At the halfway point in our look at Hasbro’s first, biggest, and best (?) combiner, we’re taking a look today at Scavenger, the Constructicon’s excavator and salvage expert.
Scavenger was a G1 ‘Con who occasionally got to step out of the green mass and show a little character, at least a time or two. He’s depicted as being a bit insecure and a little too eager to please, especially for a bad guy. This makes him a little of an outsider, but don’t mistake this for softness to the cause — Scavenger is Decepticon to the core. I distinctly remember a part in a G1 episode where the Constructicons were about to head to the Earth’s core, and in group huddle before combining, Scavenger got all gushy and told the crew how great it was being part of the team.
Then Bonecrusher told him to untuck and get into right arm mode. Anyway, here’s his G1 bio:
Desperately tries to prove his worth to comrades by trying to find things of value — whether by digging up a hillside or a backyard. Only tolerated because of ability to use shovel’s magnetic, ionic, electrical, gas sensors to detect presence of fuels, metals, etc. As right arm module, combines with fellow Constructicons to form giant robot “Devastator.”
Deservedly, Scavenger is one of the funner individual bots of the group, in both modes. His excavator mode rolls on wheels hidden under the molded treads (as much work as these put in, it’s completely understandable why they ain’t rolling treads), and he has a pretty articulated shovel arm. Like his brothers, he’s a great mid-size, somewhat small with a Masterpiece car maybe, but plenty good enough for me.
His bot mode is equally good and articulated, with universal ball shoulders hips and elbows, knee and thigh joints, claw feet, and ankle pivots. His head sculpt is maybe a bit crude at first glance, but as he is a dead ringer for his cartoon look and I absolutely love it. The additional red and silver paint break up the green and purple particularly well.
Since he came with the arm and hand pieces in G1 as well, it makes sense to give him the launcher that hides his Devastator hand, but, again, a little pistol (like the one he employed with deadly efficiency in the shuttle battle during Transformers The Movie) would have been a great addition. I’m glad Hasbro seems to have glommed on to the rocket launcher pod as a design element; I love the way they look. It might be possible to incorporate it somehow in the vehicle mode, but truthfully, Long Haul is the better truck for that job anyway.
Overall, Scavenger is one of the stronger individual bots of the group for me. It is fitting, given that the same was true of the original, but there is something inherently aesthetically pleasing about this guy in particular that puts him in the running as maybe my favorite of the crew. I would say this guy would earn an individual price point pretty well.
And here’s Canonball’s breakdown with a transformation demonstration: