Rare Toy - Razorclaw

PLEASE NOTE: This review was originally written at an earlier date, so it might be outdated or lacking by my current standards



Razorclaw

"At the end of the Third Cybertronian War, the Decepticon army, at long last, was no more. With many Decepticons destroyed or in hiding, Razorclaw came to realize that if the Autobots were to ever be defeated, a new army must carry on the fight. A Predacon Army! In time the "predacon" empire became the main opposition to the Autobots. They attacked Cybertron with ferocity never before seen. The Predacons appeared to have a chance at achieving what the Decepticons never could...victory! However, just as with the Decepticons, treachery and deceit existed within the Predacon ranks, and the three who would become the Tripredacus Council assassinated Razorclaw... or so it was believed. Now, many stellar cycles after the reformatting of Cybertron, the Predacons have returned, with Razorclaw once again leading the army. What happened and how he returned is a mystery. What is known is that he is stronger and more determined than ever, and he will do what is needed to take back Cybertron and destroy every last Maximal!"

Role: Predacon Commander

Quote: "All good things do indeed succumb to those who wait!"

Strength: 9

Intelligence: 9

Speed: 7

Endurance: 10

Rank: 10

Courage: 9

Fireblast: 7

Skill: 8


Robot Mode



Razorclaw's Robot mode is very simple, he's a Voyager class figure, so he's quite large, especially compared to his set mate Elita-1. However, despite his size he is a very basic in design figure, much akin to the old G1 figures. His arm joints are able to move, but only by rotating like a windmill, unlike many other recent figures that use ball joints. Razorclaw's lower arms are able to fold outwards by 90 degrees, and can also rotate 360 degrees on it's axis as well.

Whilst his hands aren't jointed, the "fingers" are able to be positioned as a group to help form a fist or an open hand, as with his "thumb" as well. His hand is also able to hold his beast mode tail as a whip/bladed weapon depending on your personal orientation on what the weapon is. This weapon can be held in either hand, but because of it's and Razorclaw's designs, it cannot be held by any other toy mold, and Razorclaw cannot hold any other weapons either (this of course means that those who share his mold - Leobreaker, Nemesis Breaker, Leo Prime etc - can hold his weapon, and Razorclaw can hold their weapons as well)

Razorclaw's legs have more articulation that his arms do, since they can pivot at the thigh at almost any angle, also he can bend his legs at the knees as well, allowing Razorclaw to sit in a chair like a human can. Razorclaw's feet are also able to support his full weight as they have a "stiletto" that can fold down when in robot mode


Alternate Mode



Razorclaw's alternate mode is of a male lion in yellow (body), orange (mane) and red and black (limbs) with some odd bits of other characters positioned over him

Razorclaw also has 2 sets of large claws that can flip out by the Cyber Key he comes with (one at a time) or just by tugging on them hard enough with your fingers

He is also able to position his legs in any pose really, just like a lion would, so he can look like he's prowling, pouncing, anything within reason really!


Transformation

The Transformation sequence for this figure is incredibly easy, since you basically just have to make the beast mode stand up, move the torso part into a clip, reposition the arms and pull out the head.

So despite being a Voyager class toy, he has the difficulty of a Legends class figure to transform


Accessories



Razorclaw comes with his detachable tail which can be used as a whip in robot mode. Also of some note, the tail can be inserted so the point at the end is pointed upward in beats mode, or downward.

Razorclaw also comes with his Cyber Planet Key. It is a repaint of the Planet X Keys from the Cybertron series, but repainted to emulate the Golden Disk from the Beast Era


Availability

Razorclaw was made available at Botcon 2009 as part of an Add-On Souvenir set which also included Elita-1. Both figures were based on characters who had appeared in previous Club stories (Games of Decepticon and Dawn of Futures Past)
I received mine at Auto Assembly 2009 in the UK for about £50 along with Elita-1, so he was about £30 on his own (since Razorclaw is a larger figure)
Razorclaw is a repaint of Cybertron series Leobreaker and is a Voyager class figure. The head has also been remolded to better resemble Razorclaw, instead of Leobreaker (who looked more like Optimus Prime than Razorclaw)


My Thoughts



Despite his simplicity, this figure is very well presented and is a good upgrade for the G1 character Razorclaw. The red, yellow, orange and black colour scheme makes a good homage to the earlier design, which works in both robot and beats mode, which is always good

One of my favourite parts of this figure is his new insignia, which is an upgrade of the Predacon insignia (much like how the Maximal insignia received an upgrade in Beast Machines)

The Cyber Key Power isn't that impressive, but then again, they rarely are, and of course Razorclaw retained the mold's "Savage Claw Mode" so he can turn into an arm for either Cybertron series Megatron or Optimus Prime (and any repaints they have)

Other all, I do like this figure, but I don't find him as fun as some of the other figures in my collection. So I'd say that if you just want him as an upgrade for G1 Razorclaw, and for display purposes, then he's perfect, but if you want a fun figure, then you might want to wait to see if a newer version is coming out some point

T is for Terrorsaur

The Winning Toy


Toyline: Armada

Generation: Unicron Trilogy

Size Class: Deluxe

Faction: Decepticon


Robot Mode



Terrorsaur's robot mode is different to most other Armada toys, mostly because he was modified from a Beast Wars toy, he shares this trait with Airazor, Cheetor, Rhinox and Predacon. Because of him being originally in a different toyline he has the aesthetic feel of the other line, in this case meaning that he has smooth lines, organic feel and musculature rather than being mostly boxy in appearance. His colour scheme is of course different to that of the original usage of the mold and is now orange and two shades of green along with some silver highlights, such as on his VTOL parts, screws and teeth.

Terrorsaur's upper arms are connected to the torso by a ball joint enabling it to have full articulation (as long as the arm kibble doesn't get in the way). The lower arm is connected to the upper arm by a hinge that enables it to bend forwards by about 90 degrees. His hands aren't articulated at all, but has three sculpted fingers. The wings on Terrorsaur's lower arms are able to be removed by folding them inwards and then slotting them out. These wings can be used as blade weapons by inserting the handle-like section in between the thumb and middle claw and then slotting a small clip into a small socket on his palms. The blades have the word "Terrorsaur" emblazoned on them (I guess so if they get lost then he can have them returned to him)

The upper leg is connected to the lower torso by a ball joint and pivot joint combination, giving it amazing articulation. The lower and upper leg are connected by a knee joint created by two hinges, this enables him to bend his knees fully backwards, to an extent where he could easily tuck his knees up against his chest. His feet are created by flattening out his beast mode feet-claws, however the entirety of the support for these feet is from a circular point between them, so the claws are just for aesthetic purposes.

In this mode Terrorsaur has a Mini-Con hard point on both shoulders and well as on the folded down panel on his back (which has to be lifted upwards to reveal the hard-point.

Terrorsaur's head is sculpted with a snarling expression revealing his teeth. He has a nose and two red eyes sculpted as well. Terrorsaur also has a Mohawk on top of his head.


Alternate Mode



Flip a chest backwards here, and fold some legs away there, and you can turn Terrorsaur into his alternate mode, a Mechanical Pteranodon (or Transmetal Pteranodon if you's prefer) This toy is of course the same colour scheme as his robot mode.

Luckily with this toy you can either have him in a flat on the ground or "flying" mode or have him in a perched mode (as I have photographed above). In his perched mode you can use the claws from his wings as an extra set of limbs to support him upright.

The wings are able to flap on a ball joint (as it is the same mechanism as his arms in robot mode). His legs aren't able to move, however the claws can be extended as needed, but don't actually affect anything.

The neck of this toy's beast mode enables him to bob it up and down for whatever pose you want him it, on top of that he has a beak that can be opened and closed, which reveals some hidden teeth (perfect for eating some fishes or small birdies). Terrorsaur also has a pair or orange eyes on either side of the head and ridges etc, and a small green piece at the back of the head balanced on a hinge.

The Mini-Con hard points are found on his back and the parts of his wings that are closest to his torso.



Because Terrorsaur is a slight remold of a Transmetal Beast Era toy, he does of course come with a third/power up mode. To convert to his jet mode you simple have to rotate the orange chest-connector pieces around to an upright position (and rotate his wings back to a spread out position of course) This enables you to open up the jet boosters at the back from the main rear torso of the beast mode to a full extent (you can leave the connector where it is, but you can't open the booster compartment up fully that way.

An extra thing you can do to make him different in this mode is opening up his VTOL jet cover, though that's totally up to you of course.


Ironhide



The Mini-Con that comes with Terrorsaur is Ironhide, whom is a repaint of the Adventure Team member Dune Runner (his team mates got repaints and were packaged with Cheetor and Rhinox). And to make things even more surprising, this Mini-Con is in fact a female....yeah...Ironhide's a girl....moving on!

Ironhide is a brown gun-mounted dune buggy with black wheels, seats, guns and guard rail. Her eyes are an orange colour, and she has silver hubcaps. The wheels are fully mobile and can allow her to roll along a floor unaided (yay!)

In robot mode Ironhide has limited articulation (as you should realise by now with Mini-Cons) she can move her arms on a pivot at the shoulders. The legs are connected to the lower torso by a pivot again, which is then connected to his lower leg by another pivot, giving her the ability to sit down. Her head is able to move on a pivot to the left or right, which is quite uncommon for Mini-Cons, and is only possible due to her transformation sequence really.

Her Mini-Con socket s located on the back of her head, which enables her to connect to any Mini-Con hard point.

Ironhide and the other Adventure Tea repaints have quite a rare feature actually, they have a suqare peg system on the undersides of their vehicle modes which enable them to combine with Cyclonus in his Helicopter mode at the exposed gear section beneath his cockpit, which enables the gun on Ironhide's vehicle mode to move by just pushing the trigger on Cyclonus' tail. (This trait of also shared by the Destruction Team and Refute, plus any repaints).


Legacy

Terrorsaur appeared at the end of the Armada comic where he, along with Cheetor, Rhinox and Airazor were abducted by Unicron in the final moments of the war and he, along with the other abductees were twisted into Unicron's Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Terrorsaur was turned into "Famine" and helped in an attack on Cybertron during the start of the Energon comic series, until they were chased off by Optimus Prime in his new upgraded form, thanks to Cybertron itself. The Horsemen later retrieved the Terrorcons after they failed in a mission. The Horsemen remained inside Unicron after that until the series was cancelled due to Dreamwave's collapse, but were due to appear again. Most likely the group would have been destroyed by the end of the series. Terrorsaur never appeared in the Armada cartoon.

Ironhide never appeared in the comics or cartoons, but is mentioned as now missing Terrorsaur after he got abducted by Unicron, despite how Terrorsaur stole her a long time ago.

Terrorsaur's toy mold was of course originally used by Beast Wars Terrorsaur in his Transmetal body, which, whilst he only appeared in the series in his organic mode, upon his death he began to morph into his Transmetal body, but was never seen again (the only fictional appearance of this version of his body was in the Beast Wars Sourcebook. Obviously this toy had the Mini-Con hard points and Ironhide added especially for the Armada line.

This toy mold is also used for the beast Machines toy Terranotron (the pre-Mini-Con version obviously) and was also used for the fiction only bodies for Fractyl's Transmetal mode, and Ravenus' first body. Interestingly both of the latter two mold mates have had multiple bodies. Fractyl's was a physical toy and was a repaint of Terrorsaur's first body, his toy however was originally planned to be made as well. Meanwhile Ravenus' second body was actually based on G1 Swoop, using his Diaclone pre-Transformer colours. A version of Ravenus using this mold was considered for the Linkage series' exclusive figures as a mail-away toy, but this idea was cancelled after the original conception. (Though you could juts repaint an Armada Terrorsaur into Ravenus' colours honestly!)

As mentioned before Ironhide is a repaint of the Adventure team figure Dune Runner, and retains all the features from the original version. The name Ironhide is of course re-purposed from the G1 and Beast Wars character as well as being reused again for several newer characters in pretty much every continuity since.


Is he Cool?

Honestly, when I first put him up for an option I'd say no, but after reviewing him, and playing with the toy in the run up for the review itself, I have changed my mind. His articulation is quite high for an older figure, despite obviously having some signs of age compared to most of the newer figures (ie the general feel of the figure, colour scheme etc) but he still looks good regardless.

His robot mode looks like he's designed to emulate Starscream from the G1 series (cockpit on his chest, the general shape, the attitude of the character and the kibble on his shoulders).

My main complaint about the figure is that his hard points are added on as an extra feature, which doesn't activate any added features (totally understandable due to him being remolded from a previous toyline) And his Mini-Con doesn't really fit with Terrorsaur in terms of design, again because it was reassigned from another set, this is made even more obvious due to Ironhide's gear gimmick not being compatible with Terrorsaur at all.

All in all, I'd say the best reason to buy Terrorsaur would be to complete a set of the Four Horsemen, otherwise it's probably more worthwhile just getting the Beast Era toy. Of course, even saying that, if you like Mini-Cons like I do, then it's probably worth getting the toy purely for Ironhide, since she is one of the few female Mini-Cons available.

N is for Noble/Savage (Beast Changer)

The Winning Toy

"Megatron's method for removing the organic elements in him is riddled with unknown side effects, the first of which is Beast Changer. A completely organic Warrior born of the by-products of Megatron's organic elements. Beast Changer is his own breed. Extremely powerful with acute senses. In Wolf Mode, claws and teeth rip through synthetic alloys with a vengeance. Capable of flight in Beast Mode, and scales offer more protection than any type of known Vehicon armour. Has genuine hatred for Megatron, but Maximals are still cautious and unsure of him due to his origin. Nightscream sympathizes with the self-proclaimed "outcast"."

Toyline: Beast Machines

Generation: Beast Era

Size Class: Deluxe

Faction: Maximal

Function: Warrior

Quote: "Science has yet to match the force of Nature - allow me to demonstrate!"

Strength: 9.9

Intelligence: 8.7

Speed: 8.9

Endurance: 9.0

Rank: 7.5

Courage: 7.9

Firepower: 8.7

Skill: 9.2


Robot Mode



Noble is an odd toy, in which he has 2 beast modes, rather than a definitive robot mode, however most sources seem to treat his wolf mode as his robot mode, so that's what I'll be doing here as well

In this mode, Noble is mostly blue from the front, but with an almost entirely red back. His torso uses a transparent blue plastic whilst most of the rest of the blue present is painted onto the red plastic. This mode has a lot of sculpted fur and muscle visible that is mostly hidden in his beast mode

Noble's head is sculpted to look like a stereotypical wolf-man head, with sculpted fur, nose teeth and other wolf components. His ears are made of transparent blue plastic that are attached to the head by a screw which can be repositioned in whatever way the owner desires. Noble's eyes are...well basically they're void of anything, there was most likely supposed to be a light piping system in there originally, but it was removed before a replacement could be designed. Noble's lower jaw is able to be opened a closed on a hinge revealing some fangs etc. The head is connected to the upper torso by a hinge, which allows it to nod up and down, but not tilt or shake without moving the entire body. The torso has sculpted muscles that adds to the appearance of it being a wolf-man rather than an actual wolf. He has a pivoting connection to his groin area which enables him to rotate it fully

Noble's right arm are connected to the torso by a connector and a hinge enabling it to be rotated 360 degrees and can be lifted by 90 degrees too. The left are however is connected by a simple ball joint connector. The difference is because of Noble's gimmick in his right arm that requires his right arm to have gears inside it. The upper arms are connected to the lower arms by a pivot and hinge joint combination, which enables it to be rotated 360 degrees on the pivot and about 90 on the hinge (made to act as an elbow). Noble's hands are just his beast mode's claws folded into themselves. Whilst it looks good, it's unable to effectively hold anything. The Right arm's lower arm is able to rotate by pulling down on his Spark Crystal, as it is set up as a switch.

The upper legs are connected to the groin by a ball joint which in turn leads to a pivot joint that allows the leg to rotate fully. The lower leg is connected to the upper leg by a hinge that can be moved at a 90 degree angle, making it like a knee. This portion of the leg connects to an elongated foot that is again connected via a hinge joint, again allowing a 90 degree movement. The very tip of the foot is connected on a screw that has minimal movement and a fold out 4th claw on the back. The back of the legs have a long nodule sticking out, this is part of his beast mode tail, but doesn't really have a purpose in this mode.

Noble is able to have his beats mode wings attached to his back in this mode or not, it again depends on the owner's preferences. If you want him to be more screen accurate, then remove them, however if like me you like to have the toys fully intact and not remove any parts when transforming whenever possible then leave them on. I showed both versions in my pictures above.


Alternate Mode



Noble's beast mode (AKA Savage) is made to resemble an eyeless red dragon with gold and blue highlights. This mode only has 2 front legs and drags his body along the ground behind him. The limbs have the same amount of articulation as the wolf mode's arms.

Noble's legs become a pair of long red tails in this mode which can be positioned in whatever way you want (they can be individually rotated on a pivot joint near the point where they are connected to the torso

The wings aren't able to flap (aww) but they are sculpted exceedingly well, amking them look very convincingly real, with veins and missing segments as well as claws etc, so I'll forgive them for that small oversight in design.

The Head is designed to just basically be a large jaw, it's covered in ridges and horns and the mouth itself is able to open thanks to a small button on the side of the neck, revealing it's many, many teeth and a sculpted tongue.

This mode has a lot of sculpted scales over it, to better emulate a dragon, whilst also managing to hide most of the wolf mode fur (though not all of it). Savage's limbs can be positioned in whatever way desired as well, able to create a crawling pose rather than a standard standing one, as shown in my pictures above. The arm gimmick from the wolf mode is active in this mode too, but obviously would be hindered by being stuck on the ground.



Legacy

Sadly Noble/Savage hasn't been used that much, and the whole beast-beast alt mode has been relatively unused as well, except in the Beast Era. I mean can you imagine ROTF Ravage being able to turn into DOTM Laserbeak or something? or even a vehicle based counterpart (as in a Car who turns into a Jet rather than a Triple Changer). Something of note however if that his wolf mode looks like it might have been influenced by G1 Fangry/Wilder's alternate mode (a a winged wolf). It's unknown if he was in the designer's minds when creating this toy.

In the Beast Machines TV series, Noble/Savage's origins/Back story are a bit different to what is said in his bio. He suddenly appeared after Megatron's death at the start of Season Two as a lost Maximal being traumatised by a dragon beast, later revealed to be his alternate mode, shocking everyone assembled. After a while however Noble is able to infiltrate Megatron's now inactive fortress and reveals that he's actually Megatron inside a purely organic body, which was culled from his original body when he died and his spark was just sent into it rather than a new purely mechanical body he had also built. Now Megatron is in his purely mechanical body he abandons his Noble body, which suddenly starts moving and living without a spark of it's own (however as a feral form).

Nightscream later finds Noble/Savage roaming Cybertron and befriends him, however the other Maximals don't trust the creature and treat it as a hindrance. Later on Megatron, in his new body is trying to kill the Maximals by eating sparks when Noble saves Nightscream from being killed. Megatron ends up killing Noble which angers Nightscream enough to be able to destabilize Megatron's spark, using his sonic screams, seemingly killing him again. Noble is later mourned as dead, it's unknown what happened to his remains however.

Noble's name was given in the series by himself (when Megatron was pretending to be him) and nicknamed as Savage in his dragon mode by some of the characters after seeing how savage he was in battle. An interesting thing to note is that the Beast Changer toy itself has a spark crystal, yet in the TV series he doesn't have a spark after Megatron's spark leaves his body, possibly meaning that this toy exists as the character from his first couple of episodes only, or he is just representing the character described in his bio. The Dragon half of this character is obvious a reference to Megatron's own Dragon mode, but his wolf half is a bit of a mystery whilst it's possible that he took that from another character, or he took on a wolf form before his original alternate mode and changed it for some reason, it's never been confirmed either way.


Is He Cool?

Noble/Savage/Beast Changer...whatever you want to call him is quite a cool toy because of his main gimmick, he has 2 beast modes! This is very unusual and is only really shared with the Mutants sub-line from Beast Wars and similar to that of the Animorphs line (Humans turn into Animals) However, like with those other lines parts of the other mode are very visible in both modes. In this case he turns from a wolf with a dragon's head and scaly back into a dragon with random pieces of fur over his body.

Another cool thing about this toy is his faction insignia which is basically a combination of the Beast Machines Maximal and Vehicon insignia's (showing his connection to Megatron despite being a beast mode Transformer)

I do like this toy, but he's a bit fiddly to transform and might not be suited for beginners, also, despite my liking of the toy's looks, even I have to say he's not that attractive. I can only really see people wanting to buy this figure if they are a completest (both toyline and on screen characters) or they just want a pet for their over sized Nightscream toy.

M is for Magmatron

The Winning Toy

"Magmatron's beast mode is composed of three dinosaurs. An all around warrior more wildly evil than even Galvatron. On the on hand, he is violently enthusiastic, while on the other he can judge situations quite reasonably. He is also charismatic, enough so that the other Predacons acknowledge his superiority."

*Please note that this was translated from Japanese, so apologies if it makes no sense.

Toyline: Beast Wars Neo

Generation: Beast Era

Size Class: Ultra

Faction: Destron/Predacon

Function: Emperor of Destruction

Strength: 10

Intelligence: 10

Speed: 10

Endurance: 10

Rank: 10

Courage: 10

Firepower: 9

Skill: 10


Robot Mode



For what is essentially a gestalt robot form Magmatron has great articulation. His legs are connected to his groin area by 2 pivot joints that enable him to rotate back and forth fully and outwards to about 90 degrees each. His knees are able to bend backwards by about 90 degrees, much like a human's knees. For some reason Magmatron's feet have small wheels on them...this doesn't do anything, but they're just there.

The upper arms are connected by pivot joints like the legs are, but the right arm's articulation is slightly hindered by the Gigantosaurus head. The elbows can be folded inwards by 90 degrees, again like a humans. His hands can be folded inwards fully and backwards by about 90 degrees. The thumbs can also be folded outwards by 90 degrees if you want to (but the rest is just sculpted)

Magmatron's colour scheme is basically a combination of that of his alternate modes, with some greys to show he's a robot. He retains all his alternate mode's sculpting, along with some mechanical parts which would have been hidden in his beast modes

Magmatron's face is mostly silver with green eyes and red "helmet" with yellow details on his forehead. Magmatron has a sculpted ridged nose, a cleft chin and sculpted fang-filled mouth.



Magmatron's weapon can either be used as a sword or a blaster. It's default form is the sword, but to turn it into the blaster you just have to fold out the handle. Any of his five projectiles can be used in either mode. The handles can be held in Magmatron's right hand by a small peg hole between his middle and pinky finger. Meanwhile, on his right forearm he has an clip designed to allow his shield (bottom half of the Elasmosaurus) to clip in


Alternate Modes

Magmatron is one of those rare Transformers who have multiple separate alternate modes, making his a Tripartite toy (i.e. it has 3 parts)



The dark blue component usually referred to as a Landsaur on websites and the Sourcebook is actually based upon a Gigantosaurus. The body is mostly dark blue, with light blue highlights and sculpted scales/muscles all over his body giving him a mostly realistic feel. He also has a purely green pair of eyes, and other sculpted details (nostrils, ridges etc). He has a set of red claws on his chest that looks random here, but is mostly for his robot mode. His hands have sculpted claws, and his feet have the same, but with them being painted silver as well

His tail is immobile, but actually can be opened up by a ball joint, which holds his bone-blade in this mode. The lower part of the head is immobile, but the upper half his able to move by a combination of a pivot and spring, giving him a chomping effect.

the arms are connected via a simple ball joint and have no other articulation (like in most similar alternate modes, like with Beast Wars Megatron or T-Wrecks). The legs are connected to the main body with a pivot joint that allows it to rotate 360 degrees, and also on a hinge joint which allows it to be spread out by about 90 degrees. The knees are able to bend backwards by about 45 degrees on a hinge joint and his feet can bend on a 90 degree angle on a hinge joint as well

The back of this component's legs have some of his robot mode foot kibble exposed, which ruins the illusion a little bit, but not that much. His spark crystal is found inside his neck on his weapon.



The Quetzalcoatlus/Skysaur component is a lot simpler than the previous part, he's a mostly red figure with metallic flesh colour inner wings and yellow claws and beak. The body is sculpted with folds and muscle that would be expected on a creature like this. The claws are also sculpted but not articulated.

His beak is sculpted with sharp teeth and can be opened and closed on a pivot joint enabling it act like it's talking/eating. The neck is articulated to allow it to move almost realistically, the bottom and middle joint is able to be positioned via a pivot joint at about 180 degrees each. The head is connected to the neck on a pivot joint that allows it to rotate at a little more than 90 degrees

This component's legs are connected to the main body with a ball joint, enabling it full mobility. The knee joint is able to rotate at about 135 dgrees (90 forwards, 45 backwards) and his feet are able to move at about 180 degrees (90 either way). This component's spark crystal is in it's left wing. He also has a red missile on each wing.



The final component is the Elasmosaurus/Seasaur, which is a mostly pale blue-green colour with dark blue highlights. The bulk of his body is the torso part which has 4 flippers connected to it, with the first 2 connected via ball joints. The flippers are sculpted to look realistic and the main body is sculpted with scales, grooves and muscles.

The most striking part of this component is of course, however, the extremely long neck. The neck is composed of nine small pieces, all of which are connected via a ball joint to the next one and can therefore be positioned in any position you want them to be, from a simple flat, fully extended neck to a spiralling neck like I have mine posed in for my picture. The head itself is connected to the very last neck component by another ball joint and features an opening mouth with sculpted teeth. The jaw can be opened up by just under 90 degrees.

The head features 2 yellow eyes (as opposed to the other two parts having green eyes). The head also features scales and ridges to give it a feel of realism. This component's spark crystal is found inside his torso, housed on his left robot mode arm. He also has 2 grey missiles located inside his torso.



Magmatron's Dino-Abomination mode is actually pretty cool, he acts as a four legged monster with2 stubby arms, massive wings and a long thin tail with a small head on the end. All of the gimmicks from the individual modes remain intact. My only real gripe about this mode is that the Quetzalcoatlus head just hangs there on his back, it would have looked better if that part could be tucked away inside the Elasmosaurus part.

The four legs are able to be posed to make it look like he's walking and the tail/Elasmosaurus neck is fully articulated, enabling it to be positioned in almost any way.



Each of Magmatron's 3 individual beast modes has an individual gimmick. The Elasmosaurus' gimmick is that when you push in his two back flippers, which makes the front two spread out, to emulate swimming. The Quetzalcoatlus part can flap his wings by pulling down on his tail (I know it's cruel, but it's needed!)



The Gigantosaurus' gimmick is a bit more violent, you're able to put one of the supplied projectiles into his mouth, which clicks into the launch gear inside and then pushing downwards on the upper part of the neck will launch it


Legacy

Magmatron was introduced in the 1999 Japanese TV series Beast Wars Neo, the second sequel to the western series Beast Wars after Beast Wars II, and before Beast Machines. He was the leader of the Predacons in the series and was quite active in the series as well (as expected due to the small enough main cast size).

Throughout the series, Magmatron and his Predacons, along with the Maximals have been manipulated into finding these energy capsules full of Angolmois energy, which is later used by the Blendtrons to revive Unicron inside the previous series' Predacon leader, Galvatron's dead body, where Unicron and Magmatron fight, leading to Magmatron being destroyed. But don't fear Predacon fans! Magmatron returns to life at the end of the series along with all the missing Transformers from Beast Wars II as well

Magmatron was later used as the primary antagonist in IDW's The Gathering comic, where he travelled to Prehistoric Earth (during series 3 of the Beast Wars series) and had his team activate all the forgotten stasis pods, and turning them into Predacons, however this only works for about half of them, with the rest waking up as Maximals, thanks to Razorbeast's infiltration. Magmatron is later shot into a Transwarp dimension where he is assumed to have died.

However, it is revealed in the sequel series, The Ascending that Magmatron actually DID survive and has been able to see the future and knows that Unicron is returning to destroy Cybertron. With the help of the Earth-based Beast Warriors and the Pack they manage to stop Unicron from returning, and Magmatron is returned to normal time, ready to help rebuild Cybertron, just as Megatron appears on the planet....In this series Magmatron is seen with a Cybertronian mode, which is basically a land vehicle, an aquatic vehicle and a jet.

Magmatron was given a toy in the Beast Machines line under the Dinobots banner, which, despite them being sold as Maximals, he still retains his original name and the Predacon spark crystals, unlike the other reuses of the Beast Wars Neo toys. The only real differences are that his projectiles are filed down to make them "safer" (though they'll still hurt if you shoot one in your eyes, so don't do it!!!). He didn't appear in the TV series, but did appear in the 3H comic series for the pre-Fun Publications Botcons, where he was part of the Dinobots team sent to a world, but is ultimately killed by a Dweller creature along with several of his team-mates

Magmatron's name is most likely based on Megatron's but altered to differentiate him from the other Beast Era Megatron. However, he might have been named just to follow the trend of most Decepticon/Predacon leaders ending their names in "-Tron" (Gigatron, Megatron, Galvatron etc)


Is he Cool?

He is cool, yes, his characterization in the comics and series is very interesting, and his toy is very fun to play with. I mean in how many other Transformer toys do you have a robot that splits into three decently designed prehistoric animals?

I like to think of this toy as a one shot evolution of the older Duocon toys (Flywheels and Battletrap) who were single robots who split into two alternate modes. In Magmatron's case he utilizes the three main battlefield types (Air, Land and Sea) and can also all be used in tandem with each other in battle as well (Elasmosaurus can wrap them up, Quetzalcoatlus can stop them from flying away, and Gigantosaurus can just chomp on them)

Magmatron continues the tradition of Spark Crystals instead of rub sign insignias that was used in the Transmetal 2 Beast Wars toys, some of the new mold Beast Wars II toys and all of the new mold Beast Wars Neo toys, and later followed by the Robots in Disguise Predacons. However, unlike the others who use this gimmick, Magmatron actually has three Spark Crystals, one for each alternate mode, which obviously makes no sense with him being a single robot.

One minor thing that annoys me on this figure is that his Gigantosaurus tail doesn't have a use in robot mode, unlike the rest of him. I mean he can be attached to the ball joint on his rear, but it just hangs there, unless you want to use it as a weird sword sheath....

So yeah, overall this figure is pretty cool, he has a good set of alternate modes, and robot mode, and has quite a lot of play value...now for the bad part, because he was used predominantly in a few comic series, he's become a "hot figure" meaning that he costs more now than he did when he was first on the shelves (also called the Furman Effect, this has also happened with characters like Razorbeast, Thunderwing and Bludgeon, as well as the new Roche effect with Ironfist and Overlord!).

So my overall opinion is that if you can afford him, or can find him going for relatively cheap, then do it! He's a good figure, but not worth bankrupting yourself over.

K is for K-9

*Please note, my figure is missing his battle mask

The Winning Toy

"Placed in charge of guarding his fellow Maximals from a surprise Predacon attack, K-9 is always alert thanks to his lightning-fast reflexes and ultra-sensitive canine nose. While other Maximals plot defence strategies, K-9 stands guard to survey the surrounding area for signs of Predacon spies. But even if he encounters an entire attack force, he can hold them off with his fast-fire missile launcher until reinforcements arrive. When it comes to combat, K-9's bite is definitely worse than his bite

Toyline: Beast Wars

Generation: Beast Era

Size Class: Deluxe

Faction: Maximal

Function: Guard Duty

Strength: 5

Intelligence: 8

Speed: 7

Endurance: 6

Rank: 4

Courage: 7

Firepower: 4

Skill: 6


Robot Mode



K-9's robot mode is quite standard really for the early Beast Era, he has the majority of his robot mode encased in the beast mode, which then results in his robot mode having a lot of beast kibble in random places (such as the front legs on his arms etc.

K-9's robot body is mostly white and blue, with shades of brown inthe places where the beast mode is visible. His arms are completely blue, except for the lower arms, whilst the inverse is true for his torso, where it is mostly white with some blue markings on his chest (which are designed to look like chest hairs in a way). K-9's leg's interiors are white, with the best mode leg colours being shown on the outside.

K-9's body has sculpted muscles on his torso to look like a human's abdominal area and pectorals (with some robotisizing of course. His abdominal area has 2 spikes poking out of it, which are the rear ends of his missiles poking through the back (which is a weird, yet interesting design decision).

K-9's arms are connected to the torso by a connector bar, which is able to be brought forwards by about 90 degrees. The shoulder is connected to that bar via a ball joint, then the upper arm is connected to that by a pivot joint, which enables pretty much full movement (allowing for the shoulder kibble of course). The upper arm is connected to the lower arm by a hinge that allows it to move fully forwards and inwards (like a real arm). The hand isn't articulated, but is sculpted with fingers and has a peg hole for his gun (made from his tail). His beast mode head splits in half and can be positioned on his shoulders to create shoulder pads of sorts.

K-9's upper legs are connected to his groin by ball joints which allows it some articulation, but depending on whether you have the back plate on or not, it can be hindered. His knees are connected by a hinge which can allow him to fold forwards by about 90 degrees and backwards fully.

K-9's head is able to rotate upwards and sideways be a very small fraction (due to it's design). The head is mostly white with a black face and green eyes. The face has some sculpted details like a nose and a mouth, which don't do anything. The figure would normally come with a battle mask, which folds down over his face from the top of his head which acts in the same way as the mutant faces of the very early Beast Era toys. A very interesting point to make about the head however is the size of his chin...it's ridiculously huge...and people comment about the Transformers: Animated chins!!!

K-9's back plate is able to be removed to act as a shield by folding out a handle, also on the back are 2 harpoon-like missiles that can be slotted into the gun's missile slot to be fired at the enemy


Alternate Mode



K-9's beast mode is, again, very standard for the early Beast Era toys, it looks realistic, but has some very obvious robot parts showing (like the robotic arms hanging under his chest). He is made to resemble a German Shepherd.

Now because of his design, and the fact that his front legs are just kibble in the robot mode, they don't move at all. His back legs however are also the legs he uses for his robot mode, so they have the same basic articulation (ball point connecting to the groin and hinge at the knees). His feet have sculpted digits with small claws on the ends (but the claws aren't painted differently, so they're easy enough to miss.

K-9's head is (again) immobile, so is just purely decorative, his jaw is sculpted into a snarl, which works with his body design looking like it's about to pounce. His eyes are blue in this mode, unlike his robot mode's green eyes

K-9's tail is designed to look shaggy and of couse can be removed (as it becomes his gun in robot mode) The tail can also rotate around about 45 degrees either way as it he's wagging his tail like a happy little puppy

K-9's body has been sculpted to look like he has fur and muscles, and has a colourscheme of a very dark brown/black and a lighter brown with a white underside (except the blue robot parts that you're supposed to ignore)


Legacy

K-9's an interesting little fellow, he didn't appear in the TV series, or any media until IDW's Beast Era series. However, in the 2 IDW mini-series' (The Gathering and The Ascending) K-9 didn't do much and ended up being killed off unceremoniously by Shokaract. Also, something to note is that K-9's alternate mode of a German Shepherd, is an animal that didn't exist on prehistoric Earth, and is most likely a hang-over from the original idea of having this series set on a more modern Earth (as seen in some early pack-in comics)

K-9 was also featured in the Botcon 2006 Live Script Reading, "Intimidation Game", but was revealed at the end to have been the Predacon Max-B all along in disguise. In a related piece of information, K-9 was the basis for the on-screen only character 9K from the video of "The Theft of the Golden Disk", set just before the start of Beast Wars, where he was seen in the Maximal Command Security in a modified version of Cybertron Clocker's toy (as well as wielding Energon Strongarm's axe, and an energy base shield (to emulate the toy's accessories)

Something I should note however, the original plan for the Beast Wars TV series was to have Wolfang as the new character instead of Tigatron (since he was just a remodelling of Cheetor), so had he have appeared instead, then K-9 might have been in the series at some point, but that's just speculation.

K-9's toy was remolded from Wolfang's almost entirely, with a new battle mask, tail/gun and beast mode design (although the robot mode still looks mostly the same). The original Wolfang was later given a redeco in Japan as a Predacon, also called Wolfang (most likely to add more Predacons to that line). K-9 himself was remolded to create Max-B for Beast Wars II, an upgrade for BB with cybernetic implants on his beast mode


Is he Cool?

I do believe that K-9's a cool figure, especially for his time of release (1997) He has a decent amount f articulation and looks good in both modes (especially if you ignore the arms in beast mode).

The best parts about this figure however, are his accessories. K-9's back plate is able to be removed to become a shield, and his beast mode tail becomes his gun, with 3 rib-cage harpoon missile to fire at people. This is most suitable because of his role as a guard, which gives him a SWAT team look, with a full body shield and a weapon.

A fun little feature that I noticed when planning this review is that, since his shield's handle can be flipped up when in beast mode, you can have another character hold the handle to make it look like they are grabbing his by the scruff of his heck or that he's on a (very short) leash

I also think this figure is pretty cool because his mold was almost totally changed from the original user (Wolfang) with is very rarely done, even nowadays, normally a figure will just get a new head or altered hands or something rather than an almost completely redesigned body.

I'd say that if you like the Beast Era, then definitely get this figure, but honestly there are other better figures that you could be spending your precious pocket money on considering that his main appeal is his accessories

I is for Injector

The Winning Toy

"He's got a face only a Predacon could love, but according to Injector, the vainest of the Predacons, he is the best thing to happen since Energon. Fused into two beasts - half lionfish, half hornet - he is as dangerous as it gets. He is armed with a massive stinger and thrusting splines that inject his victims with a paralyzing posion; in robot mode he wields a devastating stinger missile. Charismatic, clever, and evil to the core, Injector represents one of the Maximal's greatest threats."

Toyline: Beast Wars

Generation: Beast Era

Size Class: Deluxe Fuzor

Faction: Predacon

Function: Air Commander

Strength: 5

Intelligence: 8

Speed: 8

Endurance: 7

Rank: 7

Courage: 8

Fireblast: 6

Skill: 7


Robot Mode



Injector's robot mode is actually quite nimble, his limbs are pretty thin, and yet sturdy (with his legs fully capable to supporting his giant head, and his arms able to hold up a large gun. All of the articulation joints in his robot mode enable him to be positioned in pretty much any way needed

Injector is mostly black, purple, red and a dark yellow in colour, which works well in both modes (given his alternate mode)

Injector's arms are connected to his torso by a hinge, which enables his arms to be positioned 90 degrees forward or about 45 degrees backwards, the shoulder is connected to the connector by a ball joint, which is connected to his upper arm (that also holds his wing) via a pivot joint. This in turn leads to his elbow, which is connected to the upper arm by a pivot and hinge joint combinator, with the lower arm partially encased by his beast mode's gaster (the bit with the stinger). His hands are sculpted with fingers, but aren't articulated (however they do have peg holes to hold his gun. The wings on his arms can be moved on a hinge to any position desired

Injector's waist is able to rotate on a pivot joint 360 degrees, which connects to the upper legs via ball joints stemming from the groin area, which then leads to a pivot joint for the main portion of the leg. The knees are connected via a hinge joint, enabling a 90 degree bend backwards. The back and front portions of his feet are connected to the main part of the lower leg via hinges

Injector's head is pretty much the entire lionfish part of his alternate mode with his robot mode head slid down from the mouth, this of course means that his head is quite bi, especially compared to the rest of his body. Injector is also able to open and close his mouth, thanks to his transformation and beast mode, which is quite rare for a Beast Era toy (or any really). His face is mostly yellow with some black markings at the top (including a chevron). His eyes are green and he has a set of white teeth (that seem to resemble a zombie's in most comic books for some reason), Injector's rub sign insignia is found when you flip up his head, under the bulk of it. Injector has an organic looking torso, resembling a muscular man's. Four of Injector's beast mode legs are on his back as kibble and can be folded inwards out of the way.


Alternate Mode



Injector's beast mode is a Lionfish-Hornet Fuzor, basically meaning that he's the monstrous result of gene splicing on prehistoric Earth.

Unlike most Fuzors, Injector's alternate mode is actually quite cleanly divided in 2, with the Lionfish as his head, and the Hornet as his torso.

Injector's head is mostly purple and red with dark yellow balls places sporadically down the sides. He's designed with fins, gills and scales across it, giving it a more authentically fish-like feel. He has a large horn on the top of his head that's just for decoration. Injector's mouth is yellow with a purple mouth rim, and white teeth, which of course can be opened and closed, just like in robot mode. His beast mode eyes are green (like his robot mode eyes). Injector's head also has a spring loaded feature that activates by unclasping a hidden hook under the back of the fish head, which deploys his dorsal fin into 4 spikes that can be used as a jabbing weapon.

The torso is mostly yellow and black, like a real hornet's the gaster is black and yellow striped. There's not really much to say about this part of the toy, except that it's limbs are connected with a ball joint to the main torso, which means that they have very limited pose-ability. Although his gaster does hold a single purple missile that can be fired via a small trigger on the top of the weapon. Injector also has the wings from his robot mode on his back too, which can be posed in different angles to show flapping if needed. Injector can also be positioned in a "standing" position in needed by using the gaster as a third leg in a tripod-like system.


Legacy

Injector is one of the weirdest Transformers ever. His alternate mode is bizarre, and yet looks good, and his robot mode is interesting. In a weird way he actually fits the aesthetic of the Animated toyline quite well (despite being made over 10 years earlier)

Despite Injector's toy profile making him seem incredible, he hasn't shown this in any fiction really. He wasn't in the TV series, and his appearances in the IDW Beast Era comics was quite short. The only thing he really did in the comics was helped to subdue Rartorata with his venom (off screen) and then got killed by Shokaract on Cybertron! According to the Sourcebook, Injector had a Sleek Jte mode on Cybertron (and Rartorata's Cybertronian robot mode seems to back this up too)

Injector was only repainted/molded once, into Rartorata, in which he only received a very minor repaint (I can't even tell what the repaint was from images of Rartorata!). Rartorata was a Japanese exclusive figure for the Beast Wars Neo line, who was a Blendtron, a minion of Unicron. He appeared in this capacity in both the Beast Wars Neo cartoon and the IDW comics (where Injector was even asked about the similarities), however in both appearances the poor repaint was killed off. Rartorata was given a slight redesign in The Ascending from IDW, to differentiate himself from Injector.


Is he cool?

I have to say, I don't count Injector in my personal "Top XX" of favourite toys/characters, but I do like him. I'm sure most of you know by now that I love obscure characters, but I never really got into the Fuzors line until much later in my collecting days.

There's something I should note though, people have been moaning about the Movie character's "hideous" appearances etc, yet Injector was around about 10 years before that, gracing us with his giant zombie face and made up alternate mode, yet no one ever mentions it as bad.

Fuzors in general were a good idea, and well implemented, but were sadly far too underused, only appearing in the Beast Wars line really and being ignored in most other lines. The only possible Fuzor I can think of from a recent line is ROTF Voyager class Megatron (who was a combination of Tank and Jet). I mean think about it, wouldn't a car-jet Autobot Fuzor look quite cool?

Overall, although I do like him, and think his gimmick is cool, I won't recommend him as a must have toy, just because he's not the best looking figure, and he has very little fiction to back up buying him (unlike with Beast Wars Silverbolt or Quickstrike for example)

H is for Heinrad

The Winning Toy

"Heinrad usually acts dazed and vague. He has a clock in his stomach, which gives him the ability to manipulate time. His super-secret skill is being able to stop or stretch time for a limited duration, there's a flaw in this ability: he still can't control it at will.Heinrad's past and combat abilities are shrouded in mystery." *Please note that this was translated from Japanese, so apologies if it makes no sense.

Toyline: Beast Wars Neo

Generation: Beast Era

Size Class: Special (Ultra Equivalent)

Faction: Cybertrons/Maximal

Function: Dimensional Explorer

Strength: ?

Intelligence: ?

Speed: ?

Endurance: ?

Rank: 7

Courage: ?

Fireblast: ?

Skill: ?


Robot Mode



Heinrad's robot mode is (in my opinion) one of the best from the Beast Era. He has great articulation and the toy has a fair few features as well. His body is mostly a textured brown with blue and white used on his lower body. Heinrad also has a giant clock in his chest, but I'll be explaining about that in the last section of this review.

Heinrad's head is very detailed, he has a black helmet which has a fur-like Mohawk, and mutton chop bottoms, and the lower most part of the back of the helmet also has fur detailing as well. Heinrad also has detailing that looks like two small ears on the top of his head (which is both good detailing and adorable). Heinrad's face itself is a very pale blue with a sculpted nose and mouth. His eyes are an orange-red colour and surrounded by back markings (which emulate his beast mode eyes, but in a more mechanical fashion). Heinrad has a visor/set of goggles connected to the sides of his head which can be lowered over his eyes or rested upon his head. The visor can also be removed, but that doesn't really do anything, the visor's lenses are a partially translucent green. Heinrad's head is also able to rotate 360 degrees on a pivot.



Heinrad's arms are articulated in a few places, which gives him good movement. His upper arm is connected to his shoulder pad via a hinge and pivot joint, enabling it to be rotated 360 degrees and to bend forwards at 90 degrees. His lower arm is connected to the upper arm via a ball joint, which obviously gives it full articulation, and finally the hand is also connected to the lower arm via another ball joint. His hands also have a hinge that enables his thumb to fold inwards, giving a clasped hand look to it. His right hand also has a clip that allows it to hold his gun. An added point I should mention is that his shoulder pads can be lifted up (as per his transformation), to enable him to raise his arms further

Heinrad's waist is able to rotate on a pivot joint, but not by a lot (this might be just the case in my model, I'm not sure)

Heinrad's upper legs are connected to the groin by a pivoting hinge which enables them to move around a little bit (this is however hindered by his hip kibble) His lower leg is connected via a hinge, which enables him to move them backwards by about 90 degrees (if the leg kibble is opened outwards enough) this joint is also on a pivot as well, which is required for his tranformation, but can also be used for posing reasons.



Alternate Mode



Heinrad's alternate mode is very fun, he turns into a Tanuki (a Raccoon-Dog hybrid) with pretty good articulation (especially compared to other Beast Era toys from the time, whose beast mode's had very poor beast mode articulation.

Because his front limbs are also his robot mode arms, he has pretty much full articulation in them (the same extent as the robot mode arm's of course). His back legs however are only articulated by a ball joint connecting them to the torso.

Heinrad's head is on a hinge which enables him to move it at a 90 degree angle, and also has ball joints which enables him some angled head movements as well. Heinrad's tail is connected to his torso via 2 hinges which gives it some limited articulation as well

An interesting thing about Heinrad is that he can be positioned in a bipedal and quadrupedal mode, and both look good as well (very unusual for a 90's toy). In his bipedal mode he has his clock visible, but because of the design (explained more later) the alarm won't work in this mode. In his quadrupedal mode he just looks like a realistic animal

Heinrad is mostly brown with sculpted fur except for a few visible lumps of blue and white from his robot mode (it blemishes his appearance a bit, but it's okay considering how good the figure is). Heinrad also has several black/dark brown highlights in his fur, such as on the tip of his tail, the paws and his chest. His paws have silver claws, and his front paw is fully black.

Heinrad's face is designed very well. He has 2 silver and black eyes (that seem to sparkle in the right light) and has a cute button nose and bandit mask eye markings, making him look like a little robber. He also has pink inner ears making him look quite authentic

....Now....for the part you were all probably waiting for...Heinrad has testicles in this mode, there's not really much to say about them, except that the right ball holds Heinrad's spark crystal (visible in robot mode) which could be a reference to how a man's whole life is in his balls...or it could just be for laughs


Legacy

Heinrad's an interesting little guy, he was introduced in the Beast Wars Neo toyline as one of the main characters in the TV series and Manga, in both being shown to have his time manipulation powers as described in his bio. Of course, because he was only made available in a Japanese line and appeared in an undubbed TV series as well he was relatively unknown to the western audience until his entry in the Beast Wars Sourcebook (along with the other BW2 and BWN characters as well). Heinrad does have the privilege however of being one of the few characters from the Japanese exclusive lines (who didn't have their mold used in the West for some reason) to have appeared in The Gathering (IDW's first Beast Era comic), albeit as a cameo with Big Convoy and Magmatron.

Heinrad's most obvious legacy, is that it's the first (and only I believe) transformer to have testicles in their toy form (Devastator had a wrecking ball scrotum in the Revenge of the Fallen movie, but not in his toys) I've also noticed that people seem to be voting for characters with some innuendo or sexual context in them, in Heinrad's case it's his testes, Erector has a funny name (which can also be a reference to an erection) and even Astrotrain (think about the first syllable of his name)...Just thought I'd share that bit....


Is he cool?

In sort...yes, he is extremely cool, not only is he a transforming toy, but he's also a fully working and functional alarm clock (I can attest to that personally). He looks great in all his modes (robot, bipedal beast and quadrupedal beast) and is also quite well articulated in all these modes (by today's standards, and the standards of the 90's) The only real downfalls to this great character are that some of his robot mode parts show up in beast mode (a common issue though) and that he towers over most of the other characters from his own toyline, which in the TV series were about the same height as him, which again, isn't that much of an issue for me honestly



Heinrad comes with 4 accessories, a sake bottle, an IOU Note Pad and 2 white missiles, the bottle and note pad can combine into a gun, which the missiles can be loaded into one by one (I have to note however, the inner spring is on a hair-trigger, meaning that it'll fire with minimal force, so don't point it at anyone).

Heinrad can hold both of the larger items via their string handles in either of his bipedal forms (but it looks most effective in beast mode). The missiles can be mounted onto Heinrad's calves via a small hole just under the knee pads, using the small knob on the missiles themselves.



The clock on his robot mode chest/beast mode stomach is fully functional and is powered by one AAA battery. The small black dial on the back of his robot mode is used to change the time/set the alarm.

By keeping the dial pushed in (as natural) you can alter the alarm time, which is shown by the yellow hand (ie if the yellow hand is right on the 11 hour, it will be set off at 11 o'clock, and if you have the yellow hand half way between 1 and 2 then it will go off at 1.30, and so on. The alarm is monotonous and sounds from the small speaker on the left side of the clock. The alarm will b set by pulling Heinrad's head up and will be turned off by pushing it down (this of course means that he can only be altered/used as an alarm clock in robot mode.

By pulling the dial out slightly, you can turn it to alter the time itself, the long black hand shows the minutes and the small black hand shows the hour. The red hand shows the seconds, and cannot be altered (as with most clocks)

The clock has some aesthetic details such as non functional date dials (they would show the day and month if they were actually able to work and also has some detailing near the top, which I can't identify. The numbers on the clock face are in English, rather than using Kanji (luckily)

C is for Cohrada

The Winning Toy

"Extraordinarily powerful in fire and dry climates. An outlaw, because he prefers acting along and isn't good at teamwork, he sometimes clashes with his teammates. The vacuum shockwaves he produces with his whip-like right hand, the Hand Vute, can slice through steel. He specializes in doing swaying, zaigzag dancing to rhythm." *Please note that this was translated from Japanese, so apologies if it makes no sense.

Toyline: Beast Wars Neo

Generation: Beast Era

Size Class: Deluxe Equivalent

Faction: Cybertrons (Maximal)

Function: Ground Trooper

Strength: 6

Intelligence: 5

Speed: 7

Endurance: 7

Rank: 7

Courage: 7

Firepower: 9

Skill: 7


Robot Mode



Cohrada's robot mode is very effective, basically it's designed to evoke the look of stereotypical Mexican bandit, with his cobra head taking on the appearance of a dark green poncho with circular patterns on his back. His head also has a helmet that is shaped almost exactly that of a sombrero (even the colours are similar, being a straw-like brown

Cohrada's legs are fully articulated , with the ability to pivot on a ball joint on the upper leg and knees (including the ability to rotate the knees fully, enabling him to be positioned in almost any leg pose. His feet are also able to bend on a pin joint at 90 degrees.

Cohrada's left arm is able to bend on a ball join on his elbow, and partially bend on his shoulder (however, his poncho gets in the way of much articulation. His hand is unable to be moved due to it's design (as was common for figures from the 90's).

Cohrada's right arm however has been replaced by his beast mode tail, that acts as a whip in this mode (with ball joints a segmented pieces to enable to to move around almost freely



Cohrada's left arm also has a water gun attached which, when filled with water can be pushed to squirt someone or something (just don't squirt anything in people's eyes please!) Unfortunately this water gun is unable to hold much water (about enough for 2 squirts) and the water only shoots out over a short distance (this is understandable considering the design, but if possible a longer storage area would have been better)


Beast Mode



Cohrada's alternate mode is a very realistic looking cobra with a segmented tail (to enable him to coil around things. Cohrada also has a very good amount of detailing in his design, being fully textured with scales on his head and tail.

The colouration is also made to have him not just be one bulk of colour, but several shades of greens with a realistic "fear pattern" on his back in the pattern of 2 yellow circles with red dots (giving an owl-like design)

Cohrada's head is able to tilt up and down and can also open and close his mouth. Inside the mouth are small fangs that don't do anything really.

Cohrada also has a venom sack inside his mouth that, when pushed can squirt out water (and if you really want to you can put coloured water into the sack and squirt it to resemble venom)



Cohrada has a secondary alternate mode that resembles a battle station. It doesn't really do anything (there's no real interactivity with another figure etc). It's probably best to just pretend that this mode doesn't exist to be honest


Legacy

Cohrada is quite a rarity, his character has never been remade and his toy has never been reused. He was originally made available in a single pack, or with the Predacon Saberback. Other characters such as Longrack (BWN) or Lio Convoy (BWII) have been remade into more recent lines like Cybertron or Universe 2.0 (even in the Hasbro lines as well!) or some of his fellow line mates, like Hard Head, Big Convoy and Magmatron being repainted for either Beast Machines or Universe in the Hasbro lines.

However, saying this, Cohrada did receive a slight repaint for the Japanese Telemocha series (albeit as Cohrada again) but that was it (which is sad because his toy is great)

Media-wise Cohrada has appeared in three mainstream pieces of fiction, the Beast Wars Neo TV series (duh) where he was a main character, he received a new profile in the Beast Wars Sourcebook released by IDW, and in a few panels of the IDW Comic series "The Ascending" where he was a part of Big Convoy's team (with a new Jet mode to boot!)


Is he Cool?

Cohrada is VERY cool, and is very deserving of a place in this review series, his nearly unique alternate mode, very intelligent transformation sequence (basically flipping his inner parts upside down) and fantastic looking robot mode both add up to a great figure. The only really bad point is the battle station mode.

Also, because Cohrada is the sole user of the mold, and has never had any new versions made (sadly) it's probably wise to pick up this figure whenever you can, you won't be disappointed