TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:
Alternate Mode:
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Box Art:
Technical Specifications:
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INT
SPD
END
RNK
CRG
FPR
SKL

ravimus prime's review of: Beast Machines Magmatron

Name: Magmatron
Allegiance: Destron
Function: Emperor of Destruction
"Power is everything. I am power. Therefore, I am everything."

Magmatron's beast mode is comprised of three dinosaurs. An all around warrior more wildly evil than even Galvatron. On the one hand, he is violently enthusiastic, while on the other he can judge situations quite reasonably. He is also charismatic, enough so that the other Destrons acknowledge his superiority.

Magmatron was a Japanese exclusive, released in the Beast Wars Neo line. He was released in America a year later in Dinobot (Beast Machines) packaging. I was always tempted to get this for it's unconventional style. And I finally did, which brings us to the review...

Beast Mode(s):
Magmatron has three different beast modes: Landsaur, Skysaur and Seasaur. Note I said beast and not dinosaur, as Seasaur is an Elasmosaur, which is technically not a dinosaur. They combine to form a robot mode and a fuzor beast mode. However these three components don't have individual modes and so he is not a gestalt.

Landsaur is a purple Giganotosaurus. However he is not a lilac colour like Beast Wars Megatron or Beast Wars II Galvatron. He can fire all the other components, including his own, from his mouth. The legs and the arms have good articulation, but sadly nowhere else does. A lot of robotic parts show in this mode. Parts from the robot mode can clearly be seen on the underside and on the legs of Landsaur.

Skysaur is a red Quetzalcoatlus. You can store his missiles under his wings, but you cannot fire them from him. You can pull his tail and his wings will flap. Underneath him, you can see great detailing of the arms moving with the wing bones. No robotic parts really show up on Skysaurus.

Seasaurus is a minty green and blue Elasmosaur. Press in his back flippers and the front ones will move in a swimming motion. The neck on this thing is really long. It causes difficulty when posing him, but looks the part. His missiles are stored inside him, like Skysaur. Robotic parts are also well hidden in Seasaur.

Combined Beast Mode:
This is a freaky combination of all three beasts. It is also known as the "humping lizard mode". See the picture for yourself. Basically, it's Landsaur's tail stuck inside Seasaur, with his robot arms out, acting as the hind legs. And Skysaur is just stuck on top somewhere. This mode isn't very durable, and won't stay together for me. But then again, beasts like this shouldn't be performing such acts... This mode adds to play value and wasn't entirely tacked on. It's a way of keeping all the beasts together without transforming them into robot mode. A lot of pins and holes had to be moulded into the toy, you see.

Robot Mode:
After a difficult transformation you get another combination of all three modes, but this looks a bit more normal. Same colours carry over from the beast modes but more grey is seen. The head sculpt is nice, and shows him sulking, but not like the anime style of BW Galvatron and the Megatrons. The wings and arms of Skysaur are attached to the head, but it doesn't look as bad as it sounds. The chest has a good sculpt, and has bits of Skysaur on it. Landsaur forms the main body and one of the shoulder pads, which is the beast head. Skysaur forms some of the body and the head. Seasaur forms the arms and back of Magmatron, as well as a shield. Movement is extremely difficult in this mode. The large wings make the positioning of Landsaur and Seasaur's head over the arms difficult. When you attach his shield to his left arms, barely any movement can be made as it is so clunky. The head can't turn unless you detach Skysaur's legs from the chest. His tail looks stupid in this mode, but there's nowhere to put it except on the shield, which makes keeping it on his arm difficult. And finally, he has a cool sword/missile launcher in which the blade can be fired. A lot of problems in this mode...

Transformation: 10. One of the hardest, and Japanese instructions don't help.
Durability: 7. His shield falls off among other things during transformation.
Fun: 9. Cool features and 3 separate beast modes! The awkwardness in robot mode takes away from it a bit though...
Price: 7. Around $30, and that's in Japanese packaging. Beast Machine packaging costs more.
Overall: 7. There are a lot of things stopping him from being great. For details, see the other parts of the review. There was always going to be problems designing 3 totally different beasts to combine to create a solid robot mode. Maybe you could dish out for a Big Convoy vs Magmatron gift set because you're getting a good and a great transformer. However this is not a Big Convoy review, you may want to skip this one.