Phil's Beast Wars Fuzor Torca
and
Beast Wars Neo Blendtron Elephaorpha Review


Torca

Torca is a Fuzor made from an Elephant and a Whale - an appropriate combination as I've read research that indicates Elephants are descended from whale like creatures. The sides of the beast - legs, body, tusks & ears - are the elephants while the middle - mouth, back including fin & tail are the whale's. The toy is molded in a combination of blue plastic for the whale and gold for the elephant with the tusks in an ivory coloured plastic. The detailing on the elephant pieces is very similar to BW Neo Sabreback in it's general feel. His back legs bend at the top and the ankle. The front legs are ball jointed at the top, have a swivel joint above the knee, bend at the knee and have a ball joint at the ankle. The jaw opens.

There are two gimmicks in this mode, both involving the whale's dorsal fin. Pull back on the fin to cause the tusks to come together. It's other function is a water pistol: If you pull up on the fin most of the back comes away. Put some water in a container, push forward on the fin, place in the water and release the fin to draw in some water. Place the weapon back on the toy and push forward on it to cause Torca to blow water out from about where his air spout would be. Interestingly this is one of the first deluxe toys to use the 5mm peg hole for it's hand so the hole left by the weapon could be used for mounting the likes of the Requiem Blaster on this beast.

TF: Remove the fin & weapon. Fold the beast tail up. Straighten the legs behind the toy and fold down the heel spurs. Look at the underside of the toy. Fold the side panels back. Bring the ivory sections the legs are attached to down and in to lock together to form the robot's waist. Fold the jaw down. Split the beast head in two down the middle, turn each half so it faces out and fold down to the sides. Straighten the front beast legs and fold down to the robot's side to form the arms. Turn at the wrists so the fists face forward. Place weapon into hand.

Another fearsome looking fuzor with an odd scary head - a bit gas mask like with the grilled visor lower down but almost Cheetor like with the eyes and the crest.. Robot is mainly gold, with a blue chest covered by the red of the inside of the folded down mouth. The tusks project up from the top of the beast. Thanks to a small projecting piece of plastic on the slot where the gun is taken from (and can be stored in robot mode) it's still possible to make the tusks move in robot mode. Arms have the articulation of the front beast legs, legs have ball jointed hips and bending knees & ankles. Incredibly the head turns and the gimmick still works when it turns !

Overall: Works for me as a toy. Decent combination of animals, good robot albeit one that looks a little odd and nasty for a Maximal.


X-6 Elephaorpha

Elephaorpha is the Beast Wars Neo Blendtron repaint of Torca released as toy X-6. The dark blue remains the same, the gold becomes light blue and the ivory white gets becomes a little whiter. It's not a bad repaint, if not hugely removed from the original.


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