TAV Runabout

Character updates are lovely and here we have another new addition to the ranks of the unstable Stunticons.  This toy was coloured and named BlackJack in the Combiner Wars line by Hasbro and since I have the Micromaster BlackJack, I really wanted that toy.  However after having a good look at him, his head is very not BlackJack.  It also turns out that this toy as originally modeled to be an update of the Battlecharger Runabout.

That makes more sense since his head looks a lot more like Runabout than BlackJack.  So after some hunting around, I finally got my grubby mitts on this guy.


In the IDW comic BlackJack was intended to provide Menasor with some stability.  Or so I was told, I still haven’t read any comics in a long time.  Reading through Runabout’s Universe Bio though, I can see that he would be another good crazy member for the Stunticons (along with Ruckus).
 
Using the Japanese App, gets you a Japanese bio and explanation page, because this guy is part of the TAV line.  In Menasor’s and Runabout’s instructions, there is no mention of Ruanbout’s chest combo duties.

Looking good in black.

I really like Runabout’s vehicle mode.  He’s a small car and has a few sharp looking bits and some rather large wheels when in comparison to his body.  He’s certainly sporty looking and has some nice futuristic moulded detail, like for example some vents in the back of the car.  I get a rather cool K.I.T.T. flavour from this guy


Looking good in red

Taking the colour cues of his G1 self, he sports red windows and some red lights and bits.  He has the large TAV scanning logo thing.  Some people dislike these and I can see why, as they aren’t very subtle.  Luckily there are also easy to remove.  I’ve left mine on, mainly because it gives him yet another  Decepticon insignia.  I kid you not, this guy has one on  almost every side.  It’s wonderful!

 

He rolls well and is pretty nice looking.  You can slap his axe weapon on the back of the car and it looks somewhat spoiler-ish with a cannon centrally mounted.  I’m fairly ambivalent to this mode, it’s not bad, but doesn’t excite me all that much.

Good looking Transformation.

Transformation is fun.  You certainly don’t need the instructions and after you make a start it all flows well and makes logical sense.

Robot essence is good.

You end up with a very nice little robot, with an extra TWO insignias!  Have him stand with his hands on his waist and you can see no less than FIVE insignias.

Nice Touches

His colours are again black and red, but the red is used in good spots to attract the eye and stop him from being just a black mass.  I rather like the red on the biceps that look like they come from the chest windows (but they don’t).  I also rather appreciate the red on the underside of the roof of the car behind his head.  Not only does it make his black noggin stand out a bit better, it’s a cool homage to the rear roof of the original toy, which kind of gave him a hood .  They didn’t have to add that paint, but damn, I’m glad they did!  His face has two lovely red eyes and a slight metallic grey over his mouth plate, this manages to show some detail a bit bitter than plain black would.

He’s got them moves like erm......                      BlackJack?

Articulation on this guy really surprised me.  It’s good.

• Swivel neck
• Ball shoulders with a hinge for transformation
• Swivel and hinged elbows
• Ball hips
• Ball knees.

Those joints, while not as numerous as other figures, manages to work well with his sculpt to provide a very pose-able figure!  His ambient sculpting is very nice too, lots of detail where one wouldn’t really expect any.  Transformers have been pretty good on this front lately.  I rather like, it’s at the point where it isn’t overly detailed, but they haven’t left many flat plastic spots.

I dig this guy a lot.  I do however have two complaints.  His shoulder connection looks a bit weak and from the side, you can see a gap in his chest.  Rather small issues I believe, as the rest of this guy is rather nice and makes up for these shortcomings.

 

Weapons go Chop Chop?

His car mode spoiler becomes a rather silly looking axe.  He can’t hold it like a gun at all, and as an axe, he ssuffers the same issue that Voyager Animated Optimus/MotorMaster/Toxitron all suffer.


It looks like  a fan


Hrm, not threatening at all.


Not a fan of the fan.


Moving on from the fan, Runabout is a really nice toy.  He looks good hanging out with the other Stunticons in both vehicle and robot mode, and connects rather nicely to Menasor.  Better than BlackJack does, so I hear.  His size, good balance and general playability has him high upon my list of fun toys.

My only complaints were mentioned before and one that has cropped up….  Now that I have him, I’d rather like the Runamuck that had to be ordered through the Generations magazine, which I obviously didn’t bother doing.  Dammit, I don’t want Dogfight, as the mould they used is a bad mix.  But I think Runabout’s body could be OK as Runamuck…

Despite the fact they should have different heads.

Buuuut the TFCC didn’t worry about that either…  Poor, Poor beloved Battlechargers.