Phil's Dinobot Review Week !

[Philip Ayres]

In reorganising my reviews site I've noticed some gaps, especially centering around certain very good toys which are my favorites. I'm going to try and plug the gaps so to start with I'm holding a special event called Dinobot Week where I'm going to review all the Beast Machines Dinobots in all their forms which will also cover a sizeable chunk of the Neo range. The idea is to do at least one a day and when I'm done I'll do the animated version

I won't spam the forum with them so the reviews will be all in this thread ! All comments welcome !

[Philip Ayres]

Beast Wars Neo Guiledart

www.tfu.info/1999/Destron/Guiledart/guiledart.htm"

During Beast wars Neo some of the best Dinosaur toys in the Transformers range were introduced. Several of them have been repainted several times.

Guiledart is a Triceratops. The original version comes in a yellowy orange coloured skin with brown highlights. The Dinosaur has 4 legs that move at the joint to the body. As a dinosaur it looks pretty good.

All the Neo Destron toys have a third "trap" mode. In Guiledart's case he plays dead. Lie him on his side, flip open a side panel and pull the tail back to simulate battle damage. Push the middle horn backwards causes his eyes to roll back and his tongue to flop out. Nice.

TF: I've been dreading this bit. I suspect it might be why this mold has never had a proper review from me in the last 10 years ! Fold the front legs up so they're pointing skywards. Fold the back of the back legs down and flip out the feet and heel spurs. Pull the head forward. Fold the side panels down, and pull the middle of the underside of the beast apart. Pull the head down further, and pull the back panel along with the arm underneath it up. Pull the tail section up, fold the rear legs down behind the beast and bring them together at the hips to form the robot's legs. Turn the side panels round so the flaps are pointing down (beast) or forward (robot). Twist the robot's upper body round 90 degrees so it is facing forward. Pull the tail up as far as you can and fold the side halves round it. Remove the end of the tail. The head is on his right arm, raise that above the robot's head, spin 180 degrees at the bicep joint, straighten the arm, lower the shoulder joint to the side and bring the arm into position. Fold the left arm down from under the beast's back which forms a massive piece of shoulder armour. Fold the guns out from the end of the feet on the shoulder armour. From the shoulder armour remove a missile, which goes into the opened end of the tail you removed, flip down a handle and hold as the robot's weapon.

Robot mode exposes more brown and red, with a bandolier across the robot's chest. There was a bit of a Mexican bandit theme going on in the Neo Destrons. Beautifully sculpted head with a large horn on the front. He's got a bending ankle, 2 bending knee joints - one above and one bellow where the knee should be, ball joint on each hip, rotational joint above the waist that's v limited in robot mode, rotating head. Both shoulders shrug up - while the right also has a ball joint further out that the arm connects to, the left's rotational mechanism is right next to the body and lifts to the side by a joint further out. Right arm has a bicep swivel and a folding joint as the arm turn into the head, left has a ball joint at the elbow. Left arm is a little limited by the massive shoulder armour.

Spark is a pinky purple Destron spark (Predacon) placed in the missile launcher weapon.

So overall not bad, with a little limits placed on the robot's articulation due to the beast kibble.

Beast Machines Dinobot Triceradon

www.tfu.info/2000/Dinobot/Triceradon/triceradon.htm

Here's how I remember it happening: Beast Machines was a little slow getting started, so they needed some repaints to give them a bit more time. They picked an Ultra mold off the shelf in the US, and asked for the Neo molds in Japan from the previous year.

All I said at the time was "Dinobots are all neo toys - repainted in nice bright and metallic colours. Not too bad." Triceradon gets a brown skin this time, with yellow horns - effectively a reverse of the Neo colourscheme - while all the hidden internal parts on the toy like the guns and the missiles that were red are now blue. The spark crystal gets a change too - becoming a lovely green Dinobot logo.

Armada Dinobot Triceradon

www.tfu.info/2003/Autobot/Triceradon/triceradon.htm

I've never owned the Armada Dinobot release on Triceradon. Here it's obvious he should be Snarl ! He's more a silvery purplish colour here with dark blue internal pieces and has acquired an Autobot Symbol between his horns as well as another covering his Spark. Comes with Slapper - a US version of BW Neo Bazooka.

Universe Triceradon

www.tfu.info/2004/Autobot/DinobotTriceradon/triceradon.htm

And finally the Universe version

I said: "beautiful - from the grey/bronze Dino shell through to the slate grey body parts, with lots of burgundy on limbs and face plate ..... best version of this toy "

Having just looked at it now I'll stand by that. Lovely looking toy.

4 versions of the same toy (plus a remold in BW Neo's Killerpunch). No reason not to own one !

[Philip Ayres]

Beast Wars Neo Sabreback

www.tfu.info/1999/Destron/Saberback/saberback.htm

Sabreback is a Stegosaur Dinosaur. The original version of the mold is mainly grey with purple and blue stripe details on his back and green spines. All 4 legs bend at the knee, hip and ankle, but the back 2 legs are somewhat limited in their movement by the body (IE No movement possible)

All the Neo Destron toys have a third "trap" mode. In Sabreback you pull the tail off it's pegs and then fold the tail connected to the spines up above the dinosaur's head. Pull down on the spine under the tail, and the tail opens up - the under spine tab should lock this in place open. The open tail becomes a plant, a sort of venus flytrap, but it's hard to trigger it to close as a trap.

TF: Pop the tail off it's pegs and disconnect from the spines. Straighten the rear legs out and fold the backs of them down to form the robot legs. Stretch out behind the beast. Fold the lower part of the beast's side panels down beside the robot hips. Pull the front legs apart from the body bringing the upper side panels with it and exposing the skull inside the beast head. Fold the skull and base of the spines forward onto the front of the beast. Rotate the revealed head through 180 degrees. Fold the side panels up 90 degrees so the dinosaur head is pointing up. Fold the body up at the waist joint so it's straight, and then push down to lock. Bring the arms and shoulders forward and lock them onto the body. Fold the skull down onto the robot chest so it locks into and covers the spark. Rotate the body panels on the back so the beast head halves now point down. Fold the spines down onto the back, folding them out to the sides so they lie flat on the back. Fold the front legs out to form the arms, fold the toes back and fold the hands out. Lock the tail open as per the trap and place into the hand as a weapon.

Resulting robot has an Inca priest look with the shape of the head and the loin cloth and the exposed yellow and red. Lots of the robot parts are done in silver and grey. His legs bend at the ankles and knees, there's ball jointed hips, rotating waist, a rotating head that's severely limited by the spines hanging from it down the back. Ball joints are at the shoulders, there's a bicep swivel and the arms bend at elbow. Fold the beast skull on the chest up to reveal a pink purple spark.

Another Neo dinosaur with a complex TF. Great looking in both modes


Beact Machines Dinobot Striker

www.tfu.info/2000/Dinobot/Striker/striker.htm

All I said at the time was "Dinobots are all neo toys - repainted in nice bright and metallic colours. Not too bad." Striker gets a mainly gold colour scheme for his body, with yellow and orange stripes round the spines. The spines themselves are bright orange, with the robot parts picked out in 2 shades of grey blue. His Dinobot spark is coloured green. I think the colour scheme here isn't quite as good as Sabreback's.

Armada Dinobots Snarl

www.tfu.info/2003/Autobot/Snarl/snarl.htm

Yeah it's obvious that this mold should be Snarl, just like the Triceradon mold is Slag. Snarl's colourscheme is more silver grey with orange fins, so in that way he could be considered as being closer to the original Dinobot colourscheme. I don't have the toy but I'm assuming the spark is covered by an Autobot symbol.

Universe Dinobot Striker

www.tfu.info/2003/Autobot/DinobotStriker/dinobotstriker.htm

Universe Striker is coloured mainly in green, with some olive/brown pieces making it look much more realistic. Spoilt a little by the black, silver and red patterns along the spine. I don't own the toy, but it's a lovely repaint.

[Stomski]

I always wondered why my Triceradon had those ribs exposed under that panel, and now I know! Cheers Phil.

Looking forward to your Magmatron and Big Convoy (does he count as a Dinobot??) reviews

[Philip Ayres]

Archadis

www.tfu.info/1999/Destron/Archadis/archadis.htm

Archadis is an Archaeopteryx, a feathered and scaled dinosaur bird. The dinobird can flap his wings, bend his tail down, had 2 joints in his neck, an opening beak, ball jointed hips and bends his knee and ankle. It's quite articulated as alt modes go. The colouring of the toy is a mixture of blue, green and a bronzey colour.

There's no trap mode on this toy, but he has a bombing gimmick: there's a trigger on each arm that shoots the ends of the wings out and releases some feathers as bombs.

TF: Fold the lower legs up into the back of the upper leg. Fold the front of the upper legs down to form the lower robot legs and straighten out the feet. Rotate the waist round so that the neck is on your right. Fold the neck down to form his left arm, and the tail to form the right arm. Pull the bird's back feathers up, then fold the entire back and wing section to his right (your left) fold the wings over covering the pink purple spark. Flip the head up and rotate into place.

The resulting robot continues the western theme by using the wings to mimic a poncho as on a gunfighter. He's even got a quick draw feature - pull out the tail feather on his right arm and rotate, which pops the gun into his hand. Nice feature. The robot has ball jointed ankles, hips and shoulders, as well as ball joints at the elbow which only fold in. The knees bend and the waist & neck rotate. The left hand - the robot's beak - opens. The robot mode is somewhat thin and spindly but you can see what they're getting at. Not a bad attempt

Air Raptor

www.tfu.info/2000/Dinobot/AirRaptor/airraptor.htm

All I said at the time was "Dinobots are all neo toys - repainted in nice bright and metallic colours. Not too bad." Well Air Raptor as a repaint isn't too far removed from Archadis. The blue is darker, the bronze is yellow and the green is light blue. Not really different at all for you to need both.

[Philip Ayres]

Hardhead

www.tfu.info/1999/Destron/Hardhead/hardhead.htm

Hardhead is meant to be a Pachycephalosaur or so I'm told. Look it up on Wikpedia - it looks like him. What he actually is is a remold of the Beast Wars Dinobot toy (*technically* he's a remold of Grimlock but he's only a minor change from Dinobot) For this release he's got new robot head, legs and dino head. The Dino head has an action feature - pull the jaw down and the boney protrubrence on top of the head rises a bit. I didn't say it was a good action feature did I ? The toy is mainly purple with some pale blue visible.

TF: Bend tail up, Remove tail and fold base onto back. Unpeg robot legs and fold below body. Rotate 180 degrees at robot knee and fold out feet. Push on dino thighs rotating sides of body 180 degrees so that the thighs become the robot shoulder. Rotate dino legs just below thighs to form robot arms. Split tail in two down middle to form spinning weapon and remove sword. Mount both on hands. (nicked from Dinobot review !)

Plenty of articulation at ankle, ball and socket at knee and hip, shoulder - fore and aft and to the sides, bicep and elbow. An important note is that the hands do not exist - the weapons peg into a hole between the claws and face outwards. So he can't hold his sword horizontally - a remould to accommodate a side peg would be nice. The rest of the tail becomes a pretty useless spinning weapon. His shoulders also don't secure onto anything in robot mode - they rest on the folded up tail base. (also nicked from the Dinobot review. Lazy ?) The TF reveals much more of the pale blue than was seen before, plus the remolded robot parts.

Overall: It's just Dinobot with a few bits changed. If you've got a Dinobot it's not worth going after unless you find it cheap in vs pack with Sharpedge.

Dinotron www.tfu.info/2000/Dinobot/Dinotron/dinotron.htm

I thought the BM Repaint was called Hardhead too ! Turns out I was wrong, it's Dinotron. All I said at the time was "Dinobots are all neo toys - repainted in nice bright and metallic colours. Not too bad." (Last time I haveto quote that !) Dinotron makes the dinosaur a suitable green with black spots and highlights. Unfortunately they colour the bone crest in yellow. D'oh ! It's possibly the more realistic ofthe 2 colourschemes but I prefer the earlier one.

[Philip Ayres]

Terrorsaur www.tfu.info/1998/Predacon/Terrorsaur/terrorsaur.htm

The original Terrorsaur has - like Rattrap and Airazor - gained size on his conversion to beast mode. In fact looking atthem it's almost like they've swapped colours - Rattrap's got Terrorsaur's red and Terrorsaur has got Rattrap's brown. Added to this is some Purple (BW Lazorbeak) and a metalic colour that's somewhere between gold and green depending onwhich version you have.

The beast can stand on his legs - same posability as the robot, flap his wings move his neck and head up and down and open his jaw.

Like all Transmetal BW toys he's got a third vehicle mode: Pin the legs to the body, bring the arms forward, open the rear of the bird to reveal engines and flatten the neck to make something aproximating a plane. Yeah it's not too good but which of them are ?

TF: Pull the waist down and straighten the legsbehind him. Fold the beak inand pop up the hatch behind the neck. Fold the forward section of the bird body down to become the robot chest and fold the beast head up to fill the gap in the middle. The beast head should lock into the robot's waist. The outer wing blades can be removed then and pegged into the robot's palms as sword weapons.

The resulting robot looks a little gangly due to the very long arms formed from the wings. He's got double folding knees, ball jointed hips and shoulders, a rotating joint bellow the hip, folding elbow and rotating head. There's several joints in the shoulder - the arms could fold back and the outer shoulders/chest sides can turn - that I've never found a proper use for. The back of the robot is the back of the beast/plane so you can open this up to form a jetpack for him.

Overall: Decent articulated figure. One of the first I ever got through a trade !


Beast Machines Dinobot Terranotron www.tfu.info/2001/Dinobot/Terranotron/terranotron.htm

TFU.info says this is a recolour of TM Terry. Well.... it's only half right on the recolour score as everything the waist down, shoulders and head is coloured the same and clashes a bit with the rest of the toy - head, inner chest, fan covers and outer wings/arms are very pale blue grey and the chromework is red. The other reason they're wrong is that there's some remolding work done on the toy: he's gained a spark crystal in his engines - here it's a green Dinobot symbol. A tail end Beast Machines Dinobot release at the end of Beast machines. Checking my original short review I fins I said "T's a very lazy repaint of the TM Terry - the arms/wings, chest/robot head and back have all had a nice makeover in grey and bright metalic red. The shoulders legs and robot head are identical to TM Terry. Half a job done imo. Green Spark on the tail jets looks nice though" Yup, still agree with that now !


Armada Terrorsaur www.tfu.info/2003/Decepticon/Terrorsaur/terrorsaur.htm

Original review "TM Terry is foul Green and Orange combo - yuck. His minicon posts are on his engine flaps and in the middle of his back on the hatch covering his head, again surrounded by yellow energy details. Ironhide is a rusty brown Dune Runner Adventure Team minicon. Terry's colours don't do it for me..... "

Don't think I need to add much to that - except to expand on Ironhide.

Ironhide is a Dune Buggy with a gun mounted on the back. His roll cage lifts up and opens, and the gun can be rotated right the way round. His minicon socket is located on a block to the rear of the car.

His original - Dune Runner - was a member of the Adventure Team and still has his gear gimmick intact. You can roll him along a flat surface and the gun moves from side to side if the gun is facing forward - odd things happen if the gun points off to the side. Alternately clip him to the underside of Armada Cyclonus and Cyclonus' rotor spinning action powers the gun moving gimmick.

TF: Fold the front of the car down to form the legs, Spin the block round to show the face. Raise the arms up on the rear wheel axles.

Tiny robot has neck, shoulder, hip and knee joints. I've owned less articulated larger toys. A nice addition to the package, though perhaps one of the combining teams would have been better to encourage people to buy all the beasts - collect them all and build 2 extra weapons.

Back to Terrorsaur - The dark green is nice - if they'd used that more with something else it would have been a much better toy !

[Philip Ayres]

Sept 9, 2008 10:07:35 GMT Stomski said:

I always wondered why my Triceradon had those ribs exposed under that panel, and now I know! Cheers Phil.

a pleasure.

Sept 9, 2008 10:07:35 GMT Stomski said:

Looking forward to your Magmatron and Big Convoy (does he count as a Dinobot??) reviews

Magmatron's coming this week - The current plan is to do the rest of the BM Dinobots - Rapticon (TMII Dinobot), T-Wrecks (BW Megatron) and Magmatron (did you know Magmatron was a BM store exclusive ?) before doing the 2 Animated Dinobots.

From there I think I have to do a BW Dinobot/Grimlock but to be honest I'll just use & reword most of 10th Anniversary Dinobot review as a base. I want then to do the other Armada Beasts and the Combat Heroes/RID Destructicons. After that the other 3 Japanese BW Leaders and any BW Japan toys I've not covered (Neo Cybertrons, Bazooka, Rockbuster, Stampy, Sling, Break and Deadend) Then it's complete the BW TM reviews - I think they'll be 2 left to do after the Armada Beasts and Rattrap got covered in the 10th Anniversary line so that's a cinch.

I'm trying where possible (as you'll have seen) to cover all the versions of a mold in one review - it sort of makes sense nas the only real difference is the colour of the toy mostly (though I spent ages today thinking should I do Hardhead with Dinobot or not)

If there's anything else (especially Beast era) you'd like to hear my thoughts on or expand what's on the review site do LMK.

[Philip Ayres]

Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Dinobot www.tfu.info/1999/Predacon/Dinobot/dinobot.htm

Transmetal 2 is the 4th type of BW toys released in the west after BW, Fuzors (2 different beasts merged together) Transmetal (robot beasts and more organic robots - turning the concept on it's head). The idea here is the organic and the metal parts are mixed in both modes. To understand what this particular toy is you need to have seen the Beast Wars cartoon. The original Dinobot was slain in the 2nd series of Beast Wars, but in the third a new version was created by Megatron using some of Rampage's spark and a recording of Dinobot's mind. The resulting character was essentially a reanimated corpse and this is what this toy represents - bone structure merged with Transmetal pieces.

The overall look of the toy is quite vicious - lots of claws and teeth. His jaw opens, his head moves, all 4 limbs are ball jointed at the top and bend in the middle and there's articulation in the fingers and the toes - not quite enough in my opinion as there's pipes limiting the movement of certain key bits that you may want to move. There's an action feature where the tail flips as you turn a section at it's base. A new feature on the Transmetal II toys is that they have a concealed spark crystal instead of a rub sign sticker - a quite major departure. Dinobot's is under the top of his head - lift it up and you can see it. I don't have my original TM2 Dinobot here at the mo (I'm working from Rapticon and pics of the original) so I can't tell you what colour it is. Somehow it's appropriate that the spark is inside the skull but it's also quite morbid as well that you're flipping the head up to look in.

A word about Transmetal II/Transmetal 2: The original versions of the US cards were labelled Transmetal II. Reportedly the roman numerals didn't go down well with a US audience (test sample ?) so they went for the Transmetal 2 labelling instead. The first 3 deluxe and basic toys + Transmetal Cybershark can be found on Transmetal II packaging and are a packaging variation that is actually worth something !

TF: Been a few years since I last did this ! Pull the tail off. Fold the rear hip covers back, and pull back the top of the dino's back. Pull back the panel at the base of the neck. Pull the piece the arms are attached to back as far as it will come. Close the jaw and slide the head back on the neck. Fold the head and the neck down so they are on the underside of the beast's body forming the robot's chest and lock into the back panel. Fold up the panels connected to the robot's legs to form the sides of the chest and the arms. Fold in the small white panels on the outer edge of these blue pieces do they cover the gaps at the side of the chest. Fold the dino .back onto the robot back and clip the waist in place. Swing the robot arms forward at the ball jointed elbows. A socket on the tail base plugs into his left claw.

A stunning robot that's even more terrifying in robot mode with the feet becoming massively clawed hands. Unfortunately the pipes and things get in the way again and it's hard to get an arrangement out of the hands that is 100% pleasing.. There's no hands as such - this was the days before standard peg holes on deluxe toys. He bends at the knees and ankles, has ball jointed hips, shoulders and elbows, and has 2 bending joints in the claws in the hands. The head turns. No lightpipe or evidence of lightpipe. The spark chamber is now of the robot's chest. The face is a weird cyberised distortion of the original Dinobot.

Overall - good toy. Essential if you're a cartoon fan.

Variations: In addition to the Transmetal II/2 packaging variation mentioned above there's a mold colour variation. The first run Dinobot has ivory coloured bones, with dark blue robot pieces. The second - which shipped with a Prowl variation - has white (bleached ?) bones and paler blue robot pieces (and can't be found on a TMII card !) There may also be some differences in the chrome too! Go for the first if you can find it.


Rapticon www.tfu.info/2001/Dinobot/Rapticon/rapticon.htm


Original review states: "If you thought the TM2 Dinobot was Maximal of Borg wait till you see his new colour scheme ! Lots of very dark blue, pale greyish green and a very pale metallic green chrome with silver and neon green highlights. Yet another superb recolour (BM Buzzsaw, Rockbuster, T-Wrecks, FK Dinobot, Triceradon, FK TM Waspy) One slight gripe - an I haven't got my TM2 Dinobot at hand to check - is that the back panel of the robot that the head and shoulders click into now appears to be rubber rather than the rigid plastic I remember. It had deformed slightly in the packaging so a small struggle to TF it first time. "

And for commenting on the colour on Rapticon I don't think I need to add to that !

[Philip Ayres]

Megatron www.tfu.info/1996/Predacon/Megatron/megatron.htm

Megatron is one of the first two Ultra toys released for Beast Wars. It's not the first Beast Wars Megatron as there is a basic sized alligator in a 2 pack with Optimus Prime. This T-Wrecks is one of the largest Transformer Dinosaurs - probably behind Deszarus and Tripticon. The forearms are hinged at the shoulders, whereas the legs move at the knee and the toes. The dinosaur is capable of standing in a traditional upright pose and the more modern way of thinking of T-Rex's with the spine parallel to the floor. The lilac colour doesn't really suit a dinosaur but it's not that far removed from the grey traditionally used for Dinobots.

He's got 2 weapons gimmicks in this mode. Firstly the big round panels on his back hips pull out and rotate round to reveal 2 anchor shaped missile launchers. The other is in the head - if you pull the underside of the neck back and down it comes out to reveal a water pistol reservoir. When it's full and in it's place inside the dinosaur you can pull back on the top of the head for the Dinosaur to open it's mouth and fire the water pistol.

TF: Pull the hip panels out and swing them down on the leg. Open the back of the T-Rex up down the middle, fold down to the sides, and fold the panel at the front behind the neck down too. Fold the robot's head up from the middle of the body. Pull up on the middle of the body, turn round anti clockwise (as you're looking at it) 90 degrees, and fold back as far as you can. Fold the robot's legs down under the waist, fold the side panels of the beast further back and then lock the robot chest into place - making sure that the 2 panels above the robot waist slot into the robot's chest. Rotate both lower legs round 90 degrees at the knee., and fold out the heel spurs. Find the gaps along the top of the tail and pull the side panels down. Fold the top of the back of the tail down to form a claw, and twist the top of this arm round in the shoulder. Fold the head and neck of the beast down at the robot's shoulder to form the right arm.

The beast mode is a lot more exposed Black and Purple on the robot parts. At the time he was released Megatron had the most articulation for his size with bending toes, knee, rotation above the knee, ball jointed hips, a waist and neck, rotating shoulders with a fold to the side joint, bending elbows and a rotation on the robot head that form the right hand. In fact the biggest problem with this toy is that he has no traditional peg hole in the middle of a fist style hand. He can't hold any weapons. Instead he's got the water pistol firing head on one arm, and the other ends in a claw which is operated by pressing a lever on the elbow.

The robot has the "Mutant Head" gimmick of many early Beast Wars toys where the robot's head is covered by a mask or similar that's more bestial. Megatron's got a design with a horn in the middle, 2 eye sockets which you can see the robot's eyes through and a fan of bone on each side. Looks like a battle helmet. The head splits in two down the middle to reveal a more traditional Megatron head - if one with a slightly odd expression.

The lack of proper hands is a mild issue with the toy, as is the use of black on the chest plate and mutant head which hides some of the detail (see T-Wrecks bellow) But to be honest the main problem Megatron has was it was released in a case with possibly the best Beast Wars toy of all time and pales by comparison with it.

T-Wrecks www.tfu.info/2000/Dinobot/T-Wrecks/t-wrecks.htm

Original Review "T-Wrecks is easily dismissed as a Megatron repaint - which is essentially what it is. However it's one of the very best repaints that Hasbro have done. The colours are a straight spray op substitution - a beautiful dark brick red for the lilac and a dark blue for the purple highlights on the Dinosaur body. Transforming it reveals a swap from purple to sky blue for the upper arms, groin, face and inner missile launchers, a gold head for silver, neon pink internal mechanisms and missiles - which were black before I think - should have got Megs out before writing this ! - and a great off ivory type colour for the chest upper legs, heel spurs and mask that reveals the details on the chest and mask a lot better than the black did. Eyes are now a green colour."

Eight years later I still love this repaint and quote it every time someone asks me what my favourite repaints are. The mold is a revelation under the new colours, especially the bronzey ivory off white bone colour used on the chest and the beast helmet that bring forth so much detail - it almost makes T-Wrecks look like he's wearing the skull of an enemy slain in battle. You'll want the original Megatron because it's the Megs from the BW cartoon, but you need this too cos he is just so good in the new colours.

[Stomski]

I have both BM Magmatron and Neo Magmatron. I got both because I thought the BM one would come with those cool BM Dinobot spark crystals. I was wrong, it comes with Predacon spark crystals. Sigh.

I'm pretty sure I saw BM Magmatron on sale here at Woolworths once, but yeah, I think it was a Target excl. in the states.

[Philip Ayres]

That's my memory too. I've had the toy in my hands this morning trying to remember how it all works.

I think I've managed to TF Bazooka back to dino right for the first time ever this morning !

[Hero]

I have all three Animated Dinobots.

They are RULEeriffic!!!!!

[Philip Ayres]

Magmatron www.tfu.info/1999/Destron/Magmatron/magmatron.htm

Magmatron was the Destron leader in Beast Wars Neo , but the same toy and (I think) the same character appears in the Beast Machines toyline as a Dinobot. The toys are identical, it's just the packaging that's different. The BM packaging is a rather nice synthesis of the BM Dinobot style with some Japanese characters including the BW Neo Logo and his name in Japanese.. There's some Korean Takara versions that are identical to the Japanese ones that can be found quite cheaply. As well as this and the aforementioned US and Japanese versions there's also a giftset/VS set with this and Big Convoy in. Insanely expensive !

Magmatron is made up of 3 different beasts - think Duocons with one extra part:

The first component is the Landsaur - a giganotosaurus. This is mainly in purple, but has a large pale green chest with some red claws on it. The arms are ball jointed to the body, whereas the legs are attached by a universal joint, and have bending joints at knee and ankle. The rear of the legs house the robot leg parts, which fold down, and because there's wheels on the bottom of these you can have a roller skating dinosaur. Each of the Magmatron dinosaurs has an action feature and Landsaur's is it's missile launcher, housed in it's mouth. Remove one of the missiles from under the wing of the Skysaur and opening the mouth just wide enough place the missile into the missile launcher down the back of the throat. These missiles are red and curved, but I've always been convinced they were molded wrong - hey point slightly upwards coming out the mouth. If they'd have pointed down they'd have looked more like a tounge which I think was the intention ! Pull right back on the dinosaur head to fire the missile. All 3 of the dinosaurs have pink/purple Destron (Predacon) spark crystals. The spark for this dinosaur is mounted on the trigger mechanism.

Skysaur - a Pterodactyl type dinosaur. This red dino bird has legs ball jointed to the body with a hinge at the knee and ankle. There's 3 hinges in the neck and the beak opens. His action feature is flapping wings - pull back on the tale and the outer halves of the wings flap. There's a spark mounted on one of the wings.

Seasaur - a long necked swimming dinosaur called a Elasmosaur and has a very unfortunate choice of name (say it) The dinosaur has 10 ball joints in it's long neck ending in a haed with an opening jaw. All 4 of the flippers are on ball joints, and pulling back on the back flippers causes he front ones to flap. The spark for this Dinosaur is mounted inside the beast on one of the robot's arms.

Magmatron has a Fuzor beast mode: take the Seasaur and open it up at the tail end. Fold the back forward, flip out the side flaps at the base of the neck, and fold the robot arms out to the sides. Return the back to the original position but don't lock it in place. Fold the robot arms so they're facing up, bend the hands so the palms face skywards, and point toward the rear of the beast. Take Landsaur and position him so his body is parallel to the ground in the modern T-Rex standing position. Open Seasaur up again, turn him over and lock the Landsaur tail into the underside of the Seasaur's back - there's a peg and a clip. Close the Seasaur up locking the inside of the bottom onto the top of the tail using another peg and clip. Pull down on the Skysaur's neck unlocking it and fold under the wings so it's poking out the back like a tail. There's 2 slots on the underside which clip into the back of the Seasaur. The resulting Fuzorsaur looks odd, and only just works as it takes some effort to peg and click everything together.

You're best returning to Beast Mode to start the TF to robot mode, though some steps will be repeated.

TF: Take Skysaur, pull down on the neck unlcoking the beast and fold the unlocked underbelly down beneath the tail revealing the robot head. Fold the head forward at the first neck joint, keep the second straight, and fold both the third and the fourth back so the beast head is looking out in front of the robot head. Open up Seasaur from the base of the tail, and slide the arm that's hinged to the bottom half forward where it meets the top half: it'll slide out seperating the 2 pieces. Fold the connecting arm into the bottom half, fold in the side panels and set aside to use as a shield later. Fold the arms out to the sides of the Seasaur via joint alonmg the back of the shoulders. Fold a small panel out tothe front from the inside of the shoulder on your right. Fold both hands out. Take the Landsaur and remove the trigger mechanism by pulling on the bottom of the throat. Rotate the green panel on the chest 180 degrees. Where the dino arms now are you should be able to find 2 panels running down the sides of the beast, open these and fold the arms into them. Rotate the dino head 90 degrees so he's facing to your left, and fold forwards until the peg on the neck enters the hole on the back of the chest. Pull the legs apart slightly so the tail is loose between them. Fold the tail back and remove the sword hidden within the tail. Fold the panel that was between the beast's legs up so it covers the base of the tail. Turn the tail round 180 degrees at it's ball joint and peg into the backside of the robot. Pull the robot mechanisms down from the back of the legs, pegging into the lower leg and folding under the foot. Fold down the heel spurs. Pull the backside panel back a bit and push the beast hips together to form the robot's waist. Fold the backside panel down onto the back of the robot's waist to peg the waist in place. The Skysaur's arms should be raised alongside the face and then clips into the back of the robot chest panel and pegs into the robot's waist and the back of the beast head. The tab sticking out of the front of the Seasaur's shoulder on your right then plugs into the back of the chest panel on the non robot head side, there's a peg to go into the robot's back (Landsaur) and a clip between the Skysaur and the Seasaur that must be locked in place. The other arm folds under the beast head and clips into place. The Skysaur's hands have a slot that rests on pegs on the top of the robot chest. The remaining half of the Seasaur clips onto the robot's arm on your right (his left) Fold open the flaps on the trigger mechanism, put the sword into it and hold in the robot's hand - there's a peg on the handle and a hole in the hand. Finally thread the Seasaur's neck under the Skysaur's wing and peg into the robot's left shoulder.

The resulting robot is actually very solid if you get it right. The odd chest plate on the Landsaur now unites the robot by putting the colours of the Seasaur and the Skysaur in the middle of the robot where there parts are more round the edges. Robot can bend at the ankle (still ! despite the mechnism down the back and under the foot) and knee, there's a universal joint at the hips, the head has a neck joint but it's limited by having the arms supposedly locked to the front and the massive wings on either side of the robot head. There's universal joints at each shoulder and elbow, the wrists bend in and the thumb can be moved from opposing the rest of the fingers to sitting above them.

The sword weapon can act as a missile launcher, in fact you can remove the sword blade, fold down a handle and use it as a hand held missile launcher gun with the id of one of the missiles hidden within the Seasaur shield.

The robot looks very imposing with the huge wings to the side of the head, a dinosaur head sticking out of one shoulder and a huge shield on the other. It's a complex TF - it's surprising it holds together as well as it does for something made of 3 parts. Well worth tracking down !

[Philip Ayres]

Transmetal Megatron www.tfu.info/1998/Predacon/Megatron/megatron.htm

Transmetal Megatron is the 2nd version of Beast wars Megatron to appear on screen, but the third to be made as a toy - you never got to see the initial Crocodile form. Megatron is a Transmetal toy - the idea here is that the beast will look robotic and where possible the robot will look organic. Megatron actually shows this idea better than many TM toys.

He maintains his T-Rex beast mode from the earlier Ultra version of the toy but has come down a size class to a Mega toy. Not 100% sure I agree with that, I've thought of Beast Megatron always being big. I suspect it was to do with not having a Megatron and Prime occupying the Ultra slots more than once and having 2 new toy ideas they wanted to do as Ultras that year. Yes there was once only 2 large sized toys a year ! The T-Rex is mainly a mix of 3 colours - Metallic purple or blue (there's a significant variation here) on the head, feet and fans on the hips, a silvery grey on the tail, arms and back of the legs, and an orangey brown colour for the rest. Not sure what possessed them to use the last colour as it is a bit of a contrast between the earlier 2 !

The beast can open his mouth, move his arms, bend his knee and ankles, and has 6 limited ball joints on the tail which allow for quite a bit of movement. The tail ends in a scissor like serrated pincer which can open or close.

Like all Transmetal toy he has a third vehicle mode - push the feet up so they are along the front of the lower legs. Pull out and up the panels on each hip with the fans on. I think it's meant to be some sort of helicopter but it's not terribly good.

TF: Unclip the tail at the top and pull away at the bottom. Pull the entire hip panels - not just the covers and fans out and up to the sides. Fold the legs down out the back of the beast. Pull up the now unfortunately place connector for the tail, swing it round the waist 90 degrees and fold down to one side. Stand robot up. Pull up on the bottom of the 2 panels the beast arms are connected to. Fold the robot arms out to the sides, unfolding the arms themselves, and then fold the beast head into the gap between them. Turn the robot's upper body round 180 degrees at the waist. Unfold the connecting arm the hip and fan panels are connecting to and clip into the back of the beast head. Unfold a handle from the base of the tail and hold it as an energy weapon. The beast arms can be turned forward either side of the head to act as energy cannons.

The resulting robot is very scaly and reptilian on it's body, upper arms and upper legs. Most of this detail is done in a very dark brown not visible in beast mode. The robot has bending ankles and knees, a swivel above the knee, ball jointed hips, a waist, ball jointed neck and shoulders, bicep swivel and bending elbows. Importantly he has 2 hands ! An improvement over the Ultra version. The wheel gimmick for the vehicle mode can be used here too so you have the odd image of a roller skating Megatron - it's a shame the wheels are molded in place !

Overall: Not as big or as action feature laden as the Ultra. Slightly poor by comparison, but decent enough by itself.

Armada Predacon www.tfu.info/2003/Decepticon/Predacon/predacon.htm

When I looked at the first 3 Armada Beasts I said "The other 2 Street Speed Minicons - Spiral & Backtrack - come with the foul Predacon (TM Megs recolour) are now SkidZ & Sideburn"

I had a change of heart by the time I looked at him when I got one "A recolour of BW TM Megatron with a red Sideburn (Backtrack from the Street Speed Team) and a metallic brown Skid-Z (Spiral, from SST - the 3rd Member Oval appears with the Airazor repaint) The cars seem the same quality as the originals. Predacon looks a little odd with olive green, dark green, grey, silver and a deep burgundy but somehow it all works. The only questions I'd level would be maybe only using one green would have been better (for me the darker one) and the orange Energon spark marks round the Powerlinx points. The cars don't really suit him as minicons - looks good with most of the weapon minicons, but for me the weapon he's meant to have is the Dimension X (Radioactive) Requiem Blaster. A note that he appears in the Unicron Battles packaging !"

Sideburn - (a red versionBacktrack from the Street Speed Team) is a small minicon car that rolls ok on it's 4 wheels. Port is at the back under the boot.

TF: Pull forward the legs from the front of the car, seperate them, pull the feet forward from the front and bend up. Slide the sides of the car out to form the arms and then pull back to lock them in place. You're probably best turning the car over and manipulating the pins through the slot with the end of a small screwdriver or similar. Fold the arms down and fold the boot down to reveal the robot's head. Turn legs round at waist.

Resulting robot is very articulated for a minicon - bending elbows, knee and ankles plus ball jointed hips and shoulders. Because the toy is so small there's low tollerance on all the joints and it can come to bits very easily - especially the elbow joints

Skid-Z (a metallic brown Spiral, from SST too) is also a car. Once again the storage port is under the boot.

TF: Fold the sides of the car down under the front, pull down on the front extending the legs, pull the very front out to form the feet and fold them up. Fold the boot down to become the robot's chest. Spin the waist round 180 degrees. Split the roof of the car in two and fold to the sides to become the arms.

Resulting robot has the same articulation as Sideburn and the same tolerance issues on the joints.

You can't really argue with small bonus repaints - although in Predacon's case they're in to bung him up a size class. A complete team may have been better value, or, as I said when reviewing Terrorsaur, it might have been nice to have the combining weapons split across the beasts with myabe one of each team in with Predacon.

Predacon himself: The olive green is a swap for the metallic purple, dark green for the silver, the grey & silver for the bronzey brown and the deep burgundy for the robot mode brown. Yes the colour combination is still slightly odd but it all works.

Still think he'd be better off with different minicons though !

[Philip Ayres]

Beast Wars Dinobot

www.tfu.info/1996/Maximal/Dinobot/dinobot.htm

Beast Wars Dinobot is the first time the name Dinobot is used for an individual rather than a group. As a t oy it stands out against it's Maximal brethren - it's the only cold blooded Maximal (All the other Maximals are warm blooded, the Predacons are cold blooded/insects) and he's the only Maximal that uses clear plastic - something that's otherwise reserved for Predacons in early Beast Wars rendering a lot of designed lightpipe eyes useless.

The dinosaur raptor - insanely popular at the time of this toy's debut due to Jurassic Park - has articulation at his hips, thighs, knees, rear legs claws, shoulder and elbow. His tail spins if you push the button on it ! This version is mainly pink, with a brown painted ridge down the back and some clear orange on the underside of the beast. Which, and lets be honest here, looks not much like the underside of a Raptor and more like a pair of robot legs and feet folded up that the designers couldn't make fit anywhere else.

To TF: Bend tail up, Remove tail and fold base onto back. Unpeg robot legs and fold below body. Rotate 180 degrees at robot knee and fold out feet. Push on dino thighs rotating sides of body 180 degrees so that the thighs become the robot shoulder. Rotate dino legs just below thighs to form robot arms. Open the Mutant head (effectively a battle helmet down the middle) to reveal Dinobot face. Split tail in two down middle to form spinning weapon and remove sword. Mount both on hands.

The resulting robot shows off a lot more of the clear oranger - on the legs, body (behind dino head) and the Mutant Head mask. I don't mind the mask too much but lots of people did object to it so you'll see loose ones turning upo without it. It's important to note that the eyes on Dinobot don't have the lightpipe gimmick activated even though (IIRC) there's an orange block in the back of the head.

Plenty of articulation at ankle, ball and socket at knee and hip, shoulder - fore and aft and to the sides, bicep and elbow.

An important note is that the hands do not exist - the weapons peg into a hole between the claws and face outwards. So he can't hold his sword horizontally - a remould to accommodate a side peg would be nice. The rest of the tail becomes a pretty useless spinning weapon. His shoulders also don't secure onto anything in robot mode - they rest on the folded up tail base.

A high demand character at the time - he's a dinosaur and he's in the cartoon - Dinobot was usually one of the first toys to go. He was one of the first BW dlx toys I bought along with Cybershark from the Toystack in Ealing. It's worth having, though there's plenty of variations to choose from as we'll see.


Beast Wars Grimlock

www.tfu.info/1997/Maximal/Grimlock/grimlock.htm

We start with a story: 1998 - the first year of Beast Wars in the UK saw the toys selling insanely well. So good that come Christmas Toys R Us was importing cases of the last US Beast Wars deluxe case, and the first basic case containing Fuzors. In the dlx case was Grimlock - who like most other BW repaints didn't get a UK distribution. WHY ?? He's Grimlock and there's a huge fan following for him. In fact the card makes it clear that this Grimlock is *the* G1 Grimlock the first BW Toy to explicitly be his namesake,

Grimlock is mainly a straight colour swap on Dinobot. The pink becomes white, and the clear orange becomes gold (I don't recall any tales of GPS affecting Grimlock though) The brown striped pattern is gone replaced with black uneven spots. TF'ing him reveals a very dark blue helmet with a white face plate.

There's a minor remold that's carried forward to all subsequent Dinobot/Grimlock versions (and it's descendants) in that the chest piece under the head is flattened to provide a panel for a rub sign to stick to

It's a lovely repaint and well worth getting


Fox Kids Beast Wars Dinobot

www.tfu.info/1999/Maximal/FKDinobot/fkdinobot.htm

I said "Dinobot's translucent sections are now opaque - again need to see this transformed to get an opinion"

The pink is now a dull goldy bronze colour - except for the robot shoulders, upper legs and beast arms which are the very dark brown used instead of the clear plastic. The stripe is red, and the helmet is painted gloss black with a red face plate.

It all comes together to form a colour scheme that I've come to think of as a very good repaint !


Armada Grimlock

www.tfu.info/2003/Autobot/Grimlock/grimlock.htm

This mold replaces the pink with silvery grey, the orange (and robot shoulders upper legs and beast arms) with a pale gold colour, make the stripes red and adds an Autobot crest to the beast head. Doesn't float my boat as much as the previous 2 repaints.


Beast Wars 10th Anniversary Dinobot

www.tfu.info/2006/Maximal/Dinobot/dinobot.htm

Dinobot is brown - where previously pink - brown, with darker brown markings and darker brown thighs, arms and underside Maximal symbol on his left thigh. Some pink parts and all clear orange parts are now cast in the brown.

The robot mode reveals a lot of painted blue and green detailing not previously visible - and the blue used to cover the face plate is very jarring and monochrome. Having said that it is the colour used on the TV show - just a bit brighter here. It doesn't help his face lacks the shape of the TV version, instead being shaped more like Grimlock's. Why they used it for the inside of the spinning weapon as well I don't know.

So overall - Nice paint job on beast mode, maybe slightly flawed on the robot due to using the bright blue. Problems with hands and shoulders continues from previous versions.

Futrue Repaints: Obviously a re-release of BW Grimlock would be nice - briefly and gloriously available in the UK through Toys R Us in the run up to Christmas 1998. Perhaps a silver/grey G1 Grimlock homage ?

There are also 2 remolds to Dinobot one of which is availible in 2 different colours: See my Hardhead/Dinotron review for one, the other being the Cyberbeast Thrustol that I hope to cover in the future.

[Stomski]

This is possibly Phil's greatest thread ever.

[Philip Ayres]

Sling

www.tfu.info/1999/Destron/Sling/sling.htm

Sling is one of 3 new mold Beast Wars Neo basics. He's a mainly green dimetrodon - with some orange on the underside - it's a long lizard like Dinosaur with a large rounded fin on it's back referred to as a sail (I checked !) The sail and back of the dinosaur have a white stripe pattern on them. The jaw opens, and all 4 legs are hinged on ball joints, but because the legs are not neutrally posed there's really only one position they can be in.

Sling has the trap mode common to each of the first 4 original Neo dinosaurs. Simply split his fin in 2 down the middle and fold each half to the side. Inside there's a yellow and red flowerlike pattern and a knob at the centre. Press the knob and the entire thing springs closed venus flytrap/man trap style. Nice.

TF: Pull the spine away from the back and the back away from the underside of the body. Fold the spines to your right and the back to your left, swinging the forelegs under the body. Turn the robot legs round at the robot's waist 180 degrees, turn the beast head round 180 degrees and fold down onto the chest. Fold the root head up from inside the chest cavity, lock in place and spin it round. Cover gaping hole in the back by moving the forelegs round. Fold beast tail up onto one of his arms and open the fan as a shield on the other.

The resulting robot is very thin and very orange with Dimetrodon pieces hanging off the arms and chest. His helmeted head looks similar to Terrorsaur with a crest down the middle. On his right arm is his tail which I assume is meant to be a gun or a sword, on his left is he sail forming a shield. The beast head covers a pink/purple Destron (Predacon) spark crystal, and if you look inside the back of Sling you can see how it works - a metal disc covered by clear plastic which distorts the shape of the hole in the metal to form the faction symbol. Ball joints abound on this toy as was the norm at the time - they are after all the easiest way to get a large range of motion. Ankles, knees, hips, waist, neck, shoulders and elbows. The fists have a very small peg hole (2mm tops !)

Overall: Not the worst basic in the world by any means, but it doesn't set my world on fire. I think the vast expanse of orange isn't helping, it's very plasticy and an odd colour.


Sludge

www.tfu.info/2003/Autobot/Sludge/sludge.htm

When doing the Dinobot range in 2003 it was obvious who to use for Grimlock, Slag, Snarl and Swoop (shame they didn't make sure they had all the names available first) Sludge represents a problem - what toy do you have him as there's not been a TF Brontosaur/Brachiosaur since ... well G1 Sludge (OK one of the Japanese Pretender Dinosaurs, yes) They went for the Sling mold. Most of the other Dinobots in this Armada 2 pack series (they were on Armada style cards, OK ?) are some variation of silver/grey. Here they've hung onto the green - if anything made it darker - turned the orange into black and painted the stripe pattern in a goldy yellow. The resulting toy looks quite dark, and realistic in both modes. Not a bad repaint at all !

[Philip Ayres]

Terrorsaur www.tfu.info/1996/Predacon/Terrorsaur/terrorsaur.htm

Terrorsaur is the basic Predacon pterodactyl that appeared at the start of
Beast Wars. He was featured in the cartoon in the first series but killed
off early on in S2 in unspectacular make room for the new characters
fashion.

His beast mode is a solid piece of plastic taking up most of the wing and the body. The jaw is hinged and that's the only meaningful articulation he has. This original version of the toy is mainly coloured red with a green pattern on his back.

Terrorsaur is a Flipchanger beast - pulling back on his head releases the mechanism TF'ing the body. The arms are then unpegged from where they served as the robot, and the gun is removed and unfolded from a little slot behind his head.

The robot has the standard for the time of ball joints at elbow, shoulder, hip, knee and neck, plus one on each ankle. The robot exposes some black that wasn't there before but is still mainly red and has the beast wings on the robot's back.

A simple basic basic toy, but does the job. Recommended.


Lazorbeak www.tfu.info/1997/Predacon/Lazorbeak/lazorbeak.htm

Hmmm. Wasn't Laserbeak the red tape bird ? Ooops, that colour's gone. So this version of the mold - the first (and only ?) basic repaint released in the main BW line is done swapping the red for blue and the black for red, and adding a different red paint scheme to the beast's back.

Looks great. Get one even if you have the original Terrorsaur as your Predacon army can always use more troops.


Fractyl www.tfu.info/1997/Predacon/Fractyl/fractyl.htm

Fractyl is a Botcon exclusive version of this toy, swapping red and black for green and white, and adding some gold paint. Puts you somewhat in mind of Transmetal Terrorsaur !


Hydra www.tfu.info/1999/Destron/Hydra/hydra.htm

Lazorbeak with some additional silver paint on the wings in beast mode, and the red on the face and legs replaced by silver in robot mode. Frankly it isn't a huge difference, and I always used my Lazorbeak as Hydra. A quick note on the name - he's paired against Rockbuster in a vs pack. Buster and Hydra were the names for Darkwin and Dreadwind in the Japanese Masterforce series.

Swoop/Terrantatron www.tfu.info/2003/Autobot/Swoop/swoop.htm

Odd one this - the toy was sold with Dinobots Grimlock under 2 different names. We all know it's Swoop so maybe a legal issue about the name arrose/was cleared up during the toy's production run. Green for red and orange for black here. OK repaint.

In addition there's an unproduced white & Orange Swoop repaint for a late 90s convention (Transcon) that was cancelled. Boxart can be found on the net.

[Philip Ayres]

Bazooka www.tfu.info/1999/Destron/Bazooka/bazooka.htm

Bazooka is a basic sized Ankylosaurus. It's main colour is orange with green highlighting the spine. The tail bends up and locks, and is released by pushing a trigger on .Bazooka's back. Mouth opens. All 4 legs are on ball joints.

TF: TF'ing to robot is easy. Getting back isn't so take a good look at where everything is first when you turn the beast over: His right arm (your left) ends in the right rear leg, the left arm (your right) ends in the head. The robot legs are bent up so that the inside of the leg runs along the edges of the robot's lower torso, with the lower legs bent as far behind these as possible. The shell is slotted on to the top and bottom of the robot torso. Got that ? If you get a new one please take a photo of how the legs are arranged there and keep it in a safe place. Better yet send on to me as I'm still not sure I've got it 100% right ! Onward: Fold back the beast legs that aren't attached to a robot arm. Fold out the robot legs, spin the lower legs round at the knees and fold down the toes and heel spurs. Fold the head out revealing the robot's left arm. Unclip the back beast armour and swing the front beast armour onto his left shoulder. Fold out the right arm, and then the hand. Position the back and tail along the right arm. Flip up and turn the head. Remove the weapon from within the tail and place in the robot's hand - it can function as an axe or a gun.

Robot has the standard BW articulation of ball joints at neck, knees, hips, shoulders and elbows. His feet and heel spurs bend up as part of the TF. There's a purple/pink Destron (Predacon) spark exposed in his chest. The robot has some balance issue due to all the beast clobber hanging off.

I quite like the toy in both modes. I just dread turning it back into a beast.


Slapper www.tfu.info/2003/Autobot/Slapper/slapper.htm

Slapper is the new 6th Dinobot for the Armada Dinobots. Hehehe - the Dinobots now have a Slag and a Slapper. A straight colourswap here - orange for grey, green paint and grey plastic for red, white paint for gold. Basic G1 Dinobot colours like most of the rest of the armada Dinos. Spark crystal and robot head both have an Autobot symbol on them now - a little effort in making Autobot sparks for these would have gone down well.

[Philip Ayres]

Dead End www.tfu.info/1999/Destron/DeadEnd/deadend.htm

Dead End is an Ammonite. An odd choice for a TF perhaps ? It's basically a snail with a squid coming out the shell. No moving parts in animal mode. The shell is white with pink striped, the head is white with green eyes and the tentacles are purple. When the toy was released in Japan it's vs pack paired it with Break - giving a nice little homage to the Stunticon pair of Breakdown and Deadend. (see also Rockbuster and Hydra)

Like all the early Neo toys Dead End has a trap mode.. Face the toy towards you. Lay it down on the side on the right. Press the trigger sticking out the top of the beast and the side pops off mimicking a land mine !

TF: Pop the side off the toy. Again take look at where things are before you start. Take a photo even ! Closest to you the robot leg is bent behind the robot's back, the arm is folded in front of the robot with the forearm at right angles along the front of the robot's chest. Towards the back the arm is folded back and runs the length of the robot's back straight, while the legs is bent forward and bent at the knee up the robot's front. Clear ? Detach the tentacles and set aside as the weapon. Pull the robot out and back from the shell straightening the connection to the rear arm. Fold the closer arm forward onto the side. Bend the beast head back. Straighten the legs into position. Fold the beast head under the body of the robot, then up it's back over the top and onto the robot's chest. Bring the arm with the launcher on it round so the spark on the launcher faces forward. Fold the launcher and the shell connector on opposite shoulders out so they're resting on the shoulder pointing outwards and as far away from the body as possible. Reconnect the removed shell half and place the weapon in his hand.

Resulting robot suffers from beast kibble in a huge way with half the shell hanging off each arm. But because they're both round they look OK - and even remind me of Micronaut's Microtron. The beast head provides nice chest armour, while the tentacles give a decent weapon - it's only here you spot the twin barrels lurking within them. Head is a bit egg shaped with squid tentacles up the sides. Articulations: Ball joints at neck, shoulders, elbow, hips, knees and ankles. The arms are a little hard to fiddle with as the shell halves get in the way but both are removable.

Overall: Decent basic. A odd choice for a TF - like some other Neo beasts but it works well.

There's no existing repaint or US release of this toy.

[Philip Ayres]

14 reviews covering (I think) 37 toys ! Nobad for 4 days work.

You'll have the Animated Dinobot reviews at the weekend.

If anyone spots any Dinosaurs (especially BW ones !) they think I've missed then LMK !

I've got an idea for 2 other themed review weeks !

[Hero]

Best thread ever!

[kayevcee]

It's true. You have put a mighty amount of work into these few posts Phil, and we appreciate it.

I've always liked Dead End. I think it's because he's one of the few J-TFs I managed to pick up when I was in Singapore.

-Nick

[Philip Ayres]

Thank you for your kind words.

[The Doctor]

I had no idea there were so many dinobot toys.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

I've missed a couple:

Killerpunch, cos I don't own him anymore but I may try to do him from the pictures.

Crazybolt, cos I've got one coming (dirt cheap too !) and I want to see what the colours look like in the plastic. I'm also saving him for a potential review all the BW Basics run....

[The Doctor]

Do it. Do it. You want to review all the Dinobot type toys. Do it. Do it. Now. Yes. Do it. Obey me. Do it.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

I obey

[Philip Ayres]

Killerpunch www.tfu.info/1999/Destron/KillerPunch/killerpunch.htm

Killerpunch is the final regular Destron release in the Beast Wars Neo range. He's a remold of Guiledart - the first release. He's available by himself or paired opposite Survive - a grey Polar Claw Repaint - in a VS pack. He's probably the hardest of the regular Neo toys to obtain.

I'm told Killerpunch is a Styracosaur. The major change from Guiledart in beast mode is the head is replaced with a new one - a horn at the front, and a horned frill at the rear. Gone is the rolling back the eyes gimmick. The beast is coloured a pale purple/lilac.

Under the head is a trigger that shoots the entire head off revealing a slim robot beast head underneath. This robot head can open his jaw upwards. The panels on the side of the beast still open - doing this and removing the head forms Killerpunch's "dead" trap mode. The tail doesn't pull halfway out for some more exposed gore on this version.

TF: Remove the beast head and the tail. Fold the front legs up so they're pointing skywards. Fold the back of the back legs down and flip out the feet and heel spurs. Pull the head forward. Fold the side panels down, and pull the middle of the underside of the beast apart. Pull the head down further, and pull the back panel along with the arm underneath it up. Pull the tail section up, fold the rear legs down behind the beast and bring them together at the hips to form the robot's legs. Turn the side panels round so the flaps are pointing down (beast) or forward (robot). Twist the robot's upper body round 90 degrees so it is facing forward. Pull the tail up as far as you can and fold the side halves round it. The head is on his right arm, raise that above the robot's head, spin 180 degrees at the bicep joint, straighten the arm, lower the shoulder joint to the side and bring the arm into position. Fold the left arm down from under the beast's back which forms a massive piece of shoulder armour. Fold the guns out from the end of the feet on the shoulder armour. Take the tail you removed and hold as the robot's weapon. The beast head can be held in the robot's hand as a shield - you'll need to put the weapon back in the tail - or mounted on the robot's claw hand formed from the cyber beast head or mounted on the robot's back.

The robot reveals plenty of red on the exposed robot pieces and a new helmet with lots of ridges and a bar over the front between mouth and eyes. Gone are the missiles from Guiledart, but if you have any of his to hand they'll fit into the launcher on Killerpunch's cyborg beast head.

Worthy remold. Quite hard to find. There's no US or repainted version availible sadly. There should be.