I love this thread!
To me, even though the Japanese cartoon dub went with the toy line and called the blue (really purple) one Frenzy, like many I grew up with the American cartoon, so even though I never had these toys, I go by what I hear and see in English. That makes the blue one (really purple) who appears at first to be the only humanoid cassette-con Rumble to me.
Looking at the RTS toy, I actually like the US colors better, except I wish the guns were silver instead of gold. I'm glad these are scouts being released separately, as I am only planning to get the blue one. I am not happy with the mold of the guns, though. Those guns are molded for Eject and Rewind, not Rumble and Frenzy. If they were molded for Rumble and Frenzy they would have wings.
And that got me to thinking that since originally Eject and Rewind first came with gold guns, this mold will likely continue the pattern of being released with a new head and repainted as Eject and Rewind. So, I plan to get the blue
for starters. As for Eject and Rewind, I'll have to judge how the paint looks. Hopefully, they will come with silver guns in the US release so I can swap them with the gold guns that come with what seems to be Demolition Rumble. I'm leaning towards Rewind if they are redone as the cassette-bots, because I remember him more from the 3rd season than Eject, and he's not blue or red (in case I end up with the red
for some reason, in which case I'll go with the blue
).
As for the other debate of who is Cyclonus and his armada, the toy sheet has Cyclonus and Scourge replacing Skywarp and Thundercracker in the jet section, and the Insecticons still seem to exist. So I like the theory that all the Sweeps are Insecticon clones, Thundercracker is Scourge, and Skywarp is Cyclonus. The color also works to support this, and their personalities (in the cartoon) do somewhat translate to their new bodies and roles. This could be easily solved by altering the animation sequence as well as slightly changing it so that Unicron first introduces Galvatron to Cyclonus (instead of Scourge, the Sweeps, and then Cyclonus), with the new order of dialogue being "Cyclonus, the Warrior, and his armada... Scourge, the Tracker, and his Sweeps." This would mean that Cyclonus' armada is actually Scourge AND his Sweeps, establishing the well known chain of command. The fact that the second Cyclonus disappears to be replaced by a third Sweep works for me in this theory, and Insecticon clones make more sense as Sweeps than Bombshell becoming Cyclonus and Skywarp becoming nothing more than a generic Sweep.
Just my thoughts, take them as you want to. Ridicule me if you must. But please, above all else, make me laugh. Thank you.
Thanks! I'll be getting both, then.
)
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