-Submitted by: Omegus Prime | Overall Score: 6 Among the interesting extras for Galaxy Force that Takara did, among Red Excellion, Black Fangwolf, and Police Gasket, were the versus packs that featured remlded Armada toys. Each was molded after a character of the past, from G1 to Beast Wars 2, and among them was Generation 1 Runabout, remolded out of Armada Sideswipe... and renamed after his white counterpart, Runamuck. Trademark rights, go figure.
Vehicle Mode
Between Sideswipe, Oil Slick, and Treadshot, to say this vehicle mode has been a little boring is like saying the ocean is damp...
Runamuck makes great attempt to change that, though. The vehicle is very dark grey, almost black, with off white on the front and back bumpers as well as the bottom of the car, as well as on the spoiler. The windows are translucent red and simple orange flames cover both sides of the vehicle. This is far from the flat paintjobs the car has seen in the past and makes it very appealing over his previous forms.
Functionally speaking, the car works well, as the wheels roll perfectly and all his gimmicks stay intact. Runamuck doesn't have a Minicon or the two-part weapon, but instead one very nice blaster that fits in the same spring-up storage Nightbeat once did. While it isn't much of a gun in this mode, it looks like a turbo engine. Speaking of which, that's the only remolding you can see in this mode, the flat area which once held faction symbols, now on the back windshield, is now a nice engine that adds some much needed flavor to the vehicle.
Planet Key
This gimmick works in this mode only so I'll cover it now. Runamuck comes with a silver Earth key. Inserting it into the front of the engine makes the front of the car spring forward. While previous versions of this toy called this a speed mode, here it's a ramming mode, which seems much more accurate. The effect is good, he definately seems to be ramming something, but the car halves dont go back together well once extended which would have been a plus.
Robot Mode
There's a few surprises in this mode to be had. The new robot mode parts get pure black plastic and the upper arms and legs use dark blue to break up the dark grey and black. There's a lot less red in this mode, except for what kibble is scattered around the toy's lower half. Light grey and yellow still make some details while orange is now in the mix as well. The legs are well detailed, but I would have liked some paint on the arms to seperate them from the car shells.
If you know A Sideswipe, you know the story as far as the mold goes. Limited shoulders, popeye arms, brick legs, lot of lower kibble. But this toy does succeed in doing a lot with a little. The new engine makes a much better chest than the flat panel, evens out the bulk of the other parts better. The new head is a hige step up, as well. He does look like G1 Runamuck, but being a Battlecharger (Decepticon Throttlebot) his original detail was very low so it's heavily stylized. Not a bad thing as it's a great looking head, if a bit hard to see from the dark color.
Armada Sideswipe was known for one fault over all, articulation. Hips, one way elbows, and restricted shoulders makes for only 6 points of articulation. This is why the toy offers so many gimmicks.
Speaking of those, he still has a few here. He can now use his sotre-away blaster as a proper gun, which it looks great as. The power punch is still here, as well, working very well. What's interesting is there's a Minicon post in back that still has it's activation button, and with some good effort can be pulled down... but the arm punching mechanism is disabled here. Come on, Hasbro, show some love, give us a Minicon-using Cybertron toy.
Overall
Yes, it's a remold of Armada Sideswipe, but he's a plesant surprise. Colors work wonders on a mold like this, and appearance wise he never looked better. If you're still wery of the low articulation, this wont do much to change your mind, but G1ers will like the homage... Hey, the old Runamuck and Runabout never had articulation to begin with.
Submitted By: Scantron
Runamuck
Notes
- Runamuck is a repaint and remold of the Transformers: Armada figure Side Swipe. As such, this review will only cover the differences between the two figures. See my review of Side Swipe for more details about the original mold.
- This figure is an homage to the G1 character Runabout (the name Runamuck is being used for trademark reasons). Similarities between the two figures will be noted throughout this review.
Vehicle Mode
In this form, Runamuck is still a car and, despite a single remold, still modeled on the Nissan Skyline. The vehicle’s main colour is now dark grey, with light grey on the bumpers, below the doors, on the top of the spoiler and on the gas cap door. As on the original release, the front doors are slightly lighter than the rest of the body, although the dark grey makes this difficult to see at a distance. Along the sides of the car, from the front wheel wells to the taillights, are orange flame details that extend to about halfway up the sides of the doors. The headlights are silver with yellow turn signals and the taillights are red. For the wheels, the hubcap spokes are gold on a black background and the tires are also black. The windshield, side and rear windows are now translucent crimson plastic, with a silver outline of a Decepticon symbol in the center of the rear window. While the robot head is still somewhat visible, the dark grey used for the head and the crimson windshield make it more difficult to see and less of a distraction. Both the red on the windows and dark grey on the vehicle body serve as references to the G1 character Runabout, who also had red windows and a black body. The only molding difference between Runamuck and Armada Side Swipe is that the central portion of the hood, just a panel on Side Swipe, has been replaced with a light grey engine block. This engine block, which has a set of light blue and orange details, also contains the Planet Key slot used to activate one of Runamuck’s gimmicks. Overall, this repaint is far superior to the appearance of the original release of the mold. The black and crimson look great together, with the light grey and orange flames providing a visual contrast with the darker colours. Some of the transformation joints are still more obvious than I’d like, but the dark grey helps cover them up a little better than the blue used on Side Swipe. The engine block remold, though simple, works with the colour scheme to add a more dangerous look to the vehicle.
Another improvement over Armada Side Swipe is in the wheels. Where the previous release slid a bit on smooth surfaces, Runamuck rolls well and goes a good distance with a single push.
7/10
Gimmicks and Weapons
Fitting in with the over-arching gimmick of the Cybertron line, Runamuck comes with a standard Earth Planet Key that can be used to activate one of his special features. Inserting the Key into the slot on the engine block causes the halves of the front of the car to spring forward, as on Armada Side Swipe. While the gimmick works just as well on Runamuck as it did on the previous release, it’s near impossible to insert the Key without the car pieces shooting forward and hitting one’s fingers as the gimmick activates. This problem could have been avoided by having the Key slot on the top or side of the engine block but, as is, it’s awkward to use the Key gimmick. Pushing a black button on Runamuck’s left taillight still causes the central third of the car’s rear to rotate 360 degrees, exposing a translucent red panel with a Minicon hardpoint peg and the same storage area used to hold A-Side Swipe’s partner Nightbeat. Although Runamuck doesn’t come with a Minicon, this figure does include a different accessory that can be loaded onto the panel. Instead of Nightbeat, Runamuck comes with a double-barreled light grey rifle that has a trio of red stripes on each side. The rifle has some nice mechanical designs, including muzzle vents and tubes that evoke Nightbeat’s exhaust pipes. On the underside of the rifle is a peg hole that allows the weapon to be attached to the hardpoint on Runamuck’s storage area. The result gives Runamuck a jet booster attachment that looks very cool and matches well with the new engine block. One problem, however, is that the connection between Runamuck and the rifle isn’t as tight as that between A-Side Swipe and Nightbeat and, if the rifle/jet booster is deployed too many time in a row, it will fly off as the panel opens.
In robot mode, Runamuck can hold the rifle in either hand using a dark grey peg that flips down from the underside of the weapon. While the gun looks good, the peg is set so far forward that it sits in an odd position in Runamuck’s hand. The pistol and dagger that were included with A-Side Swipe are not present on Runamuck, although this release does still have the appropriate storage peg holes for these weapons on the insides of the doors. Runamuck can still use the ‘power punch’ gimmick that was present in Side Swipe, but the feature that allowed for swinging the right arm has been disabled. It’s unfortunate this action feature was removed, as it was one of the better ones on the original release of the mold.
7/10
Robot Mode
Transformation to, and articulation in, robot form are the same as for Armada Side Swipe. Dark grey is the main colour in this mode, including the lower limbs and vehicle kibble on the wrists. Navy blue is used for the upper arms and the background of the torso is black, with the light grey engine block serving as a chest plate. The shins have a number of nice paint details, including yellow vents flanking the toes, safety orange panels and silver pieces over the kneecaps. The helmet, remolded as an homage to G1 Runabout, is dark grey with red eyes and a few red details over the forehead. The head mold has an increased mechanical appearance that not only looks great and menacing, but also works nicely with the engine block on the chest plate. Some lighter colours for paint detailing on the arms would have been good, as the lower arms in particular look plain. Unfortunately, though Runamuck has a better colour scheme than A-Side Swipe, this release still has the same problems with vehicle kibble and looks just as awkward in this form.
4/10
Overall
While Runamuck is a better toy than Armada Side Swipe, but only just, and is the worst of the Armada remolds in the Cybertron line. The colour scheme on this release is much nicer and the minor remolds have added a lot to the character of the toy. Also, the rifle accessory is much better than Nightbeat and looks more interesting when used in either mode. However, Runamuck still has the same aesthetic and poseability problems in robot form, lacks one of A-Side Swipe’s better action features and has an awkward Planet Key gimmick. I give this a very slight recommendation if you don’t already have Armada Side Swipe; otherwise, neutral.
6/10 |
