BTS Minions

Prelude: Guess we do need to speak more than really necessary about the legal stuff because you know how this goes. Not a product of Hasbro or Takara and therefore not Transformers in name. But BTS Toys itself is not new to the market, they already gave us some different Trailers for different versions of Classics and Henkei Optimus Prime, and of course the much discussed Classics Soundwave in the form of Sonicron. And what does a real Soundwave need? Right you are: little Cassette Bots or better yet, his Minions  So let’s see, if you decided to get Sonicron, whether you need the Minions as well.

Packaging: A small silver book box with a kind of mirror effect. Splits open in the middle, revealing the figures including the batteries and cases inside. All in a small blister tray. And there is even a small instruction sheet. The box halves hold together nicely with a worked-in magnet seal. Nothing new, but always a nice idea. To be specific, with this set, you buy one figure and its repaint of it. But if you have the United toys, that’s the same deal.

Cassette Mode: One red and one blue (or slightly more purple) version of the same robot. Both have their respective clear case that you will recognize from nearly all official G1 cassette reissues. The cases are nearly the same except the official says Takara and these ones say BTS. The cassettes themselves look nice but are only recognizable as cassettes by design. Real cassette details in form of paint or stickers are missing here. Especially compared to a real G1 or reissue cassettes. But then again this is an outdated mode and only needed for this specific purpose which suits me just fine. The batteries have no function is this mode, but will have one later on.

One of the most important questions: do they fit inside Sonicrons or even G1 Soundwaves chest? Yes, they do. They go in and out very easily with both versions, so it does not matter which Soundwave is your Classics stand-in. Cassette purpose completed.

Transformation: Surprisingly, not so different to the original Frenzy and Rumble toys. A few changes of course, adding more steps but still somewhat similar and still pretty easy. A small hint upfront so that you know what you see in the pictures: if you transform them according to the instructions, you will end up having those slight cassette details on the chest. But if you turn the waist and head around, you can also have the humanoid or kind of armored-up-looking details up front. A way to make them at least a little different from each other. Since the backside up front will let you see some small screws, I recommend this for Rumble (the red one). This works and it might have been intentional even, because even the arms retain full movement either way and there is no thumb defined, so no problems with the hands. But remember, this is not in the instructions and your choice to do it or not.

Robot Mode: Now having the little robots in front of you, the first thing you will notice is the resemblance to the original Frenzy and Rumble toys in their design, but you will also notice that Tremor and Frequenzy are slightly taller. Much discussed up front when the first pictures came out were those tremendous hip bones sticking out sideways. If you look closely, though, it is the same with the G1 toys, although rudimentary only. This isn’t to excuse what BTS has done here, but it looks ok in-hand. Those are small figures and it does not stick out as badly as you may expect from pictures.

And what may compensate for the hips is the tremendous posability. These guys have joints all over the place and can do almost every pose you might want. Ball-jointed shoulders and double-hinged elbows, as well as a swivel in the upper thigh and a great knee joint that goes all the way. More than enough to do everything.

Details are ok, but could have been a little better, especially on the chest. Otherwise, they look pretty fine and resemble their respective originals more than enough to fit with the Classics. The details look nice and might be hand-painted even, but sometimes they are a little off. But considering the scale we are talking here it’s fully okay and official figures also come with smeared paint often enough. Only downside for me: why did they choose this bright purple? I like purple for my Decepticons, but it should be darker and overall, Frenzy (or Rumble) should be blue! I do not really like the bright purple, but I can live with it and there is still the red one. And, of course, it’s a matter of taste. Nice head sculpt, silver painted and a red visor over the eyes. Looks good.

Now for the batteries. On the upper side, you have to pull and slide them open, so that they will fit sliding over the arms and be held in place by the hands. Next to a few little details and a big, big BTS lettering you will find a small button. By pushing it, the hammer is released. If you push only a little the hammer slides out just a bit, if push stronger or all the way, then it is released fully. Looks great in my opinion and this is a classic, the ground shaking attack form the G1 cartoons. The United toys also feature that gimmick, even built-in, but we are talking cassettes, not tanks. When one of them rests in Soundwave’s chest, (or Sonicron’s) the batteries can either be stored on his body or be held as additional weapons.

So, are they the perfect Classics Frenzy and Rumble? Sadly no, and I would really like to know why they skipped over or ignored one big thing: where are the guns the originals had? Where are they? Guess you already know the answer to that and for the pictures I used the G1 originals, which fit on Tremor and Frequenzy’s arms but sadly not on their backs. The United figures solved that issue with clip system weapons and BTS could also have easily included them somehow. But they did not, sadly, so that chance is gone.

Conclusion: First I need to say, no, I did not forget to say something about quality issues like Sonicron had them because there are none. All joints are tight and everything fits together nicely. Even the price for those little guys is fully within the range for third party toys and more on the lower end of the scale. So, they might be recommendable, but I would not go quite that far. If you have Sonicron for a Classics Soundwave stand-in, then they are a very nice addition and there is no reason not to get them. If you skipped Sonicron, then skip these as well. For G1 Soundwave, they are not necessary and I guess the United Version would fit better.

Personally, I must say I was positively surprised and think they are nicely done. Not perfect, but for what they cost and what you get very much ok. If only they had included the guns, that is a big downer for me. Considering the interaction with Sonicron and the Classics display, they are not worth hunting down but a welcome and very pose able addition if you can snatch them.

Rating: B-