All images are copyright their owners (Diamond,
Trendmasters) and used for purposes of review and news reporting. All
trademarks are property of their owners, no infringement intended. Text of
reviews is copyright 1997 by Dave Van Domelen.
Last Updated 5/3/98 New pictures and reviews!
Second Wave Battle Fortresses Toys from year 1998 to date
None of the Second Wave toys have reached my area yet, but here's a short
list of the Battle Fortresses which can be seen on the Trendmasters site. Click here for a grainy picture from the December 1997 issue
of Previews Magazine showing Sand (light brown), Reptizar (reddish brown) and
Water (blue) Planets. The late-shipping Fire Planet is also in the picture.
Water, Reptizar and Sand have shipped in some areas, including mine. I have
pictures from the packaging, see below.
Super Beast Planet - Recolored Beast Planet with new accessories.
Super Planet Reptizar - Large reptilian planet. The Reptizar are a new
faction in the game, unknown if they're Auroran.
Prison Planet - An irregularly-shaped motley sort of world. Transformers
fans may recognize it as being like Quintessa.
Planet Sand - Egyptian-motif world, mystic edge.
The back of the card (and of the next three cards) has an image from the
CDROM, which is available at higher quality on the Trendmasters site than I
could provide here, so I won't bother with it. Another
view of the planet is on the packaging, small and miscolored, but it
gives an idea what to expect. Looks like the Heroes originally all had
wings, but that was changed so that only the Commander did. And I don't know
what the red rodlike thing in the lower right is supposed to be.
Planet Reptizar - More reptiles. The planet
has a tail which lashes out, but is not wire-bendable like the Bone
tentacles. The cart picture shown before is inaccurate in that there's only
one gun, not the two in the pic. The package art
shows a little more, including the second gun, which apparently didn't make
the final cut between prototype and production.
Planet Water - Aquatic stuff. Splits into two
pieces like an oversized Shadowraider, with lots of playset value, which
isn't adequately shown in the package picture. Note
that the core cannot separate from the main planet like shown in the card
art. The object in the lower right corner of the package picture seems to be
a vehicle that didn't make the cut.
Planet Robotron - A humanoid robot planet. It looks like it might fold
up into a more planet-like form, but I haven't gotten any information on that
one way or the other yet.
Planet Octozoid - Cthulhuworld, man. This one takes the basic motif of
the Bone Moon vehicle with the tentacled face and runs with it.
Planet Jungle - Heart-shaped (like the organ) world, opens up to reveal a
beehive honeycomb.
First Wave Battle Fortresses Toys
from 1997
Note: these reviews were written in the following order:
Tek, Rock, Ice, Beast, Bone, Remora, Fire. Several earlier reviews express
opinions about products not yet purchased that are later revised. Always
refer to the review of a given toy for the opinions on that toy.
With the exception of the Beast Planet, each came with a trading card showing
the planet and its "firepower values" on one side, and a piece of computer
art on the other, usually related to the planet.
Planet Tek: Front of trading card,
showing Planet Tek being captured by the Beast Planet. Back of trading card, showing logo.
Planet Rock: Front of trading
card, showing Planet Rock in full attack mode. Back of
trading card, showing Rock Hero on left and Rock Drone on right.
Planet Ice: Front of trading card,
showing Planet Ice under attack by the Beast Planet. Back of trading card, showing Ice Hero in foreground,
Jumpjet Carrier in background, and Planet Tek in the sky.
Beast Planet: No trading card, and the box is too big
to fit on the scanner, so you'll have to settle for this image from Previews and the depiction of tbe Beast Planet
int he backgrounds of several of the trading cards.
Planet Bone: Front of trading
card, showing Planet Bone trying to rescue Planet Rock from the maw of the
Beast Planet. Back of trading card, showing Bone Hero
on left and Bone Drone on right.
Planet Remora: Front of
trading card, showing the planet at rest. Back of
trading card, showing (I think) Remora Drone in foreground with various other
images in back.
Planet Fire: Front of trading
card, with the planet about to shed its crust. Back of
the card shows the Beast Planet and its forces, because the Fire Planet's not
in the computer game, and all images are taken from it.
Overall Rankings
To give some idea how I think the six regular planets compare against each
other now that I own them all, here's my ranking of the five, with 1 being
best and 5 worst.
Planet Rock
Planet Ice
Planet Remora
Planet Fire
Planet Bone
Planet Tek
Ironically, the first one I got, which initially was to be my only purchase,
is probably the one which now impresses me the least. Note, though, that
there's very little difference among the bottom five, and on
another day I might rank them differently. The only clear ranking is that
Planet Rock is the best of the small planets.
