Allegiances: Decepticon
Size: Legends 2-pack
Overall Rating: 6.5
 

Decepticon Rumble

Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Dark blue, silver, charcoal black, and some red and light sky blue
Individual Rating: 7.2

    Sorry "FIBRIR" fans-- THIS version of Rumble is most definitely blue. In data disc mode, he's a rather striking shade of dark blue, and the mix of light blue and silver "circuitry patterns" on the top of said mode looks fantastic and contrasts excellently with Rumble's blue. Like other FoC data disc toys, he doesn't have much play value in this mode, but he's meant to interact with one of the voyager FoC Soundwave variants-- that's his main play value here, is storage. The disc is, like the other FoC disc toys, rather fat, but this is necessary in order to get a robot out of it, obviously, and it's the same thickness as the other FoC discs, so no real issue there. Near one end of this mode Rumble's split-in-half waist makes itself slightly obvious from a side view, but otherwise this is a pretty solid mode. Like the other disc toys in these 2-packs, Rumble comes with his own "carrier cartridge"-- transparent purple with a light purple Decepticon symbol, appropriately enough.
    Rumble's robot mode-- like the other FoC data disc toys-- converts from his disc mode with the pressing of a small button, though you have to fold back his parts in the right manner to get them all to "click" back into disc mode. His gimmick works when Soundwave "ejects" him about half of the time, which isn't too bad, I guess-- and even if it doesn't automatically work before Rumble hits the ground, again, just press the button on his back and BAM, it's done. Given his spring-loaded, tiny nature, Rumble doesn't have much when it comes to articulation. He can move back-and-forth at the shoulders, and his toes have slight movement, as well. Technically you can move him inwards at the shoulders, backwards at the knees, and sideways at the hips, as well-- but these are all spring-loaded joints, so as soon as you let go they'll pop back into their default position. That said, articulation really isn't the point of these little guys, it's all about the awesome auto-transforming gimmick and their interaction with the variations of the FoC Soundwave mold, so this lack of articulation doesn't bug me as much here as it would on most other toys. The mold detailing on Rumble is pretty decent and "Fall of Cybertron-y", with alternating parts of dense detailing (like his head and chest) and parts of sparser mold detailing, like his legs. Generally he looks pretty nice and accurate to his FoC design (minus the pile-drivers), though his head details tend to blend together a bit in a slightly ugly manner. Color-wise, charcoal black becomes more obvious in this mode, but it doesn't really add much to the color scheme beyond making it a bit less one-tone. There's a few silver & red paint apps on his chest and head, but largely all his "pretty" paint apps were used in disc mode.
    Rumble has a great shade of blue, and his data disc mode paint apps in particular look great. Like all FoC disc toys, he doesn't have much articulation, and I wish his gimmick worked upon "ejecting" him from Soundwave more often, but overall he's one of the better FoC data disc molds, and my favorite version color-wise of this mold in particular.

Ravage

Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Charcoal black and silver and some metallic bronze
Individual Rating: 5.7

    Ravage is another of the data disc 'Cons, and his disc mode is pretty much what you'd expect; a black disc that's the same shape as the other FoC data disc toys. The silver circuitry detailing on the top looks pretty ace, though it's not quite as impressive as many of the other data discs' circuitry patterns (though that's admittedly a high bar to jump over). What DOES bother me about this mode is that the sides of the data disc aren't nearly as "solid-looking" as on most of his other disc brethren; you can see bits like hips, paws, and shoulders quite obviously on the sides, with the "lip" of the disc coming out over some of these parts in a rather unattractive manner. As usual, Ravage doesn't really have play value in this mode, and is meant for storage inside a FoC Soundwave variant's chest cavity in this configuration. Like other data disc Legends 2-pack figures, Ravage comes with his own "cartridge" to hold him in this mode, if you don't feel like putting him into a FoC Soundwave mold's chest (or don't have said toy); just like with his packmate Rumble, his holder cartridge is transparent purple with a light purple Decepticon symbol emblazoned on the top of it.
    Like with the other FoC data discs, pressing a button on Ravage's back should automatically transform him to beast mode, though to get him back into disc mode you have to manually bring the parts back together into the disc shape until you hear a "click" that signifies everything's in place. Unfortunately, Ravage's auto-transformation barely ever works completely, particularly when firing him from Soundwave. Even when you press on the button on the disc's back yourself, you have to usually manually unfold Ravage's back legs and his back and tail. This kind of takes a fair bit away from the "auto-transformation" gimmick, but it would be a bit more forgiveable if Ravage's beast mode looked really awesome-- unfortunately, it doesn't. It's quite misproportioned, with an overly small head and a very overly-long body. Plus, his back pieces and tail don't connect in any visual way to his lower body, and the visual gap in between them looks just plain ugly. His legs are also a bit too short, though Ravage does have slightly more articulation than your average disc TF due to them-- he can move at the top and mid-section of his back two legs, at the mid-section of his front two legs, and his tail can move up-and-down, too. His front two legs can also rotate upwards where they meet the main body, but they're spring-loaded and will snap back into their default position as soon as you let go of them. Ravage's color scheme-- though admittedly accurate-- is pretty boring here, with most of the silver hidden in this mode and the "impure" charcoal black making for a rather blah main color. Much of his mold detailing seems off, too-- his head doesn't look long enough and has rather ugly mold detailing (though his bronze eyes look great). His back has some decent enough mold detailing on it, though much of it is hidden due to the black plastic. Most of his other parts tend to have minimal detailing on them due to his transformation and overall design, though the silver paint on his lower legs is appreciated.
    Ravage is definitely the weakest of the FoC data disc molds, with a less-than-solid data disc mode, a fairly straightforward and boring color scheme, and a beast mode that is-- quite frankly-- a bit of a mess, both in terms of design and its overall proportions. Add that his automatic transformation doesn't work a pretty good majority of the time, and this would be an easy pass if it weren't... y'know, Ravage.

    The Ravage/Rumble set is a bit of a mixed bag. Rumble has a beautiful color scheme and paint apps and is pretty decent for a FoC data disc toy, but Ravage ranges from "merely okay" to "pretty bad" depending upon which mode he's in and has a pretty boring color scheme to boot. However, there's something to be said about having a Soundwave toy without his companion Ravage; many will want this two-pack simply to give FoC Soundwave more companions, and I totally get it. Just don't expect much out of Ravage-- and if you aren't planning on getting a voyager FoC Soundwave or one of its variants, these guys probably aren't worth picking up regardless, given how strongly their gimmick needs a "host 'bot" to work with to get the most out of them.

Reviews by Beastbot

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