Armada Terrorsaur

Prelude: When Armada turned out to be a far greater success than anticipated, Hasbro needed additional figures to quench the increased retail demand. Beast Wars Transmetal figures were brought out of the vault, given new paintjobs, Powerlink pegs, and Mini-Con companions to become part of the Armada line. One such Transmetal Beast Warrior was Terrorsaur, who drew the short straw when it came to new paintjobs. Can his lack of shedding chrome paint overcome the indignity of a pea-and-carrot color scheme? Let’s say go!

Robot Mode: Terrorsaur is a repaint with some minor engineering changes of Beast Wars Transmetal Terrorsaur, whom I reviewed way back in 2006 (I have been doing this too long). Given that eighteen years have past, I think we can afford another full look at this figure. Much like the other Beast Warriors repurposed for Armada (more on that below), Terrorsaur, too, has been given a new paintjob, foregoing the chrome paint the originals had. Which is a good thing, mind you, as that chrome paint is very prone to flaking after a decade or two. But why a pea-and-carrot paintjob? Just… why?

Apart from the paintjob, Terrorsaur is a pretty cool robot. Even for a Beast Wars figure his articulation is rather impressive. Double knee-joints, articulated foot claws, ball-jointed shoulders, he can move very well. The wings on his shoulder can slide up and down, so position them however you think it looks coolest, and the wings on his forearm can detach to be wielded as swords. Swords with his name on them, so his opponents will always know who is slicing them apart, you know? All the best swords have names, I’m told. Terrorsaur’s backpack can be opened up to reveal his jet mode thrusters. While they are really for the third mode (see below), he can utilize them in robot mode, too.

Finally, the one engineering change to this figure is the addition of Powerlink pegs. There is one on each shoulder and a third one on the flap behind his head. That one is not really practical to use in robot mode, but the shoulder ones can easily support a Mini-Con each. No gimmick is activated if you peg a Mini-Con in, of course, but attaching weapon-mode Mini-Cons still manages to look cool.

So bottom line for the robot mode: still pretty cool, but while the Armada version has the distinct advantage of not sporting flaking chrome paint, the pea-and-carrot colors don’t look half as cool as Terrorsaur’s original purple paintjob, I fear.

Alternate Mode: Naturally, Terrorsaur transforms into a flying dinosaur, either a Pteranodon or a pterodactyl, take your pick. Both are subspecies of pterosaur, so it does not really matter in the end. The transformation isn’t terribly complicated, the arms become the wings, the legs remain the legs, and the torso folds up to hide the robot head and the dino head unfolds. The result is a very nice-looking techno-organic Pteranodon who can move his wings, has fully articulated legs, and can open his beak, too. The only slight limitation here is that the wings cannot flap upwards, but it does allow Terrorsaur to adopt a resting/sitting pose in this mode, too, if you want. Nicely done. All three Powerlink pegs are accessible in this mode, so you can attach up to three Mini-Cons if you so desire.

Like all Transmetals, Terrorsaur has something of a third mode (or possibly a two-and-a-half mode). Basically he turns from a Pteranodon into a rocket-powered Pteranodon. His tail section opens up to unveil thrusters, his legs fold in, and the flaps on his wing flip open to show VTOL thrusters. That is the official third mode. Personally, however, I think it looks much better if you fold in the dino head, keep the tail end closed, and turn the whole thing around. The tail end looks like the cockpit of a futuristic space jet, so I like to think of THIS as the actual third mode.

So whether you prefer the official third mode or my fan version, Terrorsaur looks pretty good in his alternate modes, too. You know, except for that pea-and-carrot paintjob.

Partner: The repurposed Beast Warrriors were more or less randomly given Mini-Con partners, all of them repaints of existing Mini-Cons. In Terrorsaur’s case he got Ironhide (no relation to the famous G1 bot), who is a repaint of Dune Runner (aka Micron Legend Spike). Ironhide transforms from a relatively well-articulated Mini-Con robot into an armed dune buggy vehicle. Rolling her across the floor makes her guns go back and forward in a pow-pow motion, which is a nice gimmick. According to Ironhide’s profile in the Dreamwave Armada sourcebook, she is female and – despite being originally Autobot-affiliated – has become obsessed with freeing her former partner Terrorsaur from Unicron’s influence.

Remarks: Of course we know Terrorsaur from the Beast Wars series, but he was also a character in Armada, at least in the comic version from Dreamwave comics. Terrorsaur, together with Rhinox, Airazor, and Cheetor, was captured by Unicron shortly before his defeat at the end of the Armada series. At some point between Armada and Energon, he was forcibly converted into one of Unicron’s Four Horsemen, famine. The Horsemen’s initial attack on Cybertron was repelled when the Autobots gained the ability to Powerlinx and shortly afterwards Dreamwave comics went belly-up, so the story was never finished. According to notes by writer Simon Furman, the Four Horsemen were scheduled to meet their end at the hands (or claw, rather) of Energon Omega Supreme later in the series.

I bought all five repurposed Beast Wars Transmetals as a lot, but it has taken me over two years to get around to Terrorsaur as the last of them to be reviewed. Why? Because I hate this paintjob. Why peas and carrots? Why? So while the figure itself still holds up pretty good despite being over a quarter century old at this point, I would advise getting one of the other versions of it if you are interested. Even Beast Machines Terranotron looks better than the pea-and-carrot guy here.

Rating: C+

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