All Hail Lord Starscream; Ruler of the Decepticons and Emperor of Cybertron.

Targeting sight:
These sights are added to indicate recently posted fictions, art and other pages.

For more information on what really is new in the site, please refer yourself to the news page or the site's front page. Site updates will usually be found there.

At the same time the 2007 Transformers movie toy line was being released, Hasbro released a sub-line called "Fast Action Battlers" (FAB). This Deluxe-sized line was intended for younger fans of the series, as evidenced by the simplistic transformations and larger toy parts. All of the figures in the line are characters that appeared in the movie, including the manic Decepticon Frenzy. This is Frenzy's second appearance in the movie series; his first came as an accessory to Barricade in the main line, though his FAB incarnation is a little more accurate to his movie appearance.

FAB Frenzy's alternate form is that of a GPX brand boombox, the first of two forms the character takes during the course of the film. His primary color is gray, with black used for the control buttons and along the top above the speakers, where the handles are located. Dark silver has been used on his speaker grills and a sort of silvery blue has been used for the digital LCD display over the buttons. The phrase "Frenzy 97.7" has been printed in the screen in black. He has two violet-colored Decepticon insignias: one under his buttons, which is raised slightly, and another to the left of the disk port, stamped and on its side.

Frenzy is about as articulate as a brick in this form; his antenna moves up and down and around, but that's about it. Considering what he turns into, that's not completely surprising; one isn't going to see very much action out of a radio. He does have one action feature in this form, which will be touched on later. Young children and collectors will be happy to receive a toy of this character with his alt form in the movie, rather than simply the "Powermaster" accessory to Barricade. It's nice to see Hasbro took the time to make a toy of this character, even though he appears in this form only three times in the entire movie, all in the scene on Air Force One.

It is always suggested to read the instructions before attempting to convert any Transformer toy. That being said, taking the FAB line's target market into consideration, it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out how to transform Frenzy after the initial attempt. Like many movie toys this size, this figure employs an "automorph" gimmick, where the movement of one part causes other parts to move as well. In this case, opening the lower section of the radio and folding it back also rotates the speaker with Frenzy's head around so his face is pointed forwards. It's a rather simple process that better fits this sub-line than it does the main line.

Frenzy stands about six inches in robot mode, more if the radio antenna is sticking straight up. All the colors of his radio mode carry over into this one. The only real additions in color are silver-blue on his chest around the disk launcher and on his head crest, greenish-gold on either side of his launcher, and red for his eyes. The Decepticon insignia that was sideways in his radio form is now right side up and located over the disc launcher.

Frenzy has fourteen points of articulation - fifteen if his antenna is included - all of which are concentrated in his limbs. He's a rather bulky figure in this form, and anyone trying to pose him will have some difficulty balancing him, especially since his legs only have three points of motion each. He had four arms, the second pair connected via a hinge to the forearms of the first, making them something like crab-claws in their motion. These are his only action features outside the disk launcher, which will be explained later. Unfortunately, the machine gun barrels that flip out of Frenzy's hands in the movie do not appear in this toy; these might have been considered too easily broken off for use in this figure.

Collectors looking for a Frenzy figure that's even 90% accurate with his appearance in the movie will be sorely disappointed with this toy. As mentioned previously, FAB Frenzy is considerably bulkier than the slim, delicate movie character the toy is based on. Considering that the movie character was designed before the toy (which is atypical of how the Transformers characters are usually developed), it would be difficult to say the least to develop a toy that looked and transformed exactly like the movie character. One also has to consider whom the target market for this figure is; developing such a figure would no doubt violate all but the most lax of toy safety laws, depending on if it were possible. In the end, reality has to be considered, and Frenzy's design could be considered just too extreme to accurately portray in plastic.

FAB Frenzy comes with a small circular disk meant to represent the CD "shuriken" the character shoots from his chest in the movie. The disk is made of a four bladed "throwing star" colored silver-blue and set inside a gray ring (no doubt to comply with North American toy safety regulations). The blades are curved, with the points all oriented in the same direction. There are lines and circles sculpted into the weapon, along with a small, Decepticon insignia in the center, with a hole where the eyes would normally be. Four other curved holes have been carved out around the blade structures themselves.

The disk fits into a slot in Frenzy's chest, also his "CD port" in boombox mode. The disk can be fired from this slot via a trigger on Frenzy's back; it can also be fired in his boombox mode thanks to a large tab just behind the slot. Even though it's fired by pressure instead of a spring, the disk can travel at least two feet across the room, and with some force, so caution does need to be exercised. It's good to see his most famous weapon put into this toy, even if his machine guns were not.

As a visually accurate depiction of the movie character, FAB Frenzy comes up short. Considering the complex nature of his design, there's not really much the designers could do to make a transformable toy of the character. As a toy for those too young to indulge in the main line, it's a decent enough toy, though, like collectors, kids may be disappointed that they're not getting an accurate toy version of the character. Whether or not one gets this version of Frenzy will depend on one's own impression of the figure.

Return to chapter index