When I purchased Top Spin and Twin Twist in the dealer room on Friday, I also noted a bag filled with translucent and clear knock-offs of the Laserbeak and Rumble/Frenzy cassette molds. The bag was labeled five dollars each and contained seven different cassettes. Four Laserbeaks and three Rumbles. I took a mental note of the bag and decided if I was still thinking about it Saturday, I would go back and see if they were still there and sure enough they were. I decided to just pick up the whole bag since they were small and my purchasing has been limited so far.

Read on for more pictures and details of these interesting knock-offs.

As it happens, the figures happened to be colored similarly in pairs with the exception of the extra Laserbeak. The colors consisted of a nice clear, a vibrant orange and an irridescent purple. The extra Laserbeak was actually in his appropriate colors, but they were translucent.

  

The top section of the clear Laserbeak’s body in bird mode is die cast, as are the toes on the clear Rumble. All other parts on the seven figures are made of plastic.

 

The purple Rumble, unfortunately, had one of its arms misassembled. At the elbow, where it bends it should have two rounded corners so it can bend without damaging the other corner. This was not the case here and one of the corners was damaged as a result. Unfortunate.

 

The plastic seems to be of decent quality. None of the figures felt overly cheap or easily damaged despite applying some slight pressure on varying parts to test. That being said, that corner on Purple Rumble’s elbow did chip away somewhat easily in my hand. The stickers are very much like the original thick metallic decals on the cassette sides. The larger decals of this style are nice and add to the alt mode, however, the smaller ones do not adhere well to the small to the small wrists and shoulders of the Rumbles. I seem to recall this being an irritating feature of the original figures, though. Thinner stickers were applied on the Laserbeak wings, some of which are pealing. I’m not sure if that is a testament to a weak adhesive, quality of decals, or texture of the plastic’s surface. The only other problem I encountered was that the spring was actually too strong in the clear Rumble causing his arms to not fully push the head down in cassette mode.

Visually, these cassettes are quite stunning. I am partial to figures that use translucent or clear plastics and these certainly fill that role very well. I don’t regret this purchase. Five dollars for a nice looking knock-off is not bad by any means. Getting that deal seven times over was a treat. These figures will make nice additions to my cassette army.

  

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