Phil's review of Beast Wars Fuzor Terragator, aka Master of the Awesome Ass Cannon Options

[Philister]

(IMG:http://www.transformers-universe.com/content/images/Imagemaps/BWTerrogator_Map.jpg)
For more pics, click on the image above

Most Transformers find that smelly, mucky environments clog up their circuitry. Not the half-croc, half-turtle Terragator. He prefers it. Terragator is most at home in the swamp lands and sewers. Part of the Predacon elite amphibious warriors, his specialty is land/water assault. In robot mode, he wields an impenetrable shield, and his hand reveals an awesome weapon.


Robot Mode: I don’t usually start a review this way, but given the last sentence of Terragator’s profile text, I just have to. Terragator’s hand does indeed reveal an awesome weapon. An awesome ass weapon, to be exact. The weapon is the entire hind section of the beast mode, which includes the tail and two short legs attached via ball joints. Twin gun barrels flip out from the tail, but still: it’s an awesome ass weapon. And his hand reveals it for all the world to see. Beware the awesome power of the awesome ass gun. Everything else aside, that’s reason enough to buy Terragator.

As for the rest of the robot, Terragator is a bit of an extremist when it comes to the (then-new) principle of integrating the weapons fully into the alternate mode because if he were to lose his weapons, he’d only be a pretty skinny robot with a crocodile head on one shoulder. Everything else forming his beast mode is weapons, a big shield / turtle shell and the aforementioned ass gun. Well, not quite. His robot legs become his beast mode forelegs.

That’s not to say that Terragator is a bad robot, far from it. Being almost free of beast mode kibble, he is very nicely articulated and can move with the best of them. The detailing on his robot torso is also pretty nice, though a few more colours would have been appreciated. So while Terragator is a robot very much dominated by his weapons / beast mode parts, he’s also a decent and solid robot. No serious complaints and that weapon is just awesome. Did I mention awesome?

Alternate Mode: Terragator’s beast mode is a Fuzor, a fusion of two different animals. In his case it’s a turtle, which supplies the big shell, and either a crocodile or an alligator (the former according to his bio, the latter according to his name), which contributes the head and the tail. The feet could presumably be from either animal, though I think they are more crocodile than turtle.

To me Terragator is one of the more natural-looking Fuzors. Yes, there is no such animal in nature, but looking at it, you can imagine that there might be. The two beasts integrate pretty nicely. The detail work, especially on the shell, is very nice and leaves no room for complaint. Not much in the way of articulation, of course. The feet can move a bit, but that’s it. Pushing in the tail makes the mouth open up, though. So bottom line: a nice, good looking beast mode.

Remarks: Of the many Fuzors, Beast Warriors whose beast modes are hybrids of two different animals, only two made it into the TV series. Terragator was not among those two. Like so many other Beast Wars toys, he’s relegated to background scenes in the IDW Beast Wars comic books and has no other in-media appearances to his name. Still, he’s one of the nicer Fuzors and the fusion of crocodile and turtle works pretty well. That, and he’s got his awesome, awesome ass cannon. There is just no arguing with the awesomeness of an ass cannon, is there?

Rating: C+

[DINOBOT SLUDGE]

I don't like his robot head very much and he's a bit boring in robot mode, but I really like his beast mode. It is like Megatron and Snapper were fused.

[Shadowmask]

Beast Wars had a lot of awesome ass weapons, didn't it? I totally agree that Terragator is one of the more natural-looking Fuzors. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if a fossil shelled crocodilian were to be found at some point. I just wished he'd kept his original name of Instigator.

[Smitty]

I miss this toy.