TF Views

I was either going to review Runabout or Henkei stepper this week. I opted for Runabout, partly because it is a better mould and partly because reviewing it first lets me use Stepper as a breather before getting Runamuck.
Over-run (aka Runabout): (robot/sportscar)

Runabout is the club store exclusive, while Runamuck is the membership exclusive. The difference is that Runamuch is "free" to anybody who joins the fan-club, while OverRunAbout has to be purchased (for extortionary money) through th club store. And, if you are thinking that it is pretty sleazy for the club to "give away" half of what is basically a set, you are not far wrong.

As with pretty much every other Club toy, Over-Run is packaged in a "board game" style box, (albeit one that looks more like a cube). One "side" of the box features character art, the other is a black panel. The inside of the box consists of a foam insert that hold the toy (packaged in car mode) in place. A section of the foam can be flipped over to reveal a space for Runamuck. This is a nice touch, even if Runamuck's name does not appear on the packaging. The character art shows both Battle Chargers and is a pretty clear homage to the cover of issue 23 of Marvel's "Transformers".

There are no real suprises with the figure itself. Aside from the new moulded head, it is a straight recolour of wheeljack. The white becomes a very dark, smoked, grey. The clear moulded windows are tinted red, and there is red striping along the top/front of the car. The Wheeljack's silver weapons are now painted red. The faction sigil is a (borderless) rub sign.

Stupid thought:
It just seems too likely that Fun Publications is going to drop the Battle Chargers in to "Shattered Glass" and simply reverse the names. (Both figures have rub signs, meaning that the colours of the toys' faction sigils will not be an issue.) There is precedent for this kind of stupidity. But, given how good this figure is, I am trying not to let this bother me.

Context:
A recent issue of the Fan Club newsletter has a short comic story featuring the Battle Chargers recounting what they saw in (yet another variant of) the Battle of Autobot City. DvD gave me a quick summary. The part of the battle shown is drawn from the cut scene from the script where Magnus and several Autobots engage a disincorporated Devastator, resulting in Red Alert's death. Prime may be implied to have survived his battle with Megatron. I have heard conflicting about this. And, as one might expect, the characters are in their modern TFU style bodies.

Grade: A


Dom
-does not enjoy customizing this mould, as good as it is otherwise.

Runamuck: robot/sportscar

Runamuck is a straight recolour of Runabout/OverRun. (The more I think about it, the more I find myself preferring "OverRun" to "Runabout", if only because it helps differentiate the two Battle Chargers by name.) Similar to Overrun, Runamuck uses Wheeljack's body moulding with a new head. (I am not sure if this head is by Fun Publications are if it is one of the alternate heads that Hasbro has been building in to trays as a matter of policy in recent years.)

The colour mapping on Runamuck is not quite as slavish as the colour mapping on OverRun, but it is close enough that it is obviously intended to be the same character as the original.

Runamuck ships in a plain mailer box. However, OverRun's display box has an optional compartment for Runamuck. Three sections of the foam in the box can be removed and re-arranged to create a space for the second car. (Runamuck can be seen in the background of OverRun's box art, so the second toy being in the box is not completely out of order, even if only one character's name appears on the box.) Putting Runamuck in the box results in having an extra piece of roughly car shaped foam. (I am almost tempted to customize it in to something.)

The logo on both sets of instructions uses a G2 Autobot sigil. Along with the one appearance of the "Time Lines" Battle Chargers in context, this likely places them in the WoH time line (a bastardized iteration of the cartoon). But, the box art depicts the Battle Chargers near the Statue of Liberty, a reference to "Decepticon Grafitti" (from issue 27 of the original US comics). This might be a question of Fun Publications trying to put the characters in two places, (similar to the Astrotrain set) or it might a question of them being sloppy with their content.

Cost and scarcity aside, this mould does have custom potential. Creative swapping between this mould and Tracks, as well as some painting, could yield a servicable LockDown and/or Axer figure.


Grade: A
(This assumes that you can find one for a price that you are wiling to pay.)


Dom
-does not much feel like editing every "Battlechargers" in to "Battle Chargers".