Encore # 19 Big Mission set:

Encore #19 Big Mission set includes Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak and Overkill. Included are the fresh unplayed with, strappingly tight joints and clickity ratchet shoulders as well as a lot of chrome goodness. The box looks pretty good on display with the tapes in the box as well has the Metroplex background on the backside of the box. This set includes several of the most popular Decepticon tapes and is a great addition to anyone’s collection. Whether you own Soundwave or not, Frenzy and Rumble alone are worth the price of admission. Laserbeak and Overkill just add the icing to the cake.

Name: Rumble

Function: Demolitions

“Destroy what’s below and what’s above will follow”

Rumble is your basic street punk. Small but always acting tuff. Quick temper and mean disposition. Follow’s Megatron’s orders eagerly. Transmits immense low frequency groundwaves to create powerful earthquakes. His small size limits his physical strength, but his ability to shatter the ground makes him difficult to approach in a fight.

Str 2, Int 5, Spd 2, End 9, Rank 5, Courage 7, Firepower 8, Skill 5

Alternate mode: Micro-cassette tape. Moving along again.

Robot mode: Rumble is an awesome pint-sized warrior with lots of trash talk and vigor. Always ready for a scrap, Rumble whips out his groundshakers to knock just about anyone over. One of my favorite scenes is during Transformers the Movie where the Constructicons form Devastator and Rumble shakes them right out of gestalt mode.

So about the Blue and the Red. If you are a cartoon fan, then Rumble is blue. If you are a comic fan, then Rumble is red. Really does not matter much as both are identical with the exception of the color scheme. Both had similar roles and functioned as Soundwave’s minions.

Transformation: 10/10 Rumble has very tight joints out of the box and is able to hold his weapons straight and true. I prefer the lasers to be on his backpack for flying.

Durability: 10/10 Nice quality plastic, metal, paint, stickers and G1 chrome goodness!

Fun: 10/10 Rumble is a must have for any G1 Fan.

Price: $54.99 USD shipped and came with three other tapes.

Overall: 10/10 Rumble is a great addition to my collection, but I prefer to display him in robot mode. He fits snugly within Soundwave’s tape deck, or his plastic tape case, but what is the fun in that?

Name: Frenzy

Function: Warrior

“Sow panic and surrender will bloom.”

If Frenzy needed to breathe, war would be his oxygen. He knows no cause, only craves to spread fear and destruction. His efforts are appreciated by other Decepticons. His devotion to warfare makes him hard to deal with on a personal level. Can roll his drums to produce high-pitch, grating sound of 200db. Disorients and disrupts electrical flow in opponents circuitry which makes them malfunction. Physically weak. His manic attack can be countered with cool logic.

Str 3, Int 6, Spd 3, End 6, Rank 6, Courage 10, Firepower 9, Skill 6

Alternate mode: Micro cassette tape. And we are off…

Robot mode: Frenzy, the crazy robot warrior. Well, I always liked to think he was crazy because he took on Autobots 10 times his size with no qualms at all. Very cool little bot, and as Rumble’s twin ranks right up there as a Decepticon classic. Frenzy is one of Soundwave’s more popular minions and is always ready to rumble.

Transformation: 10/10 Frenzy looks better in robot mode than in micro-cassette mode and fits well into Soundwave’s chest compartment.

Durability: 10/10. Great plastics, paint, stickers and chrome. Gotta love chrome!

Fun: 10/10 Frenzy, like the other tapes, is a ton of fun to play with and beat up Autobots.

Price: Came with Rumble in the Encore 19 set.

Overall: Frenzy completely rocks out just like Rumble. Having never owned Soundwave or the tapes during my original G1 days, I envied my neighbor who had Soundwave and all of the tapes. I absolutely love the Encore 19 set.

Name: Laserbeak

Function: Interrogation

“The only point I like in Autobots: melting point.”

Laserbeak takes pleasure in hunting his prey—usually the straggling survivors of a battle. Noticeably not brave. Will run for safety if threatened. Flies at speed up to 250mph. Uses two independently targetable laser cannons with extreme precision to get information from captives. Shortage of ruby crystals that powers the laser can panic his systems into shutting down.

Str 5, Int 6, Spd 8, End 5, Rank 6, Courage 2, Firepower 8, Skill 9

Alternate mode: Micro cassette. Moving along.

Robot mode: Laserbeak turns into a flying robotic condor. His tape body opens up to make the wings, the head comes out, and the feet flip out. Then you attach his laser cannons to his back and Bam! You got Laserbeak. Laserbeak was one of the first Decepticons that shows just how craft Soundwave can be. At one point, Laserbeak is chasing Cliffjumper and Hound, who split up, by following Hound and sending a laser drone from his rocket pack.

Transformation: 10/10. Laserbeak turns into a realistic looking micro cassette tape, which fits nicesly into Soundwave’s chest.

Durability: 10/10 Metal version. G1 beefy metal. You know it.

Fun: 10/10 Laserbeak is a lot of fun to play in addition to Soundwave.

Price: Part of the Encore 19 set again, although came with the 25^th anniversary Soundwave release as well.

Overall: 10/10 Laserbeak is definitely one of the classic Soundwave minions. He was always Megatron’s favorite pet and was not afraid to mess up any Autobot’s plans.

Name: Overkill

Function: Warrior

“Too much destruction is never enough”

Whether talking, terrifying or attacking, he does everything in excess. So busy proving how tough he is by snapping cars in half between his jaws, that he forgets his mission. Can record data as a cassette tape, rip open the hull of a battleship as a tyrannosaurus. Armed with 2 batters of motion missles-each reacts to any moving object bigger than a baseball and explodes on contact.

Str 8, Int 4, Spd 2, End 8, Rank 5, Courage 6, Firepower 5, Skill 5

Alternate mode: Micro cassette tape.  Nothing to see here, move along…

Robot mode: Overkill transforms into a tyrannosaurus of terror. The robot mode is pretty decent, but as one can imagine, very narrow, so Overkill looks better from a profile pose instead. Blue, white color scheme with gold paint eyes and chrome missiles, not overly impressive, but his tech spec gives him a bit more power than most of his micro-cassette buddies. Think about it, jaws large enough to snap a car in half or rip open a battleship? Talk about scale differences. Either way, not a lot of action for this pint-sized t-rex.

Transformation: 8/10 Overkill has a pretty decent transformation, but rather narrow from a frontal view.

Durability: 9/10 Great plastic, sticker and paint. Oh, did I mention chrome goodness?

Fun: 9/10 Overkill works well as a cassette and mini t-rex.

Price: Included with the Encore 19 set.

Overall: Overkill was excessively overlooked everywhere. Not much action, the character has a lot of potential, but not a lot of bite as his tech spec indicates. What is really nice about the Encore #19 set for Overkill is that this is his first time reissued.

The Fansproject.com Ultra Magnus armor set can be found on bbts.com. The review is coming. All I can say is that don’t miss out on the opportunity for the after-market accessory set. One of the best!

Revenge of the Fallen Legends class Devastator totally rocks out as a combiner set. I recently purchased Supreme Class Devastator when I saw it, and saw a preview of the Legends class set over at Tformers.com and decided I wanted to get the set. Found one through an online auction site, purchased it and had it within a few days.

So I opened the box, and I was intrigued by the packaging differences of the Japanese and the English style packaging. Both look very similar, but the Japanese one has some sort of robot points code you can log in and use. Since I cannot read Japanese, let’s just assume that it is a rewards bonus system for kids to get some sort of cool items online.

So as you can see, there are 7 members of the Constructicons. The mysterious member that was discombobulated to resurrect Megatron from the bottom of Davy Jones locker. I’m not going to go into the various robot/vehicle mode descriptors yet, that will be for another day with an official review, but lets just say each bot has an interesting, if not unique, robot mode. Scrapper is my favorite because he looks somewhat like his G1 self and he looks like he takes care of business.

The design of the gestalt is interesting. I love the Micromasters, and have the Japanese and English release of the Micromaster Devastator set, and he is just fantastic. The Revenge of the Fallen Devastator set in a very distinct way is one of my favorite combiners as well. While he mimics his larger self, Scavenger and Overload combine together to take the place of just Scavenger in the Supreme version. The Legends class one has more articulation and the weight is distributed evenly as well.

So Scavenger and Overload combine making the trunk, shoulder and hip connectors. Then Mixmaster forms the head (as opposed to a leg/foot in the G1 version). Devastator’s head has a pivot ball joint, so it at least has some articulation, versus the voice gimmick of the Supreme version. Hightower and Scrapper form the arms/hands and Longhaul and Rampage form the legs/feet.

What I really like about the figure is the unique combination of the combiner. There are no extra bits, everything is self-contained, and every part is engineered to fit and form a snug link to the partner. For example, Scavenger’s treads have a slot where the frame of Overload slide in to give Devastator a secure and snug chest. Scavenger also has two square peg connector that Mixmaster slides directly into, giving it security and stability. Scavenger’s elbows have connector pegs that both Scrapper and Hightower secure to. Overload does the splits to form Devastator’s hips and Longhaul and Rampage fit securely without any fear of toppling over (unlike the Supreme Devastator version).

Since this is a Japanese version, I paid a pretty penny, as the English release is not out yet. I fully expect that Hasbro will release this as a set and as individual items, and we will probably see some sort of G1 rendition as well. I plan on getting the English release as well, as I would like to compare and contrast the differences. It used to be that the Japanese versions were a little better, but as both are manufactured in China makes me curious if either set will have differences.

Name: Optimus Prime

Function: Autobot leader.

“Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.”

With the destruction of Megatron, Optimus Prime thought that he was finally, after millions of years, at peace. Little did he know that the escape of Starscream would draw dozens of new Decepticons to Earth. The desire burns brightest in his spark is that the war will soon end. He is determined to see that end come, and so he works with his human comrades and the other Autobots to hunt down Decepticons that have come to Earth, and destroy them, one by one.

Optimus Prime has always been one of my favorite Transformers. He has been the Autobot leader throughout history, and for those of you reading, Optimus Prime has had many transformations taking him from a semi to an ape to a fire truck and back to a semi again. Optimus Prime is probably the most recognizable, if not the most popular, Transformers figure there is. Even people who might not care much about Transformers know who Optimus Prime is. This version of Optimus Prime does a great job representing the character as well as the movie version.

Alternate mode:
Optimus Prime from Revenge of the Fallen transforms into a semi that resembles a Peterbuilt Type 379 tractor truck. As seen in the first movie, Optimus Prime’s protoform scanned one of these passing by and configured Optimus Prime in this beefy road master. The truck is very solid, with tight joints and looks like close to a scale replica of the real version. With a red body and blue cab, the hood is decorated with blue flames and the cab is decorated with red flames. I think this was to add color to Optimus Prime in the Movie instead of the blue, red and gray we are all used to.

Several distinct features of the truck include having plastic tires for the second movie version versus rubber tires. The smoke pipes are also soft plastic rubber, which help to keep from snapping off, but also is not as sturdy as rigid plastic. The trailer connector also has a peg that looks as if it is designed for a trailer that was not released with the figure. The Mech Alive gears are visible through the windows and there is a little button on the back of the cab that when pushed in makes an engine idling noise as well as activates the lights of the Mech Alive gears.

Robot mode:
Optimus Prime’s robot mode exudes sheer dominance. This version of Optimus Prime gives any previously released version a run for the money. Well, Masterpiece Optimus Prime and the small stacks one is one of my absolute favorites, Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime ranks right up there.
First of all, Optimus Prime says “I am Optimus Prime.” Yep, that is all he says. The irony about that is that I don’t really care much for the voice gimmicks on the toys, but when I press down the Mech Alive gear on his abdomen, his eyes light up, his chest bows back and he proclaims “I am Optimus Prime” as if he is to say to any lurking Decepticon “I am Optimus Prime, and I have come to destroy you.” Not to overplay the simplicity of the bold statement, but the gimmick was simple enough as a “Try me” addition to the store boxed version, but is on target as far as Optimus Prime’s attitude.

Optimus Prime has his faceplate on for battle mode instead of an open mask showing his bot face. He also has flip out energon blades which seem to play a greater role of his hand-to-hand combat style in Revenge of The Fallen. Unfortunately, this version of Optimus Prime does not come with his rifle, which I found disappointing. The energon blades are right down wicked sick and watching Optimus Prime rip apart Decepticons on screen solidified just how wicked sick Optimus Prime breaks it down.

Optimus Prime has lots of articulation points and is one hulking beast of an Autobot. Optimus Prime is a great addition to my collection. The Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime is one of the cooler versions of Optimus Prime’s and deserves recognition as one. The only thing I need to make it feel complete is a rifle.

Transformation: 9. Optimus Prime has a very complex transformation series, and the Mech Alive feature for the connecters under the window have a spring-loaded feature, which makes it difficult. The trick of the transformation is that the bottom has a connector that joins with a slot on the forearms. If you get stuck on this part, check out a video on Optimus Prime’s transformation. Other than that, the transformation is decent.

Durability: 8. I love clickity joints. Remember the days of the originals? Back then we didn’t call them G1, we called them Transformers. A lot of them had the clickity joints which let you know you were transforming the robot into a car and vice versa. This Optimus has some cool clickity joint sounds and is very sturdy in either mode.

Fun: 9. The Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime leader class is a lot of fun and is on scale with the other voyager class toys in relation to size comparison in the movie. I love the energon blades and the attention to detail given to the toy.

Price: 7. I picked Optimus Prime up for $44.88 which is an increase over the previous line’s leader class toys at $39.99. I think the almost $5 increase is related to the demand of the movie toys over normal series because there is more demand for the toys during a movie production run than during a normal cartoon series production line.

Overall: 9. Revenge of the Fallen Optimus Prime leader class scores a 9 because of the different features that the toy has. Overall, I was very impressed with the toy and am happy to add it to my collection.

Revenge of the Fallen Bludgeon Voyager Class Tank/Samurai Review is a different review. This review is for the Bludgeon included with the Whirl/Bludgeon Toys R Us exclusive. Fear Not, you can find the new Bludgeon (with a gallery of pics) review here. http://lolligagger.com/revenge-of-the-fallen-decepticon-bludgeon-nest-global-alliance-review/

Name: Decepticon Blugeon
Function: Electric warrior
“To know your own limits, you must first know your foe’s limits.”

For the first time on Earth, two masters of the ultimate fighting art-Metallikato- face off in a battle to the very end. Weilding ancient blades, handed down through generatations of warriors, Autobot Whirl and Decepticon Bludgeon circle one another, every sensor alert for the slightest opening. Though they move slowly and deliberately now, once they strike, the battle will be far too fast for the human eye to see. It will be decided in a matter of microseconds by flashing blades powered by centuries of training.

Alternate Mode:
Decepticon Bludgeon transforms into a personnel carrier. Green, mean, killing machine. While I would have preferred a tank, as a repaint, I think this version of Bludgeon is a great job of blending a traditionally G1 (which the original was a Pretenter, with the famous Samurai appeal) and the Classic series. The personnel carrier is green, with the letters KN-2764 on the side, and a mounted machine gun on the front to engage any hostiles. As if Bludgeon needs a machine gun. Heh!
Robot Mode:
Bludgeon transforms into an incredible killing machine. Bludgeon is equipped with two spring loaded blades. These blades also combine to form double bladed weapon. These look like energon blades which could shred any bot that crossed Bludgeon. Another feature Bludgeon has is a center loaded extending cannon, which can be used for emergency up-close encounters where Bludgeon wants to finish his enemies.
Special Features:
Bludgeon is a deluxe sized figure, so the special features are limited. The best feature is that his spring loaded blades combine to make a double bladed weapon. These blades also tuck in neatly when transforming into the personnel carrier mode.

Transformation: 4. Not difficult at all. The only issue I had was that the wheels do not want to remain as straight looking as on the package. Overall a nice fit.
Durability: 7. Very tight transformation, standard bot form, and nothing that seems easily breakable.
Fun: 8. I never had any Pretenders, and did not even know about Bludgeon until years later reading the comics. Bludgeon breaks faces and takes no prisoners. This bot, with the repaint, fits the character.
Price: 7. Picked Bludgeon and Whirl at Toys R Us on special for $35. When you consider at the same time, the voyager class toys were only $18 on sale, and the deluxe (Bludgeon’s size) were on sale for $8 that week, I over paid for the same sized toys.
Overall: 8. Bludgeon is a really decent deluxe figure. I like his bot mode the best, and imagine him slicing and dicing as he ganks some unsuspecting bot.