Dave's War Planets Rant: Updated 9/27/97

     Shadowraiders (in general)
     Ice Moon Alpha
     Ice Moon Omega
     Bone Moon Alpha
     Bone Moon Omega
     Rock Moon Alpha
     Rock Moon Omega

     I've spotted these at K-Mart, Toys R Us and Kay Bee Toys to date, all
with a price of $6.99.  There's some confusion in the packaging as to which
toy is which (Alpha/Omega flips), so I'll be using the designations given on
the official War Planets homepage.

CAPSULES

     Ice Moon Alpha: Rather nifty beast and vehicle, good colors overall, but
has the same problem as Ice Moon Omega in that the glitter gets all over
(I'll be experimenting with fixes for this over the weekend).  Mildly
recommended. 
     Ice Moon Omega: Hampered by some production problems (mainly the
glittery paint flakes off on EVERYTHING) and it has a fairly lame beast.
Neutral.
     Bone Moons: Both pretty good, although their beasts are so-so.  Mildly
recommended.
     Rock Moons: Good if you're colorblind, but the color schemes really
hurt.  Mildly recommended, recommended if you can overlook the colors.

GENERAL COMMENTS

     Since all the Shadowraiders share some things in common, I'm going to
cover those elements here before going into the specific toys.
     Coloration: None of these look like the images on the back of the
packaging, and in every case the actual coloration is simpler and of lower
quality.  Some pieces are rather badly colored, but others are up to the
standard set by the main planets.
     Moons: The moons hinge open and can be split apart easily at the hinge
for independent pieces.  About 2.5 inches (6cm) in diameter, they're not
really storage like the Planets are, although they can hold a few pieces.
     Platforms: There are two platforms which fit inside the moon halves
(although usually not snugly) or which can be mounted externally.  The
platforms used are the same for both Alpha and Omega of a moon set, but vary
between moon types.
     Linkages: A variety of short, medium, long and tentacled links are
provided with each toy, and almost every piece can link to something with
these.  The tentacle links are bend-em pieces like the Bone Planet's
tentacles, and thanks to their rubberized skins are the most stable of the
links.  The missiles also can double as links, and some holes can be passed
through entirely by a linkage piece (for example, you could put two platforms
onto a tentacle for a multi-story command post).
     Weapons: Each toy has one missile launcher with two link missiles, and
one non-launching weapon, either a claw or a cannon which doesn't fire.  The
spring strengths vary, but I've gotten two or three meter range out of some
of the launchers.  The springs are not, however, strong enough to launch a
beast stuck onto a missile.  }->
     Beasts: Each set has a legless monster of some sort, intended to usually
be linked to the vehicle (see below).  However, even the shortest link piece
doesn't allow for flush mounting, so the beast torsos tend to flop around
feebly on the vehicles, and if placed on the moon they often fall off because
the holes in their bottoms for linking aren't very secure.  All the beasts
have some degree of poseability, and are about as big as the moons.
     Vehicles: A free-rolling cart of sorts on which you can mount one link
(usually to the beast, but also to weapons or platforms) or stand some of the
figures.  Not a whole lot of care was taking assembling these, and I had to
take one of mine apart to fix a sloppy assembly (Rock Moon Omega's).  The
vehicles are probably the weak link in most of these toys, as they feel like
cheap McDonalds toys (Hmm, wonder if War Planets will have a "fries with
that" tie-in?).  Vehicles tend to be about 4 inches (10cm) long.
     Figures: Each set has one Hero and two Drones, with color schemes
different from those of the Planet-bound figures (branch of service
coloration?  }->).  Sometimes the new colors are better than the originals,
but not always.  There's some thought given in the design to giving the
figures places to stand (one of the Bone Beasts has indentations on its rider
platform specifically in the shapes of the Bone Hero and Bone Drong feet).
     Overall Quality: Varies from toy to toy, but I'd say there's a slight
drop in quality from War Planets to Shadowraiders.  Part of this may be the
need to get product out, because with the exception of the Beast Planet, this
line doesn't seem to stay ont he shelf for long (the K-Mart I went to now has
a gaping hole in the shelf where War Planets stuff was, a lonely Remora
Planet guarding the area).

     Storage Suggestion: Since, unlike the planets, you can't fit everything
into one part of the toy, I went out and got some quart-sized storage baggies
(Hefty one-seals, to be specific) with labels, and put all the parts from
each toy in its own bag.

An explanation of terms:

     A couple terms I'm going to use in my description of colors could bear
some explanation here.
     When I refer to an "inkwash," I mean it looks like the inkwashed color
was mixed with water and painted onto the toy, settling into the cracks but
leaving the raised areas uncolored.  This is a technique used in painting
miniatures for making cracks look deeper, adding shadow to them and so forth.
     When I say "brushed," that means the color was lightly brushed over the
surface so as to *only* hit the raised areas, and not the cracks, or to give
a smattering of color on a flat surface.  
     Both techniques can be used to give a contrast in color between the
raised parts and the recesses, it all depends on what color your base plastic
is in this case.

SPECIFIC TOYS

Ice Moon Alpha

     Easily the better of the two Ice Moons, it's helped by the extensive use
of translucent blue plastic in practically everything (the standard
connectors and ice fleas are the only non-translucent parts).  Still frosted
like a cheap Christmas ornament (or one of Trendmasters' new girls' toy lines
with castle and fair playsets), though.
     Moon: Makes somewhat more effective use of the glitter, with a blue and
silver pattern, but still sheds like you wouldn't believe.
     Platforms: Very nice blue translucent plastic with ice painted on.
Rubbery and will actually stick in place inside the moon halves, unlike most
other platforms.
     Weapons: One launcher (translucent blue with silver and black accents)
and one non-firing cannon (translucent blue brushed with silver).
     Tentacled Connectors: Translucent blue brushed with silver, really neat
looking.  Well, clear with translucent blue paint, actually.
     Beast: Fairly nifty upper body (unlike some beasts, it cannot pass as a
full creature).  Vaguely insectoid head, three arms on the right side and one
on the left, with tubes and hoses all over.  Oddly, the two weapon-bearing
arms seem to be immobile, although this may be due to careless gluing.  The
two weaponless arms swivel at the "shoulder" joints.  Shares the same problem
all the other beasts do in that even the short connector is too long to let
it connect flush to the vehicle.  (Late-breaking note: I got the left arm to
move, but if you move it forwards the cable connecting to the weapon pops out
of its hole...glue time!  Also, the head can be made to turn side to side,
but only if you remove the cables leading to the nose.)
     Vehicle: Pretty good saucer-like thing made from translucent blue
plastic, with a place in back for a figure to ride.  Nothing spectacular,
though.  
     Figures: Ice fleas are black with silver brushing for a gunmetal sort of
effect over the whole body (by contrast, Ice Planet fleas are white with a
blue wash).  Hero is black plastic almost totally covered in silver paint,
and the crystal on its back is the same color as the Ice Planet heroes'
crystals.  (Late note: actually, the limbs, head and tail are clear plastic
mostly covered in silver, but the torso is black.)
     Overall: Laying aside the sparklies and frosting, this is the best color
job of the lot, and the beast is pretty good.  But the vehicle is lackluster,
and the sparklies *are* a big sticking point as far as I'm concerned.  Check
the "Fluffy Sez" column on my War Planets page for updates on dealing with
the Sparkly Problem.  (Solved: use clear nail polish.)

Ice Moon Omega

     A bit of a disappointment.  The moon feels like a cheesy Christmas tree
ornament, covered in glitter that flakes off and gets on everything.  Sure,
the glitter helps give that icy look, but a coat of something over the
glitter to keep it on would have been nice.  In the other categories, where
applicable: 
     Moon: Smaller and less spherical than Alpha's, also lighter in color.  I
think it would have looked better without the sparklies.
     Platforms: Nice ice pattern, these actually stick into the interior of
the moon and stay wedged there without needing a connector, the one thing
this moon does better than the others.  Purple in color, but otherwise
identical to Alpha's.
     Weapons: One launcher (translucent blue with black accents), one silver
metallic claw. 
     Tentacle connectors: The tentacles are clear plastic with dark
translucent purple all over, and brushed with light violet.
     Beast: A hunchbacked thing with handless arms that move at the shoulder
and some sort of nonfiring cannon on his back.  Also has glitter which rubs
off and gets onto everything.
     Vehicle: A spider-motif craft which is front-heavy.  The rear half
doesn't seem to have anything to do, and is so light that if the beast tips
forward it takes the entire vehicle with it.
     Figures: Purple (same color deal as the tentacles) ice fleas look okay,
but the Hero figure lacks some of the detail of the originals.  Same basic
coloring idea as with Alpha's Hero, but with purple instead of silver, so you
have clear bits showing through.  No eyes of gun details, though.
     Overall: Unless you're a completist, I'd say give this moon a pass, or
wait for them to fix some of the problems.  I'm probably just going to leave
this one sealed in its baggie.

Bone Moon Alpha

     Continues the horror theme of the Bone Planet quite nicely, and ranks
pretty well from just a visual standpoint.
     Moon: Green with a yellow overbrushing, it's kinda like a space cabbage
or something.  Would look at home next to the Transformer Retrax.
     Platforms: Silver techno-organic pattern with heavy black wash to it, so
it looks like corroding metal.  
     Weapons: One launcher, one burgundy-colored claw of the same basic
design as the Bone Planet claws, although larger.
     Tentacle connectors: The same coloration as the platforms, oddly.
Especially with the Rock Planets having green tentacles.
     Beast: Burgundy and silver cyberdemon thing.  Stubby claws can kinda
hold figures, and it has big cannons on its forearms (the bayonets on the
cannons are kinda warped from being in the package, though).  Arms move at
the shoulders, and there's two claw/wing things over the shoulders which also
swivel around.  Rubberyness of the plastic makes it more stable on the
connectors.
     Vehicle: This is the Cthulhumobile, man.  A multi-tentacled face forms
the basis of this car, which like the other vehicles seems to be designed to
wobble as it rolls.  My only complaint is the silvery color scheme, which is
insufficiently squamous for Bone Planet.  Oh, and while the main body is
rigid plastic, two of the tentacle tips are rubbery.
     Figures: Drones are green with black wash and silver gun, which is
okay.  But the hero is a bit of a loss, being solid purple with bright green
gun and a bit of harness...very little detail painted on at all.  This
thing's Barney the Bone Hero.
     Overall: Bad or inappropriate coloring are the main problems with this
toy, otherwise it fits the feel of the Bone Planet pretty well and has decent
play value.

Bone Moon Omega

     Moon: Purple and black with silver overbrushing, this looks more like a
Remora Moon than a Bone Moon.  More pointed than Bone Moon Alpha, it's closer
to an 8-sided die than to a sphere.
     Platforms: Same as Bone Moon Alpha.
     Weapons: One launcher, one non-firing cannon.
     Tentacle connectors: Violet-purple (a richer shade than Ice Moon Alpha).
     Beast: This one looked good on the webpage, but it kinda fails to live
up to its potential.  For one thing, the colors are too bright and shiny,
there's no black "inkwash" to bring out the details.  Second, it's totally
unposeable except for its bridle...the sidesnakes could have been made as
bendies or something (the appearance is of one large snake with two smaller
snakes strapped to the sides).  It does have a rider's platform with foot
indentations for the figures, but since the figures are rubbery plastic and
tend to deform in shipping, they don't fit exactly anyway.
     Vehicle: A fairly boring tanklike car thing in purple, black, neon green
and silver brushing.  Again, more of a Remora thing than Bone, in my opinion.
     Figures: Drones same as Bone Moon Alpha's.  Hero is solid black with
orange gun and harness, same lack of detail, but at least it doesn't look
like Barney.
     Overall: The weaker of the two Bone Moons, but not as bad as Ice Moon
Alpha.  I'd suggest treating it as a Remora Moon until such time as an actual
Remora Moon comes out (or just don't buy it if you're on a budget).  It's a
bit too generic in feel compared to Bone Moon Alpha.

Rock Moon Alpha

     Both Rock Moons look more like Lava/Fire Moons to me, with their use of
bright red colors all over the place.  In fact, they'd go well with any Lava
Lord stuff from the Mighty Max line you may have sitting around.
     Moon: Mainly silver-brushed black  with a few darker red accents.
     Platforms: Black with a lighter silver-brushing and a few dark red
lava/rock patches.  The "lava" bits would look better in brown, I think.  The
Hero figure can sit nicely in a recess on one of the platforms.
     Weapons: One launcher, one big red techie claw.
     Tentacled Connectors: Black with dark green brushed on.
     Beast: Clunky, boxy robot thing with a big claw for one arm (and a
smaller claw rotating on that shoulder) and a big hammer in the other arm's
hand.  Oddly, the hammer-hand's arm has a rotating shoulder piece, possibly
meant to be a missile launcher.  The head is a chair, albeit too small for
any of the figures to actually sit *in* (they can straddle it), and there's
an awkward pair of blades on the stomach, which are rubbery and got bent in
shipping.  They also get in the way of the hammer (which can't swing down
unless the beast is sitting on something anyway).  The color is dark red with
a little inkwash, but I think it could have used more color variation.
     Vehicle: A tank with little recesses for figures to stand if the beast
isn't attached to it.  There's three small cannons on it, one of which was
badly inserted on mine, so I got to take the thing apart to fix this.  The
tank is black with a heavy silver coat over most of it which seems to have
been burnished off in places with a jeweler's polisher or some similar
instrument. 
     Figures: Light grey brushed heavily onto black, with weapons left black.
The Drones have asymmetric coloring, with the left shoulderpad and right
kneepad red (plus a bit on the right side of the helmet), while the Hero has
both shoulderpads and both kneepads red.
     Overall: Pretty good, although the color could use a bit of work.

Rock Moon Omega

     This one definitely looks like a Lava Planet moon.  Lots of orange and
red.
     Moon: Mainly dark red with light inkwashing and grey accents, it looks
molten to me, dude.
     Platforms: Same as Alpha.
     Weapons: One launcher, one nonfiring cannon, both very dark grey.
     Tentacle Connectors: Black with bright green brushed onto them.
     Beast: This one had a lot of promise, but being bright orange with
silver brushing on it kinda kills the look.  It's like a giant Rock Drone in
appearance, although with a beastly head and a hunched back where a rider's
platform is located.  It even has the big underslung cannon the Drones use.
Rubbery cables connect various parts and tend to come undone if you tug on
them.  The left hand can grasp figures or missiles/connectors.  The square
bottom of this beast makes it stand well on its own, but makes it look even
worse when hovering a few millimeters above the vehicle on a too-long
connector. 
     Vehicle: A tanklike thing with multiple buzzsaws, this is another which
is hurt by the color scheme of orange with silver brushing.  It's just not
that impressive in bright colors.  If it were in the dark red with inkwash of
Rock Moon Omega itself it might look cool, but these colors just make it look
cheesy.  One neat thing in its favor, though, is that the nonfiring cannon
weapon can be stuck into one of the passenger slots.
     Figures: Same as Rock Moon Alpha, except the accents are yellow rather
than red.  And the painting's a little sloppy, with yellow getting on parts
it shouldn't be on.
     Overall: Again, like most of the Shadowraiders, the coolness factor of
this toy is dropped a notch by poor choice of colors.  But even so, it's
pretty good.

     Dave Van Domelen, "Quick, Derleth!  To the Cthulhumobile!"