Transformers Review – 2007 Movie Fast Action Battlers Frenzy

Intro:

            Back in 2007, right before the 1^st Transformers movie was released, a lot of rumor that went around about which character was in or out of the movie lineup. One of the names that were heavily anticipated was Soundwave, whom in the original G1 incarnation transformed into a recording cassette deck. Soundwave however, as we know by now, would only make his debut in the Revenge of the Fallen 2 years later.

            As for the 2007 movie, as homage to the original Soundwave, a character that transformed into a radio boom box was introduced, and he was called Frenzy – a human-sized robot. I was actually glad that they didn’t call him Soundwave instead, cuz it would’ve been a huge insult to the name Soundwave, to have him transform into something so small.

            In the movie, Frenzy was shown to be Barricade’s partner in crime, and in my opinion played quite a significant role in the events of the movie. Unfortunately, HasTak never actually released a transformable Frenzy figure, until the Fast Action Battlers came by – something of which I had looked forward to it. In the movie, Frenzy was the in-your-face kinda bot, and he really caused a lot of trouble on the Air Force One.

Alternate mode:

 

            Thank goodness this time around, Frenzy actually transforms into something definable. In the numerous releases of him alongside Barricade, he was only a bit-part figure that couldn’t transform. 

 

 

            Despite Frenzy was released in the Fast Action Battlers sub-line, I tend to prefer calling him the Deluxe-class Frenzy that we never had. The radio-mode looks darn awesome, and apart from the transformation fault-lines that reeked all over the figure itself, it looks like a radio. There is clearly a CD player compartment on top and also an antenna on top. Basically, he really looks like the radio that he is supposed to be.

 

 

            Also, the CD also doubles up as a pellet or shuriken that shoots out of the CD compartment once the push-button on its back is pushed – quite a neat feature. 

 

            Apart from that, the radio could do nothing else but adorned your desk.

Robot Mode:

            In robot mode, Frenzy is somewhere between a Deluxe and a Voyager-class figure. Although he doesn’t exactly look like his depiction in the movie, he is definitely recognizable as Frenzy. All you need is just a little bit of imagination to get you by. 

 

 

            Despite being a Fast Action Battler figure, I tend to treat him as the definitive Movie Frenzy figure that we will ever have, and he is cool. 

 

            Articulation-wise, he ain’t that bad at all. The head turns. The shoulders are on a rotating joint and a swivel. The elbows bend and the “lower” arms swivel as well. The hips are on huge ball joints and the legs rotate slightly above the awkwardly-designed knees. 

 

            To be honest, there isn’t much pose-ability on this figure, but nonetheless, I like him, and he also has one gimmick – by pressing the button at the back of the robot, the CD/ shuriken will be ejected from his chest and kill whoever his opponents are.

Overall:

            I love this figure, and I really do think it is cool. This sure beats the heck out of all other small Movie Frenzy figures that came along with Barricade. Frenzy is his own bot right now.

            Final verdict, 8/10.