Cliffbee.com Earthrise Runamuck Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Runamuck
Series: Earthrise
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alternate Mode: 1980s sports car



SPORTS CAR MODE
Height: 4cm Length: 12.5cm Width: 6cm

   A very light grey generic 1980s sports car, Runamuck is no longer Trans Am from 1986, but the general shape is the same (it's closer to a Lotus). His windows are transparent smoky plastic, as is most of this figure in fact - much of the shell of the car is _painted_ with only some out bursts on his hood (ankles) being a light grey plastic. There's gold stripes across the headlights and side skirtings to match the stickers on the G1 toy and a large Decepticon logo on his roof. His tyres are black with while painted hubcaps and his taillights are painted red. Overall it's a good colour scheme, but for whatever reason the paint on the front half of the cabin is a slightly paler shade than elsewhere, which is disappointing.

   The sculpt is simple but effective and the transparent smoky windows look good (and serve as a good update on the black windows of G1). 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 Runabout, too.

   Play value is limited. His black gun can plug into a hole on the roof - surprisingly for an Earthrise toy there's only one spot for this in vehicle mode. 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. The mismatched shades of paint is a little annoying and the play value is minimal, but it's very much Runamuck and the windows look good. This is his weaker mode, though.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Unclip and set aside the gun 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 gun, as desired.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 14cm Width: 7.5cm

   A light grey robot with transparent smoky windows on the fringes of his chest, a purple Decepticon logo in the middle of his chest, that gold stripe on his toes and purple eyes. I would have liked gold arms or hands as seen in the Marvel comics - just a personal thing - but I imagine the gold paint would be incredibly prone to scratching (and gold plastic has a troubled relationship with Transformers), so I'm not unhappy. 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 gun in either hand, or mount on either shoulder 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. Runamuck 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. The mismatched paint is now inside his backpack, too. I can't fault the lack of gold on his arms, given they've simply gone in a different direction. 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 Runabout's a slight retool of Runamuck.

OVERALL

   A great robot mode is offset by a vehicle mode with some limitations. The mismatched paint is my main gripe - but the need to push everything together in car mode is also less than ideal. I've had no paint chipping issues, but I'm not sure how the paint would hold up to heavy play. Well worth the price of a deluxe, thanks to the strong G1 tribute and really playable robot mode - 8/10

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