Generations FOC Minion 2-Packs: Rumble/Ravage & Frenzy/Ratbat

Hey guys, here's a review of the brand-new FOC Cassetes that just were released in Australia! I hope you enjoy my review! Sorry for the photo quality, there were taken on my iPad...
The Minion 2-packs retail at $17 ($18 USD) per pack here in Australia, which is about the same price as 2 Legion-class figures.

For Soundwave/Laserbeak and Soundblaster/Buzzsaw, please checkout my other review!

Review: Transformers FOC 2-Pack Rumble/Ravage and Frenzy/Ratbat


Packaging

In package, all 4 minions are mis-transformed. Ravage's tails and legs are folded up, Ratbats wings are at an awkward angle that needs to be pushed back into place out of package and Frenzy and Rumble's arms are rotated the wrong way around and legs are folded in. Rumble and Ratbat unfortunately do not include their weapons depicted in the artwork. The two-packs also feature original artwork of their pre-Earth bodies, which reveal what Ratbat and Ravage looked like on Cybertron, which has not been shown in the actual games.

Here are their bios! Tech-specs are included. Check out Ratbat's Intelligence and Skill! Is he a leader in the making!?
Seems weird that they only note his compatibility with Soundwave and not Soundblaster, but in my experience Soundblaster sells out fast and isn't in the next wave.

Rumble and Ravage

RIBFIR!!



Rumble looks nice, if not very accurate to the game. He has very little articulation, only being able to move his arms up and down, but none-the-less is a pretty cool figure. Unfortunately standing him up is very difficult, as you have to get his feet in JUST the right position. His hands can hold Cyberverse weapons, but this is a useless feature, as he cannot support the weight and will topple over the second you set him down. His head sculpt is actually pretty accurate for such a small figure, which is nice. His head is a great mold, but the paint on it is pathetic; rather then paint the whole visor red, they just painted a small red line across the top, which I think is very sloppy.



Ravage is pretty darn cute! He resembles his Earth form more then the picture on the box, but none the less is an awesome figure. He is definitely the most complicated of the minions, but in the end he's surprisingly effective. His legs can move a little and his tail can stand up and down. Ravage has two points of articulation on his back legs at the shoulder and knees. Unfortunately his back legs can only move inward due to the way he transforms, so they're not very useful for standing. His front legs are on springs that spring them back into place whenever they are moved on his shoulder, but you can move the front legs forwards at the knee. Turning a believable jaguar into a disc would be a pretty hard thing to engineer I think so I can forgive the lackluster articulation! I really like Ravage a lot.



Rumble turns into a nice blue and silver disc, while Ravage's is black and silver. Being the most complex, Ravage is pretty hard to line up right, which sort of sucks. Both need some manual help after transformation; Rumble needs his arms turned around and his feet unfolded, while Ravage needs his tail and legs unfolded.


All 4 minions that come with the set include a case each to go into in disc mode. Unfortunately Laserbeak and Buzzsaw did not get one. Bit useless really, but I guess they're a homage to the tape cases the original G1s came with.

Frenzy and Ratbat


FIRRIB!!



Frenzy is a red Rumble, not much to say here. I included a shot of his back if anyone was interested. I always prefer Rumble as he was usually in the cartoon more often. He can hold Cyberverse weapons too, but also cannot support the extra weight and however his visor is painted much better. Maybe I was unlucky with my Rumble?


Ratbat is beyond adorable. At first look he's just a slight retool of the birds, but on a coser inspection you notice its not just the head thats remolded: He has new wings and the "tail section" is molded to look like he has feet trailing back there. Awesome! Also, unlike his box art which shows a Cybertronian Bat mode, Ratbat's head resembles what it looks like post-Earth. His colours look great and I'm glad they including him in the lineup. It's sad that so far he hasn't had an MP announced. Ratbat and the birds are able to perform Soundwave/blaster's deploying gimmick much better then the other two molds.



Frenzy has the same transformation as Rumble and Ratbat is the same as the birds. As said before, the transformation gimmick works really well with Ratbat.

Final Conclusion



The Minion 2-Packs, seem a bit pricey. Priced as if they were two Legion figures I feel is a bit stingy; my initial reaction was that they don't feel as good as Legion figures, especially considering the initial rumours were that two minions would be the price of 1 Legion. Still, they are pretty great and look wonderful as a team and playing with them I have grown to absolutely love them and hope for obsolete characters to start coming out and can't wait for the wave of Blaster's partners. I don't regret getting them at all and if you want a full collection, then definitely don't hesitate, I know I'm happy with mine! If you want to be a bit cheaper, however, you can stick with Soundwave/Soundblaster as Laserbeak is the most iconic of the sets and the bird/bat mold works best with the gimmick. I think splitting the Rumble brothers was a good plan; Ravage and Ratbat are must haves while Rumble and Frenzy have the most problems.

I hope you all enjoyed the review! I'm very happy with having the complete set and I'm excited to have done my first review! Thanks!

Hrm. My excitement for these has been somewhat slowed by a few things (no gun for the Sounds, higher cost on the discs, Rumble and Frenzy looking disappointing, Rumblue's visor paint looking like there's no enough, not being able to effectively hold CV weapons) so I think I'm going to pass on the Frenzy/Ratbat set. Though Ratbat is adorable.

Frednzy seems... too red. Almost more like Enemy than Frenzy. Which actually makes me want him more. Dammit. Laserbeak's the same way, which is part of the reason I'm going to go with Soundblaster.

Still going to get Soundblaster (I think Animated is the only Soundblaster I own) and the Rumble/Ravage set. I'm a sucker for Soundwave, and especially Ravage. Could you give more detail about Ravage's articulation? Looking at the pics it looks like he has 2 joints per leg, but you description didn't make it sound like it had that much.

Sorry about that, I did a bit of a rush job there. I fixed the review to detail Ravage's articulation better. I agree that Frenzy and Rumble could definitely be better, I think pile drivers are a necessity to Rumble and I'm disappointed that they didn't find some way to fix it up.

Love Ratbat's bio.

These are actually pretty cool for what they are; legends figures made for a bigger toy's gimmick.

They look pretty cool, but they don't work for me. I'm glad they at least tried, and I like the idea of "Legend buggers who work with bigger buggers" thingy...so that's something.


Now, those MP guys, on the other hand.....

Originally Posted by SG hailstorm Cuteness and evil rolled into one, kinda like dinodigger

Originally Posted by SideswipePrime Dinodigger...WHAT THE HE-HNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG

I dunno. I appreciate the attempt at a fresh take on soundwave and cassettes..but to me..this is kinda silly. None of these are even close to being as cool as any of the original cassettes that are almost 30 years old.

Gimmick. even as a kid, if you set this new soundwave and discs in front of me with an original G1 with cassettes...I would play with the old stuff, and im not a G1 fanboy or anything. Its like they phoned these in.

Add to that a soundwave that is way out of scale for everything else I have for WFC and FOC, and add to that I already have a pretty kick ass deluxe of the figure..I think I can call these a complete pass, and not even look back.

thanks for the review though!~

See now, the way I see it, this is a Soundwave for a Classics collection, while WfC is for a WfC/FoC collection. I mean, they didn't bother going for game-accuracy on the Cassetticons, but rather made them look more like their iconic versions.

But you have a good point: G1 Ravage and Frumble are definitely more fun molds. They have more identifiable alt-mode, removable weapons, more articulation, and looked better. Buzzbeak is a bit closer, since the G1 mold never impressed me.

What this is, to me, is a posable, playable Soundwave with deployable figures. G1 is better for display, and looks better in both modes, but it's nice having a version with modern articulation and minions. MP SW will also fill that gap as well, even better, but this is a cheaper alternative that also might see more play since it's just a Voyager.

I get ya, but classics? I dont see how this can fit with a classics look, my friend. to me, it has to go with the WFC/FOC stuff, and it looks like the only other voyager coming down will be grimlock. If they made a voyager prime and Megatron, sheeeeit..im all over it, but then I like WFC megs over FOC megs alot more.

This one is almost a stand alone for me. Kinda sits by itself as it is. But thats just me. Kinda hard to think about paying $20 some for soundwave, another $20 on the 2 packs...hell..get the MP and be happy if ya ask me.

I agree. I view the Soundwave/Soundblaster and Blaster and their partners as stand-alone figures in their own subline. They do scale fairly well with FOC Jazz though, but he still stays with the other WFC/FOC toys. These guys will be displayed separately to both my Classics and WFC/FOC.

Oh, I am getting the MP. I am getting the CRAP out of it.