Cliffbee.com Beast Wars Rampage Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Rampage
Series: Beast Wars
Allegiance: Predacon
Function: Warlord
Alternate Mode: Crab, Tank





CRAB MODE
Height: 6cm Length: 30cm Width: 28cm
Exact dimensions will vary according to pose.

   A chrome orange crab with some red mixed into the paint in places, Rampage has six brown legs and two enormous purple claws. his head is grey with a combination of grey and purple mouthparts, the grey ones sport gold tips. The head sports two purple antennae which should end in rounded eyes but don't, but then this is a Transmetal crab so I guess the optic sensors aren't visible. There's some deep yellow, solver, red and gold paint on his claws, which sit at the end of black and grey arms. While this isn't the most cohesive colour set, the colour scheme comes off fine since it's ll about the giant purple claws and extensive chrome on his body.

   As with many arthropod Beast Wars toys, Rampage is unable to stand on his own legs. There's just too much weight for them to support - the ball joints give out. In most cases this bothers me, but Rampage's giant claws would make him tilt forward anyway. He looks fine on his belly - crabs don't have much ground clearance anyway. Rampage looks mighty impressive with his massive claws (each is the size of a basic) and the shiny chrome body, so you barely notice that he's on his belly.

   There's very little organic sculpt here - only the lower "jaw" could really be described as organic, although the robot feet are visible from behind. Rampage is a great exponent for the mechanical beast modes that Transmetals are meant to have, and while the detail is lacking in places (the legs especially), his mass makes him impressive anyway - and the detailed chrome body is what you notice anyway. The red paint is prevalent on the sides and an "X" on top, and blends into the orange quite well.

   The arms have three hinges and three swivels each while both the big outer and small inner sides of the claws can open and close, making the claws about as poseable as you could want. The front and middle pairs of legs have two ball joints while the rear set have a hinge at the base, then a rotate and a ball joint, giving the legs good, if not perfect poseability. Since Rampage lies on his belly, the legs can stay in whatever pose you put them in without any trouble. The lower jaw opens and the sides of the head open to widen the mouth. This last one is a little odd, but it's minor compared to the other stuff this crab does. The antennae swing from to side, rounding out great articulation.

   The claws are quite useful as weapons - they're big enough to hold most BW toys and even hold a lot up from the table, thanks to sturdy arm joints. There's a black Gatling gun underneath the crab which can be swung forward, sticking out from underneath his head. If you load the three missiles, Rampage will fire them one by one as you roll him, thanks to a rubber wheel underneath. While the Gatling gun is really meant for the tank mode, it still works fine here. You'll probably not want to leave the missiles loaded in beast mode - they'll stick out from underneath the back of his shell.

   A massively impressive crab with excellent play value, detailed sculpt where it counts and a bucketload of chrome. The Gatling gun and claws make sure he's suitably armed while the legs are poseable. He can't stand on his legs, but this beast should be low to the ground, so it's not really an issue. Rampage's major flaw relates to one of his best features - the chrome. The red chrome on mine if breaking up, despite the fact that I don't play with him. Granted it's almost a decade old, but I still find it somewhat disappointing. Otherwise, this is a fantastic beast mode.

TRANSFORMATION TO TANK MODE

   More or less a reconfiguration, but the tank mode is significant enough that I'm including it as a distinct mode. The legs partially fold up, forming a frame for the rubber treads, which are hidden inside the claws - which become fenders (of sorts). The Gatling gun becomes the turret of what I guess would be best described as an assault tank

TANK MODE
Height: 11cm Length: 23cm Width: 18cm

   Ok, so it's a crab's body with a giant Gatling gun on the front, but there's more to the tank mode than this. While they're tricky to assemble, the tread mechanisms should allow Rampage to rumble along when pushed - the rubber bands will slowly turn. The large parts of the claws form the front of the treads - kind of like fenders as I've mentioned. The smaller halves fold up and form buffers at the front, with the missiles sticking out between them.

   You have two choices when firing the missiles - the wheel underneath can fire them, as I've mentioned, while there are also individual triggers if you don't want to have to push him along. The triggers can be accessed in all three modes, incidentally.

   As vehicles go, this isn't the most convincing amongst the Transmetals, but no-one has a more involved vehicle mode - nor one that's quite as much fun. Sure, it has the body of a crab but this tank makes a great display piece - and the cartoon used to extensively.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   From beast mode. Detach the weaponry from underneath, unclip the side panels and swing forward, pull out the robot legs. The arms unclip from the sides, the beast head folds down to become his chest, the robot head shoulder rotate into place at the same time. Unfold the robot feet and heelspurs, fold the claws up onto his back. From here it's a matter of giving Rampage his weapons and folding away the crab legs.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 20cm Width: 25cm

   An orange robot with a whole bunch of crab kibble on his backpack. Rampage's chest, legs and arms are a pearly orange plastic which has some yellow sprayed on. His feet are purple, along with the antennae still visible on his waist. The groin is grey along with the waist (beast head). His head is orange with yellow crab-like mouthparts and green eyes amongst other details. The chrome shell largely sits on his back, with giant shoulderpads giving Rampage an impressive wingspan. I love this colour scheme - the pearly orange-yellow works really well.

   Rampage is a shellformer, plain and simple, and there's a lot of crab hanging off this robot mode - the arms have two legs each, attached underneath the forearms. The claws hang off his back, attached to the base of the shoulderpads. He's actually fairly stable despite having so much weight on his back - the leg joints are stiff and the heelspurs long enough to be quite useful. The arms are a little restricted by the kibble, but not as much as you might think - in fact the robot itself is more or less unimpeded. The head sits amongst a bunch of stuff and Rampage has a poor view to either side, but that's about it. Even the antennae on his waist manage to stay out of the way, despite being central.

   The sculpt on his robot parts is great - there's a crabshell sculpt on the orange plastic, complete with carcinified tail-segments on his forearms. The feet and heelspurs have a different sculpt that also fits in well and the facial sculpt is fantastic (which a paint job to match). The bodyshape is good, he's not overly bulky but doesn't need to be in order to look powerful - the wide shoulderpads do that for him.

   The Gatling gun can be held in either hand, as can the smaller black rifle. The rifle almost seems superfluous alongside the kickass-and-take-names Gatling gun, which dwarfs the rifle. While it might be surplus, I'm impressed that Rampage was given a rifle - it shows that the people who put this toy together actually cared about him (not the case at Hasbro anymore, it seems). I guess it's a little more compact than the huge Gatling gun - which can still be fired here.

   The poseability is good, as I've already hinted. The neck, shoulders and hips are all ball jointed while the elbows have both hinges and rotators. the knees, ankles and heelspurs are all hinged. I guess another plane of movement in the knees would have been nice - but I'm glad the knees aren't ball joints - I can see them collapsing under the weight of the upper body. As it is, Rampage is remarkably stable for such a heavy toy and has enough poseability for action poses - although very dynamic leg poses are tricky.

   If there's a flaw to this robot mode it's the backpack. The robot itself looks amazing and the poseability is great, with excellent stability when you consider where is centre of gravity is. The weaponry is an asset, paint mask and sculpt superb. Rampage carries a lot of kibble but it largely stays out of the way - I'm not really worried about his kibble since this is how a shellformer should be.

VARIATIONS

   None as such although the BotCon 2000 exclusive, Shockaract, is a repaint of Rampage.

OVERALL

   An all round great toy. The mechanical detail, huge claws and extensive chrome make the crab mode great despite the fact his legs can't support the weight. The tank mode is both clever and attractive, while the robot mode has a fantastic sculpt. All three modes are stacked with play value, making Rampage a terrific toy. His chrome isn't as solid as it should be but otherwise it's all good news here. Definitely recommended if you like Beast Wars - a must have if you like Transmetals - 9.5/10

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