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Clay’s review of Brendocon’s D39 Killer Punch

Name: Killer Punch
Group: Destoron (official spelling of Destron for BWNeo)

I like robots. I also like dinosaurs.

While a human being is a far too random and nonsensical thing to be able to predict the entertainment preferences of, it is indeed true that I also like robot dinosaurs.

Killer Punch is a robot dinosaur. Moreover, Killer Punch is a very rare robot dinosaur. I fancy robots that can turn into real, everyday things (like dinosaurs), so I chose to collect Beast Wars and Beast Wars Neo toys. This was the catalyst for my discovery of both the purple styracosaur and just how hard it is to locate.

Fortunately, I was helped out by a nice fellow here at the Archive. After many months of searching, Killer Punch was mine for the exchange of a small sum of currency and the promise, in blood, to become an Alternator-hunting slave for a Brit.

Was it worth it? Hell yeah! Killer Punch is not only a nice addition to my small shrine to the Mesozoic but, as the last and most difficult piece to acquire, also serves as the keystone of both the dinosaur shelf and my self-esteem as a toy collector. Let’s review, in depth!

Styracosaur mode

Killer Punch is a styracosaur and is a remold of Guiledart, a triceratops. Funnily enough, both animals belong to a group of dinosaurs called the ceratopsins, which were the dinosaurs’ equivalent of the modern day rhinoceros. Even more funnily, a styracosaur is biologically equivalent to a triceratops remold anyway, so no points for creativity go to the toy designers this time.

The dinosaur mode itself is very well crafted, though. Squat with big scales and a thick hide, this dinosaur can fend off any predator, securely and happily growing fat on Kentucky bluegrass.

Also, it continues to uphold the longstanding paleontological viewpoint held by TF designers that dinosaurs were purple. Despite having no fossil evidence to support this theory, Killer Punch, Hardhead and three different Megatrons can’t be wrong!

Robot mode

Killer Punch’s robot mode is a like a fine wine that tastes like a boot. The typical layman will glance at it and scoff, “why, the robot mode is asymmetrical! I demand bilateral symmetry from all my transforming robot toys in every mode because that is the most visually pleasing form!” Of course, the true connoisseur of Beast Wars toys knows and appreciates the choice by designers to limit the symmetry to the animal mode in order to make the robot appear more alien. Otherwise, the kind of shape-shifting that occurs would merely be a type of robotic lycanthropy.

Instead, Killer Punch’s robot mode is designed in a more intellectually stimulating way, if less aesthetically pleasing due our brains’ inability to accept the lack of mirror symmetry as beautiful. It’s the precision and control in the engineering required to marry an asymmetric humanoid to a bilaterally-mirrored vertebrate like a styracosaur that makes Killer Punch truly satisfying in robot mode.

Also, he has a ginormous knife and can fire a dinosaur head from his arm!

Bits that have been remolded from Guiledart include an entirely new animal back (it can no longer hold missiles), a new tail/weapon, a brand-new robot head, and the aforementioned dinosaur-head-launching device. The dinosaur head can also be attached to the robot’s back for storage.

As a minor character note, Killer Punch did make a cameo appearance outside of Beast Wars Neo in the IDW Beast Wars comic "The Gathering", issue #1. In a flashback, he's in his 'Cybertronian' mode as Magmatron lectures on. It's a minor detail, but it shows the folk at IDW did do their homework on obscure Beast Wars characters.

Transformation: 9. Really well designed. It’s ingenious how such an oddly-shaped robot can be folded up into a completely convincing dinosaur mode.
Durability: 9. Killer Punch is pretty resilient overall, but dinosaurs are extinct, so it would be prudent to take special care of such a rare specimen. Don’t lose that dinosaur-head!
Fun: 10. Dinosaur + robot.
Price: X. Killer Punch is a rare find these days, and as such, it’ll probably cost you quite a bit. You might get lucky, though!
Overall: 7.5. Remolds are rarely done in Transformers lines, and Killer Punch is just plain rare on top of that. It’s a bit curious that the original version of the mold, Guiledart, has been released four or five times to Killer Punch’s single appearance in Beast Wars Neo, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for a re-release. Because of the lack of availability and pricing issues, I can really only recommend it to Beast Wars and dinosaur enthusiasts. It is a fantastic remold though, and will be a welcome and notable addition to your collection if you decide to pursue it.

 
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