Cruellock
Beast mode is a robotic
raptor. Aesthetic-wise, this is a kickin' mode. The spikes on the back
and the metallic "scales", as well as all of the claws, edges, teeth, and
sharp edges, make Cruellock definitely live up to his name. The mold and
paint detailing is also exquisite. His curved, sleek raptor head also looks
a heck of a lot like Godzilla- which is certainly appropriate, given how
big Cruellock is in comparison to humans in the Energon mythos. The overall
color scheme has a very nice effect- there's not too much of any one color,
and all the various darks and lights blend together perfectly, with some
nice juicy metallic-colored bits thrown in for fun. In addition, Cruellock
has excellent articulation- he can move at the shoulders (at two points),
the elbows, the hips (at two points), the knees, the ankles, and his jaw
can move up and down too. Heck, his tail can even swing from side to side.
However- and this is a rather big however- Cruellock's main body has quite
a few robot extras on it. The back of his robot head can be easily seen
on his neck, and he has shoulder plates which don't have any place on a
raptor. His legs, in proportion to his arms, are also much more humanesque
than they are raptoresque. His hands are VERY obvious on the inside of
his raptor claws, the way his legs are proportioned also makes it pretty
apparent that they're just his robot legs bent at the ankle. Due to his
transformation, his hips are also rather unstable and tend to squeeze together
too easily.
My comments on Cruellock's
raptor mode mostly carry over to his robot mode-- again, because they're
so darn similar. Basically to transform Cruellock, you do a head flip,
and then take his Energon weapon out of his tail and put it in his hand.
There's also minor aesthetic changes made by squeezing his hips together
and broadening his shoulders, but these are barely noticeable. His tail
is also in halves on the sides of his hips now, but this just seems more
like an attempt to give Cruellock a transformation with more steps than
it actually has. The raptor head is also really, really obvious, just hanging
behind his robot head like it does. That said, though, Cruellock's robot
mode is the better of the two modes. His more humanesque arm and leg proportions
are no problem at all in his robot mode, and the claws on the back of his
hands look more like hand guards than just extras. His robot head also
is really original and awesome-looking. Instead of a mouth, he's got four
large triangular spikes under his fearsome eyes. It looks almost like a
horned beard of sorts... The main selling point of the robot mode-- and
indeed, of the toy-- is Cruellock, awesome, awesome energon weapon. In
fact, I'd go so far as to say it's the coolest-looking Transformer sword
EVER. It's HUGE in comparison to Cruellock, and the blade is nice, thick,
and sharp (or at least, looks it). It's also got lots of great detailing,
and the transparent green plastic used for it makes it look all the sweeter.
In addition, it can also split into a slightly-smaller sword and a small
hand-held gun. Hot dang. Cruellock's Decepticon spark crystal is smack-dab
in the center of his chest, for you to put his Energon star on.
Cruellock is an awesome
figure when it comes to aesthetics, and he has the best-looking robot mode
out of the basic Terrorcons, in my opinion. However, his transformation
is waaay too simple, and it makes his two modes look far too similar. That's
the main reason I knocked him below the "must-buy" line. It's still a figure
worthy of picking up, though.
Review by Beastbot