BEAST
WARS: TOY REVIEW
Name: RAMULUS
Allegiance: Maximal
Function: Scout, Survivalist
Beast Mode: Ram
Average Price: 30 AUD
BEAST MODE
Height: 13cm (including horns)
I'm actually not a great fan of the Transmetal 2s (blame
it on the lack of symmetry if you must) but I must admit that Ramulus does
his sub group credit. His lanky appearance makes him look more like a goat
rather than a sheep, but most of his other features are goatlike. Being
a Transmetal 2, it is a robotic sheep, with robotic parts visible throughout
the entire body. The toy is mainly a light lavender in colour, with vacuum
metallic red and brown fur (uuh... don't ask me what happened to his fleece)
portions. A blade sticks out of the rump like a tail, although, the rump
section doesn't seem to have anywhere to lock into position, hence it kinda
flops around loosely. For some strange reason, the forehooves are pointed
downwards, as if he were tippy-toeing on them. One cool feature is that
the toy can stand on its hind legs, bucking upwards as if it were to engage
in a fight. One annoying feature is the way the face is moulded to face
down, in a sort of charging position... but I don't see how he can see
what's in front of him.
TRANSFORMATION
Typical of most American packaging, the instructions are
really badly drawn. Flip out the arms from the underside of the chest,
lift up or remove the horns, pull down the robot torso, pull up the head
until it clicks into place, lock the aforementioned rump section onto the
bottom of the robot torso. Although not shown in the instructions, there
are two balance struts which form the heels of the robot legs. Unfortunately,
the knees must remain bent backwards, which just looks plain silly on a
humanoid.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 13.5cm
Articulation: 11 points
A variety of neat features moulded throughout the toy
creates a fairly impressive robot mode, arguably one of the best
looking robot modes seen on a Transmetal 2. The head sports a cowl-like
appearance with two horns sticking out and the forearms are bladed. Unfortunately,
due to the positioning of the shoulder pads (the fore legs in beast mode),
the arms are unable to rise above the "X-axis". The most irritating feature
about the legs is the way that they bend backwards at the knees, a feature
typical of quadrapedal hind legs, but bipeds don't have this feature.
SPARK CRYSTAL LOCATION
Inside the ram head.
OVERALL
Good looking Transmetal 2 with descent playability. If you're
only going to buy one Transmetal 2, get this one.
BEAST TRIVIA
For those of you who are new to the English language, the word Ram
has two meanings. As a verb, it means to charge at something. As a noun,
it means a male sheep (and just to confuse things, females are called ewes
and juveniles are called lambs)or an object used to ram something
(such as a battering ram). Note that the plural for sheep is sheep (not
sheeps).
There are over 200 distinct breeds of sheep with many domesticated breeds
developed by in various parts of the world (mainly in New Zealand). Because
Ramulus transforms into a robotic sheep as opposed to a more realistic
looking sheep, it's difficult to determine what kind of sheep he is, suffice
to say that it's unlikely that he's a domestic ram, since most domestic
breeds are hornless.
Sheep belong to the genus Ovis and are native to the higher altitudes
of the Northern Hemisphere (they have since been introduced to Australia
and New Zealand). Sheep are generally more stockier than other Ovis, such
as the goat.
Bibliography: Encyclopaedia Brittanica.
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