely what makes it so weird that he's so very late to the CHUG party!
'Cos at this point we've revisited basically the entire 80s toyline,
we've had non-show nobodies like Krok and Repugnus,
we're comin' up on or THIRD Astrotrain!
But the best coverage Reflector's had up until now
was a Targetmaster for a Legends-class Insecticon
which, real talk, has gotta be the most humiliatingly minor form of action figure presence
a character could conceivably have!
Might as well have been a Tiny Turbo Changer.
So it is gloriously gratifying that he's finally getting his full-blood mass market payoff!
But lookin' at it...
I kinda get why they put it off for so long.
I mean, because of his sorta ho-hum homogenous humanoid body type,
Refraktor may in fact lay claim to the most ordinary robot mode it's possible for a Transformer to achieve!
Like, forget Quake -
I think this might be as close as it's possible to get to like, default Transformer?
This is literally just a bloke, but square.
Case in point, the bod's got this sorta nice silver framed green window thing,
a subtly cinched waist and an absolute drenchin' of detail,
but it's all very reserved, and it's an incredibly unexciting shape.
Hips are just a pair of purple underpants with actual love handles,
and the legs are literally just some legs.
He's packin' some crackin' two-way ankle joints and toe points
but they literally could not be less interesting!
No real features, no foibles or alt-mode clues,
just straight up and down, run of the mill, glass of milk and a cucumber sandwich,
no frills, knees and feet and nothin' else.
Are we certain he even transforms?
Arms are similarly lustreless, but they've at least got some talking points!
They're certainly a weirdly wibbly series of gangly grey cuboids!
I mean, they are decently posable, but this sub-shoulder shoulder swing is such a friggin' freakshow!
Plus the elbows are so narrow and low down that the forearms look like they're about to drop off!
There's also an unavoidable vacant voidy bit in there, which I could normally let slide on a Deluxe
but they've put a friggin' COMBAT port on there so you can't help but look right through it
like a porthole to disappointment.
Gotta say though, I do enormously love that face!
Like, it's got the same sorta dry-ass default mechanoid feel as like Pounce and Wingspan, and Battleslash,
that whole stoic silvery mush thing that I always have to point out,
but Refraktor gives it a sorta far-away melancholy overtone
like a moody headshot for that pretentious photography blog that he definitely runs.
So the accessories definitely match the theme of Extreme Normal -
gloomily grey yet weirdly likeable.
Like he's got this removable belly wheel for the optional Spectro styles,
which you can store away in his ass or swap the head out for an even dronier look.
Gun looks good and Cybertron-y with a serious calibre barrel and a sweet little Tommy-gun drop-down drum,
and check out his actual shield, like a proper little medieval heater shield!
I dunno why, but somethin' about a robot with a shield really tickles me?
But while this one can provide full-body protection
it's also got a giant glass shard pokin' out the back.
Doesn't it rather defeat the purpose of a shield if you can slice yourself up with it?
Be careful!
Anyway, as for the old Siege DVD extras, he's got an appropriate dosage of COMBAT ports,
as we've covered,
couple of the old impact pimples,
you can go online an punch in his blacklight code for a cheeky desktop wallpaper,
and like... y'know the whole battle damage scuff mark thing?
I know we joke that it's all been a bit half-arsed and it hasn't been very good,
Well...
Refraktor just straight up hasn't got it.
Brilliant!
So yeah, I guess overall Refraktor's robot mode's a comfortably competent customer,
albeit a bit of a boring one.
But like, Good Boring.
Pleasantly plain,
like rice pudding.
[CLUMSY THRASH RIFF ]
So, in what has become the classic move for legacy roleplay first-year Decepticons,
Refraktor transforms into
#nothing in particular!#
Like, what is this? A spaceship?
A shape?
Like, it's very nakedly just the guy lying down wearing his accessories a bit weird
but I suppose it's just about a vehicle, at a push?
It's got features, I guess, like this pathetic little see-through circuit board cockpit,
and it gives off a sorta hydrofoil vibe
with the canopy and this perpetual motion-blur propellor
and this little ski leg? What?
Plus there's a gun at the front, so it at least has a front,
but let's be real!
This is the kind of quote-unquote "vehicle mode" that's clearly just a placeholder
to tide you over until you fork out for three of 'em!
Like, they HAD to give it this mode so they could sell 'em individually
and still claim that they're a legit standalone Transformer.
I get it, all right? It's a little cynical, but I get it.
But it is RUBBISH.
[LOUD ASS STONER ROCK]
So, yes! If you manage to wrangle a trio of Refraktors - or a
- you can crumple 'em up into cubes and smush 'em together to form this frankly absurd
Cybertronian camera mode!
Does this count as a combiner?
Is this, like, Micro Change Magnaboss?
But it's great fun, man, like the shields combine into this massive lens
and the guns form a tripod! That's brilliant!
And you've got these two spare Spectro bellies you can pop around like shutter buttons or aperture dials
and like, you can use those melee Battlemaster blasts as a corkin' comic book camera flash!
I think what I love most about this is that it just does not work in-universe!
This is for you - you like hold it up and go "say cheese!" Click click!
It's for YOU, it's not for the play pattern.
I mean, it's WAY too big for anyone else to hold,
and like, I can't really think of a specific use for a giant dedicated camera on Cybertron?
It's a planet of machines! I kind of assume everything's a camera.
Everything on Earth is.
I guess it could be like a mobile battle station/portable chest-high wall?
Why not? Nobody respects the Reflectors anyway.
Why wouldn't they force 'em to turn into a literal human shield they can jam guns onto?
And if that lens was a laser cannon, oh boy!
[THOOOOM!]
Oh shit!
[GIGANTIC EXPLOSION]
Aaaarrgghhhh!!!
Anyway, there's actually loads of other fun stuff you can do -
like, I did a little film crew thing, that was cool,
get some Weaponizers on the go - it's Siege, man! Go crazy!
And like, because they just attach to each other side-by-side,
you could potentially build a perpetual wall of Refraktors!
But get this!
The camera mode is in fact so swish that they've also put it out as a gorgeous premium 3-pack
in original toy colours with all extra bits to turn him into a lush realistic vintage camera!
Which you'd think I'd be into, but honestly I'm good.
'Cos I actually really like Reflector's animation colours and I'd much prefer to keep things Cybertron style!
And like... don't tell nobody, but I'm really not that into cameras.
Like, I own a camera, I can operate a camera,
but it's a work thing! I just need it so I can get videos done. I'm not interested in it!
God, and people try to talk to me about cameras...
"I used to have a Nikon!"
"Ooh, what's your favourite F-stop?" I don't care!
Ohh - oh. Not you! Come back, come back-
(I didn't mean it like that, okay?)
(You're an important part of this team. You're appreciated.)
(i just don't want a toy of you, okay?)
(I prefer the real you!)
(Okay? All right.)
So yeah, Siege Refraktor's a bit of a weird one!
He's a fairly charmin' little cheekster,
but he doesn't really get any speed up until you've dropped another £40 on duplicates.
Cos look, I'm all for cross-compatibility,
but Siege really lives and dies on pressuring you into buying several of the same thing, right?
And Refraktor is peak Siege.
'Cos with Cog and the Weaponizers, it's like, "yeah, this guy's fun, he does a cool thing",
"but it'd be MORE fun to get a couple and do the fun thing MORE."
That's just maths.
Same thing with the Seekers - you can have a grand old time with one,
MIGHT be fun to build a squadron.
But with Refraktor it's like, it can do a cool thing, but ONLY if you buy three of it.
And if you don't, then it basically sucks.
But y'know what? They got me, didn't they.
They got me and I'm not sorry!
We've waited THIS long for a Generations Reflector, and it IS all right!
Might as well get the full experience.
So yes, well played, Hasbro. You got me. Again.
Gizza job.
Whay! Cheers for watching, gang! Hope you liked that one, I kinda did.
And big shoutouts this time to a certain Mr. Raymond Irons!
See you next time, sexy!
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Two waves late since 2008.