Name: Gauge
Series: Micron Boosters
Allegiance: Minicon
Alternate Mode: Motorbike
MOTORBIKE MODE
Height: 2.5cm Length: 5.5cm Width: 1.5cm
A small black motorbike with navy tailpipes on either side and a gold headlight. Guage is an almost entirely black repaint of Nightbeat, the Minicon that accompanies Armada Sideswipe. I should point out that I never picked up Sideswipe, so my comparisons will be based on photos. Close inspection will reveal that the front fork and both tyres are actually a dark charcoal - but you won't notice unless you actually look. The black corresponds to silver on Nightbeat, the charcoal to black and the blue to yellow. The end result is that Gauge is awfully dark and has a different feel about him compared to Nightbeat. While Gauge's colours are a little more believable (you don't see many yellow tailpipes), they're rather boring.
The detail in this mould is okay, with a Minicon symbol on the left of the fuel tank and tread on the tyres, along with some diffusion lines on the headlight. You'll only really see the last one, which comes out thanks to the gold paint - the rest is lost amongst the dark plastic. There's no play value here - the tyres roll but the front fork will move if you try to push Gauge along. Since Nightbeat was designed to mount on Sideswipe, this bike cannot stand upright on its own.
A dull and uninteresting bike mode that's really not helped by the colours. Sure, Gauge is significantly different in colour to Nightbeat, and probably more realistic, but as a limited repaint I'm not sure that the colours make a lot of sense. Usually these sorts of repaints go for interesting colour schemes, and while these colours make sense they don't really make Gauge too interesting.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Lift up the headlight, swing down the tailpipes to form legs, rotate the waist 90° to the left. (taking the head with it). Swing down the wheel forks to form arms.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 5.5cm Width: 5.5cm
Again mainly black, Gauge's upper body is the main section of the bike while the headlight is his face with the handlebars forming antennae. The tailpipes form very spindly legs while the forks (complete with tyres) form his arms. The left arm (rear fork) is blue while the right one is charcoal. The arms are very short while the legs are long with a significant gap between them. The simple face, strange arms and simply legs give Gauge a droid-like look.
Again the colours aren't interesting although I'm not sure that this mode would look good in bold colours. The arms really bother me, moreso than the simple face which has that droid thing happening. There's no real poseability to speak of - the hips swing but he can only stand straight while the arms can lift out to the sides, but since they end in tyres there's really no point in posing them.
A disappointing robot mode that really only exists to make the bike mode work - Nightbeat was designed to stow inside Sideswipe as a part of his gimmick and out of that context this robot mode has no reason for being so lame. Gauge's colours are deliberately lined up to those of Cybertron Runamuck, which does give him some purpose, although Runamuck comes with his own gun anyway. The link up is a nice idea but I'm not sure that it justifies this limited toy being so dark.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of. Gauge was blind packed as one of twelve Micron Boosters (series 2). I have only Gauge from this series.
OVERALL
As a blind packed Micron Booster, Gauge is awfully dull on his own. The mould sucks on its own - Nightbeat was really only designed for Sideswipe's gimmick and without that gimmick Gauge is rather lost. He _is_ a cool addition to Runamuck but as a Micron Booster I can't say I like him. I guess if you get the whole set he might work better. Since you can't exactly go out and buy Gauge specifically, I'm not going to recommend him, but as a toy on his own I'll give him 4/10
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