Dave's Transformers Rant: Fast Action Battlers Wave 4 Desert Blast Brawl Rescue Torch Ratchet (not reviewed) Rally Rocket Bumblebee (not reviewed) Night Attack Megatron (not reviewed) Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Movie/FAB4 Another all-recolor wave. To see reviews of the original molds, see http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Movie/FAB1 and http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Movie/FAB2. The only ones not recolored now are Frenzy, Blackout and Barricade, and there's established alternate color schemes to use on the latter two. Wonder if they'd do a Frenzy recolor and call it Rumble? ;) All four of these recolors look pretty good. But I already have something in the Rescue Ratchet colors (Voyager and Legends recolors, in fact), Megatron's mostly black color scheme didn't quite make the cut, and while the Bumblebee mold is pretty good, they didn't change enough for me to cave in and get this one (it's got more black, and some BB rally logos that look kinda like Buckaroo Banzai "Team Banzai" symbols). Whether I review any of the other three depends on whether I weaken on any borderlines, or Wonkimus wants one of 'em. ;) CAPSULES Brawl: This is a desert recolor, and better than the Leader class version. Original mold recommended, this one is also recommended. $9.76 at Wal-Mart RANTS Packaging: Same as waves 1 through 3. Cosells are the other three from the wave. The cosell pics don't list the epithets (like Rally Rocket). DESERT BLAST BRAWL Altmode: Tank Licensor: None Previous Mold Use: FAB Brawl Previous Name Use: G1, G2 (and Movie as Decepticon Brawl) Package call-out: "Launch 2 missiles!" Hidden in the most dangerous place on Earth, DECEPTICON BRAWL has been practicing his accuracy on anything that happens by. Whole, huge stretches of desert are scorched and ruined by his massive missiles and explosive shells. He knows that the AUTOBOTS are out there, looking for him. He really hopes they find him soon, because he's ready for a challenge. STR 8 INT 3 SPD 3 END 9 RNK 5 COUR 9 FRB 9 SKL 3 Avg 6.125 And as soon as anyone looks at satellite pictures, they'll find him. Especially if it's U.S. deserts he's blowing up.... I'll admit, I got this partly because it looks sweet, but mostly because I want a Desert Brawl of some sort and wasn't going to plunk down $40 for a Leader class recolor. Also, there's no AllSpark Blue cluttering things up here. Packaging Notes: Comes with the Nightwatch Prime/Iron Man catalog. Three twist-ties hold the robot mode into the tray, two rubber hands hold the chest together. One more tie holds the missiles in, although you don't need to undo it to get them out. Color Swaps: Non-trivial. The light gray stays light gray, but it looks like the original Brawl had two or more trays of each of its green plastics. Most of the dark green, the more rigid pieces, becomes a sort of metallic light brown (very faded copper?). However, the secondary gun barrels, the rocket launcher arms (sides of the secondary turret), the pelvis and the joints that stand out so obviously on the sides of the original in tank mode (part of the robot shoulders) are replaced by a kind of sandstone tan. All the olive green becomes a more cream colored tan, but they do such a good job with paint matching in vehicle mode that it confuses the issue. Paint Apps: As mentioned, there's some good paint matching, with the main turret looking just like the color of the sandstone tan plastic. This paint is also used on the right arm cannon. They don't try to do "chocolate chip cookie" camo, using reddish brown accents all over both modes in various places. This metallic reddish brown is also used for the four eyeballs. The tank treads and the Decepticon symbols on chest and main gun barrel are a sort of coppery dark gunmetal mix (like Warhammer paint "Tin Bitz"). The face and some bits on the chest are a slightly shinier version of the color seen on the metallic brown plastic. There's some faintly metallic gray on the shins, minesweeper teeth and the right forearm blades. Other Notes: I didn't notice any mold changes. But I should note that after a few months in tank mode, my original FAB Brawl's secondary turret doesn't stay on very well anymore. Also, keeping those missiles from getting lost is a major PITA. Overall: By sticking to warm colors and no dissonant blues, this design works a lot better than the four-times-as-expensive Leader recolor. Not sure it'd really work as desert camoflage, but it's implied that he's not so much hiding anymore anyway. RESCUE TORCH RATCHET This is a "Rescue Ratchet" recolor of the provisionally recommended Autobot Ratchet mold. It looks pretty snappy, but the mold didn't impress me a whole lot (lack of knees being a big part of it), and I've already got two Rescue Ratchets. Also, there's no cross logos on the shoulders of this one. No great insights in his bio note, just that he changed colors to look "more like" a rescue vehicle to make his job of saving people easier. Never mind that, ugly as it was, his original paint scheme was valid for rescue vehicles. RALLY ROCKET BUMBLEBEE The non-yellow bits are different, but the main change is that he has a big black paint app on the hood with a BB logo where the left-hand B is mirror flipped. The logo also appears on his doors. It reminds me of the Team Banzai logo, which ALMOST got me to buy what is otherwise a very minor repaint of a toy I own. I did read his bio note, it looks like the concept is that with the Decepticons mostly gone to ground or destroyed, he's decided to start rally racing for excitement. NIGHT ATTACK MEGATRON A decent mold, but the mostly-black color scheme wasn't striking enough to make me want another copy. The best thing about this redesign, though, is that the red plastic is replaced by gray, so he doesn't have those weirdly out of place hands. Dave Van Domelen, really should read the other bio notes next time he's in the store. And forgot to do so today with Ratchet, oops.