Phil's Beast Machines Review

[Philip Ayres]

Dec 1, 2008 21:26:14 GMT legios said:

Phil, you have actually hit on one of my main problems with BM Megatron - the fact that they wanted a Mega price point for what was basically a deluxe figure. It doesnt help that, bereft of the moody lighting and sinister music, the BM Megatron character model actually looks more absurd than impressive, mind you.

I never had the experience of seeing it on shelves though. My first experience of it in the plastic was seeing one that someone else owned, and being more than a little underwhelmed by it.

Karl

Change the wings and it would be a great dlx figure.

I too don't recall seeing it on UK shelves. I thought the only BM that legitimately made it to the UK were the first wave stuff, deployers & battle chargers, U Jetstorm & Nightscream and Supreme Cheetor.

I do recall the great, great days in 2001/2 when a huge pile of Battle For The Spark deluxe showed up in TK maxx and other independant venders.

[Philip Ayres]

Beast Machines Snarl

The 2000 Review of Snarl says "Snarl - VERY nice - a BM maximal done well. Well sculpted and proportioned line, simple transform and a very sleek looking robot. Some nice joints on the hip able you to vary the length of the rear/robot legs - go for the long or tall look. Clever joint on the mane moves the stuff below the beast head to behind the robot head. Looks v good."

Snarl's a lion - moanly gold but with some clear blue detailing and an orange mane. Back legs have ball jointed hips & ankles while they also bend at 2 different knees. His left leg has a panel at the top which slides up to reveal the Maximal spark in a circular recess in the leg. The tail is attached by a ball joint and also turns. There's a restricted ball joint about a third of the way along the body. Front legs are ball jointed at the hip, bend at the knee (but see action featured) turn at the wrist then bend twice in the hand in addition to the thumb joint out to the side. The beast head moves up & down and side to side inside the mane causing the mouth to open and close.

He's got two useable action features in this mode. His right leg has a wheel on top which when turned upwards causes the leg to bend up at the elbow. Releasing the wheel causes the leg to pop back down which restricts it's poseability a little. The other leg has a trigger in it's shoulder which causes the leg to shoot out a little just above the knee.

TF: Straighten the legs behind the toy and fold out the heel spurs. Move the hips so the ball from the socket is raised up closer the waist and not on the edge of the waist piece like in lion mode. Open up the base of the mane and fold to the sides. Fold down the chest, fold out the robot head, and turn it round so it's facing out. Fold the beast head into the robot chest with it's connecting strut behind it. Turn the mane halves round the piece connecting them and fold them back. Fold the top of the mane down and lock onto the robot head. Bring the mane halves together behind the robot's back. Remove the tail and place in the robot's hand - there's a peg there that fits the tail.

Well the TF's inventive but most of that is all about the head. It is effectively a stand on the back legs TF. The legs get the back leg articulation, the arms get the front legs and the gimmicks. The only new thing we gain here is a button on the robot's head which causes the mouth to open.

Overall: Cooled on this quite a bit since I first had it. There's not a lot here that isn't done better elsewhere.

Universe Snarl

TFU Snarl swaps the gold for black, the clear blue for clear red and makes the mane gold. OK repaint, nothing bad, but not spectacular.

[grahamthomson]

I think Snarl was actually my favourite BM toy at the time.

I gave him a rating of 64% on my old website: www.galaxy.connectfree.co.uk/bm_019.htm

[Philip Ayres]

Nov 26, 2008 22:10:37 GMT Andy Turnbull said:

I look forward to your thoughts on the BM Tank Drone.

Andy

And just for Andy:

Beast Machines Tank Drone

Early in 2001 the Vehicon Generals all got troop versions of themselves but in more show accurate designs and colour scheme. The Tank Drone was rendered at the basic size mainly in a pale grey with dark blue tread covers (over clear red), dark grey treads and head/turret (which turns) and a huge cannon - hinged at the base - running the length of the left hand side of the vehicle as you look at it. The Spark is mounted on the back of the cannon and like all Battle For The Spark toys forms part of the mechanism for the toy. If you push the spark down then it makes contact with a gear wheel housed in the rear tread. Moving the tank forward causes the gear wheel to turn which then turns the barrel of the cannon eventually depressing the trigger and discharging the missile. The cannon and the base of the back of the tank have some chrome pieces on them.

TF: fold the front treads forward and down as far as they will go. Fold the middle of the front of the tank back and up. Fold the treads down to form the legs. Rotate the waist piece so all the detail is on the front of the tank and the legs are bent back at the knee. Flip the heel spurs out. Fold the tread covers at the back out to the sides - note they're pegged in at the front. Fold the claws out the back of the tank and swing the sides down to act as arms. Fold the platform the cannon is attached to back onto the robot's back. Fold the neck piece back to put the head into place - this joint is possibly the stiffest on any TF and feels like you have to break it to get it to move. Then if you want fold the cannon platform back up 90 degrees so it projects over his shoulder.

Robot is small, but detailed. The legs look odd bending that way with the exposed track work at the front. You can turn the legs round getting a more traditional lower legs but that then means you've got a hole exposed in the waist piece. He bends at the knees but this is restricted to keep the toy upright and although the hips only move forwards and backwards they're actually connected by ball joints. The waist and head turn - head is lightpiped. Shoulders are ball jointed, elbows bend and the claws bend in. Gimmick doesn't work in robot mode.

Beast Machines saw a lot of experimentation with characters in multiple size classes and it's only right at the end that they discovered that smaller was better. Great toy

My original review said "Tank Drone: Small. But very nice. Excellent tank with a nice rotating gun launching missile gimmick. Transform was OK but I had BIG trouble with a very stiff joint on the neck piece - watch out there. As a nice touch on the robot you can produce either a show accurate treaded version or - by simply rotating 180 degrees at the waist a more traditional looking version with feet. Unfortunately neither has particularly straight legs ! I'm hoping that when the new assortment comes out over here they'll pack this potential army builder in large enough quantities..... "

Universe Stockade with Magna Stampede, Prowl (Emergency team) and Terradive (Air Military team)

Stockade returns in a Ultra sized pack for Universe with another Beast Machines basic and two minions. If you threw in another basic and another minicon it might then be worth the money !

I got the pack when it came out in the middle of my "must own every minicon repaint" phase and said this "Stockade is a mustard orange, burgundy, bronze and grey repaint of the Tank Drone. Looks nothing like the yucky bright yellow on the pictures. Works very well. " And it does. The mustard yellow was also used on the full size Tankor repaint albeit in different place. If I'd have had my way the two would have been bundled together.

Beast Wars Returns Tankor

When Beast Machines was released in Japan as Beast Wars Returns, they decided to make Tankor & thrust from their basic drone versions. Tank Drone's grey becomes a pale blue here, and his dark blue looses it's metallic edge. The chrome is gone as is all the clear red plastic. This is one of the few occasions that I prefer the western original - I think the Tank Drone looks a much nicer toy than BWR Tankor.

[Philip Ayres]

Beast Machines Battle Unicorn

I suspect I'm not the only one who's brain short circuits when they read the name of this toy and see Battle UnicROn rather than Battle UnicORn !

I'm starting to get some feeling back into my hands (more later, nasty TF related injury story en route) so I'll review this morning's new arrivals. (I love working at home on a Wednesday ;-) ) I told you there was a tf related injury story en route. I'd already mildly strained my hand pulling the tape off the box. One of the first thing that happened when I was transforming BU is his shoulder pad fell off. Could I get it back on ? Could I **** ! ! The pieces kept slipping out of alignment, refusing to snap into place. And when I did get it on I realised the **** thing was the one from the other side. Most people know I've got a bit of a muscle problem - well by that pt my hands were in agony from too much work and having to hold stuff for too long.....

But apart from the shoulders this is a great toy. The beast mode is solidly built like a cart horse and not elegant like Mach Kick. It's mainly coloured in grey with black on the body and clear blue on the rear hips. A head butting action is generated by rotating the spark in the Unicorn's left shoulder causing the head to lower pointing the horn forward and the neck to bend down. Each leg bends at the hip and the knee.

TF: The rear of the beast separates down the middle and folds to the side. The mane and the tale are on opposite ends of a staff like piece - set that to one side for now. Rotate the rear of the beast round at the shoulders and lock it round the unicorn's head with the horn sticking out the back. The upper front legs are raised to the sides as shoulder pads - the troublesome one has to fold around the spark which is where I ran into trouble, the back of the front legs fold up the back of the arms then the robot legs & arms fold down from the four beast legs. The mane/tale staff straightens out to form a weapon and can be placed into the robot's hands via a handle in the side.

The robot's head has a nice big spike coming out of it, and as others have commentated has a vaguely samurai feel to it. What no-one's said is the resemblance this toy has to the dearly departed Rhinox ! Both toys have horns, the robot head is similar with the addition of a horn that's more rhino like than unicorn, both have a Samurai theme. IMO This is Rhinox, reincarnated at the end of BM to once more assist the Maximals. The head is mounted on a ball joint, the shoulders turn, have a ball joint bellow them and then bend at the elbow. The hips are ball jointed, the knees bend and both halves of each foot are attached via a ball joint.

Insanely unavailable when first released at the end of Beast Machines a special production run was done by Big Bad Toy Store which took years to sell through completely !

Not a bad basic at all.

This review is adapated from an original written in 2001.

Universe Stockade with Magna Stampede, Prowl (Emergency team) and Terradive (Air Military team)

Magna Stampede is Battle Unicorn mainly in a pearl colour with some bronze on the spark, horn & the feet and metallic blue on the robot pieces. Looks nice, but who's idea was it to put on the Zebra stripes on the beast body.

[Philip Ayres]

Normally when I write a review I try to only talk about one mold per review. Tonight we'll make an exception. The beast riders are a rare venture for Transformers into the world of vehicles for the Transformer robots. Both toys are seemingly completely different yet have the same mechanism and TF. Actually they're just different shells attached to the same base base.

Each beast rider is shaped like an animal's head with a pair of swept back limbs as exhaust pipes and a double missile launcher inside the animal's mouth. Press down on the animal's nose and it cranks a motor causing the animal to shoot forwards with the arms behind it spinning.

Each beast rider has a transport mode: fold the arms under the sides of the vehicle so they point forward. Lift up the panel on the back of the head, point the gun barrels forward and the claw back. You can then stand a basic or deluxe figure on the back of the beast rider and use the claw to hold it in place (In Mechatron's case you'd go for Mega Megatron !)

Che

Yellow cheetor head with clear yellow face and clear green to the sides. Black spots and claws, Black missiles and gun unit. The image of Cheetor. Shame you can't use the matching toy with it. Illustrated as being driven by Buzzsaw.

Mechatron

Clear red dragon head with blue sides and arms. Black missiles and gun unit. Illustrated as being driven by Mirage. Surely a more blocky tank like vehicle would have been more appropriate for the Vehicons ?

Che Repaint

Che's repaint swaps clear blue for clear yellow and clear yellow for clear green. The black of the missiles and gun unit becomes yellow. The main painted colour is black and the spots become silver. An ideal vehicle for Night Slash Cheetor to pilot.

Mechatron Repaint

Mechatron's main body becomes clear purple with purple paint, the base sides and missiles become yellow. Interesting repaint and a pointer to a future colour scheme for Megatron ? The purple ties in nicely with that used on Combat Hero Megatron/Archforce and Beast Wars Ultra Megatron. Not the most complex TFs in the world but they're a bit of fun. And unlike some friction drive toys these do actually go !

[Philip Ayres]

The Deployers are robotic creatures that turn into weapons for the Transformers to use. Because there's no standard hand size for Beast Machines all the deployers form free standing weapons

Rav

Rav is a raven, molded in mainly clear red plastic, with a black opening beak, body and feet. The TF trigger is at the back of the beast - flip the trigger and out pops a double barrelled missile launcher onto the top of the beast and the head should in theory fold in. The legs fold into the body lowering the body shell closer the ground. There's a pair of crossbow bow halves that fold out to the sides from the missile firing end of the launcher. Each missile can be independently fired by it's own trigger. Nice bird mode, and nicest weapon mode of the three.

Chro (Rav Repaint)

Beautiful new dark blue colours improve on what was already a quite nice toy. Popular since he was shown paired with Cryotek in a Botcon comic.

[Philip Ayres]

Dillo

Dillo is a clear purple and blue mechanical armadillo. The end of his tail turns, his back legs can be moved at the hip and the front limbs move at shoulder and elbow. To TF Push up on the tail which causes the sides of the beast to move forward & out and the middle of the beast to flip over exposing a missile shaped like a pair of spiked balls linked by chain. The missile is fired from a stud half way along the exposed missile launcher. The larger of the three deployers in weapons mode.

Trench (Dillo Repaint)

New blue and red colour scheme - looked better in the darker original one.

[Philip Ayres]

The Deployers are robotic creatures that turn into weapons for the Transformers to use. Because there's no standard hand size for Beast Machines all the deployers form free standing weapons

Mol

Mol is a clear red and yellow burrowing very robotic Mole. He's got a disc attached to missile that can be fired out of his bottom and two guns that can be raised up on his back legs. His nose is a drill which can be spun by a dial in his neck. His front legs turn out to the sides. TF: Pull back on the back of the toy - the nose raises itself in the air allowing you to fold the feet back. Stand on the feet as a sort of drilling machine. Yes it's that poor. Not good at all !

Burro (Mol Repaint)

He's helped by the new Green and Blue colour scheme but still looks too robotic in both modes

[The Doctor]

If only the Rav repaint had been called Chav. Ah, if only.

-Ralph

[Andy Turnbull]

Dec 2, 2008 11:58:33 GMT Philip Ayres said:

And just for Andy:

Yaaaay!

Those repaints completely passed me by, but I have to say none of them look as good as the original Tank Drone. Arguably for me probably one of the best toys from the Beast Machines line. Neck and neck with the first release of Jetstorm.

Andy

[Philip Ayres]

Beast Machines Blastcharge

At the point Blastcharge came out there hadn't been any Vehicons for some while in either deluxe or basic size. He's a six wheeled armoured vehicle the front half of which is gold chromed. Viewed from the front the gold chromed grid and green clear plastic eyes form a face on the front of the vehicle. The rear of the vehicle (including the turret mounted on the back) is a sort of sandy coloured plastic. All the vehicle is covered in red tiger stripe/camouflage patterns. The turret rotates and elevates. It's got three missiles sticking out the front of it but only the middle missile is powered by a spring and trigger - the other two are just stored there. The robot's head can be folded out in vehicle mode so he's looking over the turret.

Blastcharge has a second vehicle mode - pull out the front of the vehicle extending the chromed cab and front wheels away from the back. They're connected by a strut that bends in the middle. This gives the vehicle some extra length and movement. See the Universe Blastcharge TFU.info page for pictures.

TF to robot mode: As far as I can remember what you need to do is fold the front wheels out to the sides bringing the robot arms with it. The front of the vehicle is then folded under the back of the vehicle, the turret folded back onto the very back of the vehicle. The wheels are folded forward at the sides, the front wheel is turned side on, the back wheel is folded under the front and the foot is extended out from under the foot. Or something like that. I'm reviewing this without one to hand right now !

The resulting robot is very odd and blocky. Incredibly he manages to bend at the knees, and the hips - his legs also swing out to the sides here. The head - complete with green lightpiped eyes - turns, there's ball jointed shoulders and bending elbows. The central missile on the chest fires - might have been nice to be able to fold the turret into the chest but alas.... The two spare missiles can be held as hand weapons.

Blastcharge has a bonus wheeled robot mode - unfold the legs, straighten the wheels so the edges face forward and position the foot wheel in front. It's a nice little bonus. See the Universe Blastcharge TFU.info page for pictures.

There's a lot going on here that makes the package decent value for money. However the robot looks like it's just thrown together and that detracts from the overall look.

Universe Blastcharge

Blastcharge made a late return in TF Universe - the gold and sand colours became black. The red pattern on the rear of the vehicle becomes silver, but it disappears on the front to be replaced by a blocky skull effect over the eyes and grill. The red robot parts become purple, the silver becomes grey and the clear plastic becomes clear blue.

Very *very* good repaint, probably the Beast Machines toy that does best out of Universe ! I need to stop looking at it or I'll be tempted to buy one !

[Philip Ayres]

Beast Machines Blackarachnia

My original Blackarachnia review said "BA's short front legs are a little disconcerting but other than that a very fine toy in an attractive colour scheme. Both are 6 inches + tall in Robot mode - towering over BM Optimus ! "

Blackarachnia was always onto a looser after the good and much sort after Beast Wars Transmetal 2 version. Here she's reduced to a deluxe toy again and molded in mainly gold (covered with green shapes) and purple plastic with some black for the early stages of the limbs and some clear green for the head. The back pair are ball jointed at hip & knee. The next pair on each side share a ball joint at the hip, have a straight flat edge between them, and bend at the knee & ankle. The front pair are far too small looking more like mandibles than legs and are ball jointed at their base. IIRC Moving the front pair of legs causes the mandibles to move which in turn does something with eyes inside the clear body.

TF: Bring the middle pairs of legs together to form the robot's legs which fold under the front of the spider. The back legs become the arms and the body 7 head fold out of the spider's abdomen. Something like that. Again this is a toy I don't have an example of in front of me.

The robot is quite thin and feminine looking but with surprisingly chunky legs. The head is molded with hair down the back and a gold visor with an additional three pairs of eyes molded into it. The head turns, the shoulders and elbows are ball joints, there's a swivel joint bellow the elbow and the outer two claw fingers move. I *think* there's a waist joint followed by ball jointed hips with bending knees & ankles.

Spider needs some work to make the front legs bigger. Robot is OK without being spectacular.

Universe Blackarachnia

Gold becomes yellow orange and looses the pattern. Purple becomes blue. Clear orange replaces the clear yellow green.

A brighter version of what came before.

Universe Crystal Widow vs Oil Slick

Blackarachnia returns as Crystal Widow in a vs pack with Oil Slick, a purple Decepticon version of Armada Sideswipe. Crystal Widow is similar to Universe Blackarachnia except that the orange is now a brighter redder orange than before.

Beast Wars Returns Black Widow

Finally when Beast Machines was released in Japan for Beast Wars returns Takara took the original version of the colourscheme and swapped the purple for a pinkish purple colour to more closely match the show colours.

[Philip Ayres]

Thrust

In 2000 I wrote : "Thrust is a very attractive stylised Motorbike - where the rider would go is not 100% clear ! There's a piston behind each of his robot knees - quite a cute detail - and a feature in both of his arms - left is a missile, right is a grabber. "

Thrust is an elongated motorcycle - a sort of Cybertronian version of a chopper. There's a wheel in front, another at the back under the engine segment which are framed by two large exhaust pipes and a windshield in front of the the engine segment that's molded to look like a face. The front hubcap, engine black and windshield are molded in yellow plastic covered in purple paint, whereas the rest of the vehicle is made up of black & grey plastic.

TF: The front wheel splits in half and folds to the side to form feet. The front hubcap retracts into the body. The exhaust pipes fold forward as arms and the engine block tips back to reveal the head. The rear wheel splits in two and fold onto the shoulders.

Robot is thin and tall. He's got ball jointed shoulders, elbows & hips. The knees & the ankles bend. As I indicate above the arms each have a gimmick - one's got a slider for the claw, the other has a trigger for a missile.

Overall: Very different design aesthetic for a TF. Looks completely different to the form seen in the cartoon.

[Philip Ayres]

I think we're done. I own none of the remaining BM toys - though Long Horn & Cycle Drone are on their way so they'll get looked at then. The remaining BM toys I had previously looked at have all been compiled into one big review and had picture links added. Blast Punch Op was pretty lengthy so I've set that aside by itself.

I have never reviewed Silverbolt or Night Viper so i may have to attempt these.

I'm having a few days break, then I'm off to London for a bit. When I come back it's time for Car Robots and Robots in Disguise !

[Andy Turnbull]

A well earned break!

Andy

[The Doctor]

I look forward to your thoughts on the RID era.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Turns out I've done a few already: The Spychangers of course, Obsidian, Storm Jet, Scavenger, Mirage GT, Night Cruz & Jhiaxus from Beast Machines. Dark Scream, Gas Skunk, Slapper, Sky Byte & Cryotek when I did Transmetals. Skid-Z vs Windsheer & Tow-Line vs Skyfire got looked at when I did the huge Flipchanger review (which may get madeover into individual mold reviews) and Dreadwind and Smokejumper I also looked at in the last year.

But there's still all the original Japanese molds, the Destructicons, the G2 Bikes, Combaticons, Scourge & Brave Max to look at (The last three of which I don't presently own but he let's have a go !)

Phil's RID Reviews shows what the current state of play is.

[blueshift]

Beast Machines Scavenger was fantastic, mostly cos you could make him into a million different crazy modes. I've reuploaded my attempt at giving him nine billion modes here:

www.redshirt.co.uk/toys/the-nine-billion-modes-of-scavenger/

[grahamthomson]

Dec 5, 2008 13:55:06 GMT blueshift said:

Beast Machines Scavenger was fantastic, mostly cos you could make him into a million different crazy modes. I've reuploaded my attempt at giving him nine billion modes here:

www.redshirt.co.uk/toys/the-nine-billion-modes-of-scavenger/

I love "Camp, Tired Dinosaur"!!

[blueshift]

Apparently there's a way to combine Scavenger with Mirage to make a dinosaur, but I can't remember how anymore

[Philip Ayres]

Not as done as I thought: cheap Longhorn & Cycle Drone showed up today so I'll be taking the Keyboard to them later on.

[Philip Ayres]

Motorcycle Drone

"quite nice, involved TF but slightly confusing that the result on the instructions is not the same as the photos of the toy on the front of the packet or the tech spec. A few stability problems but stands OK in wheeled robot mode with some support from the arms. Colours - red and grey - work well and the need to rotate half the head round in tf is quite amusing."

The Motorcycle Drone is Hasbro's attempt to do a more cartoon accurate Thrust at basic level while at the same time supplying troops for the vehicons generals. There's elements that are similar to the deluxe Thrust here - the elongated front, the head in vehicle mode (possibly representing handle bars), the large silver exhausts with the missiles shaped like flames sticking out the back. The bodywork however is a different colour - red - and shape entirely. The exhaust on his left as he's looking forward has a yellow spark mounted in the top of it - press is and the flames coming out of the back shoots like a missile. The bike is pretty stable already in this mode but should you feel the need to prop it up then fold down the claws on the back of the exhaust to add stability.

The Motorcycle Drone is blessed in the robot mode department - here are the two that are on the packaging plus an extra:

TF to mode one: Fold the front wheel forks down under the vehicle. Pull the exhaust away from each side and then pull out the red panel they're attached to. Separate the sides of the rear mud guard and fold forward. Separate the feet as necessary. This is the mode seen on the packaging at the tech specs.

TF to mode two: Fold the front wheel forks down under the vehicle. Pull the exhaust away from each side. Fold the back wheel to the side. Separate the sides of the rear mud guard and fold forward. Fold the top of the rear mudguard down. Fold the front wheel & forks as far under the toy as it will go. Swing up the strut the back wheel is attached to and fold the wheel flat against the robot back. Pull out the red panel the exhausts are attached to and fold down behind the sides of the rear mudguard/shoulder pads. Turn the top of the head round.. Separate the feet as necessary. This version is on the instructions and shown by TFU.info.

Both these modes are variations on the one wheel or two feet theme with a head on a neck that's ball jointed at both ends, ball joints shoulders & elbows and a swivel bellow the elbow. The only real difference is which side the missile firing arm ends up and what's on the chest. Both modes with stand on the wheel with some assistance from the missiles. It's also useful getting them to add stability when the feet are deployed as well ! Both arms have yellow claws at the end that are prevented from meeting by the missiles between them - on the missile arm they're connected to silver panels that fold back revealing the missile arm is cast from the clear yellow plastic too.

Our third mode uncouples the exhausts to use as the arms, folds the front wheel back as far as you can, folds the head forward and stands the robot on two wheels - you'll need to use the missiles at the end of the arms to balance the toy as per any of the other wheeled modes.

Overall: More show accurate vehicle and robot modes. At least two bonus robot modes thrown in. Well worth a look !

The Motorcycle drone was never repainted in the US and never shipped to the UK.

Beast Wars Returns Thrust

The Motorcycle Drone was used in Japan as their Thrust toy in beast Wars Returns. Broadly similar to Motorcycle Drone, Thrust uses a pinker red along with a darker grey on the exhausts and darker clear yellow on the missiles.