The Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters series hasn’t even started, but I already know I’m going to love it. And it’s ironic — when the images for the first wave of toys was initially revealed, most fans thought they looked awful, including me. This was going to be a retail Transformers line that I was going to be able to skip completely. But then the usual chain of events took place: a very intriguing teaser for the series made the rounds, and we all got a chance to see the figures in person. That was enough. I had to have them. The first wave is just starting to trickle out at Toys R Us and Lazerback here looks to be the most sought-after figure from this wave for two reasons: he’s the only new character in the wave, and he’s the first official “beast” to be released in the Beast Hunters line. And, let’s face it, he’s a dragon. Could there ever be a better reason than that? A dragon! It’s not a new concept for the Transformers universe, as Megatron transformed into a giant red dragon in the third season of Beast Wars, but it’s looking like we’re going to get a full team of dragons with this line. And I can’t wait to see how it develops.
The new packaging is pretty basic. No frills and the card seems smaller than what we’ve been getting recently. There’s also very little information about the character on the back of the card, which is a big departure from typical Transformers packaging protocol.
His stats are displayed on the side of the plastic blister as usual, but if we want to learn more about the character, then we need to open him up.
His bio, pictured above, is printed on his instruction sheet rather than the back of his card. And since the show hasn’t aired yet, this bio is really all we have to go on since we really know nothing about this character going in. It certainly sounds interesting, though. When I first saw pictures of him, I just assumed he’d be something of a foot-soldier type who served under Predaking, but this bio definitely makes him sound a whole lot more interesting.
His bot mode is just OK. I actually think it looks better in the picture above than it actually does in person. His transformation is very simple because the emphasis here is definitely on the dragon mode. It almost feels as though the ‘bot mode is a bit of an afterthought. It’s kind of like the dragon just stood up on his hind legs and popped on a new head, nothing too exciting as far as transformations go. And he does suffer from the “hollow syndrome” that has been plaguing retail Transformers lately, but it’s nowhere near as bad as some from the Generations line.
His articulation is pretty standard for the Transformers Prime line. There aren’t a whole lot of limitations holding him back, so posing him isn’t a problem. His head movement is a bit limited, but that’s about the worst of it.
For weapons and accessories, he comes with a cannon (pictured above), and his tail turns into a whip he can wield (pictured below). Neither is all too terribly impressive, but I’m a big fan of weapons that can be integrated into the alt mode, and that’s exactly what both of these can do.
The color palette is a bit garish, but it mostly works. The purple is what is throwing me off, I think. I think I’d be happier with it if it were a different shade of red rather than the purple, but it isn’t that big a deal. It does provide some decent contrast.
His dragon mode is way cooler than his ‘bot mode and I really can’t see myself ever transforming him back to his ‘bot mode ever again. And it’s not even all that cool of a dragon, as far as dragons go. It almost looks like a baby dragon. But a dragon is a dragon, so I am down.
His jaw is articulated, but that’s the extent of the articulation in his head. There is no side-to-side movement and he can’t look up and down. But at least he can eat and breath fire. (Does he breathe fire? I guess we’ll find out soon.)
I like the way his cannon becomes his back in dragon mode. It’s not a perfect, seamless integration, but it does the job well enough. His tail doesn’t do a whole lot in his dragon mode either. It can move up and down a little bit, but it isn’t articulated at all itself. Seems like it should be.
Honestly, of the three Beast Hunters figures I’ve picked up so far, Lazerback is probably my least favorite. Somehow I actually like Wheeljack and Bumblebee a lot more, and these were two I was definitely going to skip initially since I was perfectly happy with the previous Prime versions. I guess since my expectations for them were so low it was easy for me to be impressed by them (or something). Lazerback isn’t a bad figure, and I don’t mean to imply that, but the others are hitting the sweet spot just a little bit harder.
I do like having another dragon to add to the ranks, so Lazerback will find a place in my collection. He is fun to play around with despite whatever minor misgivings I may have. This first assortment is currently available at Toys R Us and Amazon, and should be hitting everywhere soon enough, probably once stores get their seasonal resets all squared away.