Death's Head
30-08-11, 10:17 PM
If I'd have picked up Magnaboss before I got Tripredacus, I might feel differently about it. As it is, as Roy Walker used to say, Magnaboss is "good, but not right".
Each of the three individual team members have some of the best looking beast modes of the line. Prowl the lion has a cracking face sculpt, mane and etched hair details. Only those hinged forelegs look a bit out of place. Likewise Ironhide the elephant has a wonderful scowl and an accurate capture of the various folds and wrinkles seen on a real elephant's hide. Silverbolt, like a lot of bird-based Beast Wars toys, looks great overall, but just suffers from the usual over-sized claw feet - excusable for something that has to function as a robot.
The robot modes for the three are where things go a little awry. Prowl's is pretty good. Compact and sturdy, he’s perhaps a little plain and is the most diminutive of the group, but he looks pretty badass nonetheless. The pincer weapon - or whatever it's supposed to be – is rubbish though. Silverbolt's robot mode isn't bad, but the designers hit on the idea of putting missile launchers in the wings. Not necessarily a bad idea, but given how big missiles in toys have to be to meet safety standards since the earlt 1990s, this renders the wings huge cumbersome things that frequently cause the robot mode to over balance and fall over. I like the blades formed from the feathers though. He's also the least sophisticated of the trio in terms of transformation, being pretty much the eagle mode stood up. Then we get to Ironhide - the toy that forms the bulk of the gestalt form. This means that his robot mode is horribly compromised. It's quite an ugly thing, a big, blocky lump. The main areas for criticism are those massive, Popeye-like forearms and the clumsy arrangement of the tusks dangling over his shoulders. There's a good design in there (just about), but he's obviously ended up the result of a long and frustrating day in the R&D process.
The gestalt mode is the saving grace. Having Ironhide form the bulk of the combined form (he makes up the arms, waist and legs whilst Silverbolt and Prowl fold up and clip together to form the torso) gives the figure the sort of coherence of the old Special Team leaders gave their respective gestalts. It does, at the same time, feel like a little bit of a cheat in so much that Prowl and Silverbolt in particular don't actually contribute much to the combined mode. The three weapons held by the smaller robots clip together to form a weapon for the gestalt. Magnaboss gets an excellent sword out of the weird assortment of weapons.
The combined robot also looks fantastic. Very much riffing off native American imagery, Magnaboss has a strong shamanic/ medicine man type look about him. It's a superb mode and super poseable too, and a superb display piece. The grimacing face is cracking, and a nice nod to the more 'robotic' faces of the original toyline. The lack of a neck does leave him looking skyward ever so slightly and his arms are a tad too short, but these are nit picks rather than out and out criticisms.
Whilst not as jaw-dropping as Tripredacus, Magnaboss is a fun figure with some passable, if weak (for the range) individual robots. Ultimately, it is the superb beast forms and combined form that sell the toy.
501502503
Each of the three individual team members have some of the best looking beast modes of the line. Prowl the lion has a cracking face sculpt, mane and etched hair details. Only those hinged forelegs look a bit out of place. Likewise Ironhide the elephant has a wonderful scowl and an accurate capture of the various folds and wrinkles seen on a real elephant's hide. Silverbolt, like a lot of bird-based Beast Wars toys, looks great overall, but just suffers from the usual over-sized claw feet - excusable for something that has to function as a robot.
The robot modes for the three are where things go a little awry. Prowl's is pretty good. Compact and sturdy, he’s perhaps a little plain and is the most diminutive of the group, but he looks pretty badass nonetheless. The pincer weapon - or whatever it's supposed to be – is rubbish though. Silverbolt's robot mode isn't bad, but the designers hit on the idea of putting missile launchers in the wings. Not necessarily a bad idea, but given how big missiles in toys have to be to meet safety standards since the earlt 1990s, this renders the wings huge cumbersome things that frequently cause the robot mode to over balance and fall over. I like the blades formed from the feathers though. He's also the least sophisticated of the trio in terms of transformation, being pretty much the eagle mode stood up. Then we get to Ironhide - the toy that forms the bulk of the gestalt form. This means that his robot mode is horribly compromised. It's quite an ugly thing, a big, blocky lump. The main areas for criticism are those massive, Popeye-like forearms and the clumsy arrangement of the tusks dangling over his shoulders. There's a good design in there (just about), but he's obviously ended up the result of a long and frustrating day in the R&D process.
The gestalt mode is the saving grace. Having Ironhide form the bulk of the combined form (he makes up the arms, waist and legs whilst Silverbolt and Prowl fold up and clip together to form the torso) gives the figure the sort of coherence of the old Special Team leaders gave their respective gestalts. It does, at the same time, feel like a little bit of a cheat in so much that Prowl and Silverbolt in particular don't actually contribute much to the combined mode. The three weapons held by the smaller robots clip together to form a weapon for the gestalt. Magnaboss gets an excellent sword out of the weird assortment of weapons.
The combined robot also looks fantastic. Very much riffing off native American imagery, Magnaboss has a strong shamanic/ medicine man type look about him. It's a superb mode and super poseable too, and a superb display piece. The grimacing face is cracking, and a nice nod to the more 'robotic' faces of the original toyline. The lack of a neck does leave him looking skyward ever so slightly and his arms are a tad too short, but these are nit picks rather than out and out criticisms.
Whilst not as jaw-dropping as Tripredacus, Magnaboss is a fun figure with some passable, if weak (for the range) individual robots. Ultimately, it is the superb beast forms and combined form that sell the toy.
501502503