TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Additional Image:

Box Art:

The Plant's review of: Cryotek

Cryotek
Allegiance: Predacon
Alt-Mode: Dragon
Motto: "Always know what your enemies and allies choose to ignore"
First cartoon appearance: N/A

Cryotek is a Target exclusive, Transmetal 2 Megatron repaint.
10
According to outside sources Cryotek was originally intended to be released with the Beast Machines line. There is no data on the box, outside of his motto, pertaining to himself. I've found on some other sites that his role in the Beast Machines line was as BW Megatron's mentor before Megatron stole the golden disk and fled Cybertron. When Megatron returned to Cybertron, in an effort to rid himself of his organic beast mode, tried to transfer his Beast Mode from himself onto his former mentor. Not prepared for the pain involved in having such a change happen to his superstructure, Cryotek went into stasis lock. Supposedly, Cryotek invented the spark extracting technology that Megatron used in Beast Machines, that original technology resides in Cryotek's tail. For more information on his role in the Beast Machines storyline, check out BotCon's site. He doesn't really have anything to do with the RiD story though. According to BotCon's site, Cryotek also had a never released mechanical falcon partner, Chro.

Dragon Mode
Cryotek comes in his box seemingly standing on the base, breathing an icy mist that shows up on the box itself. Pretty neat trick. I've never seen more twisty thingies in my life, it'll take you more about ten minutes to get him out of the box! He's pictured underneath the icy mist in Robot Mode looking quite battle ready with his dragon arm extended.
Cryotek has the trademark TM2 assymetrical design, it was executed quite well with this mold. He has a beautiful dark blue based colorscheme. It also has some teal on the underside of the dragon's neck, some really cool translucent blue on his wings, some black farther up his wings, and chrome purple on the base of his wings, his chestplate, the top of his neck, and his dragon faceplate. The dragon's yellow eyes contrast well with it's emaculate colorscheme. They did a pretty good job at hiding his Robot Mode aside from the head, which is positioned rather oddly. His neck is adjustable using a pull type switch that tightens it and can move it from side to side. there is a switch on his back that lets you expand his wings, and even a locking mechanism to keep them spread. I really like that feature, wing his wings spread he looks more majestic. He can fire missiles from his dragon mouth as well, which is pretty cool. his short little arms can't do much, but they take away from his look at all. It takes a little work to get him to stand on his own, but is quite possible.

Robot Mode
I don't really have anything to base this on myself (I only have TM2 Megs and Cryotek), but from what I hear Cryotek is one of the hardest Transformers around to transform. It doesn't help that the directions that come with it on how to convert him are crap. OK, from Dragon Mode to Robot mode, first you pull the plates that his arms are connected to back toward his wings, I do this by pulling the arms back, they haven't broken off yet, so I guess that works. you then pull his wings down untill they reach his robot head. You then split open his chestplate and then pull his dragon head down to the left. After that you pull up his arm with the remainder of the breastplate on it so that it sticks straight up, then pull it down to the right. Now pull down his theighs from their upper locked position. Fully extend his legs that were kinda folded up in Dragon Mode. Turn his feet around to the other side of his body, be sure to do this by turning them inward. Close the split chestplate and rotate it so that it's facing the other side of his body. Unlock the platform that his robotic head is on in the back by pulling it up. Then swing the entire legs mechanism back as far as you can. turn Cryotek's head around 180 degrees. Now push the head and surrounding mechanisms down until theyd sit flat above his spark chamber. Fold up the platform his shielded left arm is on until it locks into place. Do the same with his Dragon arm. The Dragon arm should now be pointing in the air. Now fold the dragon arm down so that it locks into the arm peice that you just locked into his torso. Squeese his thighs together until they lock together with one another (yes, I know how bad this sounds). Now fold the wings back up, so that they lock into place and you should be done! I know all this looks mighty intimidating, and I won't lie to you, it isn't easy. It took me about an hour to master how to transform him proficiently. It still takes me about 4 minutes to do it. This mode looks really cool as well. A shield on his right arm, and dragon neck and head on the left. Though the dragon head's not very mobile, or balanced looking in this mode, it's still cool. You can still extend and lock the wings with a switch in the back. He can fire a missile from his helmet as well as from his dragon arm, you can store the extra missile in his right hand if you want, that's the only obvious explaination for the hole in his hand. It's great how they kept the wings in the same position in each mode. His dragon tail flowing from the back of his helmet doesn't look to bad either. His angry looking face is rather amusing looking and doesn't go very well with the rest of his form. I don't like the red on his face either. Luckily his cool helmet covers up most of his face.

Vehicle Mode
This mode is the biggest joke of a mode ever. You basically move his feet up next to his shins to pop out some small wheels. Then point his heels and arms toward his head and you have achieved his craptacular vehicle mode. I have yet to actually get all 4 wheels touching the ground at the same time so it can roll. Pretend like this mode never existed and you'll be better off. It's other two forms more than make up for this deficiency.

Poseability
Forgoing the Vehicle Mode altogether I'd say that Cryotek is quite poseable. I like the neck control switch, and especially the wing control switch. His legs, arms, and head are quite easy to move. Getting the head to stay in any one position can be a trick though. The jaw even opens and closes, which I think is pretty cool.
Transformation: 9 - All the steps make this a rather confusing and time consuming process. The result is quite worthwhile though.
Durability: 7 - He's survived a 4 foot drop without a scratch. Due to seemingly fragile components, that's saying something. You have to be careful not to scratch the chrome paint job though.
Fun: Very Fun - He's a friggin Dragon! He's more than a foot tall! He's a friggin Dragon that's over a foot tall! He looks really, really cool and is quite fun to play with
Price: He's not found in Targets anymore, on EBay he goes for around $45.
Variations: He is the repaint of Transmetal 2 Megatron from Beast Wars.
Overall: 9 - I love the look, they didn't take the dragon look from any particular type of dragon, but they pulled it off quite well, you can pose him however you want with ease. He doesn't break easily. Overall great toy!