by Dr. Caelus » Mon Oct 22, 2007 12:05 am
My Hotpicks:
Beast Machines Vehicons
Mega Class Tankor - It's rediculous that he's only been repainted once, and it was a horrible job. He looks nothing like the cartoon character (if you want accuracy go with the Basic Sized Tank Drone) but looks great in both forms, is heavily armed, and the Cylon-Eye gimmick is amusing. Also, his transformation is surprisingly unique. Does have some issues standing in complex poses in bo-tmode because of loose joints.
Ultra Class Jetstorm - He's pretty animation accurate, but more importantly, he's so big he looks really intimidating next to other TFs. If you keep your collection seperated by series, he'll only be in-scale with AirAttack Primal, Supreme Cheetor, Nightwing, and Rattrap (The BM series really had 3 seperate distinct scales going for some reason). If you mix wantonly though, Ultra Jetstorm looks great standing behind Megatron. There's a reason he was repainted as Cyclonus. Also, his puppet-gimmick and electronics were neat, and didn't interfere with playability IMO. Like the old Transmetals, he has lots of problems with paint chipping though.
Deluxe Jetstorm - This is a good 'stable' figure - no siginificant weaknesses or strengths. As the spiritual successor to the Seekers, there have been a few repaints (Aerodrone, Jhiaxus, Skywarp), and it seems like as a collection they'd be worth more than the sum of their parts, if that makes sense.
There are a lot of others I liked, but they tend to have pretty glaring flaws:
- I loved all the Vehicon basic-sized figures, but the Motorcycle Drone has a boring, non-show-accurate paint job and its arms are too large. Mine still has the clear rubberband to keep his arm-weapon feature stowed away, b/c it was stupid.
- Spystreak's unorthodox bot-mode arms would turn most people off.
- The Tank Drone is just boring, even if it's the most accurate looking toy in the series.
- Mirage is a great figure if you can get past his silly alternate mode (a militarized F-1?), but isn't terribly exciting.
- Obsidian is excellent, but has no hands, and his rotors are really bulky.
- Scavenger, the first BM figure I got, was probably my favorite of the Vehicon basics. His alt-mode is clearly functional - not in any way an attempt at disguise like some of the Vehicons seem to play at with cockpits etc - and his intended function is to crush, kill, and destroy. I suspect few would agree with me though.
- As far as other Vehicon molds, Thrust was a massive dissappointment, and Blastcharge is really best kept in alt-mode. That said, Universe Blastcharge was worth $10 just for the alt-mode. Megabolt Megatron is interesting, but most of his value rests in his uniqueness. I never owned Strika, or Mega-Class Megatron.
Beast Machines Maximals (Not counting the Dinobots)
Battle Unicorn - He has subpar articulation and durability, he's too small for someone to ride him, and his name was submitted at 4:48pm on a Friday, but it doesn't matter, because between the spiked hooves, cool helmet, and shiny axe, he looks so bad@$$ that Decepticons, Vehicons, and Predacons flee at the sight of him. Also his tears cure cancer.
Hammerstrike - Looks great in both forms assuming you don't dismiss the techno-organic look altogether. Also has a subtle pirate theme in bot-mode that is amusing. Plastic feels fragile, but mine has never broken. His weapon may be his weakest point though, it doesn't amount to much.
Skydive - Fantastic articulation, cool gimmick, and decent colors. It's the living-fossil-look that I always loved about him though.
Black Arachnia - The best toy of her so far. Unfortunately, that's not much of a challenge. With the color adjustments Takara made for her Japanese rerelease last year, she is very animation-accurate.
Geckobot - the only Beast Machines Maximal I brought with me to Colorado. For some reason he's just amusing. I was dissapointed that his jaws weren't articulated though.
The others I have owned were Deluxe Primal and Mega Cheetor, and both were pretty much made of suckiness IMO.
Beast Wars Basics
Of the ones I have owned (I lacked Bantor, Airhammer, Gasskunk, and the Earwig), I can't say that any fail to be good toys. The only flaws that come to mind are:
- Megatron's jaws are fragile.
- Noctorro's spring loaded wings are finnicky, and too small.
- Sonar can be tricky to transform.
- Terrorsaur is a Basic when he should have been a Mega.
- Armordillo is bright orange, a color which is neither realistic for an armadillo, nor practical for an ambush fighter.
- Snapper's gun has ED - but that's not a big issue b/c it looks better if you leave it in his shell as a back mounted weapon. Same thing is true to a lesser extent for Razorbeast.
Still, all of the above are good toys. The highlights however would be:
Terragator - Yeah, there really isn't much that needs to be said. Alligator + Alligator Snapping Turtle = Instance of Redundancy being a good thing. Though he's a Fuzor, his beast mode halves go so well together you're inclined to forget. He has a long, if somewhat goofy looking rifle, and a big shield in bot mode. These accessories, paired with his well articulated body, make for some great play options.
Clawjaw - Unless you just stay away from oceanic alts on principle, he's great. Looks great in both forms, especially bot-mode. His weapon is kind of pointless but really, the only real improvement would have been to double his size and give him bendy tentacles.
Spittor - Both original and TMII. The original is partially cool for the fact he looks so realistic in beast mode (translucent skin being a big give-away of course). The TMII version trades this for more range of motion, articulation, and street cred. Both are well articulated though. On the other hand, both have lame gimmicks. Fortunately the gimmicks don't get in the way.
Insecticon - His Energon crossbow is just really cool, and he looks great dragging Maximals to their doom with his mandibles in beast-mode. His robot-mode has an aesthetic coherency to it that many lack.
Quickstrike - Props for cartoon accuracy that Rattrap and Airrazor fall short on. He has great play value with good articulation in both modes. Also, you can tear him apart and put him together again like you can with Waspinator and Inferno, but that's true of most BW Basics. As his joints loosen with time he begins to rag-doll - but that would be true of most toys that received the sort of punishment he did.
Scarem - In honor of board tradition I have to mention him. A horrific B-Movie mishmash of blades, saws, and glowing red eyes, he's the Transformer that ate Chuck Norris's beard (after Chuck Norris had eaten Chester the Cheetah).
Buzzclaw - Like Terragator, his fused beast-modes just fit naturally. The oriental bent to his look is unique. Though his 'weapon' is lame, you can leave it attached to his back in robot-mode and he looks fine. His wings may go limp rather quickly though.
Sonar - Four arms in robot-mode FTW!
Optimus Minor - One of the most ridiculous characters ever - he is Prime's clone, but 1/8th his size! More seriously, he looks cool riding on the backs of other characters, especially Ramulus, and obviously, he has good articulation. His weapon comes off much better in the comics though.
Razorclaw - He makes the list for his razor claw. The big one with the retractable spikes. It's disproportionately fun to play with.
. both of these are sooo fun to play with, and both are pretty solid AND stable in both modes, something most Beast Wars toys are not known of.
lots of good toys there. i'm suitably impressed by the MISB Optimal Optimus, he's selling it at retail, considering that this toy should have have marked up already given the time from its original release. 
, i personally liked the Predacon one a little bit more ( im such a decepticon/ predacon lover 
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