Mastermind Creations Reformatted Feral Rex Part 1: R03 & R05

Over a year ago, Mastermind Creations started releasing their Reformatted Feral Cons, their take on the G1 Predacons. They had a bit of competition in the form of Unique Toys' War Lord, which kind of sucked at the very start, and in TFC Toys' Project Ares. But this series of reviews isn't about those guys, it's about Feral Rex! Let's get started with Reformatted R03 Bovis and R05 Fortis. While this isn't in numerical order, this was how they got released due to Talon and Leo Dux having been delayed. Besides, the Supply Specialist and Ground Assaulter are very similar, so it's good to cover them together.



Bovis is a bull, Fortis is a rhinoceros. (mechanical ones, of course) Bovis is Tantrum, Fortis is Headstrong. They have basically the same body with a few differences such as the head and feet. Bovis is orange and red, Fortis is yellow and red. Both feature some black as well, and metallic gold for the eyes. Now, Fortis is transformed as how the instructions say to do it, but as he and Bovis are essentially the same he can be transformed just like the bull... or the bull can be transformed just like the rhino. Whatever you prefer. The foot plates/mortar cannons are far more secure in Bovis' configuration, and they and the hands are exactly the same between the two. (aside from how the hands are assembled) The remaining accessories plug into the 5mm ports on the legs, though Bovis' guns' elliptical pegs on the sides are a tad short and don't do as great of a job at it. Both figures are articulated in beast mode, though it's understandably limited. The mouths can open, but that exposes the robot faces and that gets all kinds of awkward.

These figures are big. And chunky. I think a size comparison is in order...



That's TFC Toys' Dr. Crank, the Hook analogue for Hercules and one of the longer vehicles. He's about a small Voyager in size, yet is made to look rather puny here. But let's see the robot modes, because that's another important part of this.



Same mold, same transformation. The robot feet are a bit of a pain to work with, as you need to thread them through the calf panel they're connected to, but the rest of it is straightforward enough. Yet while the robot modes do more clearly show their similarities... Bovis and Fortis still look convincingly like two completely different figures. Fortis even has a chest plate that homages the original Headstrong and how the front legs would slide in so the feet would help form it, a nice touch! Another nice touch is the space on Bovis' chest just begging for a Decepticon symbol to be placed there. The metallic red visors are really spiffy, though the yellow faces may not of come off as nicely as MMC may have hoped... (yellow paint will do that...) Still love Bovis' scowl and Fortis' frown though.

Now, Bovis was discovered being... a little loose in the plastic clam-shell packaging, which caused a little bit of paint wear on the chest. Mine even suffered, though only so slight you'd hardly notice. Nevertheless, MMC incorporated a huge strip of sticky plastic running from top to bottom on all future Reformatted figures including Fortis to better secure them without risking scuffing the paint. Another slight problem is that the elbows on both can sometimes end up a bit chewed up by a completely unnecessary stopper in the upper elbow ratchet. The right elbows on both have suffered, though Fortis was worse. Not to worry though, it hardly affects the strength of the joint and can be solved as simply as just carefully trimming the stopper away... or replacing the elbow assemblies with the spare parts Talon and Tigris both provide, though this requires pushing pins out.

Both figures feature roughly 26 points of articulation, and generally do a great job with this. The weapons can store on them, or they can hold them in their hands including the big mortar cannons. (does require something of a kneeling pose to support it though) Getting the blades into their hands is a scary experience, and I feel as though the gap in Bovis' handles is just barely not wide enough to let his thumb slip through comfortably. Always try to fit the blades into their hands with the gap for the thumb facing up, else the handles will probably break. Fortis holds his a little easier, a good thing since his beefy cannons look better arm mounted.

How about a size comparison in this mode?



Oh my... Dr. Crank is about a head shorter in this mode, and seems kind of scrawny by comparison. Oh, and the extra stuff on the inside of their forearms? We'll get to that in another review...

So, is Bovis worth it? Is Fortis worth it? Hell yes to both. Such a solid and sturdy beast mode, such an incredible robot mode, about the only real negative is they're slightly frustrating to transform. Either one stands on its own so well, they don't need the rest of the team to get your money's worth. But of course, there's still plenty of temptation to get the others to BUILD GIANT ROBOT!

...I love saying that.

dam he's huge!

Galvatron wrote:dam he's huge!

You haven't seen anything yet. Leo Dux is the biggest of the group, and then there's Talon's wingspan to consider...

MASSIVE!!

If he taller than Dr Crank, he bound to be pretty large, overall, you'll have to do a comparison shot of the two combiners together!

SuperOmegaPrime wrote:If he taller than Dr Crank, he bound to be pretty large, overall, you'll have to do a comparison shot of the two combiners together!

What makes you think I haven't?   (you'll see soon enough)