Hasbro Transformers Rise of the Beasts Beast Battle Masters Skullcruncher Figure Hasbro, 2023
Day #2,581: June 13, 2023
Beast Battle Masters Skullcruncher Crocoblaster
Transformers Rise of the Beasts Beast Battle Masters
Item No.: Asst. F3895 No. F4601 Manufacturer:Hasbro Includes:n/a Action Feature:Transforms from aligator to blaster Retail:$6.99 Availability: March 2023 Other: A great toy, but not for the price
When the Rise of the Beasts toys got out, two really looked cool. Skullcruncher was one and Optimus Prime with Chainclaw [FOTD #2,581] was the other, because of the wolf with a chainsaw butt. These looked fun, but I'd be lying if they were particularly worth the asking price for the accessories alone. Skullcruncher in particular is almost insulting at $6.99, especially since Hasbro's able to make bigger, better, and cheaper toys in its Authentics line with more paint and more parts. I'd also say that the packaging is in the running for the worst quality Hasbro has ever done, resulting in stolen figures and ripped-up materials on-shelf at a bunch of stores before the alleged April 10 street date.
Hasbro's Plastic-Free-Packaging initiative spawned tons of styles they were trying out in Rise of the Beasts alone, with collectors immediately rejecting it - but it's hard to know how much of that was the packaging, and how much of it was a lot of unpopular product choices. Heck, even some Marvel movies had some struggles with product, movie, and packaging over the last couple of years - but the one thing I do know is that Skullcruncher is a satisfying toy, just really not worth the asking price.
The 4-inch snout-to-tail robotic reptile looks pretty cool with two colors of green plastic with painted red eyes and a silver blaster belly. The detailing is great - some is robotic, some is organic. He has ball-jointed legs and an opening mouth, and the mouth doesn't have a painted interior. The claws aren't painted either. Normally I wouldn't expect anything like that, but, again, $6.99. He's got no blast effects or other parts to plus him up, either, but at least he looks really cool.
The mouth has some cavities in it, but nothing on the interior looks like a mouth as such. There are no painted teeth, no tongue, and nothing sculpted either. It looks like a part of a toy you weren't meant to look at. Other recent gators that turn into blasters include Dai from Japan and Gatoraider from the now-defunct Transformers Collector Club... so this Skullcruncher is probably going to be your cheapest option for a little friend.
Transforming the figure is a breeze. Nothing pops off, either. The head flips over to reveal a nicely painted silver cannon, and the tail folds down to tab in place and put the grip in place. The gator's legs can rotate out of the way, and presto - a nice accessory.
If it weren't for the thick, clean silver paint on the barrel I'd say this figure was a tremendous waste of resources. As it is, it's pretty good - it looked OK with a variety of figures, but it really sings with Nemesis Primal. The silver pops, the light green looks good, and there's enough blaster detail here that it looks like more than a gator with a grip on him. You can even plug in your War for Cybertron blast effects in there, but be careful to not store them in there. The gummy clear plastic has reacted poorly with other painted accessories and molted off.
Putting price aside, this is a really well-engineered accessory. If it came with another toy, you'd go "Wow, that's really cool!" But $7 is almost 1/3 of a deluxe toy, or more than a 4-inch Authentics robot. What's more, the ball joints in open-box packaging means the entire package is fragile and future collectors may not have a lot of mint samples to go around as a couple of sock ties on a flimsy bit of cardstock won't keep it safe. A kid could play with it in a store and rip parts of it off the card, declare it junk, and it remains there until it's trashed. A little cardboard matchbox might have been a better way to go, mostly because this packaging is so flimsy that I'm kind of amazed it made it past Hasbro's product testing. At least the toy is fun, and if you can find a complete one - especially on sale - I'd recommend giving it a shot.
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