Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!
undefined
undefined
"Well, that's just prime."
"Eh, what's left of him anyway." - Optimus Primal and Rattrap
 
The Axalon
Latest News | Fanfic | Toy Toons
Beast Wars Sound Archive | Links


Toy Reviews

Armada
2003
02/22 - Optimus Prime (SC)
2002
02/10 - Initial Thoughts

Robots in Disguise
2002
06/05 - Scourge
06/05 - Megatron Megabolt
06/05 - Autobot 3 Pack
05/21 - Sideways/Axer
05/14 - Obsidian
05/09 - Storm Jet
03/07 - Bruticus
03/04 - Wave 1 Spychangers
03/02 - Side Burn (repaint)
02/17 - Sky Byte
02/07 - Scourge/X-Brawn
02/07 - Ultra Magnus (basic)
02/07 - Optimus Prime (basic)
01/30 - Prowl (repaint)
01/18 - Skid-Z/Wind Sheer
01/18 - Tow-Line/Skyfire
01/12 - Cryotek
01/05 - Ruination
2001
12/17 - Galvatron
12/14 - Rail Racer
12/14 - Predacon 3-Pack
12/14 - Prowl
12/07 - X-Brawn
12/07 - Side Burn
12/01 - Landfill
11/27 - Omega Prime

Beast Machines
2002
05/09 - Silverbolt
04/13 - Mirage
04/13 - Obsidian
04/13 - Sonic Attack Jet
04/13 - Scavenger
04/04 - NS Cheetor
03/07 - Strika
02/22 - Savage/Noble
02/08 - Blackarachnia
02/06 - Optimus Primal
02/01 - Night Viper
01/24 - Nightscream
01/07 - Thrust
2001
12/23 - Blast Charge
12/15 - Tank Drone
12/07 - Megatron
11/29 - Optimus Primal (BP)
11/23 - Jetstorm
11/23 - Rattrap
11/21 - Buzzsaw
11/21 - Tankor

Dinobots
2002
05/09 - Striker
02/17 - Airraptor
2001
12/18 - Rapticon
12/07 - Triceradon

Beast Wars
2002
05/09 - Optimus Primal (TM)
04/16 - Terrorsaur (TM)
03/14 - B'Boom
03/14 - Transquito
03/06 - Cheetor (TM)
02/25 - Sonar
02/22 - Tigerhawk
02/17 - Blackarachnia (TM2)
02/04 - Cybershark (TM2)
02/04 - Waspinator (repaint)
02/02 - Bantor
02/02 - Optimus Minor
02/02 - Scarem
01/30 - Iguanus (TM2)
01/30 - Ramulus
01/30 - Scourge
01/16 - Rattrap (TM)
01/16 - Cheetor (bootleg)
01/06 - Depth Charge
2001
12/25 - Prowl
12/21 - Megatron (TM)
12/15 - Tarantulas (TM)
12/06 - Megatron (TM2)
12/05 - Rampage
12/01 - Tarantulas (bootleg)
12/01 - Airazor (repaint)
11/27 - Silverbolt
11/26 - Terrorsaur (bootleg)
11/25 - Scorponok
11/25 - Rhinox (repaint)
11/25 - Optimal Optimus
11/24 - Inferno
11/24 - Quickstrike
11/17 - Rattrap (bootleg)
11/17 - Dinobot (repaint)
11/14 - Megatron

Other Lines
2002
05/09 - Sharp Edge
04/30 - Galvatron (BW2)
04/18 - Prowl (MW)
04/16 - Big Convoy
04/04 - Minibot Keychains
02/22 - Starscream & BB
02/13 - Bazooka
02/09 - Mach Kick
02/08 - Stampy
01/16 - Shadow Panther
01/14 - Choro Q Toys

Dinobots Striker

I won't go into the history on the brief Dinobots line, as I've covered it before with the others from the line I reviewed, so we'll just get to the review then.

Okay, well, as can be expected, Striker (who is the only member of the Dinobot line to not have a horrible name, well, Airraptor's was cool, so one of the only two) is a stegosaurus. And a very cool one at that. He's brown with red plates and all the robot bits present are a light blue. Not overly poseable, but his front legs are pretty mobile with hinge knees, ball shoulders and an upper leg swivel. His rear legs are mounted on a ball joint, and they also have a knee, but it's all hindered pretty well by the beast mode sides and the feet, which fold up into the back of the rear legs like Triceradon's, only less elegant (heh, never thought I'd call Triceradon elegant). The plates on his back only can shift back and fourth a little, but not too much.

All in all I like beast mode a lot. Stegosaurus was always one of my favorite dinosaurs, and it's nice to have one that's more accurate and less robotic than Snarl, the original Dinobot Stegosaur. Of course, he's not completely accurate; his head is a bit too large and his tail spikes are way too short, but other than that he's cool, and I have really no complaints about it. Even the robot kibble sticking out of his legs doesn't bother me that much.

Oh, by the way, for some reason the designers felt it necessary that his robot mode loin cloth hang down from a rather inappropriate place in beast mode. Needless to say, Striker is a boy.

There's an undocumented third mode which comes from his Japanese version, named Saberback. It actually works better with Saberback, given the color of the plates, but you can still pull it off with Striker. What you do is pop the tail off it's pegged spot, push the spine up so it's perpendicular to his back. Then push open the trigger (it looks like a plate) until his tail snaps open (and stays). Position it how you want. Yeah! A dinosaur with a giant flower growing out of his neck! Not very impressive, and nowhere near as cool as Triceradon's corpse mode. Ah well.

Transformation is nifty and fun, and nice and complex. However, everything is set up so you can figure it out without the instructions or even looking at the card. One of my friends, who isn't a transfan was able to figure most of it out herself with no assistance from me, which just goes to show how well everything fits together once you crack open the beast shell.

Robot mode is very cool and has a sort of Aztec thing going on (right down to the head dress made of his back plates). He also wears the stego skull around his neck, which is a neat touch (the skull kinda freaked me out the first time I saw it, as in beast mode is resides pretty much in the head of the dinosaur). His poseability is also very nice, with excellent arms (ball shoulders, upper arm swivel and a hinge elbow). His legs are a bit more limited as the thigh ball joints are a bit limited and he lacks upper leg swivels. Also his ankles are hindered by his odd, snowshoeish feet.

Also, where many Beast Wars Neo toys (that's what line Saberback came from) had major problems in robot mode with their beast kibble (Bazooka, Mach Kick, Big Convoy are just the ones I have, and I'm sure there are many more), Striker's actually adds to his look. His beast ribs hang at his hips, which is very common practice, and the rest of his beast sides (including the head) rest at his shoulders and extend far above his head. Now, that may sound sort of weird, and I'll admit it is, but it works quite well. Very neat looking.

Also Striker can hold his tail/flower thingy as a weapon. It's not very threatening looking, though it does snap shut with some force, so I suppose Stampy isn't a big Saberback fan, but that's his problem.

All in all, Striker is a very cool toy. His beast mode is stellar, his robot mode very cool, though it has a few poseability issues in both modes, but I can overlook that just because I like his robot mode a lot. Flower mode is weird, but it doesn't take anything away from it. Overall, if you can find one, then pick it up, he's very cool.


All content © their respective owners. This site is in no way associated with Transformers,
Hasbro, Mainframe etc. Page best viewed in IE4 and NS4 or better.