Takara Transformers PRIME AM 30 & 31 – Rumble & Frenzy

It’s time to take a look at Soundwave’s Terrible Two Rumble and Frenzy, continuing with our Arms Micron Reviews!

While the US only saw  the recent release of “Rumble” under the PRIME RiD line, seen here (stock photo)

Takara, under the Arms Micron banner, gave us one better, both Rumble AND Frenzy in a more traditional blue and red –

And in their ACTUAL colors….kidding, RELAX, this won’t be a FIBRIR argument.  Let’s just get into the review.  Because they are identical molds, I’ll be combining some aspects of each section.

While their molds are Identical, they have reversed clear plastic for the windows and eyes, which is a very nice touch!  Obviously, like all AM figures, they both have an Arms Micron buddy, but in Rumble and Frenzy’s case, they are also identical, named Dago R & Dago F.  I’ll give you 10 guesses as to what the R & F stand for.   We’ll get into them more later, but just as an aside, “Dago” is a play on the Japanese word for Octopus “Tako” … because they’re Octopai.   And they’re adorable.  But again, more on them later.

Aside from the darker blue on Frenzy, the biggest difference between the Takara version(s) and the US is the head sculpt on both toys.   Not being a big fan of the US head sculpt (at least for Rumble/Frenzy) I’m very happy with the new design:

Unfortunately, the silver they used for the mouth section seems very thick and so there is a little bit of detail lost.  They amazingly bright light piping more than makes up for it though.   At first I wasn’t thrilled with Rumble having blue eyes, but seems it plays well with Frenzy’s red, I’m starting to really like the contrast.

What really had me won over with these guys however, is the coloring Takara went with.  I would say, without question, United Rumble and Frenzy are my favorite versions of the two punk tapes.  Even though the United versions don’t transform into cassettes, they are very well detailed and designed.  Takara followed up that success with the AM versions.  Take a look at the similarities:

You’ll notice on Rumble, his blues are roughly the same, though United’s blue is a bit more matte.  Aside from the head being black, there’s a great number of common details including the two wire bands across the chest connecting the two cassette spooling slots, as well as the common looks with the head sculpts, though obviously the AM versions head is more rounded and sleek looking.

The two Rumbles look even MORE similar because of the black used on the heads, but because of the design, AM Rumble’s leg colors are reversed.  The best part about this for me, is that it removes the weird emphasis on the “Face” in the torso.  I understand that some people liked that look for the US version but to me it just looked silly.  The Takara versions, thanks to some stickers (yes, the gold parts are stickers!) there is a more “cassette spool” feel to the chest.

The two Arms Microns are designed to look sort of like guns, so that if you have just one of them, Rumble or Frenzy would still have a weapon, however, their main purpose is, obviously, to be equipped together as pile drivers.  I’ll be honest, the US versions pile drivers work better in this capacity, because the back half is basically hollowed out to fit over Frenzy’s arm.  The Dago twins, however, are solid little microns, so they’re still held in the hand.  It still works well, but obviously the US version pulls off the pile driver look a bit better.

The transformation for this mold is really a lot of fun.  I’m still kind of amazed at how everything folds together and how neatly packed in each bot ends up:

And the fact that they transform into identical Hatchback Drift Customs is just awesome.

All of the details are stickers, which, as I mentioned with Wildrider, is something I really like about these guys.

And about those stickers – yeah you get extras, again like with Wildrider (and I’m guessing everyone else?) – for Rumble and Frenzy you get two beauties! One is idetical, “Team Soundwave”

The other is stylized names with Lanky-Gangle Monster..I mean “Soundwave”s face:

Awesome!  And of course, the Micron buddies attach to the  ports in alt mode, it kinda goes without saying but still:

Once again, Takara’s packaging is beautifully done:

With amazing character designs on the front, and all the pertinent information on back.

As well as the cool RPG-like Tech specs on the sides for both Rumble and Frenzy as well as Dago R and Dago F:

Finally we’ll just take a quick  look at how these two measure up with some other Rumble and Frenzys –

I can’t seem to find my G1 versions, but Enemy will always do in a pinch (so happy Encore Soundblaster came with him!)

Boy, that’s one big happy family if I’ve ever seen one!  I sure can’t wait to add the Masterpiece versions in here *cough, hurryup!, cough*.    And why not, let’s just see how the alt-mode measures up to Wildrider:

Wildrider is just a bit bigger, as he should be.

Before this is wrapped up, I just want to touch on the Microns:

While not as adorable as Ozu, because let’s face it, an Octopus is not as cute as a tiny baby mammoth, I did stumble across this gem on youtube courtesy of Japanese TV advertising:

Not that its too tough to figure out, but the gist of the short is, the Dago Twins want Ozu to play a game (punch-a-mole) and after showing him how to play, Ozu transforms and blasts the game.   Silly Ozu!

So there we go, another spectacular outing from Takara’s AM line.  I’m really hoping we see more releases of off-screen characters, but with Beast Hunters looming, I think we may see an end to this line.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a possible repaint of Knock-out as Deadend or something.

AS a reminder- one lucky Grand Prize winner will take home these two figures in the One Year Anniversary contest!  See the Contest Page for details and good luck!!

There’s a lot coming up, so Stay Tuned, we’ll have to take one more look at FOC Bruticus (Yay for me!  Probably BOO for you, unless you love him like I do), this time it will be Takara’s version.  Also, a surprise newcomer, Quakewave, aka MP Shockwave!

Stay Tuned!