Dave's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Rant - RPMs Wave 1 Single-Pack Megatron Two-Pack Mudflap vs. Autobot Skids Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/RotF/RPM1 RPMs stands for Robot Powered Machines, and is a subline that Hasbro's using to bind together a bunch of non-transforming or not-very-transforming toys such as Hot Wheels-style cars or remote-control vehicles. The base RPMs come in three packaging styles: singletons for about $4 each, two-packs around $8, and a race set built around Devastator's head at the $40 price point (which I will not be getting or reviewing). The singletons are labeled "Combat Series" while the two-packs are "Battle Series". I decided to get one of each to check them out. The Combat Series first wave also includes Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Ratchet. The first wave of Battle Series also has Optimus Prime vs. Bonecrusher (mine-clearing arm doesn't move), 70s Camaro Bumblebee vs. Barricade, and Jazz vs. Brawl. I should note that these are not all 1:64 scale, as some vehicles are too big to fit on tracks at that scale. CAPSULES Megatron: Decent quality, and you're not likely to find a Hot Wheels compatible Megatron-style tank anywhere else, but it's rather overpriced for the quality of the product. Neutral. $3.99 at Toys R Us. Mudflap vs. Autobot Skids: Again, pretty nice, but priced about double what they're worth. Neutral. $7.99 at Toys R Us. RANTS Premise: While many Legends toys are the right size to go on a Hot Wheels track, they tend not to roll well enough to really use in track sets. So the idea here is to make Transformers characters who can be used on your existing tracks, or with the Devastator playset. However, to keep them at least in sight of the Transformers concept, the robot modes of the characters are molded in relief on the undersides, along with a circular piece on which the faction symbol is molded (red for Autobots, purple for Decepticons) and their name. They're molded so that they can be stood up on their ends, which I suppose counts as "transforming". The price point sets them up to compete not with regular Hot Wheels or Matchbox, but instead with the more collector-oriented 1:64 scale cars like Johnny Lightning or some of the Hot Wheels special deco lines. As such, you'd expect them to be pretty high quality compared to $1 Hot Wheels or Matchbox. However, they don't seem to contain significant quantities of metal (the Twins are heavy enough that they may have some hidden metal plates, or just a LOT of plastic) and the paint jobs aren't really above the Hot Wheels standard level. Going back to the weight issue, I compared the Twins to the Matchbox Audi R8, which has a metal body shell, and they all weigh 30-32g. By contrast, Megatron is only 28g, although that's within acceptable range for avoiding the effects of a too-light car in a track set. In fact, I suspect they deliberately weighted all of the RPMs to make sure they had the same performance profile as regular Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars. They're not built to be disassembled, but thanks to the powerful magnets that cover my fridge, I was able to determine that there's a strong ferromagnetic source at the middle of each toy, so they definitely have iron weights inside. This also means that a playset could potentially use magnets to hold onto the cars, something you can't do with most die-cast cars, as their alloy is generally non-magnetic. As an aside, they seem to be sticking to the official licenses and the not-even-close stuff like Prime and Megatron. I doubt we'll see RPMs of any of the "close but not actionable" stuff like Sideways or any of the motorcycles. Matchbox has a very nice gunmetal gray Audi R8 you can use to stand in for Sideways, though. Packaging: Both Combat and Battle Series packages have clamshell blisters like some G2 toys, so that you can see the other side of the toy through the back of the card. The packaging is individually designed, no generic fronts or backs. Combat Series cards are 7" (18cm) tall and 5.25" (13cm) wide, while Battle Series cards are 7" (18cm) tall and 8.5" (22cm) wide. On the Combat Series, the robot mode of the character is seen in from chest up on the left side of the front, and a photo of the toy's "robot mode" on the right side over a tire image. The Transformers RPMs logo is across the top, with the faction logo shaped into the upper left. The upper right has a blue swoosh with "Combat Series" in it, and the number of the toy ("02 of 04" for Megatron) above the swoosh. The character name is along the bottom, along with their faction, and a yellow arrow leads down from the photo of the "robot mode" with the words "See back >> for >> ROBOT" in it. The actual toy is in a blister in the center, aligned straigh up and down. The cardback has a photo of the toy in the upper left, with the bio note below it, and the legalese below that on the tire image. The upper right has the faction symbol, character name, and the new "Vehicle Data" techspecs: Max speed (SPD), Horsepower (HP), Ramming Power (RAM) and Armor (ARM), all abbreviations mine. There's a line of dots under each rating name, filled in yellow up to the relevant number and otherwise gray, with the rating number to the right of the line. Below the Vehicle Data is the "Also Available" section, which incorrectly lists Ironhide and Long Haul as 03 and 04 (Bumblebee and Optimus Prime are the other two in the wave), with "MORE VEHICLES ON THE WAY" printed over their names, suggesting the initial release was supposed to be just two. Note, the Bumblebee and Prime in the Combat Series are identical to the ones in the Battle Series, so it may have been a last minute decision to pad the line out with those two and push Ironhide and Long Haul back to series 2. The Battle Series cards have blisters so that the two vehicles are angled 45 degrees away from vertical so that it looks like they're about to collide at 90 degrees from each other. There's a "VS" molded into the blister between them, and this is the same for all of them, even the Twins. Although I suppose they spend more time in the movie fighting each other than fighting Decepticons, so it's appropriate. The logo covers the entire width of the card top, with "molded" faction symbols half-obscured by the logo. Upper body shots of the robot modes are behind each toy, with no photos of the toy's robot mode. A triangle between the two vehicles has "See back for <>" above the character names that are separated by another VS. The lower right has a blue swoosh with "Battle Series" and a number out of 08 ("04 of 08" for this set). Unlike the Combat Series, they carried through on only having a partial release in the first wave. On the back, each character has Vehicle Data in the upper corners under their names and above pictures of their vehicle modes, but they share a single bio note between the Vehicle Data entries. There's a small "Also Available" in the lower right. Note that because the right name has to be above or below the right character, the package says Mudflap vs. Autobot Skids on the front, but Autobot Skids vs. Mudflap on the back (and so forth with the other sets). The Also Available section "canonically" sets it according to the front of the package, though. COMBAT SERIES 02: MEGATRON MEGATRON rules over the DECEPTICON army with absolute authority. Soon, he hopes to wield that same authority over the entire universe, and he will allow no one to stand in his way. SPD 10 HP 10 RAM 10 ARM 10 Avg 10 Vehicle Mode: Well, Megatron's tank mode is supposed to be wide, the sort of thing that drives on the sidewalks...both sidewalks at the same time. So in addition to simply being smaller than 1:64 scale would allow, it's also smooshed from side to side so as to fit on a track. Like all treaded Hot Wheels, it really runs on wheels inside the treads. (Some treaded Matchbox cars have working treads, since the Matchbox line isn't meant to always work on track sets.) 2.75" (7cm) long and at most a little more than an inch (2.9cm) wide, it's symmetric in ways that the Legends version isn't. Mostly silver, warm gunmetal and black, with a couple little bits of red. I think the main body is fully painted plastic, likely the same warm gunmetal as the underside. The treads are painted gloss black, and the eyes of the molded Megatron face between the front treads are painted red. (Aside, the Legends version also has a face there, but it's all black and strongly de-emphasized, probably because it ends up on the crotch in robot mode.) The turret is made of rubbery warm gunmetal plastic with some silver paint, and it turns. There's a little spot of red paint where the barrel joins the turret, a sighting laser or something. The wheels are a silvery gray plastic, a little lighter than the turret plastic. The rear wheels are a little larger than the front, but they're set in so that the treads are level with the track rather than being nose-down. It rolls nicely on the hidden wheels, although the fact the treads are about 3mm off the surface makes it look like it's hovering. Robot Mode: Since the hidden wheels have to be set in from the edges, there's even less room for the relief sculpture of Megatron on the bottom. It looks like Megatron is crammed into a too-small bathtub or something like that. The plastic of the underside is a slightly metallic brownish gray or french gray, and I think the purple Decepticon symbol is on a disc of purple plastic (making it separate would make it easier to let them do something like redeco Jazz as Dead End or something like that, swapping out discs). Most of the figure is painted silver, with black shin treads and face, plus red eyes and mouth. The back end of the tank has enough bits sticking out that it stands very stably in this mode. Overall: Eh. The molded robot mode thing doesn't thrill me, and the paint job simply doesn't measure up to the standard of the price point. I no longer own Hot Wheels track loops so I can't say how well it'll work in those (the 3mm clearance seems intended to help with that, though), but these are massively overpriced for what you get. BATTLE SERIES 04: MUDFLAP vs AUTOBOT SKIDS These AUTOBOT brothers dreamefd for years of being part of the AUTOBOT team on the front lines of the war. With their arrival on Earth, their dream came true. OPTIMUS PRIME himself recruited them into the ranks, and now they serve happily under the command of IRONHIDE. Mudflap: SPD 7 HP 5 RAM 4 ARM 5 Avg 5.25 Autobot Skids: SPD 7 HP 5 RAM 4 ARM 5 Avg 5.25 I'd have preferred a little differentiation here, like maybe giving one a SPD 6 and HP of 6 or something. Mudflap Vehicle Mode: Definitely the darkest version of Mudflap so far, it's more of a metalflake russet-red than any shade of orange. 2.25" (6cm) long, it's closer to 1:48 scale than the 1:64 scale of standard Hot Wheels based on my earlier size analysis of Deluxe Mudflap. To be at proper Hot Wheels scale, it'd need to be about 4.5cm long. The body shell is made of metalflake brown-red plastic, and the windows are slightly cloudy clear medium blue plastic. With a strong enough light you can see inside the windows to tell that the interior is not molded with seats. There's medium-dark gray paint on the front end, edges and rear fender/bumper, plus on the spoiler at the top rear. The headlights and taillights are mostly silver, with orange turn signal bits on the front and red lights on the rear. Silver's also used on the Chevy logo and some bits on the front and rear bumpers. The front grille is painted gloss black. It has fairly standard Hot Wheels style wheels with silver chrome "whitewalls" and rolls nicely. The front end clearance is a little low, so it might skid on its front bumper when going through loops. Mudflap Robot Mode: The underside plastic is the same brownish shade as on Megatron, with a red Autobot symbol disk at the top. There's more room to mold the robot relief, but the fact that most of it is just painted medium gray with almost random metallic dark red and silver bits doesn't help. They don't do anything special to the rear end or extend the spoiler to support, so it's pretty wobbly in this mode. Skids Vehicle Mode: The metalflake is a lot subtler on this one, making it look more like a toy and less like a small version of a car. The same length as Mudflap, but it looks a little bigger due to a less squat design and longer spoiler. The body shell is a slightly metalflaked lime green plastic, and the windows are essentially the same shade of clear blue as Mudflap's. The hood, window struts, side mirrors and spoiler are painted gloss black, while a more matte black is used on the grille (including frowny-face airdam scoops on front and back) and the skidmark patterns on the sides. The headlights and taillights are a bluish silver, with the taillights not having any red to them. The turn signals are red, though. The front and back Chevy symbols are silver. There's a rectangle where the license plate would go that's clearly painted green, probably where the underside piece hooks on (the hook-on part on Mudflap is on the silver part of the rear bumper and is less obvious). The bottom sides and rear fenders are painted dark silver. Silver chromed "whitewall" wheels on this one as well, but they're not the same design as Mudflap's. Skids Robot Mode: Well, the longer spoiler on this one makes it stand pretty stably, at least. The molded robot is kinda awkward looking, but the paint job is a little better...calling this the best of the three is almost the definition of damning with faint praise, though. It's painted mostly lime green with some silver and dark silver accents, plus light blue eyes. Overall: Well, they look pretty nice, but not really any better than $1 Hot Wheels toys, and the bonus content on the underside is underwhelming. I wouldn't be surprised if neither of these cars gets a Hot Wheels or Matchbox release until after RPMs are all off the shelves, but after that point we might see some "wrong color" versions of both. Might be worth waiting for those if you really like having Transformers characters in this scale. Dave Van Domelen, notes that at least the Audi has a molded interior.... ADDENDUM Zobovor pointed out that there's actually three Series of single-packs, which do not match up with the shipping waves. Wave 1 had two of the Combat Series and two of the Command Series. Here's the listing he posted to alt.toys.transformers: Combat Series 01 Ratchet 02 Megatron 03 Ironhide 04 Long Haul Command Series 01 Optimus Prime 02 Bumblebee 03 Barricade 04 Mixmaster Speed Series 01 Sideways 02 Bumblebee 03 Volt 04 Sideswipe