Rampage

Constructicon Rampage lures Sam Witwicky into a trap to force him to give up the Matrix of Leadership. click to embiggen Rampage was the first Revenge of the Fallen figure I got - but that was Robot Heroes style, so the Studio Series one is much different! Rampage's distinctive feature is that he doesn't have normal feet, instead bouncing around on a single pogostick leg. There's no way that would be stable on its own, so this figure has a cross-shaped stand to keep it upright. It's far from inconspicuous - no effort is made to disguise it as a chunk of dirt or a piece of a street or anything, it's just a stand - but it does its job adequately. The head is a sinister-looking monstrosity, with huge cheekbones, a mouth that appears to just be lines of silver spikes, and angular black areas around the eyes. There are also two silver wires on the top that almost look like antennae. Rather than rising up from the body, the neck juts forward, making Rampage look permanently hunched over. His hands are big claws formed with two fingers and two thumbs apiece. His vehicle treads become whips that dangle off the backs of his hands, and in a feature that's entirely undocumented anywhere, the pistons on his back can be removed and plugged into his hands like small blasters. It's hard for him to aim them, since all the arm articulation is crowded up by the shoulders, but they're still a decent inclusion. To convert Rampage, begin by folding his fingers and thumbs, raise the arms to the sides, bend the waist all the way forward, lift two tiny flaps that will allow you to plug tabs on the fingers into the sides securely, rotate the bars from the sides of the scoop and the underside of the treads, fold one of the legs on the display stand under the body and plug the entire thing under the vehicle, then use the treads to cover it and hold it in place. Finish by pushing the tab on the shovel down, to lower the front wheel. The altmode is a bulldozer, 6" long, 3¼" tall, and 3⅜" wide. It's not any kind of licensed model, just "a" bulldozer. It's done in orange, I guess splitting the difference between the red Rampage and the yellow Rampage seen in the movie. This color has been used before, on a couple movie Devastators, but not on a separate (or separable) Rampage. The windows are a metallic blue and the front scraper is silver, as are a few gears in the treads. Weirdly, the robot has small yellow warning labels in his armpits that are not visible in this mode - what a strange choice! The bulldozer mode looks fairly hollow, with only the stored display stand keeping it from being a complete airy mess. Although two tiny wheels poke down through the treds, there isn't enough clearance for them to roll. The Studio Series Constructicons are the first ones that will be able to change into robots, vehicles, and combine into Devastator - as is tradition, Rampage will become the left leg. It's a pretty decent pillar all by itself, and will presumably make for a nice, sturdy base once we get the rest of them. Between Rampage and Scrapmetal, it's clear there won't be any kind of consistent scale between the Constructicons, but when is there ever? The toy's not spectacular, but as part of a combiner, the other figures will be there to give him support and make him better by comparison. Rampage | Scrapmetal | Long Haul | Hightower | Mixmaster | Scavenger | Scrapper | Overload -- 04/23/19

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