Death's Head
30-08-11, 10:12 PM
"Tripredacus Council now in session."
For the second year of the Beast Wars line, Kenner tapped into one of the most tried and true sales ploys of the original Transformers line - the merge group, mercifully sparing us yet more versions of the two leaders - Optimus Primal and Megatron. These were five or six Transformers that could link together to form a massive robot. They were all something of a qualified success, with portly, ill-proportioned Basic/ Scout sized limb bots linking to a larger Deluxe/ Voyager scaled robot. The Beast Wars combiners were a revelation - a quantum leap ahead of their predecessors in both design and execution. Sold as a gift set, both the Maximals and Predacons got a combiner each. It's the Predacons who get the better set, with three robots that work as more than the sum of their parts. On first purchase, I was a little unsure of how they would get a workable gestalt out of only three robots (Memories of the dreadful Duocons rattling around in my head), if previously Transformers had struggled slightly with five or six team members. I needn't have worried.
Tripredacus is comprised of Cicadacon, Sea Clamp and Ramhorn. Cicadacon is, as his name suggests, a Cicada. He's a very nice representation of one too. Rendered in a nice bright green, with purples, whites and oranges added some nice detail. The body is nicely textured and he feels very solid and compact in his beast form. The wings are great too. Nice transparent pieces on balljoints that can be moved about. The legs can wiggle about a bit, but thats as far as it goes for articulation. The robot's 'swords' can swing out for something approaching an attack mode. The robot mode is easily formed out of the beast mode, giving you a very nice little warrior. He has suitably bug-like head, picked out with a splodge of purple for the face and a pair of beady yellow eyes staring out. The use of white for the forearms and legs does make Cicadacon look a bit top heavy, something that's not helped by the insect head simply folding down to form the chest, but he has incredible balance despite the weight this adds to the figure. The swords fit nicely in his fists and he can wave them about in a suitably dramatic fashion.
Ramhorn the stag beetle is a fantastic representation of the real thing. So much so, that he'd easily creep out the unwary! Largely a lovely metalic looking crimson, with some brown legs poking out, Ramhorn has no articulation in beast mode save for being able to move those front legs about and wiggle his head. Easily the most challenging of the group to transform, Ramhorn will take a bit of patience to get into robot mode. He's all puzzling twists and turns - and getting his blade weapon out of his shell is an exercise in frustration. It gets easier with repeated play, but its still a challenging sequence. The robot mode is a portly fellow mainly due the large sections of shell hanging off him. He's probably the weakest of the group in terms of the overall look of his robot mode. That's not to say its out and out bad, just a bit average looking for the line. He has the usual points of articulation, and in common with some of the other Predacons, lacks actual hands, just having two clawed fingers. His blade weapon therefore has to be simply plugged into his hand. It looks pretty good though, even so. Unusually for the range, Ramhorn's head has its ball socket in his mouth, giving him a Muppet-like opening mouth.
Sea Clamp is an impressive bit of kit. A great representation of a lobster (and pun on the capentry tool of the same name), Sea Clamp is highly detailed and textured. He is also partially rendered in opaque brown plastics of varying shades. He can move those clawed arms a considerable amount, thanks to all the various joints and hinges on them. He also has some cool flip out jabby-claw thingies for added fighty fun. The robot mode doesn't really deviate from the model of other clawed mechanoids, but why should it? The end result is excellent, if a little plain looking. He has a missile launcher hidden in his tail, but lacking any missiles, it's a bit redundant but comes in useful for the combined mode. He looks suitably fearsome and brutal which is great.
Both the Beast Wars gestalts are complex, challenging affairs and came as something as a shock after the simplicity of the original Transformers merge groups. Even the later RiD combiners don't match either Tripredacus or Magnaboss for complexity. Largely, this is due to working with the more organic beast forms, which lack the angular, easily connected parts of their vehicular brethren. Whilst the legs and torso are easy to figure out, it's again Ramhorn that presents the most challenging part of the transformation, his beast mode requiring some novel twists and turns to form the arms (reforming the beast mode from his gestalt contribution still remains one of the most complex transformation sequences ever seen in the entire Transformers toyline).
The resulting robot is a very frightening looking amalgamation of various creature parts. He looks, creepy, unsettling and fearsome all in one go. It's a stunning figure. More so when you realize that the combined form has the same articulation and movement as any of the other Beast Wars toys. It's a stunning piece of work that, in my humble opinion, has yet to be bettered. Sure, it's not perfect, the arms are a bit reedy and long, and the right hand does need those weapons attaching to stop it looking like an afterthought, but it's an incredible piece of work for its size class and urinates over the complicated nonsense of the Masterpiece and Alternators lines from a great height, being a toy that actually requires a high degree of complexity to perform its allotted function. A truly outstanding piece of work both then and now.
494495496
For the second year of the Beast Wars line, Kenner tapped into one of the most tried and true sales ploys of the original Transformers line - the merge group, mercifully sparing us yet more versions of the two leaders - Optimus Primal and Megatron. These were five or six Transformers that could link together to form a massive robot. They were all something of a qualified success, with portly, ill-proportioned Basic/ Scout sized limb bots linking to a larger Deluxe/ Voyager scaled robot. The Beast Wars combiners were a revelation - a quantum leap ahead of their predecessors in both design and execution. Sold as a gift set, both the Maximals and Predacons got a combiner each. It's the Predacons who get the better set, with three robots that work as more than the sum of their parts. On first purchase, I was a little unsure of how they would get a workable gestalt out of only three robots (Memories of the dreadful Duocons rattling around in my head), if previously Transformers had struggled slightly with five or six team members. I needn't have worried.
Tripredacus is comprised of Cicadacon, Sea Clamp and Ramhorn. Cicadacon is, as his name suggests, a Cicada. He's a very nice representation of one too. Rendered in a nice bright green, with purples, whites and oranges added some nice detail. The body is nicely textured and he feels very solid and compact in his beast form. The wings are great too. Nice transparent pieces on balljoints that can be moved about. The legs can wiggle about a bit, but thats as far as it goes for articulation. The robot's 'swords' can swing out for something approaching an attack mode. The robot mode is easily formed out of the beast mode, giving you a very nice little warrior. He has suitably bug-like head, picked out with a splodge of purple for the face and a pair of beady yellow eyes staring out. The use of white for the forearms and legs does make Cicadacon look a bit top heavy, something that's not helped by the insect head simply folding down to form the chest, but he has incredible balance despite the weight this adds to the figure. The swords fit nicely in his fists and he can wave them about in a suitably dramatic fashion.
Ramhorn the stag beetle is a fantastic representation of the real thing. So much so, that he'd easily creep out the unwary! Largely a lovely metalic looking crimson, with some brown legs poking out, Ramhorn has no articulation in beast mode save for being able to move those front legs about and wiggle his head. Easily the most challenging of the group to transform, Ramhorn will take a bit of patience to get into robot mode. He's all puzzling twists and turns - and getting his blade weapon out of his shell is an exercise in frustration. It gets easier with repeated play, but its still a challenging sequence. The robot mode is a portly fellow mainly due the large sections of shell hanging off him. He's probably the weakest of the group in terms of the overall look of his robot mode. That's not to say its out and out bad, just a bit average looking for the line. He has the usual points of articulation, and in common with some of the other Predacons, lacks actual hands, just having two clawed fingers. His blade weapon therefore has to be simply plugged into his hand. It looks pretty good though, even so. Unusually for the range, Ramhorn's head has its ball socket in his mouth, giving him a Muppet-like opening mouth.
Sea Clamp is an impressive bit of kit. A great representation of a lobster (and pun on the capentry tool of the same name), Sea Clamp is highly detailed and textured. He is also partially rendered in opaque brown plastics of varying shades. He can move those clawed arms a considerable amount, thanks to all the various joints and hinges on them. He also has some cool flip out jabby-claw thingies for added fighty fun. The robot mode doesn't really deviate from the model of other clawed mechanoids, but why should it? The end result is excellent, if a little plain looking. He has a missile launcher hidden in his tail, but lacking any missiles, it's a bit redundant but comes in useful for the combined mode. He looks suitably fearsome and brutal which is great.
Both the Beast Wars gestalts are complex, challenging affairs and came as something as a shock after the simplicity of the original Transformers merge groups. Even the later RiD combiners don't match either Tripredacus or Magnaboss for complexity. Largely, this is due to working with the more organic beast forms, which lack the angular, easily connected parts of their vehicular brethren. Whilst the legs and torso are easy to figure out, it's again Ramhorn that presents the most challenging part of the transformation, his beast mode requiring some novel twists and turns to form the arms (reforming the beast mode from his gestalt contribution still remains one of the most complex transformation sequences ever seen in the entire Transformers toyline).
The resulting robot is a very frightening looking amalgamation of various creature parts. He looks, creepy, unsettling and fearsome all in one go. It's a stunning figure. More so when you realize that the combined form has the same articulation and movement as any of the other Beast Wars toys. It's a stunning piece of work that, in my humble opinion, has yet to be bettered. Sure, it's not perfect, the arms are a bit reedy and long, and the right hand does need those weapons attaching to stop it looking like an afterthought, but it's an incredible piece of work for its size class and urinates over the complicated nonsense of the Masterpiece and Alternators lines from a great height, being a toy that actually requires a high degree of complexity to perform its allotted function. A truly outstanding piece of work both then and now.
494495496