I had pre-ordered this guy through Hasbro Pulse, but he showed up at Walmart over the weeked, so I figured I could just buy him today and save Hasbro the shipping cost. Plus it means I get a new toy today instead of later, which is always good.

Note that this is Frenzy (Red), not R.E.D. Frenzy. Sorry, bad joke. Moving on.

Hasbro has been pretty consistent in the past about sticking to their story—Rumble is red, Frenzy is blue, and will you just please ignore that silly cartoon that managed to get it all wrong? Since Studio Series celebrates the screen versions of these characters, though, it's important to depict them as they actually appear in the animation. (I guess if I wanted to be really cheeky, I could point out that both robots were purple when they ejected from Soundwave, and then they were both red-and-black when they transformed to robot mode. So, really, you could make them ANY color and you'd have screen evidence to support your case.)

So his robot mode is mostly black plastic, with red used for the upper legs and shoulder connectors, and light grey for the thruster guns and toes. The shoulders are painted red. Where Rumble (Blue) had silver detailing on his chest and pelvis, Frenzy (Red) gets gold. The little vented slot above his feet is light blue instead of yellow, which is correct to the animation.

He does have a tiny painted Decepticon symbol on his lower chest, but the purple does not contrast well against the black plastic, and it's almost indistinguishable. They really need to consider stuff like this. It's pretty much invisible.

Originally, they didn't bother to introduce Frenzy and Buzzsaw in the cartoon at all, despite being available in 1984. One could argue there was no real reason to advertise Buzzsaw's existence since he already came with Soundwave, and I suppose by the same logic, there wasn't any real reason to showcase Frenzy since you were already going to get him if you bought Ravage and/or Laserbeak (depending on which robot you consider Frenzy). But, both characters did end up appearing later. The pile driver arms were supposed to be Rumble's gimmick, but Frenzy ended up being able to do it, too (not just in The Transformers: the Movie, but in "City of Steel" as well). So, the pile driver attachments are technically correct for the character.

Rumble got far more screen time, and Frenzy appears in tape mode so infrequently that I have no idea if they got him right or not. I think he's supposed to have red-colored cassette spools, but that's a minor thing. He's a cassette tape. (He's a tape that you can't record over, apparently, since the tabs are already broken on the top. Most of you know what I'm talking about, hopefully.)

I still have all my Core-class Dinobots on the computer desk, and it's astounding that this tiny toy costs as much as each of them do. But, obviously they had to make the Studio Series tapes compatible with the current incarnations of Soundwave (Netflix) and Blaster (Kingdom). The pile drivers help me to feel a little bit like I'm not being fleeced. I'm not sure how they'll manage Laserbeak and Ravage at this scale, though. Lots of blast effects? A video camera accessory you can mount to Beaky's head? A cage for Ravage?

On a long enough timeline, I really want to see every single one of the cassette characters get a new, definitive version. Buzzsaw is somewhere on the top of my list, since he never got a Siege toy, but I also want to see Steeljaw and Ramhorn, and Overkill and Slugfest, and even guys who never made it into the cartoon like Beast Box and Squawktalk and Raindance and Denny's Grand Slam Breakfast. (Just seeing if you guys were paying attention.)

Zob (remember when the opening price point for Transformers was like three bucks...?)

On Sunday, October 8, 2023 at 5:15:04 PM UTC-5, Zobovor wrote:
> I had pre-ordered this guy through Hasbro Pulse, but he showed up at Walmart over the weeked, so I figured I could just buy him today and save Hasbro the shipping cost. Plus it means I get a new toy today instead of later, which is always good.
>

After never having seen the blue guy whose name we disagree in stores at all, I was surprised to find the red guy in store today.

> Note that this is Frenzy (Red), not R.E.D. Frenzy. Sorry, bad joke. Moving on.
>
> Hasbro has been pretty consistent in the past about sticking to their story—Rumble is red, Frenzy is blue, and will you just please ignore that silly cartoon that managed to get it all wrong? Since Studio Series celebrates the screen versions of these characters, though, it's important to depict them as they actually appear in the animation. (I guess if I wanted to be really cheeky, I could point out that both robots were purple when they ejected from Soundwave, and then they were both red-and-black when they transformed to robot mode. So, really, you could make them ANY color and you'd have screen evidence to support your case.)
>
> So his robot mode is mostly black plastic, with red used for the upper legs and shoulder connectors, and light grey for the thruster guns and toes. The shoulders are painted red. Where Rumble (Blue) had silver detailing on his chest and pelvis, Frenzy (Red) gets gold. The little vented slot above his feet is light blue instead of yellow, which is correct to the animation..
>
> He does have a tiny painted Decepticon symbol on his lower chest, but the purple does not contrast well against the black plastic, and it's almost indistinguishable. They really need to consider stuff like this. It's pretty much invisible.
>
> Originally, they didn't bother to introduce Frenzy and Buzzsaw in the cartoon at all, despite being available in 1984. One could argue there was no real reason to advertise Buzzsaw's existence since he already came with Soundwave, and I suppose by the same logic, there wasn't any real reason to showcase Frenzy since you were already going to get him if you bought Ravage and/or Laserbeak (depending on which robot you consider Frenzy). But, both characters did end up appearing later. The pile driver arms were supposed to be Rumble's gimmick, but Frenzy ended up being able to do it, too (not just in The Transformers: the Movie, but in "City of Steel" as well). So, the pile driver attachments are technically correct for the character.
>
> Rumble got far more screen time, and Frenzy appears in tape mode so infrequently that I have no idea if they got him right or not. I think he's supposed to have red-colored cassette spools, but that's a minor thing. He's a cassette tape. (He's a tape that you can't record over, apparently, since the tabs are already broken on the top. Most of you know what I'm talking about, hopefully.)
>

Just wrap him in scotch tape, then you can keep him captive and record over

> I still have all my Core-class Dinobots on the computer desk, and it's astounding that this tiny toy costs as much as each of them do. But, obviously they had to make the Studio Series tapes compatible with the current incarnations of Soundwave (Netflix) and Blaster (Kingdom). The pile drivers help me to feel a little bit like I'm not being fleeced. I'm not sure how they'll manage Laserbeak and Ravage at this scale, though. Lots of blast effects? A video camera accessory you can mount to Beaky's head? A cage for Ravage?
>
> On a long enough timeline, I really want to see every single one of the cassette characters get a new, definitive version. Buzzsaw is somewhere on the top of my list, since he never got a Siege toy, but I also want to see Steeljaw and Ramhorn, and Overkill and Slugfest, and even guys who never made it into the cartoon like Beast Box and Squawktalk and Raindance and Denny's Grand Slam Breakfast. (Just seeing if you guys were paying attention.)
>

I quite love the KFC Raindance and doubt any Hasbro could do better.
Haymaker and Overslay are quite excellent too, but Overslay is quite spindly for the kid-toy durability test. Not for us, but for the actual kids
None are as tasty as eggs and bacon though, I tried..

>
> Zob (remember when the opening price point for Transformers was like three bucks...?)

Even bot-bots at 5 below are $4 now... saw bot-bots pack in a game controller I'd never seen before at Ross...