Markatron's Nitpicky Review Transmetal 2 Deluxe Assortment ("2nd wave") Jawbreaker (Hyena, formerly Cackle) and Iguanus (Iguana, DUH!) OPENING RANT: The first wave were Scourge (Locust) and Prowl (Owl). 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! Typical Beast Wars features: Spark crystal; super posibility including wrist, heel, and neck articulation; "my beast feet are my robot feet" syndrome; "I'm a robot with a chopped up beast hanging off me" syndrome. Neither have waist movement. Jawbreaker kinda has, but for no good reason. As soon as you swing the pack in to place as much as possible, it defeats the swivel. I'll say right off that Iguanus is designed better but Jawbreaker looks better. Confused? So am I. BRIEF: I found these just a few days ago at Walmart! Praise Walmart's Distribution team in their great job getting the new toys to Boise, Idaho! Yeeeehaaaw! Now the actual Boise staff has been extremely lazy in cleaning up their toy isle. I had to clear away 20 Pokemon toys just to check on the boxed BW toys! I check around the legions of Rampages and Scavengers in hopes of a Tigatron or BlackArachnia; and kids just leave gobs of Pokemon blisters all over them. *SIGH* $9.76 each, $9.99 at most other places. OVERVIEW: Jawbreaker: Let's start out with the bad news first. He's got massive robot arm kibble. At least the forelegs of the beast aren't also the arms, that's lazy. Arm / sawblade / head is... well... there it is. His animal mode is very nightmarish. This guy would be just as wicked as Cheetor was in Feral Scream --all runnin' around, tearin' everyone up like that. I love the color scheme. The wicket tail (obviously the sword) was the clincher. The beast head could rotate, that was enough for me to forgive the arm/saw hang-up I had. "Gah! Where's my spark? Oh, here it is by my saw... ooh, watch out!" The spark is upside-down in robot mode, in beast mode it's upside-right but covered by the red panels. *SIGH* Still, he's got blades galore in all modes. It reminds me of the "Ace of Blades" character in Stryke Force (Cyberforce spin off). Well, no it doesn't, it just came to mind, cuz I'm wierd. Don't get caught up in the "It's out! I must have one now!" hype. Pick it up because you want that saw blade to play with. Iguanus: His beast mode, well, initially it struck me as silly. Still, I passed on the inital Iguanus and the robot on this one looked fairly strong from the directions on back. The beast legs become the legs and arms for the robot. No waist movement. Head limited due to his hairdo. What's with that? Even tho Iggy's do sticks out more than Megatrons, it allows greater movement. Colors disturb me. Nightglider's orange is forgiveable but Iguanus's isn't. Spittor's huge hands are understandable but Iguanus's is not. Still, Iguanus delivers a solid robot mode profile. He doesn't have the wider hips and huge thighs like Jawbreaker (no more thigh jokes please). I also like his shoulder shields. Fortunately, his hip halves stay together. Didn't need a 3rd piece to hold themin place. He's wearning a skirt! I've got his arms waving out and he's swinging his hips in a HULA DANCER pose. In this light, his grin is priceless. NITPICKS: This section is what I would do to improve each or suggestions how this could have been done better... Jawbreaker: I'd mold an actual fist at the end of his forearm on that saw/arm! C'mon Hasbro, Beast Wars Neo did it with Break and Stampy. OK, they didn't do it on the larger MachKick or LongRack. But hey, it can be done and it would have helped. I'd also move the beast arms off the robot shoulders to the back. AND, I have the same problem here as with Dragon Megatron, when I go to bend the knee back, the joint at the 1/2-calf moves. BUT YA KNOW? I can't bend the knee back 'cuz the friggen blades are blockin' it! I would put those calf blades on seperate rings so they could rotate around to the front. Ooh, take _THAT_ in the gut! The Thigh armor looks like an overlay. That "extra" bulk could turn at the knee and form a more bulky calf _and_ restrict the 1/2-calf joint from turning in robot mode. Now, I've got to figure out what I'm doing wrong for beast mode because the chest just hangs down there and his head peaks out. That and I can't get the back panel to lock right under the robot arm assembly making the front part of the beast lean too far forward. I also have a problem putting the sword hilt into place. The hole in the tail is fine but the swords knobs make it just too thick to put past the curved plastic of the rump. I just can't get the peg into the hole! *CRY* And there are signs of the plastic stress on the rump. "It just doesn't go there!" Well, anyway, I can see him running down yelping in pain as his leg blades poke his posterior at every step. Silverish blue fur and black fur make me want to make a wolf or werewolf creature out of him instead of a hyena. however, the hyena idea is original and hasn't been done before. Besides, it lends itself to some cleverness in the tech specs. Iguanus: The hands! For goodness sake, let's flip out some fists and stow those beast feet. The orange has just got to go. I'm not sure to what tho, perhaps violet or green, oooh, he is a lizard after all. I'm going to take my neon green and paint his visor. From the card art I wasn't sure where that other eye went but from the toy, it's some kind of half visor or patch. Paint it. I'll also touch up his left shoulder missile pack with dark red paint. Maybe some red in the vents on his right shoulder. Missile doesn't store in the beast mouth when in robot mode. Well, it looks bad. he holds it as a club. Not very creative, they probably found out too late "Hey, where does the missile go, we can't have it hanging down there." "Let's shorten the missile." "Don't be stupid." Yeah, the designers of Iggy and Stink Bomb should have compared notes. "Hey, that's cool, you hid the beast head inside the body." Iguanus should have been a Basic. Actually, both are a head shorter than your average Deluxe. FINAL WORDS: Bad news. Looks like most of it's bad news. OK, why did I get these two. I can justify Scourge and Prowl is very good in both modes (despite the wings just hanging there). Hmmm... I can keep Jawbreaker in beast mode. Lotsa wicket blades. Iguanus is the only hula dancer I have. Markatron "I really like TM2 figures, I really do! Really!" As far as shelf life goes, does the emergence of Beast Machines cut the life of these last TransMetal 2 releases? Unfortunately, the TM2 supporting series is "dead" and there's only a few months until Beast Machines debuts. None of these poor chaps had a slot on the show (including all TM2 Basics) and kids know it. Hey, they're pretty good figs!