TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

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Technical Specifications:
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Kremzeek75's review of: Crazybolt

Name: Crazybolt
Allegiance: Destron
Function: Independent Infiltrator

Crazybolt is slow and sometimes seems low on strength, but is the Destron's fastest escape artist. When danger approaches, he spreads his frill and heads for the hills. His tail rifle is powerful enough to blast through even the hull of a mighty spaceship. He also tends to prattle and has a swindler's disposition.

Lately, I have been on this exclusive Takara Beast Wars Neo shopping kick, and as a result, I am amassing quite a sub-collection of the BW Neo characters. To start off my reviews for the characters I have bought so far, I'm choosing the Destron character Crazybolt, a rather small transformer in the grand scheme of things, but a very detailed and surprisingly well constructed example. To give a little bit of a history lesson, Crazybolt was remolded from the American Hasbro Beast Wars line- specifically the mold called Iguannus. When Hasbro furthered their Transformers line off into Beast Machines and Machine Wars, Takara basically stuck with the whole Beast Wars theme by producing the Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo lines. Whereas Iguannus was originally released in 1996, the Crazybolt remold was released in 1999. He came packaged in his own unique box vs. the blister-packing that Hasbro is quite fond of using.

Alternate Mode:
In doing research for real life dinosaur species, the closest thing resembling Crazybolt would be the subspecies Iguanodon of the 4 legged smaller sized dinos. Crazybolt is primarily colored in a very dark brown, with red spinal column and a golden yellow spinal highlights. The head spotlights what I refer to as the "Jesus Lizard" bonnet, also molded in yellow, with Constructicon-green eyes and an opening mouth. The four legs are poseable to a point- there isn't much you can do without disturbing the robotic legs, which basically lay underneath the body of the Iguanodon. The alt mode is roughly 6 inches long.

Robot Mode:
One of the really cool features that Crazybolt shares with fellow Neo characters of the same size is a spring loaded transformation. To activate this, the tail is raised up, which then reveals the legs and torso. During this same action, the Iguanodon head automatically folds down to become Crazybolt's chest. With some minor twisting of the arms and legs, you have your robot in a few easy steps. As an added feature, you can remove the tail, and it becomes a weapon for the robot. In robot mode, Crazybolt's red limbs are most visual, and the overall feel of the robot is impressive. He is one of the few overall Beast Wars characters which doesn't sport some kind of head or tail for an arm, which made me quite happy.

Transformation: 3 - the spring loaded transformation takes care of 99% of the work, and just a few manual joint twists complete it in under a minute.
Durability: 4 - Obviously, due to the small size, you don't want to go throwing him at your younger sibling when you get ticked off, but the appendages are of the ball-in-joint fashion, so if a limb happens to come off, it goes on just as easily.
Fun: 5 - As a Destron soldier, this guy is nice when with his teammates, and could make for some fun times, but alone, I can't think of much to do with him.
Price: For the Takara BW Neo series in the package, I paid about 8 dollars, which I thought was fair and reasonable for an import.
Summary: Interested in the BW Neo line? Sure, go ahead and pick him up if you get the chance. He's not the most prized piece in my collection, but I am still happy to have him in it nonetheless.