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Mirage is one of the shiftiest characters to have ever appeared in Transformers history. He was never fully trusted by the other Autobots in G1 and the name itself has changed factions more times than any other; Autobot, Vehicon, Autobot again, Mini-Con, Decepticon. For his incarnation into the Alternators series, Mirage returns to the side of the Autobots and takes the form of a car.

Alternators Mirage takes the form of a Ford GT, a departure from his original incarnation of a Formula 1 racecar. His primary color is a very dark shade of navy blue with white double stripes painted across the hood, roof, and back as well as a set along the lower edge of his sides, running between the wheel wells, along with the Ford GT logo. Black lines the edges around the windows, on the tires, the undercarriage, radiator grill, and vents. He also has silver on the hubcaps and the fuel cap on his right side, just in front of his window, along with red on his tail and signal lights, and clear plastic on his headlights. He has a small, silver Autobot insignia just forward of his windshield, the blue Ford logo on his nose, and interestingly, there are small bits of clear blue plastic under each of his headlamps. There is a small license plate with his name on his tail, which isn't unusual; unlike previous figures, his plate are marked with the words "Michigan" and "Great Lakes"; an interesting addition.

Mirage is very sturdy in this mode; everything fits tightly in place. His wheels are about the only things that move on him and even on carpet he rolls fairly well, if only for a short distance. As with his predecessors, Mirage's doors open just like a regular car door, though his doors open with an obvious overhang. Not being familiar with the actual vehicle, it's not clear why the doors don't open upwards instead of outwards, but it's a minor quibble. When open, the doors are very loose on both the hinges and the slide. The hatch on the back opens to reveal the engine, though it takes some force to do so. Once open, the hatch holds it's position well enough, but slight jostling can cause it to come down. These are the only things that bring Mirage's points down

Begin by opening the car doors and raising the front hood over the windshield. Next, separate his front fender and pull out and down, making sure to lift the fists up before doing so. Pull the arms out and down, then raise the fists up and turn so that the thumbs are on the inside. Rotate the shoulders so that the arms are pointed down. Open a pair of doors on the rear undercarriage and push a set of small tabs at the bottom. Turn over, "close" doors, and pull down towards back. Open the back engine hatch, remove engine and leave the hatch open. Rotate a pair of central door-like parts forward until they come against the chest and separate the back section in half. Move the back bumper halves out to the sides and rotate up. Flip the back sections of the legs forward and close the doors in the back. Rotate the lower legs one quarter away from each other, rotate waist around 180 degrees, flip feet down and out, extending small tabs in the back of his feet, and rotate so the "toes" face forward. On the front hood, flip front section forward, then flip entire piece over the head and up against the chest. Push driver's wheel down, seats up, and push engine hood up under roof. Mirage is now in robot mode.

Transformation on Mirage is fairly complex, even for a toy of his size. One will need the directions to transform him, perhaps even to return him to vehicle mode. This is not necessarily a bad thing, especially considering the nature of the line. The only downside is that it takes a considerable amount of force to open the engine hood, as mentioned in the previous section.

Standing an impressive seven inches high, Mirage conveys the image of a powerful character that has both incredible strength and speed. There's no real change in color, just some additional white on the arms and legs; light blue on his feet, waist and fists, silver on his head and antennae. The head is incredibly like Mirage's from the animated series. He's a bulky figure - about four and a half inches from shoulder to shoulder - but not so much that it's out of character.

Like other Alternators, Mirage's engine turns into his weapon, but his has a feature unique among his comrades. Mirage's engine splits into two weapons, a long rifle and a smaller pistol-like weapon. These fit into his hands quite nicely thanks to pegs on the handles and slots in his palms. Not quite the weapons one might think a former turbofox hunter would prefer, but then, it is perfect for a character that was always described as somewhat shifty. It is still neat little gimmick.

There is one small complaint; the engine hood is still as loose as when it's open in car mode. Tucked up under the roof, it's a minor annoyance, so it doesn't detract from the figures rating. Other than that, there's no other real issue noticeable on this figure.

Mirage has been described as one of the best figures released for the line, and it's hard to disagree with that assessment. His aforementioned problems are relatively minor and he is a great figure. Those looking for a BinalTech version of the character will be disappointed, since Takara cancelled the line during this figure's development. Still, if you can find him, he's a great buy.

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