Frenzy's alternate mode
is a radio, and it's very well-done, especially for a simplified Fast Action
Battler toy. There's no robot extras in this mode whatsoever, and the proportions
are absolutely spot-on. Even though the color scheme isn't much-- the only
major color is light gray, which is pretty dull-- at least it's very realistic
and accurate, which is, after all, what the movie line is generally all
about. There's plenty of paint & mold details all over the toy, including
individually painted buttons on the front, very realistic-painted speakers,
and a "Frenzy 97.7 digital display" on the front as well. If you press
in on the tab sticking out the backside of this mode, it fires out a CD
disc/ninja star, which is really cool (and really well-detailed to boot).
Oh, and his antennae is adjustable. The backside of the radio has a few
holes in it and doesn't look as realistic as the front, but this is small
bananas and there's no robot extras visible regardless, so he gets off
very few points for that.
Frenzy's robot mode
isn't as good as his radio mode and has rather awkward proportions, but
I'm considerably more forgiving when it comes to his flaws in this mode
than when it comes to pretty much any other Transformer. Why? Because creating
a completely movie-accurate Frenzy in both modes is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE,
especially if you're going to go with the limitations imposed by the Fast
Action Battler subline and make the transformation somewhat simple. And
let me tell you, I didn't think the designers would get NEARLY this close
to making Frenzy look so movie-accurate in robot mode. Yes, his chest is
too large, his limbs rather flat, and he has a lot of back and head kibble,
but honestly, he's clearly recognizable as Frenzy, which is a lot more
than I thought possible. So the designers get major points for making a
seemingly impossible design actually fairly possible, and while incorporating
the disc-firing gimmick into his chest as well (which can be activated
in this mode by pushing in on a part of his back kibble). The mold detailing
is fantastic, though the paint less so-- only a few paint apps on his chest
and face are particularly visible in this mode. Of course, Frenzy isn't
exactly colorful in the movie, so I can't blame the designers there. Frenzy's
articulation is fair, but not great-- he can move at the shoulders (at
two points), at the two elbows on each arm, back-and-forth at the hips,
and side-to-side at the knees, so his lower body articulation is pretty
limited. He is more stable than you'd think, though, given his backpack
(which doesn't get in the way of articulation, by the way) and his chicken-walker-style
legs, so maybe there's a reason he can't move much at the legs.
Disc Blast Frenzy has
an impressive radio mode, and while his robot mode does suffer from some
pretty noticeable kibble and proportions problems, it's honestly a lot
better of a robot mode than I thought possible, given his movie design.
Taking this into account, as well as the fact that he's the only transformable
Frenzy toy released, I'd mildly recommend him to fans of the character,
and he's also the only FAB that Transfans who aren't collecting toys from
this "kiddy" line might want to consider picking up anyways, due to an
absence of a more complex version of him in the main line.
Review by Beastbot