Every Transformer by the name of Dirge these last 25 years has always been a newly coloured and/or newly modified version of Starscream. So with the Transformers Revenge of the Fallen NEST sub-line, something completely novel and unexpected has happened: Hasbro has released an all-new, virgin mould Dirge!

Starscream is back for the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen feature film and so, then, is the toy based on the character. But this time around, those exceptional Transformers designers and engineers at Hasbro/TomyTakara have had two whole years to work on the toy version of Starscream.

You have to hand it to Hasbro. Even with such a small cast of robot characters in the Transformers feature film, they’ve still managed to come up with a supporting cast (in toy form, at least) using vehicles seen on celluloid but not thought to transform. One such member of the non-transforming supporting cast is Incinerator. He does, thankfully, transform in toy form.

As the Decepticon with the least amount of screen time in the Transformers film, and yet another Transformer manufactured in the wrong size category, I had little to no interest in Bonecrusher. But, Bonecrusher comes as a surprise. In a minefield of hit-and-miss Decepticon designs, Bonecrusher is refreshing and exudes a charm all his own.

Even as a “Voyager-class” sized Transformers toy, Blackout is too small. As part of the range based on the characters from the “Transformers (2007)” feature film, Blackout is supposed to be the largest of the Decepticons. But, sadly, as a toy his helicopter mode is a much, much smaller scale than the rest of the range.