Wait a minute… the title read “Masterpiece Rumble and Ravage.” What’s Frenzy doing here?

If there’s one point that will forever serve as a dividing line amongst Transformers fandom, it’s the never-ending “Rumble is red, Frenzy is blue” debate. In the original G1 toy line and in the ’80s Marvel comic, Rumble was the red one. BUT — in the G1 cartoon, Rumble was the blue one. That’s not confusing at all. Because of this inconsistency, a fiery debate has raged on since 1984 with both sides digging their collective heels in and waging a battle nearly as epic as the one fought by the Autobots and Decepticons themselves.

It’s one of those debates where both sides have very solid points supporting their positions, which means, of course, this will NEVER be settled. And when Takara and Hasbro do things like release a blue Rumble in the Prime line, but then release a red Rumble in the Masterpiece line, it’s safe to say they’re not helping matters much. But even though many of us may not agree on which is which, what we can all appreciate is all the kick-ass interpretations of these characters we’ve received over the years, with the most recent, and maybe the best, being this Masterpiece set.

With the release of Masterpiece Soundwave earlier this year, his deployers could not be far behind — Soundwave needs his minions. This set is the first of two planned sets (that we know of so far) to be released this year, with Frenzy and Buzzsaw coming later this month. The box is definitely a Masterpiece box in terms of design, but man is it small. It’s not much bigger than the average paperback book, so even though I had an idea of how small these two were going to be based on the Lazerbeak that came with Soundwave, I was still taken aback when I opened my package from BBTS.

Like all the Masterpiece boxes, it does a great job of showcasing what’s inside. I have to admit, I love these boxes and prefer them to the transparent, window boxes the Hasbro Masterpiece figures come packed in. The downside is I find these impossible to throw away, so I can be sure to be plagued with space issues forever. Also — it’s impossible to gauge the quality of the figure(s) within until the box is opened, but that’s a moot point since in order to get these, they need to be ordered almost blindly from an online retailer anyway, at least for those of us in the US. Not being able to pick and choose based on paint apps, etc. is par for the course.

Rumble (or Frenzy if you prefer) is easily the star of this set because his design is so close to how he looked in the cartoon and comic, and there’s just more you can do with him. It really looks as though he stepped right out of the G1 cartoon. He’s made up of mostly red and black plastic with just a few paint apps that serve to nail the character’s G1 goodness as closely as possible. The gold vac-metal on his chest, pelvis, and knees is particularly striking; your eyes can’t help but be drawn directly to them.

Just like the G1 figure, his backside is a bit less convincing than his front. Here we see all the details that serve to capture the “cassette” look of his alt mode. It’s still cool just because it’s so darn faithful to the original figure.

From the side he starts to look a little odd. His proportions look a bit funny since his upper body is so thin, but his lower body fills out as we get to his thighs. Unfortunately, given his size and Takara’s apparent desire to give him an authentic-as-possible alt mode, this was seemingly unavoidable without compromising too much. The result is a figure that really only looks “great” when viewed mainly straight-on.

In terms of articulation, he can get into almost any pose you’d want him to. His arms and legs all have a great range of motion, and his head can be move up (but he can’t look down) and side-to-side. The only thing he’s really missing is some kind of ab joint, but it’s normal for a Transformer to not have that particular point of articulation.

The detail of his head and face really makes the figure for me; it captures his personality so well. Every time I look at it I can practically hear him saying, “Nobody calls Soundwave uncras-a-matic!” I love the red visor and the frown. They definitely makes him look like the little bruiser he is.

He’s small — there’s no denying that. He’s just a smidge larger than the G1 figure (to his left) and a good bit smaller than the Takara United figure (to his right). And, thankfully, he’s superior to the Hasbro Generations figure (far right) in every possible way.

For Accessories, he comes with his two silver blasters that can be placed in his hands or mounted on his back, a cassette case, and his signature pile drivers that also serve as what looks to be a battery pack. The pile drivers are really the “coup de gras” here — they’re awesome. We’ve waited a long time for a set as good as this.

These are just awesome. His arms fold up and are held securely within the barrels to successfully emulate their look from the cartoon. The hammers themselves slide up and down with a decent range of motion, creating the “hammering” effect. I would have loved it if they were spring-loaded, but this is still fun and possibly better since they can actually hold a pose. They are almost perfect — my only nit would be the way his shoulder joints are exposed when he’s wearing these. It looks rather inelegant and my eye can’t help but be drawn to those joints. Aside from that, though, these are practically perfection.

The connector piece that makes the pile drivers look like a battery pack can be attached to his backside, which is nice if you like your figures to be able to hold/carry all their accessories, but, in this case, all it really does is make him look as though he has a really big butt. No bueno.

As expected, he fits perfectly inside Masterpiece Soundwave’s chest in his alt mode. I like the red as it shows through — it adds a nice contrast to Soundwave’s blue.

The cassette mode is decent. The colors pop nicely, but it does have that jigsaw-puzzle feel. It looks damn close to the original tape, both in terms of design and size.

The one on the right is my original G1 Rumble I’ve had since Christmas ’84. He hasn’t held up too well, but well enough to illustrate the fact that the Masterpiece’s alt mode is the same size as the original and almost identical in design.

If you wanted to, you could use him with your G1 Soundwave and he would work as well as the original. I think that’s really cool. It’s amazing just how faithful to the original this Masterpiece really is. It’s a fantastic homage, but it also improves on the original in just about every conceivable way. When we played with our Rumbles back in ’84, this Masterpiece is the figure we were imagining.

Both Rumble and Ravage come with these pink cassette cases. Neat, but I can’t see myself ever using these beyond the purpose of this photo. Back in the box they go.

Wreckin’ the joint.

Ravage (or “Jaguar,” as Takara refers to him) here is perhaps an even stronger interpretation of his respective character than Rumble is, but his diminutive size is even more evident here than it was with Rumble. The good news, however, is he definitely looks like a black Jaguar cat. It’s as faithful a representation of the character from the cartoon and comic as we could ever hope for, at this point at least. Overall, it’s a clean-looking ‘bot mode with very few details of his cassette mode showing through.

His rocket-thruster-things are actually integrated right into his sculpt, unlike the G1 figure where they had to be attached after transformation. I like this feature, but it does make for a pair of rather tiny thrusters. And since they are integrated, his only accessory is the pink case (if that counts).

He’s noticeably smaller than the Universe figure from a few years ago (on the left). But smaller though he may be, he’s a much more convincing cat than the Universe figure, and he’s actually well-articulated and can be put in just about any pose a cat is capable of, short of curling up into a little ball, that is. When the Universe Ravage came out, that was definitely the best version of the character released up to that point. It’s safe to say the Masterpiece figure is an improvement, but your mileage may vary here. I can see people showing a preference for the Universe figure, especially in terms of cost.

Who’s a pretty kitty?

Even cute kitty waiting-for-a-treat poses are no problem for this Ravage.

Like Rumble, his cassette mode is a dead-ringer for the G1 figure’s alt mode. His transformation is quite a bit different, however. It’s much more complex in order to achieve the look of the G1 cartoon. It felt like a bit of a puzzle my first go ’round, but it really isn’t so bad once I got used to it. It is a bit weird how his head splits right down the center, though. And, like Rumble, he’s a perfect fit for both Masterpiece Soundwave and the G1 Soundwave.

Back up, Hound…

Nice kitty…

This really is a fantastic set, but beware — it’s pricey. The average cost for the set from US retailers is $60 before shipping. Given their size, it does feel like a lot for what you get, good as they are. The forthcoming Frenzy and Buzzsaw set will see the same price point, so you’re looking at $120 for just Soundwave’s deployers if you choose to go the Takara route. However, Hasbro has announced they are releasing Soundwave WITH all five cassettes later this year for about $120 all-in. We don’t have all the details yet, but it may be worth your while to wait for the Hasbro release. But if you’re like me and are afraid you’ll never actually see that set on the shelves (like Hasbro’s MP-10 Optimus Prime), then the Takara sets may be worth it to you just for the peace of mind they’ll bring.

Either way, both of these guys are awesome companion pieces to Masterpiece Soundwave. If you’ve got Soundwave, even the G1 version, then Rumble and Ravage here are a must.

Buy from BBTS

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canonball Canonball enjoys haunted houses, drinking fake egg nog, checking books out from the library and not reading them, and taking part in various types of online nerdery, like contributing to The Fwoosh and The Short Box. See author's posts

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