Frenzy and Rumble are such huge characters even though they are so small in their size. They were mean and funny and even though they were so small, they gave so much trouble for bigger bots and they were never afraid of challenging them. If you have seen G1 cartoons especially from season 1, it’s really hard not to like them especially Frenzy, ehhh Rumble, no, Frenzy, no no no, Rumble. Okay, here is the real messy part. Is Frenzy blue or red? There are already many articles and discussions debating on this topic over the Internet for long so I’m not going to address here. But let me put it simple, in the G1 cartoon, the blue bot was called Rumble but it was really meant Frenzy. Hasbro themselves just messed up the name when making the carton. So when they made the toy and the toy’s name was based on Hasbro’s TF bible, they used what was originally planned, Frenzy is blue. So here I don’t really care which one you support, I will just call the blue bot Frenzy. Back to review. Soundwave and his cassettes were so iconic and unique in G1 and since then even Hasbro has trouble finding replacement. Soundwave did pop up here and there but he was never he once was in G1. Rumble got some special love so he could be seen in some random toys but Frenzy was totally gone (music label didn’t count here) until the 2007 movie made him a boom box which was Soundwave used to be.

 

Now time rolls to 2010, Hasbro announced releasing G1 characters in their Generations and Reveal The Shield lines and they showed us a familiar looking blue bot in scout class size. Only this time Hasbro played the game even worse, they called him Rumble and the toy was never seen in the world (at least Windcharger showed up in UK). Takara, on the other hand, went their own way again and made the United line and they tried to make fans happy by even repainting the blue one to red and packed them together and gave them the rightful name, blue is Frenzy and red is Rumble. Only problem is there were very limited amount available (pretty much only in Asia) and the price just went higher and higher. I pretty much gave up on getting them and chose to wait for the indefinite Hasbro release. Even when my wife went back to Taiwan, I did ask her to find one but only if the price was acceptable. The thing is she couldn’t find one. Fast forward few more weeks and they were back in US already but her friends were coming, I randomly checked the same toy store’s website and found this set. More importantly, it was on sale and actually the cheapest one I could find. Still quite expensive to my taste but my wife allowed me to buy. So her friend went and got and came here visiting. Now I have the United Frenzy/Rumble. Still like a dream.

 

Technology has been changed rapidly over the years. Boom box is hardly seen and used and Soundwave is pretty much being simplified into vehicles (well, ROTF’s satellite was a fairly cool idea). Cassettes are long gone and Ravage and Laserbeak are pretty much turning into nothing in the movies. How about Frenzy/Rumble? Yea, they are now tanks. To be more specifically, mini sized anti-aircraft tanks. Colorwise is painted okay but here I’m not very happy about the paint quality with the money I spent. They both lack paint on the machine guns on the sub turret, which I just added. Also one of Rumble’s main guns has serious paint scratch which I also added back. The treads aren’t painted perfectly but I can live with that. The main turret is fully rotatable but the sub turret is very limited. The two tanks look good but the major design flaw is the spring punch buttons. These two buttons are the silver panels on each side of the wheel and they are just placed on a too convenient place which can be triggered easily.

 

The transformation is very easy but not that smooth. While their alt mode is totally new, Frenzy/Rumble’s robot mode is very G1. They are actually quite smaller than the regular scout size as I compared them to Windcharger. Now I really have to rant about Takara’s quality control. Hey, I paid much more bucks but their quality isn’t any better than Hasbro’s. First of all and very obvious to see, Frenzy’s head is tilting to one side. I couldn’t make it straight so I removed the head and found out one side of the neck ball joint is much bigger so the ball slot on the head couldn’t fit. So I cut it out a little bit so Frenzy’s head can be straightened. Then for both Frenzy and Rumble, their arm joints are super tight that every time when I move them, I tend to be gentle for the fear of breaking them. Comparing to the arm joints, hip joints are somewhat loose that I have to fix them. Then about design flaws, their legs are poseable but arms are not due to the kibbles. The two huge famous pile drivers are hanging on the back of each arms, plus the turret and guns on their back, plus the super tight and not much to move around shoulder joints, their arms cannot really pose freely. The sweet spot is they have no problem posing the memorable pile driving pose and it looks very sweet. The two guns can be detached from turret and clipped on each arm. The hands design does not allow them to hold anything.

 

Transformation: 6 – Quite easy but not smooth due to kibbles.
Fun: 8 – Tank mode is okay. Robot mode should have tons of fun with guns and spring loaded pile drivers but arm joints are too tight and shoulder clip is not tight enough.
Display: 8 – They displays nicely. Only arms cannot pose much.
Value: 5 – Can you believe $45 is the cheapest I can find? And darn Takara couldn’t even do the quality control right.
Overall: 7 – Shame on Takara that couldn’t do the paint and quality right that many spots I have to fix by myself. Both figures also have design flaws but robot mode has great G1 homage.