This Masterpiece-Scale Rouge figure from Arcee marked a huge turning point for me in collecting Transformers. I was always patiently waiting for official TakaraTomy or Hasbro products to come out, but upon seeing this figure, I realized the 3rd Party market was always going to pay more attention to the female Transformers than the main companies ever would (of course this was before Power of the Primes hit the shelves). This Rouge figure also confused me because it make me realize I hadn't been paying attention to the market and I had completely lost track of all the fembots already released. I vowed to backtrack and become a completist. I won't go crazy getting repaints. Arcee alone gets tons of re-releases in Stealth Mode and as the Paradron Medic, I would go broke trying to keep up. But trying to get each mold and seeing what these different 3rd Party companies can do has been a really fun side hobby (and I credit these companies with lighting a fire under Hasbro's butt). Let's check out Rouge!
I'm mortified at my old man eyes. I totally saw that green circular sticker on her wing. That very obvious sticker that says "QC 33." But I thought it said "RC" and left it affixed with a shrug of indifference. I didn't realize it was a QC sticker until I was cropping these photos.
Every 3rd Party figure I've ever purchased has pros and cons.
The pros for this are (1) Her overall look. She really captures that G1 feel. (2) Her eyes. The metallic blue paint is simple and perfect. Although I love light piping, it only looks right with perfect lighting. And (3) The scale is great. She measures 7.5" tall and feels heavy.
The cons are (1) The upper chest and head functionality (this seems to be a theme). Her head and chest plate don't peg in properly and therefore slide up a centimeter with hardly any provocation. This is difficult for me because I tend to move figures by grabbing their ribcages. And (2) I found her very difficult to transform. Beyond my typical inadequacies with transforming, I found some pegs to be really tight, and others to me misaligned. I can't help but think that the way the chest doesn't fit flush against the torso is an oversight. I thought I was making a huge error until I noticed the solicit photos all show the same big gap.
I couldn't transform her. I am very inept at this, and especially with 3rd Party figures. But in this case, I literally couldn't even perform the first step (popping her shoulders out). I tried for 15 minutes and gave up. Here are stock photos of her car mode.
Rouge comes with two chestplates. Mine came with the curvy, rounded one attached (I much prefer the robotic non-curvy one). In order to swap them out you need a screwdriver and some patience. Luckily they are diecast parts so it doesn't feel breakable at all.
Rouge comes with six alternate faces. The blow-up doll faces are ridiculous, but that metallic eyepaint is downright luminescent. The last two faces on mine look identical. According to the solicit pics, one should have a subtle smirk, but mine are basically indistinguishable.
Rouge comes with a handgun and a pink rifle.
Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!
Here are the three most popular 3rd Party Arcees. From Left to Right: Fans Toys Rouge, Ocular Max Azalea, and Toy World Leia.
And here she is with the Toy World Leia, the two largest Arcees so far.
My ever-growing Arcee collection. I excluded all the dark pink and blue ones for aesthetics. From Left to Right: NYCC 2011 Prime Arcee, Dx9 Leah, Ocular Max Azalea, Reformatted Azalea, Fans Toys Rouge, Iron Factory Pink Assassin, Hasbro Generations Arcee, Toy World Leia, Heroes of Cybertron, and Titans Return Arcee.
Cheers!
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