BEAST WARS TIGERHAWK

This figure is from 1999. He is a Maximal. Tigerhawk appeared at the end of the third series of Beast wars the cartoon. He Appeared in Beast wars episode "Other visitors" The Voc wanted to end the Beast wars as they saw the damage Megatron had done to time so they thought they would have to destroy Megatron to stop him escalating things further. They fused Tigertron and Airazer together to form Tigerhawk who the Vok then possessed. Tigerhawk went to prehistoric earth and destroyed the Predecon base "The Dark Side" All the Predecons managed to escape before Tigerhawk landed. Tigerhawk created a tornado that blew all the Predecons away except Megatron. There was a big fight which ended in Tigerhawk defeating Megatron. Optimus Primal turned up and tried to stop the fight because he knew that Megatron was carrying the original megatron spark. If this was destroyed it would have destroyed history and ended time. Tigerhawk thought that Optimus was interfering so he opened up the ground and swallowed him. Tarantulas ambushed Tigerhawk hitting him with his spider drones which stunned him. he was then dragged back to Tarantulas's lab. there he attempted to reprogramme him so he would serve him. Tarantulas did not know that the Vok possessed him. the vok took revenge and possessed tarantulas. he fired at the Vok but the Vok are ghost like so his shots went right through blasted the turret which swung round and blasted him instead. The machine in the process overloaded. Cheetor can to the rescue and dragged Tigerhawk clear and the explosion which destroyed the lab. Tigertron and Airazer spark went into Tigerhawk and he was brought back to life as a combined being.
Tigerhawk appeared in the grand final of Beast wars where he sacrificed himself to slow Nemesis down. This was called "Nemesis"

FUNCTION Vok Emissary

MOTTO; "Violence will not be tolerated- surrender or be destroyed"

Bio; A puzzling new cybernetic entity. Tigerhawk is the result of an advanced alien species. Apprehension of the former Tigertron and Airazor. Mysteriously combined and reconfigured.  Tigerhawk was sent back as a profit of peace to end the long war between the Maximal and Predecon. Possess elemental powers to summon earthquakes, electrical storms and tsunamis. has Vok alien enhanced intelligence and an incredible arsenal of weaponry including an ion deminisher that paralyses enemies. Totally fearless, noble and ferocious in battle. He is an inspiration to his fellow maximals

SATS; Strength 8.2, Intelligence 10, Speed 8.1, Endurance 7.3, Rank 7.0, Courage 8.4, Firepower 9.7, Skill 8.4

Robot mode

Beast mode side

Beast mode front

Battle mode

Unofficial tank mode

Talon grabbing gimmick

Tigerhawks beast mode looks great. It is really impressive and menacing. A flying tiger is a great idea. There is good detail on the feathers. One of my feathers is a bit warped which is annoying.

His mouth can open and close with a blue tongue which can also move up and down.

He has gold eyes on the figure but glowing green eyes were used in the cartoon.

Fur details are nice with blue chrome.

Bird talons are on the back legs instead of the front. I suppose I am used to seeing  this on Silverbolts beast mode. This is actually quite similarly designed to his beast mode.

He is heavily armoured. Front tiger claws and rear talons. Tiger teeth and Gatling guns on his wings.

His bird talons have a gimmick. If you push a button they will close on anything put in the way. See the picture above where I have my finger trapped in them.

He has a lever on his back where when you push it forwards his wings flip down and some spikes flip up and the guns flip round and auto fire missiles. You do however have to hold it in a certain way to fire them.

There are also some switches on his wings which flips them  round to fire feather missiles. Rather like Silverbolt who also does this.

He also has a battle mask which tucks behind his head and you can flip out to cover his tiger face. This makes him look like Battle cat out of HE- Man.

With the mask down this is battle mode.

He has good articulation in the legs.

His tiger head does have some articulation but in Beast mode he is staring at his toes. Not good for flight mode.

He does not have much robot gibble but a robot arm on his back. The guns look like exhaust pipes coming out the back of the tiger.

He has an unofficial tank mode which might have been official during manufacture. He has wheels and a cockpit which would make sense. It is a good tank mode . The missiles launchers attach to the arm. There is a bit of beast gibble but not too bad. A neat little tank. I wish the tiger head could go else where though.

He has a spark crystal in a translucent green cylinder at the core of the figure. I tried to take a picture but it is difficult to catch the detail.

He has technical detailing around the crystal.

His robot mode has a barbarian look to it. The bird talons end up on his chest. He has a loin cloth detail. His head is skeleton like.

On one arm he has a cannon. The other arm can have missile launchers which can look a little awkward.

There is a gold Maximal insignia on his chest and some nice moulding.

He has fake hydraulic pistons on his feet and fake tiger feet that fold out from his feet.

Good articulations but his arms can become unpegged from his torso.

He looks very nice and is quite a big figure.

Overall is a superb figure and a must have for all Beast wars fans. His transformation can be a bit complicated.

He was repainted in the Universe 1.0 line as Razorclaw. The tiger became a panther.

BEAST WARS TRANSMETAL TARANTULAS

This figure is from 1998. He is a Predicon. He appeared in the Cartoon Beast Wars series 2 Episode 2 Coming of the Fuzors part 1. Tarantulas always had something going on behind the scences. He has to be one of the most trecherous Predicons ever. He seems to have his own base as a science lab. It was only in seires 2 when he became a Transmetal that he becamee a rougue. He is a litenant in the Predicon secret police. In the Agenda he disabled the Predicon base "The Dark Side" defences so Ravage could capture Megatron. Tarantulas was responsible for creating a couple of other Predicons. Black Arachnia and Inferno. He also created a load of other gadgets to use against the Maximals. One being a Tranformation freezing lense which he used aginst the Maximals in the series 1 episode "The Probe" Tarantulas eventually met his end at the end of series 3 when he captured Tiger Hawk who had been possessed by the Vok.. The Vok left Tiger Hawks body and attacked Tarantulas. He tried to shoot the Vok but it went right through them and he hit the lazer turret and it spun round and blasted him to bits.


FUNCTION; Ninja Warrior

BIO;
There are few Predacons spinning webs of violence and deceit as skillfully as the eight legged ninja warrior Tarantulas. After the quantum surge, Tarantulas was delighted to discover himself as a meched out arachnid with motorcross vehicle like capabilities. Instead of constantly relying on stealth and surprise, Tarantulas now races into battle on his wicked new wheels, converting into a new animalized robot mode that makes him virtually unstoppable in battle!

MOTTO; Unknown

STATS; Unknown

Robot mode

Spider mode front

Spider mode side

Motor bike mode

His spider mode looks great. He has some nice details on the top of his abdoman that look like pipes. The Neon green really works well on this figure especially on the eyes.
His legs are posable.
Likes all Transmetal he has a bonus vehicle mode. His is a motor bike. It is basically a spider with motor bike wheels but it got him around quicker in the cartoon. The wheel actually turns.
The moulding on the side of his abdomen looks like pipes.
The dark blue, maroon and chrome work really nicely along with the green. He is very attractive.
It says Tarantulas written on his abdomen as with all the Transmetal figures.
His spider mode is great and realistic. If there was a cyber spider then I think it would look something like this.
His robot mode is pretty impressive looking. He is certainly going to stand out on the shelf. I wish he had a visor though instead of just two eyes.
The shoulder pads are rotated further up than the cartoon. Each circle on the shoulder are rocket launchers. You can rotate them but they will flop around as there is no where to plug them in.
You can do what you want with the spider legs. You can make him look pretty evil.
The front wheel of the motorbike forms a saw blade weapon which can also be his gun.
He does not really have hands but three claws. I would have liked them to look more hand like as they look a little strange to me.
On his abdomen you have the maroon fading to black. There is a techno organic look to him with hairs on his legs etc.
He good for posability.
He is really nice and should definatly be in your Beast Wars collection. He was repainted twice. There was a white and black repaint that fox kids did later on in the Beast Wars line as an exclusive. There might have been a pure red repaint as well but not sure when it was released. I think this is the best though.
Make sure the chrome is in tact though. Mine is pretty much Ok. Go for it.

BEAST WARS TRANSMETAL MEGATRON

This figure is from 1998. He appeared in the Beast Wars cartoon. he is the leader of the Predacons. At the beginning of series two a transwarp explosion from the alien machine hit prehistoric earth and turned Cheetor, Rattrap Tarantulas and Megatron into transmetals. Megatron became a Cyber T Rex which was able to fly and even roller skate! Megatron remained in this form until the end of series three when he merged his spark with the original Megatron spark and turned him into a dragon. He became a fire and ice breathing dragon.

BIO;A quantum surge rips across the Beast Wars world altering Megatron, evil genius and leader of the Predacons, into a metal armoured T-Rex. New turbine powered V.O.T.L. (vertical take off and landing) engines extend from his body, providing blasting atmospheric flight and the ability to "drop-in" on unsuspecting Maximals with his whiplash cutlass! Fused reptilian musculature enhances his power in an organic robot mode. The result: creation of a supreme tyrant!

SATS; Unknown

Robot Mode

T Rex Mode side

T Rex Mode front

Flight Mode side

Flight Mode Front

Box

His T Rex mode is very attractive and the purple chrome has a very nice effect. There is also some silver chrome circles on his side which adds to the detailing.

He has megatron written along his back like all the Transmetals.

His tail is articulated and is a kind of rubber so it is very posable.

The only down side to this T Rex mode is that you can see his robot hands as there is no place for them to go. Apart from this he is a really nice mode.

His flying vertical take off mode is OK and it does give Megatron have another mode. The turbines spin.

He also has roller skates. You can replace his feet with them.

He has nice mechanical detailing moulded some in bronze.

His mouth opens.

When you transform him it is difficult to unclip his tail from the rest of the figure. I am always frightened that I will break it. The pegs can get worn down by doing this so be careful.

His robot mode defiantly looks evil especially with the face on his chest. It looks like a dinosaur skull with glowing eyes. All the eyes have great detail.

His head is accurate to the cartoon but I would like a Predicon insigna on his head

His T Rex arms cannot swivel to make them into guns. They have to kept at his sides. In the cartoon you could.

His tail can be held as a weapon. It is held by a handle which flips back and forward. The cannon does however flop about . It would be better to be stationary. When you try to pose him the tail moves round. The end of his tail becomes pincers/cannon

His cannon is held side ways compared to the cartoon. The spins should be down but with the toy they are at the side.

Unfortunately where the turbines are it is difficult to rotate them. They can flip out and in there is no articulation. In the cartoon they could. He could even fly in robot mode but not with this figure.

The piece where the cannon attaches for T Rex mode flops around and does not peg in anywhere.

He is cartoon pretty accurate.You can only do so much.

You can also have him roller skating in the robot mode.

The shoulder pads stick out in a forward position rather than back but he cannot possibly be totally accurate to the cartoon.

He is a good figure. There was a repaint of him in Armada. He was metallic green and all the purple was a tan plastic. He came with two minicons.

This figure can be hard to find so snap him up at the right price especially complete

BEAST WARS SCAVENGER

This figure is from 1998. He is a Predicon. he is also a transmetal figure. He was only ever made as such. he appeared in the IDW Beast wars comic. he did not have a big part in it but was in the general crowd. There are some similarities between this figure and Inferno who is another fire ant that came out in 1997. Inferno did appear in the cartoon. They brought out a Japanese version of this figure in the same colour scheme but they called him Inferno.

FUNCTION; Infantry Commander

MOTTO; Unknown

TECHSPEC; Unknown


BIO; A quantum surge has rocked the world of the Transformers and now the evil infantry commander, Scavenger, has become a meched out fire ant with awesome drilling power. Two spinning augers drill into the earth while bladed wheels thrust him forward, providing a perfect method of ambush attack and reconnaissance. One of the Maximals most dangerous enemies, Scavenger's goal is to make every Maximal unable to set foot outside without thinking twice about what might suddenly burst from underground.

Ant Mode front

Ant mode side

Drill Tank Mode side

Drill tank mode front

Unofficial drill jet mode

Robot mode

This figure has a much better ant mode than Inferno. His abdomen is actually part of the ant mode rather than a piece that flaps around like Inferno's ant mode.

He has any legs instead of having robot legs and arms with ant legs attached like with Inferno. They are also ball jointed in two places and have a hinge for added articulation. Unfortunately his legs cannot lift him the whole way off the ground so he has to be balanced on his wheels.

The chrome on mine is near perfect. He has translucent plastic on parts like Inferno.

He has "Scavenger" written on his abdomen. Most of this series have their names on them.

Scavengers mandibles are posable so are his antennae.

The only down thing is that you can see the back of his head in ant mode on his abdomen. The horns stick up from his head.

his ant head does have some articulation to it which is a nice feature.

In his drill tank mode, unlike most Transmetal vehicle modes This tank mode is quite nice although his legs are a mess unless they are arranged neatly.

When you roll him along his red drills spin round.

His antennae can be swivelled forward into machine guns or other weapons.

The "Unofficial" jet mode is not arial dynamic but a "fan "mode.

Most of the Cybertronian jets would not make it off the ground if they were life sized.

His transformation is fairly easy but complex

The entire front of the ant forms his arms in robot mode.

His has nice detailing on his arms and abdomen. On the underside it looks like veins.

In robot mode he has drills for hands which I like but he cannot hold anything. It would be nice if there were optional hands.

His face is not like Inferno's so this gives me doubts about him being Transmetal Inferno as some sites suggest. Most have heads like there original forms. he has a nice face with horns but he is grimacing.

He is a great figure. Good playability. between this figure and Inferno I would go with Scavenger.

BIRTHDAY BLOG PART FIVE- HERCULES MADBLENDER

This figure is from TFC Toys which is a third party.This means that this figure is really expensive and will not be found in your every day toy shop.I got mine from America He came out last year in 2011. Madblender is part five of Hercules the giant combiner that he helps make. He makes the left leg of Hercules. I am hoping to collect the other parts as he looks amazing. He will stand about two feet tall when combined.

SATS; Strength 7, Intelligence 6, Speed 3, Endurance 8, Rank 4, Courage 6, Fireblast 9, Skill 9

Robot mode- Assault mode

Robot mode

Assault Vehicle mode side

Assault vehicle mode front

Truck mode mixer side

Truck mode front

Box front

Box back view

His vehicle mode has an amazing amount of detail to it. You can even turn the cab so it looks like it is turning in a circle. This is to give Hercules an ankle tilt when combined.

The mixing drum spins freely. You must make sure the hinge is pushed flat so it will work better.

The only thing is that his wheels pops out of the hinge but you have to push it back in which can be annoying.

His leg mode really give you the idea of how big Hercules is going to be.

Wow!This guy has lots of weapons. He comes with one purple gun, a translucent version is also included. There is a kind of ammo rack sticking  inside the gun. The weapons combine from all the combiners to form Hercules's gun. in this case Madblenders guns turn into the handles.

There are a few mounting points for the guns in vehicle mode if you want to mount them but I put them on the back to disguise them.

He also comes with a double barrelled cannon which becomes the centre of Hercules's chest plate. This can be stored on the rear of the vehicle.

In robot mode there is yet more amazing detail. he has good articulation. his head has great light piping but he does have a big block at the back of his head so you have to tilt it to get the full effect. He has a well moulded head. he has a type of mining helmet and a visor.

The ammo racks make much more sense in robot mode as they look like machine guns in this mode. They can also be arm mounted and they can even combine to make a bigger gun. The ammo rack is removable but I don't think you need to do this as it looks great.

The double barrelled cannon can be mounted above his head. Once again the machine guns can also be attached to the cannon so all weaponry is above his head so his hands are free for other weapons.

Unlike the other Hercules figures he does not have a backpack.

I would like it if the mixing drum could be stored on his back like a certain constructicon Mixmaster but of course Mixmaster has nothing to do with this figure.

You can do more with the mixing drum in robot mode. You can attach it to his hand as a club weapon. It is alittle heavy though. You can split it which can be tricky to reveal a complete armoury. The central bar piece which the mixing drum is built around becomes a sniper rifle. The mixing drum pieces come away two way to make four different weapons, two of each. One giant cannon, one small cannon, a double barrelled cannon and a double barrelled machine gun. these can be placed anywhere on the figure and you can combine them in crazy combinations to destroy everything.

In vehicle mode you can make an assault mode to make a rolling death machine. The mixing drum is great and it is such a surprise what it contains. very clever design

Overall this is a superb figure and well worth the money. It is a collectors item so not for play or for small kids. ii you like mixing truck transformers and neon green robots you will love Hercules Madblender. 10/10

ALTERNATOR SWINDLE

This figure is from 2004. He is a Decepticon. Alternators are replicas of the actual cars they transform into. They are really display pieces as they are quite fragile and detailed.
He is a repaint of Alternators Hound with a new head. He was intended to be Trailbreaker but through some copy write issues with the character they could not do this. People also wanted more Decepticon Alternators so they turned him into Swindle. The head sculpt does work for Swindle even though it was intended for Trailbreaker. He was also repainted as Trailbreaker with the same head as Swindle.

                                                                        Swindle car mode front view

Swindle car mode side view

Showing engine

Doors open showing interior

Robot mode

His vehicle mode is great with a steering wheel, air conditioning and even a gear stick moulded in for detail.

his steering wheel is flexible plastic. He has wing mirrors with reflective plastic on them like real mirrors but they are delicate .

He has suspension and rubber tyres with chrome hub caps.

The bull bars are also chrome.

The front seats can tilt forward to allow access to back seats. The back seats can also be folded down for extra storage space.

It is a brilliant vehicle mode.

His transformation is not to bad compared to other Alternators and his robot mode is pretty good.

I love the way his visor is translucent purple rather than red because he had purple eyes in Gen 1.

He has good articulation with some ankle tilt to get him into natural poses.

His head is  on a stalk attached to the back which can seem a little weird as he has a gap at the back which makes his head look like it is floating.

The kibble on his back means that the roll bar section hangs off his back allowing the windscreen to lie flat.

I am not sure that I like this so I fold the roll cage flat against his back but it does mean that the windscreen is visible by his head but I don't mind this.

My main complaint about this is his weapon . For the Decepticon munitions expert Swindle only has a puny pea shooter for a weapon. He should have giant machine guns and bazookas. It does not even fit into his hand that well. It sits at an angle and looks really bad but it could be sorted by some more articulation. This weapon stores in the spare tyre case for vehicle mode.  But if you leave this out it looks like a holster in robot mode. he has good articulation in his fingers especially his index one.

He is a good figure. One to have. If you like Alternators than defiantly one to get.

BIRTHDAY BLOG PART FOUR- DARK OF THE MOON HUMAN ALLIANCE ROADBUSTER

The last figure that I received for my Birthday.

This figure if from 20011. He is a wrecker and AUTOBOT.
In the movie Roadbuster along with the two other wreckers Topspin and Leadfoot were the engineers looking after the Autobot ship the Zantium. This ship brought the second wave of Autobots to earth long before the second movie.
In Dark of the Moon novel the wreckers are all really rude and argued amongst themselves . Whenever they got too argumentative the humans put on Nass car racing as this would stop them as they loved this sport.
The wreckers in every series are always the Autobot squat team, the special forces.

The thing I always liked about these is they always turn into modified Nass cars.

BIO; Roadbuster has found that allowing humans to ride with him sharpens his tactical skills and knowledge of Earths road network

Strength 8, Intelligence 5, Speed 8, Endurance 9, Rank 9, Courage 9, Fireblast 6, Skill 5

Robot mode

Without visor

With visor

Sgt Recon on back

Sgt Recon on shoulder

Sgt Recon

 Car mode front

Car mode side

Car mode with Sgt Recon in seat

His car mode has a great amount of detail compared to the Deluxe figures. He is really big,  heavily armed but not as much as the other wreckers in car mode. He has a Gatling gun sticking out of the front grill and some bonnet mounted turrets which have cannons.and on rear of the car he has missile pods for rocket launchers. He can fire sixteen rockets from each launcher. the giant nitrous booster in the rear can also fire a yellow nitrous missile. This feature is more for robot mode seeming his nitrous booster becomes his cannon in robot mode.

His transformation can be a little messy especially the first time but he is not the hardest to transform

You need to fiddle around with him for about half an hour to transform him but overall he is OK to manipulate.

A potential problem that I have noticed is that he has these two clips that attach his torso to his waist. After his first transformation he already had stress marks. Annoying but I don't think it will get any worse. I don't think he is one to play with but to display.

In robot mode he looks far more movie accurate than the Deluxe with his skinny proportions compared to the other which had far more kibble.

His chain saw weapon for robot mode stores on a peg underneath his car mode but the problem with this is that it raised the wheel near to it off the ground so it does not roll properly. I store mine in the passenger seat.

There is an annoying problem in robot mode that pretty much what you do to pose him he will slump[ forward. This problem caused a lot of problems for me to take pictures as his base ball cap kept going over his face.

Just like Human alliance jazz and Human alliance Leadfoot he has a visor gimmick where there is a lever on his head which will flip his visor down. This looks like sunglasses. He also looks like he has dreadlocks.

The human alliance gimmicks where the robot  and human interacts  can be a little silly. Not as silly as Jazz where his human sits on his leg armour. Sgt Recon does not really sit anywhere very securely even in the car.

I like the way his chest in robot mode looks like his engine.

People complained about his waist being skinny but it is not that bad and that he does not have upper thigh swivel but he does rotate above the knee. he had decent articulation.

He is worth getting and make sure you get him at a good price so shop around. If you like the other human alliance figures then you are really going to like Roadbuster.