The Best The Beast Wars Has To Offer? Beast Wars Vintage Retrax and Cybershark Review

Beast Wars is the pinnacle of Transformers in my opinion. It is the best written TV series which introduced a lot of concepts that have become stables in the Transformers media that has followed since, as well as giving us some of the greatest characters such as Rattrap, Tarantulus and, of course, Beast Wars Megatron. Along with these it also had an amazing toyline for the time pack with gimmicks and great articulation, in most cases. Today we look at reissues of two toys from the line that were non TV characters but are toys I had as a kid and have not had the joy of holding again in near 20 years, the Evil Predacon Retrax and the Heroic Maximal Cybershark!

Retrax

Retrax comes in the fantastic "rock shell" Beast Wars Retro packaging, which I really love to see, with a fantastic art piece of Retrax, which looks amazing. 

Retrax's operation within the Predacon's is Desert Demolition, according to his Bio, where he "survives in a series of cool, cavernous tunnels lined with the remains of his fallen enemies." I am sure he Kills it at all the Predacon functions.

Out of the box we have Retrax in his beast mode, which is that of a woodlouse or pill bug, which was an interesting discovery for me as I always assumed it was a caterpillar as a child giving the green colouration. There isn't any articulation as such in this mode, the legs can go up and down.

There are gimmicks that can be used in beast mode though, pressing the button on Retrax's head will snap shut his pincers, pressing the button on the opposite end will snap down the stinger, and pressing the two buttons in the centre will cause Retrax to go into full roly-poly mode.

Transformation is a simple process, the legs unfold from underneath, you move black panel down towards the legs, then rotate down the transparent panel that will for the chest and unclip the bug head and backside to free the arms and that's it.

Articulation in this mode is a bit limited, the knees can bend and the legs are on ball joints at the hips, The head is on a ball joint and the arms can only move horizontally towards and away from the chest, that's it. The hands can be untabbed from the bug parts to let them move free of the bug mode parts and the gimmicks from the bug mode can still be used in robot mode.

This toy is horrible, I am not going to sugar coat it. All the spring loaded mechanics don't lock in well so will trigger on the slightest movement, making posing difficult and transforming tedious even though the process is simple. Another thing that makes posing difficult is that Retrax is very top heavy, with the bug mode head and butt being very solid pieces, so Retrax does not want to stand, and this toy was made before the standard today that is ankle tilt so the feet offer little support.

Cybershark

Cybershark also comes in the fantastically nostalgic card back packaging but in a smooth shell instead of the rock type that Retrax comes in.

Cybershark's role within the Maximals is that of Ocean Attack, where he searches the ocean depths for Predacons, knocking him out by launching his robotic hammerhead and then "finishes the job" by "filleting his prey with his switchblade tail!" Both him and Retrax are very pleasant fellows.

Out of the box, we have Cybershark in shark mode, I have always thought this is such a cool design, especially to go with a hammerhead shark. He is this lovely light blue colour with sea green speckles along the back to really make it pop, he even has the pale underbelly.

There is no real articulation in this mode except that the fins can move in wide circles due to being on ball joints and the tail and can move up and down due to transformation. Similar to Retrax, Cybershark can use his gimmicks in beast mode, such as launching his hidden blade in his tail and launching his shark head.

Transformation is a simple process and similar to that of Rattrap. Remove the tail, pop open the main body and pull down the legs bringing the shark head down and over the robot head, and that's it.

This is an amazing robot mode, I love every aspect of the design. I feel like have the beast head as a chest  piece is the Beast Wars version of the bumper chest, and I love both instances. The detailing is fantastic on this, the back wing panels have detailing on them to almost look like the inside of a submarine, including little portholes. The head sculpt is one of my favourite Transformers head sculpts there is, it is menacing and intimidating, which you don't see a lot for a someone who is supposed to be a good guy.

Articulation on Cybershark is top notch for the time, Head is on a ball joint, up and down movement is slightly restricted due to the chest piece and back piece, but it can do full Exorcist head rotation and tilt to the sides. The shoulders are on ball joints only limited by the wings and the elbows can bend to allow the fists to touch the shoulders, there is also the nice touch of upper arm rotation! Hips are on ball joints with some limitations to movement due to the shark head torso and back piece, but if the shark head is removed there is great forward movement, there is thigh rotation, knees bend 90 and thanks to transformation, the feet can pivot forward and back.

Of course, like Retrax, Cybershark can use his gimmicks in robot mode, the tail can be used as a saw or cutter of sorts in Cybersharks hand, and the Shark head can be rotated up to fire, but not only that, hidden in Cybershark's back are missiles that be loaded into the gun that fires the shark head! Cybershark can also wield his shark head as a hammer.

Verdict

Having both of these in hands brings back a great flood of nostalgia for me. Cybershark I am so so so happy to have in my collection again as one of my favourite Beast Wars toys from my childhood collection. Being able to hold him, transform him and use his gimmicks is fantastic and was a real surprise as I thought he would never get a reissue not being a show character.

Retrax I never saw getting a reissue, I didn't really like this toy as a kid, he was the lowest of the Predacons in my mind always being the one the bad things happened too, like losing his legs (I actually lost his legs). but holding it in hand and reliving how terrible a toy it is and those memories of me as a kid playing with, I couldn't help but laugh every time he fell over, or one of the spring traps in his arms accidentally let lose. It was so much fun to relive a terrible toy.

I will 100% recommend Cybershark to anyone who is interested in Beast Wars as he is one of the best the line had to offer, but I could only recommend Retrax if, like me, you want to relive bad memories. I got mine for dirt cheap at a bargain shop and I believe that to be case in the US as well, I got them both at £6 each so I definitely don't regret that decision.

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