FIRRIB

Rumble and Frenzy. Or Frenzy and Rumble. Whatever.

An acronym sometimes bandied about by fans, FIRRIB means "Frenzy is red, Rumble is blue". The phrase originated on alt.toys.transformers circa 1994, essentially as a (largely joking) rallying cry for those who favored the original cartoon over various other media portrayals of the Transformers. In time, the counterpoint FIBRIR emerged, standing for "Frenzy is blue, Rumble is red". The forms RIBFIR and RIRFIB are also known.

The debate revolves around the colors of the Decepticon Mini-Cassettes, Rumble and Frenzy. It was Hasbro's intent that Rumble be black and red, and Frenzy be two shades of blue. These color schemes are used in the toyline, Marvel Comics and many storybooks and ancillary media from the early years of Generation 1, and naturally, it was intended for the cartoon series to render the characters in this manner as well (as proven by the show's production bible, which identifies Rumble as the "red robot"). However, as a result of some unspecified error somewhere in production, the two robots had their color schemes swapped, leaving the animated incarnation of Rumble blue, and Frenzy red.

The blue robot received many appearances early in the cartoon, often introducing himself in rhyme ("So, you wanna rumble with Rumble, eh?"), while the red robot only appeared in a handful of episodes. Thanks to the widespread recognition the cartoon received, the concept of Rumble being blue was therefore ingrained into the minds of many viewers. As such, years later, fans would argue vehemently (though often tongue-in-cheek) over which coloration was "correct", based mainly on their personal preference for the cartoon or comic.

The FIRRIB movement was codified by a cartoon fan named Scott Wells in 1994,^[5] who coined the acronym FIRRIB. The FIRRIB idea quickly caught on with other cartoon fans on alt.toys.transformers, frequently appearing in signature files; its counterpoint, the comic- and toy-based FIBRIR, soon appeared as well. After endless discussion threads fueled by little more than personal preference, the subject eventually landed in the group's FAQ file as a do-not-ask question.^[6] Almost three decades later, it's still a topic that will inevitably result in dozens of posts arguing back and forth with the same arguments over and over again every time it's brought up.

The Japanese dub of the Generation 1 cartoon rectifies the error, making the animation match the toys by simply switching the characters' names around. Japanese-originated media and releases generally take the FIBRIR position, though exceptions exist.

As later incarnations of the characters draw on both the cartoon and toys as influences, the waters have become muddier still:

Items in the following table are listed in release order. E.g., the original toys came first.

It is generally agreed that pointing out that Rumble was actually purple in the original cartoon is not helpful.

2005 IDW continuity

The treatment of Rumble and Frenzy in IDW comics bears special mention. Some might believe that this "controversy" is not to be taken seriously, but IDW comics show that FIRRIB/FIBRIR is being fought to this day on the battlefields of the publisher's art and editing rooms. Whereas most entries on this list at least remain consistent within a given continuity, FIRRIB/FIBRIR changed repeatedly back-and-forth in IDW comics over the years.

Rumble and Frenzy first appeared in IDW's early limited series, Megatron Origin. Seen in their toy colors of one blue and one red-and-black, the duo went the entire series without being individually addressed by name. Although the red robot used piledrivers on occasion, at the time this was potentially ambiguous thanks to prior media, such as the Generation 1 cartoon, depicting both Rumble and Frenzy with those weapons. However, IDW's stance on the matter appeared to be cemented in their next appearance, All Hail Megatron, which firmly established Rumble as a red robot with piledrivers and Frenzy as a blue robot with sonic powers and drills. This setup continued into the era of the new ongoing series, with Frenzy's appearance in companion miniseries Bumblebee coloring him blue.

However, when the duo were reunited to appear in the ongoing series itself, they were switched to their cartoon configuration; the sonic-blasting Frenzy was now red-and-black, while piledriving Rumble was distinctively cartoon purple. After the ongoing series' conclusion, the FIRRIB layout returned in the digital series Autocracy, set during the early days of the war.

Subsequently, as cast members of the Robots in Disguise series, the duo underwent yet more color switches. After an unnamed cameo for the red-and-black robot in issue 1, Rumble and Frenzy reappeared in the Priscilla Tramontano-colored issue 11 with Rumble firmly back as the red-and-black cassette and Frenzy, for the first time ever, colored cartoon purple. For their subsequent, Josh Perez-colored appearances during the Decepticon uprising, the duo had new tank bodies built for them, and Frenzy was toy blue instead of cartoon purple. When Tramontano returned to color issues 21 and 22, she once again utilized red-and-black and cartoon purple color schemes, only now pile-driving Rumble was purple and Frenzy was red!

Quite which of these numerous color changes were the result of deliberate artistic choice, innocent mistake, or even Hasbro mandate is wholly unclear.

Similar cases

Rare toy-accurate Grapple cartoon appearance!

While the coloration of Frenzy and Rumble is the most well-known instance of the original cartoon's color choices not matching the toys its characters are based on, there are similar cases, some of which have also resulted in fan dissent regarding the question which is to be considered the "correct" coloration for the character in question:

• Red Alert's toy sported a black head, but possibly in order to differentiate him further from his mold-mate Sideswipe, the cartoon changed the head's color to red. His comic appearances usually use the toy's black head, while new toys are a mixed bag (TakaraTomy leans more towards a cartoon-accurate red head, while Hasbro appears to prefer the original toy's black head). Thus far, however, none of Takara's reissues of the original toy have featured a show-accurate red head (as the headpiece is molded together with other components of the figure, such as the fists, front calf plates, and front bumper, as evidenced on G2 Sideswipe having these components in red).

Cartoon-accurate Grapple toy!

• Grapple's original toy sported a black head, but the cartoon changed it to orange, possibly to differentiate him further from his mold-mate Inferno. The episode "Auto Berserk", however, consistently gave him a (mostly) toy-accurate black head. The Marvel comics once again followed the toy's coloration.
• Bluestreak is a huge mess: While early catalogs depicted him in a blue and silver deco based on his original Diaclone colors, which is also used for the instructions and the toy's package art, the toy itself sports an entirely silver deco for the vehicle mode. The cartoon, on the other hand, gave him a silver and black vehicle mode deco based on another Diaclone color scheme. Later toys have alternatively used variations of any of the three color schemes, although only Takara have thus far released a reissue of the original toy in "show colors" through e-HOBBY, and there has been no reissue in the "blue" Diaclone deco at all yet. Hasbro would eventually play into the confusion around Bluestreak's name by naming the Buzzworthy Bumblebee release of Bluestreak based on his "original" blue Diaclone color scheme "Silverstreak". Comedy friggin' gold.
• Although Ratchet's toy doesn't really have a head (simply a "face" sticker on a seat), he was given a proper head for his character model. However, said head is colored differently across various media: Whereas the cartoon features a white helmet with a black crest, the Marvel comics instead feature a red helmet with a white crest with surprising consistency. The Dreamwave comics alternate between the two versions, with the War Within comics using the Marvel colors and the various Generation 1 titles favoring the cartoon color scheme. The 2005 IDW continuity follows the Marvel red-with-white-crest helmet in the present day, with flashbacks to a "young" Ratchet in More than Meets the Eye giving him a red helmet with black crest, similar to the way Megatron has been shown to have "greyed". Modern toys mostly follow the cartoon version again, with the exception of the Universe Deluxe Class figure, which inverts the Marvel colors, sporting a white helmet with a red crest. Some other figures (such as Kre-O Ratchet and Bot Shots Ratchet) have followed suit, and in addition, the latter version also appeared in error in IDW's Devastation limited series, but was corrected for the trade paperback collection to his standard red-with-white. Following his return to More than Meets the Eye after a brief absence, his helmet colors were changed without explanation to white with a red crest, which he wore until the end of the series.
• Swoop's cartoon color scheme is based on his blue-chested Diaclone predecessor rather than his red-chested Transformers release. This became an issue during Power of the Primes, when that toyline's Swoop figure used a cartoon-based color scheme, though Hasbro later released a "Red Swoop" redeco as one of the first Generations Selects figures.
• Then there's the thing with Astrotrain's animation model using the colors of an early prototype (as shown in early catalogs), while the actual toy sports an entirely different deco... and Takara released a variation of the toy in yet another different deco. Takara later released a reissue of the original toy in a color scheme resembling (but not identical to) the prototype through e-HOBBY, while other toys by Hasbro and Takara have been alternatively based on any of the three decos.
• On a smaller, but far more widespread scale, the cartoon tended to color-code the eyes of characters by faction, especially in the first two years: Autobots had blue eyes, Decepticons had red eyes. Meanwhile, in the toyline, many of the larger toys in both factions had yellow eyes, a lot of the smaller ones had silver eyes, and it wasn't uncommon to see red-eyed Autobots (most notably Grimlock). Modern figures tend to stick to the cartoon rules, but there are exceptions; Grimlock's toys and modern designs overwhelmingly favor red eyes, and Soundwave is known to have yellow eyes on occasion.
• Very much in the same fashion as FIRRIB, Robots in Disguise Skyjack and Cyberwarp have inverted color schemes in their toy designs; Skyjack has green stripes in her artwork with yellow stripes on her toy, and vice versa for Cyberwarp.
• Double Punch's concept art depicts him with blue accents, his toy would ultimately use red accents.^[7]

Notes

Product #5731 also includes Ravage.

• In the season 1 episode "Heavy Metal War", Teletraan I displays files on the Decepticons. The texts are, for the most part, lifted directly from the show's production bible, including Hasbro's product code numbers for the toys (which are listed on the toys' packaging). As a consequence, Rumble (misspelled "Runble") is given the detail "red robot".
• The Reveal the Shield "Demolition Rumble" toy, which was ultimately never released due to the cancellation of the 2010 Transformers toy line, would have been the first Hasbro-released toy to follow the cartoon coloration. Even more oddly, though, the deco was specifically based on the gold weapon variant of the Generation 1 Frenzy toy available in 1986.
• Hasbro's Aligned continuity family material, such as War for Cybertron, the Transformers: Prime toyline, and the Fall of Cybertron portion of the Generations toyline, uses the G1 cartoon's "FIRRIB" color choices for its Frenzy and Rumble characters, whilst Takara continued to use "FIBRIR" for their version of the Prime and Generations toylines. Though clearly patterned after their Generation 1 predecessors, they represent different-universe versions of these characters, so they're listed here instead of the chart above.
• Similarly, the Angry Birds Transformers incarnations of Frenzy and Rumble use the cartoon's "FIRRIB" color choices, but are technically considered separate entities from the above, having started as pigs before being turned into Deceptihogs.
• EarthSpark dodges the question entirely by leaving Rumble absent and coloring its incarnation of Frenzy purple, technically making her red and blue at the same time.
• While the War for Cybertron Trilogy's toy names follow the "FIBRIR" pattern as marked above, the official product description for the set that includes the blue robot takes a more 'laissez-faire' approach — the first recorded example of Hasbro directly embracing the chaos, and subsequently quoted at the top of this article. The Studio Series toys, meanwhile, went for cartoon-accurate colors, but explicitly pointed out the unusual nature of these colors-and-names combinations by officially calling the toys "Rumble (Blue)" and "Frenzy (Red)".

References