Dave's Transmetal II Basics Rant:

     Scarem
     Sonar
     Optimus Minor (review at end)

     Finally found these two at Wal-Mart today, where there was practically
nothing BUT Basic TMetII toys (plus a Bonecrusher, a Torca and several
Retraxes).  I find it somehow scary that the Basics seem to be better toys
than the Deluxes on almost every level in TMetII.

CAPSULES

     Scarem: Good beetle mode, fairly subtle transformation (mainly from
robot to beetle), good robot mode with two options for robot mode legs.
Strongly recommended.  $4.76 at Wal-Mart.
     Sonar: Good bat mode with only a little undercarriage junk, very
challenging transformation, good robot mode, wildly inaccurate instructions.
Well, not wildly, but they're pretty far off base in several places.
Strongly recommended.  $4.76 at Wal-Mart.

RANTS

PREDACON: Scarem
Function: Ground Commando
Transformation Difficulty: Basic (2, I'd give it a 3 or 4, I suspect they've
     started just declaring all Basics 2, all Deluxes 5, etc)
Quote (of my devising): "Primus is inordinately fond of beetles."

Megatron's cloning experiments have added a new and sinister member to the
Predacon ranks: Scarem.  A cold, calculating, cyber-organic beetle, Scarem
can travel at extremely high speeds over any type of terrain - even when
upside-down.  His body shell withstands an incredible amount of firepower.
When on the attack, Scarem's ultra aggressive fighting methods are nearly
impossible to stop.  Now, the Maximals must use everything at their disposal
to stop the vicious assault of Scarem.

STR 5.6  INT 6.2  SPD 5.3  END 8.2  RNK 2.9  COUR 9.1  FRP 4.2  SKL 6.5
     Avg 6

     5.3 is extremely high speed?  I'll give them credit for toning down the
numbers in the techspecs...now they just need to tone down the hyperbole in
the notes.  And, for once, there seem to have been no typos or completely bad
grammar here, although the prose could use editing in places.

     Beast Mode: Scarem is a large-mandibled beetle, but not a Scarab as his
name might imply.  All six legs can be moved, some more than others, and the
joints are stiff enough that he rides comfortably with his body up off the
ground without having to have his legs directly beneath him.  My only quibble
would be the front pair of legs, which could use a different sort of joint.
There's no pegs to hold the mandibles in place, so they do tend to flop about
if you're not careful.  Scarem is 5" (12cm) long, 3" (8cm) if you don't count
the mandibles.  His body is mainly green and chrome-blue with red accents,
and his legs are copper.  The wing covers do open up a little, but not all
the way, being blocked by his thorax.  His Spark is not accessible in this
mode, and none of the various pegs and holes on his body is Lego-compatible.
     Transformation: Fairly simple in theory, but you have to do certain
things in the right order or parts block each other.  This is especially
important in transforming from robot to beetle mode, as you have to make sure
the robot arms are pulled away from the sides of the body before the beetle
head piece will rotate up.  Depending on your preferences, you can either
transform him into a four-legged robot or a two-legged robot, which I find
kinda neat.  You do lose knee poseability in two-legger mode, though.
     Robot Mode: 4" (10cm) tall in two-legger mode, a little shorter in
four-legger mode, he looks more like a mantis than a beetle.  His wing covers
form a huge pair of shoulderpads which interfere a little with movement and
also make it hard for people with thicker fingers to open the Spark housing.
His insect forelegs fold nicely out of the way, and there's no real "kibble"
going on...every beast part looks like it's intended to be in the robot, as
opposed to the usual "insect legs hanging off the sides" syndrome we get with
insect transformers.  His elbows are restricted ball joints like Cheetor's,
and he has no hands (scythes instead), but it's much less of a flaw in a
Basic toy.  Plus, he's got ten points of articulation below the waist, all
but two of them ball joints (insert your own joke about being popular with
the ladies).  Actually, eleven points, since his skidplate can flip up.  When
you open his Spark housing, it has a very nice pattern on it, making it look
like the vital component it is (a lot of the other Sparks seem to be just
tacked in there, especially Optimus Minor's).
     Overall: While there's a few little things that could have been improved
(pegs to hold the mandibles in place, for one), this is a very good toy.  Buy
it if you can find it.


MAXIMAL: Sonar
Function: Aerial Reconnaissance
Transformation Difficulty: Basic (2, yeah right.  Easily a 5.)
Quote (of my devising): "This here's a BRICK bat!"

The quantum surge...er, wait....

The dangerous cloning experiments carried out by Megatron have created
another powerful ally for the heroic Maximals: Sonar.  Super-acute senses
provide matchless reconnaissance abilities, while bio-cyber elements allow
unmatched strength and mobility.  When combined with a fiery, almost
uncontrollable aggression, Sonar makes a dangerous enemy and a somewhat
unpredictable ally.  Much to his chagrin, Megatron has unintentionally
created the finest early-warning system ever to have existed - the Maximal
known as Sonar!

STR 4.6  INT 6.8  SPD 6.5  END 5.5  RNK 4.2  COUR 6.8  FRP 4.5  SKL 7.4
     Avg 5.79

     Way too much hyperbole...unless you consider 4.6 to be a matchless
strength because everyone else is stronger than that.  }->  And it would have
been nice to replace the redundant last sentence with some idea what Sonar's
attack power is.  Maybe a deafening sonic scream to go with his blade.  It'd
be nice of the person writing the techspecs note actually looked at the
numbers as well.
     Oh, packaging note: these have "2" instead of "II," so it looks like the
"II" was mainly on earlier batches, with "2" being the final version
preferred by Hasbro.  I like "II" better, myself.

     Beast Mode: 5" (13cm) long with a wingspan just a little more than
that.  The wings don't flap, but his little bat legs do move a bit, his jaw
opens, and he has a blade that can fold out from one wing.  Things are pegged
together pretty firmly in most places, making for a nice solid toy.  There's
only a slight undercarriage junk problem due to his robot legs, and his robot
feet stick out the back as an unneeded tail.  That aside, though, it's
probably the most accurate bat Transformer ever, allowing for some
exaggeration of body parts for horrific effect.  A LOT better than the
Optimus Primal bat, that's for sure.  Main colors are grey and light bronze,
with red chrome.  Silver and neon green accents complete the look  Spark
container is on his butt, and accessible in this mode.  About the only ugly
piece on this toy (in a mechanical sense) is the slider on each side for
transformation...a big oval on each side hurts the look.
     Transformation: Yeesh, possibly the most complicated Basic
transformation ever.  Lots of stuff folds in and out and around, you have to
reverse the knees then pull the legs through then UNreverse the knees.  If
you do any step out of order you can get in trouble.  I've done it several
times now, and I still can't do it smoothly.  Addendum to instructions: the
big claws are on the robot arms, the bat legs should fold back over the
shoulders for best appearance.  The six-armed look in the instructions and on
the package photos doesn't work well.
     Robot Mode: 4" (10cm) tall, and it still has a 5" (12cm) wingspan.  The
bat face stores away, so the only chrome remaining is on the chestplate,
which has the Spark in it.  One leg is grey and furry, the other is bronze
and mechanical, nice asymmetry.  His main arms have no elbows, although his
left arm has a swing-out blade 2.5" (6cm) long.  Gonna cut yew, man.  His
secondary arm set stows nicely over his shoulders or swings out to look
creepy.  The "shoulders" for the secondary set are swivels down on the
abdomen, so these arms are of limited poseability.  Basically, the usual
poseability of a BW arm has been split up between the two pairs of arms
here.  Maybe he plays cards with Spittor.  The ugly oval tracks on his hips
seriously get in the way of his legs, although this also helps keep him from
tipping over sideways, so I guess it's a tradeoff.
     Overall: A few problems, mainly those hip things, but otherwise a very
nice toy with a rather challenging transformation.  Buy it if you can find
it.  

     Dave Van Domelen, would rate all three Basic TMII's as better than
Cheetor II or Dinobot II, and put Ramulus up just below Sonar and Scarem
(he's actually better overall, but twice as expensive and his beast mode has
problems that it shouldn't have).


Dave's Basic Transmetal II Rant:

     Optimus Minor

     When I got to Wal-Mart today, there were only two OpMinors left, and
none of the other two, leading me to suspect that each 8-figure box has 4
OM's and two each of the other two.  I then hacked through an hour or so of
rush hour traffic hell to reach another Wal-Mart, but they had no TMII's at
all (you may wonder why I didn't just call...it's because I've found flipping
a coin to be more accurate than trying to get information out of the average
Wal-Employee over the phone).  Sigh.  Because of my holiday plans, I probably
won't get another chance to look for Transformers until a couple days before
Christmas.  Unless I convince my mom to stop at the Wal-Mart near home after
she picks me up from the airport next weekend.  }->

CAPSULE

     Optimus Minor is very poseable in "both" modes, but has a transformation
which is at once laughably simple and abominably hard to actually do.
Pretty good for a Basic, though.  Recommended.  $4.96 at Wal-Mart.

RANT

MAXIMAL: Optimus Minor
Function: Ground Commando
Transformation Difficulty: Basic (2, although I'd give a 4 just for the head)
Quote (of my creation): "Why yes, this IS Drunken Monkey Kung Fu!"

Due to Megatron's rash cloning experiments, the Maximals are joined by
another new ally; Optimus Minor is a cybernetically-enhanced monkey with
unparalleled speed and agility.  Possessing superior balance and climbing
abilities, this highly intelligent cyber-primate must learn to control
hostile instincts - a side-effect of Megatron's experiments - and a ferocious
advantage in battle.  The Predacons learned quickly that Optimus Minor's
presence is no laughing matter.  [all sic, I'll rewrite.]

STR 6.1  INT 8.3  SPD 5  END 6.8  RNK 4.8  COUR 7.5  FRP 3.9  SKL 7.1
     Avg: 6.19

Techspec note rewritten for grammar, clarity and agreement with stats:

Due to Megatron's rash cloning experiments, the Maximals are joined by
another new ally; Optimus Minor, a cybernetically enhanced monkey with
impressive speed and agility.  While he has superior balance and climbing
ability, this highly intelligent cyber-primate must learn to control his
hostile instincts - both an unfortunate side-effect of Megatron's experiments
and a ferocious advantage in battle.  The Predacons quickly learned that
Optimus Minor's presence in a fight was no laughing matter.

     Unparalleled speed is not a rating of 5, methinks.  }->  
     Something's rather odd about the packaging for these toys.  Either
there's a batch difference, or the Basics and Deluxes actually have different
logos...the Deluxes use "Transmetals 2" while the Basics use "Transmetals II"
with the "II" through the "Transmetals."  Maybe they switched to the "2" for
Deluxes because the "II" would overlap with the word "Deluxe."
     [Late note: looks like this is a batch thing, as Deluxes with the "II"
have been spotted.]

     Beast Mode: 4.25" (11cm) tall, he's mainly very dark grey, chrome gold
and flat red, with some blue accents and a green Spark on his side.  He has
LOTs of joints.  Shoulders are a combination of restricted ball joint and a
hinge joint.  Elbows are ball joints, as are wrists.  Hips are ball joints,
and the knees are double ball joints...like TM Terrorsaur's knees, only with
ball joints rather than hinges.  His feet have two hinges each, letting each
half be posed independently for a little more stability in standing.  His
head doesn't really move, except to bow down a bit, and it's permanently
hunched forward in this mode.  His tail is pegged in, and falls out fairly
easily.  It can be pegged in three different ways, however, somewhat making
up for its rigid nature.
     And he's DRUNK.  Yes, drunk.  His left eye is half-lidded, which is
manga/anime shorthand for a character being in his cups.  Or punch-drunk, if
not drunk on alcohol.  He's a drunken monkey, lurching about and looking for
a fight.  Funky.
     Transformation: Slide the chest down, hips become shoulders and vice
versa, fiddle with joints until he looks good, then pop the head open to
reveal the robot head.  This is the tricky bit, and I've already gotten a few
emails pointing out how easy it is to pop the head halves off and how hard it
is to get them back on.  Here's how to do it.  First, pull the halves apart a
bit so that you can manipulate the inner head.  Then, turn the robot head
slightly *away* from the half you want to move.  Turn the front of the half
outward and away slowly, the robot head should turn a little as well to let
the piece past.
     Robot Mode: A somewhat shorter 4" (10cm) tall, his head looks a bit like
Optimus's usual head, but with the monkey face and the half-lidded left eye.
The instructions say to split his forearms apart, which seems to serve no
functional purpose (it frees up the elbow jointing, but they could have done
that without the split).  I finally decided it's for aesthetic reasons.  His
forearms would be too big otherwise, and splitting them in half gives him
somewhat more proportional forearms...and things hanging off his elbows.
Hurm.  Shoulda made them fold all the way back against the upper arms.  His
tail whip fits over a peg on one of his palms, but the other lacks this peg,
which is a bit annoying.  However, the biggest problem is that his chest
doesn't lock into position, nor does his head.  In fact, very little locks
into position, leaving both modes kinda floppy, but the robot mode suffers
more.  Also, his beast head halves really don't fold out of the way very
much, and end up looking like the top of an ugly backpack.

     Overall: A very ambitious Basic Beast, with more joints and poseability
than some Deluxes.  But it doesn't hold together as well as it could, the
only complex part of its transformation is more frustrating than challenging,
and the arm-splitting is kinda weird.  Oh, and don't let him fly the ship,
he's had a few too many.

     Dave Van Domelen, "Round and round the energon cube, the monkey chased
the weevil...the monkey thought it was all in fun, DRILL goes the weevil!"
- from Drill Bit's Book Of Fables For Young Predacons