Phil's Beast Wars Wolfang, K-9 &
Japanese 10th Anniversary Boldfang Review

Beast Wars Wolfang

Wolfang also has a special place in British hearts: He appeared in the first * European deluxe assortments in 1997 along with Cheetor, Rhinox, Dinobot, Tarantulus and Waspinator. By the time the toys reached the UK in early 1998 he was gone and replaced by Cybershark and Jetstorm. And the concept of a UK shelf warmer was born but that's a different story. A similar thing happened with Armadillo but he went after the toys were released in the UK. I owned a European Wolfang - it came on a French Animutants card, and have seen pictures of a Biocombat Wolfang from Italy but never saw or have seen any reliable evidence of a Biocombat Wolfang having been sold in the UK. (Animutants and Biocombat are prominent brandings on European BW cards)

* or possibly second - My Animutants Optimus Primal box depicts just 4 deluxe characters

Beast mode is pretty static which is the norm for beasts from this era. There's some poseability in the rear legs but that's it. The robot is mainly grey but there's a little light blue from the robot mode chest peaking through.

TF: Pull out the tail and set to one side. Fold the back of the top of the rear legs down to cover the back of the bottom of the legs, and from there flip out the robot feet and heel spurs. Straighten. Open out the halves of the beast head and reveal the robot head. Remove the entire back of the beast. On either side of the beast fold the halves of each side of the beast down till they meet in the middle sticking out to the sides. Push down on the upper body to shorten the robot's size. Fold the arms out to the sides, straighten and pose the fore legs as you like. Take one of the missiles from his back and insert into the base of the tail. Insert into the hand as a weapon. Turn round the mid panel on the removed back piece and then flip the handle up on the back piece and place into the other hand as a shield. Fold back the Mutant Head if you so desire.

Exposed robot mode pieces are mainly blue with some black. The robot has some ankle articulation from the TF, Bending knees and elbows, ball jointed hips and shoulders - the later of which can swing forward as part of the TF - and a neck joint. His Beast Head is a simple visor mask that can fold back revealing a robot with a very prominent chin that puts even Barry Hercules from Star Fleet to shame ! The shield can be stored now on the shortened back by retracting the handle and pegging back into place, and the gun has a holster of sorts by plugging in into one of the holes on the waist piece - intended for the pegs from the top of the front leg. The spikes sticking out of the front of the chest from the 2 anchor shaped missiles are slightly disconcerting - the missile is stored through the body and around the back - but the robot looks far odder without them.

Overall: Decent deluxe. His reputation in the UK is inspired by being so rare.

Wolf fang was availible in Japan as Howlinger or in VS-09 with Buzzsaw - another unreleased UK toy. Wolfang also has an exclusive Japanese remold as Cyberbeast Max-B

Beast Wars K-9

K9 meanwhile is a dog, probably a German shepherd. It's fur is black on top, going to yellow and then white. The head pieces are altered on K9 to give it a more doggy look, the back is longer and the tail more curved and in a different direction. K9 reveals mostly white robot pieces with some additional blue paint.

K9's a good upgrade of the original toy, a few minor tweaks to the mold making it a bit more different than a straight recolour.

Japanese Beast Wars 10th Anniversary Boldfang

Boldfang is a Japanese Beast Wars reissue toy, though not an actual reissue ! This is because he's a repaint of an existing toy in brand new colours as a brand new character on the opposite side. He's repainted from Howlinger which is the Japanese version of the Maximal Wolfang. Wolfang itself was remolded as K9 who in turn was remolded as Cyberbeast Max-B - a Destron. Boldfang - as it's antecedent's name insinuates is a wolf. The fur on the upperside is a greyish brown, while it's a very pale grey underneath.

Boldfang has some red, and some gold and silver detailing in robot mode - the chest detailing is excellent picking out all the molded detail that's been unpainted on previous versions. Boldfang's face is painted silver - as is the mutant head (mask). Unfortunately the silver streak continues onto the chin and since this is the only bit visible with the mouth pulled down it makes him look like he has buck teeth. Worse is to come though when the grey mask and bright white eyes make you realise you're looking at a TF with Buggs Bunny's face !

Overall - Boldfang is a good repaint of the original - save for the unintentional hilarity with the Mutant Face !

Now where's my yellow and black BW Bumblebee ?

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