Darkmount's vehicle mode here is a blue half track tank. In addition there's a small amount of grey panelling on the toy. Putting him straight to the Transformers Tank Test we find that the turret turns and the gun barrel elevates so we find he passes the Tank Test on both accounts. The gun barrel extends quite some way over the front of the tank. At the base of the barrel is a series of four what looks like grenade launchers. The end of the gun barrel is in fact a very short Mini-con peg. I got Swindle to attach OK but couldn't get Pinpointer or Throttler to mount. Adding ones like Sky Blast, Ransack or Throttler as extra weapons would be nice. Your mileage here may vary. On the front of the tank, and again at the front of the turret, is a M17 marking, a reference to the issue of the US comic he first appeared in.
Darkmount is a superb exponent of the new clip & bar accessory gimmick. He comes with three grey weapons connected by a ball joint to a red clip: a gun, a six missile bank and a three tube grenade launcher. He had a vertical bar at the back of the left turret and a horizontal bar at the front on the same side. The right side has two horizontal bars at each end. There's a bar across the hatch on the top of the tank - perfect for the gun - and a vertical bar in front of each tank tread. You could also connect the weapons to the handles that folds out the back of the tank (Why are there handles? Read on!)
To transform Darkmount into his cannon mode start by separating the rear deck of the tank and pulling out to the sides. Rotate the robot arms underneath so the can bend down at the shoulders then rotate the fists so the knuckle faces up. Rest the deck halves on the back of the arms. Swing the sides of the front of the tank out to the sides and fold the underside of the front of the tank down. Turn the turret round so it faces backwards, rest on a surface and push the turret forward so it's level. Fold the handles out from the back of the tank and rotate to the sides.
His Cannon Mode has elements of Straxus vehicle mode from the comics which was basically a flying cannon, but overall it's nowhere near that design. The best thing you can say about it is to praise the way it works as a weapon for the smaller scout class vehicles.
Transformation to robot mode: Start with the tank. Pull the rear deck halves out to the sides revealing the arms. Fold the deck halves down so the tank treads are next to the body. Push as far forward as you can so they're out of the way. Swing the arms down at the shoulders and fold the shoulders & front wheels forward past the deck halves so that the wheels point in diagonally. Fold the bottom of the chest down under the front of the vehicle. Fold the top of the chest forward, folding the head up from underneath it then fold the chest back down again. Fold the turret down so it hangs under the vehicle. Open the doors on the underside of the turret, though they're now facing upwards, fold each half of the turret forwards to form the legs and then close the doors on the back of the lower legs. Remove the tank barrel from the turret - oh dear it pulls out of what will now be his bottom leaving a 4mm peg hole behind as it were. Fold the grey flap closed over the front of his waist and straighten the legs in relation to this. Fold the waist up to the body clipping the lower chest into it. Fold the front of each turret half forward to form the feet. Press in on his heel to pop the heel spurs out the bottom of his foot and fold these back. Rotate the arms at the biceps so the tank tread parts are on the outside of the lower arms and if necessary rotate the wrists so the palms face the body. swing the sides of the front of the tank out to the sides to become shoulder pads and then lock the tank deck halves together to form a backpack. Open the hand and place the tank barrel in it. Turn the connector for the tank barrel down 90 degrees to form the head of Straxus' signature weapon, his axe.
Darkmount's robot mode looks much like Straxus' appearance in the comics. The main colour used is blue for the lower legs, chest sides, shoulder pads, arm guards, head and fingers. The centre of the chest is painted gold with the sides of the chest having a red triangle design, making the chest look like a modified version of the chest used on the Diaclone jet design. This design inspiration is perhaps a little more prominent in this panel from US Transformers #17. For an alternate chest design fold the shoulder pads back into the place they occupy in vehicle mode. The head is spot on which is important when producing a new version of a familiar character. As a nice touch you can see the raised neck through the sides of his mouth. Sadly the head is non removable so you can't recreate his later Marvel UK appearances where it's disembodied in a jar. The figure has a slightly odd look to it from the sides: if the legs are straight in relation with the waist then the robot looks down and the top of the chest slopes forward. To get the top of the chest level and the robot looking straight ahead means that the back is sloped oddly wit the top projecting back. Since the toy is already a little back heavy due to the backpack posing the toy like this means it's a little off balance. Add into this a pair of hips which are a little bit loose and you've got a recipe for a toy that falls over easily. The robot is the usual sort of size for a deluxe toy but this makes it look rather small if you want to recreate his comic appearances with the original Blaster. I'd suggest you put him up against Device Lable Blaster instead.
Articulation isn't bad, but is a little odd in a few places. The ankles for a start are on ball joints but the ball projects into the side of the ankle giving a slightly odd appearance but allowing for a decent spread legs stance. The knees are hinged, there's a thigh swivel and the aforementioned slightly loose ball joints on the hips. The head turns, the shoulders are ball jointed, the biceps turn, the elbow bends and in another slightly odd touch has a hinge which allows it to bend in. Finally the hands are ball jointed with the fingers being hinged so that they close against the thumb forming a grip that can hold a 5mm peg. However the ball joint on the hand has a tendency to fold down so you'll not be able to get him to hold any particularly heavy weapons. He's fine with his axe though. The axe supposedly stores in his backpack but for the life of me I can't work out how, despite looking at the instructions which are rather unhelpful in this area. I suppose you could stand a legends figure in the backpack but that won't help the overall balance of the toy.
The clip and bar gimmick works less well here. There's a bar on either side of the top of the backpack which are useful, but there's nothing on the shoulder pads or the forearms which would have been useful, while all the rest of the bars are scattered over the legs and the feet which are less useful for mounting a weapon on.
So decent, if odd coloured tank. But it isn't the first blue Transformers tank by any means and is necessary for the robot mode. The tank mode is enhanced by the clip gimmick but the cannon mode is a bit of a let down. The robot mode is quite faithful to Straxus comic appearance. Well worth buying and hopefully it will encourage Hasbro to do more comic characters as toys. Impactor please.
Darkmount was a wave 2 Generations toy released with War For Cybertron Megatron and was sold in the US and UK. He was released in Japan as Transformers United toy UN-10 Straxus which replaces the grey with either a pale blue (upper legs, gun handles) or a pale grey. The pale blue also replaces the red used for the upper arms and weapons clips.
In the plastic Skullgrin replaces most of the blue with grey, red with black, most of the grey with black except for the hands and upper legs which, like the formerly blue chest, become a burgundy red. The head is gone, replaced with a new head modeled after the head of Pretender Skullgrin outer shell. The weapons remain the same, but in the new colours which is perhaps a missed opportunity to give him some new ones and further expand the clip & bar arsenal. A couple of guns and a sword like the original would have been good, maybe modifying the tank's gun barrel to form them. The head is a little small but other than that it's a fine repaint.
Skullgrin was a Wave 5 Transformers Generation toy sold with War for Cybertron Cliffjumper and Thunderwing. Unlike most other Generations toys no Transformers United version has yet been announced.
