BEAST WARS: TOY
REVIEW
Name: GIGASTORM
Allegiance: Destron
Function: Grand Duke of Destruction
Machine Mode: City, Rolling Attack Base
Average Price: 4980 JPY
Note: Gigastorm is a slight recolour/retool of Trypticon
ROBOT MODE
Height: 27cm
Length: 39cm from nose to tail
Width: 15cm from hip to hip
Gigastorm is basically a recolour of G1 Transformer Trypticon.
He's still a large Godzilla-type lizard, but unlike Trypticon, he has large
green spots running down his side, and the flip-up nose cannon has been
replaced by a large transparent orange horn. The horn is a large robotic
piece with 2 smaller fin-like horns behind it. His colours are also more
flashy than Trypticon's, with more chrome, green spots, and several smaller
details painted on. In fact, the only stickers are his eyes and rub sticker.
His points of articulation are limited to moving his head up and down slightly,
his thumbs and opening his mouth. While his arms and legs are jointed,
they can't just be posed. Read the gimmick note below to see why.
The gimmick is also why his feet don't sit flat. He has 2 pegs on the inside
of each foot, similar to the small pegs on the feet of old wind-up
walking toys, only larger. But they point down at an angle, again, due
to the gimmick. However, how could he be complete without his chest plate?
The Full-Tilt car (known as "Giga-Scouter" - Goktimus)
was also included, and snaps on his chest in car mode, just like with Trypticon.
Gimmick: Remove the tail cover, instert 2 C batteries
(labelled as SUM-2 in the compartment), replace the cover, and flip the
switch on the elft side of his tail. HE WALKS! This feature was also found
in Trypticon. Basically, one leg lifts slightly, steps forward, the other
follows suit. He moves a few centimetres with each step. The icing on th
cake is his arms are hooked up to his legs, and move as he steps. Sweet!
However, depending on the alignment, the inner support pegs may catch on
each other. In that case, shut him off, and simply move his legs to get
them back into position.
TRANSFORMATION TO CITY MODE
Remove Full-Tilt Giga-Scouter.
Fold his head down, and fold the jump jets up and back. Rotate the entire
head piece around so the jets face forward. Slide the knobs on the backs
of his legs and open the legs up. Fold the sides of the body out and flat,
so the open legs are also flat on the floor. Point the feet pegs up. Fold
out the Helipads, flip the end ramp out on his tail, raise up the Full-Tilt
Giga-Scouter peg base, and finally, pull out
the end thrusters on his jets/city towers to reveal the antenna.
CITY MODE
Height: 21cm to the tops of the antenna towers
Length: 48cm from the horn to the end of the ramp
Width: 30cm to the opened Helipads, 50cm max with the
legs outstretched
Well, it's definitely a huge city. Larger than even Metroplex's
city form, it has enough platforms to house the entire Destron army. I
mean, this thing is HUGE! However, pretty much all of the add-ons Trypticon
had are now gone. No extra towers, no pieces to hook Onslaught and Morormaster
to him, and no huge laser cannon. But, the slots for those parts exist,
so if you have some old parts, you can put them to good use. Still, despite
all this, this form is still very nice. Of course, the main thing you will
notice is the huge Predacon symbol on the top of the ramp. A large silver
Predacon logo is painted right on, along with a large silver arrow. May
not be a Decepticon symbol, but hey, it's nice. The arrow is interrupted
in the middle by a large dip in the ramp though. This dip is needed to
help you fold out the end of the ramp.
Gimmicks: Place Giga-Scouter
in car mode under the peg tower. Press down hard on the orange button on
the back of the peg tower, and Full-Tilt will speed out as a ramp flies
up, sending him on his way.
TRANSFORMATION TO BASE MODE
Push down the peg tower, fold the Helipads in, fold
the towers down so the antenna face forward, fold the end of the ramp up,
fold the legs together so the pegs face forward, fold out the dual laser
cannon on the end of the ramp, and finally, place Giga-Scouter on the peg
tower.
BASE MODE
Height: 16 cm
Well, it's not much different from the city, but either
way, Gigastorm gets it handed down, so it's not entirely bad. The lack
of extra parts still hurts, but not as bad as it could be. Still, not too
different from the city form to really make it hard to form this straight
from robot mode, and is a bit more compact. No gimmicks.
RUB STICKER LOCATION
Left side of the head, behind the eye. And I will add, that
unlike the rub stickers Hasbro used on the US releases, the ones used by
Takara work correctly.
GIGA SCOUTER CAR MODE
Height: 2cm
Length: 6.5cm
Width: 4cm
Just like the original Full-Tilt car, this is a small
compact drone on wheels. Basically 4 wheels and a small body, the engine
is the only real feature, aside from extra details. The hole for fitting
his gun on top is still there, but he has no gun. No gimmicks, other than
forming Gigastorm's chest.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Fold the front of the car out. Fold the arms up a bit. You're
done.
GIGA-SCOUTER ROBOT MODE
Height: 9cm
Width: 4cm
His robot mode thankfully is more than the car standing
up, for a 1-step transformation. While the front of the car forms the legs
and feet, the upper half was the underside of the car. The face is a simple
visor and face plate, with some chest details, and simple hands. He has
holes in hi sarms for hin gun, but again, no gun was included. He has 3
joints- knee, and both shoulders. The shoulder joint is a ratcher joint
and holds position well. He's basically solid purple, with black wheels.
The original may have had stickers, but I'm not sure. The original may
also have been a different shade of purple, but again, I'm not sure. Still,
he serves as a main accessory, and it's nice he was included, even asa
bonus. No Gimmicks.
OVERALL
While missing some weapons and accessories, the colours are
a bit nicer than on Trypticon, even if he does lack stickers. Still, the
laser cannon would have been nice. Either way, it's a great re-release,
and retains the base toy perfectly. The walking feature is real nice, and
I love the new horn on his head. At least an "A" just for what the toy
does have. It's also notable that they plastic used on the toy is the same
type used during G1. This is probably due to the fact that moulds are usually
made to accomodate a certain type of plastic, and any other type may have
had problems.
********
This toy review was written by Justin
Anderson (aka Kasady Voorhees)
Photos courtesy of Neko
Tom
Back
Home