Name: Rumble
Series: Generations
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alternate Mode: Data Disc
Note: I've always been comfortable with the fact that Rumble was a red toy with a blue cartoon representation (due to a stuff-up by Sunbow). It bugs me that this blue toy was sold as Rumble (especially when packaged with Ravage, just as the original red Rumble toy was) contrary to the G1 toys. I don't want to wade into the whole debate on colours though; so I'm going to avoid the using the name of this toy in my review, so the reader can read this review as they want. You can read the Red toy's review here.
DATA DISC MODE
Height: 1.5cm Length: 1.5cm Width: 1.5cm
A small royal blue disc, which is essentially the shape of a hockey puck, his top side is painted powder blue with complex silver circuitry detailing. The centre of the disc is unpainted, while right in the middle is a powder blue dot with a silver Decepticon logo. Around the sides and on the underside are some black robot mode elements. The colours evoke the blue G1 cassette, but they're generic enough that this mode is pretty much generic (unlike Ratbat's more distinct colours).
This is a rather indistinct alt mode on it's own. Without Soundwave or Soundblaster, he's little more that a folded up robot. Okay, so he's a data disc - I guess a Cybertronian take on a cassette, but without context there's nothing to see here.
There's some play value here. He can be stored inside the transparent purple casing he comes packaged with or stowed inside Soundwave or Soundblaster's chest. The idea is that Soundwave can fire the disc out and your data disc will auto-transform. It works reasonably well with this figure, too.
A rather underwhelming alt mode, but to be fair he _is_ well folded up. There's little to get excited about when dealing with a small blue disc whose only purpose is to fire out of Soundwave's chest. I guess the two distinct blues make this one slighter more interesting than the red toy's disc mode.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Basically, when he hits the table, there's a black button underneath which presses & the entire thing unfolds thanks to a series of springs. Of course, you can press the button yourself. The "sides" become his legs, the top becomes the arms while the head and torso are concealed underneath his arms. The arms are "up" so you will need to seeing them down manually as well as flu& also flip out his feet.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 7cm Width: 3.5cm
A royal blue robot with black feet, thighs and waist along with black on the outside edges of the torso. The powder blue is relegated to the sides here, and not really a factor. His waist & face are painted a gunmetal colour while the eyes are red. There's a purple Decepticon logo stamped on his chest. While the colours in disc mode are somewhat generic, here do evoke G1, although the blue & black doesn't line up to the two tone blue G1 robot all that closely.
While the head is necessarily small, it's clearly modelled on the G1 toys, and really nails the tribute here. The red eyestrip is done well, despite the small size. The arms are thin but work well enough - there are no piledrivers here, nor any guns unlike G1.
While the limbs feature joints, only the shoulders offer any poseability as the leg joints are all spring loaded. So poseable arms constitute all of his play value.
A nice looking robot with G1 overtones thanks to the face. There's no play value but then at this size I don't expect much. It displays well and that's pretty much all I'd ask anyway.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of. He was sold with Ravage.
OVERALL
Okay so there's no recognisable alt mode as such, he's essentially a folded up robot designed to be fired out of a larger Transformer. Having said that the auto transform gimmick works quite well. The colours evoke G1 Frenzy/Rumble (depending on your preference) quite well and the face matches G1 very well. The red toy does a better job of the tribute, and also comes with a stronger partner in Ratbat, so I'd recommend that one first. You really need Soundwave and/or Soundblaster to make Ratbat worthwhile, but he's a useful minion for either - 7/10
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