BEAST WARS: TOY
REVIEW
Name: IGUANUS
Allegiance: Predacon
Function: Demolitions
Beast Mode: Frilled Neck Lizard
Average Price: 12 AUD
BEAST MODE
Iguanus is basically a brown lizard, with yellow and orange
highlights and blue eyes. He is about 14.5 cm long from nose to tail.
Despite his name, he is clearly not an iguana; his frill
would incline one to think he is supposed to a Frill-Necked Lizard.
The similarity ends there, however, as the rest of his body is very broad,
and much like a crocodile’s. This is not surprising when you consider
that Iguanus shares most of his body in both modes with the original BW
Megatron croc; only the beast and robot mode heads are different.
Iguanus’s head is not too bad, and has an opening mouth. The front
limbs become the robot arms, and consequently are set too far back on the
body. Iguanus has no useful articulation in this mode, beyond the
jaw.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Remove the tail, and flip out the tip to become the gun.
Flip up the remainder of the tail, and the rest is just positioning hands
and feet, folding the rear beast legs back, and fitting the gun into his
hand. Flip changers certainly make this part easy!
ROBOT MODE
There’s not a lot to say about Iguanus’s robot mode. He stands
about 10 cm high. The beast head becomes the chest as with most flip
changers and the rest is history. The robot head has red eyes and
a mouth full of sharp teeth, with the frill sitting horizontally behind
the head. The gun is fairly cumbersome, and the weight of it is sometimes
prone to make the wrists tilt downward. He has 13 points of articulation
in this mode.
The choice of colours was a little dull. The brown
and yellow don’t clash, but neither are they particularly striking.
RUB STICKER LOCATION
None.
OVERALL
Iguanus is a fairly bland and undistinguished toy, and really
only worth getting in the interests of having a comprehensive collection.
If you already have the original BW Megatron, then you won’t gain any additional
challenge or real visual interest from this toy.
If you can pick one up cheap in a clear-out somewhere
as I did, go for it, but otherwise don’t stick your neck out...you’re not
missing anything.
********
This toy review was written by Wayne
Bickley
VARIANTS
In Japan, the Iguanus toy was repainted and released by Takara
as part of their 1998 Beast Wars ("Neo") toy line. This repaint was called
Crazybolt and represents a different character (just as Tigatron and Cheetor
represent different characters, althoguh the toys are just repaints of
each other).
BEAST TRIVIA
Frilled Lizard, common name for a large lizard native to the forests of
northern Australia and New Guinea. The frilled lizard, which measures up
to 90 cm in length, can run quickly on its hind legs. It feeds primarily
on insects, spiders, and small mammals.
The frilled lizard gets its name from a frill, or fold, of skin that
runs along each side of its neck. Although other lizard species have frills,
those of the frilled lizard are the largest and most elaborate. Normally
the frill lies folded over its shoulders, but when frightened the lizard
raises the frill with rows of thin cartilage. The skin forms a large, colorful,
fanlike collar around its head that measures about 30 cm in diameter. At
the same time the lizard opens its mouth wide and makes loud hissing noises.
Even large snakes and hunting dogs may be frightened away by the display.
Male frilled lizards also use the frill to defend a territory against
other males. The frill contains many blood vessels, which, some biologists
believe, help transfer heat and maintain the lizard’s proper body temperature.
Scientific classification: The frilled lizard is a member of
the family Agamidae, in the order Squamata. It is classified as Chlamydosaurus
kingi.
Bibliography: Iverson
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