Onyx Prime [Age of the Primes/Leader Class]

Closing out our spooky celebrations for the year is the Lord of the Beasts himself, Onyx Prime! Onyx Prime is the first Transformer with a beast mode and all other beast formed ones are his spiritual descendants. He is in tune with the creature of the natural and world and those in the spirit realm. With the power Primus granted to him with the Triptych Mask, he's able to cast his spirit across vast distance to communicate with the dreams of beings far away. Even the afterlife! Despite his inherent spookiness, Onyx Prime is very friendly and kind hearted. You can't always judge someone by their appearance, it's just that for him everyday is Halloween.

I picked up Onyx Prime a few weeks ago. Happy to see my local stores restocking in the first time in forever. However, not just happy to see something new, but happy as I've been looking forward to this particular toy. You've got to admit, he's got one neat design. In robot mode, Onyx stands tall and beastly. He's got big pointy wings that match pointy armor full of creature flavored details. If you noticed the chest armor looks like hooves, we'll get to that a little later. Speaking of hooves, check out the legs. He outright has big ole hooves with legs similar to an animal that would have hooves. Hooves. Technically that's called digitigrade, but I'll call it backwards knees. Because that's how you'd know what I'm talking about. Robot mode is pretty large and nicely articulated. You might notice his hands open up. That's both due to beast mode and goes along with his accessories.

That Triptych Mask I mentioned earlier combines with a pole to form a big spear... or staff if you so fancy. It's also a rather big arrow for a bow that's formed from his tail. With those articulated hands he can hold these weapons and draw that really big arrow. I wasn't initially aware of the bow and arrow, it just somehow escaped my attention. Remember that chest armor that looks like hooves? I talked about it last paragraph, and said hooves a million times, how could you forget? What if I told you they actually were hooves? THEY ARE! *no shit* Folding those down and some adjustments here and there will reward you with Onyx Primes first alt mode- a winged centaur! This is a pretty cool form that you wouldn't expect normally. It really fits with that bow and big ass arrow!

From here, with a few more twists and folds you'll find the third mode. A winged dragon monster type creature! This beast mode is super gnarly with six legs and those giant wings that have been prominent in every mode. I'm very fond of its head with horns and opening mouth. The colors of Onyx Prime really shine in every mode... but make for one interesting beast mode. A mixture of black, copper, brown, with silver and gold highlights creates a figure seemingly out of some old Dungeons & Dragons source book. This is one cool toy that I had a great time playing around with. His transformations and overall design really brought back memories of older Beast Era toys. Not just because of the beast mode, but the actual transformation schemes and overall design and look of the toy. If not for the newer engineering, I'd almost swear this was an older unused design Hasbro had sitting around in the vaults. He'd have made an excellent Transmythics toy!

I didn't expect to like Onyx Prime as much as I did. He's a very cool toy with a design right out of my dream journal. I've always thought of leader class figures as more nicer size class when it comes to standard retail Transformers. With this toy, that thought process feels proven. Onyx Prime is a big and ornate beastly bot with fantasy looks and modes whom is a pleasure to hold. Looking like something you'd find sculpted at a museum, he's got a mythic air to him. That's freaking neat. His dangerous looks and supernatural powers give way to a friendly robot who paved the path for animalistic Transformers that came after him. Truly one of those toys that just doesn't come around often enough.

Tigerhawk [Legacy United/Leader Class]

My love for Beast Wars is probably pretty well known. Earlier today (as I'm writing this), I was watching Beast Wars on the Transformers channel as I often do. It inspired me to talk about today's toy that I haven't covered on the site yet. This Legacy version Tigerhawk was a Christmas gift from the Mrs. last year and a most welcome one at that. The original is one of my 'best of all time' Transformers and something I hold in high regard.

Tigerhawk was created when the Vok merged Tigatron and Airrazor together creating a singular being. With that in mind, the designers used the more recent Kingdom  Tigatron and Airrazor molds for parts to use on this toy. That was both a fun bit of synergy and a good way to keep costs down. This time around, Tigerhawk is very show accurate in a way I wasn't prepared to appreciate.

Original Beast Wars Transformers were pretty thick and chunky as was pretty standard for robot toys at the time. Of course those looks were often streamlined on TV, and it was just something I was used too. This new Tigerhawk has the show models look down really well, and it's impressive. Of course I'm accustomed to the chonk, so it's weirdly different... but I'm very happy that the show model is so right on. I like having my original toys and show models represented well. There's no beating that original toy to me, so the new figure being the show model is a perfect solution!

They even nailed the proper purples and copper Mainframe used. In robot mode, he looks great and is nicely articulated. The feather missiles no longer fire, but can be held in hand. The same is of those wing mounted cannons. The chain gun ends are still present, but they flip around manually to reveal static cannons. Those cannons can be removed and held as well. They even combine to form a larger gun! The wrist mounted blaster is now an removable piece that can be placed elsewhere also. Tigerhawk was always heavily armed, but feels even more so now.

Transformation is similar to the original, but has it's differences. I had a little difficulty getting the chest to close correctly. It fits around the cockpit a certain way and it's all got to be in place just right to work. After a little finagling, it finally worked. The wings have a wide range of movement and can fold forward in attack mode as the original. Being show accurate, the battle mode helmet is gone as is the hidden tank mode. The cockpit is on Tigerhawk's robot shoulder, but hidden in beast mode like in the show.

Cockpit?

Yes, Tigerhawk originally was one of the Beast Wars toys designed with a Spark Figure cockpit. The gimmick was dropped, but those cockpits remained on the figures. Here it's just for show, but I'm glad it's there. This is a really cool toy and a great update of a classic. I'm very appreciative of it's show model accuracy and enjoy the differences from the original. That original may be an all time classic, but chasing down those missiles when accidentally fired was a nightmare. Like the original, this feels like something special I own. It's not just a toy, but a representation of a cherished character from a special time in my life.

Megatronus The Fallen [Age of the Primes/Leader Class]

The Fallen is one of those characters that shows up in Transformers occasionally, but when he does, it means trouble. Megatronus is the Dark Warrior Prime who deals with entropy and destruction. While he originally fought against Unicron with the other Thirteen Primes, his eventual betrayal to them and joining sides with Unicron led to the name we all know him better as- The Fallen.

In addition to being big and imposing, he uses dark magic, has mystical abilities, and gravitational powers. He also carries the Requiem Blaster, Spark Fuser, an Energon Machete, and has additional weaponry mounted across his body. He doesn't understand the term overkill. This newest toy of Megatronus is heavily based on his appearance in War Within: The Dark Ages where he was introduced. His melee weaponry is mostly influenced from his various toys from Robots in Disguise 2015, which is probably my favorite version of him so it's nice to see a little of that flavor here. The barrel of the Requiem Blaster can also be used as a shoulder cannon, which is something I didn't do in the picture. It's worth nothing the Blaster can be held or forearm mounted as well.

If you've noticed the similarities in his arm cannon, or the particular way his face looks, or how similar his name sounds to another bot... there's good reason. He's the first Decepticon, his face is the inspiration for the Decepticon symbol, and the Megatron we all know named himself after Megatronus. It's probably an understatement at this point but, he's bad news. This is a cool looking toy of The Fallen and in robot mode. Big, chonky, and imposing. There's a lot of meaningful articulation and he looks great. The dark colors are highlighted by the yellow from his heat vents. That's actually UV reactive, so they'll glow a nice fiery color under a black light. You probably noticed that he's on fire... yeah... that's something he does. Included are come great flame effect pieces that bring that to life quite well and complete the look. The Spark Fuser and Energon Machete can be combined to form a spear. The melee weapons and blaster can store on the robots back in case he would rather punch someone. 

Unfortunately it's not all great, I did not care for the transformation. At all. It feels like Megatronus opens up to an almost flat shape and you wad up the edges into place. It's not a smooth transformation, parts are either too tight and can't go in easily or just don't stay put. Apparently some folks have issues with a tight thigh and inner thigh connection that cracks the plastic. I've seen various complaints online with his transformation, so it's not just me. I guess he's not just trouble fictionally. Tank mode looks fine, but mine would not stay together. There's places to store the spear and flames with the Requiem Blaster serving as the tank cannon. The tank doesn't look bad, it's just after all the trouble it's hard to appreciate. That's a bummer as I've really enjoyed the toy until then. Really though, The Fallen is a character you buy a toy for the cool looking robot. So as long as you keep him in that mode, you'll be happy.

Galvatron (Kingdom)

 

When it comes to Transformers, the movie and it's post years are a particularly favored era for me. The space opera, far out designs, and darker tone improves what was already a solid formula. Galvatron is a much more interesting villain than the earlier version of Megatron. Like Rodimus Prime with Optimus, he influenced the writers when it came to making Megatron more interesting. It seems like that to me anyway. This Kingdom version is something of an anomaly. It's the Generations version of Galvatron and the Studio Series 86 toy as well. Like Cyclonus and Ultra Magnus, it's clearly intended to fill both roles.

Galvatron will be re-released in Legacy sans the signature War for Cybertron battle damage deco as well. I'm ok with or without it, but you may have your preferences. I'm not sure if I'll get that Legacy version, but am really tempted on the Pulse exclusive version. I just like Galvatron, and I'm pretty fond of this toy as well. I'll admit though, to date my favorite version has been the Energon version. It's a mix of classic and update that's also really cool. This however, is a strong contender for that spot. 

The toy is 100% classic Galvatron. Robot mode to laser cannon, everything looks and feels right. A nice little extra touch is replacing his classic rifle with one that looks like the ship Unicron gave him in the movie. Another extra is the Autobot Matrix of Leadership dangling from a chain to be worn around his neck like in the movie. The gun and Matrix can be utilized in cannon mode and add a little extra to an already cool toy. I like both modes, but don't like transforming it. It's not hard or anything, I just don't enjoy the transformation. I'm not sure of there's an official laser gun mode, but sure one can be pulled off. The original wasn't that amazing to begin with. 

Galvatron is one of those great characters that doesn't always get the best toys. Usually the better ones have an all new design as the original is pretty hard to pull off. His cartoon appearance took some liberties with the toy design that went on to define the character. This is a good version. It looks great in both modes and is a solid toy as well. Plenty of articulation, the cannon is sturdy, and everything serves a purpose. This is another Christmas gift from the Mrs and it's a great one. He's big, evil looking, and imposing. All hail Galvatron!