TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

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

Kremzeek75's review of: Archadis

Name: Archadis
Allegiance: Destron
Function: Air Supremacy Soldier
Sub-Group: NA

A stylish snob, Archadis worries over how many feathers he loses in battle. He is highly cunning and talkative. His wings are armed with Wing Gundreads, rapid-fire cannons, and can drop Wing Bombs. He prides himself on his abundance of firearms, including the Founder Shot in his right arm.

Well, we all knew it was going to come to this sooner or later. Sigh. After reviewing some of the better examples of the Takara exclusive Beast Wars Neo line, I felt, to be fair, it was time to review a "not so hot" example of the line. The victim in question is the Destron Air Supremacy Soldier, Archadis. Archadis was one of those prime examples of knowing he looked bad in the box, and then opening the box and confirming my suspicion. However, being the completist that I am, I bought him anyway (he was part of a two bot package that came with Mach Kick, and equally rejectable bot). So, like waking up in the morning and having to go to work yet again, let's get this review over with.:(

Alternate Mode:
*hangs head in despair* Believe it or not, Archadis' Alt Mode is the better of his two modes- a lizard bird, and a badly colored one at that. Archadis features bright green wings with bright blue highlights, and his head and underside sport a gold motif, that is probably the best detail, color wise. He is not without some merit, though- his head is totally articulate with an opening mouth and two joints throughout the neck area that make him very poseable. His wingspan is about 7 inches long, and his battle feature is this: if you press the levers located on the top of each wing, the talon hands at the end of each wing extend via a spring loaded mechanism, and he drops a feather. Yes, a stinking feather! I guess the clump of feathers that gets dropped from each wing is supposed to represent a bomb of sorts; personally, it reminds me of getting seagull droppings on your head or something. Ick. Also, while extended, you can bend the talons back to reveal a blaster cannon on each wing. The rear feather quadrant is actually kind of cool in its regality and hidden gun mount underneath. The legs leave a lot to be desired, design wise- the robotic portion of the legs are clearly visible, and actually tend to hinder the movement of the bird legs, which by they way, are actually kind of neat- they are very detailed and moveable.

Robot Mode:
Oh God *makes sign of the cross* Well, like most Beast Wars figures, poor Archadis suffers from the dreaded "animal head for a hand and arm" disease. Yeah, I've mentioned it before, but think about it: Transformers that follow this design pattern usually suffer from being ill-proportionate (i.e. one arm longer/bigger than the other) and it really messes up the whole aesthetic quality of the robot itself. Well, not only does Archadis suffer from this in robot form, but I sincerely believe that the person who came up with the schematic for this bot was truly drunk. Either that, or he/she needed to drink even more. Even worse than the "animal head for an arm" thing is the placement of the wings in robot mode- they basically have one edge of the wing start at the right side of the bot, and then the wing continues to the left, overlapping the robot's actual chest and left shoulder, not that the bird neck is truly convincing as a shoulder. If you don't catch him at the right angle, the wings hinder the view of Archadis' head, which is actually not a bad sculpt. The legs are thin and scrawny, and don't properly support the bot as they should- particular to my model, the feet connect to the legs via a ball joint socket, and it's not very durable. Perhaps the only saving grace is the one robotic right arm, which actually sports a pretty cool blaster, and rear feather quadrant from the Alt Mode actually forms a shield of sorts for the said arm. You can also rotate the feather quadrant to move the blaster in a roundabout motion.

Transformation: 6 - Kind of hard at first, and the manipulation of the legs in alt form is a little tricky.
Durability: 4 - The leg joints are loose, as well as the balance of the bot on his feet.
Fun: 3 - Well, you might not have fun with him, but the Cybertrons will as they blast him to pieces.
Price: I paid $15 for the package that not only contained Archadis, but also Mach Kick. I thought that was reasonable for an official Takara import.
Summary: Get Archadis ONLY if you are a completist like myself, because that was my sole reason for buying him. Personally, I've spent better money on those "other" transformable robots called…….Go Bots! HA!