STRENGTH          RANK
7.6                6.0
INTELLIGENCE   COURAGE
9.9                6.9
SPEED        FIREPOWER
9.7                8.9
ENDURANCE        SKILL
7.6                9.0

Color Scheme:

Shades of brown and blue with some translucent orange parts. As with many BM toys, he's got some clear colored parts as well as some opaque parts in various shades of their main colors. Although not really much like his show colors it's a balanced design that looks nice.

Robot Mode:

Tall! Even taller than Ultra Jetstorm. Check out this Size Comparison pic. Once you get past his gangly appearance, you notice that his main similarity to his show rendering is that of his head. Check out his Head Shot to see what I mean. Other than his head and his overall lankiness, he's mostly unlike the show. His wings are on his arms, not his feet. Most people feel this is an improvement, and I tend to agree. They do tend to make positioning somewhat difficult, though, especially if you want to pose him in some cool pose using his wings and stuff. I'm not too fond of how big his hands are. They just don't need to be that big. His thumbs are opposable, but he's got nothing to hold onto, so that feature is somewhat pointless. All in all, though, I think it's a great robot mode, worthy of his Ultra grade.

Beast Mode:

Impressive Wingspan! I haven't measured it, but his wingspan has got to be a good 20" or more. Again, his hands are too big. His legs, though they do compress somewhat in transformation, are too long for a bat. I wish they folded up somehow, or compressed even more to be more realistic as bat legs. One cool thing is that his ears are articulated. Not fully, but they can point in any of a wide range of directions. He can be listening to things ahead or behind him, a great added touch. His head is a little wobbly, though. As you're playing with him, he'll be looking from side to side all the time. ;-) Last but not least, his robot head is hidden by two panels that are used in robot mode to cover his chest and back. These panels don't lock into anything, and so his head is clearly visible if you don't make it a point to hold the panels where they belong. Top that off with the fact that his robot hip joints don't attach to anything in this mode either, making the legs somewhat floppy and unstable. I can't imagine why they couldn't use pegs or tabs to help hold his legs and those panels in place in beast mode. :\ I don't think those hurt play value much, since the last thing you'll be concentrating on is his butt. ;-)

Alternate Mode:

Contrived. It's almost like they invented this mode just so people wouldn't be pissed that he's an Ultra sized toy but only has two modes. Basically, he stands on his wingtips and sticks his legs out in an almost gymnast fashion. It's more humorous than intimidating. I'd be happier if they spent more time adding stability to the beast and robot modes than fidding with this goofy alt-mode. feh.

Transformation:

Rated as intermediate, but really not any more complicated than some Basics. In fact, I'd say Mirage is easily more difficult. All you have to do for Nightscream is flip his legs from one end of his body to the other, and fiddle with his wings a bit. The trickiest part is getting the wings to attach to the things on his arms in beast mode. You have to get the amrs/wings in just the right position. His chest is mostly used for his disc launcher gimmick.

Gimmicks:

Mainly his disc launcher, which has red LEDs built in to light up the discs and his beast mode eyes. Check out this pic of his Launcher to see all the various positions of the launcher, both with chest open and shut, and in beast mode. Check out this pic of his Glowing Parts to see the coolness of the LEDs. Most noteably, in robot mode, with the launcher in position and the chest closed, while the LEDs are on, one of them lights up his spark crystal from inside, making the Maximal logo show through. That's pretty cool. In beast mode, when the launcher is lifted out of his back (to use it), not only does one of the LEDs light up his beast head eyes, but also it connects to the gears under his bat head. When you rotate the launcher, his head turns as well. Unfortunately, the positioning of the launcher and his big bat ears prevents easy operation of the launcher. His ears get in the way!

Tech Spec:

In my honest opinion, his specs are WAY over-written. Specifically, all his stats, from Strength to Skill, are too high. No way does this punk have a 9.9 intelligence! Of course, he's ultra-fast and all-powerful. It's a wonder how he can be defeated, and why he doesn't just kick Vehicon skidplate all over the show. I guess the show is more realistic? hehe This is my first comment on a toy's Tech Specs, but if this keep up, it won't be my last!

Pros/Cons:

Overall, a good toy, with some small flaws that can easily be overlooked.