Ramjet
(2016 Collectors' Club Exclusive)
(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Generations Armada Starscream. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Generations Armada Starscream here.)
Ramjet is fitting for
the final (sniff) "freebie" Transformers' Club exclusive, as he was a major
part of the first arc of the Collectors' Club comics back when the Club
first started-- though those comics, of course, based his appearance on
this toy's original Universe 1.0 version.
As was the case with the original toy, this toy has little in common with
"traditional" Ramjet beyond being a jet remold of Starscream. This version
of Ramjet has a much more primary color scheme, with white and a moderately
dark blue color being the main shades. They contrast quite well together,
though given Ramjet's whole "Agent of Chaos" persona, it doesn't really
fit him all that well. To complete his primary colors, he's got a bit of
red-- mostly on his tailwings, head, interior of the missile launchers,
and a few other minor connector pieces. Light gray is used mostly on his
upper robot arms and legs-- it's not dark enough to really contrast against
the white, so it ends up just looking rather bland (though at least it's
not that blah milky shade of the color). To complement the gray, there's
some silver on the edges of the wings and on the front of the chest. Just
like the gray, though, it's too light against the white-- the Decepticon
symbols on the wings are a little hard to see because of this. There's
two different shades of transparent plastic on Ramjet-- a pale yellow on
the cockpit, which fits the yellow paint on the original; and clear tinted
plastic on the outside of the missile launchers and Ramjet's swords, which
is mostly just made up for this newer version of the character. Like the
gray plastic, it's rather bland. I think FunPub realized that Ramjet's
color scheme as-is was a bit dull, though, so they really gave this version
quite a bit more dark blue paint compared to the Universe 1.0 release--
on the sides of the missile launchers and the legs this looks particularly
well-done and helps add visual interest where there wasn't much on said
original release.
Ramjet has a new headsculpt,
which looks absolutely amazing. They captured the essence of the Armada
Skywarp/Ramjet head very well, while making the fin on the top of the head
a bit more reasonably proportioned to the rest of the head. I love love
LOVE how his face has been sculpted to have a bit of a mouth, with it painted
a lovely yellow to contrast against his red head and black face. The silver
on the wing also looks nice against the red plastic here. Unlike with this
mold's original use as Armada Starscream, the head can look all the way
back, which allows the toy to transform to jet mode with the fin still
facing up. A minor downside to this is that, to accomplish this feat, Ramjet's
head is just a TAD high on the neck, but it's a very minor issue and honestly
barely noticeable-- given what's accomplished with it, I feel it was totally
worth it.
An update of Armada/Universe
1.0 Ramjet makes more sense for fans of the Club fiction than because of
the toy's color scheme itself, which is rather odd for a Decepticon and
a bit bland (though FunPub's additional dark blue paint apps help to mitigate
this). The new facesculpt is the best part of this exclusive, and you can
get it for relatively cheap since it was 2016's "freebie" exclusive with
membership. However, I'd be lying if I didn't say I wish FunPub had taken
more hints from Ramjet's comic appearance and given him some purple "Energon
Radiation" paint apps or some other "melted"-style paint apps/molding--
that was a missed opportunity, there.
Review by Beastbot