Beast Machines Night Viper

I'm not sure what made me want this toy. Usually when I see a Beast Machines toy in a store that I don't own I pick it up. You can find them around most places pretty easily. In fact the only ones I bought on-line were Thrust (a used one for $5 or so) and Rapitcon who is impossible to find. I read a few reviews of Night Viper and they were all positive, and I saw some pictures and I was hooked. Sadly, these are not easy to come by. Finally one surfaced on eBay for $5. I bid and I won. The seller was from Singapore. $12 shipping. D'oh.

So, Night Viper is a snake in the 'techno-organic' sense as with all the Beast Machine Maximals. Actually, I was expecting the toy to be bigger. I knew it was a basic when I bid on it, but Beast Machine basics have a habit of being extra small in beast mode (well, the two I own are, anyway, the other being Buzzsaw). Snake mode is pretty neat, though it consists of a cobra with a huge hood and a tiny tail and head. It still looks cool, but if you think about how massive the hood is for too long, your head may start to hurt or something.

The lone gimmick, which has good intentions, but ends up kinda sucking, is if you press the yellow on the hood (which reminds me of these gross lemon flavored cough drops my mom used to buy), the head springs forward a little (maybe three millimeters) and the mouth opens. Eh. Ah yes, and the back of the hood, which is attached to the robot arms, doesn't always stay pegged in place. Not a huge problem, but still annoying.

Transformation is very creative, mainly the part that becomes the legs. What you do is actually thread the tail through the loop below the waste. That way the tail is half hanging out one way, half out the other. Ta-da! Legs! Very cool, and minimizes the possibility for snake kibble.

Robot mode is really skinny and lanky, with a huge amount of leg joints since they're also the multi-joined tail (each leg has four joints, plus the thigh joint). The cobra head folds up behind the robot head which forms another hood of sorts. Pretty neat looking. The extent of the snake kibble is attached to his arms, which are like big spoons attached to the arms. Very weird, and they inhibit his balance some, though the bendy legs can usually accommodate that.

Speaking of his spoons, one of them has a translucent yellow piece of plastic that folds out to make a scythe of sorts. It's a really cool looking weapon, actually, and I wish the other spoon had one, but it houses the spark crystal, so he's only got one weapon.

All in all, Night Viper is pretty cool. He's worth the investment as long as you don't pay over $10. Paying $17 like my dumb ass did is not recommended. I mean, it's a basic sized toy, get real. I could have bought a mega or expensive deluxe for that much. Shipping overseas sucks.