Bonecrusher (1997)

Height: 15.5cm (Robot Mode height), approx. 14 cm (bison length)

Articulation: 13 points total- ball joint shoulders, double-joint elbows, swivel waist, ball joint hips, hinge knees, hinge ankles.

Colors: Molded black, pearl white, and grey. Painted silver, gold, red, and black.

Accessories: Missile.

Gallery:  12 images.

Author: RAC

As stubborn as he is strong, nothing can stop the brawny Bonecrusher when he charges into battle to crack some skulls! Like a living locomotive with a one-track mind, all he wants to do is fight, fight, fight! Optimus Primal tries to get him to lighten up, if only to prevent him from overheating an internal coolant co-processor, but Bonecrusher would rather be out pounding his enemies into cyber scrap. His favorite attack strategy is to stun opponents with a dizzying head-butt, and then finish them off with a fast firing missile shot straight from his mouth!

Big, dumb and aggressive- spot-on for my general impression of male bovines of all stripes. Like a lot of other figures from the 1997 line, Bonecrusher never appears in the Beast Wars animation- Airazor and Inferno seem to be the sole members of their respective factions to hail from this year. There's changes in the air, and all the 1997 figures I've reviewed so far center on new quirks and gimmicks to set them apart from what has come before. Bonecrusher's no exception... and like the other `97s I've reviewed so far, his gimmick defines him to a large extent, for good or ill.


Beast Mode

Bonecrusher's Beast Mode is a fair approximation of a bison from most angles, the back being the most notable exception. The pearly-white calves from Robot Mode are a giveaway there. The upper part of the bison also doesn't quite match up to the rest of the body, so some of the gold underneath is sometimes visible, and that's not exactly standard on a real bison, either. As with many Beast Wars figures, articulation is minimal here, with the back legs being somewhat mobile at the hips and knees, and the front legs only at the ankles. The knee and ankle joints only move forward due to the necessities of transformation. Bison are generally known for standing around and not doing much, though, so the toy's not exactly inaccurate.

In both modes, Bonecrusher's action features are activated by pulling on his tail: instead of kicking you in the face like a real bison would do in this circumstance, the entire upper portion of Bonecrusher's body lunges forward to deliver a headbutt and, at the end of the motion, launches a missile from his Robot Mode mouth. I have to wonder if that Endurance of 4 reflects how much punishment he can take after his own missile explodes at contact range. But even if you don't fire it in somebody's face, the missile has decent range- I've had to hunt it back down twice already. It's a neat feature, but it looks really, really weird in Beast Mode, and the huge head dominates the Robot Mode.


Transformation

It's just complex enough, and pretty interesting. Once you fold back the large side-panels, it's pretty obvious how to unfold the arms and legs. I particularly like how the front hooves fold up to bulk up the Robot Mode chest. After you fold out the arms and before you flip down the bison head to become the chest, the Energon Chip rubsign is briefly visible. Mine's a bit unwilling to change colors after all these years, sadly, and I inadvertently bent the corner trying to make it do so.


Robot Mode

There's a reason you only ever see Robot Mode photos of Bonecrusher from head-on: his head is the top third of a bison, and the effect is pretty comical from the side. It's kind of reminiscent of Universe Cheetor's torso. It's also slightly reminiscent of the Alien from the film series of the same name, and the details on the arms and side of the head in particular reinforce the connection. The designers must have been on an Alien kick this year, because Transquito's head and face strike me as somewhat similar as well. But back to Bonecrusher: the impression he gives is that of an Alien which has hollowed out an American buffalo and is wearing the carcass as a disguise. This has to be roomier and more comfortable than wearing Vincent D'onofrio.

The mechanism for the head's headbutt/missile launcher action feature means that it rests relatively lightly on Bonecrusher's shoulders, and sometimes pops loose when I don't want it to. That mechanism also prevents the head from turning, but even if that didn't, the large panels of bison flanks behind the shoulders certainly would. But the panels don't impede the arms themselves too severely when you turn them back. The length of the kibble plates also keeps the elongated head from getting lonely, and oddly enough helps tie the robot design together and make it look swept back, in a sort of streamlined, Darth Vader's TIE Fighter way. The robot shoulders are good on their own, with slightly more than 90 degrees of movement, and combined with the transformation joints, they can do just about anything. The elbows are technically double-jointed, but turning the elbow so that it looks like a natural (human) arm kills any effectiveness of the ball-joint half of the assembly. Not that it's particularly needed, as the arm folds up pretty tight even without the help. The waist is unimpeded, and clicks into place facing forward for Robot Mode, or back for Beast Mode. Not necessary, but it's one thing you know can't be out of place in the transformation process.

The hips have fine range in all directions, but have the least freedom when moving the legs forward- I picture him taking short, lumbering steps. The legs are designed to always be slightly bent at the knees, which adds to the sense of heaviness created by wearing most of a bison on your head. Somehow the shape of the legs reminds me of the original Masters of the Universe line, too. The knees fold up to a nice, tight angle- necessary for transformation -but since the legs can't straighten entirely the overall range is not as much as I'd prefer. The ankles have hinges for transformation as well, but no side-to-side jointing. While the leg seems to be designed to fold up the back hooves and hide them, you might want to leave them pointing back for extra support. When standing straight up his weight is amazingly well-distributed and he's not tippy at all, but if you try for anything more complex, those stubby little bison legs are handy heels.


Paint and Deco

A surprising amount of gold paint is used on the sides of the head, which never really show very much in either mode unless  you're using the action feature. Which is kind of a nice touch, since it draws attention to the toy's main mechanism. A similar, subtle splash of color comes from the red lining the arm and calf kibble in Robot Mode. Otherwise most of the paint is awarded to Beast Mode, with a silver streak running down the bison's back and coloring the face, and golden horns and muzzle. I also rather like the white plastic here, which is somewhere between pearly and milky- but damn, that makes it hard to photograph against a white background!


Accessories

Just a missile. Nothing to write home about. It stores in Bonecrusher's mouth well enough, and isn't in much danger of firing until you pull the tail.


Things To Look For When Buying Loose

If you're looking for a Bonecrusher, the missile's the only piece you generally need to be worried about. Nothing else comes off intentionally, and if it's missing one of the ball-jointed bison flanks, it should be plenty obvious in either mode.


Closing Remarks

What a strange toy. But while the action feature domninates both modes, it makes interesting use of what would otherwise be a massive piece of useless bison kibble. The action feature defines the toy to a large extent, but it doesn't interfere with any of the more ordinary functions of the figure. Bonecrusher is weird, but he's Good.

-RAC