Transformers Studio Series Mohawk & Concept Rumble review

2024 is the year Hasbro not only remembers The Last Knight has characters to make as toys despite being a bad movie, but it also brought in the concept of, well, the Concept Art characters. So far, it comes across more like Hasbro trying to squeeze out as much attention put to the Bumblebee movie by making shit up and claiming it was scrapped content. At least there was proof Megatron was going to pop up, but I don't recall anything regarding Rumble intending to appear in the movie. I know he was in a motion comic where he had a very different (and arguably cooler) design than the one we end up with, but while there were hints of Megatron's design up until ROTB's repackaged Titan Hero toy revealed it, nothing of the sort for Rumble. As for Mohawk, I'm surprised we had to wait until 2 years after TLK turned 5, especially since the end of 2022 had Hot Rod and Crosshairs from the same film. But let's take a look at the first Core Class duo of 2024's Studio Series entries.

Here we have Mohawk and Rumble in their alt modes. The former turns into a pretty decent approximation of a Confederate/Curtiss Motorcycles 2016 P51 Combat Fighter, and the latter turns into...something. I don't know what it is. The lighting on my setting doesn't do it justice, but there is a nice level of sculpted details that make Mohawk feel like a well thought out toy, and the painted brakes as well as the handle bars make Mohawk feel like he was designed with more love than the screentime he was given. As for Rumble, he looks more like a Rock Lord than the Magneous guys from Legacy United, I guess.

For a size comparison with another Core Class bike mode, here is Mohawk next to ROTB Arcee. I love seeing how varied certain types of altmodes can be, and having these two feels like comparing the ride of an anarchy lover versus the ride of a turbo lover. Speaking of anarchy in some extent, Cons of Anarchy is a fitting pun thanks to the TFWiki. And yes, you can store the knife on the side.

Transforming Mohawk is pretty involved given his design, and moreso than with Arcee. It still works pretty well if you ask me, as it results in a pretty good conversion between modes that doesn't come off as confusing. The robot mode not only is sculpted very accurately, down to the asymmetrical torso, but we get a few green paint apps to breakup the gray plastic gray along with some lighter gray paint apps likely to represent dirt or grime. I wish he was painted silver but at least he looks good as a robot design and is translated pretty well down to the maniacal chameleon head and the titular hairpiece. His articulation consists of a neck swivel, ball jointed shoulders, lower elbows, hips, and ankles, hinged upper elbows and knees, along with a surprise jaw joint. Only issue I have with Mohawk other than wishing he was painted silver would be how unstable he sort of feels with his feet. 

For a size comparison with some other TLK Decepticons, at least the currently existing crew that have toys because Onslaught and Dreadbot don't while Berserker was kept in prison. He is small yet at least is able to stand out along with Nitro Zeus (ik it's KSI Boss but who cares), Megatron, and Barricade. Updates for some of the Cons as well as proper figures for Dreadbot and Onslaught would be nice. Hasbro, HINT HINT.

One cool aspect about Mohawk is his ability to recreate his death scene by having his head removable via a 5mm post. I love it when stuff like this is possible without disassembling a toy in a way that compromises durability (i.e. Crosshairs' back kibble, the left forearm on TLK Bumblebee). So without question, Mohawk is my recommended purchase for the first wave of Studio Series Core Class figures. Aside from wishing he'd stand a little better and being painted in silver, he is at least worth the wait as he hasn't had a toy for nearly 7 years.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

And here we have Rumble next to Ravage. I know I gave Ravage flack for being more of a glorified accessory than a proper Core Class figure, but he manages to at least try to pass off as some sort of data cube or whatever they call the homage to the tape decks. With Rumble, it's more like a mechanized Rock Lord. Whoopty freaking doo.

Much like Ravage, Rumble also has the ability to store inside Soundwave's chest. Maybe it's my copy, but he doesn't really stay in as well as Ravage does. Granted, both have to go in certain positions to fit, but it feels like Rumble was designed in isolation from Soundwave as a figure made 2 years later, while Ravage was at least designed around the same time as Soundwave. I don't like Soundwave as a figure that much, but I can tell Hasbro made sure to keep the Voyager and Core Class figure with a good amount of synergy as possible.

Transforming Rumble is very basic, as you turn a cubish guy into a rectangle. Straightening out the limbs and attach the guns. Robot mode looks like rejected concept art for the High Moon Cybertron games' take on Rumble, with the proportions almost being designed as such before he was remade to be a Data Disc. I know he's a Core Class figure, but he comes off feeling more like a Micromaster figure sold on its own with how basic his engineering is. Those hinges on the arms are especially ugly, even with the reminder that this is a tiny guy. At least there are a decent amount of paint apps to break up the sculpt, but his head has a mouthplate therefore it's inaccurate to the godly G1 source material and Travis Knight is a hack. Oh wait it's okay to talk like that when it comes to Michael Bay, how silly of me. Anyways, Rumble comes off feeling as unbaked as the existence Hasbro claims he has. His articulation consists of a ball-jointed neck, shoulder rotation, slight outward arm movement from transformation, hip swivels front and back and hinges in and out, along with ball jointed knees. Maybe it's just me, but the figure's piledrivers don't really have the right length to make the pose like the G1 versions.

His weapons can be used as a small pistol for Soundwave, and the grip is okay but on-par with the poor grip of his chocolate rifle.

For a size comparison, here he is with Ravage. Again, I had issues with the jaguarcon, but his added articulation, paint apps, and accessories make him more worthwhile as a Core Class figure. He makes Rumble feel like an accessory even more than he already has. 

Overall, I don't like Rumble. He is the virgin to Mohawk's chad. Rumble feels like a way for Hasbro to milk off the overrated hype put towards the Bumblebee movie by feeling undercooked as a toy. At least the characters we had beforehand were designed better as toys, adding onto barely seen character designs by giving them alt modes and transformations to further complete them. Rumble makes me worried that Concept Art figures will be a waste of space, and with stuff like Sunstreaker looking like shit, I fear for the worse. 

Final ranking: ⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐