Frenzy is small, sneaky, skittering and single-minded. His hyper-active twitching and lightning-speed jibbering in his native tongue bely incredible espionage and sabotage skills, but it is in causing chaos and carnage that Frenzy truly excels. This creepy little abomination is the best there is at what he does, and approaches his tasks with a level of sinister glee that make it hard to deter him from a course of action once he has settled upon it.
Frenzy is exceptionally hard to kill, due to the fact that he possesses a de-centralized, modular nervous system. In essence, every piece of Frenzy is alive, which means that even if he suffers critical injuries—such as getting his head severed, which seems to be a not-infrequent problem for him—he can continue to function. In addition to this, he is equipped with a hyper-reactive trans-scanning and reformatting system that allows him to totally reconfigure his alternate mode with ridiculous speed, meaning that he can be something one minute, and something completely different the next. Although this is something which he does regularly anyway, it also works regardless of what state of disrepair he may be in, making it quite the challenge to keep track of him.[1]
- First working name: Boombot
- Second working name: Soundwave
- Third working name: Soundbyte
- Chinese name (Taiwan): Jí Fēng (疾瘋, literally "Sick and Mad" or "Fast and Mad", a pun of 疾風, "Gale")
- South Korean name: 프렌지 (Frenzy)
Fiction[]
Ghosts of Yesterday[]
Frenzy was the smallest member of the Nemesis' crew. He liked to sneak-attack Autobots from behind while they concentrated on his larger teammates. He didn't fare well in this particular battle but is presumably repaired at some future point. Ghosts of Yesterday
Transformers The Game[]
On Cybertron, Frenzy was seen digging through the mangled and twitching chassis of a dead Autobot. It's unlikely he was digging through it to find the All Spark. Megatron nearly crushed him under his foot. It is possible that he was annoyed with Frenzy.
Frenzy arrived in Tranquility to meet up with Barricade possessing information that Starscream said was vital. When Barricade attempted to link up with him, he discovered that Frenzy had been captured by some armed humans. Frenzy was held captive in a small SUV (which seemed virtually indestructible) but Barricade eventually rescued him. Barricade later relayed to Starscream that Frenzy had discovered a lead on the All Spark and Megatron...an artifact in the possession of a human named Sam.
Later, he served as Starscream's intelligence liaison when the Decepticon's Acting-Commander was searching for Brawl and Bonecrusher, jabbering away in his own language. (A translation is NOT subtitled directly, with Frenzy being the only character to NOT speak English in the game. He just wants to be different...or annoying.) Transformers The Game
Transformers: Autobots/Decepticons[]
Frenzy was seen digging through the remains of another Transformer. Megatron nearly stepped on him, but he scurried away. Transformers Autobots/Decepticons
Transformers (Playstation Portable)[]
In Frenzy's first mission on Earth, he and Scorponok searched for the glasses. They attacked the Autobots, but got a massive whupping by Ratchet. Then,he assaulted Sam Witwicky, Mikaela Banes and Bumblebee. Later he participated in Starscream's attack on the Hoover Dam. . Finally, he and Brawl took on Jazz but were defeated. Whether Jazz killed him as he did Brawl remains unknown. Transformers The Game (PSP)
Transformers (2007) film[]
- Voice actor: Reno Wilson (English)
A skittering little cheat, Frenzy smuggled himself aboard Air Force One disguised as a GPX boom-box. He made his way to the lower decks, carried by an unsuspecting flight attendant who was on a vital mission to the storage area to "wrangle me up some Ding-Dongs, darling" for the President. Once left alone, he got into the server area and began to work his magic, simultaneously hacking the national defense network and uploading a virus, re-attempting the hack that Blackout had tried at the SOCCENT Forward Operations Base in Qatar earlier. This attempt was discovered by government agent Maggie Madsen, and the defense network was shut down in order to halt the hack. Frenzy was so pissed he slammed his head into the screen, but he'd managed to finish uploading the virus, which would later shut down global communications, and got a little bit of info on what he was looking for.
He was discovered by Secret Service agents, whom he quickly dispatched with his machine guns and disc-blade launcher before hiding away in boom-box form again. When Air Force One landed, he escaped through the landing gear, finally get into his awaiting Decepticon partner Barricade. After escaped from Air Force One, he tell Barricade about how the human agents shot at him, but he did find a new clue. Captain Archibald Witwicky, who had suspiciously displayed knowledge of Cybertronian writing. After a quick internet search using Barricade's on-board police laptop, Frenzy determined their next target...a human called Samuel Witwicky, who was in possession of the Captain Witwicky's glasses, which could lead them to the All Spark's location. Frenzy declared that they must find Sam and Barricade move out.
When Barricade was forced to go to robot mode in order to handle Bumblebee, he released Frenzy to chase the humans the Autobot was guarding. Frenzy tackled his primary target, Sam, and pulled off his jeans, but Mikaela Banes attacked him with a reciprocating saw she found and cut off his head. To add insult to injury, Sam kicked the Decepticon's head away. It was actually to Frenzy's benefit, however, as he landed not too far from Mikaela's purse, which had spilled when Bumblebee had dumped them out earlier. Still alive and ambulatory, despite losing most of his body mass, he speared and scanned Mikaela's cell phone, changed his form to match it, and hid out in her purse.
Alternate Version: Frenzy only knocks down Sam to the ground and accidentally lands his head on the ground making him unconscious, and then Mikaela tries to kick him off of Sam, and then Frenzy starts getting more angry when getting kicked by Mikaela, and she gets a little nervous and tries to make a run for it, she gets to a good distance but Frenzy immediately knocks her down too but she lands on her back instead, “uhh” she groans in pain. Mikaela struggles to get back up to get away from Frenzy, until he then jumps on her and Mikaela rolls onto her stomach and struggles even more while trying to crawl away to get back up, Frenzy grabs her legs and lifts her up and slams her down hard, "oww" Mikaela groans in pain. It cuts away and shows Sam then wakes up while his head is bleeding a little. It cuts back to Frenzy who manages to grab the back of Mikaela’s pants with his grip so strong and starts to pull the back of her pants while in a few seconds her belt unbuckles and her pants button and zipper become undone at the moment. Frenzy is able take Mikaelas pants off by pulling them down her legs as she tries to crawl away from him, and underneath her pants we see Mikaela wear “Pink Lace Strappy G-String.” She still struggles to keep Frenzy away from her as he’s almost done pulling her pants off, and Mikaela is starting to feel scared and embarrassed she looks over her shoulder and sees her G-String is being shown she tries to crawl away but isn't able to, and the next shot quickly shows Sam again who is looking more shocked to see Frenzy pulling down Mikaela's pants revealing her G-String while saying “Oh my God!” The next scene shows Mikaela as she continues to struggle as her jeans are now around her ankles, she screams "He's Going To Kill Me!" She tries to roll but isn't able to, the camera moves closer and shows Mikaela's butt, her Pink G-String barely covering anything. She manages to roll onto her back and she kicks Frenzy away from her. Now in her Pink Lace Strappy G-String and Black Adidas Running Shoes she quickly stands up and runs away as Frenzy chases after her. Sam groans and he gets up to help Mikaela, realizing he isn't strong enough he runs to the shed to find a tool to help Mikaela. The next scene shows Mikaela still in her Pink Lace Strappy G-String and Black Adidas Running Shoes running trying to get away from Frenzy as he’s so fast. The next scene from the movie shows Sam in the shop finding a power saw and close up of his face where he's furious with Frenzy chasing after him and Mikaela. Then it shows where Frenzy jumps on Mikaela causing her to accidentally run into a fence and they both roll down a hill making Mikaela hit another fence hard at the bottom, “uhh” Mikaela moans in pain as she quickly gets up and then Frenzy jump on her again while trying to grab her. Mikaela covers himself "UHH GET OFF" she yells as she throws Frenzy on the ground, then Frenzy stands up and starts dancing his legs while Mikaela still in her Pink Lace Strappy G-String starts dancing her legs as well continuing to fight off Frenzy, and then Sam comes to the rescue decapitating Frenzy where he only has his head, and then Sam’s funny dialogue and what he does in the movie “Not so tough without a head are you?!” and kicks Frenzy far away. Sam then groans in pain a little and drops the power saw as he touches his head and realize blood on his hand knowing he’s bleeding a little, “crap” he mutters. Then Mikaela worried about Sam’s head bleeding quickly rushes to him and asks if he’s ok, and replies with “yes” and asks if she’s ok as well and so she also say yes, although Sam still notices her G-String is still showing and is still worried about her getting her jeans taken off, but she brushes it off and tells him not to worry about it and chuckles again for a bit to which Sam starts to chuckle as well as he’s accepting that she’s ok about it then she quickly hugs him for a moment as well. And then Sam and Mikaela still only in her Pink Lace Strappy G-String and Black Adidas Running Shoes goes to check up on Bumblebee to see if he’s defeated Barricade and so he did and then in that scene Mikaela starts to get worried about Bumblebee attacking them but Sam figures out that he’s there to protect them along with other autobot’s including Optimus Prime to find the cube that Bumblebee explains to them through his radio and then transforms back into a car where Sam and Mikaela still wearing her Pink Lace Strappy G-String and Adidas Running Shoes decides to get in, and when Frenzy disguises himself as Mikaela’s phone, Bumblebee heads for Mikaela’s purse, and she picks up her purse herself and her other stuff, but however as she goes to get her jeans she finds them ripped up, "Damn it" Mikaela groans angrily as she is now gonna be in her Pink Lace Strappy G-String while wearing her Long Pink Sleeve Shirt with Denim Jacket and Adidas Running Shoes, she gets back into Bee.
Frenzy stayed hidden, watching the activities of the humans, including their meeting with Optimus Prime and the Autobots. Taken to LadiesMan217's house, Frenzy poked his head out to better observe, but was frightened by some aquatic lifeforms LadiesMan217 had. Frenzy poked one of his optics out when the glasses were discovered, but remained hidden during the subsequent encounter with Sector Seven. Arriving at Hoover Dam, Frenzy slipped away...and fell off the side of the dam, landing painfully at the bottom. This allowed him to sneak into the secret Sector Seven operations hangar deep within the dam, where both the All Spark and Megatron had been kept for nearly a hundred years. Tapping into the All Spark's power, he restored his body, then sent a message to Starscream, telling him that their prizes were here. As Starscream mobilized all the Decepticons on Earth, Frenzy set about the task of releasing his master. He went and killed a few technicians, letting him screw with the cryo-stasis machines that kept Megatron entombed, while Starscream destroyed the power lines outside, allowing the Decepticon leader to escape.
As Megatron and Starscream went to assist the rest of the Decepticons in securing the All Spark, Frenzy remained at the dam to tie up any loose ends. When Agent Simmons, Secretary Keller, Maggie and Glen Whitmann ran to an ancient storage room to try and get a Morse Code message to the Air Force via shortwave radio, Frenzy followed. While Glen jury-rigged outdated machinery to send the messages, Simmons and Keller tried to shoot the diminutive Decepticon. Frenzy made it into the room via the air ducts and sent a series of flying blades at the humans. One, however, ricocheted madly across the room, and took out most of Frenzy's head. With a muttered "Ohh, shit!", Frenzy collapsed.
The Hardcover Movie Guide written by Simon Furman seems to confirm this somewhat—the little skittering bugger has a secondary neural processor on his body and with a non centralized logic net, parts of him can function independently, even if they're separated from the main torso strut. Like a metal, evil, deadly sponge.
His head was shown to be in a display case in Simmon's basement/secret room of his butcher shop in Revenge of the Fallen, so it can be concluded that he was killed in the first movie, and that Simmons kept his head as a souvenir.Reign of Starscream[]
After the battle, Starscream, upon advice from Barricade (who had survived and was in the process of repairing himself) attacked the Hoover Dam in order to retrieve Frenzy's body, since he had been able to download extensive files and information that Sector 7 had unearthed about the All Spark and the Cybertronian race. He succeeded in retrieving Frenzy's "corpse". The Reign of Starscream Issue Number Two And used him to process the information necessary for building his own All Spark replica. The Reign of Starscream Issue Number Four
Titan Magazines[]
Frenzy's head injuries failed to kill him in at least one timeline - where Megatron won at Mission City - and he remains on guard at the former Sector 7 base. He also has learnt English, seemingly only so he can threaten you with a messy death.
When Mikaela Banes & Bumblebee tried to free Optimus from the former Sector 7 base, Frenzy began stalking the human. Transformers Comic issue 10 His attempt to shoot her in the back failed, and she declared she'd take him out for good this time. Transformers Comic issue 11 She wasn't able to land a blow on him but she had the mental advantage, tricking him into shattering a liquid nitrogen tank and freezing himself to death. Whoops! Transformers Comic issue 12
Revenge of the Fallen film[]
His disembodied (and somehow reassembled) head is put in a jar which ex-Agent Seymour Simmons keeps in his basement under the meat locker. No one should touch it because it's still radioactive.
Toys[]
Transformers (2007)[]
Deluxe Class Barricade companions[]
- Barricade (Deluxe Class, 2007)
- Japanese ID number: MD-02
- Included with the larger Deluxe Barricade is a very out-of-scale Frenzy (putting him somewhere around 7 feet tall) that folds up to become the larger 'Con's grill in both vehicle and robot mode. It is barely poseable and falls over as easily as Generation One Ravage.
- Bumblebee vs. Barricade: First Encounter (Wal*Mart exclusive two-pack, 2007)
- This Wal*Mart exclusive deluxe package comes with an unaltered Bumblebee, Barricade and, by extension, Frenzy.
- Recon Barricade (Deluxe Class, 2007)
- Barricade Deluxe Class "Target exclusive AllSpark Power", 2008)
This Frenzy is... red!
- Barricade (Deluxe Class "Premium Series", 2008)
- Frenzy is back to being silver with red eyes, and his feet/stand/grill has been painted black to blend in with Barricade's car mode.
- Barricade (Human Alliance, 2009)
- A Human Alliance Barricade is out, though the "Human" element is a misnomer. The driver is Frenzy! (Should've been called robot defiance.)
Fast Action Battlers[]
- Disc Blast Decepticon Frenzy (Fast Action Battler, 2007)
- Like most of the Fast Action Battler toys, this one is fairly inaccurate to the CGI model due to actually having to turn into something (while the transformation of the CGI model is incredibly complex and practically impossible for a toy to emulate). It does, however, feature a launching disk that ejects from its chest as a pressure-launched projectile. This version of Frenzy transforms into a two-speaker stereo CD/cassette/radio.(The radio is tuned into Frenzy 97.7 FM) It is completely off-model to the movie radio, which is probably due to the figure having been designed before the character's final alt mode was determined.
Robot Replicas[]
- Decepticon Frenzy (Robot Replicas, 2007)
- The Robot Replicas non-Transforming action figure of Frenzy is considerably closer to the movie's CGI model, even having blue optics rather than the red of most of his other toys. His left forearm can be replaced with an alternate forearm in its machinegun configuration.
- Frenzy is unique among the Robot Replicas in a couple of ways. First, he is the only one that does not use the Revoltech-style joints, owing likely to the thinness of his limbs. Secondly, he is the only one with an "action feature" gimmick of sorts; he comes with a CD-blade accessory that stores in his chest, and pushing a button on his back pops it out. The disc does not shoot very far though, unless you really give the button a firm, swift whack, and even then, you're not gonna get much airtime on it.
Non-transforming Screen Battles figures[]
- First Encounter (Screen Battles, 2007)
- This Screen Battles pack features a largely unchanged Deluxe class Barricade figure The only real difference is the Frenzy mini-figure, which is now cast entirely in black plastic, sports no paint applications and is supposed to be stuck permanently inside Barricade's chest thanks to a new, additional piece of plastic (as a matter of fact, the Frenzy figure is also neither advertised on the packaging nor depicted in the instructions but is shown on the 'other products' section of other screen battles such as 'final stand'.) The only way to free him is to remove all four screws from Barricade's undercarriage, then pry the halves of the car apart and slip Frenzy (and his plastic blockade) out quickly.
- The pack also comes with unposeable figurines of Sam Witwicky in a running pose, a semi-in-scale Frenzy, and Mikaela holding the reciprocating saw she uses to attack him. The set is packaged in a special window box with a diorama depicting the battle between Barricade and Bumblebee. So even though this pack technically contains two Frenzy figures, Hasbro put a lot of effort into neutering one of them as good as they could. (Really makes you wonder, though — if they were going to put that much effort into it, couldn't they have just removed the accessory?)
- This only applies to the Hasbro version. However, TakaraTomy's Japanese release of the pack features a Barricade that is identical to the single pack version, including an easily removable Frenzy figurine cast in grey plastic with painted red eyes.
Merchandise[]
- Autobot Jazz vs Decepticon Frenzy (Robot Heroes, 2007)
- Released with Robot Heroes Jazz, this version of Frenzy is the most adorably goofy razor blade death robot you ever saw.
Notes[]
- An early version of the script featured Barricade and Frenzy as one and the same character, named "Soundwave". He would have infiltrated the CIA headquarters (rather than Air Force One) in the form of a "portable stereo" and then transformed (and size-shifted) into a Humvee for his escape.[2]
- Frenzy is the only Decepticon in the movie whose whole robot mode was created as a real physical puppet for filming, used in certain shots aboard Air Force One. (They did make the lower half of frozen Megatron as a set piece, plus Scorponok's head and tail, but that's not quite the same thing.) He and Bumblebee are the only Transformers in the film to have full-body robot mode props.
- Extra pieces of the Frenzy puppet, specifically some fingers, were used to make the charred prop of the "dead" Nokia robot. (It seems surprisingly fitting...)
- Frenzy (or at very least, a robot who looked just like him) was most certainly not in a cage in the back of the Sector Seven Mobile Command Unit. You were seeing things! It was swamp gas! No, wait—a weather balloon! But definitely not a robot alien from outer space! And the Liar Starscream definitely did not write this.
- Frenzy's robot mode was designed without a specific alternate mode in mind. It was known he was going to be a boom-box, but the designers had to produce a robot mode before the make/model was finalized.
- Frenzy transforms into a real on-the-market GPX portable stereo...in the movie, at least. You know you want one. (His Fast Action Battler toy, and various storybooks, depict him as made-up stereo models.)
- Despite the "no size changing" rule for the movie, Frenzy arguably changes size when he takes the form of the Nokia 8800 Sirocco cellphone. The movie's writers have explained this away as a simple shifting and folding up of parts. Then again, it was only his head, so, yeah, that basically counts....
- Frenzy's dialog includes some actual English: "What?!", "Witwicky", "ladiesman217", "Go, go, go!", "Surprise!", "Where is it?!", "Yes(X5), Megatron(X3)!", "Oh! Megatron melting.", "Failure, failure, failure" and the ever-famous "Oh shit." The rest is all Cybertronian, which according to Michael Bay is primarily rapidly-spoken Tutankhamen.
- Frenzy's blades, before unfolding, are disguised as CDs. Granted, most CDs don't have hinge points near their center.
- According to his profile card, Frenzy weighs 110 kilograms (242.5 pounds). How much of that mass would be discernible to a human lifting his stereo mode remains unclear. However, a human did indeed carry his stereo mode without much effort in the movie.
- A picture of Frenzy appears on the screen of Photon T-34. Judging from his pose and the readouts on the screen, Photon did something to slag him off.
- His last words, "Oh shit!" possibly reference Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors, because Audrey II uttered "Oh shit!" before dying like Frenzy.
- In Revenge of the Fallen, Sector Seven Agent Simmons has Frenzy's head as a keepsake.
- He is also quite funny for a Decepticon. He displays more human emotions than the others, like cracking his knuckles before typing, and banging his head in frustration.
- Frenzy only spoke English three times in the film which goes as follows: "Megatron! Megatron! Megatron!" and "Megatron melting!" while reviving Megatron and "Oh s**t!" when he died. This makes him the 2nd (or 3rd if you count Barricade's yelling at Sam) most English speaking Decepticon in the first film.
Foonotes[]
- ↑ Frenzy's profile in Transformers Comic issue 7, which was re-worked from his entry in Transformers: The Movie Guide. Unsurprisingly, it dropped that book's bizarre claim that Frenzy was "quiet" and "not very talkative".
- ↑ Details from an early script draft summed up here, confirmed as authentic by Roberto Orci here.