Mirage Trio
The early 2000s o-ring repaints were a surprise among the new t-crotch figures. I didn’t expect to see Vipers (both regular and Alley) among the newly created figures. Among the Joes was a late ARAH figure that would make its way to many army builders’ extras bins–the good old Mirage mold.
Originating in the oft-maligned Mega Marines sub-team, he was one of the clashing-est (and that’s saying something) members in terms of outfit. When he reappeared alongside other o-rings as part of the 2000s relaunch, he sported a bit of a more subdued uniform.
I find the fellow on the left to be my favorite of the bunch. He was only available with the weird Hoverstrike RC vehicle, and can be a bit of a pain to track down on his own. I managed to snag one from a China ebay seller a few years ago, and I imagine it was new old stock, as the figure was in pristine shape. The other two figures could be found as part of two-packs along with repainted Cobra Vipers. All are interesting variations on one of the more detailed sculpts of the 90s.
All three of these are great Mirage repaints. These guys showed Hasbro could get it right from to time. But, packing him with a Viper and releasing him 3 times in 2 years doomed him among collectors. The Hoverstrike version is my favorite, too. The dark green one that was released in Wave 1.5 originally had yellow goggles, too. There were pre-production figures with them. But, Hasbro changed them for the clear versions. So, it was nice to see the yellow face shield show up later.
I have the clear version, which is my favorite. However the goggles won’t snap on. Any suggestions?
Sculpt was good. The problem with the figure is those legs can’t get much “ball joint” motion at the hips. I think I snapped the crotch strip on one trying to.
Mirage and Big Ben got the short end of the re-release stick.
I think the vintage Mega Marines are kind of cool. I have Clutch and I want the others.
The original blue Mirage is my favorite, but of these three, I prefer the one on the left.
I’ll take original flavour Mirage over the above three any day of the week.