BEAST
WARS: TOY REVIEW
Name: HARDHEAD
Allegiance: Destron
Function: Ground Warfare Commander
Beast Mode: Pachycephalosaurus
Average Price: 1500 JPY
Above: An image taken from the 1999 catalogue. Hardhead
is pictured on the right with his Swordmaster rival, Sharp
Edge, shown on the left.
BEAST MODE
Height: 10cm
Length: 21cm
Hardhead is effectively a repaint and slight remould
of Dinobot. However, in order make Hardhead
look like a Pachycephalosaurus (since Dinobot's Beast Mode is a Velociraptor)
a totally new head was sculpted for this toy. Like a Pacycephalosaurus,
the head sports the trademark domelike skull with bony knobs along the
base of the dome and throughout various parts of the head. Other than that,
the moulding is identical to Dinobot's, including the Velociraptor's claw
on each foot. The head is also equipped with a very strange gimmick...
lower the jaw and the dome springs up! Although this gimmick is sure to
amuse younger children with its comical appeal, older fans will see it
as being somewhat useless (especially considering that the neck can't bend
forward to present the dome horizontally)... I see no use for such a device
in combat whatsoever. After all, during a ram, the dinosaur charges its
entire body, dome-first at its opponent.
The toy is primarily purple with turquoise spots and
accents throughout the body. A very nice colour scheme in my humble opinion.
In this mode, Hardhead has 11 points of available articulation. Unfortunately,
like Dinobot, the robot legs are clearly visible in this mode, although
they've done more to try to hide it, as half of each leg has been remoulded
to look more organic and painted purple to try to blend with the rest of
the body. It doesn't work terribly well mind you, but it was a nice try.
TRANSFORMATION
Same as Dinobot's. What did you expect?
ROBOT MODE
Height: 13cm
Articulation: 17 points
A very, very nice looking robot mode. Although its just
a repaint/remould of Dinobot, there are three things about Hardhead which
look nicer than the Dinobot toy. First is the colour scheme. I've never
really liked Dinobot's colour... that sick kind of pink. Secondly is the
robot head. Like the head in beast mode, the robot head is also a totally
new sculpt. The head is primarily purple, like the rest of the body, but
the face is silver with yellow eyes. There's also a silver sphere resting
on the crown. Not to mention that the head has a very mecha-like look to
it. Nice! Finally, the lower legs are also new sculpts. Although the feet
are the same, the actual lower leg section and heels have been resculpted.
Whereas Dinobot's legs had that kind of transparent "fossil" look to it,
the outer side of each of Hardhead's leg are mechanised and coloured metallic
champagne. The inner sides of the legs are moulded to look more organic
and are coloured purple. Hardhead just looks so much better than Dinobot's
despite their similarities. I guess it shows that a small change can make
a big difference. (similar to how a small change can
drastically change the outcome of a mathematic equation... whatever)
Other than cosmetic differences, the play value of the
toy is pretty much the same as Dinobots, except for some unknown reason,
my Hardhead seems to hold his weapons a lot better than my Dinobot. He
can strike a variety of cool-arse poses and like Dinobot, sports the spinning
shield gimmick.
Like in beast mode, the toy is Barney-purple (thus bringing
some honour to purple dinosaurs everywhere) with turquoise spots, shoulders,
thighs, feet and fingers/claws.
RUB STICKER LOCATION
"Under-chest"... just behind where the beast head sits in
robot mode... mind you, i'ts jolly obvious during mid-transformation. :-)
OVERALL
Great toy! Looks fantastic and provides endless hours of
play!
BEAST TRIVIA
The Pachycephalosaurus is a genus of large and unusual dinosaur fossils
found in North American deposits. Pachycephalosaurus lived during the Cretaceous
Period (beginning some 136,000,000 years ago ending around 71,000,000 years)
and grew to be around 9 metres long. It was a biped with strong hindlegs
but had underdeveloped forelimbs.
The distinctive feature of the Pachycephalosaurus was its high, domelike
skull formed by a thick mass of solid bone grown over the tiny brain. Bony
knobs also abounded on the front and sides of the skull. A member of the
bone-headed dinosaurs.
Bibliography: Encyclopaedia Brittanica.
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