Beast Wars International

This toy is wonderful. He is not only very detailed, but he comes with all his weapons. He looks just like he does in the TV show in both beast mode, flight mode and robot mode. His colours are correct for the most part and he has on him some shiny silver-gold parts as well. Cyber shark also looks great and attaches itself to his underbelly in beast mode and works as a gun in robot mode. His tail becomes his spear in robot mode and fits in his hand fairly well. He has his 'power pizzas' as Cheetor calls them in the form of yellow disks which fire from the chest in R. mode and from the mouth in B. mode by pushing down the blue fin on his tail.. They can be reloaded easily by lifting the head flap in both modes.

Criticism: He has trouble standing in robot mode so you need to take the remainder of his tail after removing the spear end, bend it at a 90° angle and use it to prop him up. Cyber shark doesn't fit very well in his hand unless his arm is totally outstretched horizontally. He cannot bend his arm while holding the gun. Cyber shark is a little too long.

Transformation: Depth Charge comes with instructions on how to transform him. From beast mode to flight mode it is fairly easy, the only real adjustments are the main fins turning up to becoming wings. They twist and move easily so maneuvering them into position isn't difficult. Robot mode to beast mode is fairly complicated at first but once you figure it out, it's no big deal. I transformed him firstly without instructions, although it took time and the help of my cousins to do it, and then I tried again with the instructions. I got the hang of it after a few tries and he's actually not too hard to transform. The same goes for beast mode to robot mode. Because he moves so freely and he isn't very stiff, you don't have to do much in the way of forcing things to change and move, giving the toy master more confidence when transforming this toy.

DC wasn't ready for his close-up, apparently.

Depth Charge in robot mode

Side-view of our beloved ray-bot

This toy looks good, works well and is a lot of fun. In robot mode he looks almost exactly how he does in the TV show and the same goes for his beast mode. The red parts of his body shine and add style to him and his colors are correct. He has a fully functional vehicle mode and if transformed correctly into this mode, he can move freely on his wheels. He also comes with the delightful extra of his fold-out blasters. His tail moves well and becomes a spear in robot mode. Size-wise, he's fairly small (he can fit on one hand) and has that tough-guy look on his face in all his modes. He is fairly detailed in robot mode. My favourite way to have him, though, is in beast mode where he looks most like he did in the show and is easier to play with.

Criticism: He comes without his gun. I read somewhere that this was Hasbro's way of cutting toy costs and leaving the gun out left them with more money which they channeled into giving Rattrap his realistic appearance.

Transformation: Beast mode to vehicle mode is very simple. All you have to do is fold back his front paws which automatically bring forward the little wheels and tuck in his back feet into each rear wheel. You pull the rear wheels down so they are level with the front wheels and fold out the blasters on his back. Robot mode to beast mode is a different story. I'm terrible at transforming these guys so my difficulty in transforming this toy is much to do with my own incapability! Most people I've talked to find him easy to transform and he comes complete with instructions. I'm sure for most people he is, but not for me. It took me an hour to figure him out with instructions and longer to get him back into beast mode (the mode in which he has remained ever since!) Trying to cram everything inside his little beast mode tummy was a nightmare for me, his one arm bending weirdly, the other coming out from seemingly nowhere to hold his rat tail at his rear. Well, I did finally do it and I'm sure most people can, just a warning for those who aren't very good at mechanics: he isn't a piece of cheese to transform.

Optimus Primal Transmetal

Optimus Primal Transmetal is amazingly similar to its TV counter-part. The details in Beast Robot, and Flight mode are spectacular.

In beast mode its chest is a shiny blue, which adds a nice metallic touch. His joints all move easily and just look great. In robot mode his chest has furry detail showing his beast form's true nature. His helmet has furry details as well and is nicely done. The face is similar to the shows, but not exact. And in flight mode there really is no extra features to include besides the air board. But it looks just like the show version of Optimus. Also the board has tiny wheels on the bottom so he can ‘surf’. lol

Optimus Primal Transmetal comes with all his weaponry from the TV show. His trusty handgun rests at his side on a hook, like device. And his maces hang on his back ready for use. Also his back plating folds forward to make his double-barreled cannon thingy.

In beast mode he is top heavy. His tiny little legs don’t really do the job of supporting him. Also in flight mode his airboard does not do a good job of supporting his upper body. And his beast mode head can not turn. So if he’s ‘surfing’ it doesn’t look right. He just keeps staring forward. But other then those points there isn’t much to complain about with this toy.

I think this is one of the easiest Beast Wars toy to transform, but I’m pretty good at these things so this might be reserved to the person that handles it. He’s fairly easy though and with practice you should be able to transform him with your eyes closed!

First off, beast mode to flight mode is the simplest transformation. All you do is fold down the rest of his legs, which are hidden behind his thigh. Vertically position them and fit together the two pins that extend from both legs. Finally just fold up the gun, to become the thruster, and there you have it! A surfing gorilla!

Now beast mode to robot mode is a little more complex, but again with some practice its very easy.

First, you open up his forearms and swivel his hands around. Then point the arms backwards, this being the direction the front of his body will soon be. Next, you unhook the side plates around his stomach area. Pull them up and slide the whole back plate, which they are connected, and place on the beast chest. Then you separate the two halves of his main body and fold the beast head down and the robot head up, after which you return the halves together. Next, twist his main body around, matching his waist and legs, with his robot chest. And finally, just fold down the legs from behind his thighs and you're done!

Transmetal Optimus in robot mode

TM Optimus in beast mode

TM Optimus in flight mode

Covert Agent Ravage
Reviewed by: TM Ian

History: Back when Agenda came around at the end of season 2, it was a whopper. We learned that the Beast Wars were no longer a matter of energon - it was now an event that interconnected the past, present, and future of all Transformers! With this came Covert Agent Ravage.

Previously a Decepticon, he was granted amnesty by the Predacon elders - the Tripredacus Council. It was the transwarp signal left over from Primal's destruction of the Planet Buster that notified the Council that Megatron was still functional. Declaring that Megatron must be stopped before he could do any more damage, they assigned Ravage to seek and capture Megatron using their newest stealth cruiser.

There was only one snafu with Ravage: Hasbro didn't make a figure of him. Apparently unless it meant netting them another Ultra figure to hock (*cough*Tigerhawk*cough*), minor characters were pretty much worthless. Enter Takara. Takara, seemingly more focused on their fans than Hasbro, constantly fine-tooled the colors of many Beast Wars toys to make them closer to their show counterparts. Figures such as Dinobot and Blackarachnia went from rather garish to respectable. However, Ravage was different. This was no case of simply making sure they were using the right shade of Dinobot Face Blue #5. Thus, as a money saving maneuver, Takara modified the closest existing mold they had: Transmetal Cheetor.

Packaging: Good figures deserve good packaging, and that's what Ravage gets. Since he came around during season 2, he's a part of Takara's Beast Wars Metals line. The package has a very nice design, including a bubble showing both the Predacon and Decepticon logos. The sides show a few pictures of Ravage from the show and of the toy. Unlike many figures, Ravage is packaged in robot mode.

Robot Mode: So, the transformation (*dodges Bad Pun Brick*) was a success in my opinion. While the Ravage toy is not exactly like his show counterpart (especially his head, since on the show his head was modified from Tigatron's beast head), the overall feeling is there. Instead of the whole TM Cheetor head/arms mechanism, now the robot and beast mode head is the same one, albiet augmented by several extra joints and pull-out connections. Surprisingly, one great thing about the re-use of TM Cheetor is that Ravages colors work a lot better on the legs. They bring out a lot of details in the upper legs and hide a lot of the muddled stuff on the lower legs so well that I didn't believe it was the same
mold!

Do Transformers get embarrassed when people stare at their sparks?

As for what's new, the chest now has two flip-out panels that reveal Ravage's spark chamber. Also, the forearms contain what I'd say is a bit clunky, but effective set of spring-loaded guns! These mimic those that Ravage used in the show. However, the barrels are removable, so that you can at least vaguely recreate how they were stored on the show. They have a clip on the side of the barrel that plugs into pre-existing(!) slots on the upper legs. In my opinion, the clips would normally make the guns look a bit silly, but they actually lend an additional sort of
futuristic look to them!

"In the name of the Pax Cybertronia and the Predacon Alliance, you are under arrest."

Beast Mode: While it didn't appear on the show, the toy does have a beast mode, which can only add to the playability of the figure. With the very minute changes to the main figure, combined with the colors, TM Cheetor's beast mode is reborn as a sleek looking jaguar. Here you can much better see the interesting black chrome effect used on the majority of the body. The only real downside to the beast mode is that the robot mode arms simply fold into the under belly, creating some kibble. Otherwise, it looks perfect.

Other Notes:
- In beast mode, the jets are still existent, allowing you to make Ravage look a little bit more like his G1 version.

- The tail whip/sword is still removable, but poor Ravage can barely hold the thing.

- This is one of the few Beast Wars toys to come with stickers. Two pairs of Decepticon/Predacon symbols to put on his shoulders, and a larger Decepticon logo and G1 Megatron head to place in his spark chamber.

Final Verdict (in letter grade format):

Price: F
This isn't a fault of the figure itself, it's just that you can rarely get this figure outside of Japan for less than $100 USD. The normal yen price is presumably much less.

Playability: A
Since it technically improves the original design used on the show with a proper beast mode, the playability is doubled. Add in the spring loaded mechanism for the guns and you have a Ravage ready to take on any other beast warrior you throw at him! Articulation is as good as it needs to be, too.

Looks: A
The colors, while initially odd (even though they're based on the G1 design), do work together very well, considering they're primarily
off-silver, black chrome, and red orange. At the very least it invokes the idea of the show-styled Ravage, so it's A-OK.

Ingenuity: B
Considering Takara managed to barely modify the mold and took full advantage of existent spaces, it's great. Though I wish they could have officially done something about the arm kibble in beast mode. One might be able to position the arms so that you can "use" the guns in beast mode.

Overall: A
High mark: A great figure that's both fun and has its own elaborate backstory! :P
Low mark: Too bad it's so hard and pricey to get. :/

Ok first thoughts… well basically in Tarantulas is a pretty good representation of himself in the show (or the other way around considering how the show was made). In beast mode his major colours are Purple, dark blue and transmetal orange with highlights of silver and luminous green. Along a raised section of his abdomen there is and insecticon symbol and the word destron (Japanese name for decepticons/insecticons) painted in silver. Silver is also used to highlight vents and exhausts on the sides of his abdomen and pipes or possibly suspension springs on the side of his head. Another nice thing about his spider body is that without much posing it can stand firmly on all its legs. In motorcycle mode Tarantulas is pretty much the same as in spider-mode except he now has a small thing wheel under his fangs and a substantial large wheel under his abdomen. While not much of a change, it’s still a nice mode. His robot mode doesn’t really add any new colours except for the yellow of his visor. It still stands nicely for the most part, with quite a few interesting poses that it’s capable of standing in without too much trouble. The articulation is good, featuring 19 points, including: shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, ankles and spider legs. The thinner wheel from his bike mode becomes his gun. The robot mode also features the major noticeable difference between the American toy and the Japanese (I don’t have the American toy so this is going by photos I’ve seen), that being that they have coloured in the gap between his two molded Eyes to give him the visor seen in the TV show.

Criticism: Like all Transmetals, Tarantulas is a little top heavy, other then that there really aren’t that many problems.

Transformation: Beast to bike is easy as hell involving flipping a few things out and down. Beast to robot is not to difficult, got most of it in one go without any instructions. But I must admit the shoulders are a bit confusing as there doesn’t seem to be anyway to lock them into place but by making sure their extended to the furthest they can go it should lock the shoulder pads right in. Overall good transformation.

Transmetal Cheetor:

Allegiance: Maximal
Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation: Medium
Color Scheme: Transmetal gold, aquamarine, creamy gray, and spots of yellow, light red, and black
Rating: 9.3

Beast mode is one of the nicest I’ve seen. It is nice and sleek, like a cheetah should be, and has some very nice touches and details, like an entirely transmetal gold back. Also, no extras at all. I have nothing negative to say about his mode.
His vehicle mode is his beast mode with two rocket jets sticking out of the sides of his belly. Although not much of a vehicle mode, it is nice to see Cheetor have some jets.
His robot mode is rather sleek, too. The only extras are the half of a cheetah face on his hands and his upper cheetah body, carried like a backpack. Except for these minor setbacks, this is a nice-looking toy, with some spots and fur in his robot mode. (If you look carefully, though, you can see a “heart” on his torso muscles.)
One of the best transmetals toys out there, although the vehicle mode is a bit of a stretch. Highly recommended.

Wal-Mart came out with an exclusive version of Rattrap Transmetal in the late '90s, with different coloring. The choice of coloring is very nice on this toy, especially in the vehicle mode. The transmetal deep blue and light green go extremely well together, as do the gray with the purple tinge parts and the dark bluish-black parts. Heck, they ALL go well together. Because of the predominantly blue coloration of this toy, many Transfans have taken to calling it "Packrat Transmetal", after the blue Botcon exclusive repaint of the original Rattrap mold, called Packrat. The coloration, in my opinion, actually fits the character Rattrap even better then his color scheme on the original toy. The only problem I have the color scheme is that the light green and bright yellow on the robot head don't mix with the purplish gray at all, and makes his robot head look rather funky. Other than that, the color scheme rules.
No mold changes were made to this toy, so this version of Rattrap Transmetal, also dubbed "Wal-Rat", retains all the features and flaws of the original toy mold-wise.
Because of the greatly improved color scheme, I recommend the Wal-Mart exclusive of Rattrap Transmetal over the original one. Pick one up, if you can still find it...

Allegiance: Predacon
Size: Mega
Difficulty of Transformation: Medium
Color Scheme: Transmetal deep purple, dark brown, tan-gold, and silver-gray, with a little bit of purple, light red, and transmetal silver
Rating: 8.5

Beast mode is a metallized tyrannosaurus rex. His face looks very fierce and nicely sculpted. The detailing over the rest of his body is great too, with tubes and wires molded all over. No robot extras visible except for his lower neck, which shows his robot hands. His tail is very flexible, unlike the original T-Rex Megatron.
Vehicle mode is a Tyrannosaurus rex with turbines on his hips and roller skates for feet. This a somewhat nice mode, finally giving Megatron flight. The purple part of the turbines is able to turn, but the turbine as a whole can’t turn at all. His skates don’t roll, however, which is a big setback.
Robot mode has no extras on the bottom, but on the top this mode has a bit of “shoulder armor”. Although this does complement the mode some, it does get in the way some. His feet are the same as his beast mode's, and look nice with the purple claws. His tail becomes a pulsar gun/claw, with a little hook so he can hold it. He has a part of a tyrannousaurus head on his chest, and this looks very nice.
The best Megatron, in my opinion. Highly recommended.

Allegiance: Predacon, formerly None on the TV show
Size: Ultra
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Hard
Color Scheme: Purple, grey-black, black, silver, red, orange, transmetal orange, and transmetal red, with some yellow and neon green
Rating: 8.0

Beast mode is a metallized king crab. Almost half his body weight is his claws! Unless you look on the bottom, there are no extras in this mode, and it fits together very well, but doesn’t snap together easily. He can’t stand on his crab legs, though, so he tends to rest on his belly.
Vehicle mode is a crab with his legs and claws turned into tank treads with a gun sticking out from under his head. This mode is EXTREMELY hard to transform into, because his tank treads can’t roll well in many different configurations, so it involves some playing around with his crab legs. If you can get it, it looks nice, though. As he rolls along, his cannon rotates and fires, which is a nice effect.
Robot mode is nice-looking, but has a lot of extras. His crab legs stick out everywhere and get in the way a lot. He can’t stand up well because of all these extras. His claws on his back also stick out a lot, too. His shoulder armor probably sticks out the most, but it doesn’t get in the way as much as the others. His crab antennae stick out a bit on his chest as well. His chest and legs are well structured, though, and his face is one of the most detailed ones there is in the Beast Wars line. He has a missle launcher that can fire three missles by rotating it, but you can accidently fire them easily. He has another small gun, but this is sort of easy to lose.
A nice-looking transformer, although he is hard to transform to in vehicle mode and has a lot of extras in robot mode.

SUPERS:

Allegiance: Maximal
Size: Super
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Hard
Color Scheme: Transmetal deep blue, Transmetal maroon, neon orange, silver, maroon, black, blue, brown, and clear, colorless plastic
Rating: 8.0

Beast mode is a metallized ape. This mode is kind of cramped, but his face is very fierce and his eyes glow orange when you pull a lever on his back (as long as you put batteries in him). His hands are large, and although he doesn’t have much fur, he has short legs and long arms and looks like a gigantic battle ape. His large feet are a nice touch, too. He has blast-off plates on his arms, although they can come off easily and are somewhat annoying.

Vehicle mode number one is a kind of tank. This mode is very sturdy and, along with the other vehicle mode, has a little cockpit that you can put miniature Beast Wars figures in. The cockpit is very detailed. Although his hands stick out sort of awkwardly in the front, his armor plates and the rest of his body look very nice, with an engine on the bottom of his feet. This mode is very hard to transform into, though.

Vehicle mode number two is a kind of plane. Although this mode looks sort of poor on the bottom (like his ape mode with wings and his arms up), and his arms stick out a bit, this mode looks nice with the cockpit, missle launchers(as well as in the other three modes), and his engines on his feet. His wings look small in proportion to his body, however.

Robot mode, from top to bottom, is over a foot tall! His cockpit becomes his stomach. This mode looks a lot like the ape mode, except for his face, which glows green when you pull his lever; his missle launcher, which glow red when you pull his lever; and his longer legs and arms are spread out farther from his body. He has a gun, but he can’t hold it very well in his hands. His feet look sort of odd in this mode, but there are few extras in this mode, as well as in any mode. His arms look oddly placed, too, and his face doesn’t stay in its place after a while very well.
A well-structured and sturdy robot; highly recommended, although a bit odd-looking in robot mode. This robot costs lots of moolah, and you need batteries not included with the set to make his eyes and missle launchers light up. Large weapons, and well worth the price

Allegiance: Predacon
Size: Ultra
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Hard
Color Scheme: Red, brick red, transmetal red (sometimes fading into transmetal red-violet or transmetal orange), mustard yellow, yellow, black, dark purple, dark red, translucent amber (sometimes fading to dark purple), and some bright green, bright orange, and white
Rating: 9.1

Beast mode is a Transmetal 2 dragon. This mode is very impressive, and my favorite of the three modes of this ultra Transformer. Standing at its full height, this toy is taller than Optimal Optimus! However, almost half of this height is the dragon neck and head. The amount of colors on this toy is incredible, more than I have seen on any other Beast Wars Transformer. This mode is very articulate, and has a lot of levers! There is a lever that allows you to move Megatron's dragon head, and a lever that allows you to flap his wings, too! One of the neat features of this lever is that you can lock it in place to keep Megatron's wings open. There is also a flexible tail, but, unfortunately, this does not have a lever. His spark orb is in the middle of his dragon chest, so you can't miss it. You can fire a missle from his dragon mouth and above his robot head visor. However, this toy comes with three missles, and while it is nice that there is an extra one in case you lose one, there is no place to store it. The only major problem I have with this mode is that Megatron's robot head is clearly visible in this mode at the base of his tail. The tail also looks oddly placed, and you can't position it so it looks like it "flows" off of Megatron, instead of being a seperate piece of him.
Vehicle mode is the best so far that I've seen of the Transmetal 2s, but that isn't saying much. His feet swing forward and reveal small wheels, and two plates around his upper legs swing upward to become wheels. You then lower Megs to the ground, and that's his "vehicle" mode. It's very hard to get the wheels to actually roll, considering numerous plastic parts get in the way, such as part of the legs and the dragon head. The panels that swing out to reveal the larger wheels tend to come off easily, and, although you can just snap them back on, it's annoying.

Robot mode looks fairly nice, overall. Transformation to robot mode, however, is very difficult. Give yourself a good 10 minutes the first couple of times to transform ol' Megs, but you'll probably be able to eventually bring the transformation down to 2 minutes. There is very few "backpack" things on this transformer, just the dragon arms and the dragon tail end. Megs has a nice visor in this mode, and his wings look very impressive. He looks a bit bulkier than his other two modes, but this is probably to emphasize his strength. The only major problem I have with this mode his is dragon-head "arm". It doesn't look right in this mode, and it is extremely bulky and long when compared with the other arm. It also hangs limp, and there is no locking lever for the head that works well.

A very nice transfomer; recommended. Vehicle mode and dragon-head "arm" are poor, though.

I'm probably biased, but I think Tigerhawk's darned nifty. His shiny parts are so very shiny. He's fairly show-accurate, for the most part. There are some definite differences-- his tiger head comes with an odd hawkish covering, but you can lift it to see his tiger face. His colors are a little different-- blue and green instead of purple and gold. He has lots of spring-loaded mechanisms, as well as four missile-launchers, two at his wingtips and two at the bases of his wings. The launchers at the bases of his wings detach to form twin cannons that attach to his hand.

Criticism: Personally, I don't really see the point in having a tiger face under the hawk mask. It seems a bit redundant. He's a tad hard to stand up in robot mode. Also, some of his joints resist movement to the point where it seems better to leave him like he is (as in, half-transformed) than risk breaking him. His vehicle mode is extremely unimpressive, with the only main difference between it and beast mode being his robot mode arm has been extended downwards to give him another thing to shoot with.

Transformation: Holy cheese, this guy is hard to transform. I got him second-hand, and he arrived in robot mode. I wanted him in beast mode, and the instructions only went from beast mode to robot mode. Forty-five minutes (and one funny photograph) later, I was successful. To give you an idea of the finesse transforming Tigerhawk requires, the legs he stands on in robot mode are his front legs in beast mode. His beast mode's back legs are mounted on his robot mode's shoulder area. When I transformed him back to robot mode, it took me about fifteen minutes, and then I got the robot-to-beast transformation done in five. Once you figure out where things go, it's a lot easier. I'm not going to write the directions here, if I can figure it out on my own (since the directions didn't help the first time), you can do it too.

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