BEAST MACHINES: TOY REVIEW

Name: JETSTORM
Allegiance: Vehicon
Function: Vehicon General
Machine Mode: Cycledrone
Average Price: 10 USD

MACHINE MODE

Height: 6cm
Length: 19cm
Width: 6cm
Thrust is a large Vehicon Cycledrone. Motorbikes in general are not a heavily used vehicle mode in Transformers ( previous cycle Transformers include Wreck-Car, Groove, Afterburner, and the G2 Laser Cycles), Thrust is arguably the most advanced cycle Transformer made to date. The cycle has wasp-like abdomen stripes on the back canopy and the front vehicle head looks like a wasp/spider thing, complete with eyes. He's a mixture of purple, blue, yellow, and black, with silver chrome and transparent green. Okay, so he's a lot more psychadelic than the original Decepticon Thrust, who was maroon and black (as well as Beast Wars Thrust who was yellow and black - Goktimus). Both wheels roll freely, and he can stand up on them. I'm surprised this toy even fits in the bubble, as he's so big. He had to be set in from corner to corner at an angle. The robot's head sits in the driver's seat. If not for it, basic sized toys could probably ride him in cycle mode.

Gimmick: Roll him and the small centre wheel causes the vehicle head to look to the side. It only snaps left though. Bending the front wheel down a bit keeps him from doing this. The exhaust pipes can also be pointed forward, and the left one fires a transparent green missile, which looks like a smoke trail. There are also several "Gerwalk" modes that can be formed using the exhaust pipes as legs, and splitting the front wheels as extra limbs.

TRANSFORMATION TO THREE-WHEELED MODE

Pull the exhaust pipes out, and turn them forward. Turn their bases upward. Split the rear wheel and fold the halves forward. Fold the pipe bases in. Fold the canopy back, Pull the head out, slide the front wheel cover in and push the entire chest and head in, fold the front wheel up, and set him up.

THREE-WHEELED MODE

Height: 12cm
Width: 8cm
Barely his unicycle show form, but it's a wheeled robot that can stand. I'll save the major notes for the robot mode description, as this is basically an intermediate form.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

Continuing on, fold the pipe bases out, fold the back wheel halves up so the silver hub caps are facing in, and fold the pipe bases back in. Fold the front wheel down, split the tyre, and unfold the toes and ankles.

ROBOT MODE

Height: 17cm
Width: 8cm
This toy is no deluxe. It's a mega. He's the size of Inferno and towers over all the other deluxes. Still the exact same colours as cycle mode. The head, well, it has a moving jaw, despite
the fact the front green panel is his mouth. The jaw also doesn't look great, with the large fangs. Best bet is to unfold it all the way, and hide it behind the windshield on his chest. This brings his head into the correct shape. The arms also have the same basic shape as the lower half of a rocket shuttle. He has 10 actual joints, in the neck, jaw, shoudlers, elbows, hips, and knees. The ankles can also move side to side, allowing for wider stances, but they can't move forward and back. The feet also flop around thanks to being the tyre halves, but it is possible to stand him up.

Gimmicks: The left arm houses the missile launcher, which launches the green missile. The right hand can extend when you slide the knob on his arm (a spark extractor, perhaps).
The feet can also be connected to give him his unicycle form, but like Jetstorm's hover mode, he can't stand. The back of the head is tranparent green, allowing you to back light the eyes and mouth. The chest plate is also removable.

SPARK CRYSTAL LOCATION

On his chest, and vehicle mode forehead.

OVERALL

The only previous TF cycle to come close to being any good has been Wreck-Gar, and he didn't have any nice gimmicks. Not quite as nice as Tankor, and the thin legs don't look sturdy, but he's large for his size class and constructed better than he first appears. The jaw is a bit odd though. It was better than I expected..

This toy review was written by Kasady Voorhees Photos courtesy of Benson Yee

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