BEAST
WARS: TOY REVIEW 
His beast mode isn’t too bad. The only robot kibble is that his rear end looks like a pair of feet. But if you don’t go looking up his butt, you won’t notice (from underneath, though, his robot mode is clearly visible). Apart from that it’s nothing special. It pretty much DOES look like an armadillo. The only problem is who cares? About the only Predacon who has anything to fear from an armadillo is Inferno… and even then, what armadillo’s diet consists of ants four times as big as it is? Not many I’m supposing. Good looking armadillo; crap choice of alt mode.
Armour and Snapper came with a playset consisting of an electronic volcano and diorama play mat.
The volcano itself is dark brown in colour and stands at 130 millimetres in height.The volcano moulding is rather simplistic. Just a couple of jagged grooves throughout give it the "rocky" look. Running down one side of the mountain is a series of ramps in a zig-zag formation ending in a hole at the bottom. This is part of the volcano's eruption gimmick. The set comes with several red magma balls (which actually look like Jaffas). Place these balls into the hole at the base of the ramps and switch on the mountain. Soon enough, the balls start spouting from the top of the volcano and rolling down the ramps to re-enter the hole, creating a looping cycle of eruption. This is quite a cool gimmick and would be great fun for the younger fans. However, I do not recommend this toy for toddlers, since the magma balls would present a choking hazard.
(Left): Magma balls
(fire digitally imposed... duh) spurting from the top and rolling down
the ramps.
Adjacent to the ramps are two holes where a cage can be attached. This cage is a prison (oooh!). Yeah, whatever.
(Left): Snapper, behind
bars.
On the other side of the mountain, the moulding takes
a dramatic departure and takes on a mechanical look. It basically looks
like an entrance to a base. There's a door, but it doesn't open.
Hmm... a base inside a volcano... (puts little finger
on corner of mouth)
A missile launcher can be attached in front of the fake door. This launcher fires more of those Jaffas.. uuh... I mean, magma.
(Left): Armour opens
fire.
Not enough? How about a 60cm x 60cm diorama play mat? Oh. Anyway, it's a plastic mat with various land formations painted on it... rocks, cracks, grass, shrubs, boulders and even a pond.
(Below): The entire diorama. The catalogue pictures above probably show
a prototype, which are often coloured differently from the final product.
Notice that unlike the prototype, the mountain is actually a dark brown,
not clay brown and the cannon is blue, not silver.
Also, notice that the "mechanised" portion of the mountain is silver,
whereas on the prototype, it's the same colour as the rest of the mountain!
(Above, L to R): Megalligator, Convobat, Armour, Snapper, Tigatron,
Black Widow.
Overall, it's a pretty neat playset. I think it would be a fair guess to say that Takara decided to chuck in the two worst figures in with it in order to sell those figures (that way they'd sell them because people actually be after the volcano... I mean, that's why *I* bought it). Armour and Snapper were kinda like booby-prizes that came with it. :-)
There are 9 genera and 20 species of armadillo and are named according the number of bands in their armour (e.g.: one with nine bands is called a, wait for it, nine-banded armadillo).
Armadillos are stout, short-legged animals with strong, curved claws and protective coverings of pinkish to brown armour. This armour is comprised of solid, buckler-like plates separated by movable transverse bands. It covers most of the body, including the head and usually the tail. The coat consists of hairs in different formations according to the species.
Size varies considerably from a body length of 16 centimetres in the pink fairy armadillo, to 1.5 metres in the giant armadillo. Armadillos live alone, in pairs or in small groups. Primarily nocturnal, they live in burrows and feed on insects (especially termites), vegetation, small animals and some carrion. They are strong diggers and good swimmers, swallowing air to increase buoyancy in water. When threatened, armadillos retreat to their burrows, or if caught in the open, draw in their feet so the armoud touches the ground, They may also run away, burrow or claw at the attacker.
Female armadillos bear up to 12 identical young, all of which develop from a single fertilised egg. The gestation period is not known for all species, but is generally 65 days.
Bibliography: Encyclopaedia Brittanica