General Information:
Price Point/Size: Deluxe
Retailers: General (K-Mart, Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, Kay Bee)
Release Date: February 2005
Transformation Difficulty Level: 3
Purchased at: Target (Linden, NJ)
Accessories: Tail/Sword
*Images to be added
Transformers Universe taps into the latter days of the Beast Wars line with Frostbite, a redeco of the Transmetal 2 Jawbreaker figure (also known as Cackle in some parts). It's literally been years since I reviewed Jawbreaker, so I will do a more thorough review of the toy this time around.
Beast Mode:
The Transmetal 2 Beast Wars toys were the results of experiments that created wild looking techno organic beast warriors, giving Frostbite his nightmarish appearance. The source beast for this design is a hyena. However, his appearance is anything but amusing. Consisting of a nightmare of jagged blades, tubes and machinery sticking out of flesh, Frostbite looks very threatening. Consider that this toy was created over five years ago (as of the writing of this review) and it gives you an idea of just how impressive sculpting during the Beast Wars era was. Sure there are larger details like the blades on his shoulders, or the exhaust pipes on his right shoulder These really drive the point home that this is a machine merged with flesh.
Take things down to a smaller level and you'll find awesome detail there as well. The beast mode head is a great example of this. It has organic styling such as the nose, fur and teeth. However, it also has very fine detailing such as a tube running from the back of his left ear up to the area over his eye. There are also fine mechanical details inset into the organic chunk of his right side. This combination of small and large mechanical details merging into organic details is very impressive looking.
Color-wise, Hasbro abandoned the use of vacuum metallized parts. Instead they went for solid and metallic colors. The toy is mostly a flat silver. Purple paint apps run from the snout all the way to the rear fur. Purple parts are used for the lower front legs and the blades on the rear legs. Metallic silver and gold are used for the mechanical tubes and parts found all over the body, contrasting well with the purple and grey colors.
Push the trigger on Frostbite's back and the saw in his back spins. Frostbite has fifteen points of articulation in this form, focused mostly on the legs. The head can move as well.
Transformation to Robot Mode:
- Detach the tail/weapon.
- Swing the rear legs back and straighten out the legs.
- Flip down the chest panel and flip the robot head out.
- Fold the lower beast mode arms into the shoulders.
- Swing the robot arms out to the sides.
- Swing the robot chest/head section up into place.
- Rotate the beast mode shoulder armor/pieces up.
- Rotate the lower arms around.
- Place the tail/sword into either hand.
Robot Mode:
While not the tallest deluxe sized Transformer out there, Frostbite manages to be one of the more intimidating looking. Continuing the theme of a nightmare mixture of techno and organic, even his head sculpt reflects his dual nature. While being vaguely canine shaped down to a snout and dog "ears", half his face has a robotic looking telescope eye while the
other has more organic fur type details. His chest is mostly machinery, with some fur detail as well. What makes Frostbite look threatening in any way are his wide arms. Because the beast mode legs rest on them, and one of his arms is made up of the front portion of the beast body, they look a bit out of proportion with the rest of him, giving the illusion of power. The blades and sharp edges sticking out everywhere on the arms help too!
Color-wise there are no surprises here. All the colors from the beast mode carry through. His eyes are orange and there are purple and blue details on the face. I would have liked a tiny bit of the purple spray on the robot parts like the chest or even robot arm (the left arm), but the toy still looks nice without it.
Frostbite has eighteen points of articulation in this form. That includes the waist, which can turn if you move the back panel back out a bit. His head was a bit stuck at first, but after a couple turns it was fine. This also includes the jaw pieces inside the mouth, which can move, but is extremely tight at first. If yours doesn't move, I don't recommend breaking the pieces to move it.
The saw weapon still works in this form, though its placement makes a bit of an odd offensive weapon, more of a defensive one.
Final Thoughts:
Frostbite is an excellent redeco of an already impressive sculpt. Those who missed Jawbreaker now have a chance to own this sculpt again.
Highly recommended!
