Grabuge (TFCC 2016 Subscription Service Exclusive)
Vehicle ModeRobot Mode
Allegiance: Decepticon
Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation to Robot: Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Leg: Very Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Arm: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Moderately dark purple, pale orangish tan, and some dark perwinkle, light pale bluish green, silver, royal purple, yellow, milky pale orangish tan, dark red, and black
Rating: 8.1

(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 Combiner Wars Offroad. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Combiner Wars Offroad here.)

    YOU...CAN'T...STOP...THE RUCKUS! YOU...CAN'T...STOP...THE GRABUGE! ...Yeah, okay, Grabuge's original G1 name was way better, but copyright laws are what they are. As such, FunPub took the French name for Ruckus since they couldn't get his actual name. This is Grabuge/Ruckus' first update since his original G1 toy, though for this update he's no longer a dune buggy but a truck, due to CW mold reasons. (Honestly, I think the Swindle mold would've fit him a little better, but maybe they figured Ruckus' color scheme was too close to Swindle's.) Anyways, it was apparently quite difficult to get Ruckus' color scheme close to his G1 version's due to the mold colors breakup, because Ruckus has a TON. OF. PAINT. 80+% of his entire vehicle mode is covered in paint, and although his robot mode has a more "normal" amount of paint, it's not lacking in that department either. Ruckus' vehicle mode is a nice mix of purple in the front, a pale orangish tan in the middle, and a mix of those two colors plus some nice pale bluish green stripes on the back third or so. All of the colors go together quite well-- even if they're not remotely realistic-- with the bluish green being used enough to really pop, but not so much it's overly loud. There's some nice decals of suspension springs near the front-- replicating a detail on his G1 toy-- and all of his windows are painted a nice silver (except for the rear window, due to plastic break-up reasons). There's also a bit of silver on the wheel hubs and on the front grill (along with a little extra bit of orangish tan on said grill for some extra color-popping). In robot mode the coolest bit is that the suspension springs on his lower legs are painted exactly like the decals in his vehicle mode, with silver springs and yellow and a lighter purple used for smaller bits-- it all looks pretty cool, and there's some silver on his feet as well. At least SOME of Ruckus had to be relatively paint-less because of all the vehicle mode deco, though, and this includes his arms and upper legs, which are mostly unpainted dark purple. The sides of his chest-- and even the interior of his alt mode backpack!-- are painted orangish-tan, though. It should be noted here, however, that the small amount of orangish-tan PLASTIC is noticebly more milky and less glossy than the paint, so this can clash on a few areas like the middle of the chest compared to the sides. The purple head has some nice yellow paint on the face and dark red optics. To top off all these wonderful colors and paint apps, Ruckus has dark aquamarine weapons, which complement the dark purple bits quite well.
    No mold changes have been made to Grabuge, though he doesn't really need any-- originally Offroad was supposed to be Ruckus but was changed for whatever reason, so of course the head works perfectly here. That said, this mold has been redone enough where the hip joints are getting a bit loose. It's nothing a bit of nail/floor polish can't fix, though.
    TFSS Grabuge/Ruckus is an excellent redeco, with such a HUGE amount of paint used it's really quite impressive, even for a premium-priced Collectors' Club toy. The number of paint apps and different colors look quite good and really makes it clear Ruckus is an homage to a late '80s toy due to his completely unrealistic color scheme. Highly recommended, as it's my favorite color scheme this mold has gotten and is a great update to the character (slightly-changed alt mode aside) even if you don't want to use the combining aspect. He's the only TFSS 4.0 toy that doesn't come with at least a little something extra, but given all the paint on him I'm not complaining.



Grabuge Bio:
MOTTO: "Second place is just the last bot to get crunched by me!"
Once king of the underground Cybertronian Demolition Derby, the robot known by the nom de guerre "Grabuge" joined the Decepticons to create more wanton destruction than just the ruckus offered by the closed circuit platform. Outside of his younger brother Ground Hog, Grabuge is the only Decepticon who refuses to repair any dents, dings or cracks on his body. To him, all of this external damage are badges and trophies of former rivals he has sent to the scrapheap for challenging his exostructure. While no longer top of the mountain like his past, he has no problem taking orders from Bludgeon as long as it directs him into a pileup or even a head-on collision.
Sporting a different arsenal than during his stadium career, he is armed with a chaos crystal-tipped ax, which he famously uses to slash his opponent's tires, as well as a long-range missile launcher if he finds himself facing down a speedy adversary against whom he needs to close the gap. No one can get away from his own brand of mayhem!
Strength: 8.0
Intelligence: 6.0
Speed: 7.0
Endurance: 10.0
Rank: 6.0
Courage: 8.0
Fireblast: 6.0
Skill: 8.0

Review by Beastbot

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