Cybertron Menasor

Robot Mode: Menasor's robot mode, whether you like it or not, is certainly one thing: different. While still humanoid in shape, he has no hands, a very strange-looking head, huge feet, and wing-like structures on his back. His whole look has a certain 'art' flair about him, as if he was sculpted by an alien culture or something. Now this might not be everyone's cup of tea, but personally I like his look a lot.

Menasor has two drills instead of hands. Normally it bothers me when a bot has no hands, but for some reason that's not the case here. The left one lights up and dishes out sound when you enter the Cyberkey, the right one can extend a claw if you powerlink Menasor's Minicon Heavy-Load. The Minicon can also attach to several other Minicon pegs scattered over Menasor's body or be stored inside his hollow chest. The chest thing is a nice gimmick, but left me a bit at a loss what it's supposed to be about. I would have understood had they gone for the whole 'Brainmaster' gimmick, but just the Minicon inside his chest? Whatever, it works and doesn't take anything away from either figure.

In terms of posability Menasor has nothing to complain about. He's very agile and his huge feet give him a solid platform to stand on, so he can pull a lot of poses despite having rather large, heavy arms. Thanks to solid ratchet joints, the arms stay in place despite their weight. Menasor also features tons of very nice detailing. I especially like his head, its inhuman look kinda reminds of me of the G2 Decepticon crest. So overall, a very nice robot mode with no real complaints.

Alternate Mode: If you're looking for a realistic alternate mode, Menasor is not your man. He transforms into a futuristic construction-type vehicle, something like a mobile drill. Or double drill, actually. There is a drill on each side of the main body, the front of which looks like a kind of cowcatcher, something like you'd see on an old-style steam locomotive. The catcher can be widened by plugging in Heavy-Load in the center, though you need to move the drills farther outward to do that. Just like with the chest storage chamber I'm not sure what the exact purpose is, but it works and doesn't hurt the vehicle mode, so no complaints about it.

Speaking of the drills, they are pretty posable in this mode, too. They can either be positioned directly alongside the vehicle, spread further out, or even be raised upwards for a sort-of attack mode. While there are tank threads on both drills, Menasor doesn't necessarily need them to drive, so they can be moved wherever you want or need them. The Cyberkey and the Minicon powerlinking can be used in this mode as well, of course.

So to bottom line it, Menasor's vehicle mode is a lot like his robot mode. Somewhat strange, certainly not run-of-the-mill, but appealing. You can imagine this type of vehicle driving around on some alien (probably aquatic) world, drilling holes into mountains and posing a danger to anyone foolish enough to cross its path. A good vehicle mode.

Partner / Add-Ons: Menasor is partnered with Heavy-Load, a Minicon that transforms into a miniature bulldozer. Heavy-Load isn't a revolution as far as Minicons go, but he is nicely sculpted, relatively posable, and features nicely into Menasor, so no complaints on this front.

Remarks: One of the last Cybertron figures I got my hands on, Menasor didn't play that big a role in the cartoon series. He was the only Transformer on the Giant Planet to sign up with Megatron and the Decepticons, but his so-called rebellion against Metroplex fizzled and died pretty quickly. So character-wise there is little to make Menasor attractive.

As a toy, though, Menasor does pretty well for himself. His unusual design makes him stand out, a lot of love went into his detailing, and while I can't really figure out some of his gimmicks (those involving Heavy-Load, mostly) they don't hurt the figure at all. Menasor is probably not for everyone. Fans of realistic alt modes or more humanoid robot modes will be disappointed. If you don't mind the occassional alien-looking Transformer with a very Science Fiction-style alt mode, though, then Menasor is certainly worth getting. He falls just short of getting an A from me, missing a certain something, but he's still a very decent, attractive figure. Recommended.

Rating: B+

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