Mirage (Mini-Con)


 * Mirage is a Mini-Con racer.



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.

Armada cartoon
Mirage was one of the first two Mini-Con panels belonging to the Race Team that were captured by the Decepticons. He finally came on-line when the Decepticons gathered all three panels, and joined with Downshift and Dirt Boss to form the Skyboom Shield under Megatron's control.

In the next battle, Megatron assembled both the Air Defense Team and the Race Team into the two most powerful weapons in the universe. Armed with both the Star Saber and the Skyboom Shield, he toyed with Optimus Prime until his overconfidence caused him to lose his grip on the Shield. Prime's Mini-Con partner Sparkplug then "locked on" to the Skyboom Shield and brought it under Prime's control, thwarting Megatron's killing strike with the Saber and balancing the powers between the two sides.

Because the Skyboom Shield was in such demand by the Autobots to protect them from the Star Saber (and later the Requiem Blaster), Mirage and the Race Team appeared quite infrequently as individuals. One day, they went for a walk with the kids to catch some fresh air. Unfortunately, their little stroll happened just as Billy and Fred reported that Thrust had met with Starscream. Squidhead had asked for the Skyboom Shield Mini-Cons as collateral for letting Starscream back into the Decepticons, so their sudden disappearance from the base didn't look too good for the former Decepticon. The Autobots' distrust for Starscream in part led to his decision to take Thrust up on his offer, and so even after Hot Shot uncovered the kids and the Race Team and cleared his name, Starscream stole the Skyboom Shield for Megatron and returned to the Decepticons.

Mirage and the Race Team had little time to act as individuals after that, remaining powerlinxed as the Skyboom Shield while the Decepticons used the shield as one-third of the Hydra Cannon, before it was stolen by Thrust and used to provide power to the heart of Unicron. Mirage, Dirt Boss and Downshift reawakened as individuals with the help of High Wire and the Street Action Mini-Con Team, who had journeyed to Unicron's core with Optimus Prime, Galvatron and the Earth children to grant the super-weapon Mini-Cons their freedom. Mirage fled Unicron aboard the Autobot Jetfire just before the Chaos-Bringer was finally destroyed.

Dreamwave Armada comic
Mirage and the rest of the Race Mini-Con Team were among the Mini-Cons captured by the Decepticons before the war began. After escaping from Cybertron, he became one of a myriad Mini-Cons living in the Destruction Team's hidden base on the Moon. 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. 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.

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. 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.

Later, Mirage used his invisibility powers to save Over-Run from an alternate-timeline Galvatron. When Over-Run's null-reality pods were needed to rescue the time-lost Optimus Prime from an alternate dimension that Unicron was attacking, 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. 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. They did so just in time, as the alternate the Autobots had found themselves on was about to be destroyed by Unicron. The Mini-Cons powerlinked to the bulks, granting them the strength to wound Unicron before going back to their home reality. Mirage later joined in Optimus Prime's call to arms against Unicron, who followed them through to their universe. 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.

Panini Armada comic
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.

Cybertron toy bios
Mirage and Hot Shot traveled together to Speed Planet at the command of Optimus Prime. Although he initially missed Downshift and Dirt Boss, Mirage soon came to appreciate the racing atmosphere of Speed Planet, and became a valiant team with Hot Shot.

Also, Mirage fell through a rift in space-time into another universe thanks to the Unicron Singularity, and was found by Override, who repaired him. Unfortunately, Downshift also fell through the rift and was enslaved by Dirt Boss (no relation). Override and Mirage joined forces to free Downshift from Dirt Boss's control.

Armada

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


 * Mirage has a similar body to Armada Swindle. 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-Dimensions (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-Dimensions Microns, the entire Team was given a deco in white and varying shades of blue.


 * This toy also doubles as the separate character Indy.


 * More information on X-Dimensions 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 (2003)

 * 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 Assault deco, but with gray instead of white plastic. He was only available in Walmart-exclusive bonus packs with Hot Shot and Override, and came with a Tiny Tins carrying case.


 * Hasbro copy writer Forest Lee confirmed that the Cybertron Tiny Tins exclusives were originally planned with two different Race Team decos in mind, hence the backstory involving one version of the Team being from an alternate universe and the Tins' decos showing the Mini-Cons in silhouette rather than the normal full-color images. He could not confirm what the then-chosen decos were, however, but it seems likely they would have been rebranded re-releases of the two schemes from Armada, given the use of "Road Assault Team".


 * More information on Cybertron Mirage at TFU.info

Foreign names

 * Japanese: Indy (インディー Indī)
 * Korean: Drift (드리프트 Deuripeuteu)