Dave's Galaxy Force Rant: GD-13 "Ramble"

     Got my trio of these "cockroaches" in the mail today after a few delays.
The package says "Ramble", although many dismiss this as another "Minelba"
case.  On the other hand, since there seems to be no relationship between
GD-13 and the Galaxy Force Soundwave toy, perhaps there's no real need to tie
it to the Rumble name.  On the gripping hand...well, I'll get to it later.
     As for me, I've decided to rename them according to my own tastes, so
there.  The red one will be called Frenzy in this review, the blue one will
be Rumble, and the yellow one will be Riot.

CAPSULES

     Frenzy: Good "fantasy" vehicle mode, interesting transformation, good
robot mode, loads of fan modes.  Strongly recommended.
     Rumble: See above.  Blue colors are a bit too subdued for my taste,
though. 
     Riot: See above.  A bit garish.  

     I'd put Frenzy first if you only want to get one.  Then Riot, then
Rumble.  


RANTS

     Packaging: Standard Galaxy Force Scout-level packaging, with the blister
bubble taped extensively to the backing card as it wraps around the back.
All three have the same exact packaging, with Frenzy dominating the art on
front and being the only one pictured in the shortened instructions on the
back.  The package does say "Ramble".  Their planet is Cybertron.  The
co-sells on back are for Galaxy Convoy (Optimus Prime), Life Convoy (Evac),
Sonic Bomber, Exigeyser (revamped Hot Shot), Backgild (revamped Scattorshot),
and First Gunner (revamped Red Alert).
     [Astute reader Dilbertron noticed that there's a small colored dot at
the bottom middle edge of the card back that corresponds with the color of
the toy inside.]
     The trading card inside shows all three on front, and just Frenzy on the
back.  Galaxy Convoy is the one reporting on them in the small bio note at
the bottom.  The instructions use a grayscaled version of the toy (looks like
Frenzy, judging by lightnesses) and purple accents, no differences among the
trio.  
     There's also a slip of paper advertising www.takarafans.com, which seems
to be something like the Lego Club...free membership if you buy a toy with
the forms in it.  There are passcode things which may be for membership
alone, or for racking up the equivalent of Robot Points.  Looks to have boy
and girl "tracks".
     The planet key is just held in by the bubble shape, but the toy (in
vehicle mode) is bound in by *seven* twist-ties, plus a rubber band and
mini-blister piece holding the cannon in place.

DESTRON: FRENZY
Planet Key: Cybertron
Altmode: Quadmech

STR 6  INT 5  SPD 7  END 6  RNK 4  COUR 8  FRB 7  SKL 9  Tot 52

     Same stats for Rumble and Riot, obviously.

     Planet Key: This is essentially the same as the Cybertron key found with
Supreme Starscream (http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Cybertron/Supreme1), but
without the key code on the back.

     Vehicle Mode: This is a "fantasy" vehicle type, a four-legged mech of
the sort occasionally seen in Battletech, or in the mech sets Mega Bloks had
out a few years ago.  To go by the TFCC comic, they're Cybertron's equivalent
of cockroaches, or maybe rats.  Because of their variable geometry it's kinda
hard to provide dimensions, but here's a try: 4.5" (11.5cm) from front to
back without Key inserted, feet positions in "rest" mode form a square about
3" (8cm) on a side or so.  [Later note: it's also possible that it was
inspired by the PlusTech Timberjack, http://www.gadgetopia.com/post/3566.]
     The "head" is a helicopter gunship sort of cockpit made of clear red
plastic with metalflake dark gray paint over everything but the windows.
Behind the cockpit is a light gray armor panel with a Decepticon symbol
tampographed onto it, pointing forward.  Behind this is a slightly orange-ish
red (to be called red from now on) connector piece that mounts the main
cannon at the back like a stinger.  Under the red connector is a light gray
central core, with red hips and thighs connected at four points, plus a red
panel that connects to the cockpit's underside.  Each hip is a ball joint, as
is each knee.  The shins of each leg are dark gray plastic with painted
panels in both darkish red and orange-red.  The forelegs have beefier shins
and chisel-shaped toes with a little play to them.  The rear legs have
red-painted conical spike toes, as well as little wheel-like bits pointing
off to the side (these are for robot mode, I'll go into them later).
     The main gun is mounted on a universal joint with 360 swivel and
elevation from about negative ten degrees (when pointed forward...the joint
allows negative thirty) to positive thirty.  It is mostly light gray plastic
with a red plastic muzzle and some red-orange stripes along the sides.  Down
the centerline of the top is a clear red piece that will flip out when the
Key is inserted, held back by a red plastic trigger piece.  The Key slot is
at the very back, and has no paint on it.  The overall length of the gun
(including Key slot) is 3.75" (9.5cm).
     Inserting the Planet Key causes the clear red switchblade concealed in
the gun to spring out like a bayonet or stinger.  Appropriate that a
verminous punk has a switchblade.  It's attached to the muzzle bit, and when
deployed the cannon has no barrel.  The blade is 2" (5cm) long and serrated
on the bottom edge (which is a big longer than the top edge, it's sort of an
upside-down katana shape).  There's patterns on the blade that echo the
stripes and molding on the gun barrel itself.  [Later addendum: the blade can
be pulled out, and has a 5mm peg.  It just takes more force than I was
willing to exert.]
     Like the better Key gimmicks, you can leave the Key firmly in place in a
secondary click without deploying the stinger.

     Transformation: The forelegs become robot legs, the hind legs become
arms, and the middle stuff does some relatively complicated swiveling around,
plus all the hip sections swing around in various ways.  It's pretty complex
for a Scout, which abets in the creation of a bewildering variety of
fanmodes.  Everything locks into place pretty solidly.
     When you transform it, you have the choice of putting the main gun over
the right shoulder, or the left shoulder.  The armor bit from behind the
cockpit becomes a shoulderpad on the other side.

     Robot Mode: An adorable 4" (10cm) tall.  The head is light gray plastic
with clear red lightpiped goggle eyes and a bit of darker red paint on the
forehead.  The head mold bears no resemblance to G1 Frenzy.  Oddly, the nose
is part of the lightpiping.  The mouth is vaguely fanged.  I get a sort of
bat-like or wolf-like impression from the head overall.  (Snaps fingers)
That's it...it looks like a Maximal symbol with bug eyes taken from the
Predacon symbol.
     Poseability is good.  Shoulders, hips, knees and elbows are all ball
joints, with varying degrees of restriction.  The fists are sideways, so the
arms bend in a "doing curls with dumbbells" fashion.  The toes can point as a
result of transformation joints.  The head turns, and the main gun has the
same joints as before (although the head gets in the way a bit).  The fist
holes are standard 5mm diameter, so he can use borrowed (read: stolen)
weapons.  The shoulder pad can flip up and down, and will pop off if you
abuse it. 
     You can put the caps back on the forearms to get melee weapons.  The
default position gives him spikes to ram into enemy bodies.  And if you swing
those little wheel-like things I mentioned earlier down to replace the
spikes, Frenzy has earthquake pounders.  Not as impressive as the G1
versions, but clearly intended for the purpose.  They have silver "hubcap"
faces painted on, which is silver on all three versions.
     
     Fan Modes: This is clearly the successor to BMac Scavenger, in the role
of Rorschach inkblot.  I've seen jets, beasts, even a mini version of the
Gigahand.  For a toy that doesn't really look like anything real in its
intended mode, it looks a little like a LOT of different things.  Kinda like
working with a basic Lego set.

     Overall: Definitely the Must Get Scout Class toy of the year.  Whichever
year it gets released in the U.S.  Import price is a bit stiff (about twice
U.S. shelf price, plus shipping, depending on where you shop), but this is
one of those that might be worth it.  I hope all three color schemes come out
in the U.S., I need a swarm.


DESTRON: RUMBLE

     Replaces the red plastic with a darkish blue, the clear red plastic with
clear medium blue plastic.  The orange-red paint is replaced by a darker blue
paint, and the darker red paint is replaced by a bright blue paint.  No mold
changes.
     Eyes don't glow very well.  (Frenzy's and Riot's glow great.)
  

DESTRON: RIOT

     Riot's my own addition to the family, I initially contemplated calling
this Buzzsaw, but that name's getting used for an Armada Cyclonus recolor.  
     Replaces the red plastic with yellow and the clear red with clear golden
yellow.  The darker red paint is replaced by yellow paint, and the orange-
red paint is replaced with a golden yellow.  No mold changes.

     Note: for distinctiveness in display, I plan to have Frenzy with fists,
Rumble with pounders, and Riot with spikes.

     Dave Van Domelen, wonders if Hasbro will give all the color variants
different names.