Mirage (G1)
| The name or term "Mirage" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Mirage (disambiguation). |
- Mirage is an Autobot in the Generation 1 continuity.
Mirage is what humans call "old money." Before the war, he was a member of affluent Cybertronian society, with his own large estate and high-priced friends. He enjoyed the finer things in life: vintage energon, swank evening events, and turbofox hunts on the grounds. But when the war started, he was forced to choose sides and found himself banded with a group of commoners he didn't really understand.
The other Autobots don't trust Mirage. He feels the war, even after all these millions of years, is beneath him. War is not, after all, how civilized, erudite, beings conduct themselves. He often questions the Autobots' violent means, and not-so-secretly hopes they and the Decepticons can get along. Because of this, he has been labelled by a few others as a Decepticon sympathizer.
He sounds like Bing Crosby.
Japanese name: Ligier
Italian name: Mistero
Fiction
Animated continuity
Voice Actor: Frank Welker (US), Takurō Kitagawa(Japan)
Mirage was part of the bridge crew of the Ark when it crash-landed on Earth four million years ago. A volcanic eruption in 1984 awakened the Ark's inhabitants, including Mirage, who was reformatted by Teletraan-1 to have a terrestrial alt-mode of a Formula-1 racer. With the battle against the Decepticons now transplanted to Earth, Mirage still hated warfare. He longed to return to Cybertron and simply turn his back to the evil Decepticons, but his loyalty to Optimus Prime kept him in the fight.
Mirage was instrumental in stopping the Decepticons from returning to Cybertron after amassing enough energon from Earth. The Decepticons had constructed a new star cruiser, and were in the process of flying home to tip the scales of the war in their favor. Mirage used his cloaking ability to sneak aboard the Decepticon ship. He uncloaked and opened fire, blasting away at the ship's controls. He then bailed from the doomed cruiser, floating back to Earth's surface on a parasail as the Decepticons crashed into the ocean.
Marvel Comics continuity
Mirage was one of the Autobots on board the Ark when it crashed, and was subsequently reactivated in 1984. He didn't do much of any note before being blown to pieces by Octane during an Arctic battle arranged by Starscream
Robot Masters
Dreamwave comics continuity
When Shockwave came to Earth and announced that the Autobot/Decepticon wars were over and that the two factions had been united, Mirage was one of the first to fall in with the new regime. The rest of the Autobots were wary of this development, and so a few (especially Cliffjumper) considered Mirage a traitor.
Mirage quickly realigned himself with the Autobot cause when Shockwave's true plan was revealed, and Cliffjumper seemed to forgive him.
Toys
Generation 1
- Mirage was part of the original 1984 Autobot car assortment. His mold was originally used for a Diaclone F-1 Ligier JS-11 racer. The toy was specifically designed to work with the launcher mechanism contained in the Optimus Prime / Battle Convoy trailer. This toy is easily broken at the waist piviot.
The labels on the toy are references to several real world company. The largest name, Citanes, is a deliberate corruption of Gitanes, a French cigaratte company (quite unusual for a child's toy). Ligier is the name of the company that manufactures the car type, while elf is a reference to a French oil company that has since merged with TotalFina to become TotalFinaElf.
- Japanese ID number: 07
- Hasbro and/or Takara have announced that the mold for Mirage is either lost or damaged, so an reissue is unlikely. Mirage was also included in the 1986 Good Bye Convoy giftset. Mirage is also the only 1984 Autobot who has not been reissued in some form.
Generation 2
- Mirage
Mirage was released in 1995 as a black and yellow recolor of the Gobot Double Clutch. He was also planned to be released as a flipchanger, but the Generation 2 line was cancelled to make way for Beast Wars. The unreleased mold was first used in Machine Wars.
Machine Wars
- Mirage
- Mirage's form in Machine Wars transforms into an blue and white Formula racer. Like the other Machine Wars basics, the toy is a flipchanger, and his weapons are hidden in his alt mode. Unlike most of the Machine Wars toys, the head looks very similar to his G1 form. This is because the mold was originaly designed as Mirage for Generation 2.
Robot Masters
- Rijie
- Japanese ID number: RM-03
- THis toy used the Machine Wars mold, but in Generation 1 colors.
- Because of legal reasons, "Ligier" could not be used for the name of the Robot Masters toy, so "Rijie", which has the same pronuciation in Japan, was used instead.
Alternators
- Mirage
External links
