Spies and Saboteurs!
Ravage and Rumble
As 2014 marks the 30th
anniversary of the Transformers, it seems appropriate that my interest in the
Robots in Disguise is peaking once again. On a standard trip to B&M (the UK’s
premiere discount chain store) I found the Generations Mini-Cassette Decepticons
for the bargain price of £3.99, and so took the opportunity to scratch a
decades old collecting itch – I now finally own Ravage! This two pack set contains
Rumble as well (definitely blue), and two energon-like clear purple containers
for their alt-modes.
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| Shelf Fresh! |
Ravage
was packed mid-transformation, which isn’t the most flattering look; but
thankfully he’s much better when free. The card art continues the attractive
Generations branding, with the red and white grid background reminiscent of the
old boxes and cartoon intro, and some tasty character artwork. The back of the
pack features both robots prominently, and includes a small teaser picture for Generations
FOC Soundwave. Other than the standard multilingual warnings, there’s not much
else to report.
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| Data Disk and Case |
For both robots the
transformation is straightforward. I’ll start with the alt-modes, as they can
both be covered in one go. Both robots transform into round data disks, with a
spring loaded release button. The disks themselves don’t have fantastic play
value, but I suppose the real purpose of this mode is to interact with
Soundwave. However when the disks are put into the purple containers, it actually
makes quite an attractive little set piece, and I like the idea of being able to
walk around with a Decepticon in my pocket that no-one would suspect. Well,
other than the fat Decepticon logo giving the game away, of course…
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| "Destroy what's
below and what's above will follow." |
I’ll start with Rumble for the
robot mode. He reminds me of a Micromaster, in terms of size and shape, but
with slightly worse posability. The articulation sacrifices are in service of
the transformation, and do lead to some strange positions he can make - his
knees bend the wrong way, and he can pull his shoulders back to look like he’s
fronting up (not unknown for Rumble). He’ll also do the splits before he can
sit down, and so for the most part is best standing there and moving his arms.
The thing is though; he doesn’t actually look too bad doing that. The sculpt detail
for a figure this size is pretty decent, and the paint apps, on his face and
Decepticon symbol in particular, are very fine.
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| "Today's Autobots are
tomorrow's scrap metal." |
Ravage
is the better of the set though – it’s truly impressive how much more they
could make of his ‘robot’ mode than they could with Rumble, as he stretches out
just over four inches from head to tail, and then has shoulder and knee joints
for each leg. The tail is also posable, although that’s part of the transformation.
Ravage has got a good shape to him and wins on play value out of the two for me,
but he’s not perfect. Because the bulk of the data disk shape has been stretched
so thin, it’s readily apparent quite how hollow Ravage is from the clear
daylight you can see when you look at him from most angles. He also suffers
from having no neck articulation, leaving him constantly staring at the ground
a small distance ahead. The paint apps and sculpted detail are both pretty tidy
again however, and for the purpose of this set Ravage does a good job.
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| Operation: Interference! |
Ultimately these toys are
accessories to the larger FOC Soundwave figure, and without owning him I can’t
really judge them in that context. They do succeed as pocket money Transformer
toys however, and when both Rumble and Ravage are stood with their container
cases, the pieces look more than the sum of their parts. If I’d paid the £9.99
TRU wanted for these, I would’ve felt mugged – but for less than a fiver, I’d
definitely say they’re worth it.
*****
Thanks for reading!
