CRYOTEK

Cryotek was released in America as a target exclusive, a repaint of the incredible Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Megatron figure, he was never featured in the television show, but was given his own little niche in the Transformers mythos by 3H, the organisers of BotCon. an American convention held annually. The Bio above and the secondary function are taken from a portion of that posted on the BotCon site, while the tech specs, quote and primary function are taken from the packaging. Also, Cryotek is supposed to have three modes; a Dragon, a Robot and a land vehicle. But since the vehicle is basically a dragon on wheels, and looks as ridiculous as it sounds, I'm ignoring it.

BEAST MODE:
Cryotek, like TM2 Megatron, is a transmetal dragon. But while Megatron's colour scheme was mostly hot colours like red and orange - owing to his birth in the bowels of a volcano - Cryotek's scheme is cold, with icy blues and purples abounding. His Asian-style dragon head is Vacuum Metallised purple with a light airbrushing of a light blue and yellow eyes. The same scheme follows on the back of his long neck and his stomach and looks great with the vac metal purple of his wings, which meets with darkened plastic that fades to translucent blue at the tips of each wing, His chest is the same blue as his body with turquoise airbrushing and a purple Predacon spark crystal on the left side. The majority of his body, which is more of a European style dragon, is a solid, dark blue. the front of his neck and his tail are both made from light blue rubber - with the tail having a darker blue paint airbrushed down its length, the reason for this is Cryotek's action feature; a lever on his back can be twisted to make his neck thrash about or pulled backward and forward to raise or lower his head. There is no such feature on the tail, but the rubber is a better option than a static or marginally articulated tail anyway. There is some detailing in black such as the talons on his hands and the spikes on his knees.

In this mode Cryotek has 21 points of articulation; the ankles can move up and down to allow him to lean over, his legs each have a hinge and a swivel joint on each knee, two each on the pelvis, ball joints on the shoulders, hinges on the elbows, his neck can turn side-to-side at the shoulders and his neck can be thrashed around via the trigger on his back. His tails can be folded wide and locked into place via another trigger on his back and there are hinges on the base of each wing to allow them to flap. his Robot Mode head can be turned, making the tail swish from side to side. His Beast Mode head can also be locked into place pointing straight up and with his wings extended he appears to be flying, using his spring loaded, missile launching mouth to freeze Autobots from above; though the switch on the back was installed incorrectly in the factory. It is easily repaired by taking it out with a screwdriver and turning it around so that the tab that moves faces toward the beast mode head, screw it back in and enjoy. Cryotek comes with three missiles; the other two can be held in the holes between the black horns next to his wings and the blue part that connects his wings to his body.

TRANSFORMATION (ROBOT MODE):
begin by taking the missile out of his mouth and setting it aside, if you have the other missiles attached anywhere, take them out and set them aside as well. If the wings are extended then release the tab and allow them to rest. Now gently separate the dragon arms and the parts that hold them from the body of the dragon, fold these and the back section including wings as far back as it will go. open the chest panels and pull the stomach section up toward the neck, fold the neck to the side and then remove the arm from the chest and point it up. Fold that arm to the side and then close the chest and rotate it around 180º. Bring the hips together and attach them. Extend the legs and turn the lower section around so that the feet face the other way. Pull the head out and rotate the lower part of the body around so that the clear ball forms the chest, twist the head around then connect it to the top, connect the wing section to the pins on the back, connect the arms to the sides. Turn the shield on his right arm around show his hand. Put one missile into his arm launcher, one into the launcher behind his head, and the third either into one of the slots on his back or into his right hand.

ROBOT MODE:
Cryotek's dragon mode may be huge (he measures approximately 15 inches from head to tail) his robot mode is not, he's approximately the same size as RiD Megatron, though slightly larger thanks to his wings. He looks decidedly asymmetrical with his great big dragon head arm - TM2 Megatron's requisite Big Arm Gun - and his much smaller right arm. The figure is either really well balanced or has enormous feet, he should really be back heavy because of his wings - you'll notice when transforming him that the wing assembly feels about the same weight as the rest of the figure - and should also favour his right thanks to the aforementioned dragon head arm, but neither of these are true. Certainly there are some positions in which he simply refuses to stand but mostly the large dragon feet and the heel horn (or whatever you call it) work well in keeping the figure stable.

Cryotek's colours remain mostly the same, since the biggest part of him - the neck and head - are still the main feature. He's not as bright in this mode, a lot of the turquoise disappears, such as from his chest and tail, and is replaced by a large and very dark translucent blue sphere smack dab in the middle of his chest. If you look hard enough you can see a small chair which - as legend has it - was where TM2 Megatron's 'pilot' was going to sit, until the idea was scrapped (thankfully), though I'm told it was kept for the Japanese version of the toy or show, as it fit in with the theme started in Powermasters with Ginrai and his mob. Cryotek's face is a flat and rather uninteresting grey, with flat yellow eyes and red details on his cheeks, which is a bit of a let down given the utter beauty of the rest of the toy, though the lighter transparent blue visor adds a bit of eye candy to distract from the face, there is also a predacon symbol engraved into the visor if you look for it.

Cryotek's ankles, knees, pelvis and shoulders are all articulated, there's no real elbow on his left arm, though it can be bent much the same way using the tab on the side, his right arm is connected in two parts by a double sided ball joint, essentially giving him two elbows. His wings can still be extended and flapped and his neck can turn, albeit not too well as it's obstructed by his tail-cum-ponytail knocking into his wings all the time.

Cryotek was a wonderful addition to the Robots In Disguise line. I question the logic of releasing a repaint of an older toy in the Ultra range that did not feature in the show - since the show is the major means of advertising in the first place - even one as visually appealing as Cryotek. Having said that I suggest everyone run out now or visit an online toystore and secure yours today, even if you already have TM2 Megatron, I think Cryotek would compliment him nicely. And if you don't own TM2 Megatron then you don't have an excuse and you will not be sorry for the purchase.