Tank Drone - Beast Machines - Figure


The Battle For the Spark toys were a notch above the first series of Beast Machines toys and the Tank Drone is one best of the entire line.

Tech Specs
Vehicon: Tank Drone
Function: Ground Attack
"The ground of Cybertron will thunder in our wake!"

Tank Drone units are a specialized Vehicon element of drones under Tankor command. Formidable front line fighters. Often attack on chaotic formations, firing destabilizer missiles in unison, then rapidly retreating in all directions. Anything caught in their path is destroyed. Alloy armor plating protects them from most types of Maximal artillery, but firepower drops significantly after firing missiles. Not effective during lengthy firefights.

Strength: 8.5 Intelligence: 4.9 Speed: 7.2 Endurance: 6.6
Rank: 6.0 Courage: 8.9 Firepower: 9.4 Skill: 7.0

Not a bad tech spec, but I do question one thing. Maximal artillery? Where? :)

Tank Mode
Packaged in tank mode, the Tank Drone measures approximately 3 ¾” in length. This, ladies and gentleman, is what the Tankorr toy should look like. The Tank Drone faithfully recaptures the show versions and Tankorr himself almost perfectly. With a blue outer body, mostly gray interior with a small section of chrome in the center and translucent red pieces thrown in for good measure, Tank Drone’s color scheme rocks.

The firing mechanism is pretty snazzy as well. While rolling the Tank Drone along, simply press on the rear of the cannon (this activates a gear mechanism tied into the right rear “tread” and robot arm) and watch the front turret spin. After a short while, the “destabilizer missile” will fire.

Transformation
I’ll go into transformation, even though if you’ve seen Beast Machines, you should be able to transform the Tank Drone. :) First off, flip out the front treads as far as they will go. Push them in at the knees and open the panels to form the back of the feet. Rotate at the waist 180 degrees and flip the small red section back towards the main body. Lower the tread covers to the side and flip the claws around from the inside. Bring the arms around 180 degrees and stand the Tank Drone. Lower the cannon platform and head back and let the Maximals beware.

Robot Mode
A little short for a Tank Drone now stands at 4” (5” if you count his cannon). A saw blade is on the right arm (well, that’s what I call the gear sticking out of his arms) and he looks menacing. The cold, hard look in his ruby-red eyes, the strength portrayed in his arms and that gigantic cannon on his right shoulder. While he does faithfully represent the Tank Drones on Beast Machines, the only real complaint I have is the size. The Tank Drones in Beast Machines were behemoths, not midgets.

Some Points to Ponder
I have to admit that I like the Battle for the Spark packaging a lot more than the standard Beast Machines version. The Spark behind the toy is now a nice, bright yellow and helps the toy to stand out. Primal’s gorilla mug in the corner is also a welcome change to Cheetor’s screaming visage (although I would still prefer decent, individual character artwork).

What really struck me as impressive about the packaging was the accuracy of the instructions. The really poor drawings have been replaced by a grayed out image of the toy with pinkish highlights for the parts mentioned in each step. This was helpful for me with Hammerstrike when I wasn’t quite sure about what to do with his robot head since it sits rather low.

Final Thoughts:
I highly recommend the Tank Drone. He's very show-accurate and looks menacing despite his smaller stature.



ReviewerViceGripX  
DateJune 18th 2002  
Score 9 stars (9 out of 10)  
Reads11956


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