Markatron's Nitpicky Review Transmetal 2 Basic Assortment ("2nd wave") Spittor (poison frog), StinkBomb (skunk), NightGlider (flying squirrel) OPENING RANT: The "Second Wave" is comprised of Spittor, StinkBomb, and NightGlider. Continuing the trent of the "nightmarish" Transmetal 2 legacy, these three exhibit assimetry, fur-giving-way-to-robotics, troubling weapons, and outlandish features typical to the Transmetal 2 line. Oh, and a wild hairdo! Even for basics, they really convey the TM2 features. Impressive. Typical Beast Wars features: Spark crystal; super posibility including waist, wrist, heel, and neck articulation; "my beast feet are my robot feet" syndrome. Seriously, I am reminded from the reissues/recolors the strides Hasbro has made in Beast Wars -- they have taken Transforming Robots and turned them into true "action figures" that surpass both the original concept and McFarlane detail and posibility. BRIEF: Found... Uhh... Gee, I've been running around so much, I think I found them at WalMart, could have been Target where I was trying to pry off the Beast Machines Cheetor from its aerial display. Hmm... $4.96 each. Standard is $4.99 Each has their strength and weakness in robot modes. IMO, each one clearly outclasses their 1st wave brothers. Still no sisters... Hasbro needs a few more female characters. OVERVIEW: Oh, sheesh, lets start with Stink Bomb: The inital convention pictures from a long ago toy fare didn't do SB justice. Beast mode looked like a scorpion with a skunk patch on his back. Well, the skunk patch covers a whole lot more. Great snarling skunk head. To me, the tail is just a logical TM2 effect. Great job. And doing the whole tail in chrome is fine with me. Front legs are much longer than the rear. This guy could burrow a tunnel or tear you to shreads in no time. Robot mode is nice. Most noticeable feature is his ponytail. It's his huge golden tail! Where would that make the spray gland? Spark is in his left arm. Some kind of device is embedded in under the right arm cover. His chest has gaps in it so when you fold the skunk head in, you can catch a glimpse of the white stripe and red eyes inside. Hmm... I also didn't catch that you can rotate the gold panels between the torso and each arm. I suppose they should swing back. waist can turn. Head cannot elevate. Still, a great toy all round. NightGlider: He's very orange. Very, very orange. In squirrel mode he has wings with tears throughout. It almost looks as if the wings can pop out or something but it's solid, no "wings can deploy" movement here. He's just a solid gliding piece with moveable little squirrel arms in front. A lot of robot junk hanging loosely underneath. Robot is that of most uncluttered basics. Even has waist rotation and head elevation. Can't hide the wings at all. I also lie the arms flush against the edge of the wings instead of posing them up and out. Proudly displays his spark right in his midriff. He's one cocky hombre. Easily the weakest of the bunch. I still like him better than the first wave of TM2 basics. Spittor: The hunchback of Beast Wars. Very unique! My friend really likes him. Spittor grew on me. Not his warts, mind you. A very striking poisonous frog. Good beast mode with good colors and warts-a-plenty. Since his legs are his robot arms and legs, you can't really put him in very "froggy" poses but the frog is still great. "Hey look! I'm chewin' on my Spark and my mace and my face!" Disecting class: You simply open the lower jaw and Ssshlup, he opens right up! I still have to turn his shoulder assembly and waist around several times until I get it right but he's a real frightening robot. I didn't like the original Spittor having such big hands but it works well with the TM2 look. Shoulder claw is wicked. Perhaps this is how Stink Bomb's tail should have "deployed". Again, waist rotation and head elevation! He can even leer upwards using the waist elevation. I've got him holding one hand over his eyes as if shielding his eyes from some bright light above, waving his mace in fury at it with his other arm. I recommend this ugly ogre. NITPICKS: This section is what I would do to improve each or suggestions how this could have been done better... Stink Bomb: If I could modify the design I would want to rotate the claws from the front of the arms to the back. The entire back of the skunk just hangs off the back of the robot. Perhaps, cut this into 4 quadrants and create hip and shoulder armor. The pony-tail could be better wielded as an arm or shoulder mounted blade. I would make both gold panels (between torso and each arm) both with the "exhausts" so they could be thrusters. I like the touches of red paint. I would put two red stripes on each forearm right in back of the hand. A few more red spots on some protruding bolts may look good. NightGlider: Maybe I'm desensitized to these loud color schemes but I actually don't mind his coloration. Real flying squirrels are a lighter brown / orangish anyway (I think, right? Hmm...). But he's really two toys in one. He's a BW robot with a TM squirrel on his back! C'mon, Stink Bomb hides the skunk head _in_ his body. Others can pose their wings to more convenient positions. He's so back-heavy, I end up doing a leaning-forward pose (like a threat or block with his sword). Fortunately, you can tilt his head back so when he's leaning forward, he doesn't have to look at the ground. A little dark blue paint should soften the rather solid orange forelimbs. For squirrel mode, what do you all do with that undercarriage junk? Spittor: I guess it would have been to normal to flip that head up on his shoulders. Still, Transmetal 2's should be freakish. Rear cover (lower jaw in frog mode) could have been flipped over to resemble a Gundam mecha's armor skirt. I've got some neon green paint (for Gundam kit eyes) and I may use that to tip a few warts on his legs and arms. FINAL WORD: The Spark concept tipped me to get Sonar and Scarem. Without them, I would have passed them up. This new wave is easily the better. I sure hope the "demise" of the Beast Wars series (and thus the TM2 line) doesn't hurt the sales on these later toys. They're really worth picking up. Markatron Non-related thought... How come everyone complains about Optimus Primal not looking like Optimus Prime; YET, who complains that BW Megatron looks nothing like G1 Megatron?