Terrorsaur (1996)

Height: 10cm (Robot Mode head height), approx. 12.5 cm (Beast Mode length)

Articulation: 11 points total- ball joint neck; 2 joints each arm- ball joint shoulders, double-joint elbows; 3 joints each leg- ball joint hips, ball-joint knees, hinge ankles.

Colors: Molded red and black. Painted green, royal blue, yellow, and white(face).

Accessories: Gun.

Gallery: 17 images.

Author: RAC

Red and grey and treacherous all over, he may not be Starscream, but Terrorsaur is the next best thing. With thoughts of his own superiority over his peers and grandiose notions of taking control of the Predacons (preferably over Megatron's dead body) and leading them to victory over the Maximals, Terrorsaur often forgets - or doesn't realize - that the only reason he appears to be two steps ahead is because his peers are three or four steps behind the rest of the group.  Terrorsaur lacks the common sense to comprehend that even if he could somehow depose Megatron, someone else would be standing by to scrap him shortly thereafter.

"No! Wait! I can explain...!"

Terrorsaur strikes me as having the worst possible combination of qualities you'd want in a lackey: stupid and treacherous. You can contend with a certain amount of treachery if someone has invaluable skills, as is the case with Tarantulas; and stupidity is forgiveable if, like Scorponok, your henchman is unshakably loyal. I suppose that there's the possibility that those two qualities cancel each other out, i.e., he's too dumb to ever pose a substantial threat to you, but was Megatron really this desperate for air support?

...oh yeah, his other flier is Waspinator. I guess he was.


Beast Mode

Terrorsaur's Beast Mode is, not surprisingly, a pterosaur. Bravo, Hasbro/Kenner! That's a pun so bad I'm surprised I didn't come up with it myself. I was never up on dinosaurs, as I got into robots at the same age (5) when a boy might become really and truly fascinated with dinosaurs. (Also, as this website can attest, I never got back out of robots.) So I'm not sure on the exact genus, but I do know he's not a pteranodon, because he has teeth. (Wikipedia informs me that "pteranodon" is a combination of the Greek words for "wing" and "toothless.") And there's not any particular species of flying dinosaur known for having half a robot hanging from its backside, so no help there either.

A top view is Terrorsaur's best angle, which is probably why he has all those green spots on his back. The Robot Mode forearms plug into a pair of slots on the wings to lock them down as the pterosaur's feet, and the robot feet around his neck block his ability to look down for a large part. Because of all these things he's pretty horizontal, not sitting at the steeper angle preferred by some pterosaur Transformers like Animated Swoop. I'm presuming he was designed this way intentionally, because from that top view you can't make out much if any of the robot parts on his undercarriage. In terms of engineering, he's basically an organic equivalent of the roughly contemporary Machine Wars jets.


Transformation

Like those jets, and like all other Basic Beasts from the first year, Terrorsaur has a spring-loaded speed-transforming gimmick: pull back on the pterosaur's head, fold up the feet, fold down the hands, and you're done. Optional step: find out where his weapon went when it falls out of his back during transformation. Other than that it works as advertised, though I sometimes don't get the pterosaur head locked down well enough, and he wants to spring back up into Robot Mode.


Robot Mode

Like a lot of jet Transformers, Terrorsaur has most of his alternate mode hanging off his back. The inverted wings also put me in mind of the original Decepticon jet trio, and given his Starscreaminess in the series, I would not be surprised if that was intentional. While not entirely show-accurate- the royal blue head being a big difference -I like his overall color scheme, and the balance of the large solid areas of red and black is nicely arranged.

As is the case with small figures of this vintage, everything is ball-jointed, except for his ankles. The head turns in a complete circle, though his chin wants to get caught on the hinges in his collarbone area. The head also tilts back some, but this seems to be intended for transformation more than articulation. His shoulders swing out to the side by 90 degrees, but are kept from swinging too far back by the big wings. The elbows fold slightly tighter than a right angle, and are roughly equivalent to real human elbows in range. Terrorsaur's hips would allow him to do a very effective split, but the neck and arms of the pterosaur preclude that, unfortunately. They also limit the front-to-back range of the hips to a minor, but noticeable degree. The knees are about equal to the elbows, bending to just a tiny bit more than 90 degrees. The ankles' hinges are probably intended more for transformation than posing, like the neck, but they can be made to help some. I just wish they were a bit stronger, along with the rest of the leg joints: Terrorsaur has a little balance trouble sometimes. Once I've got the photo shoot done, I'll probably apply some crazy glue or nail polish to hips and knees.


Paint and Deco

Terrorsaur's got a series of green spots across the pterosaur's back, and thus also on his Robot Mode torso. The red and green are equally bright, and for those of us with astigmatism I would not recommend looking directly at the green spots for very long. There are a few small sloppy spots on my Terrorsaur, nearly all in Robot Mode; the royal blue paint is a very thick, matte paint, and it doesn't seem to have clean edges much of anywhere where it's been applied. This is most noticeable on the head, but looks only mildly sloppy in person. I suspect nice big photographs will not help its appearance much, though.


Accessories

-Gun

Terrorsaur's gun is a small futuristic pistol with a folding barrel. I was really expecting the hinged piece to fall off easily, as often happens with small accessories, but it's perfectly secure- nice! When folded, the pistol stores behind Terrorsaur's Robot Mode head, and should stay in place when in Beast Mode. Be a little wary, though, as it's not a super-snug fit and the spring-loaded transforming action may well dislodge it.


Things To Look For When Buying Loose

Terrorsaur has only one detachable piece: his gun. But it's pretty small and is totally hidden in Beast Mode, so you may want to double-check with a prospective seller and make good and sure that it's present.


Closing Remarks

Terrorsaur is a solid toy, and is so far the most conventional of the Beast Wars toys I've gotten. That's probably because his Beast Mode lends itself to a jetlike approach. He has some kibble in both modes, but no moreso than most Transformers you probably already own. He's quite Good, and worth having, particularly if you're trying to assemble the Predacon team from the animation.

-RAC