Death's Head
26-08-11, 08:34 AM
Cybershark is probably the highlight of the second wave of Beast Wars deluxe figures from 1996. His alt mode is a strange mish mash of at least three different sharks; he’s got the markings of a tiger shark, the bulk of a great white and the overall appearance of a hammerhead shark. Hammerhead sharks were a popular choice for the Beast Wars line, and I’m not sure why. They’re pretty ugly things, and it would have been nice to have some variety. Perhaps when Kenner sent their designs over to Takara, they had no reference material, having eaten all the other sharks…
Anyway, whilst in shark mode, Cybershark has two attack features. Pressing the button on this back launches the shark head (yeah, I’m not sure about that one either). What’s nice about this is that rather than leaving just a mess of robot parts revealed, there’s a robotic shark head sculpted underneath. A great touch, and a couple of drops of red paint on those eyes would have made it brilliant. The second feature is at the back. Flip the tab behind the tail and out pops a blade – just make sure you keep your fingers out of the way – its surprisingly powerful!
Cybershark’s transformation is lovely. Remove the tail and shark head, push down on the robot feet at the back to unclip them from the tucked away robot hands. Split the belly of the shark and fold the halves out to the side. Grab the front of the shark and swing it down until it clips into place. Straighten out the legs and rotate the arms around to the front. The tail can be held in his hand as a weapon thing. He can also use the shark head as um, something, but it stops it lying around looking useless. There are two missiles stored in the figure’s back (also carrying over the shark motif – they have little toothy faces and gills etched in!), which can be launched from the missile launcher in the chest. Finally, as a Beast-era figure he has at least 14 points of articulation, as well as a heat-sensitive Energon chip which reveals his Maximal allegiance.
The real winning part of Cybershark is the beautifully nuanced and balanced colour scheme. The metallic paint job of the Shark flesh and the pearl white plastics compliment each other very nicely – and that sharp toothed face is a corker.
There’s very little to find fault with on Cybershark. He’s an excellent example of some of the great advances made during the Beast-era, both in terms of design and engineering, and in achieving a successful balance between beast and robot mode.
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Anyway, whilst in shark mode, Cybershark has two attack features. Pressing the button on this back launches the shark head (yeah, I’m not sure about that one either). What’s nice about this is that rather than leaving just a mess of robot parts revealed, there’s a robotic shark head sculpted underneath. A great touch, and a couple of drops of red paint on those eyes would have made it brilliant. The second feature is at the back. Flip the tab behind the tail and out pops a blade – just make sure you keep your fingers out of the way – its surprisingly powerful!
Cybershark’s transformation is lovely. Remove the tail and shark head, push down on the robot feet at the back to unclip them from the tucked away robot hands. Split the belly of the shark and fold the halves out to the side. Grab the front of the shark and swing it down until it clips into place. Straighten out the legs and rotate the arms around to the front. The tail can be held in his hand as a weapon thing. He can also use the shark head as um, something, but it stops it lying around looking useless. There are two missiles stored in the figure’s back (also carrying over the shark motif – they have little toothy faces and gills etched in!), which can be launched from the missile launcher in the chest. Finally, as a Beast-era figure he has at least 14 points of articulation, as well as a heat-sensitive Energon chip which reveals his Maximal allegiance.
The real winning part of Cybershark is the beautifully nuanced and balanced colour scheme. The metallic paint job of the Shark flesh and the pearl white plastics compliment each other very nicely – and that sharp toothed face is a corker.
There’s very little to find fault with on Cybershark. He’s an excellent example of some of the great advances made during the Beast-era, both in terms of design and engineering, and in achieving a successful balance between beast and robot mode.
421422423424425