Name: Ruckus
Series: Generation 1
Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Combat Assault
Alternate Mode: Dune Buggy
BUGGY MODE
Height: 3.5cm Length: 8cm Width: 5.5cm
A tan and purple buggy, Ruckus is more of a racing buggy than a dune buggy, really, but has the tyres of a dune buggy. The back half of the cabin is tan, the rest is basically purple. The windows are a silvery-grey colour. As mentioned the tyres are those of a dune buggy, with pretty obvious treads. They're plastic, but at least they're real - Backstreet's rear tyres are mere stickers. There's no attack mode, sadly, since his guns fold from his sides to behind the car, pointing down. This is partly compensated for in that the guns protrude slightly, but it does reduce Ruckus' play value. He's got big stickers on either side at the rear, covering the panels which conceal the guns. They've got Decepticon stickers on them, at the sides below the windows. The front grill is hollow, since it doubles as the knee joints.
Overall, it's a reasonable buggy mode. There's a few flaws that come from cost cutting - there's a lack of real detail on some parts and the hollow front grill looks a little silly. But he's got nothing terrible about him.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Flip the front down to form the legs, stand him up and position the arms. Press the button on his back to release the guns up. It's a rather noisy spring-loaded mechanism, since there's gears inside to provide some resistance and give the impression of automation. The transformation is almost identical to Beachcomber, in fact the colour scheme is pretty close, too. There's nothing in the proportions to suggest this was anything more than coincidence.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 9.5cm, 10cm with guns out Width: 5.5cm
As mentioned, the colour scheme is similar to Beachcomber. he's got purple legs, arms and head, and a tan torso, with small tan thighs, and optional tan guns over his head. He's almost a caricature of himself, with a big head, really small and narrow thighs and widish shins. The detail on the head is pretty good for a toy this size, he's got a lime green face and his head looks somewhat similar to Thunderwing's shell's face. The guns actually come over his shoulders and point up, the whirring sound when you activate them is pretty cool.
My biggest gripe with Ruckus' robot mode is that not only the shins, but also the thighs are joined together. He's effectively got one leg. This is definitely a case of cost-cutting. While it doesn't ruin the robot mode, it's such an unnecessary flaw.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of.
OVERALL
Not a bad toy, with some nice features - including great detail on the head for a toy this size. The fact that the spring load mechanism is useless in buggy mode, coupled with the bad legs in robot mode hold back what could have been a great toy - 5/10
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