Cliffbee.com Runamuck Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Runamuck
Series: Generation 1
Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Shock Trooper
Alternate Mode: Corvette



CAR MODE
Height: 3cm Length: 10cm Width: 5cm

   A light grey 1980s model Corvette with black windows, rubber tyres, white hubcaps and gold detailing. The car is pretty much light grey, there are gold stripes running along the sides and across the front below the headlights. He has a rubsign (and indent) on the roof and a Decepticon sticker on his hood.

   The level of detail is pretty low - there's moulded pop up headlights and door seams, but there's no taillights, rear vision mirrors or windscreen wipers. Still, the black of the windows is a black plastic with stickers on the side windows, not paint, so it can't scratch off. Also in his favour is the rubber tyres - a lot of better Transformers down the years haven't had rubberised tyres.

   The reason for the rubber tyres is the primary gimmick of the Battlechargers - a pull back motor. Basically, you pull back the car and when you let it go he rolls along and eventually pops up into robot mode. Of course, this means he has axles and rolls quite well. Unfortunately the pullback mechanism used is nowhere near as sturdy as the Throttlebots got the year after, if it wears out the first thing to go is the latch that actually controls the transform - so he's either stuck in robot or car modes. Mine still rolls along very well, but doesn't spring up into robot mode. I have to gently drop him for the latch to jolt and allow him to pop up (which he does very well when I do).

   For what it is, it's a reasonable car mode. The level of details is a lot lower than similar Transformers at the same pricepoint, but the rubber tyres and axles do give him quite a bit of play value.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Theoretically, pull him back, let him go and let the springs do the rest. Oh, and attach his gun to his shoulder.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 11cm Width: 7cm

   Still largely light grey, Runamuck has gold arms (thanks to the gold stickers that run along the car sides), some black on his torso from the windows, as well as an orange section surrounding his head, which supports a light grey hood. The rubsign is on his chest and the Decepticon symbol on his feet.

   Completely unposeable. The feet are a solid piece, same for the legs although there is a split in the piece of plastic to simulate separate legs. His head (which is grey) is attached to the orange hood support piece. His eyes are silver, it looks as if this is actually painted over the orange and the grey head is laid over this. The orange actually attaches under the chest and forms part of the shoulderblades.

   Runamuck isn't much to look at from behind - since he's got a giant third leg (well, second, really) in the form of his pull back motor, which is orange. At the base of this are the rear wheels, and since the front wheels are under his feet, you can actually use the pullback feature in this mode (although he wont transform back to car mode). Aside from attaching his gun to his shoulder, that's it for play value in this mode. Not even the arms are poseable.

   For a toy based solely around one gimmick, I suppose Runamuck succeeds in what he's designed for, but it does compromise the robot mode an awful lot. His comic incarnation takes a lot of artistic license to make this mode look good, because the toy itself doesn't look all that great.

VARIATIONS

   None I'm aware of.

OVERALL

   Based purely on the pullback gimmick, Runamuck fails to impress. He's slightly better that Runabout in my opinion, mainly because of the colours. He also seems to be more common. The pullback mechanism is too fragile to really make Runamuck a good toy - if you're going to make a toy about a play gimmick it's got to work. The Throttlebots got this right the next year - if you want a sturdy pullback Transformer, get a Throttlebot. I'd only really recommend Runamuck if you like his cartoon or comic appearances - 2.5/10

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