Mirage (Armada)

The name or term "Mirage" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Mirage (disambiguation).

Mirage is a Mini-Con from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

Once upon a time, Mirage was the cowardly sort who believed it was better to run and hide than live in the knowledge that he fought. However, when he was faced with the oppressive cruelty of the Decepticons and acts perpetrated by the less scrupulous Mini-Cons upon their own kind, Mirage was forced to realise that to do nothing in the face of injustice was the worst crime of all. No longer the shrinking violet, Mirage stepped up to become the intelligent, observant commander of the Race Mini-Con Team and a leading 'bot in Mini-Con society. However, he is still plagued by feelings of remorse over his past cowardice and inaction to such an extent that he vigorously pushed for the Race Team to side with the Autobots, in the hopes of never showing that other side of his personality ever again.

Japanese name: Indy

Fiction

Dreamwave Armada comics continuity

Mirage was one of myriad Mini-Cons living in the Destruction Team's hidden base on the Moon. Dreamwave Armada issue 9 After more Mini-Cons were brought to the moon, he used his ability to turn invisible to listen in on their conversations and report his findings to Dualor. Moments later, the Decepticons broke into the base, so Mirage used his invisibility to save Sparkplug from being captured. Dreamwave Armada issue 10 Mirage and Sparkplug then recruited the Space Mini-Con Team to help save Rad White from a mine the Destruction Team had stuck him in. After their rescue attempt succeeded, they boarded escape pods and fled to Earth. Dreamwave Armada issue 11

Like many of the moonbase's Mini-Cons, Mirage then joined the Autobots. Even while other Mini-Cons felt they should leave the Autobots, Mirage remained supportive, but reminded the other Autobot-supporting Mini-Cons to put themselves in their fellow Mini-Cons' shoes in regards to the situation. Fire & Ice Soon afterwars, Mirage, along with his fellow Race Mini-Con Team members, took part in the salvage operation to dig out the Street Speed Mini-Con Team, Comettor and Inferno from a frozen wasteland, encountering a Cyclonus overpowered by the Destruction Team in the process. Dreamwave Armada issue 13

Later, Mirage used his invisibility powers to save Over-Run from an alternate-timeline Galvatron. Worlds Collide, Part 1 of 4 When Over-Run's null-reality pods were needed to rescue the time-lost Optimus Prime from an alternate dimension that Unicron had destroyed, Mirage was one of the Mini-Cons who volunteered to sneak into the Decepticon base at Silver Ridge to retrieve it. As soon as they made it inside the base undetected, Unicron's heralds Thunderwing, Dirge and Scourge suddenly appeared. Worlds Collide, Part 2 of 4 Fortunately, Thrust provided the distraction the Mini-Cons needed to use Over-Run's pod and pull both Optimus Prime and Jetfire back to their reality. Worlds Collide, Part 4 of 4 Mirage later joined in Optimus Prime's call to arms against Unicron. He and the other Mini-Cons joined their sparks together to empower the Mini-Con Matrix, which delivered an almighty blast at the Chaos Bringer. The End

Panini Armada comics

When the Decepticons began kidnapping Mini-Cons, Mirage was captured by Thrust and painfully re-engineered to be bound a Decepticon. He apparently escaped, and joined Dualor when he thought up a plan to lure Megatron to the Autobot HQ and blow them both up. As the plan moved forward, Mirage discussed it with Sparkplug, who was against sacrificing the Autobots just to kill the Decepticon leader. Counter-Strike!

Toys

Armada

• Race Mini-Con Team (Basic, 2002/2003)
  • Japanese ID number: MM-05

Mirage is a heavy retool of Armada Swindle, replacing pretty much all the parts, but keeping the transformation scheme the same. He transforms into a Formula racer, much like his Generation 1 counterpart, and also forms the bottom portion of the Skyboom shield. Mirage and his teammates were available in a three-pack on their own, and also included as bonus add-ons with the Max-Cons Scavenger and Predacon.

This mold was also used to make Top Gear, while the original Swindle mold was used to make Zapmaster.

• More information on Mirage at TFU.info

• Grap & Lift with Race Micron (Multi-pack, 2003)
  • Japanese ID number: MS-02

The Race Team was available in Japan both as an individual team, and in a multi-pack with Smokescreen.

• Race Micron X-Dimension (Basic, 2003)
  • Japanese ID number: MM-10

A limited-edition (but still regular-retail) redeco of the Race Team was made available in Japan. As X-Dimension Mini-Cons, the entire Team was given a deco in white and varying shades of blue.

• More information on X-Dimension Indy at TFU.info

• Indy (Micron Booster, 2003)
  • Booster ID number:

Part of the first Micron Booster set, this version of Mirage is almost totally identical to the retail version, only this uses a slightly-sparkly plastic and paint.

• More information on Micron Booster Indy at TFU.info

• Indy (Change Micron, 2003)

Another nigh-identical Japanese release, this version came as a "candy toy" produced by Kabaya as part of the Change Micron assortment. This toy is actually a new molding, though based on the original mold.

• More information on Change Micron Indy at TFU.info

• Road Assault Mini-Con Team (Basic, 2003)

A late-series redeco of the Race Team—under a new Team name—was released alongside the Road Wrecker Team. Mirage and his teammates were now colored black, red and white. In Japan, individually-bagged members of this Team were given away randomly with the purchase of Armada Jetfire or Tidal Wave at Ito Yokaido stores in August.

• More information on Road Wrecker Mirage at TFU.info

Universe

• Mirage (Tiny Tin, 2004)

The entire Race Team was made available as individual Tiny Tins releases under the Universe banner. The toys in this release are identical to the original Armada ones.

Energon

• Race Mini-Con Team & Space Mini-Con Team (Multi-Pack, 2004)

An unaltered version of the Road Assault Mini-Con Team (yet named the Race Team again) was released as part of an Energon-series "Mini-Con 6-pack" with the Space Mini-Con Team.

Cybertron

• Hot Shot with Mirage (Bonus pack, 2006)
• Override with Mirage (Bonus pack, 2006)

Mirage was redecoed again for the Cybertron toyline, in colors similar to his Road Wrecker ones, but with grey instead of white. He was only available in Walmart-exclusibe bonus packs with Hot Shot and Override, and came with a Tiny Tins carrying case.

• More information on Cybertron Mirage at TFU.info

Notes

• The Photoshop editing by Dreamwave Productions in their More Than Meets The Eye: Armada profile books were less than satisfactory on some pages. Mirage in particular suffered from having the tops of his wheels and part of his left foot cut off during editing. The image that appears at the top of this article has been repaired by the uploader.
• In the Dreamwave comics, Mirage was shown to have the ability to make himself (and anyone he touched) invisible, a power similar to the one displayed by the cartoon version of Generation 1 Mirage.