Tuesday 8 April 2014

TFC TOYS STRUCTOR AKA SCRAPPER 2011

Scrapper is the leader of the Constructicons. He is kind of an unofficial leader seems as he was never actually confirmed as the leader. We only presume he is the leader of the Constructicons as he is the one who organises things and orders them around. Scrapper was not originally going to be called Scrapper but Gravedigger but they decided against this. Gravedigger became the name of one of the two lost Constructicons, the other one being Hauler
It is mostly Scrapper who decides when they combine into Devastator.
Scrapper, character wise is a genius. He is very good at what he does. He is a Construction Engineer and an Architect. He is very modest about being a genius and not conceited unlike Hook.
Just because he is modest does not mean he is a nice guy though. He is pretty evil in his methods of torture and executions. As it says in his Bio, Scrapper has been said to take dead or dying Autobots and use them as building material. 
They did depict this in the cartoon a  bit such as in the episode "Triple takeover" when Scrapper and the other constructocons are convinced by Blitzwing to work for him. With the promise that they would get equal leadership of the Decepticons. They built a highway maze as a defence for Blitzwings base aka the football stadium.
You can't help noticing a little bit of a mistake here in that they built the highway maze which is a massive structure in a pretty short amount of time. They are good but not that good but it is a children's cartoon so just go with it.
The Autobots including Prowl and Skids and a few others as well got run over and crushed by Blitzwing and then the Constructocons gathered up their wreckage and had it built into a throne for Blitzwing but because he did not deliver on his side of the bargain the Constructicons where prepared to hunt down and kill Blitzwing and just take the leadership for themselves. Scrapper sat on the throne himself.
Scrapper does have a very torturous streak and you don't want to be captured by the Constructocons. they are going to do something pretty unpleasant to you.
In another episode "The Master builder" The Constructocons offer to help Grapple and Hoist with the construction of a solar needle. Convincing them that they were totally outside Megatrons orders and that Scrapper had always admired Grapples architecture. Scrapper came up with the idea that they would earn Grapple and Hoists trust by helping them build this solar needle but then they would use it to create a massive amount of Energon cubes for the Decepticons use.
Megatron knew nothing of this at first but after he confronted them about it. Scrapper explained that  cooperating  with the Autobots was all part of his plan  to seize control of the solar needle.
as soon as the solar needle was complete the Constructocons turned on Grapple and Hoist and Scrapper had them built into the foundations. They were still alive and rescued later by the Autobots.
There was a massive battle over the solar needle between the Autobots and the Decepticons but eventually the solar needle was destroyed and the Decepticons retreated because there was nothing left to fight for. The Autobots searched though the rubble and found Grapple and Hoist. This was all outside of Optimus Primes orders because Grapple had gone to him for permission to build the solar needle but Optimus would not give it as there was no way to defend it against the Decepticons. But of course Grapple did not listen. They were not punished but Optimus made them clean up all the rubble from the tower
Scrapper did get a bit more screen time than the other constructicons because he is the leader but of course just like all the other combiner teams it is difficult to talk about just one of the characters without talking about them all.
The Constructicons appeared in many different episodes in fact their first appearance was in " Heavy metal war" where Scrapper  designed and built a machine which would transfer all of the Decepticons powers into Megatron for his one on one duel with Optimus Prime. While Megatron was fighting Optimus the Constructicons on Megatrons orders were burrowing beneath the Arc to break into the base and destroy Teletran 1. They were foiled by the Dinobots who were activated by Teletran 1 in order to defend itself. There was a truly awesome battle between Devastator and the Dinobots.
There where some episodes which were mostly the Constructicons building stuff like in the "Autobots run" the Constructicons built a transformation jammer which would trap the Autobots in their vehicle mode. They also built a giant car crusher to crush the Autobots
In " City of Steel" the Constructicons designed and built Megatrons fortress for the Decepticons conquest of New York city. As well as building a giant fortress they also converted a bunch of taxi cabs into drones. When Optimus prime was captured in this episode and was completely butchered by the Constructicons Scavenger, Scrapper had some of Optimus's parts built into a robot Alligator which he sent to attack the Autobots
In the G1 movie the Constructicons were among the Decepticons that attacked the Autobot shuttle which was on a supply run to Autobot city on Earth. Scrapper did not do an awful lot in this scene but shot at things  unlike Scavenger who killed an Autobot.
The Constructocons  fought in the battle of Autobot city. Mainly as Devastator. After the battle they are on Astrotrain on the was back to Cybertron. This is after they have thrown out megatron and the other wounded Decepticons. They all argue about who is going to be the next leader. It does seem that the Constructicons do desire being the next leader of the Deceptiocns obviously you see this in Triple Takeover" and again in the G1 Movie. Scrapper would be the supreme leader.
They get into one big punch up aboard Astrotrain but it does seem that Starscream manages to restore order and manages to get them to pick him as new leader.
On Cybertron in Starscreams coronation Scrapper and the other constructicons are for some odd reason blowing trumpets until Starscream blasts all the trumpets to bits with his null ray. Scrapper does look on as Galvatron  incinerates Starsream and then becomes leader.
You do not really see Scrapper and the other Constructicons in series three. You see them  "In five faces of darkness" on Char all beaten up and starved of Energon and apart from that they have little bit parts and become background characters.
"Carnage in C minor" which is pretty much the last hora for the Constructicons and Devastator as you don't really see them much after that.
Now I have got to touch on the one confusion with the constructicons on where they actually came from. because in "Heavy metal war" megatron says they built the Constructicons in their temporary base in some caves but then in " The secret of Omega Supreme" they completely discount that and say that the Constructicons existed on Cybertron where they were actually good not bad. megatron captured them and reprogrammed them using the Robo Smasher and also gave them the ability to combine into Devastator. The conversion is permanent and they are now evil.
In both situations Megatron creates the Constructicons but in  "Five faces of darkness" you see the flashback to the early days of the war for Cybertron in the Matrix and Megatron appears to have been created by the Constructicons. If you count the number of Constructicons in that scene they are actually eight of them not six. This is where the whole idea of there being two lost Constructicons  one being Hauler the other being Gravedigger comes from.
The one theory I have on how the Constructicons could create megatron and how then megatron could create the Constructicons. For a start completely discount them building them in the caves and pretend that never happened.
My guess is the Constructicons were never Autobots. They were a neutral team of robots who where a construction team for hire and even though they were neutral they were still so so on whose side they were on. They did create Megatron the most evil Decepticon of all. This was obviously a couple of million years down the line Megatron and then captures the Constructicons his own creators and reprogrammes them. his purpose in this was to stop the Constructicons from doing any more work for the Autobots because at the time they had been hired by the Autobots to perform maintenance on Cystal city which they had built. The were also friends with Omega Supreme.
Megatron wanted to stop any more repair work and also test the new combiner technology so they were perfect . he tested this by getting the Constucticons to destroy Cystal city.

 
Bio A wizard at designing fortresses and energy plants, but modest. shows his true malevolent genius by incorporating defeated Autobots into his buildings structures. shovel can slice through12 inch  thick carbon steel, lift 30 tones . As right leg and part of torso, combines with fellow constructicons to form giant robot Devastator
 
Motto- "My work is a monument to- and of-my enemies"
 
Function- Construction Engineer and Constructicon leader
 
Stats Strength 8, Intelligence 8, Speed 4, Endurance 7, Rank 5, Courage 5, Firepower 3, Skill 9
 
Vehicle mode front
 
 
Vehicle mode side
 
 
Flight mode
 
 
Limb mode
 
 
Robot mode
 
 
Showing light piping
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In vehicle mode Structor or scrapper what ever you want to call the toy is just a big green brick of a Payloader also known as a front end loader or digger etc. He is pretty solid and it would be pretty hard to tell that this was a transformer if it wasn't for the pretty obvious robot arms visible on the sides. He has some pretty nice detailing and paint apps. Even though the grill deco on the rear is interrupted with the combiner port. There is quite a few ways you can customise the look of the vehicle. You can attach his cannons to various ports or some wings to make a flight mode. 
Like all other Hercules figures he comes with one purple weapon and one translucent red duplicate.
Scrappers weapons are some little round pistols which could do with being a bit more dynamic as their design is quite simplistic but they get the job done.
Even the cab is removable and there are other places you can peg it in. But I am not sure why you would want to peg it on the side but it is good to have options.
Overall a good solid vehicle mode. Rolls really well and the one feature he does have in this mode is the front scoop lifts up and down and has a hydraulic piston gimmick even though when lifted up it does reveal his robot head on the front.
His transformation is not too hard. in fact the hardest part is getting his right heel spur out.
His robot mode is very solid and is very nice. I love his aestetic. It is obviously blocky like G1 but it is  updated with a modern look
His head sculpt is really nicely moulded and does say Scrapper to me but I kind of wish he has a visor rather than eyes as he had a visor in the cartoon. He  has superb light piping.
He has good articulation and you can get plenty of action poses out of him.
His back pack does make him a little back heavy but you can adjust his heel spurs to help with this.
The fact that he has his scoop hanging off his back has always seemed a little awkward to me on Scrappers design but at least it does not stick out as much as it did on the G1 figure. I wish it locked in place as it has a habit of flipping round and knocking his robot head back into his torso. that and the lower kibble on his back pack does look a bit a bit distracting
Weapons, well there are various places you can put them. He can have duel wielding pistols. You can arm mount them and combine them into one double barrelled gun or you can even mount them on his hips if you want to. My favourite way to display him is mount them on his shoulders as shoulder cannons which also stops the scoop from knocking his head down.If you don't want them positioned in any kind of shooting position you can mount them on his lower legs to store them. A little low for a holster effect but they do work as jet thrusters which is when the wings come back into it.
You can attach the wings to his arms in various ways to maybe give him a flying robot mode to give his robot mode a more dynamic look. You can even combine the wings with his guns. The wings look like they can be guns of some kind as well.
A couple of minor annoyances I have with this figure is his head does not lock in place as it has a habit of slipping back into his torso if I nudge it. That and I feel that his head is a tiny bit sunken anyway. That and the torso pivot that he has. I don't think is meant to be articulation in his robot mode. I think it is just a ankle tilt for his limb mode. In his robot mode it makes him look lop sided and has been in  some kind of horrible accident.
Overall is a very nice figure . Well worth getting if you are a Constructicon fan. He does have a couple of minor problems but they are more like minor nit picks. Great figure and I definitely think you should get him if you get the chance and can afford him.
 
 
 
 


 

1 comment:

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