TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Additional Image:

Additional Image:

Box Art:

electro girl's review: Frenzy and Rumble Earphones

Names: Frenzy and Rumble.
Faction: Decepticons.
Function: Making you look a tiny bit silly.

''Sow panic and surrender will bloom''.
''Destroy what's below and what's above will follow''.

I've always thought the idea of the Music Label line was a good fun one. After all, I think we've all wondered what the former cassettes and boom boxes would do with today's music technology. Behold for the Music Label line has answered those questions, Soundwave and Soundblaster are mp3 players, and Frenzy and Rumble are headphones (I suppose it would be to much for Takara to make a fully functioning transforming SD card to go in Soundwave's chest).

ALTERNATE MODES

As mentioned above F and R turn into Head phones that slot onto your ears.

These headphones are round, white, and BIG so you feel a bit strange when you first wear them, and a few people do notice, but I've found that it's mostly kids who notice and adults will pass you by with no more than a quick look, not even a double take.

Pretty much the only colour here is white, unless you count the black of the ear clip or the sponge ear pad bit. It's a very clean and sleek ipod style white, the kind that gives any piece of tech a pure and advanced feel. However, if you look close enough then you can see some paint from the 'bot mode legs and arms peeking through, fortunately no-one will see it unless they are very close to your ear, and I should hope none of you really associate with anyone who enjoys your personal space that much.

In this mode the only clue that these could be Transformers, apart from the separations between the different robot parts, is the tiny silver Decepticon logo on on each headphone, which looks very nice.

So tell me this you advocates of personal music devices: What do you do with all that loose excess wire flapping about between your ears and your pocket/belt? Do you just let it hang there like a cave person would? Or do you stuff it in your pocket like a better dressed cave person? This was one of the everyday dilemmas that I would face before I bought these. There is a handy part that retracts the wire to an appropriate length for you. The mechanism is housed within a white plastic compartment with a button on it, and on that button is another silver Decepticon logo which also looks lovely.

The draw backs of this mode is that if you leave them on all day they can irritate your ears much like a new pair of glasses would, but don't worry it wont last forever. The only other I can think of is that they are a bit weighty, fortunately my ears are mighty and fierce grr!

ROBOT MODES:

Both robot modes are exactly alike apart from the colours of each bot. Frenzy is a shiny metallic blue that has been painted over the white of the alt mode and covers the lower legs, forearms and head. There are other parts of light blue plastic which make the upper arms and upper legs, there are also dashes of silver for the feet and dashes of white for parts of the lower legs.

Rumble is pretty much all black and red. Black is painted on the Head, forearms and lower legs and has red plastic for the upper arms and upper legs. Again, there are dashes of silver for the feet as well as parts of the lower legs.

The bots are able to stand with the aid of some stands that flip out from the back of the legs, these help greatly when posing. The legs are decently poseable, with articulation at the hips, knees and the middle of the upper leg. The arms are a different story as the shoulder movement is limited to side to side but the forearms are on ball joints, so it's not all bad. The heads sit back between two great white shoulder pads but still look good.

I'd say the few drawback with these modes is the poseability mentioned before, that and they look daft on your ears but I don't wear them as robots. Another would be that it's not always easy to transform the heads back into the alt modes (depending on your fingernails) but you can flip them back by using a thin object like a pen.

These have provoked a fair few different reactions from my friends and family. My dad says I look a twat but others think they look great, if indeed a little big. Comments range from ''Wow those're transformers?!'' to ''This is probably the geekiest thing you've ever done'' But what I've found to provoke the most response is the price.

MARKS OUT OF TEN FOR THE FOLLOWING:

Transformation: 5- Easy and fun.
Durability: 7- Solid in alt mode but if you aren't careful the legs can come off in transformation.
Fun: 10- I just love them, truly fun fun fun.
Price: 6- My friends think it's ridiculous that I spent £26.90 on them, it is a bit much, but I feel they're worth every penny.
Overall: 10- Great if you can find them, fun and functional with surprising sound quality.