Loves to observe things: vegetation, architecture, Earthen topography, and particularly comrades' mistakes. Likes to blackmail his associates and is impressed with his own ability. Has highly-developed infra-red vision that can record images in darkness, through camouflage and at great distances. In camera Mode, can emit powerful flash explosion that leaves enemy blind and disorientated for up to 15 seconds.
First/Last Cartoon Appearance - Episode 1 (Season 1 #1), September 17th 1984 / The Transformers: The Movie, August 8th 1986
Figure Details
AKA 'Scouting Force X'
Manufacturer - Perfect Effect
Toyline -
Additions/Mods:
- Added Decepticon symbol to Viewfinder's shoulder
- Added Decepticon symbol to Spectro's chest
- Added Decepticon symbols to Spyglass's shoulders
Review
Reflector was all over the early cartoon episodes, as the Decepticons were so ridiculously outnumbered. They were rather hapless and soon disappeared, but I remember their vivid Apple and Rhubarb colour schemes perfectly. I had 4 choices when buying a homage to Reflector; 3 from
Perfect Effect - cartoon-accurate, toy-accurate or 'night ops' - and one from TFC toys, who as usual leave me cold with their aesthetic choices. The 3 robots not even sharing the same basic design and size? What a load of rubbish. I actually own the 'Night Ops' set and the cartoon-accurate one, with the latter being my 'official' choice for these cool little characters.
Appearance (Robot Mode) 10/10
If you like plastic for poundage then you might as well stop reading now, for these guys are
tiny, but they are prefectly formed. They are perfectly in proportion, and capture menace nicely in their expressions. The paint apps are immaculate, and there are many of them for such a tiny set of figures. They also have a ridiculous array of weapons at their disposal, so you can choose to send them into battle with knives, shotguns, a sniper rifle, an assault cannon and even a super mega weapon.
Appearance (Alternate Mode) 9/10
It's a camera, so there's not that much you can do with it. But it is a great approximation of an 'old skool' SLR, complete with a tripod. The singularly most impressive thing about this alt mode it that it contains every accessory available with the figures, so there is no excuse for losing bits. The Purple, green and white colour scheme is resplendent here, creating a nicely garish camera which is very reminiscent of the '80's: the decade that taste forgot. Plus it looks hilarious in the hands of Unicron.
Transformation 9/10
The actual robots themselves have a fairly simple transformation sequence and they then tab on to the shield which forms the base of the camera. Some accessories are connected in order to form the lens barrel, tripod, flash etc, and all of the other weapons stow away into various parts of the camera. It is hard to appreciate the complexity of the challenge that awaited Perfect Effect when they decided to square everything away like this, into one seriously compact mode.
Poseability 10/10
There's not really anything that these guys can't do, and when you consider that at under 2 inches high these guys have the following articulation (Ball-jointed heads/waist/hips/shoulders/knees/elbows, ankle swivel and tilt), you can begin to appreciate how intricate and fantastic these little guys are. They all look so great, however they are posed.
Quality 9/10
These guys are tough as they are small, with even the knives (yes, they get knives) feeling sturdy despite their tiny size. These would be hard to break, although I wouldn't recommend leaving these near children, considering their high cost.
Overall - 47/50
If any figure advertises why 3rd party companies need to exist, then Reflector is the one. There is no way that Hasbro would take a relatively obscure character who only really appeared in the earliest cartoon episodes, and produce a toy of anywhere near the complexity and brilliance of this one. They just wouldn't. So thank the heavens then, that Perfect Effect have taken on the job for them, and produced as near-perfect a transformer as we are ever likely to see.
