BEAST WARS: TOY REVIEW
Long Rack is beige and brown giraffe, with black highlights on the nose, mane and tip of tail. There is very subtle fur detailing all over.
In this mode, the giraffe is very convincing, with robot junk only visible on the back of the rear legs, and a little bit underneath and between the front legs. This mode has only 8 points of articulation.
This mode does have an action feature, although somewhat of an odd one. The giraffe has a long red tongue protruding from its mouth, as though it were preparing to eat some delicious acacia leaves. Push the tongue in though, and the eyes roll forward. Hard to see the point of it, but it's fun that they added it.
Long Rack forms a very cool looking, generally well-proportioned robot, with a number of striking features. The most prominent of these is the right arm, formed from the head and neck of the giraffe. The giraffe head towers about 8 cm above the robot head, when the arm is vertical. The arm ends not with a hand, but a prominent articulated grasping claw. Press the button on the giraffe's throat, and the claw shoots forward, making this arm 25 cm long from the giraffe's head to the claw. The head does seem to form a good counterbalance when the claw is extended, making this toy very stable.
The robot's face is serenely neutral, and the head has what seems to be brown hair, partially covered by his helmet. Small wheels at the heels form the appearance of spurs. Silver-grey and red highlights are also revealed in this mode.
The giraffe front legs form missile launchers, mounted to his back. Sadly, the launchers can only point upward or backward, making them little more than decoration in this mode. It would have been nice if the could have swivelled upwards to be shoulder mounted.
There is a good mix of robot and organic parts in the mode, forging an excellent balance. This mode has 17 useful points of articulation. The toy can apparently also hold the weapon-modes of Stampy and Break in his grasping claw, forming a Targetmaster-like effect. (See the Beast Wars Neo Universe book for a more details - Goktimus)
This is one of my favourite Transformer toys, though I can see that some might be put off by the bizarrely prominent right arm and unusual beast mode. Fun to transform, and very displayable in either mode. This toy is a another triumph of the Japanese choosing to use unconventional or benign beast modes to great effect.
A cud-chewing hoofed mammal, which, with the okapi, constitutes the family Giraffidae (order Artiodactyla). Many subspecies have been described, based on coat pattern and the size and number of horns.
To the Romans, the giraffe was "camelopardalis" ("spotted camel"), a term that survived in English as "camelopard."
Tallest of all mammals, the giraffe attains an overall height of 5.5 m or more. An unmistakable animal, it has a comparatively short body and very long legs and neck. The back slopes downward to the hindquarters, and the neck, despite its length, contains only the seven vertebrae typical of most mammals. The tail is tufted, and there is a short mane on the neck. Two to four short, skin-covered horns are present in both sexes and there is a central swelling, between the eyes, which in northern giraffes is almost as long as the horns. The coat is pale buff, covered to a greater or lesser extent with reddish brown spots that range from regular and geometric in some forms to irregular and blotchy, or leaf-shaped, in others.
The giraffe lives in herds on savannas and in open bush country and is native to most of Africa south of the Sahara. It feeds primarily on acacia leaves. To reach the ground or to drink, it must bend or spread its forelegs. The gait of the giraffe is a pace (both legs on one side move together), and, because of its long stride, is swifter than it appears; about 48 km per hour may be reached at a full gallop. One young is usually produced at a birth; gestation is about 14 to 15 months. The calf can follow its mother within one or two hours of its birth.
The giraffe possesses keen sight, smell, and hearing. Its principal predator, other than man, is the lion. When defending itself, the giraffe kicks with its heavy hooves. Males fight among themselves by swinging their heads at one another. The voice of the giraffe has so rarely been heard that the animal is popularly supposed to be voiceless, but it is capable of producing low call notes and moans. Still numerous in East Africa, where it is protected, the giraffe elsewhere has dwindled in number or has been exterminated because of hunting by man.
Bibliography: Britannica.com