Magmatron was part of the Japanese Beast Wars Neo series, and he has the ability to separate into three dinosaur figures of Skysaurus, Landsaurus, and Seasaurus, and has a combined form in beast mode called Magmasaurus. Back in 1999, Hasbro brought this figure into the U.S. and was one of a handful of Japanese Beast Wars animated characters to see stateside distribution. This new release of Magmatron is far superior is quality, attention to detail and height compared to his vintage counterpart, and it also should be noted that this is the 25th anniversary of his original release. In Beast Wars Neo, Magmatron was the leader of his crew of Predacons, and fought the Maximal Big Convoy.
Thank you to BigBadToyStore for sending along Hasbro’s Transformers: Legacy United Beast Wars Universe Magmatron figure for review.
Availability: July 2024 at BigBadToyStore
Magmatron is packaged in a box with some beautiful artwork on the front, sides, and the back includes images of the figure in both his Magmatron form and in individual dinosaurs.
Magmatron is bigger, bulkier and features more attention to detail than his vintage counterpart (which I have buried in storage and was unable to locate for this review – apologies!), and this is the combined form of all three dinosaurs. This form is also recognizable for being a combined form of three dinosaurs given the different color schemes and species. From looking at him, you see the head and tail of Landasaurus, Seaasaurus’s head and panels, and Skyasaurus’s wings and feet, which also has Magmatron’s head in his body. The head sculpt itself looks great, and he has green eyes, white sharp teeth, a green face, gold insignia on his forehead, and a red helmet.
The articulation in this form is basically standard for the Transformers Legacy line and modern Transformers figures, and includes a swivel head, ball hinged shoulders, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel wrists, hinged fingers, ball jointed hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, and swivel ankles. The mouth’s of Landasaurus and Seaasaurus can also open in this form.
He includes two short red blades that can be stored on Skyasauru’s wings, and he can hold these in the holes in his hands.
Aside from the red blades, the belly of Seaasaurus becomes a shield, parts of Landasaurus becomes the hilt for the sword, and the black blade can be plugged into that. He also comes with fire effect parts, but this will include some left over pieces (two of the long one’s) that I can’t find a use for.
The shield connects to the forearm by a 5mm port, and the sword plugs into the Landasaurus part as shown, which can be held in his hand.
The flame effect parts can also be connected together as shown, or you can use the black blade at the end to create some kind of fire effect blade. The effect parts are made of a soft plastic, and do tend to sag.
Seaasaurus is a water based create that resembles the Loch Ness Monster. He is painted in a light green, with a dark green wash on the top. His articulation includes five swivel-hinged joints in his neck, and the flippers are ball jointed.
Skyasaurus is a Terrordactyl, and is mostly red, with gold feet, claws, beak and eyes. The mouth is hinged, and the head and neck are hinged. The wings are hinged, and he has ball jointed claws, and the legs have include hinged hips, knees and ankles. He is also top heavy, so you’re going to want to pose him in a certain way that he cannot fall over.Â
Landasaurus is a dark blue T-Rex, with some white on his back, head, and toe nails. He is the only dinosaur with robot parts showing through, and you can see these behind the legs. His articulation includes a hinged jaw, ball jointed hips, hinged knees, hinged ankles, ball jointed arms, and a hinged tail.
The dinosaurs look great and pay tribute to their 1999 counterparts.
Magmasaurus is massive and a strange looking combination of all three dinosaurs in their beast modes. I never understood this form even with the vintage toy, and this has now carried over into this new offering. The transformation can be a bit challenging, and probably a bit more difficult than the vintage figure, but it pretty much looks the same as it did 25 years ago. This is obviously a menacing looking combination though, and the attention to detail that went into this to recreate this and his other forms were obviously a challenge for the designers. The heads can all look forward, which is a nice touch for this form, and everything is also stable, as everything connects and holds strongly together.
Overall, Magmatron is an excellent figure and definitely a need to add to your Beast Wars collection. This release is something truly special, and Magmatron towers over most Transformers figures given his size. The transformation can be a challenge, but that’s part of his complex design. He turned out great, and I’m going to keep mine in robot mode, and suggest you do the same. Make sure to grab him and other figures now at BigBadToyStore.
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