Beast Hunters Laserback

Robot Mode: Laserback - in no way related to Laserbeak - is a pretty big robot for a Deluxe-class figure, though he's more wide than tall. He's a stocky, powerful-looking fellow. His legs and the beast claws on his forearms leave little doubt that he transforms into something beasty, though it's not readily apparent what kind of beast he becomes. Articulation is pretty much standard for a modern figure, meaning pretty good. His double-jointed legs take some getting used to, but they provide a stable stance nonetheless.

Whether you like Laserback's mostly-red paint job with its yellow, black, and purple highlights is, of course, entirely subjective. Me, I like it. He's got little yellow thingies on either side of his head, remnants of the beast mode head, and while the instructions say to leave them pointing up, you can also fold them down if you want to. His broad shoulders also feature moving pieces you can fold up (see 7th picture), but the instructions don't feature those, either. Third strange feature: his missile launcher, which he can either store on his back and shoot over his head or hold in hand can be opened up with red rubbery pieces folding out like bat wings... but I'm not sure why. Anyway, lots of possibilities here.

Speaking of weapons, aside from the pretty cool missile launcher Laserback also wields half of his beast mode tail as a close quarter weapon. I'm not a big fan of tail-weapons, but it's okay. So bottom line: a pretty good robot mode, though on a personal note I will probably leave this guy in beast mode most of the time. Not because the robot mode is bad, bust because the beast mode is better.

Alternate Mode: The Predacons in the Prime toyline all become dragons, more or less. In Laserback's case it's a four-legged kind of dragon. The transformation from robot mode isn't quite as straight-forward as it looks, but it's still bascially the robot going down on all fours and switing from one head to another. The missile launcher now forms part of the back. Just two little things I don't like here, to get them out of the way: one, you can see the robot mode hands on the front legs and two, the beast head is pretty static and can't be raised up.

Otherwise, though, I love this guy's beast mode. All four legs are nicely articulated, so no problems here. The beast head can't move, but it can open its mouth. And the missile launcher on the back can be raised up and even swivel around to track targets. Whether you fold out the red "wings" of the launcher is entirely up to you. Worth mentioning: the yellow missile the launcher shoots is very long (in order to conform to current safety standards), but the extra length is accomodated by a hollowed-out portion of the tail where it can rest when the launcher is tugged in. Nicely done. So all in all a very nice beast mode. I love this guy and I will leave him mostly in this mode, I think.

Remarks: I admit I kinda missed the mark when I called this guy "Fido" in the Beast Hunters Optimus Prime review. His real name is, of course, Lassie. You know, Lassie, as a short for Laserback, but also the most famous dog in the history of ever? You know, Lassie? Damn it, look it up on wikipedia! Man, kids these days. I give up. Anyway, no appearance by Laserback in the Beast Hunters cartoon as of yet, but if the short story part in his instruction sheet is to be believed, he's gonna be more of a rogue who is out to kill everybody instead of following either Predaking's or Megatron's lead. We'll see if that's how it will go in the cartoon.

Anyway, many thanks to my buddy Caked-Up who sent me Laserback here as part of my birthday present. He's only the second Beast Hunters figure I've held in hand so far. In Optimus Prime's case I mentioned that the plastic quality seemed to be somewhat cheaper, but the same can't be said here. Laserback is solid and still a bit bigger than previous Prime Deluxe-class figures. So bottom line: a very nice figure. Unless you're completely turned off by him having a beast mode, he's definitely worth a look.

Rating: B+