Transformers Masterpiece:
Rumble & Ravage Review (Part I)

While transforming Ravage is easy, there are a few steps that I still have to stop and think about it, or check the paws to make they’re facing the right direction. Rumble on the other hand has a great transformation that reminds of me of the classic G1 bots I had a kid. Everything unfolds pretty simply, and Rumble goes from rectangle to little man without any confusion.

Like Ravage, the figure really shines in robot mode. I love the MP line for doing (mostly) a great job on both the robot & alt modes, but I think the robot modes are where the toys really shine. Other than Optimus who spends a lot of time in his iconic truck mode (seriously, I need two!), the rest hang out as robots.*

* – Though it would be great to have a little stack of microcassettes for $120 to show off when folks come over, right?

As a robot, Rumble has that classic look and great articulation. I could use a little more in the arms, some length and maybe a bicep swivel, but that’s just me being nitpicky. He looks and moves great. You can see in a couple of the pics how we’ll he can pose. The ball-joints at the shoulders, hips, and ankles do most of the work, but there are plenty of hinges (some due to the transformation) that make the figure probably one of the best articulated little Transformers I’ve seen in awhile.

The paintwork on Rumble is sharp, I love the vac-metal details on the torso, though mine came a little chipped & scratch. I’ll probably do worse to it over time though because these guys are fun to play with – I don’t get one bit of hesitation even though I paid $30 apiece.

Rumble includes some great accessories which I’ll cover in the Frenzy review tomorrow (you’ll see them all in the gallery though), but I did want to highlight the pistols since I view them more as part of the figure. While they do have a hinge that switches the handles between a peg that fits in the hand and one for the back, I primarily only want to have the pistols back-mounted. I think the figure just looks more complete with them back there.

Overall, I love having these guys. I think anyone who is waiting for the Hasbro TRU version of these guys will be in for a delight. As awesome as they are, they’ll surely be more awesome at 40% of the price. Takara did a fantastic job turning their classic cassettes into modern Transformers figures. While Masterpiece has really upped its game since MP-10, Soundwave & his cassettes still seem to raise the bar even higher. They’re going to be a great set to have this Summer (or now if you’re bad with money!). Be sure to check back tomorrow when I’ll do Part Two, focusing on Frenzy & Buzzsaw as well as the accessories and some cool ways these guys interact with Masterpiece Soundwave.

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27 thoughts on “Transformers Masterpiece:
Rumble & Ravage Review (Part I)

  1. Pretty cool review so far. These guys look good enough to display with my Generations figures even if they’re actually part of the Masterpiece line.

    I could use the savings that a Hasbro version would provide, although releasing Soundwave with a yellow (?) visor is kind of a deal breaker here. After all these years I’m still not sure if Frenzy is Rumble or if Rumble is Frenzy but I do know I’d want them in their classic G1 colors.

    1. I figure once you have both, it doesn’t really matter who’s who!

      We’ve only seen shopped images so far, but I don’t much care for the yellow visor (I never had the toy). Really though, the visor should be switchable at this level. Grimlock is all the more awesome because both modes can switch eye color.

  2. it’s the unending controversy… to me, Rumble is Red and Black (because that’s what the toys said and in this case, the toys are always right)

    I’m waiting for the TRU exclusives… I have to, it’s much easier… provided mine gets more than 4 in…

  3. I only had the Laserbeak & Frenzy (blue) set (ok, and the later lion and ratbat sets), but ‘blue’ was called Rumble on the TV show. You could probably count on one hand when red Frenzy/Rumble and/or Buzzsaw appeared on the cartoon. I’m pretty sure the blue guy was Frenzy in the comics? again, Ravage and Laserbeak were the two troops Soundwave usually deployed.

    I’m glad you like them, and the accessories do look neat. I guess I’ll wait for tomorrow to see how they actually work? I’m just not that nostalgic enough to want these, $60 or not, or even the current retail discscscs.

    Then again, that last shot reminds me of the time I was waiting for the afternoon kindergarten bus with mom, and our blue heeler Mississippi was running around just up the road where there’s a blind curve at the bottom of the hill, and she…. 🙁 🙁 🙁

    1. Let’s go to your happy place…

      Yep, I’ll cover the accessories more tomorrow since Frenzy has exactly the same complement. Duplicate molds can be tricky to review…

  4. I did get this set of Rumble and Ravage and like them a lot. I’m still hanging on the fence over Frenzy and Buzzsaw, I think the tipping point will be if something cheap comes into my BBTS piloe of loot that I want to ship … I’ll add another $70 to that order to feel better about not paying $9 in shipping.

    Collector’s minds work in mysterious ways.

    1. They do indeed. Shipping was virtually free for these with the PoL, so that helps. I just figured when it comes to TRU, an exclusive in the hand is worth two on the shelf?

  5. If anyone has anything they’d like to see tomorrow that wasnt covered here, shout it out! The pictures are taken, but I’ll probably do a rewrite before I post it.

  6. I’m glad that this was the first review back as I totally love these guys. Though I will be eaiting for the TRU release, I’ve watched or read pretty much every review I’ve found. I just love them. Rumble/Frenzy looks remarkable accurate (just like Lazerbeak), but to me, the gem of the collection has to be Ravage. Not only does it look amazing in bot mode, but that transformation is a thing of beauty. The first time I saw the head transforming, my jaw literally dropped. I really hope these are released soon. Is there a proposed release date for these guys? I have a birthday coming up…

    1. I’m not sure if TRU is planning for Summer or Christmas.
      Summer seems more likely…

      And, yes! The head transformation for Ravage is great! The halves coming together is brilliant.

  7. “I’ll stick with Rumble since it says so on the box, but I’m pretty sure the red one was Frenzy when I was a wee tot.”

    Short-ish version: toys had blue Frenzy and red Rumble. US cartoon switched the names (and associated powers, though Frenzy never actually displayed his high-frequency disruption power in the ‘toon). Japanese dub of the US cartoon switched the names to how the Hasbro toyline had them, making the original US cartoon the only significant instance of a blue Rumble in 1980s media.

    Whether the cartoon’s relative prominence in the US Transformers fandom means Rumble should be blue forevermore has been fought about since 1994 and is essentially pointless to argue about. See more here: http://tfwiki.net/wiki/FIRRIB

  8. I heard the pile drivers can be stored somewhere in soundwaves legs. I’d like to see pics of that tomorrow.

      1. I belive the piledrivers connect to the underside of Soundwave’s arms (by the elbow. I guess it’s supposed to be a double cannon? Alternatively, you can combine the piledrivers with Soundwave’s sensor and then plug them into the cassette deck as a “charger.” Neither feature is spectacular.

  9. And as for their US cartoon appearances, looks like Frenzy and Buzzsaw had 4 and Frenzy was also in the movie. TF Wiki is verry verry thorough….

    I did the same thing Noisy did for the same reasons. I wanted cartoon accurate SW and didn’t want to deal with TRU. MP-10 was apparently very tough to find in TRU, I saw one once on the shelves.

    I currently have SW and his cassettes on a shelf with my Quake Wave (3rd Party Shockwave). Noisy, did you get in on Quake Wave? He is unbelievable!

  10. Noisy, would it sound weird to you if I said I want the casettes more than I want Soundwave himself? I dunno, but I have never been able to get myself to “play” much with my large Masterpiece figures. They’re so big and unwieldy (though I love Grimlock dearly). But these little guys I can see sitting on my desk or fiddling around with when I’m bored.

    Yeah, actually I am weird.

    Anyway, great review and congrats on picking these up early. I hope Takara and Hasbro toss more of these at us, since the molds are so solid. I absolutely want to see a Glit and Howlback from Ravage, Sundor and Garboil from Laserbeak and Enemy from R/F!

    And I share your Rumble/Frenzy confusion. As a kid I followed both the toon and the comic, and they each had their own version of it.

    1. Nah, I think I like the cassettes more too. The big-ins are almost more fun in their alt modes due to the size, but these guys are just right. I’m dying for more cassettes!

  11. Great review and pics, as always!

    I was very pleased with this set (and the other Soundwave-themed MP sets), and hope that they get around to all the other Cassetticons in Masterpiece format . . . . and then do MP SoundBlaster and MP Shattered Glass Soundwave. With all the Cassetticons.

    Because, as we all know, SOUNDWAVE SUPERIOR.

  12. My favorite G1 Transformers episode is “S.O.S. Dinobots” (I would ask my mom every weekend to go rent the VHS copy at the video store), and in it the blue cassette identifies himself as “Rumble.” So that’s that.

    Also, after playing Magic: The Gathering for so many years, I automatically associate the colors red and black with words like “Frenzy”.

  13. Have to say these blow the discs out of the water. Classics Ravage I wished looked.that cool. Will have to look nto fnding a Toys R Us in my area and an easy way to get there.

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