Rampage with Air Assault Team
Guest Review
by KYQ

Review date: 8/31/2003
Revised by LiK: 8/23/2004

Manufacturer: Takara / Hasbro

Released: 2003

Availability: NORMAL

Type: Action Figure

 
 
Personal Story:
When Hasbro released pictures of figures of their then new Transformers: Armada series, I was really not impressed at all. When the figures were released, I still wasn't impressed. Shabby packaging, shoddy paint work, cheap materials and lame gimmicks galore, I soon became very cynical towards the Armada series. Zap forward about a year later, and Takara did their own version of Armada, releasing it as Micron Legend on Japanese shores. Being fairly experienced with both US and Japanese Transformer toys, I sat up in anticipation, hoping Takara would improve on Hasbro's dismal work of the figures in the series. While I'm still not too impressed by the figures in the line so far, Rampage however, is surprisingly good, and is one of the few figures that garners my respect.
 
Introduction:
This figure is actually a giftset comprising of two sets of figures: One is that of the Air Assault Team, who are redecos of the Air Defense Team and are part of a huge sub-group called 'Mini-cons' that are common place in Micron Legend. The other is Rampage, who is the Japanese version of the US Armada's Wheeljack figure. I shall review the figures seperately, first Rampage, then the Air Assault Team.
 

Sculpt:
Rampage was one of the only figures that actually got me somewhat interested when I first saw it. In car mode, he looks a little bit big but is still a rather nice looking mode. He looks rather nice and sleek, and details like the slashed open Autobot symbol and the engine details make this one very nice car mode. Robot mode wise, he has a very classical Generation 1 look to him, as his bonnet flips downwards to form his chest ala Sideswipe or Jazz. He has tons of detailing on his legs, arms, torso and face, which makes him look just as impressive in robot mode.

The Air assault team are (obviously) 3 little transforming jets that are also sold seperately (as is Rampage). Mould wise, they're pretty decent looking planes and ok looking robots too. Only gripe I have is that since they're made of plastic, their limbs pop off pretty easily if you're a bit rough on them. But since this is a cheap figure, it doesn't bug me too much as the limbs pop back on easily anyway.

 

Paint:
One major snag that the US Wheeljack figure had was a horrible colour scheme. Wheeljack had a really glaring yellow colour on the sides of his bonnet, which cheapened the look of the toy and reduced its appeal overall. Thankfully, Takara noticed this and replaced the yellow on the bonnet with blue stripes and more black. This is a major plus in my book, as it helps give him that 'Decepticon' look which Hasbro failed at achieving.

Hasbro repainted the original versions of the Air assault team team in predominantly ivory, black, purple and trims of gold colours. Takara however, did one up on them by also making them with clear purple plastic. This is a HUGE improvement as not only do the figures look better jet mode and robot mode wise, but it also helps out their gimmick as well (which I will be talking about soon). Since I like purple a great deal, it was their colour scheme that tempted me to buy this giftset.
 

Gimmicks and Accessories:
Sadly, as cool a figure he is, the Armada line is dogged with the rather lame general gimmick of 'Mini cons' accessing certain features and this wasn't changed at all when brought over as Micron Legend. Rampage himself comes with a mini-con called Hawk, who turns into what looks like a Stealth Bomber. Hawk himself isn't much to look at and all he does is merely attach onto the roof of Rampage's car mode, causing the doors to flip up and act as both rocket launchers and wings. Pretty lame looking and not terribly original, but doesn't really detract from the figure. What does detract from the figure sadly is his accessories, or lack of any decent ones. Rampage does not come with a gun, but instead, his missles double as hand-held weapons. As you can see from the pics, he looks very silly indeed holding them, making him look either like a Relay runner or a Drummer. They really, really, should have given him a proper gun, as the drumsticks look really dumb.

The Air assault team doesn't come with any weapons of any sort themselves, but it doesn't matter as they're so small anyway. Their main gimmick is that they can merge to form a sword called the 'Dark Saber'. I'll admit that it doesn't look that much like a sword, and some imagination is needed. It is a tad bit too chunky on the 'blade', but the clear plastic helps give it the look of a weapon. The colours also work together very well, and the sword goes well with Rampage. Not to mention it at least makes a better weapon than his drumsticks :P. The sword does fall apart if you swing it around too much, but it's not supposed to be used that way, so it doesn't bug me that much. Overall the sword gimmick was pulled off decently well, if only due to the colour scheme and clear plastic.

 
Overall: B
This is, as I've mentioned, a surprisingly good figure from a rather dismal toy line. Rampage himself has that Generation 1 look, so he won't too out of place amongst your G1 collection and is nicely sculpted and painted. The Dark Saber is also an excellent accessory for him and also saves you cash if you had bought them seperately. Take those points, and the fact that the bunch are packaged in a very nicely designed box and being relatively cheap (I paid around 45 SGD), sweetens the deal. If you're bored of your current toys and need something new to tide you over for a while, you should give Rampage a chance. But I would really recommend you get the giftset instead as Rampage himself is a bit lacking weapon wise. So far as he is, he really is quite a neat figure, it's just a shame that he isn't die-cast :P
 
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