Rumble's vehicle mode for the Prime line is a more "normal" alterante mode than the character has normally had-- namely, it's a blue compact car with a spoiler. It's a rather average-looking car (with the exception of the spoiler). The section in front of the windows looks just a tad small proportionaly, but otherwise Rumble's pretty well-covered in that respect in this mode. There's also no robot mode extras to speak of. The mold detailing is fairly minimal in this mode-- this is partially to give the car a sleek feel, with only the wheel hubs and front grill having any particularly intricate mold detailing. That's not what bugs me about this mode, though-- what bugs me is that the body of the car is pretty much ALL light blue (the blue in person is slightly less light than that in the pictures above, though). It's not a shade you see naturally on a car, too-- there's no metallic shine to it, it's just a plain color. Paint details are sorely missing from this mode, with the front grill (and the headlights?!) being painted black and the front bumper a nice dark metallic gunmetal gray, but that's it. Granted, these dark colors contrast nicely with the light blue, but still... some flames, or stripes, or even painted rear bumpers and taillights are missing completely and really would've helped, here. The transparent cherry red windows-- though not paint-- do help to break up the blue at least some, though, and it's a particularly eye-catching shade of the color that, of course, contrasts particularly well with light blue. Rumble comes with two piledriver weapon accessories-- this mold's only real connection to his traditional G1 persona. However, in a rather big negative for the weapons, they don't actually move like they're supposed to-- each piledriver is just one solid piece of plastic, so you can't have the drums slide up-and-down. Rumble has two 5mm ports on the sides of his car mode to hold the piledrivers. Given their placement, this sort of makes the piledrivers look like big boosters in car mode, which is kind of a cool "second use" for them.
    Rumble's transformation to robot mode mostly involves unfolding his limbs from the underside of the car mode and spreading everything out, though there are a few surprises, like the car doors going behind his back and the car roof halves sitting on top of his shoulders. The end result looks VERY nice, and is definitely the highlight of the toy. Rumble's proportions are rock solid-- he looks quite like a muscular, stocky guy, with a wide chest and HUGE shoulders, but with a relatively small waist and lower arms. There are a few vehicle mode extras that don't quite fit in with Rumble's overall silouhette, though-- the sides of his car mode stick up quite blatantly from behind his shoulders and can impede movement there slightly, though from a relatively straight-on view they don't make themselves that obvious. The bigger issues are the big chunks of the car roof on the sides of his shoulders, which just sort of hang there unceremoniously (though on the plus side, THESE extras don't impede movement). The mold detailing in this mode is great, with the relatively undetailed car mode bits giving way to more intricate angular robot details, particularly the excellent, unique designs on his chest, back, and waist. (Really, the way his chest details are fitted, it almost looks like he has a second evil face on his chest.) His headsculpt is also well-done, having side antennae and a wide mouthplate, sort of like a wider, evil-er version of Optimus' headsculpt. The transparent red plastic for his eyes also works very well when it comes to light piping. Paint detailing has (thankfully) been upped significantly in this mode too, with the gunmetal gray detailing on his face and chest mixing in well with the blue and more-dominant black plastic in this mode, along with a tiny bit of red paint to mix things up a bit more. My favorite accent color is definitely the bright yellow, though-- used in small amounts as it is, it helps this otherwise relatively plain color scheme pop a bit where it's used on the shoulders, waist, and knees. Rumble's articulation is quite excellent-- he can move at the neck (at two points), shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points), hips (at two points), knees, and ball joints at the ankles to give him some stability. Really, other than waist articulation, you've got pretty much all you can reasonably ask for on a deluxe toy here, and his balance is excellent, so he can get into a ton of nice poses. Rumble's 5mm ports are on the side of the car bits on his lower back in this mode, so they're not very accessible, but Rumble can hold his piledrivers (or other 5mm-compatible weapons) in either of his hands in this mode.
    Don't let Prime Rumble's rather plain vehicle mode fool you-- his robot mode is very distinct, articulate, and just generally looks fantastic (a few minor kibble issues aside). The added paint apps in said robot mode also look great too, though his vehicle mode does show some bright spots in being kibble-free and proportional-- I just wish he had a few more paint apps in that mode, and that his piledrivers worked. One of the best and most character-ful deluxe Prime designs, particularly when it comes to the Decepticons. Highly recommended.

Review by Beastbot

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