I'll add my pics to the fray. It's a really great set. Not much to say that hasn't been said already.

 

I don't like his cat mode. Even though his robot mode head is very beast-ly, it also being the beast mode head weirds me out in a body horror kinda way. I don't know why, it's just this uncanny valley thing, I guess. But the robot mode is a joy and his G1-self partner is a really amazing execution of this old mold. Haven't had my hands on a G1 Ravage in a while and the tape graphics printed on both sides is great and the weapons are nicely chromed. Really glad I got this set and if you're a BW fan it feels like this is a must.

 

Same with Shadow Panther (though back in the day it was a a straight up Repaint, the Kingdom one uses the Mutant Head)

 

The fun thing is Covert Agent Ravage's history also intersects with Shadow Panther. Back in the early days of Hasbro's online shop, Shadow Panther was offered as "Tridpredacus Agent" and vaguely hinted as another alias of Ravage (the 'other' Tripredacus Agent at the time being a redeco of Transmetal II Cheetor was a retail store exclusive and was more heavily suggested being a rebuilt Ravage).

Of course these days they are firmly two separate, but similar characters.

 

I future'd the elbows on mine to tighten them up a bit, as loose elbows and really tight shoulders aren't a fun combination. But I do really like the figure and it easily replaces X-9 which I've had for what, 20 years at this point and never felt it was that awesome; plus I've been afraid of it breaking so it hasn't even been in a display in 15 years.

Yeah, the asking price for this set was too much, but it was neat to get one of my favorite cassettes again for the first time since Easter 1985 and BW Ravage I think is a pretty cool figure.

 

Anyone on the fence about getting this should jump down from the fence and get this set.

Lovely presentation, two great versions of everyone's favorite robot cat.

 

Some quick comparison shots, Pulsecon Ravage on the left, Metals Jaguar X-9 on the right





Decepticons Forever Ravage with 2 versions of G1 Ravage that I have

 

Does the diecast on anyone else's cassette Ravage smell weird, almost like singed metal? I know a couple people have noted the diecast being unpolished, but haven't seen anything with regard to a smell.

 

It's actually neat how they were able to pull off a half-decent 'jaguar' mode out of him, but I'm really hoping DNA Design makes a set of replacement lower legs (and lower arms, honestly) to make him as show-accurate as possible.

 

My copy arrived earlier today via Pulse.

It looks nice in robot mode other than the marred plastic on the left (your right if face to face) thigh close to the pin and the sprue marks on the front of the biceps (I'm 99.99% sure they were pinned on the wrong sides). I can't tell if marring on the thigh is from several missed pin attempts or machinery/tools but, it's all very close together in a straight line angling up and to the right (your right) and it's deep enough for a fingernail to get caught in while being impossible to ignore. It will require refinishing the plastic in order to fix it and it's going to be hell to try and match that colour.

Let's talk about G1 Ravage really quickly. I forgot how much I loathe the smell of cheap die-cast, I hate that smell as much as I hate the smell of crayons. 10/10 would have preferred silver plastic legs and an anime accurate deco on G1 Ravage. That concludes the discussion about G1 Ravage.


Engineering flaws:

Unfortunately every single articulation point highlights how absurdly thin, hollow, and cheap the KBW toys were. The tightness of the bicep/thigh swivels exacerbates the issue considerably because you can feel everything near it trying to flex while feeling as light as a feather. Feel free to try and defend it under the guise of "needing to be slender beasts" but, Hasbro/TakaraTomy clearly cut as many corners as they possibly could with the KBW toys. That's a real shame considering some of them are really nice sculpts. The ultra thin, hollow, and flimsy plastic has got to stop. There wouldn't be a table left to flip on the planet if this was being done with the other Transformers. There is a major issue when a $14.99 Cyberverse "scout" like Spark Armor Sky-byte feels like it's built like a tank and KBW feels like a low end knockoff. For anyone reading along and think "but the transformation", no, just stop trying to defend it. There are numerous deluxes in Siege/Earthrise and Kingdom (if you ignore KBW) that don't feel like they are going to snap/shatter and are more complex than "tuck the arms into the chest". You shouldn't have to worry about holding an arm/leg in a very specific way because you're worried about the tension/pressure from a bicep/thigh swivel and, I can't even with how on the verge of rubbery the double joint elbow feels nor the flex near the pins (keep trash like that on Marvel Legends and, stop using doing it on that line as well).

The font beast mode legs just hang down off the back is lazy (specifically the lower legs). The knees should have been double jointed so that the beast mode lower legs could have at least folded up against the upper front beast mode legs. It's the same thing with the tail (shoutout for ditching the tail whip nonsense) but it should have at least been able to fold up against the back. The toy literally looks like a dead cat is hanging off of Ravage's back.


Aesthetic flaws:

The lower legs and feet are obviously incorrect due to transformation and keeping KBW Cheetor's parts. I don't mind the lower robot legs (if we ignore the fact that the lower beast mode legs are far too long and thin) but, the robot feet should have been paws. I would have been fine with silver paws because the silver feet really do balance out the robot mode's colours quite nicely.

The head sculpt looks just as bland in person as I thought it would. I don't know if it's because it's a bit more glossy than the rear beast mode legs are of if it's because the "fur" wasn't cut as deep as it should have been but, the details always wash out. They did such an amazing job of making the "fur" look like thin short hair everywhere else on the beast mode (I really wish that KBW Optimus Primal had been done like this but with slightly longer hair) and then went for that soft/blurry non-textured glossy look that the BW CGI had. It doesn't mesh well at all and what's supposed to be the highlight of the robot mode, winds up being the weakest feature.

The beast mode doesn't look anything like a jaguar. It looks more like a cheetah (it's unfortunate that this wasn't the base mold for Cheetor because that would have looked amazing with the proper chest transformation). The irony of Covert Agent Ravage's abdomen looking more like a cheetah and KBW Cheetor's abdomen looking more like a leopard/jaguar . . .



They did do a good job of making Ravage more broad chested in both modes though as well as thickening the thighs considerably. If only they had bulked up the rest of the beast legs (barring a notch near the top of inner front beast mode legs so they could still tab in for robot mode) as well. This is also an issue with Shadow Panther (and it's why I'll still be using the BW toy for it) . . .



Fun fact, Ravage/Jaguar and Black Panther would both have the same beast modes because, panther's aren't real and melanistic jaguars as well mealnistic leopards are both referred to as "black panther(s)" (that is not an actual scientific name). The only way to differentiate them would be for Ravage/Jaguar to have rosettes (which it really should be due to being called Jaguar in Japan):




Closing thoughts (purchase):

Do I regret this?:



Yes, it feels cheap, flimsy, and terrible. It makes KBW Cheetor feel like there were no cut corners even though there were. It's entire possible that Ravage feels like this due to how rigid (and in some instances brittle) KBW Cheetor feels as there were a lot of complaints about that. I also still feel like X-9 Jaguar is the better toy because it's bulkier, has paws for feet, and has jets (the only drawback is that it's obviously *edit*TM*/edit* Cheetor *edit*due to the back kibble and beast mode*/edit* with a new head and that foul pale bronze colour instead of silver). I knew exactly what I was getting into when it came to the aesthetics, transformation, etc. but, nothing prepared me cheap, flimsy, and terrible the appendages would feel.

No, but only because it's Ravage and it's almost certainly never going to decrease in value. In other words, I will almost certainly always break even if I choose to get rid of it at a later date. I'm hoping that a 3rd party and/or aftermarket company will step up and address the the flaws with the beast mode since mushroom pegs are used at the bicep/thigh swivels and, the head as well as the front beast mode legs are attached via a ball-joints/ball-sockets.

 

It's TM1 Cheetor with a new head, chest plate, and arms, which is show-accurate.

And let's be honest about something-- X-9 Metals Ravage's arms aren't great, either.

 

Typo, corrected.

I was talking about the beast mode and the back kibble but, I should have worded the section in parenthesis better.

They don't feel cheap/thin/flimsy and, I've never felt like they were going to break at any point. The only thing that I've ever worried about on X-9 Jaguar is the TM paint because, TM paint gonna chip/crack/peel/web.

 

And that's why I want an upgrade kit!

 

Fantastic diorama box, will be the very first time I display a part of my collection in-box!

He looks very screen accurate, and the cassette really completes this treasured memory for G1 fans when they watched the BW show hungry for G1 callbacks!

Awesome pulsecon exclusive for fans to add something extra special to their BW display!

 

BW Ravage perfectly done, makes the one below look like a joke wtf that flat head

 

"Ravage, you lookin' a little heavy baby . . ." - Effie White

 

I got two of him. One set stays MISB, because of that awesome packaging. I opened the other one today (but G1 Ravage was left in the box, got several of him already). I am blown away by this. Cheetor is pretty lame, but this one is fantastic!

Two oversights from Hasbro - I would have preferred the option to fold up his tail onto his back as well as the ability to peg his new guns onto the shoulders of the beast mode, I mean, the holes were there to begin with.

Huh, that's weird. Never heard of an assembly error. Though in general, I would prefer Hasbro would return to screws for joints like this.

Thank you for the comparison. I really love WFC Ravage... but I am still looking to add Jaguar to my collection.

 

Ravage Moves Like Jaguar

 

You stopped at the joint they're attached to.

 

Found this at a retro video game store and knowing I'd probably never see it again in the wild like that I had to pick it up. Looking at some ebay auctions I got a good deal.

Bot mode is a very good representation of the BW episode. It's interesting that they actually fixed the Cheetor upper body bot mode proportion problem here. Makes you wonder if Cheetor has the weird upper body build he has because of this planned remold. Weakness of the bot mode is definitely the legs hanging down off the back like they do. Cheetor pulls this off far better. Although from the front this isn't much noticeable. Really like that you can holster his guns on his hips.

Beast mode is good, or at least as close as good to Cheetor. The bot head being the beast head is either good or bad depending on how you look at it. Given that he didn't have a beast mode in the episode, it's acceptable. Problem is the bot mode head is a bit too anthropomorphic though to pull off a convincing beast head. Eh, I'm ok with it.

As for the G1 Ravage tape, I made an observation. Despite it's age I think this ancient mold is actually more show accurate than the official MP tape. Yes, I said that.

Ravage is the second Beast Wars character that aggressively tied BW into G1 before season 3 turned it up to 11 and *REALLY* aggressively tied BW into G1. I really like how this looks and he definitely screams "DECEPTICONS FOREVER!" That's really the selling point here and he pulls off that pose well.