TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

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

Ravimus' review of: Jawbreaker/Cackle

Name: Jawbreaker
Allegiance: Maximal
Function: Close-Combat Specialist
"Laugh and the world laughs with you; howl and you howl alone."

The most aggressive of the Maximals, Jawbreaker never backs down from a fight. Prefers combat situations where odds are stacked against him. Most effective in close-combat battle, where his powerful jaws can be devastating. Utilizes magnetic field generator between his shoulders, drawing unfortunate Predacons into his spinning deltoid blade. Possesses a twisted sense of humor; laughs a lot -but generally laughs alone.

Jawbreaker is a Transmetal 2 from the Beast Wars line. It should be noted that Jawbreaker was released as "Cackle" in Europe. As mine is European, I will call him Cackle from now on. He is a very vicious looking transformer indeed, and deserves credit for that. But he has some problems (mainly in the paint department). All will be covered in the review...

Beast Mode:
Cackle is an odd looking hyena. He has normal looking black fur with brown spots on his back and head. That's about all the organic parts you're going to see. The rest of him is mechanical. His front legs are metallic red and grey, his back legs are grey and black. Please be aware of the red metallic paint. It flakes extremely easily. His head even has a mechanical eye, which is larger than the other.

Some of the most notable things on Cackle are the blades. They're everywhere: sticking out from his paws, legs, head, tail. This would seem dangerous for children, but they're pretty blunt. Cackle is extremely bulky for a hyena. But I think this makes him look more menacing, which is a nice touch. Cackle has a good range of poseability, but the blades all over him may get in the way of articulated joints. A very cool looking beast mode overall, with some annoying problems.

Robot Mode:
Cackles robot mode is equally as good, and problematic. His head sculpt is really good. He has a spike on top of his head, two dog like ears, a horrible smile and one telescope eye (he has a normal one too), like that of Dinobot 2. All the kibble and beast parts hanging off his arms makes him look bulky, but if you look past that, you'll see that he's really scrawny. He has narrow shoulders and puny arms. This is more noticeable due to his large head. But it's not a problem, since he still looks macho...

His chest is pretty small, but it has a lot of detail, and it's all puffed out. The beast mode head and neck becomes one of his arms. It also has a disc blade on it that spins when you press a tab in. And finally he has the mother of all swords. Forget Fort Max, Vector Prime and Star Saber for now. It's formed from his beast mode tail. It's curved at the end, and has blades going all the way down it. Very nice, but I have some problems with Cackle.

His articulation isn't great, and you can only put him in a few poses. Thankfully, his sword arm is articulated. But, his legs are his rear beast legs, and the problem is, that they're way too big, and, because of the blades on his ankles, his legs can't bend very far at the knees. Now to sum it up...

Transformation: 8.5. Pretty hard, but you should get the hang of it eventually. But along with that, the robot head sticks out from under the beast stomach. Not very well designed...
Durability: 8. The paint issue. Almost all TM2's seem to have this problem.
Fun: 10. Nice gimmicks and weapons to keep you going.
Price: 6.5. You should get it brand new for under $20, but they're not too plentiful.
Overall: 8. It has it's fair share of problems, but take a good long look at him before you buy him, and keep in mind the problems that I mentioned.