Name: Runamuck
Series: Earthrise
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alternate Mode: 1980s sports car
SPORTS CAR MODE
Height: 4cm Length: 12.5cm Width: 6cm
A black generic 1980s sports car, Runabout is close the Lotus he was in G1. His windows are transparent red. Unlike his mould mate & fellow Battlecharger, Runamuck. The shell of the car isn't painted, but there's red pin striping. The cabin roof and rear _are_ painted over red plastic, but the blacks match almost perfectly so you're not really aware of this at a glance. He sports black tyres with white hubcaps, and his taillights are painted red. There's a purple Decepticon logo on his roof with a white border, rounding out a good colour scheme which matches G1 nicely.
The sculpt is simple but effective and the transparent red windows look good. One issue this mould does have though is very tight tolerances - I find that I've really got to press everything together for him to stay together - the cabin, feet (halves of the front) and arms (door panels) all include easily as everything is so tightly packed. It's the same on my Runamuck, too.
Play value is limited. His red guns can plug into a hole on the roof - surprisingly for an Earthrise toy there's only one spot for this in vehicle mode - and so while he has two guns, you've got to either combine and plug in to this one port, or set one aside. The guns are painted over black plastic with the handles and tops left unpainted. It's a notably matte finish on them. One is the same as the single gun of Runamuck, one is unique to Runabout. There's no clearance underneath for him to roll on a table, and I'd recommend against forcing it as the chest under there is painted, like most of the toy. The wheels themselves roll freely, though.
A decent car mode once you get clipped together. Not as much paint as Runamuck - which also means less concern about paint being scratched or chipped - but he comes with an extra gun. The play value is minimal, but it's clearly Runabout and the red windows look very sinsister. This is his weaker mode, though.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Unclip and set aside the guns if attached. Unclip the rear, lift it up - the cabin will come with it - fold away the rear wheels and pivot the cabin towards the back of the car. Unclip the doors, swing out to the sides to form his arms. Rotate the front 180 degrees, extend to form his boots, fold up the feet & split the boots. Rotate the forearms, flip out his fists, Swing the back of the car down to form a backpack. Fold down his chest flip out the head and close the chest again. Give him his guns, as desired.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 14cm Width: 7.5cm
A black robot with transparent red windows on the fringes of his chest, a purple Decepticon logo with white bordering in the middle of his chest, some red pinstripe on his boots and red eyes flanked by gunmetal on his face (except the black mouthplate). The Decepticon logo sits in an indented square which is a nice nod to the rubsign indent of the G1 toy. It's a great looking Runamuck that closely matches the cartoon.
His sculpt is actually very detailed on most of the sections that don't form part of the car shell - the exception being the chest - it's a false roof but is smooth to resemble the roof. While I generally don't like faux vehicle parts, it does enable is that rubsign indent. The rear of the vehicle forms a visible hood behind his head - and it's very obviously a deliberate thing, since he had one in all of his G1 appearances. It's worth noting that while Runamuck and Runabout share the same mould, they _do_ have their own headsculpts. Perhaps the nicest "bonus" aspect of the design is that he has black heelspurs which are faux-wheels to resemble the rear wheels seen in the G1 media appearances (and based on the pullback motor wheels of the G1 toy) - though the hubs are unpainted, which would have been nice.
Play value here is pretty good. He can hold his guns in either hand, or mount on his shoulders like the G1 toy had to - this is actually my favourite aspect of this figure. There's also ports on the outsides of his forearms if you want to make it an arm cannon. There are also ports on the hubcaps of his false wheels on the heelspurs... which is an easy to miss bonus. Poseability is cookie-cutter for an Earthrise deluxe - which means it's excellent, really. The head is on a ball joint while his shoulder rotate and lift out to the sides. His elbows are hinged with rotators - as are his knees. The waist rotates, the hips swing and lift out to the sides. His feet are hinged and he has ankle tilts and big chunky heelspurs thanks to the faux-wheels. Runabout is stable in a wide range of poses, too.
I have no complaints about this robot mode at all - I can see no flaws. He's very poseable, very G1 faithful, gets his own head sculpt and has lots of options with his gun - and even gets an extra all his own. The faux-roof on his chest is cheaty, but in this case the payoff is worthwhile thanks to the faux-rubsign indent. It's a great robot mode.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of, though as mentioned he's a slight retool of Runamuck. Runabout is an exclusive to Target stores in the USA & TakaraTomy Mall in Japan, though, making him harder to get than his partner in crime.
OVERALL
A great robot mode is offset by a vehicle mode with some limitations. The need to push everything together in car mode is annoying. Well worth the price of a deluxe, thanks to the strong G1 tribute and really playable robot mode, but unless you're in Hasbro's East Asian markets he might be tricky to pick up (I imported from Hong Kong). His more limited nature & possible higher cost counts against Runabout, but otherwise he's as good as his buddy Runamuck - 7.5/10
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