|
 |
COLUMNS Main Page Logon Sound Off Why Scalping Is Wrong The Movie 'Cons -- Redeemed! FEATURES Cover Story -- Toy Fair 2000 -- As Covered by Daniel Lipkowitz -- Thoughts from Phil Zeman Cover Story -- Beast Machines in Depth REVIEWS Toys Shows FUN 'N' GAMES ASM net.TransFan of the Millenium -- Stage 1 Name Beast Wars Crew Contest Winners Name Phil's Car Contest Winners INTERACTION Inbox E-Mail List Poll Outbox ASM INFO Who We Are Submissions Copyright Page loaded on: [an error occurred while processing this directive] A SkyJammer Enterprises Publication |
 |
Text and Photos by Daniel "SwiftEagle" Lipkowitz PART 3: BEAST MACHINES BASICSWarning! All pictures are linked to high-quality scans! Expect larger load times if you click on the links. The next section of the display held the Basic Beast Machines toys. No Night Viper/Cobra or Silverbolt/Condor on display, unfortunately. Geckobot (formerly Kamilion) is neither a chameleon nor a gecko, of course (why start now, when the last two Iguanus toys haven't been iguanas?), but he is a rather neat representation of Longisquama, a prehistoric gliding lizard with long, wing-like struts adapted from side-scales. Really impressive in both modes, and I like the mixture of the brightly iridescent wings with the subdued, silver-blue body. Longhorn was a relief; carded scans made the bull mode look bizarrely stick-insect-like, but seen from a normal angle, the toy is a very nice, stylized representation of the animal. And the robot mode has a navel ring, which has got to be a first for Transformers. It's not a very happy-looking robot. Obsidian is another nice toy, but I can't even begin to understand the name given that there doesn't appear to be a single spot of black on the figure. The wolf (Wolfang? Wolfgang? I wish these displays had been labelled) [Editor's Note: The current name for this toy is Quickstrike.] is rather bulky and seems to have a rather simplistic transformation in comparison to the other new Basics, but I do like that cyber-organic Maximal design. I hope the hands are transformed wrong in robot mode, though, because they look rather painfully dislocated. The transparent blue wrist-dagger is a nice touch, especially in combination with the robot's ponytail-blade.
Part 1: Fox Kids' Beast Wars Altered States Magazine would especially like to thank the kind folks at Hasbro and Benson Yee of www.bwtf.com for their help. Daniel Lipkowitz is a contributing editor of ASM and can be reached at asm_lipkowitz@skyjammer.com. He also loves penguins and his digital camera. |
|
