Transformers Generations: Siege Rung review

The 2005 IDW Transformers comics continuity had a huge impact on the property, probably the biggest since Animated. Being featured in the story was almost a surefire way for characters to get a toy - some for the first time in decades - and the designs flowed freely back and forth between print and plastic. Plus, the books introduced their share of new characters, such as the Autobot Psychotherapist Rung.

One of the oldest surviving Transformers from the time of Nova Prime, Rung is often overlooked. Despite having been present at some of the most important events in Cybertronian history, people often have trouble even remembering his name, which tends to infuriate him. Has never changed his original design since he was created. Rung cares deeply about his patients, and has at one time or another worked with some of the most famous Autobots, including Bluestreak, Red Alert and Fortress Maximus. Possesses an extraordinarily bright spark. Carries few (if any) offensive weapons, which doesn't tend to work out well when Rung is assigned to the battlefield.

Fussy little Rung was designed as a cross between Star Trek's Data and Frasier' Niles. He first appeared in a text piece in Last Stand of the Wreckers #1 before going on to much more prominent roles. He's a skinny orange robot with a pair of thick glasses and big thick eyebrows. This is a very small toy, about the size of a Minimate, so its only articulation is balljointed shoulders and hips, and a swivel waist.

During the Titans Return line, Hasbro introduced a low-pricepoint class of toys, the "Titan Masters," which were an update of the old Headmasters (Fangry, for instance). Now, for Siege, they've got "Battle Masters," an update of the old Targetmasters, renamed possibly because Hasbro lost the rights to the name, or possibly because some of them are blades and not guns now. Anyway, that's the portion of the line that's brought us Rung, so he changes into... well.

In the comics, Rung turns into a... thing. No one's really sure what it is. A big stick, basically. Is his name a clue, and he's just part of a Combiner with 40 identical bots, and they all join together to form a ladder? (Spoiler: no.) This figure does a decent enough job of duplicating the altmode seen in the comics, but since he's a Battle Master, they had to declare that it's a weapon rather than just an unrecognized shape. There are even two translucent blue energy effects that plug into the barrels.

According to the Cybertronian text in the instructions, this gun is a "Cerebral Circuit Scanner," suggesting it's used to read the minds of whoever it's aimed at. And Rung, who pioneered Rungian Analysis, is a psychologist. Now, what's the common slang term for a psychoanalyst like that? Siege Rung turns into a "shrink" ray!