Hammerstrike - Beast Machines - Figure


The Battle For the Spark toys were a notch above the first series of Beast Machines toys and Hammerstrike is a decent example of that.

Tech Specs
Maximal: Hammerstrike
Function: Tracker, Ocean Attack
"The ocean depths conceal all intentions."

Not known for his intelligence or cunning, Hammerstrike is the best there is at what he does – destroy Vehicons. Of all the Maximals, Hammerstrike is the most battle hungry. Insatiable appetite for combat; devastating “frenzy” assault leaves few Vehicon survivors. Knows no fear, feels no pain and has endurance second only to Cheetor. Calculating and fearless, Hammerhead gives the Vehicons a good reason to stay out of the water.

Strength: 9.5 Intelligence: 5.5 Speed: 8.2 Endurance: 9.8
Rank: 6.1 Courage: 9.6 Firepower: 7.5 Skill: 5.0

So, is it Hammerstrike or Hammerhead? And does this tech spec remind anyone of other tech specs? Most of the sentences sound very familiar. One more thing, how many Transformers are “the best there is at what he [or she] does?” Perfection must be pretty easy to come by on Cybertron.

The Toy
Hammerstrike comes packaged in shark mode, which is a hammerhead reminiscent of the original Cybershark toy. He’s predominantly an off-brown color with a few dark blue highlights and some translucent orange bits. His Spark crystal is located a little ways back from the shark head on the top side of his shark mode. Pressing on it will activate the ramming gimmick. Whereas Cybershark fired off his entire shark head, Hammerstrike’s front-most orange section of the “hammer” bumps forward a bit. Also, just before the tail, on either side are what look like engines (probably to better propel himself or give him flight capability). On the right one is a nifty white Maximal insignia. I do wish more of the Beast era of Transformers had insignias.

A nice thing about Hammerstrike is that his is the first shark mode to actually be articulated. Just past the main fin on his back (dorsal fin? I forget) are the joints that make up his robot legs, which in turn allow his shark “tail” to be positioned in a variety of ways. It’s a bit tricky with the way the joints are situated though.

Transformation
Transformation is easy, but not Throttlebot easy. Separate the jaw and body halves and remove the nose section. Raise the body halves upwards and then rotate the tail section at the waist ninety degrees. Separate the tail section to form the robot legs. Push the chrome shark nose part down until it points to the ground and rotate the legs forward at the knees. Rotate the upper body forward, raise the head and there you have it. The hammerhead can be held in his right hand at the base or in the left had by utilizing the small hole in his hand.

Robot Mode
In robot mode, Hammerstrike measures 4 ½” in height at the head (and 5 ½” at the top of his shoulder fins). He’s also the lankiest Maximal to date. Night Viper has nothing on him in that department. The maximal symbol now sits on his right shoulder, proudly displaying his allegiance.

The smaller fins that are on his forearms just seem to dangle there, but they can be rotated around to the inside of Hammerstrike’s arms. This gives his arms a fuller look. However, there is nothing that can be done to make his body look beefier. He’s literally a spine with a chestplate, head, arms, and legs. This gives him a sleek appearance, but also seems a bit fragile. If that center “spine” were to break, the toy would only be good for kitbashing. So, play nice.

Overall
The only other thing I dislike is the fact that his legs have almost too much articulation due to the way they transform into the tail. They can be difficult to pose as the actually robot knee joints (on mine) are a little stiff. Otherwise, Hammerstrike is an excellent toy.

ReviewerViceGripX  
DateJune 18th 2002  
Score 7 stars (7 out of 10)  
Reads11942


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