The Haslab Transformer for 2023, Deathsaurus, finally released. It's currently shipping to customers all over the world, and I was fortunate enough for it to arrive in the middle of December. Now, I'd seen some photos up to this point, including some disappointing paint and colour losses, and more importantly, I was fearing that I'd have some random QC issue like I did with Victory Saber (I mean, come on.. how can your figure be missing a HOLE?).
Well, it was time for Trial by Fire, so LET'S GO!
For the uninitiated, Deathsaurus is the Destron (Decepticon) leader in the Transformers Victory series which we never got here in Canada/USA. He is what is called a Breastmaster (or Chestmaster for the PC types) whose gimmick they have smaller robots that fit into the chest of the Bot mode, kind of like Soundwave. Because he's the big bad, Deathsaurus actually has a double system. He transformer into allegedly a Dragon, but I do recall that the Fandom in general refers to him as a Space Chicken.
Overall, I have to say that the packaging this time around was better than the Victory Saber release. While the Hasbro customers only received this art box, the Japanese collectors received an additional slip cover with line art and probably more exciting back side stuff.. The box also appeared to be better in terms of rigidity.
As the project met all its funding goals, Deathsaurus came packed with a very neat assortment of parts and as a set is certainly more cohesive than Victory Saber, though to be fair that needed more money in the engineering department. I guess it was less of a risk, as during the official campaign only the Living Metal Cannon and the Throne were unlocks.
I recall receiving an email later on saying that the remaining Micromasters, Pipo and Boater, were also to be included, completing the set started with the Victory Saber release.
The good news about in terms of sculpting and overall look, prototype Transformer figures and their final counterparts are effectively identical. I mean, there's always some random thing here and there that could result in unexpected downgrades, but it's never a huge surprise like with a Hot Toy. Deathsaurus looks every bit as stunning as promised BUUUUUUUTTTTT... as typical with Hasbro, many of the paint applications were missing. The most paintful loos for me was the loss of the silver paint applications as these would have really spruced up the Beast mode. On the plus side, the Gold chrome seems a lot better than on Victory Saber, which was so bad that people actually went out and fixed them with mirror tape.
One of nice things about revisiting characters is that it gives toy makers the opportunity to fix things on the original toys, which includes head sculpts, which back in the day were not exactly known for being even close to what we got on screen. Hasbro certainly did a bang up job on this one, and is an excellent upgrade from the original toy. Sadly, I've only seen photos of this and pretty much every other Japanese G1 toy as they never made it to North America, which I suppose actually allowed my family to recover financially by never giving me anything to whine at my folks to buy for me.
In Breastplate mode, Tigerbreast and Eaglebreast basically turn into rectangular shaped blocks that you can just put into the holly cavity of the robot mode chest. Of course, my first question is how do you make sure things don't get stuck in there, and the answer (which wasn't on the manual) is that there's a hole behind the cavity that can be used to push them out with.
Weapon mode is, like many of the toys of that era, really something that you need to use your imagination for. Tigerbreast is OK in that it looks decent but ultimately is still kind of dumb looking. He turns into a bow that is to be used with the included arrow. Getting the parts into position is a bit of a pain but isn't terrible, and THANK GOD Hasbro didn't go for an arrow that needed to be held in the hands, but rather just has tabs that secures it to the inner forearm.
Eaglebreast, on the other hand is... pretty sketchy. I mean, a set of barrels and a handle pop out and you get a gun. Compared to the other weapons Deathsaurus is packing, this seems incredibly lame, even by 90s standards.
Here's the two in Beast mode. They both look incredibly goofy in that lovable old school way, with some nice modern convivences added to them.
The Throne is supposed to work with the included Base, but I was too lazy to break those out. For the record, I was also took lazy to breakout the Flight Stand or any of the effects.
The Throne also lost colour compared to the prototype. Now, if one were to use it for its intended purpose, namely having Deathsaurus actually it in it, you're not likely to notice it that much. But by itself, the Throne just looks like of sad and half finished. The notch on the back of the Throne is for you to to stick the Beast head of Deathsaurus into so he can actually sit on the thing. You can also mount pretty much his entire arsenal onto the chair.
Continuing on the list of no surprises, Articulation. I don't think making Articulation awesome is ever going to be in the list of things to check off on a Haslab product. It's not horrible by any means, but it's basically what you get on a Mainline figure of this stature, so ankle, knees, waist and so on. There's some additional articulation for the wings, to spread the Beast talons and for the smaller claws, but nothing unexpected. Actual ankles for support. You're not doing any crazy poses.
The only area of surprise, sort of, is the shoulders. It's very much standard range of motion but there are additional hinges and flaps that sort of replicate a Butterfly joint motion as well as to allow the arms to spread outwards slightly. I do believe most of it is due to the transformation requirements, though it is also this that makes it possible for the Bow and Arrow combination to be used properly.
It should be mentioned there there is also some ever so slight Ab Crunch that can be used in either Bot or Beast mode.
Transformation into Space Chicken mode isn't overly complicated, and is about right for this size of figure. Beast modes looks about as cohesive as you would expect for a random Alt mode like this. Working jaw and pivoting head allow for a more immersive play and display experience.
While the loss of Paint Applications is disappointing, at least the actual paint that is on the figure is very competent. Applications are rich and do not indicate that too little was used. Even Gold, typically one of those colours where you would see brush marks or other artifacts, were problem free. There were no masking issues found anywhere on the figure or its accessories. As mentioned, even the Gold Chrome applied is exceptionally well done. Decals do not appear to be the low quality ones that plagued earlier releases including Victory Saber.
Build Quality wise, nothing major to really mention. For the most part the figure behaves as you'd expect, competently in terms of tolerances and joint strength. Things move and tab nicely together. There are a few design choices that I'm not too fond of, however. The plastic used for the shoulder panels appear to be a bit more flexible than, which is great on areas where overbending might happen, but because tolerances are so tight the tabs lock very snug, and you need to really pull to get those panels apart, so I have concerns about fragility.
Another less than thrilling design choice was the decision to have little little plastic brackets used as mounting pieces for the Shield/Tail and the Flight Stand. Just another thing to lose, and there was ample room for the Shield to design a folding handle in there or something.
Finally, the Chest bay on Deathsaurus has a spring keeping the door closed, and this spring is put into tension whenever the door is held open, i.e. when you keep your minions in Breast Plate mode in there. I've had some older toys suffer from spring failure, mostly launchers, because of being over tensioned for too many years.
Maybe I should take them out when displaying Deathsaurus.
Overall, a more cohesive product than Victory Saber, but again, likely due to the fact more resources could be allocated to other things dude to the lack of transformations needed overall. It does feel to me like Hasbro learned a few things from the issues around QC on the first set, and got their shit together, resulting in a better quality product overall. I've not read anything about any complaints, so I don't think I got lucky.
If you missed this, there's always the chance they sell it again briefly in the future, like they did in December when Haslab did a Vault sale thing.
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