Mini-Magnaboss
model kit w/candy by Kabaya
Individual Beast Modes
Shown with extra parts; Santon(Ironhide)'s ears
actually stick straight out, removed for scanning
Individual Robot
Modes
Again shown with extra parts, and Santon's
ears removed
Yet another one of Kabaya's nifty mini-combiners,
this time it's Magnaboss. Again, all individual components are
sold seperately, tho oddly enough, some parts to a certain
character come with another(just weapon peices tho, so you can
build the actual bot). The Magnaboss series is "Super Beast
Wars Choco", and comes with little M&M like candies. The
"super" prefix is relevant, as these characters are
quite a bit bigger and (sometimes) more advanced than the
Tripredacus ones. All three were molded in the same irretaiting,
smooth, slick, paint resistan plastic, and come in the grey seen
on Santon, and the brown seen on Skywarp. And finally, like all
of Kabaya's little models, transformation is accomplished mostly
by removing and replacing parts. I painted it to look like the
anime drawings on the boxes, rather than the exact paint scheme
of the Japanese Magnaboss toy.
Santon:
In beast mode, he looks almost indentical to the larger one,
except that his ears stick straight out, and that is the only
position(and his cannons only point straight back or straight
forward). He holds togther quite well too, and there are no
leftover parts in this mode, however there is no poseability at
all.. Transformation is again, almost identical to the real one,
but you have to remove and replace the elepant head halves, and
switch the arms to the opposite sides. In Robot mode he, again,
is looks very much like the real Santon, and looks really good
overall for a Kabaya figure. He is poseable at the hips and
shoulders(and the elbows, but they only swing out to the sides).
Unfortunately, he can't hold his cannons/clubs at all, but you
can still keep them on the elephant ears. Santon is easily the
best of this set, and looks really good in both modes. Oh, and in
robot mode he's 3" tall at the head; beast mode, 2"
tall, 3.5" long.
LioJunior:
The second best of the set, and leader of them. In beast mode,
he's 2" tall(at his mane), 3.5" long from tail tip to
nose, and looks very much like his larger version. My only
complaint about his mode is leftover parts, both his robot head
and the claw section of his weapon/tail are just set aside. He
does have some poseabilitly tho, all legs can move a bit, and his
tail moves up and down. Transformation is a simplified version of
the real one's with a few parts being removed and replaced, and
results in a 3" odd looking robot. I guess it's good for a
Kabaya robot, but even all 3 of the Tripredacus 'bots looked
better than he does. He has shoulder, hip, knee and head
posability. He can hold his weapon(albiet loosely), but it looks
even more lame with this one than with the large one. If it
wasn't for LioJunior's good lion mode, he'd be the worst of the
bunch, but that's for Skywarp.
Skywarp:
If you thought the real version was bad, then the Kabaya version
will really get to you(Yeah, I know it's just a little cheap
Kabaya model...). His mode mode is pretty bad, legs are just too
long, and don't bend in any good way to look good on a bird....he's
got all the problems of the large version, just made worse being
a little Kabaya model. Anyway, he's got a wingspan of 7.5",
and is 3" beak to tail. Transformation is terribly simple,
switch the legs around, remove the body from the inside of the
bird, attach it to the front and attach the arms. In robot mode
he does look a bit better than LioJunior, but still a bit skinny
and tall. The bird head is WAY too big, and the only way he has
any balance him is with wings straight out. He can hold his
swords fine, but they look a bit big. He is poseable at the
shoulders, wings, hips, knees, and his feet rotate. He's 3"
tall as well. Just like his real version, Skywarp seems to be the
loser of the bunch, and his only redeeming feature is his
Magnaboss component.
Magnaboss:
After alot of reassembling and folding(and some paint flaking,
grrr), Magnaboss is formed. He stands about 6" tall, the
same height of a Deluxe beast. He's kinda nice actually, if you
get past the odd proportions. Unlike Tripredacus, all the weapons
go together properly to form his big sword. He has shoulder, hip,
knee and ankle poseabilitly, however the leg joints aren't very
tight, and he falls over easily.
Overall, it's a nice little set, especially if you like these little Kabaya kits. Sure it has is problems, after all it IS just a little model kit. HOWEVER, Kabaya should deserve some credit for making such a complex set ofTransformers in this size, and still look pretty good overall. While this set is larger than the Tripredacus set, I like the Tripredacus set better, it's components look better in all modes, which is quite impressive given their size.