by Wolfman Jake » Thu Oct 18, 2018 11:23 pm
- Motto: ""A mountain with a wolf on it stands a little taller."
-Edward Hoagland"
- Weapon: Retractable Mecha-Fangs
Has anyone picked up the Target exclusive "Bumblebee Cassette Pack," yet? (Technically, this could go in the "Bumblebee movie toys" thread, but it fits here too, especially because it's a comparison to a Titans Return release that I'm making.) I was looking forward to this, expressly because we would finally get the blue redeco companion to red "Rumble" from Titans Return to complete the duo of Soundwave's humanoid robot spy buddies. I'm happy blue "Frenzy" is finally out. I like it. I like it paired with Rumble. But, I'm not sure if I "love" it.
In robot mode, the pair look fantastic together. They have exactly the same paint apps applied, so they're perfect "twinsies"...almost. Frenzy has blue optics for whatever reason. It makes no real sense, as there isn't blue paint anywhere else on the figure. It could have easily been red to match with Rumble and with their cartoon appearances (and with most other Decepticon appearances, for that matter). I know there are always some prominent exceptions to the rule, but blue eyes are for Autobots, and red eyes are for Decepticons. Even the live action movies mostly follow this rule!
Besides the blue optics issue, I actually would have preferred that Frenzy had gotten silver paint apps in place of the gold/bronze ones. They do match up with TR Rumble perfectly, which is appealing to many people, but I always like cartoon accuracy. The "blue guy" in the G1 cartoon had the silver detailing while the "red guy" had gold. It's not exactly a deal breaker, and it is more just a personal preference, so I can't really say Hasbro "did it wrong." I believe the original toys both had the gold detailing on the robots, so, of course, that's Hasbro's bag.
What is a little disappointing is that the two don't quite match up as well with one another in alt mode. The stickers to emulate their "tablet screens" are completely different. They should be the same image in different colors, like the G1 toys/cartoon character models. What's worse, though, is that Frenzy is actually missing a few paint details in alt mode that Rumble has, such as coloring in his "Home" button, the black on the "rubber grips" on the side of the tablet case, and the Decepticon sigil tampographs in the upper right corner of the device.
So, all in all, Frenzy is a welcome addition to the Titans Return line via a movie line release (sneaky Hasbro!). Rumble and Frenzy look great together in robot mode, but don't quite get it right with their alt mode paint and sticker differences. For now, though, they haven't quite surpassed "Transformers Adventure" Rumble and Frenzy for me on my Classics shelf. Here's hoping War for Cybertron: Siege will bring us a "Soundwave Battle Pack" of the red and blue duo next year!
Wolfman Jake - Spendin' the day howlin' away.
