Moving on to the transformation design of "Transformers: Prime - Beast Hunters" Cyberverse Legion Class Twinstrike after the previous posting. ^^
Piston Hammer must be removed.
(1) The chest panel is opened, (2) the head is folded downward and into the body, (3) the chest panel is closed back up.
The arms/dragon necks are bent upward on both sides of the body. Then, using the shoulder joints, the arms/dragon necks are rotated to the front of the body.
On the back, the tails are folded backward for 180 degrees. The dragon necks are then be tilted upward for 90 degrees so that the heads are facing forward.
The front legs are connected to one another via a hinge joint that runs through the chest. They are rotated from the back to the front of the body.
Using the upper leg joint, the leg is bent to the front until the paw is downward-facing.
Unlike the hinge joint shown earlier on, the upper leg joints of the two legs are not connected, so they need to be adjusted individually.
For the hind legs, they are swiveled downward for 90 degrees first.
The side armor on each leg can be extended horizontally via its peg at the knee (robot mode).
The extended side armor is then rotated upward and pushed in against the thigh.
The robot mode feet are rotated to the back so that the three-clawed paws are facing forward instead.
Piston Hammer can be pegged into a slot in the middle of the tail unit.
Either of the two slots on the back can be used to mount the hammer as well.
More images of Cyberverse Legion Class Twinstrike in beast mode:
Closeups on the details:
[Head]
[Body]
[Legs]
Bottom view:
The beast mode design is surprising well done for Twinstrike in my opinion. ^^ The look of the limbs are pretty accurate to that on an actual quadrupedal animal, so despite the simple transformation, Twinstrike's beast mode does resemble a double-headed dragon, instead of a bipedal robot pretending to be a beast. ^^ The overall design of the character is pretty clever in realizing that nice look of the beast mode. ^^ The front legs are folded up behind the robot mode, so they can be treated as newly revealed beast mode components. At the same time, the retractable hind leg's side armor piece is an ingenious design. ^^ In robot mode, the armor hides the beast mode's stifle and hock joints, and the wider opening of it that faces downward makes the lower leg seem bigger than the thigh, which is a typical leg design for robots; in beast mode however, the armor is swung to the top, revealing the two aforementioned animal joints, and as the larger side of the armor is now facing upward, it makes the thigh looks bigger - a typical characteristic of a quadrupedal animal. ^^ The idea is so simple, yet so effective in altering the look between Twinstrike's robot and beast modes.
As it turns out, even though they belong to the same product series, I feel that Twinstrike's transformation design is way more involved than Arcee's. ^^; The ability of its head to be concealed inside the body is already a huge plus point for Twinstrike, but the more balanced look in both modes is what I like the most about Twinstrike. Arcee looks better in her motorcycle mode, and I used to treat the parts that can't be transformed properly from vehicle to robot mode on her to be inevitable weaknesses for a Transformers figure in this small scale. ^^; Twinstrike however, proves that those weaknesses can actually be further minimized through clever disguise to improve on the figure's look in both modes, without the need to be designed as a Commander Class release that is. ^^ Looking at how well the figure turns out to be, I'm excited to find out how the other four Predacon combiners would be like in terms of transformation design and look. ^^
Twinstrike has a few interesting articulation features in its beast mode:
Using their neck joints (shoulder joints in robot mode), the two dragon heads enjoy a very flexible range of swiveling action.
As compared to being arms and hands in its robot mode, I definitely like the dragon heads' look in beast mode more. ^^
As each neck joint can be hinged to either side of the body, it's possible to create a wider gap between the two heads
As mentioned earlier on during the transformation sequence, the hinge that connects the two forelegs allow the latter to move together. It's a minor time-saving design if you want to adjust both legs to the same position. XD
Two action poses of Twinstrike in beast mode:
With support using Soul Stage Act 3 Action Support Clear Type.
Comparison with Commander Class Optimus Prime from "Transformers: Prime - Beast Hunters":
Vehicle mode
Robot mode
The comparison actually shows off Optimus Prime's amazing increment in overall size from truck to robot mode more than Twinstrike's seemingly similar size in beast mode when compared to Optimus Prime's truck mode. ^^;
Twinstrike's articulation design and action poses in robot mode will be up next. ^^
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