All Hail Lord Starscream; Ruler of the Decepticons and Emperor of Cybertron.

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In most cases, the Real Gear sub-line of the 2007 Transformers movie toy line represents a departure from previous depictions of the famous robots in disguise. Said to have been born from energy released from the Allspark Cube, these small characters take the form of everyday electronics and other items rather than the typical vehicles of their larger, Cybertron born comrades. Spyshot 6 is a member of this line and takes a form that, while new, does echo back to the original series.

Spyshot 6 takes the alternate form of a digital camera. He's small, only two inches by three inches, barely larger than the palm of a grown person's hand. His primary color is gray with silver around the focus lens, on the lens itself, small beads on the front right side, around the shutter button, on the viewfinder, the flashbulb and on a button on the side. Black is used on the shutter button, around and on the front of the lens, the bottom right corner, and for the buttons on the back. Red can be found on the underside and on the lower right side, and clear plastic used for the lens and the viewfinder. The name "Spyshot 6" and an Autobot insignia can be found printed in black on the lower right side of the camera front.

Perhaps one of the greatest issues with making Transformers into everyday electronics is that, unlike a car or a jet, there's not much you can include in the way of an action feature. With Spyshot 6, the only thing you can do is press down on the shutter button and receive a loud clicking sound, which is contrary to the sound most digital cameras make. All the other buttons are fixed, molded onto the figure as solid pieces and thus don't do anything. The imagination of the child will certainly take little notice, as will serious collectors. The buttons certainly correspond to features on a real digital camera; including a menu button and a pair of picture scroll controls under the display screen. The sticker serving as the screen display includes letters, numbers and symbols found in these cameras; these include battery charge, flash status, time, and the zoom status. Oddly, the picture used is a headshot of the Decepticon Ransack from the 2005-2006 Transformers: Cybertron cartoon series. It would have been preferable that a movie character be used for the screen shot instead of a character from a series that has passed, especially since the toy was released a month before the movie's release, long after many of the designs had been finalized and known. The Takara release of Spyshot 6 does have movie characters on the displays, so while it's understandable that Hasbro would have an older character on the prototypes, it doesn't make sense for the general release.

While younger and more recent fans may believe Spyshot 6's alternate mode is new for Transformers, those who have been fans since the 1984 series will know better. In the 1984 cartoon series, fans were treated to three robots collectively named "Reflector", which combined and transformed into a Polaroid camera, although a toy of the character would not be released until 1986. I find it somewhat disappointing that Hasbro didn't think to make this figure a homage to this older character.

Spyshot 6's conversion is rated as "2 Quick" and he's relatively easy to convert between each form. I always suggest reading the instructions before attempting to transform your toy, even if you feel it's unnecessary. Like most of the Real Gear figures, Spyshot 6 does not employ the "automorph" feature of the larger movie toys. Considering my opinion that this gimmick is rather unimpressive anyway, I don't feel it's a loss on him.

In robot mode, Spyshot 6 stands just less than four inches in height. Colors from his camera form carry over into his robot mode. Gray-blue is exposed on the limbs, shoulders, clamp-like hands, and head. Black can be found on his forehead and around his eyes, and silver has been painted on the lower part of his face. The optics have been molded out pieces of clear red plastic and the back of his head possesses a clear piece of plastic. Hold him up to a light source and his optics glow.

Spyshot 6 has twelve points of articulation. His head can turn completely around, his shoulders can rise and fall, the arms bend and turn at the elbow, and his hands can open, close, and wave up and down. His legs pivot at the hips and the knees bend. He's fairly stable in this form and can be poised in just about any position the imagination will allow. He doesn't have many action features other than that, but considering he's more a spy than a fighter, it's not really a problem. He doesn't come with a weapon, but imaginative types, going by the bio on the back of his packaging, could see the focus lens in his chest and the flashbulb on his shoulder as weapons. He has little resemblance to any of the robots that made up the cartoon Reflector bots, which may be why Hasbro decided not to name him after the obscure character.

Spyshot 6 is a decent little addition to the Real Gear sub line and a nice toy overall. As a fan of the Decepticons, it a bit disappointing that he wasn't made into an homage of Reflector in an effort to make the name familiar to a new generation of fans, but with Hasbro's penchant for making retools and repaints, it's still a possibility.

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