Home Special Features Evolution Revolution: A Beast Era Retrospective
Rampage
(Predacon Warlord!)
Height: 17.8cm (robot head height).
Articulation: 15 total points - Ball joint neck; 4 points each arm: Universal joint shoulders, pre-elbow swivel, hinge elbows; 3 points each leg: Ball joint hips, hinge knees, hinge ankles; Plus several joints each crab arm and other beast mode articulation.
Colors: Molded red, purple, grey, brown; Painted bronze, yellow, red, purple, green; Vac-metal bronze, red, pink.
Accessories: Gatling missile launcher plus three missiles, small rifle.
Author: ExVee
He is Protoform X - a misguided experiment in giving Transformers indestructible sparks. But the experiment was flawed. Brilliant, but hopelessly, irredeemably evil, Protoform X escaped his creators and tore a path of merciless slaughter across Maximal space before finally being captured by an Imperial Peace Marshall. Loaded aboard the Axalon to be dumped on a distant, lifeless planet, Protoform X was still among the ship's regular compliment of stasis pods when they were ejected into orbit over prehistoric Earth.
Made Transmetal and reactivated following the quantum surge, X attempted to resume his murderous activities with any Transformer unfortunate enough to cross his path, but was quickly incapacitated by being thrown into a deep chasm. Found afterward by Megatron, his spark was cut in two, and the core placed in an energon-lined cage as a means of controlling his new immortal supersoldier. Now called Rampage, he seeks his freedom from Megatron and the restoration of his spark. Should Rampage ever succeed, Megatron would surely be only the first in a long line of victims...
"Ignore the pain; it's only going to get worse."
Beast Mode
As the biggest of bug-ish Transformers, obviously Rampage is going to suffer some problems. Things like not being able to stand up. You could look at it as a somewhat realistic design element since a bug's body plan doesn't work past a certain size - unless there's water to support some of the body mass. Since that doesn't apply here, we're left with Rampage collapsing left and right. Besides the toy's size, the culprit here is the ball jointed crab legs. Were the joints tighter it's very possible that the toy could stand up much more easily. You're really limited in your options to get the toy to stand. It's possible to use the large cannon as a kickstand to take some strain off the legs, but otherwise it's careful arrangement of the leg segments to restrict how far they can move as they fail to hold the body up. Get it just right and the toy will actually manage to stand, at least briefly.
Rampage shows a great deal of chrome, as the toy's entire shell is vacuum-metalized. A large X pattern is molded into the shell and painted a different color to make it stand out - most Transmetals just have their names tampoed on, Rampage is about as branded with his "real" name as possible.
Taking up roughly an equal amount of mass is Rampage's huge claws. The claws themselves are hinged and can open quite wide. The hinge has moderate strength, though the toy's other weaknesses will probably prevent Rampage from crushing the life out of any other smaller toys. The arms have multiple ratcheting joints - hinges and swivels, so the claws can hold in place more reliably than the legs manage. The thing to watch out for is the toy's balance. Even if you make the toy stand up, if the claws are too far forward there's a good chance of the toy leaning itself forward until the legs slip out from under it - and all but guaranteed if you do try to have Rampage put the squeeze on another toy. It's such a shame, those claws are so obviously made for crushing...
Transformation (Tank Mode)
The confluence of joints in the crab arms is decidedly working against you in this process, and even now I couldn't describe the correct sequence for folding them up if I had to. Know only that there are pegs that connect the claws to the main body which go together easily when you have it done right. Once that's settled, you can also maneuver the crab legs in the open space between the treads to compact the tank mode a bit more.
Tank Mode
While things like roller skating VTOL dinosaurs and Surf MUNKYs are cool in that offbeat, goofball sort of way, Rampage's tank mode manages to be cool for its own merits. Besides being the toy's most compact form, in my mind it justifies some of the issues present in the other two modes.
Rampage, once transformed correctly, holds together very well in this mode, as befits a tank. Being the first time you're meant to use the BFG, it makes a respectably impressive debut pointing out from under the heavily armored crabtank. So impressive is the overall look and feel of this mode, I think the only beast form that could have adapted better to a tankish variation would be a large turtle. Plus, in their intended position, Rampage's claws sit slightly ahead of the main body. If the cannon is flipped out of the way, Rampage is obviously made to break through fortifications if not by firepower then through sheer brute force. True, there's no articulation of any meaningful measure, but who needs it? Joints are just failure points anyway!
Transformation (Robot Mode)
Perhaps appropriate in Rampage's case that he is a shellformer. The entire robot body is folded up under the beast mode body, and only the most minimal presence of beast mode parts incorporated into the robot mode ties the two forms together. Compared to tank mode, getting the claws situated for robot mode is trivial, and only comes down to whatever doesn't make Rampage topple backwards.
Robot Mode
There is a duality here. On the one hand, because all of Rampage's robot bits are only robot parts, the robot mode has a pretty good assortment of joints and range of articulation. However, for the same reason, the toy has to wear the massive bulk of the giant crab mode, which impacts the balance, and thus the ultimate posability. It's possible to creatively utilize the claws to change the center of balance, but only if you're okay with having claws sticking out at potentially bizarre angles.
Rampage's robot mode is also pretty spread out. The large shoulderpads each have a single crab leg attached to them and stick out inches on either side. The forearms both have a pair of legs, and despite your best attempts to arrange them out of the way, you'll always find them interfering somewhere. It's no wonder Mainframe dropped them on the shoulder armor too. But then they didn't have to have a transformable crab. Naturally the biggest issue is the claws which probably have about the same mass together as the robot body itself. Your mileage will vary, but in general it's best to arrange them flat against the back to keep the balance point as central as possible. Fact is, Rampage's feet are abnormally small for a situation where there's so much weight to support spread out as it is. Thankfully the hip and knee joints seem to remain pretty strong even years later, but it wouldn't take much wear down to make everything come crashing down.
As noted in the transformation notes, only a tiny portion of the beast mode is at all incorporated into the robot mode. Most obviously is the crab head that forms the abdomen. Which splits down the middle and hinges apart for transformation. The other is much less obvious, and is a small semi-circle on top of the pelvis, which makes the.. er, posterior of the crab mode. Like I said, really minimal integration here.
The upshot to this is that the appearance of the robot mode is well-realizied. The entire robot body has the expected organic appearance of a Transmetal robot, rather than the blend most of the toys have to deal with. You could almost remove the robot parts from the toy and take them by themselves and you'd have a really good
Accessories
-Triple-barrel missile launcher
In function it's like a gatling launcher. A large, geared wheel drives the barrels either when manipulated by hand or when pushed along a smooth surface, thanks to a glued on rubber band. The latter is the workings for Rampage's tank mode, but in either case the rotation causes the triggers to pass a notch that automatically depresses them and fires the missiles. The rear portion of the weapon is a large hinge to facilitate stowing away in beast mode, and also allows you to modify how it can be gripped in robot mode. There's also a crab jaw attached to it. Sadly unlike the animation, Rampage's missiles do not feature peace signs, nuclear warnings, or Maximal insigniae. Pity.
-Rifle
Compared to Rampage's gat this might as well be a pop gun. Though adequately rifleish when held against most ordinary figures, Rampage's bulk makes this look absolutely tiny. Add to it that it has no features like the other gun, and it's probably the most often forgotten accessory. It can however store when not in use on a clip inside Rampage's claw.
Things To Look For When Buying Loose
As noted, the small rifle can easily escape notice, and easily be forgotten if stored in the claw. While the lack of the main gun won't absolutely kill any of the modes, the tank mode will be kind of useless and hollow. And Rampage will be missing part of his mouth in beast mode.
The bigger deal with Rampage is that they are becoming pretty well known for chrome shedding. Even worse is that like with many rubber products, they are succeptible to gradual deterioration and there's not any sure way to be safe from it, even buying new in box. I would suggest not cramming the tank treads up into the claws anymore, though. Incidentally, there are two versions of Rampage - one has a silver decoed robot face more in line with the show, while the other is done in yellow and orange. This can't be determined without actually seeing the robot face.
Closing Remarks
Of extra note is that the Metals version skews farther from the show - the silver-faced Hasbro version is actually really close to how Rampage was modelled for the show. The only thing I think is appealing about Metals Rampage is the translucent, blood-red plastic the robot body is made from. But as for other colors and paint apps it's pretty ugly, if you ask me.
Anyway, I actually think Rampage is not a great toy. The tank mode is pretty sweet, but the problems of the beast mode and the transformation basically epitomizing "shellformer" and leading to a seriously backheavy robot just blows the deal. I know if you've watched the show you'll probably want to get a Rampage. Can't blame you for that, most all the show characters are desireable to get as toys because of how well most of the characters were developed and acted. Just be aware that it's far from the greatest; the rubber parts can break with age, and the chrome is known to fail pretty badly. The toy definitely has more downsides than good, and that sets Rampage squarely in Could Have Been Better in my book.
-ExVee
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