BEAST
MACHINES: TOY REVIEW
Name: T-WRECKS
Allegiance: Maximal
Function: Dinobot Commander
Sub-Group: Dinobot
Beast Mode: Tyrannosaurus Rex
Price: 20 USD
Note: This toy is a recolour of Megatron.
BEAST MODE
Height: 18cm
Length: 29cm
Width: 8cm
T-Wrecks is a recolour of T-Rex Megatron, rounding out
the new Dinobots sub-series. Seeing as the rest of the line was recolours,
I guess it was inevitable. Anyway, T-Wrecks is a large, red Tyrannosaurus
with a large flaring dark blue stripe on his back, green eyes, a gold underbelly,
and silver on the teeth and toes. Wrinkled skin covers the entire toy,
though the moulding details have a habit of cutting off on the bottom of
the tail and backs of the legs. The back is taken up by a bony ridge, with
a huge tail zit (it's the claw joint, but it sticks up). Yes, this is a
big toy. However, in the Grimlock pose, which the toy is packaged in, he's
a bit shorter, but stands taller. It looks like they had used the same
cutting tool they had used for Megatron's box insert here as well. The
toy has 8 joints. However, only 4 are normally accessible. The knees and
small arms are it. The toes can move, but only downward, making any realistic
motion they may have had useless. The neck can turn, but only to rotate
the head around. The jaw moves, but is forced shut by the
water squirter gimmick. Compared to G1 Grimlock's 8 joints
which all worked as they should (2 per leg, one per arm, the neck, and
the jaw), this toy is less poseable.
Gimmick: Remove the bottom of the neck. Fill it
with water, and replace it. Open the jaw to fire a fine mist of water.
You may need to open the jaw a few times to get the air out of the firing
tube. I got at least 50 strong sprays from it, and around 30-40 weak sprays
emptying it.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Openthe chest panel, and fold the side panels down(with 2
of the spine bumps being enlarged to serve as convenient opening tabs).
Open the tail, fold out the claw, and fold the robot's heels out. Raise
the head, and fold the legs back. Rotate them at the knees. Raise the torso,
rotate it, and fold it down. Lock it into place. Stand the toy. Some call
it complicated, but I have an easy time with it. However, the cardboard
launcher inserts make it hard the first time.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 17.5cm
Width: 10cm at the shoulders
I like this robot form. Yes, they kept the base Megatron
toy, but the colours make the difference. The chest and upper legs are
a light tan. The upper arms, hips, and face are light blue. The head is
gold. The hip missiles and arm lever are an out of place hot pink (the
box pictures show the pink pieces as being orange). The mutant head was
retained, and while no changes were made, the face looks better, being
the colours of a skull. However, you get white bat wings. Not as if the
eye holes didn't make the bat wings look bad anyway. I removed the halves
since they interfere with head poseability. The head is unchanged, but
the gold keeps it from looking like a G1 Megatron head. It still looks
like a BW Megatron head though. The toy has
16 joints. One in the neck, 5 in the right arm, 3 in the left arm, the
waist, and 3 per leg. The toe joints still serve no purpose. The
fact that the toy has a head and a tail for hands doesn't bug me. It's
the fact each arm has a limited range of motion. The right arm is bulky
and the back wings get in the way. The left arm has all the weight on the
claw instead of the arm itself, so you have to move the claw with it.
Gimmicks: The water squirter is still functional.
Pull out the hip panels and face them forward. Load the missiles and fire
them. The lever on the arm allows the claw to lunge
forward and snap shut, but the claw is so heavy, you
will have to either point it down or work it without the lever.
RUB STICKER LOCATION
Huh? Nope, no rub sticker, no spark, just as I had expected.
OVERALL
Well, this will be a rant on the toy, and the Dinobots as
a whole. First, if you passed up the Megatron
toy, take your chance now. The colours aren't bad, aside from the pink.
I think they also wanted to get a repaint of something bigger than a deluxe
released, but didn't want to make a Fox Kids ultra box when they had a
Beast Machines ultra box made up. Granted, I think we need to stop using
"Go-Bots" style names on these toys (Cy-Kill, Cop-Turr, T-Wrecks, what
doesn't belong?). However, the toy had a decent base to work from, and
they kept the gimmicks intact. "B+". The arms kind of kills its chances
of getting a higher score (no hands, bulky arms). As to the Dinobots as
a whole, overall, very good. The fact Hasbro imported some Beast Wars Neo
moulds is a help to collectors who can't afford imports, and T-Wrecks is
a recognition that Hasbro knows not everyone bought these toys when they
were first released. Plus if you loved Grimlock, Slag, Sludge, Swoop and
Snarl, you now have a new generation of Dinobots to collect.
This review was written by Kasady
Voorhees.
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