Phil's Beast Machines Tank Drone,
Universe Stockade
&
Beast Wars Returns Tankor Review


Beast Machines Tank Drone

Early in 2001 the Vehicon Generals all got troop versions of themselves but in more show accurate designs and colour scheme. The Tank Drone was rendered at the basic size mainly in a pale grey with dark blue tread covers (over clear red), dark grey treads and head/turret (which turns) and a huge cannon - hinged at the base - running the length of the left hand side of the vehicle as you look at it. The Spark is mounted on the back of the cannon and like all Battle For The Spark toys forms part of the mechanism for the toy. If you push the spark down then it makes contact with a gear wheel housed in the rear tread. Moving the tank forward causes the gear wheel to turn which then turns the barrel of the cannon eventually depressing the trigger and discharging the missile. The cannon and the base of the back of the tank have some chrome pieces on them.

TF: fold the front treads forward and down as far as they will go. Fold the middle of the front of the tank back and up. Fold the treads down to form the legs. Rotate the waist piece so all the detail is on the front of the tank and the legs are bent back at the knee. Flip the heel spurs out. Fold the tread covers at the back out to the sides - note they're pegged in at the front. Fold the claws out the back of the tank and swing the sides down to act as arms. Fold the platform the cannon is attached to back onto the robot's back. Fold the neck piece back to put the head into place - this joint is possibly the stiffest on any TF and feels like you have to break it to get it to move. Then if you want fold the cannon platform back up 90 degrees so it projects over his shoulder.

Robot is small, but detailed. The legs look odd bending that way with the exposed track work at the front. You can turn the legs round getting a more traditional lower legs but that then means you've got a hole exposed in the waist piece. He bends at the knees but this is restricted to keep the toy upright and although the hips only move forwards and backwards they're actually connected by ball joints. The waist and head turn - head is lightpiped. Shoulders are ball jointed, elbows bend and the claws bend in. Gimmick doesn't work in robot mode.

Beast Machines saw a lot of experimentation with characters in multiple size classes and it's only right at the end that they discovered that smaller was better. Great toy

My original review said "Tank Drone: Small. But very nice. Excellent tank with a nice rotating gun launching missile gimmick. Transform was OK but I had BIG trouble with a very stiff joint on the neck piece - watch out there. As a nice touch on the robot you can produce either a show accurate treaded version or - by simply rotating 180 degrees at the waist a more traditional looking version with feet. Unfortunately neither has particularly straight legs ! I'm hoping that when the new assortment comes out over here they'll pack this potential army builder in large enough quantities..... "


Universe Stockade with Magna Stampede, Prowl (Emergency team) and Terradive (Air Military team)

Stockade returns in a Ultra sized pack for Universe with another Beast Machines basic and two minions. If you threw in another basic and another minicon it might then be worth the money !

I got the pack when it came out in the middle of my "must own every minicon repaint" phase and said this "Stockade is a mustard orange, burgundy, bronze and grey repaint of the Tank Drone. Looks nothing like the yucky bright yellow on the pictures. Works very well. " And it does. The mustard yellow was also used on the full size Tankor repaint albeit in different place. If I'd have had my way the two would have been bundled together.


Beast Wars Returns Tankor

When Beast Machines was released in Japan as Beast Wars Returns, they decided to make Tankor & thrust from their basic drone versions. Tank Drone's grey becomes a pale blue here, and his dark blue looses it's metallic edge. The chrome is gone as is all the clear red plastic. This is one of the few occasions that I prefer the western original - I think the Tank Drone looks a much nicer toy than BWR Tankor.


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