As a kid, I daydreamed about Transformer Cassettes. From new characters like a Crocodile or insect to ways to improve the characters we had. After al this time, I finally have amazing, same-sized versions of my favorite toys!
Takara follows up their most awesome Soundwave with two separate two-packs of his cassette tape spies, just like in the good ‘ol days – we get Frenzy and Buzzsaw as well as Rumble and Ravage:
I should get this out of the way: I love these guys. No surprise there, but really, they’re just awesome! So lets jump right in –
Rumble and Frenzy are masterfully rendered in their G1 designs. The head sculpts are perfect, and utilize the same red paint Takara used on Soundwave!
The pile drivers work great, though admittedly, they do throw off the balance a bit.
Buzzsaw is the fan-favorite of the bunch. With the amazing design of Laserbeak but with a nice orange color scheme, he really stands out:
And while I do love Laserbeak, I have to admit, I’m totally partial to Buzzsaw myself, he’s just so…radical!
And then there’s Ravage. While he draws his fair share of criticism, my bias does not allow me to say anything bad about him…
I can understand some of the complaints about his legs, but really, his transformation is ingenious, and his coloring is perfect!
He is my all time favorite toy…ever.
His rear legs do lack a little poseability, but for me it’s a very minor issue.
All in all, I couldn’t be happier with these guys.
I wanted to take some fun side pictures as well to compare what’s all out there for the cassettes:
Here are the newer Ravages. I didn’t bring out my G1 for some reason..
And in Alt-mode.
Here’s the Laserbeak crew:
And again, alt-modes:
And finally the FreMble crew:
Tapes!
I’m not sure which aspect I love most about these guys, whether it’s the new, near-perfect design or that they are exactly the same size as G1. Or that I can do this:
Either way, Soundwave has plenty of cassettes to choose from.
I can’t recommend these guys enough. Whether you buy them now or wait for the Toys R Us release, definitely pick them up!
Here’s the video:
More to come, so stay tuned!
Pax Cybertron 
Wait, Soundwave can hold the cassettes in his hands?! I didn’t even think to try that! If you’ll excuse me, I need to go do that…
Well, it really works best with Laserbeak and Buzzsaw. They have these little slots on the bottom of the cassette that lets his thumb hold the weight. But yeah, so awesome!
I really hope Hasbro doesn’t screw up the paint apps on these guys when they come bundled w/ Soundwave later this year. Your review almost makes me want to import these guys and not even give Hasbro a chance!
The only thing with the Hasbro version is, they’re painting the visor on Soundwave yellow…which I don’t like (but understand the reasoning). These guys are so awesome, I couldn’t be happier with them!
Where did you get those clear plastic stands? That’s what I’ve been looking for to perfect the scene I’ve got set up on my shelf! These tapes are great! Taking them out of the box, I was torn as to whether to make the blue one Frenzy or Rumble…I just realized that Takara’s got great molds to build on for the Autobot cassettes. Just release Masterpiece Blaster and his gang and I can recreate one of my favorite scenes from Transformers the Movie. Nice post and pics!
Thanks man, the stands are Bandai Act 4 stands just search eBay. I would love to see them do Blaster, but it’ll be a while.