Toy Review - TIGERHAWK (Legacy)
Beast Wars Universe TIGERHAWK
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Legacy
Hypo-line - United
Size/class - Leader
New/remould/redeco - New w/ some shared sculptwork from Kingdom Airazor and Tigatron
Wave - 1
Released here - December 2023
Approximate Retail Price - $99
Approximate Size - 19cm
Allegiance - Maximal
Affiliation - Vok
Alt-mode - Transmetal 2 tiger-falcon Fuzor
Main Features/Gimmicks - N/A
Main Colours - white, purple, bronze
Main Accessories - x2 featherswords, x2 gatling cannons, x1 dual-blaster
PICS
In box
https://i.ibb.co/MMSjGnH/TL-tigerhawk01.jpg
Robot mode
https://i.ibb.co/540ZH50/TL-tigerhawk02.jpg
Close-up on head
https://i.ibb.co/d4pHvVd/TL-tigerhawk03.jpg
Left side with details of back of head and wing underside
https://i.ibb.co/tD7M5mW/TL-tigerhawk05.jpg
Note that the transparent green right pauldron is much more reduced compared to the original toy. On the Beast Wars toy, this was originally meant to be house a Spark pilot figurine, same as the big transparent ball in Transmetal 2 Megatron's chest. But this idea was abandoned (but restored for in a Japanese variant of Cryotek).
Action pose, robot mode
https://i.ibb.co/DbpzWfP/TL-tigerhawk03a.jpg
Another robot mode action pose
https://i.ibb.co/HHBXrVf/TL-tigerhawk06.jpg
Beast mode
https://i.ibb.co/09rVPF8/TL-tigerhawk07.jpg
Beast mode action pose
https://i.ibb.co/B2bPsKJ/TL-tigerhawk08.jpg
Comparison with BW Tigerhawk, standard beast mode
https://i.ibb.co/ZcNB8dg/TL-tigerhawk09.jpg
Comparison w/ BW Tigerhawk, attack beast mode.
https://i.ibb.co/t8Dr1c3/TL-tigerhawk10.jpg
Legacy Tigerhawk doesn't have a falcon-helmet like the original toy. Although there is a slot on the beast head which doesn't do anything. I wonder if Hasbro had intended for this toy to have a falcon helmet accessory but then couldn't go ahead with it for budget reasons or something. It does give Hasbro the option to release the helmet separate with another toy or a Gens Selects toy-accurate repaint.
The original Tigerhawk has his Spark Crystal in the most visually useless place - embedded inside the corse of his torso, making it only visible during transformation. While Legacy Tigerhawk has no Spark Crystal, it does have this blank semi-spherical surface. Feels like an Easter Egg to me.
https://i.ibb.co/RgjQhbp/TL-tigerhawk11.jpg
Comparison with original Tigerhawk in robot mode
https://i.ibb.co/h8rFRqH/TL-tigerhawk12.jpg
Re-enacting Tigerhawk's creation scene
https://i.ibb.co/2y70M0D/TL-tigerhawk13.jpg
Pros
+ Unencumbered by all those annoying spring-loaded gimmicks
+ Much better balanced toy; the original is horribly back-heavy
+ The bronze accents throughout the toy really help to break up the white and make it look less bland
+ The toy uses a nice brilliant white, and not that "Clag" white from the original
+ All weapons can be removed and held in hands or attached to the body
+ The colouring on the eyes is really well done
+ The overall sculpting and colours on this toy, which are made to be more cartoon-like, does objectively look nicer
Cons
- Getting the halves of the beast chest to close up properly requires copious tab massaging; I found it tedious and frustrating, as often I'd get one side right but the other side wouldn't align and vice versa. Took me a while to coax both halves to tab together. :/
- No articulation on beast head which, like the original, is fixed in a downwards looking position. But this is due to the back of the head housing the Targeting Computer Battle Visor (falcon helmet), which Legacy doesn't have.
- The upper chest panel of the beast mode (where the faux-"cockpit" is) doesn't lock into place, but rather just sits there.
- Beast eyes have no pupils, despite the fact that both the original toy and cartoon model do (so it's inaccurate to both sources).
- No Targeting Computer Battle Visor (falcon mask)
- Teeth and tongue are unpainted (whereas they are coloured on the original toy)
Other
/ I'm not a fan of the snarling mouth, but admittedly this is accurate to both the original toy and Beast Wars cartoon model. It's also sculpted and painted much better than the snarling mouth on Legacy Transmetal 2 Megatron (which I think looks awful). I don't like facial expressions on my action figures, but I must admit that it is executed quite well on this toy. I'm not counting this as either a Pro or Con as it depends on your own personal preference for sculpted facial features; if that's your jam then you'll be delighted with the sculpting on this toy's robot face.
OVERALL
Except for the beast chest's difficult transformation, I would say that there are no major issues with this toy. Maybe I've ended up with a dud and other people's copies have easy beast chest transformations. This toy otherwise gets a lot more right than it gets wrong. It's a massive improvement over the original. Recommended.
