I got Waspinator and Rhinox. May or may not get Cheetor depending on whether I feel like completing Transmutate or not. Waspy hasn't been opened yet, but Rhinox is open and transformed.

- Very nice paint aps, though I'd have made the Rhino matte and the robot parts shiny. As long as I'm nitpicking, I'd love to have seen the rhino teeth white and some chrome on the spikes around the calves, but that's probably over budget.

- Love the character, so that pushes up my estimation of the toy. It really is a shellformer, isn't it? Nice articulation, but hampered by the rhino halves on either side.

- What were they thinking with mutant heads? I missed Beast Wars the first time around, so I really don't get them.

- the way the weapons are dissassembled and hidden all around the body is very nice.

- Love the packaging too. Nice updated tech spec and bio, which are far better than the original. I like the box that blends in nicely with the current Cybertron line (white box, bent window, etc) but has the Beast Wars eye and scales. The slash marks in the top of the box are very nice.

- Transmutate: nice idea. May or may not be persuaded to get all the figures to complete Trans. We'll see.

Overall: the original figure has some weaknesses, but the new paint job and general nostalgia for the character and the show count for a lot. B+

 

I finally got round to switching the arms on my Rhinox. He looks alot better now. Pulling out some of those ball-joints were a real pain though, and I was afraid something would break. Hasbro QC really needs to notice mistakes like this!

 

I did the same thing, and had the same problems with the ball joints. I suppose the factory workers who assemble these needed some coffee that day or something.  

 

I picked up Waspinator almost two weeks ago, but forgot to come over here.  

Just like Rhinox (and Cheetor when I finally pick him up), this is my first experience with the original Waspinator.

For starters, he has great articulation (which I expect from a BW figure). He has a nice beast mode, though his rear legs are a little (understandably) large. I don't mind the exposed arms on his underside since my favorite BW figure (Wolfang) has them too.

One of my favorite parts of BW had to be the hidden weapons. I love the fact that Waspy's missiles are hidden in his wings.

Just like Rhinox, Waspy has that great "unnatural" look to his body with the metallic/shiny paint.

Now, this may sound like sacrilege, but I like displaying Waspinator with his real head (robot) as much as his "real" head (mutant).

I only have three problems with Waspinator. The first is the fact that his legs can't swing backward. The second is that the half of the half of the wasp head on his left won't peg into place as tight as the right half. And the third is the fact that the center piece of his chest won't snap into place when his "real" head is displayed.

Otherwise, I think Waspinator is awesome. Better than Rhinox by a long shot, because of the lack of kibble, earning him a B. Speaking of which, I think I reviewed Rhinox a little too high. He's not as fun to pick up and play with much more, so I give him a C+.

(BTW, expect a review of Cheetor this weekend since I'm 90% likely to get him)

 

I just opened my 10th anniversary Waspinator this evening. This is the first time I've owned the original mold, so it's essentially a new toy for me. So, my thoughts (many of which probably mirror Primevals):

- nice big wasp, great colors. Love the shiny wings and eyes. The back legs are too thick, but I guess that's unavoidable given the way they are used to make the robot legs. The arms are a little too visible underneath the wasp as well.

- very simple transformation, almost surprisingly so. Swing hind legs up, stand the wasp up on his hind legs, pull the arms out to the side, flip the wasp head down after seperating it. I was expecting more. It's not bad, but underwhelming. Better than Rhinox's shellformer though. At least Waspy transforms rather than sits inside his shell.

- I like the way the mutant head gimmick is executed far better than the masks on some of the other figures. The rotating head is very nice.

- Good colors, nice and glossy with some good facial detail. Again, like Rhinox, a bit more would be nice, but what we have is very good.

- missles in wings: check! Very nice. Gun as stinger, again: check!

- insect legs on arms get in the way somewhat, but not as bad as, say, Rampage.

- CD: Possession? It's barely a Waspinator episode, since he's not himself for most of the time. It is a good episode, but just not a good one for Waspinator's character. But did he ever get a good character episode? I don't think he did... lots of moments, no real extended focus. Given that, I suppose it's a good choice.

- new bio: LOVE IT.    

Overall: a nice figure. Like Rhinox, I love the character, so I'm predisposed to like the toy. Simpler transformation than I thought it would be, but effective. Points taken off for the obvious robot arms and thick wasp hind legs. Another B+

 

I broke down and bought Cheetor yesterday at Wal-mart, mainly to ultimately complete the 10th anniversary set, since I plan to buy all three from wave 2. This is the first version of this mold that I’ve owned, so these are all first impressions.

I kept looking at the box and thinking “that’s one ugly cat... do I really want this?” before deciding that I did. Opened him up at lunch today and ugh... I was right: ugly cat.

- The cheetah is very unconvincing, and poorly done. Very thick neck and shoulder area, slim front legs contrasted with thick rear legs (with metallic blue robot bits showing), massive chest and gut... could it look any worse? Not much. About the only fairly good angle is from the top.

- On the plus side, the transformation is a bit more complicated than I expected. A bit better than the ‘stand cat on his hind legs, make front legs arms, swap head, tail sword’ transformation we’ve seen many times.

- You end up with a decent robot mode, apart from the huge cat head on his chest. Articulation is fairly good and the colors are very pleasing as well. The metallic blue contrasts nicely with the yellow.

- The mutant head, while as useless as ever, is well implemented in its execution. The rotating heads of Cheetor and Waspy are better than the half-mask of Rhinox.

- The guns are integrated fairly well into the cat, though they contribute to the poor cat mode overall. We have an IBW, or iridescent butt weapon (inside joke between me and some friends) and the gut-gun, which actually has intestines molded into it! As if that’s not potentially disgusting enough, the position of the gun on the cat mode, though too far forward to look anatomically correct, can easily be used to make Cheetor take a whiz... yikes.

I’ve rarely recommended avoiding a Transformer, but I’m tempted on this one. Good bot mode, but awful cat mode that makes me appreciate Supreme Cheetor. I’d give him a C-, and I’m only avoiding a D because of good transformation and bot, and some nice ideas with the weapons that just don’t quite work out. If you’re a completeist like me, go ahead and buy him. Otherwise, there are far better Cheetor toys out there.

 

I've been on the fence about these. On the one hand, I don't have any of them, and on the other hand, I don't really need any of them. Perhaps I'll get Dinobot, and go from there.

 

The temptation finally got the best of me and I cracked these three open after my roommates' girlfriend got me Waspinator and my parents got me Rhinox and Cheetor for my birthday two weeks ago. I haven't owned any of these molds before and I don't have the originals to compare them to, so I'm just jotting down my opinions.

My least favorite is probably Rhinox...talk about a shell former. The colors work nicely. I mainly wish it didn't have the kibble restricting movement and the two halves of the mutant head sticking out.

Cheetor seems to be the most show accurate. I think it's a pretty solid toy, but the beast mode has no articulation which is sad, but I hear most of the original beast toys suffer from this.

Waspinator just rules...maybe it's just the fact he's by far my fav BW character, but he had great poseability in robot mode and a fun alt mode.

Overall I think the reissues are great. I really wish they could have remolded them slightly to do away with those lame mutant heads (Or robot head in Waspinator's case), but thats easily forgivable. I'm looking forward to picking up Tarantulas, Dinobot and Rattrap and completing Transmutate.

 

Well, I picked up Cheetor a couple weeks ago, so I think it's about time I make good on that promise to review him.  

I'm sure we all know Cheetor's beast mode is pretty damn inaccurate for a cheetah. Oh well. It's recognizable as a cheetah thanks to the spots and facial markings. And we are talking about Hasbro's first foray into realistic animals.

Robot mode is pretty good. Nice articulation (hits all the "vital" points, plus bicep swivel) with no obstructions, unlike the others in Wave 1. My only real problem is the cheetah head. The mostly unsightly gap between the beast and robot heads kinda bugs me. And then there's the fact that it seems a bit obstructive. I keep looking at Cheetor head on and can't see his face because the cheetah head is blocking it. It seems like the cheetah head should be able to move just a little bit more, but can't.

And then there's the fact that he can't hold his "gut gun" terribly well, but that could just be a fluke.

Otherwise, I like Cheetor the best of Wave 1 strictly as a toy. Waspinator gets more points for his character.

 

I think it's kinda like the upside-down rear wheel brackets on Cyb. Ransack. It's wrong, but it's how the factory was told to assemble the thing, (this time) based on the fact that all the test shots and Botcon showings of Rhinox also had the reversed arms.

Not the box toy photos though.

 

I find my Cheetor is a bit fragile.   But I still love it. My first BW toy when I got my first one.