Here we have the Commandos in their vehicle modes. I like the variety of military transport we have going on here, even though a space shuttle normally wouldn't be associated with the military (unless we count the Space Force and possibly the Space Race of long ago, though they were used until 2011 by NASA). The use of a military jeep, an anti-aircraft truck, an apache helicopter, and a tank still make sense regardless, and I wouldn't have it any other way for these guys.
This is Armorhide, a redeco of Brawl. He doesn't come with his own gun for my copy, but I do have the double-barrel cannon that goes on the back for added firepower. He has tiny wheels in the treads, his turret rotates, and his transformation has you extend the back of the vehicle, lift the turret up, flip the lower legs down, and move the front section down so you can lower the robot arms. Robot mode is like the carformer equivalent of a tankformer design, but it is interesting how G2 Megatron would later have a similar transformation scheme to Brawl's very own (albeit with the turret being made from the arms).
And here we have Rollbar, who is a redeco of Swindle. His big cannon can peg in the middle of the seats, though I doubt anyone driving this would be able to see that easily with how high-up his windshield is (ignoring that it is opaque). Transformation is also simple, with the back section extending before flipping the legs in place, flipping the front section to the back, and pulling the arms out. With his other gun in his hand, Rollbar is ready to shoot up some Autobots despite his size. His bright orange may be seen as weird for anyone triggered by the color's association with toy safety laws, but it goes well with his forest green. He even has purple eyes on his little head! Arm articulation is all you actually get, though the joints are much lower than normal.
Up next, we have Movor, a redeco of Blast Off. His shuttle mode is NASA white like some versions of G1 Astrotrain tend to be, but the re-entry scorches on parts of the toy are a neat touch, if a bit inconsistent on his vehicle layout. Transformation has you extending the legs, folding up the wings and tailfin, pulling the front section out before splitting it in half to become the robot arms. He looks okay, yet his arms really look stupid. I do wish he had the white guns that went on the legs, and the smaller pistol to go on his shovel-scoop hands. His shoulders are ball-jointed compared to the swivels on Rollbar and Armorhide.
As for Ro-Tor, who has a very Go-Bot sounding name, he is a redeco of Vortex. He's blue in vehicle mode, which may not be usually associated with the military but it works. The rotor blades spin for the larger and smaller sizes, and the transformation has you pull the back section before splitting it in half and hinging the rear assembly back on his arms; from there, you can rotate the top section with the larger rotor blades before extending and flipping out the robot legs. He has more orange and red on him in this mode, which kind of makes him less evil than the colors associated with Vortex. has no proper hands, but he would have come with his two red guns and the pistol that would go in the middle of his helicopter mode. Like Movor, his shoulders are on ball joints.
Finally, here we have Mega-Octane, a redeco of Onslaught. The formerly blue anti-aircraft truck now has a green and orange color scheme, though the green remains more prominent with a few camo stickers here and there. It's a pretty cool alternate mode, especially with the 10 rolling wheels you'd usually find on a truck hauling a trailer (if you ignore the added wheels some trucks would have). The turret can hinge up and down if you so choose, and it is possible to have Movor or Ro-Tor in the back section if you want to pretend either of them is hauled by their leader before deploying into battle.
Transformation into his battle platform mode just has you splitting the bed in half so you can attach the ramp in the middle, along with splitting the front section in half before placing the cannons in the back. Annoyingly, there is no spring-loaded gimmick that would launch the smaller toys. The robot mode has you straighten the legs, flip the back wheel assembly as heels, and then extend the hands before attaching the back cannons. You also need to attach the chest plate, which annoyingly lacks stickers since the rest of the toy has stickers applied already. Still, Mega-Octane's robot mode looks good for an old-style combiner torso bot. While he has stumpy arms as well as no feet, it can be excused given how he has to work as a regular vehicle, an independent robot, a battle platform of sorts, and a combiner torso. I'd say he and Hot Spot from G1 did a good job compared to the fragile Silverbolt and the goofy but not fragile Menasor. Mega-Octane's articulation consists of a neck swivel, shoulder rotation, outward movement due to transformation, and legs that can move int and out, but that is about it since the actual leg joints only serve the torso mode.
The Commandos are very unique for the RID 2001 line, due to them being redecos of toys older than even Generation 2. While they lack any proper articulation and are more in-line with the looks of the Spy Changers than the Autobots' combiner teams, they aren't bad toys on their own. That being said, the lack of orange on Armorhide makes him stand out from the other members.
For anyone wondering how the scale works with other figures in the line, Scourge makes for a good reference given how he's comparable in height to core-robot Optimus, Megatron, and Sky-Byte in some regard. Keep in mind that Mega-Octane was sold as a Deluxe because of his height and play features, and similar factors apply to the smaller members in the Basic Class scale. But even ignoring the new molds for RID 2001, you can see how different Transformers toys were between Mega-Octane's G1 counterpart, Onslaught, being from 1986 while Scourge's previous mold owner, Laser Optimus Prime, being from 1995.
Combining them into Ruination is straight-forward. Make the legs compact, have the arms leave their individual robot legs in place, attach them onto the squatting torso, and slap the combiner kibble in place. The helmet, chest plate, fists, and feet complete the look of Ruination, who is my favorite G1 combiner out of the lot. I love the dynamic chest plate design, the robot head looking like an evil version of Optimus Prime in some ways, and the striking shape of the arms compared to how mundane the average combiner limbs would be. While he only has limited articulation at the arms and neck, at least it's all he needs to point his guns at the Autobots. If you had the rest of the weapons, you cam attach them onto the orange rifle to enhance his arsenal. Usually, Ruination is in his Flight Mission mode, which was the standard configuration of G1 Bruticus; alternatively, you can reconfigure Ruination into his Land Mission mode, with Rollbar and Armorhide as arms, Movor and Ro-Tor as legs, and everyone switching sides.
As far as other uses are concerned, Takara's Ruination, Baldigus, is closer to the cartoon with the golden combiner parts and beige and brown camo Armorhide, aka Dangar. Oh, and the Japanese names for these Destrongers include Dolrailer for Mega-Octane, Shuttler for Movor, Hepter for Ro-Tor, and Greejeeber for Rollbar. Notice the upside-down G2 Autobot insignias, which are used to represent the anti-Cybertron insignia given how these characters along with Scourge were Autobot protoforms turned evil by Megatron's influence. In the US and the rest of the world, they use the normal Decepticon insignias.
These two are the Walmart-exclusive gift sets that gave us a Universe 2003 desert camo deco for the whole team and a regular RID 2001 line urban camo deco. The latter is nothing too noteworthy, but the former does make it possible to make your regular Ruination more show-accurate with the golden armor parts and the beige Armorhide, even if his camouflage looks more like regular and chocolate syrup. Also notice how Movor's nosecone is rounded off for both sets, despite the original tooling already complying with child safety.
Of course, here we have the original owner of the molds: G1 Bruticus. The original crew less of a militaristic color layout than Ruination, but it's still awesome regardless. And that, of course, gets thrown out the window with the skittle-rific G2 Bruticus. Taste the rainbow, indeed.
And if anyone wonders, there is an Encore gift set tha does sound awesome, but it should be noted that mold degradation is apparent with this set.
Oh and here is someone that nobody really caresnabout but is a Bruticus recolor regardless: Battle Gaia from Takara's Operation Combination line. The right arm is Sandstorm, the torso is Great Cannon, the left arm is Shuttle Gunner, the right leg is Target Hawk (no not that dumbass slang name the internet popularized), and Leyland.
For a size comparison, here is Ruination next to Landfill, one of the two Autobot combiner teams new to the series. It is a shame how the Autobots got new molds to represent their team while the villains only get a repaint of a then-15 year old toy, but it still is cool that Bruticus was the one chosen among the Scramble City gestalts of G1. I believe Takara did this since they did a similar thing with the Seacons in their version of Beast Wars. If you want the Commandos, or G1 Combaticons, be ready to pay for their parts on the aftermarket at varying prices...especially given how incomplete they can be on top of being expensive.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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