TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:
Alternate Mode:
Box Art:
Technical Specifications:
STR
INT
SPD
END
RNK
CRG
FPR
SKL

Tahukanuva's review of: Universe Ramjet

Name: Ramjet
Function: Warrior
Sub-Group: All American Transformers
"If it flies, CRASH IT!"

Mid-air collisions are his specialty. It makes little difference if the target is an opponent or not, he'll crash into it just for the fun of bringing terror to the skies. These crashes can take their toll on him, particularly doing damage to his internal mechanisims. "The skies are my castle and I like to live alone.", he says. His nose module can withstand the impact of three-foot thick concrete at 1500mph, and he flies as fast as mach 2.8 while carrying cluster bombs.

I wanted an Armada Starscream ever since I saw the first pictures on the internet, but never got one. Ditto with Thundercracker and Skywarp. Then, when I saw this figure on the clearance shelves at my local Toys R Us, I had to have him. Here's the review...

Alternate Mode:
Ramjet is a jet, though I can't tell if he's based on a real one at all. He is mostly white and blue, with silver trim and some red on the guns, tailfins, and dorsal fin. Red, white, and blue, he's the only American patriot of the Decepticons. There's also a bright bumblebee-yellow cockpit.

He has some neat features and some useless ones, too. First, he has actual rolling landing gear (though it's more like wheels mounted on bottom than actual landing gear), which is a nice touch. He also has sounds: if you pull back on his only 'live' powerlink point, he makes a takeoff sound; if you hold it, it makes in-flight sounds; if you press the cockpit, he makes a laser-gun sound; if you snap Thunderclash on, Ramjet makes a rocket firing sound; if you snap Thunderclash on the 'live' point, the thrusters flip forward as missile launchers, even though they're useless and ugly in jet mode, and dangerous for Ramjet as well. Without trusters, he might use his VTOL fans on his tailfins to guide himself to a controlled crash, which is almost as helpful as Obsidian's propeller missiles. He
does do a fairly good job of hiding his robot mode though, save for the head.

Robot Mode:
Transforming him is about as hard as turning on a TV. First you flip the entire lower tail assembley down. Then, pull down the sides, turning them 90 degrees forward as you do. Next, push the entire thing forward until it snaps and the head pops up. Ramjet should now look like he fell on his rear. Turn the hips straight down, and pull out the stabilizers, and you should now have a fighter jet with legs. Pull the cockpit down, unfold the arms, twist the wings, and you're done. Hard Huh?

The colors now have some flat gray added in the upper legs and stabilizers. Features are the same as vehicle mode, except he loses Thunderclash under the cockpit, and gains using his left wing as a sword. The thruster missles and sword look awesome in this mode, but the sword, due to its shape, has to be tilted in the hand a little for it to look natural.

Articulation is about average with: shoulder, elbow, wrist, knee, and hip joints, though the arms are almost impossible to make look natural. For display, the most one can do for the legs is to tilt him forward at the hips or twist the knees. He does look like his G1 namesake: only difference in color is that the red is lighter.

Mini-Cons:
Thunderclash is almost a mini Ramjet. He's like all Minicons in this pack: a jet. The vehicle mode is awesome, with twin machine guns and missiles. The robot Mode is really similar to Ramjet's, with the wings behind the arms, a weird thing sticking out of the back, and even the transformation, which is basically Ramjet's, but simpler (it could be simpler?). You fold the legs out from underneath, then fold the arms down from the wings, then fold the cockpit down, and voilá. He has good articulation for a Minicon, with hip, knee, and shoulder joints.

Terradive is strangely shaped jet. He looks vicious, and he's got Skywarp colors to boot! His robot mode is pretty cool, with cannons on his arms. Articulation isn't bad, either: ball-jointed shoulders and hips, and hinged knees. The weapon mode is a Skywarp colored Wolverine claw, which looks awesome on Ramjet's arm.

Gunbarrrel is a weird, multi-engined aircraft with a funky tail. He's pretty fun to play with, and hides robot mode fairly well. The robot mode is alright, but not great. He has ball-jointed hips, hinged knees, and hinged shoulders that allow his arms to swing the side. You can transform it so that they swing forward, but you have to
give him a huge backpack to do so. His weapon mode is a either a gatling gun or a missile launcher, but either way it looks great (if slightly awkward).

Thunderwing is a good replica of a B2 stealth bomber in vehicle mode. He is black with gold highlights. He looks pretty good and is quite fun to play with in this mode. The robot mode is quite intimidating, with the jagged wings and ninja like figure, and sharp angles on all of the armor as well. I just cannot help but think of Batman because of the wings and dark colors. His articulation is good for a Minicon, with shoulder, elbow, hip, and knee hinges. His weapon mode is a buzzsaw that looks really great on Ramjet's wrist powerlink points. His Minicon port rotates, allowing him to spin and making him much more fun.

Transformation: 6 for Ramjet, 5 for Minicons.. Really too simple, but quite different from any other jet mold I've seen. With the Minicons, some are tricky, but some are quite intuitive, making the set about average.
Durability: 9.5. I don't see anything breaking, but those wing connectors get loose quickly. As for the little figures, there's nothing to break, but those ball joints come off a lot.
Fun: 9. I really like jets, but 8 should be right for most people.
Price: 10. When I got it, I had good luck finding it on clearance. Now, being an old TRU exclusive, I don't know what they would be going for on E-Bay.
Overall: 9.2. Increase your Decepticon airforce by five in one go!