Beast Wars - B'Boom

Well, it's been quite a while since I've purchased a phase 1 Beast Wars toy (Rhinox was the last one, but I already had his repaint), and I never really planned on getting another one, but for some odd reason the Toys R Us near me got a single case of early BW megas. Two each of B'Boom, Transquito and Inferno. Of course I already have Inferno (got him at the very same TRU), but I snatched up B'Boom and Transquito with little hesitation (more hesitation on Transquito's part). If anyone lives in lower NY, head to the TRU in Yorktown, they still have one of each left and an extra Inferno to boot. Hehe.

Anywho, B'Boom is a big heavy hunk of mandrill or baboon or whatever. He's got the total animal look to him, very little mechanical parts showing (some on the inside of his arms and legs), and he's massivly poseable. I can't remember the last time there was a beast mode this much fun to play with. His arms have shoulder ball joints, upper arm swivels, hinge elbows and ball jointed wrists. His legs have the same, except his ankles are hinges, not ball joints. Excellently cool.

The only thing that has trouble posing is his head, which is only slightly hindered by the gimmick. Ahh, the gimmick. If you press on B'Boom's right ear (your left) he goes from 'squinty evil monkey' to 'suprised monkey'. It's quite comical, and I have a soft spot for comical things in TFs (like Choro-Q Megatron's beer bellied robot mode), so this is one of the coolest features I've ever seen in a Beast Wars toy.

Ah, but that's not all! Via a lever on his back you can thrust his gun, which stores in his mouth, forward and then load it. Pushing the level again will make the missile launch, and boy does that thing pack a punch. I'd forgotten just how far missiles fly on early Beast Wars toys. Most excellent. I almost lost it in my car a few times.

Transformation is simple for the most part. The monkey/primate scheme is present, where it's essentially 'stand up the beast', though there are some tricky bits. For one the entire middle of his body (the part attached to his robot head) needs to slide upward in a somewhat awkward motion, but only after you've pushed the monkey head down. Once you've accomplished that, you need to arrange the monkey chest pieces (which house a lot of articulation themselvs). I won't get into it too much, but in the end everything pegs together quite well making for a very stable robot mode.

Yes, so robot mode is not only stable, but BIG. I dunno if it's because Transquito is skinny or something, but B'Boom is taller and wider than him. And heavier too. B'Boom is one of the heaviest megas I've ever had. Let's see. For more comparisons, he's actually the same height as Rampage and he dwarfs Scorponok, so B'Boom is actually almost an ultra, at least in terms of his size in robot mode. I don't think he would have filled out the ultra sized box too well in beast mode, but it's nice to know you get more size for your buck, or something.

B'Boom is insanely articulated in this mode as well as his limbs haven't changed very much, really. The only annoying thing about robot mode is the two panels that just hang from his shoulders. I would have liked them to rotate out of the way and become shoulder pads, but he probably used up all his articulation on his chest pieces.

Speaking of his chest, the have some nifty missiles or something in them. He's loaded! On top of those and his spring loaded launcher, there are double-barrel guns that pop out of his shoulders. These are used for his third mode, which I'll get to in a second.

Or less! His third mode is really pretty laughable. Essentially he unfolds into a battle platform with legs, but it just looks stupid and isn't overly stable. It does give the second head he has an oppertunity to be used, but I like his regular, buzz-cut head a lot better.

Overall, I paid $15 for B'Boom, which is about the final price you'd pay for him if you got him on eBay after shipping (if you want an Apache, which is the BW2 Japanese version, that'll cost you around $20). That was well worth it I'd say. If you're looking for a new Transformer but don't want to wait until Armada comes around, might I suggest the blue monkey? He is durn cool. And now Optimus Minor has a monkey pal to hang around with!