Review – Transformers Robot Heroes: Arcee and Rumble

Line: Transformers * Manufacturer: Hasbro * Year: 2008

And yet again I screwed up. Back when these Transformers Robot Heroes were first in stores I only bought one pack — the Grimlock/Shockwave set — and now that I look back at the line I realize that I should have grabbed several different sets. Why didn’t I at least grab all of the Insecticons? Anyway, that’s a discussion for another day. Today we’ll take a look at a pack that I recently found in a discount store, a set that I bought for just one of the two figures in the package.

Arcee

And no, Arcee was not the reason I bought this pack. I’ve got nothing against the character, but I also don’t get excited at the idea of owning a tiny Arcee toy. It’s not that I don’t like her or anything, but the token female from Transformers: The Movie* is just a toy that I could happily live without.

And that’s my biggest reason for not buying more of the toys in this line when it was first released. Most of the time the two-packs include one character that I want and one that I don’t want. (The Star Wars line is even worse, since I want all of the various Stormtroopers but they almost always pair those with characters I can do without.) It’s smart on Hasbro’s part, but smarter still would be selling singles because I would own lots of these little figures if I could buy them one at a time.

As a toy Arcee is just fine, with decent sculpt and paint and the standard (for this line) swivel joints at the shoulders and neck. She’s on a base — which isn’t usual for these toys — and there’s nothing good or bad about her. She’s just there, taking up space in the package that would have been better taken up with a character like Frenzy or Ratbat.

Rumble

And now for the real reason that I bought this set. Rumble is just so damned cute, and getting the toy was a must when I saw the package in stores because he goes right on the shelf with Soundwave and the cassettes (and the different versions of each). And if you look at the photos then you can see just how cute Rumble is and why I grabbed him when I saw him. (Other than because I’m a sucker.)

I know these toys were designed for younger kids, but Hasbro knew what they were doing when they selected classic Generation One characters for the line. And if you look at the photo below you can see why I grabbed this toy; Rumble looks great in the group shot (and I need to open the other two Rumble toys I have here so that I can enlarge the size of the group).

Closing Thoughts

You just don’t buy the Transformers Robot Heroes toys for complicated, super-detailed collectibles. It’s not as if these toys even transform or anything! No, you buy these toys for a chance at cute, super-deformed versions of classic characters and that’s exactly what I got. Arcee will live on the shelf with Grimlock until I toss her in a box and forget about her, but Rumble has a home for as long as Soundwave and the cassettes form a single display in my living room.

Are these fun? Kinda. But what they really are is cute and great little additions to larger Transformers collections.

Philip Reed wants the Transformers Alternators Rumble but is too scared to look for the toy on eBay.