PRICE POINT/SIZE: Mega (3-pack)/Basic.
DIFFICULTY: INTERMEDIATE
FUNCTION: PREDACON TOAD

Slapper is a repaint of Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Spittor, he comes packaged with his two moronic companions; Dark Scream and Gas Skunk.

BEAST MODE:
Slapper's beast mode is a transmetal 2 derivation of some sort of frog, his upper jaw and face are a maroon/magenta colour, as are the bottom halves of his front and hind legs and his back, his upper legs and belly are completely black, as is his tongue. His eyes are a vac metal green colour and his head has an orange strip that runs from a point at his forehead down to the top of his back. The sides and back of his rear are trimmed with purple and speckled with orange to bring out the detail in the mould, there is a large vac metal blue, three pronged laser in the centre of his back which can be lifted out and swivelled around. his toes are airbrushed with silver which makes them look more like daggers or hooks than talons his entire body is covered in divergent organic and mechanical patterns making him appear asymmetrical.

In beast mode Slapper has 15 points of articulation, including 3 on each leg, his bottom jaw and 2 for the laser. most of the joints - of which all but 4 are ball joints - are fairly stiff and he can hold most poses due to his relatively light weight and large feet. 

TRANSFORMATION (ROBOT MODE):
Begin transformation by removing his tongue and setting it aside. Pull his bottom jaw down to reveal his robot mode body. Fold the jaw up to form his back/butt and rotate his legs at the knee to face forward. Fold both his beast mode back and head up as high as they will go and fold out the black piece with the robot mode head attached, now bend this piece upwards and rotate the whole top section so that the beast mode back and head become shoulder pads. fold the head and the shoulder pads down and place his tongue weapon in either hand.

ROBOT MODE:
In robot mode Slapper shows off some more purple on his eyes and chest, as well as some grey on his chest and face. the black is more prominent on his lower torso and legs while the silver airbrushing is more pronounced, breaking up the monotony of the largely solid black and magenta of his body.

Slapper gains another point of articulation in this mode; his head can turn around - though with the hunchback design of this mode it's hardly realistic. his beast mode head can be folded up to reveal his Predacon spark crystal, or "Right laser".

As eluded to above the sculpt of the toy is meant to give Slapper a gnarled look, complete with oversized arms, hunched back and large feet. It's easy to imagine that a beast of this nature would have such a deformed robot mode, it suits well; definitely better than either of the other two vermin.

OVERALL:
While he doesn't resemble any toad I've ever seen in colour or design he is certainly an excellently sculpted and detailed toy; my girlfriend hates him because the malevolent look on his face and the jaggedness of his body is 'scary'. Funnily, I like it for those very same reasons. Slapper is an excellent figure and, while not worth the price of the 3-pack on his own, is definitely recommended.

PRICE POINT/SIZE: Mega (3-pack)/Basic.
DIFFICULTY: INTERMEDIATE
FUNCTION: PREDACON FLYING SQUIRREL

Dark Scream is a repaint of Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Night Glider and comes packaged with his fellow Predacon vermin, Slapper and Gas Skunk in a Mega box.

BEAST MODE:
Dark Scream's beast mode is that of a flying squirrel, his primary colours are a light blue verging on aqua with silver and vac metal gold detailing on his shoulders, wings and tail. The 'rotors' on his wings and his eyes are red, with the eyes being surrounded by yellow, lastly his upper legs and beast mode arms are grey. Like all Transmetal 2 figures - of which this is a repaint - there is a blend of technological and organic details all over his beast mode, the effect is a good one, and nearly forces the designer to add incredible amounts of detail to the figure. unfortunately a lot of it is lost in the solid colour of his body. His undercarriage is not as attractive as his top, however, as he suffers from a good deal of kibble from his robot mode, especially noticeable are his arms which can fall out from their hiding place quite easily.

In beast mode Dark Scream has 12 points of articulation including two on each arm, three on each leg and two points on his tail. the figure is somewhat front heavy and falls easily if not positioned beyond a certain angle, however he can rest on all fours for much the same effect as if he were flying. 

TRANSFORMATION (ROBOT MODE):
Holding the legs, fold the entire bottom half out so that it faces the other direction, now fold up his head and fold his arms down by his side, then hold his body and fold his wings - excluding beast mode head - behind his back. Rotate his head around so it faces forward and do likewise with his legs at the knee. Fold his tail up behind his back, remove his sword and place it in either hand. Dark Scream is now in Robot mode.

ROBOT MODE:
In this mode Dark Scream's entire aesthetic changes; jettisoning the blue/gold scheme in favour of blue and grey. The colour scheme is by no means dull, though, and it is accented by purple details on his face and pelvis as well as the purple translucent 'spark crystal' or 'centre laser' that occupies most of his chest. his upper arms are now grey while the lower parts are blue, there is some grey detailing on his chest to offset the purple. There is a vac metal gold piece behind his head as well as on his wings where the red of the rotors remains also.

Dark Scream has 12 points of articulation in this mode - disregarding his beast mode arms, his waist can twist, he has 2 points at the hips, knees, ankles, shoulders and elbows, and his head can turn. There are a few nagging issues about this mode, such as the fact that he is very back heavy, meaning that at least one leg must be put quite far back for him to stand at all. also, the joints at his shoulders are very loose and his arms come off if you look at them wrong, though because they are ball jointed they can be put on again quite easily. Nevertheless it's quite annoying and detracts from the toy's posability somewhat.

OVERALL:
Dark Scream is a good toy, he looks good in either beast mode or robot mode and has a lot of articulation. however his unbalanced nature and the poor quality of the plastic on his shoulders that results in them coming off easily are nagging issues. As a display piece he is well detailed and coloured, but as a toy he could be frustrating and even dangerous for young children. As part of this three-pack, though, he's hard to pass up. One for collectors, I'd say.

PRICE POINT/SIZE: Mega (3-pack)/Basic.
DIFFICULTY: INTERMEDIATE
FUNCTION: PREDACON SKUNK

Gas Skunk is a repaint of Beast Wars Transmetal 2 Stinkbomb and comes packaged with Slapper and Dark Scream in the Mega assortment.

BEAST MODE:
This is probably one of the most colourful renditions of a skunk I've seen. Gas Skunk certainly lacks nothing in detail, he carries the Transmetal 2 theme of mix-matched technological and organic details well. His major colours are orange, sliver and black, with black being used as the base colour on his head and torso, red eyes, silver for the trademark skunk stripe down his back and orange patches here and there. his upper front legs are both orange with his lower front legs and all of his back legs coloured black while his talons have been sprayed silver. There are orange panels on either of his hind legs. his tail is black with vac metal orange and silver details and orange on the end, there is also some vac metal silver on his sides.

In beast mode he has 11 points of articulation, including three each for his front legs, two each for his hind legs and his tail. This mode is incredibly well coloured, beautifully detailed and masterfully sculpted right down to his evil skunk hiss-face. while the figure is too heavy to rear up on its hind legs it does have the capacity for a wide range of action poses.

TRANSFORMATION (ROBOT MODE):
Begin by lifting the skunk's back upwards. fold this entire section, including the beast mode head, between his legs and around his back. Lift up the plate that holds the robot mode head and put the skunk head in the cavity of his back, snap the head plate back into place and fold the beast mode back down to form the robot mode back. Rotate his waist around 180º and then rotate his feet at the ankle. Fold the shins of his hind legs up toward his head, then fold his robot mode arms down and rotate them to face forward. Rotate the silver exhausts backwards and Gas Skunk is now in Robot mode.

ROBOT MODE:
Gas Skunk's colour scheme remains mostly the same in this mode with a little red and green on his chest and blue eyes surrounded by a red mask type pattern on his face. the two orange panels on either shoulder can be folded up - with the one on the left revealing his Predacon spark crystal or 'left laser', and his tail can either be turned back like a ponytail or forward to attack his enemies, and since Gas Skunk has no other weapons it's a useful feature.

Gas skunk gains one point of articulation on either elbow and one at his waist, which can be twisted. The plastic used for his orange details seems to be of a very low quality as his hip joints tend to fold out easily under his own weight and when turning his forearms you get the distinct feeling that you're going to stretch or deform the plastic in the joint. The rest of him is very solid, though, and will stand up to some rough treatment.

OVERALL:
Gas Skunk, in my opinion, has the best colour scheme of any figure in the three-pack, with the vac metal used on his tail and the metallic paint on is back providing lots of nice eye candy. it's a pity about the orange plastic being so weak, otherwise this could have been an exceptional figure. As it stands, though, it will have to settle for being simply excellent. Combined as he is in a 3-pack, it's hard not to recommend him.