Set Price: $40 U.S.
Overall Rating: 8.0

(NOTE: Because this set is composed of repaints, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the set and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original versions of these molds. For a review on the original Cybertronian Bumblebee release, go here. For a review on the original Cybertronian Megatron release, go here. For a review on the original Cybertronian Optimus Prime release, go here.)
 

Bumblebee (Cybertronian)

Allegiance: Autobot
Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation: Hard
Color Scheme: Moderately dull yellow, moderately light milky gray, transparent brownish-orange, and some transparent light blue, black, dark dull brown, silver, and light sky blue
Individual Rating: 8.3

    For this "Rage" version, Bumblebee's base color scheme of yellow-and-black has stayed the same, but some of the accent colors-- as well as some of the paint apps-- have changed. The biggest and most obvious change is that the light red detailing has been changed to a light sky blue, and likewise some of his transparent red plastic has been changed to a transparent light blue. Overall I don't think I like or dislike this change any more than the light red-- it contrasts with the yellow and black just as well, it's just a different feel, is all. I do LOVE the TRON-like paint detailing all down the center of Bumblebee's vehicle mode, though-- it's actually highly reminscient of the detailing for an energy "overshield" in the War for Cybertron video game. Other changes I'm less fond of-- the gray on some of Bumblebee's robot parts has been changed to a lighter gray, giving it less contrast and generally making that mode look more boring. The yellow paint detailing has also been left off part of his "side windows" in car mode, making it a bit obvious that those pieces are... well, unpainted when they're not supposed to be, as the windows now look a bit oddly-shaped (that said, it's not as off-putting as it may at first seem, since Bumblebee's vehicle mode is so alien in this form anyways). There's also been some silver "worn metal" brushstroke paint apps added to parts of the vehicle mode, though it blends in enough with the dull yellow plastic that only if you have the light source shining on it at the right direction does the silver really pop off its surrounding color. There's also a couple of "scorch marks" on his robot legs. All these apps are rather oddly selective in where they're placed though, so they don't create the effect of a "worn-down bot" as much as they otherwise would have if fully implemented. Another change is that the clear plastic tint is a slightly more orangish hue, but that's so minor it's barely worth mentioning-- it barely affects the look of the toy at all compared to the black-tinted plastic that it replaced.
    No mold changes have been made to "Rage" Bumblebee.

Megatron (Cybertronian)

Allegiance: Decepticon
Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Moderately light milky gray, black, dark purple, transparent purple, moderately dark red, and some light metallic violet, silver and royal purple
Individual Rating: 7.7

    "Rage" Megatron is easily the most visually changed of the trio included in this multi-pack, though he still has the "Megatron-y" basic colors of gray and black. However, his gray is of a bit darker, less pastel hue, though it's still of the rather boring shade. However, what really livens up Megatron this time around is the addition of (among other things) dark purple plastic into his color scheme, making it far less monochromatic. Adding it to the chest, upper legs, and as paint apps on part of the upper arms really gives him that whole "Dark Energon" feel very well. But that's not even the best part-- his entire gun is now transparent purple, which looks REALLY nice with the red and black paint apps on it, and parts of his chest and lower arms have been painted a nice metallic violet as a sort of "in-between" color between the purple and the gray. Best of all, he has some REALLY nice-looking Dark Energon "electric bolt" paint apps around the Decepticon symbol on his stomach and on his knees. These REALLY help to create the illusion that he's practically crackling with evil energy, and all the existing red paint apps help this illusion even more. The silver on the torso and face is also a really nice shade of the color, looking very much like a metallic shade of his gray plastic, and pops quite well against his other colors.
    No mold changes have been made to "Rage" Megatron.

Optimus Prime (Cybertronian)

Allegiance: Autobot
Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation: Hard
Color Scheme: Dark glittery blue, glittery dull red, moderately dark milky gray, and some black, silver, yellow, transparent glittery red, and transparent light blue
Rating: 8.0

    Out of the three redecoes in this set, "Rage" Optimus Prime is easily the least-changed. For the most part, he's the same-- the plastic colors are almost universally the same, and the paint apps are largely in the same spots. The main difference is the piece that forms most of the front part of the vehicle mode-- instead of a solid red, it's now a rather nice glittery transparent shade of that color (though it's not so transparent that you can easily see all the robot parts behind it). This is probably to simulate Energon like on the other redecos, as on that same piece of plastic are similiar intricate patterns-- meant to signify Energon-- that are on "Rage" Bumblebee. The yellow they're in contrasts very well with the red (particularly the transparent bit of it), and the yellow "fade" those apps have as they come down to the bumper is another nice touch. The other changes made are minor to the point of being barely noticeable. There's some slight silver paint wash on the blue piece on the top of his vehicle mode to simulate "worn metal", which looks nice but isn't a huge deal. Also, all of the pinkish red paint details on the original version of this mold have been changed to yellow on this release to match the "Energon veins" (with the exception of the taillights in vehicle mode, which are no longer painted, likely due to the increased number of paint apps on the front side). Again, another positive change as it contrasts better, but not a huge one.
    No mold changes have been made to "Rage" Optimus Prime.

    Recommending the "Rage of Cybertron" set is a bit of a conundrum. Although overall I think the paint jobs on these re-releases are better than their single releases, they're also slightly more expensive in this multipack, and I think by himself this version of Bumblebee is a little less impressive visually. All three also share the same basic color schemes as their initial releases. If you have either the single-release versions of Bumblebee or Optimus, this is probably a set you can skip unless you're such a huge War for Cybertron fan you need to have every toy released from that game. If you don't have any of the previous iterations of these molds-- or just the previous iteration of this Megatron, since this version looks so much better-- this set gets a mild-to-strong recommendation, depending on how much you like Cybertronian alt modes.

Reviews by Beastbot

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