Rippersnapper
(Power of the Primes)
Rippersnapper's beast mode is a walking robotic shark monster-- and he was the first one, so move aside, Seacons! Anyways, in beast mode Rippersnapper is more of a long rectangle with a head, appendages, and a tailfin as opposed to what you'd imagine a shark monster would like-- that is, sleek. The lower end just doesn't look right, as it's too wide, though the tailfin bits coming off the bottom do help some. Beyond that, the proportions are pretty decent-- at least, as far as I imagine a two-legged shark monster would BE proportioned. There's no robot mode extras, except for the robot hands, which are blatantly obvious underneath the hand claws, unfortunately. The mold detailing alternates between some parts that are sparsely detailed but smooth-- like the shark head-- to rather rectangular, detailed bits like both sides of the main body, where there's lots of little tech detailing that makes it all look more robotic. The legs have a "chicken-walker" stance to them, with really well-detailed "spring" details on them, and with rather bird-like large claws for feet. As for the color scheme, the main body is almost entirely an off-white shade of plastic, while the Prime Armor and the appendages and weapons are a dark blue plastic. It's a fitting color scheme for a shark monster, and there's plenty of paint details to keep all that off-white on the body from getting too bland. There's silver on the "gill" details on the sides of the shark head, as well as on the back on what become the robot knees and lower legs, and silver on the shark chest and what becomes the robot waist. There's a bit of black paint around the silver chest details, really bringing them out and emphasizing them-- given that it's really not used anywhere else, it was a good paint app choice. A pale yellow is also used around the waist of this mode and on the back (where the knees are in robot mode). Against the off-white, though, the pale yellow is just too light and doesn't contrast enough; it doesn't really add much to the color scheme. Red is also used on Rippersnapper-- on the shark eyes, on the shoulders, and on small rectangular details on the back (what becomes the robot knees), chest, and what becomes the robot waist. It serves as a nice contrast against the blue and white. Finally, there's a bit of a lighter shade of blue, used for the hand-claws and the area surrounding the abs. I wish some paint was used on the tailfin piece, but otherwise it all looks pretty good. In an interesting twist, Rippersnapper has either some paint apps or a sticker (I'm not sure) on the top of his head that mimics a G1 rub symbol, but with the Decepticon symbol permanently showing. Interesting G1-y touch, there. Rippersnapper has two cannons, which are stored on the sides of the base of his head, and can move up or down in this mode. Rippersnapper's Prime Armor can, thankfully, fit on securely on his lower back, instead of it just being placed awkwardly somewhere on one of his appendages like on some other PotP beastformers. He also has two small pegs on his back, behind his dark blue fin, where you can fit a Prime/Titan Master. For articulation in this mode, Rippersnapper can move at the jaw, shoulders, elbows, wrist rotation, and movement at the hips, knees, and at two spots at the base of his fin-tail. Most of these joints are ball joints, so his appendages are fairly posable even if his body's a brick.
Rippersnapper's transformation is quite simple-- you mostly just extend the robot legs from the main body, rotate the shark head back to reveal the robot head, and then fold up the tailfin and beast legs onto the lower legs. The arms stay the same, you just rotate them at the wrists so the fists are more apparent. The end result makes for a fairly well-proportioned robot. He does have a little bit of kibble-- most obviously the shark legs just hanging off the sides of his lower legs. I wish those folded away somehow. The shark head also is behind his robot head, but the way you it sticks straight up and frames his head, I think it enhances his silhouette slightly, so I don't mind it much. Same with the shoulder cannons, though he can hold them in his fists, as well. The fins, thankfully, fit into the back of his lower legs pretty perfectly and give him heels to boot, so no problems there. Sadly, I don't have as much to say about this robot mode as I do for most other deluxes because... well... I mean, it's the shark mode with just those changes made. The same mold and paint details are all there, with generally the same color scheme layout to boot-- just a bit more dark blue because of the exposed upper legs. The head is the only really new piece of detailing in this mode. Rippersnapper has a fairly square head, with a forehead vent and large red "visor-like" eyes that are nevertheless separated by his nose. He has a "normal" face and mouth, painted pale yellow. It looks good, though not what I'd expect for a guy who forms a shark monster. Rippersnapper can have his Prime Armor attach to his chest by flipping down a small panel on said chest, but it looks weird and like on most deluxe PotP toys, I just ignore it. For articulation, in this mode he can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows, rotation at the wrists and waist, as well as movement at the hips (at two points) and knees. Given that he's well-balanced, this means he's quite posable.
