ShadowWing's Purge Reviews #14: Beast Machine Dinobots and Mutant Beast Wars
ShadowWing
two more factions to the mythos: The Dinobots and the Mutators. The former had
their own Spark Crystals, and were redecos--mostly from Japan's "Beast Wars
Neo". The other came from "Mutant Beast Wars", with the concept of
Transformers who lost their robot modes (thanks to Megatron's experiments),
reducing them to two separate beast modes. Since what I have of each is rather
small, they both exist in the same box, and will be reviewed all at once.
D I N O B O T S
First up, we'll tackle the Dinobots. These Transformers were on Cybertron, and
underwent the technorganic conversion. However, they ended up all being
dinosaurs, complete with their own faction symbol, a triceratops symbol.
Later, another series of Dinobots would appear during the Armada series, but
they had no crystals. Instead they were given tampoed Autobot symbols. I
didn't pick up any of those, and I only have four Dinobots from the Beast
Machine series, all but one using molds from Neo. These were Destrons (the
Japanese version of the Decepticon/Predacons), but these characters are
against Megatron and his Vehicon horde.
That one that isn't from Neo, nor does he have a Spark Crystal, is T-WRECKS.
Instead, they used the original dinosaur Megatron mold from the Beast Wars
line. (As you'll recall, the original Beast Megatron was a crocodile.) Instead
of his body donor's purple color scheme, he's a more "natural" (or at least
natural feeling--for all we know real dinosaurs were a color we don't even
know about today) reddish orange color, with a dark blue pattern going from
head to tail along his back. His little dino arms can be posed, but that's it.
The only hint of his robot mode (besides the seams) are the projectile
launching pods that pop out of his hips. You can tear out his throat, fill it
with water, put it back in, and T-Wrecks can spit at his enemies. Not exactly
the nicest guy on the block, is he?
Robot mode adds a light blue to his arms, torso, and the underside of the
pods, now on his upper legs. He also has a khaki color for his legs, body, and
the mutant head, which makes a good battle helmet. The helmet opens like a
cabinet to reveal his blue face and the scowl. (If I looked like my greatest
enemy, I'd have one myself.) His right hand is dino head, which means he can
spit at you with his hand. The left is formed by the dino tail, ending with a
claw. There is a striking gimmick with a lever at the back of the tail, but
it's more trouble than it's worth if you ask me.
DECISION: I picked this up because I didn't have the first Dino Megatron.
Otherwise I might not have, being a mostly show collector back then, even
though this is a far better color scheme, in my opinion. Definitely worth
getting, which means he's worth keeping.
It's sad how many of the Beast Machines I've had to look up because I forgot
their names. Take for example TRICERADON. Beast Machines may well have some of
the most unremarkable names thus far. It doesn't help that I'm not a big fan
of this toy. (This is true of most of the ones I had to look up. Night Viper
is the only exception.) He's not all bad. He's a great triceratops. Primarily
brown in color, he had green coloring down his back to half of his tail, and
golden orange horns around the headplate, and the usual three horns this
particular dinosaur is named for. From the front you can see one of his robot
arms, and from underneath there's a space where you can see his robot hips.
The Neo dinos had this "dead" mode that they could use for tricking the
Maximal/Cybertrons. It's not in the instructions, but the mechanism that turns
his eyeballs back in his head is still there, and the areas representing a
chewed on carcass is painted like it should, so you can see muscle and rib
cage torn off. I'm not really impressed with this "disguise", and I'm not sure
why the Takara designers included it.
It's in robot mode that Triceradon reaches epic fail. His robot feet just pop
out of his dino feet, and it's obvious. His Spark Crystal, a green one with
the Dinobot faction symbol, is in the barrel of his gun, which if you ask me
is the final nail in the coffin of the thought that the Spark Crystal is
supposed to represent a Transformer's spark. You mean he dies without his gun?
His triceratops head is a terrible hand, so he has no way to carry it and grab
something at the same time. Not that he can do much with the arm, mind you.
The entire back forms a shoulder pad that messes with the arm's ability to
move, even without the gun in his hand. Stored in the pad are two missiles
that can be fired by the gun. The back legs can hang off the pad, or point
them up and reveal two spikes that seem to serve no purpose whatsoever! All in
all a major pain.
DECISION: I didn't like it when I bought and I don't like it now. Back then I
kept it because I already bought it. What was I going to do? Now that my
collection is way too big, I know exactly what to do with it.
AIRRAPTOR may not be a show character, but he has a connection. As I recall,
he was the navigator for the Axalon and he wasn't happy with the "drop
Protoform X in deep space" mission; so he went off with the Dinobots. Now he's
back as a bird-like dinosaur. (I'm not even going to try to spell a dinosaur
whose name I can't even pronounce. Starts with an "A", if you want to check on
your own.) And he's a very nice looking birdie dino. His feathers have this
color gradient that goes from green to blue to yellow, or some mixture of the
three, depending on where the colors are. They blend very well, so my
compliments to whomever came up with the paint job. The ends of his wings are
dark blue and with a trigger on the wings, they come open and drop two bombs
that resemble feathers in the shape of a dino footprint. His head, neck, and
lower legs are yellow or yellow-orange, and he stands pretty well on his feet,
with a little effort. You can see his robot feet, but they are as ignorable as
the Dinobot/Grimlock mold. (FYI:That mold was remolded for another Neo that
became a BM Dinobot, but I didn't pick that one up.) One of his robot arms can
be seen under the tail feathers, as well as his gun, but that's the only real
break in the illusion. He also has a working jaw and the neck is posable
thanks to the arm joints.
Oh, look, it's name is on the instructions: Archaeopteryx. I still can't
pronounce it. Anyway, robot mode is different for a Transformer because of how
the wings fold over him like a cape, the right wing on the chest and the left
on the back. It's a nice look, and makes him look like one cool character. Or
foppish. Or foppishly cool. Or coolly foppish. Something. His left arm is the
dino head, and unlike Triceradon it works. His right arm (the one seen under
the tail feathers in beast mode) can't hold his gun, but there's an
interesting mechanism involved. Spin the tail feathers around, and the gun
flips into place "automorph" style. (Think the larger movie Optimus Prime's
arm gun.) Unfortunately, the gun doesn't stay on it's peg very tightly and can
pop off when you don't want it to, such as during transformation or posing.
Speaking of which, I wish the legs offered more poses, but without heels for
the feet that's unlikely. His Spark Crystal is in his chest, but you can't see
it with the fop cape in place.
DECISION: There are a few good and bad innovations, but they're all in a very
pretty package. Keeper.
The last Dinobot in my collection is STRIKER the stegosaurus. He's a medium
brown with an almost firelike pattern down his back, except for his bony
plates. On his tail is a similar pattern, but it's just yellow--no orange mix
making a fire pattern. The pole that the plates connect to won't lie straight
and after all this time I'm not sure the plates are laid out right, since they
tend to spin all over the place in robot mode. The only other show of his
robot mode is the bot feet hidden in the dinosaur's back legs. Otherwise, he's
a nice, although unposable, stegosaurus. Oh, there's supposed to be a dead
mode here as well, but it's not in the instructions and makes less sense to me
than Triceradon's.
In robot mode, Striker has a Native American vibe. Since this mold wasn't
really meant to be used outside of a Japanese toyline, and originally belonged
to one of the bad guys, I find that to be his most interesting feature. His
head looks like he's wearing a headdress, and the plates form a...tail? I know
it's something on a chief's headdress, but I don't know what it's called. He
also has a piece in front of his crotch that gives a...I want to say loincloth
appearance, but that would have to be a pretty primitive tribe he comes from.
He wears his beast mode's skull like a necklace, which covers the Spark
Crystal on his chest. Breaking the vibe are the ski-like objects (think
Transmetal Rhinox) on his feet so he isn't standing on his beast feet. This is
a good thing, as stability would be near impossible otherwise. The head and
back of his beast mode hang off the back of his shoulders and if positioned
correctly stay relatively out of his way. His tail can be used as a melee
weapon, or pull back the lone dino plate to open up the gravity weapon. It
resembles a flower, which would be growing out of his back in "dead mode". (I
told you it made no sense.) An interesting robot mode all around.
DECISION: This is probably one of my favorite dinosaur Transformers and
possibly my favorite of this mini-line. With one possible exception: THE ROYAL
(&*(&*()(**((& PAIN IN THE $%^$%^#%@ IT IS TO GET THIS @$%$#&*()&* THING BACK
INTO DINO MODE! But since the results are worth it, I shall hold on to it.
_________________________________________________________________________
Between the Beast Machine and Armada "Dinobots" sublines, all the Beast Series
Transformer figures were released as new characters and color schemes. I
didn't get any of the second group, or the Target exclusive Magmatron (missed
that one) and these are the only ones I picked up from this group. If you want
to get them all, you've got a bit of hunting to do. However, it's time to get
to the other three figures of my box...
M U T A N T B E A S T W A R S
Sometimes referred to as "Mutants", their faction name is actually "Mutators",
complete with their own symbol, which breaks the face motif usually used by
Transformer faction symbols. (Joined by the "nuke" symbol Vehicons. The
Dinobots' Spark Crystals could be considered a triceratops side view.) They
also had no Spark Crystals, in favor of a badge over an area that could be
opened to reveal techno bits. The Mutator gimmick was that they were missing a
robot mode, so one animal turned into another. If you ask me, the other mode
seems to be a mutation of it's own, like they went swimming at the Burn's
Nuclear Power Plant in Springfield, USA. (I knew it! Homer's working for
Megatron! I wonder where a giant dragon finds all those donuts? He can't
exactly fit through the doors at Dunkin' Donuts, after all.) They are also
without an actual robot mode, but each one has a robot head that can pop up
and freak out some poor sucker. No wonder they have trouble making friends.
We start off with ICEBIRD, the polar bear who swiped G1 Scourge's nail polish.
They did a pretty good job on this mode, except for the folded wings. You can
make him a flying bear, if you want. His front claws are long, as in double
the length of his back legs. You can see the beak poking out of his butt (I
don't make those kind of jokes) and those are the only problems. They're also
rather minor. He has a working mouth, but it's a bit too tight for puppet
work. His badge is on his right shoulder, and that's where the tech pattern is
hidden. His robot head can replace his bear head, and unlike the others it
will stay there. One smart fan found a pseudo-robot mode by standing the bear
on his hind legs and opening the front feet partly into bird mode. Not a big
accomplishment, perhaps, but it still makes Icebird the only Mutator who can
claim an echo of his robot mode, which may be part of the reason he's in
charge. It would make it easier for him to interact with the Maximals. (I
wonder if the others are jealous. The tech specs are rather contradictory
discussing their takes on robot modes. They can be simultaneously jealous of
the Maximals ability to obtain robot mode, but hate technology and may be
following the Oracle more fanatically than Optimus Primal.)
Owl mode looks ok at first, but has problems with the details. The wings cover
a huge space that the back legs and bear head go into, and it's about as
obvious here as the space in Transmetal Cheetor's body with the thrusters
deployed. The talons have to keep the tail in place because it doesn't really
lock anywhere. In theory, the bear tail acts as a trigger for the button on
his owl head to make his beak move. Theory and practice aren't on speaking
terms here. The button does nothing, at least on mine. If you get past all
that, then it's a nice owl for a Transformer, and I only recall one other owl
in the history of Transformers. That one had flaws, too. Maybe owls are
tougher than they look to design for?
DECISION: Minor flaws don't stop Icebird from being a nice figure. Keep.
I remember quite a bit of controversy over naming this one SOUNDWAVE. There
are still those in the fandom who consider the name used on anything other
than a cassette player (or perhaps an MP3--that's one you hear every time
someone mentions updated G1 forms) to be blasphemy. Instead we get a bat who
turns into an alligator. Although if you ask me, the bat mode looks more like
his Fuzor cousins, so he comes off as a bat/gator Fuzor. The legs and feet are
the only things posable, and there's not much point in that. A button on the
back of his head reveals the robot head, so it looks like the bat ate a
Cybertronian. The badge is on his chest, so the whole thing comes open to
reveal his tech bits, which looks like he's wearing a vest. The gator tail
throws off any semblance of bat I got out of this thing. A disappointment, but
I will give them some points for effort.
Here's an interesting note: his gator jaw actually works. That is, if you
don't put the head in place in gator mode. Then it's blocked by the bat head
that forms his skull. The overly large webbed feet (formed by his wings) still
can't be posed in any way half decent. Otherwise, it's a nice alligator with
waaaaay too big front feet. Nothing more to say here.
DECISION: Disappointment. Going away.
The last Transformer to review in this box is RAZOR CLAW. Personally, I find
him to be the best raptor to come down the pike, even if you can see his
wolverine legs in his body. Green in color (I'll get into a fan complaint next
mode), he has this weird black and orange pattern going from his skull to the
small of his back.His teeth, hands, and claws are a sort of light grey. The
foot claws are kind of weird. Each one is it's own piece (correction, the
inside claws are one piece for each foot), and three of them can move up and
down, The outside claws, however, are on a ball joint that allows them to turn
outward instead. Seems strange to me. While the badge is on his left thigh,
there doesn't seem to be any tech revealing hatches anywhere on him, much less
there. His head pops up from the dino head, and you discover that the
antenna-like things on his head double as the raptor's eyes. That's kind of
neat. You can also see his bot head if you look down his throat, while using
him as a puppet. A nice mode, but maybe a different color should have been
chosen. It works, but only in raptor mode.
However, from what I hear, green is a lousy color for a wolverine. (The only
Wolverine I know is the X-Men's answer to Elmo. A...very violent Elmo, but
both have stolen the show from their longer-existing comrades.) The long
raptor legs and claws, compact body, and the way the tail connects add the
whole mutant freak look, but I have to give the designers credit for even
trying this concept. It doesn't look too bad overall. He also has a working
"puppet" mouth.
DECISION: It has it's faults, but that's more than made up for by it's
strengths. Another keeper.
_________________________________________________________
There was only one more Mutant Beast Wars figure, Poison Bite. However, it
never impressed me, so I never got it. Considering this was such a small line,
and noting that I picked up every Fuzor and Transmetal 2, I'm a little
surprised. You'd think I'd get it just to complete the set, and now I'm
letting another one go. Collecting is such a weird game to play. However, this
part of the game is over. The technorganics are all but finished (Universe
reused some of the BMach molds), and we have but to transition to the next
series. Next time, back to Earth, the Autobots return, and the Transformers
become...Robots in Disguise! The transition post is to come.
Onslaught Six
wrote:
> DECISION: I picked this up because I didn't have the first Dino Megatron.
> Otherwise I might not have, being a mostly show collector back then, even
> though this is a far better color scheme, in my opinion. Definitely worth
> getting, which means he's worth keeping.
T-Wrecks is one of my favourite TFs. Halfway because he's an awesome
toy, yeah, but the other half is because of the character I have for
him. An angry yet apathetic bastard who mostly just wants to murder
things.
> It's in robot mode that Triceradon reaches epic fail. His robot feet just pop
> out of his dino feet, and it's obvious. His Spark Crystal, a green one with
> the Dinobot faction symbol, is in the barrel of his gun, which if you ask me
> is the final nail in the coffin of the thought that the Spark Crystal is
> supposed to represent a Transformer's spark. You mean he dies without his gun?
Japan was far looser with their interpretations of the Spark Crystals.
In RID, they were lasers. What?
> DECISION: I didn't like it when I bought and I don't like it now. Back then I
> kept it because I already bought it. What was I going to do? Now that my
> collection is way too big, I know exactly what to do with it.
I dunno, he's kinda decent. I keep my Wal-Mart repaint around with the
other Wal-Mart Dinobots and T-Wrecks because they're the post-BM
Communist Dinobots.
> AIRRAPTOR may not be a show character, but he has a connection. As I recall,
> he was the navigator for the Axalon and he wasn't happy with the "drop
> Protoform X in deep space" mission; so he went off with the Dinobots. Now he's
> back as a bird-like dinosaur.
...Wha? When did this happen?
> Sometimes referred to as "Mutants", their faction name is actually "Mutators",
...It is?
ShadowWing
"Onslaught Six" wrote
>T-Wrecks is one of my favourite TFs. Halfway because he's an awesome
>toy, yeah, but the other half is because of the character I have for
>him. An angry yet apathetic bastard who mostly just wants to murder
>things.
See, I had him as the *less* violent of the group, since he's in charge.
>Japan was far looser with their interpretations of the Spark Crystals.
>In RID, they were lasers. What?
I don't think Japan even cared about the Crystals.
>> AIRRAPTOR may not be a show character, but he has a connection. As I
>> recall,
>> he was the navigator for the Axalon and he wasn't happy with the "drop
>> Protoform X in deep space" mission; so he went off with the Dinobots. Now
>> he's
>> back as a bird-like dinosaur.
>
>...Wha? When did this happen?
http://www.tfarchive.com/toys/techspecs/beast-era/2000__Airraptor.jpg
(TFU.Info is down right now). It says there he was a member of the Axalon crew
as navigator. I think I came up with the reason he left on my own and liked it
so much I thought it was official. My goof. :)
>> Sometimes referred to as "Mutants", their faction name is actually
>> "Mutators",
>
>...It is?
Sure, make me look up images with I'm back on Dial-Up. (Network card got
fried--no DSL.)
Poison Bite makes reference to the "mutator's mission", and I"m pretty sure
they were called Mutators in the blurb at the top of the package, but I don't
know where my card back went to. So I could be wrong.
Onslaught Six
> See, I had him as the *less* violent of the group, since he's in charge.
Oh, he's violent and angry, but not the insane kind. He simply chooses
missions and things to do based on how many things he gets to kill.
"Okay, Wrecks, we need to take out this installation here."
"How many Vehicons are gonna be there?"
"How 'many?' Well, none, it's an energy processing plant."
"Nuh-uh. Not doing it. Hey, look there, it's a Vehicon factory. We're
going there now."
"But, uh, Wrecks--"
"Shutup before I make my other head spit acid in your face and eat
your brain."
> I don't think Japan even cared about the Crystals.
Yeah. Kinda sad.
> http://www.tfarchive.com/toys/techspecs/beast-era/2000__Airraptor.jpg
> (TFU.Info is down right now). It says there he was a member of the Axalon crew
> as navigator. I think I came up with the reason he left on my own and liked it
> so much I thought it was official. My goof. :)
Ah. I get the Axalon bit, that I remembered, but the Protoform X thing
seems like it'd be, uh, worth more of a fictional mention. I'd have
heard about it before, y'know?
> Sure, make me look up images with I'm back on Dial-Up. (Network card got
> fried--no DSL.)
> Poison Bite makes reference to the "mutator's mission", and I"m pretty sure
> they were called Mutators in the blurb at the top of the package, but I don't
> know where my card back went to. So I could be wrong.
Had no idea you were stuck in the sucky world of dialup. Ha ha!
This is the first I've heard of the term, but I'll look into it. The
Wiki has nothing on this, though.
Gustavo Wombat
> On Jul 23, 9:40 pm, "ShadowWing" <the_...@SPAMBLOCKADEsnet.net> wrote:
>
> > http://www.tfarchive.com/toys/techspecs/beast-era/2000__Airraptor.jpg
> > (TFU.Info is down right now). It says there he was a member of the Axalon crew
> > as navigator. I think I came up with the reason he left on my own and liked it
> > so much I thought it was official. My goof. :)
>
> Ah. I get the Axalon bit, that I remembered, but the Protoform X thing
> seems like it'd be, uh, worth more of a fictional mention. I'd have
> heard about it before, y'know?
And most of the Maximals on the Axalon had no idea about it. Just
Primal and I think Rhinox.
ShadowWing
"Gustavo Wombat" wrote
>> Onslaught Six wrote:
> > > http://www.tfarchive.com/toys/techspecs/beast-era/2000__Airraptor.jpg
> > > (TFU.Info is down right now). It says there he was a member of the
> > > Axalon crew
> > > as navigator. I think I came up with the reason he left on my own and
> > > liked it
> > >so much I thought it was official. My goof. :)
>
> >Ah. I get the Axalon bit, that I remembered, but the Protoform X thing
> >seems like it'd be, uh, worth more of a fictional mention. I'd have
> >heard about it before, y'know?
>
> And most of the Maximals on the Axalon had no idea about it. Just
> Primal and I think Rhinox.
I figured that as navigator he'd have to know about it, since he'd be the
one setting the course. Since he wasn't happy with the mission, he bowed out
and took a tour with what became the Dinobots, planning to return to the
Axalon next mission. Then the Beast Wars happened, and things didn't work out
as planned. It would have made for an interesting reunion with the others. (In
my version, Rattrap took his place, at Rhinox's suggestion, while this was
Cheetor's first tour aboard the Axalon. Primal, Rhinox, and Airraptor would be
members of the original crew, and someone else retired or went elsewhere, with
Cheetor taking that guy's place.)
Gustavo Wombat
Other than Primal being the commander, do we have any in-canon idea
what roles any of the others played on the Axalon?
Rhinox and Rattrap both have a bit of technical skill, but Rhinox was
the only one who seemed to have any kind of engineering bent. And I
have no idea what value Cheetor had...
Gustavo!
SteveD
<Gustav...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Other than Primal being the commander, do we have any in-canon idea
>what roles any of the others played on the Axalon?
>
>Rhinox and Rattrap both have a bit of technical skill, but Rhinox was
>the only one who seemed to have any kind of engineering bent. And I
>have no idea what value Cheetor had...
Scout?
Onslaught Six
> >Rhinox and Rattrap both have a bit of technical skill, but Rhinox was
> >the only one who seemed to have any kind of engineering bent. And I
> >have no idea what value Cheetor had...
>
> Scout?
Redshirt?
ShadowWing
"Gustavo Wombat" wrote
> > I figured that as navigator he'd have to know about it, since he'd be the
> >one setting the course. Since he wasn't happy with the mission, he bowed
> >out
> >and took a tour with what became the Dinobots, planning to return to the
> >Axalon next mission. Then the Beast Wars happened, and things didn't work
> >out
> >as planned. It would have made for an interesting reunion with the others.
> >(In
> >my version, Rattrap took his place, at Rhinox's suggestion, while this was
> >Cheetor's first tour aboard the Axalon. Primal, Rhinox, and Airraptor would
> >be
> >members of the original crew, and someone else retired or went elsewhere,
> >with
> >Cheetor taking that guy's place.)
>
>Other than Primal being the commander, do we have any in-canon idea
>what roles any of the others played on the Axalon?
I think there's circumstantial evidence that Rhinox was the engineer (and
possibly the pilot).