Command Jaguars - Super Link - Figures

Wrote my original review of Battle Ravage way back in December. Fortunately its still at TFormers, so if you want to see it, click here. Note that I'd now lower his score by half a grade to C+/B-.

Command Jaguar

Command Jaguar is Takara’s version of Hasbro’s Battle Ravage. The two toys are almost identical, so I’ll just focus on the differences rather than rewrite the whole shebang.

Accessories

Command Jaguar (what’s so commanding about a drone?) comes with the same 3 weapons and energon star as Battle Ravage, but the color of the energon has been changed from the pale yellow-green to primary green. I think this looks much nicer, but it fails to give the illusion that the weapons are condensed energy. The tail-mace, which isn’t supposed to be made from energon, is the same shade of purple plastic as Ravage’s.

Beast Mode

Height:: 7.3 cm (ground to weapon mount) Length: 10.0 cm (nose to base of tail) At first glance there doesn’t appear to be any difference between Jaguar and Ravage. They share the same black, white, silver and red color scheme, and most of the paint apps are the same. However a more careful examination will show 3 substantial differences:

1. Jaguar sports a Decepticon symbol on his left shoulder. Ravage’s shoulder unadorned.
2. Jaguar’s head is painted with metal-flake black instead of silver.
3. The purple plastic above Jaguar’s spark crystal sports a small peg. This is absent on Ravage.







Bot Mode

Height: 11cm Width: 6.5cm
In robot form the differences between Jaguar and Ravage are again appear subtle, but there is one difference that matters greatly. Jaguar’s robot head sports the same black paint as his beast head (the face remains silver), but the real key is found in that little purple peg. In robot mode the peg locks Jaguar’s “collar” into the central body, preventing the toy from accidentally transforming. This was the most annoying feature of the Battle Ravage figure, seriously impairing its play value. This peg is an astonishingly simple (if inelegant) solution, and makes Jaguar a dramatic improvement. Rumor is that Hasbro has widely incorporated a similar change to the Ravage figure. While this surely stings early toy buyers, it’s a wise decision.

Overall

The changes to the paint scheme are insubstantial, and I don’t see any reason why fans would gravitate more towards one over the other. The new Energon color is also a matter of taste, and I am divided on which I prefer. However the real killer here is the torso-lock in robot mode. If not for this I couldn’t justify recommending this toy to anyone who already owned Battle Ravage. However this is such an improvement on the original that I highly recommend any one who picked up an early Ravage release consider investing in either Command Jaguar or a remolded Battle Ravage.

Final Grade: B

Command Jaguar Desert Type

The first [I]Energon [/I] (or in this case [I]SuperLink[/I]) repaint, this is a limited edition rendering of the Command Jaguar featured in episode 12, [I]Crisis in Jungle City[/I] (yes, I know, desert, jungle, hopefully it will make sense when we see it).

Accessories

Sadly Desert Jaguar’s energon weapons are the same pale yellow-green as Battle Ravage’s. While this is likely a treat for Japanese collectors, it’s a bit of a let down to those of us in North America. It isn’t even like the color works well with the new color scheme. sigh On the plus side Desert Jaguar’s tail-mace is molded in brown, rather than the standard purple, as is the missile of his energon gun.

Beast Mode

Height:: 7.3 cm (ground to weapon mount) Length: 10.0 cm (nose to base of tail)
Naturally Desert Jaguar is based on Command Jaguar, so he has the same basic paint apps and mold changes (notably the magic peg) as that toy. The base plastic colors replace black with light steel blue, purple with brown, the white with very dark blue (until a few second ago I though it was black). As far as paint apps go, the silver vents on the forelegs are unchanged, as is the purple Decepticon logo and green circles on the shoulders. Added are tan (tan-peach?) patches on the shoulders (the color on the left shoulder is mostly obscured by the black circle and Decepticon logo) and head (in place of the black), tan on the side body vents (replacing silver), and tan stripes over the entire front of the thighs (replacing the smaller red stripes). Jaguar’s eyes are now green, and the camera atop his head is painted silver. There is no longer any paint applied to the rear claws or thigh vents.

Bot Mode

Height: 11cm Width: 6.5cm
No big surprises here for anyone who is familiar with the toy. The only new color is orange under the chest. The Command Jaguar’s red chest spots have been replaced with brown, and a big brown stripe runs down the crotch. His face is tan, eyes green and for some reason the top of his head has Battle Ravage’s silver app.

As with the standard Command Jaguar, Desert Jaguar has that extra peg that locks the body down in robot mode to prevent accidental transformation. I guess that’s something.

Overall

In short, he’s ugly. I think this is one of the worst color combos since G2, and I don’t see how this works for either a desert or a jungle. This is the toy the Universe toys make fun of. And as bad as it is normally, adding the yellow-green accessories makes it just that much worse.

While the blue bases were a good start, brown and tan were just about the worst possible complimentary colors. Perhaps white or gold. Even orange would have been a good contrast. I know that this was in the cartoon, but that’s no excuse. They make color changes for the standard figures (Command Jaguar’s energon weapons for example) so I find no good no excuse for an ugly toy.

Unless you are a completist, a Takara whore or desperate for a brown mace, I cannot recommend this toy at all. Thank the toy gods that there is a better version readily available.

Final Grade: D

And some pics of the three together:

Reviewer	Michael T. Dunleavy
Date	May 2nd 2004
Score	(5 out of 10)
Reads	8558

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