The Transformers Archive Skip to main content / Also skip section headers

[The Transformers Archive - an international fan site]
Please feel free to log in or register.

 
  • transformers forum
  • transformers fandom
  • transformers toys
  • transformers comics
  • transformers cartoon
  • transformers live-action movies

TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Hover here to pick reviews from this section! ↵
Latest Reviews, Toy Checklists,
Resources & Current Lines
Transformers Toy Review Archive (older series, 1984 to date)
Robot Mode:
Alternate Mode:
Box Art:
Technical Specifications:
STR
INT
SPD
END
RNK
CRG
FPR
SKL

Blackjack's review: T-Wrecks

Name: T-Wrecks
Alligeance: Dinobots
Alt mode: T-Rex
Series: Beast Machines Dinobots Ultra
Redeco of: Beast Wars Megatron

I get sentimental with Dinobots. Before I get to the review on T-Wrecks (I know the name is stupid) let me tell you how I got upon him. I was a big fan of dinosaurs when I was a little boy. My parents bought of all sorts of Dino-merchandise, and at that time, around 2001(?) the Beast Machines sub line, the Dinobots was launched to appeal. I happened on my first transformers without even knowing it! As I reflect back now, I know for sure I played with Airraptor, Dinotron and T-Wrecks. Now T-Wrecks (the pun is not lost on us) is a red and blue redeco of the Ultra sized Beast Wars Megatron. Right, since typing 'Tee-Wrecks' is annoying, I'll call him 'Wrecks' in this review.

Wrecks (at least most of him... I lost a piece of side, the beast hands and the robot mode head) is the only Transformer I had left before I began collecting seriously. The others, including an RiD Megatron, has been gone and gone. Ah Wrecks.

Wrecks is standing in my room's display case, beside some relics of my childhood, the Zoids line of mechas. I remember creating my first Zoid during my eighth or seventh birthday. It was a T-Rex, and that one ('Grimlock') is now in my room too, beside 'Sludge', 'Snarl', 'Swoop', 'Shrapnel', 'Barrage' and 'Depth Charge' among others. But I collect TFs now. Much more interesting.

Anyways, you came here to read a review on a toy, not to read about my collecting hobbies, so on to the review.

ALTERNATE MODE


Wrecks transforms into a Tyrannosaurus Rex, the 'king of Dinosaurs'. Frankly, in an unbiased manner, this mode sucks with a big 'S'. It can't even stand properly. But at least it got a new paintjob...

The main colour is red with neon blue to appeal to children I guess. But I remember wishing for a more realistic shade of red without blue, kinda along the lines of Jurassic Park. The head is kinda too big for the body too, and the mouth can't even move! What good is a T-Rex without a moving head? Wrecks has two tiny hands that are useless, as in the real beast. So useless that I've lost them...

Wrecks is rather large compared to Dinotron (Hardhead redeco) and Airraptor (Archadis redeco), but falling in the same price range as Magmatron I expect much more from him now. He's larger than Classics Grimlock, if that matters. Fact: Beast Wars Megatron was the first mold that used the sleeker, horizontally and correctly inclined Tyrannosaur, instead of G1 Grimlock's vertical way of standing. Other Transformers with T-Rex alt modes included G1 Grimlock, RiD Megatron (but he had one of every mode...), BW Megatron, Energon Grimlock, Classics Grimlock, Animated Grimlock... Um... Who else?

Poseability is almost nonexistent, other than the legs and the hands. The legs are nice though, with proto-ankle joints. Being a transition mold at early Beast Wars, this is understandable, but still...

ROBOT MODE


After a complicated transformation (more fiddly) and we get to the robot mode. Look ma, no hands! Yes, one of Wreck's hands is a seriously oversized dinosaur head, the other is a 'tail turned nutcracker' in Sir Auros' words. On the top of it, the hands don't even work, too large to be of any use. Impossible to pose anyway.

Why wouldn't Hasbro repaint the much better TM Megatron mold I don't get.

Wrecks basically is Megatron done in red for the purple parts and black for the others. Like Beast Wars Megatron, this guy is a rather pathetic excuse of a Tyrannosaur transformer. Black obscures details.

The head was unchanged much, or so I was told. Lost the head a long time ago. But BW Megs had a nice sculpt. I was also told it has a 'Mutant' head, but that's gone too.

To be nice to a toy that accompanied me while young, this guy is quite fun to play and fiddle with. But does that put him in par with Grimlock? Nay. At least Wrecks has a more realistic paintjob than Megatron.

Overall, an old repaint of an older toy in more realistic colours. I'll play nice.

...

Still, this guy is what got me into liking Beast Wars. I was like 'what the **** I owned a Beast Wars toy' when I flipped through the Ultimate Guide. Ah, mem'ries... Gotta get me more beast toys. Waspinator, I'm coming!

Marks out of ten for the following:

Durability 4/10 Seeing I lost half the parts... But then, I was very forceful as a kid with my toys.
Transformation 9/10 For an Ultra he's very hard. Come to think of it, being hard in transformation is the reason I broke it anyway.
Price X/10 I. Have. No. Idea.
Fun 3/10 Not too poseable, and in robot mode he's prone to fall down. But I keep him anyway. Call me sentimental.
Overall 7/10 Well, beast mode ain't realistic, robot mode sucks, name freaky and is a repaint of a lesser Megatron mold. But I like him. He's nothing compared to Airraptor, but he's a first transformer for me, and that's enough for me. Call me sentimental. At least he's not an Action Master.
 
With thanks for long-term support to sponsors:

te12/fst/var/www/html/common/disc.php" ?>