Here we have Magmatron in his three separate dinosaur modes. From left to right, we have Landsaurus (a Giganotosaurus), Seasaurus (an Elasmosaurus), and Skysaurus (a Quetzalcoatlus). All of them are wonderfully accurate to both the original source material while maintaining a sense of realism to the beast modes they're based off of, much like with the Beast Wars gang from the Kingdom line along with the few other additions from the Legacy trilogy. Landsaurus is now a lot more proportionately accurate to the dinosaur it is based on in addition to lacking the robot mode kibble previously visible underneath the dinosaur arms. As for Seasaurus, its neck is much thicker and probably more proportionate to the real-world equivalent, though the hollow gaps are more visible here compared to the original's ball-jointed neck. Skysaurus appears to be the least changed, though it feels a lot more organic and refined than the original version, on top of not having any visible screws.
Landsaurus's articulation consists of the head looking left or right, limited jaw movement, ball-jointed dinosaur arms, and hips that have less range due to them being hunched than they will later be in robot mode. The jaw not opening as wide harkens back to how poor the range was on Energon Grimlock. Skysaurus's articulation consists of an articulated beak, a neck hinge, and wings that can flap up and down as well as fold and unfold depending on the pose it is in. The little claws are on ball joints, the legs can move front and back as well as in and out, the knees bend, and the feet can hinge at two points.
Meanwhile, Seasaurus's articulation provides it movement for the jaw and neck, which now utilizes swivels and hinges on the ball-like joints. It isn't as naturalistic as the joints on the original, but it is at least on a thicker neck as mentioned earlier. Instead of a gimmick where the fins flap, they now articulate individually on hinges or ball joints.
Only two of the three beasts have comparisons we could actually cover, with Landsaurus standing next to Megatron. Both do a good job at replicating the proper proportions of their respective beast modes, though some parts of their dino skin vary on how well they flow given the transformation. So while Landsaurus's knees look worse than Megatron's, the neck area isn't panel-heavy.
And here we have Skysaurus next to Terrorsaur. Given how the latter is a heavy retool of Airazor and the former only functions as the head of Magmatron, Skysaurus arguably has a better representation of the beast mode that it is based on.
You can combine the three beasts into the Magmasaurus, an almost tri-fuzor alternate mode where Landsaurus remains mostly unchanged apart from opening his rear up, Seasaurus becomes the back section with hind legs and the neck serving as the tail, and Skysaurus becomes the wings. It doesn't contribute the most to the combination but it at least adds a sense of completion to this alt mode. I believe this was seen more often than the individual beast modes, especially given how marketable it might have been to highlight these as much as the fusion mode. Given how most toys in Japan tend to re-arrange certain positions of a toy to find anything that could be remotely marketable, it comes as no secret that this is an example of it, though part of me feels that was intentional given the dedicated tabs on the original that are similarly carried over. Plus, it beats a lot of other BW Neo toys anyhow soooo...
Combining them into Magmatron is where the figure truly shines. Not only is it pretty asymmetrical with where the Landsaurus head goes (similar situation with Seasaurus's head on the left shoulder), but I love how the faux details on the torso feel somehow like they are a proper part of the other two beasts (though the red feet on the abs seem unusual given how Skysaurus's feet work); it also helps make Seasaurus feel more prominent in terms of coloring along with the arms. Skysaurus's wings also make for a unique headpiece given how they're part of Magmatron's noggin, and they look so much better here than on the old toy. As a whole, Magmatron is overall refined in comparison to the original Ultra Class figure. While the hip kibble does get in the way of the arms going all the way down, this feels proportionate to the character model despite being made up of 3 radically different prehistoric creatures. It is messy from the back, though not quite as much as on the original. You could say the Seasaurus neck on the left shoulder is like when models wear the skin of dead animals or something. You'll see how the old toy will look down below.
His head sculpt is perfect, as it almost feels like it could fit a Power Rangers Megazord or even a villain given the green face. They even picked out the fangs on the cheek guards like they did with his grimacing teeth! His articulation consists of barely any movement for the neck, arms that ratchet front and back as well as in and out, bicep rotation, double-jointed elbows, wrist rotation, articulated fingers (including a thumb), slight waist rotation, hips that move front and back as well as in and out, thigh rotation, ratcheted knees, and ankles that can pivot decently well. His main weapon, the Magmablade, can attach to the hilt and is admittedly more impressive than the original in length, but it is made out of a very flexible material.
The hilt can double as a gun for him to wield, with effect parts included to go with them. He can also use pieces of the wings to serve as twin daggers for quicker combat than the Magmablade normally allows.
And of course, you can provide him with the rest of Seasaurus to serve as a shield, which might hurt the poor beast mode, though it is roaring here for now.
The figure has three Predacon spark crystals located within the hilt from Landsaurus, the left shoulder from Seasaurus, and the left wing on Skysaurus. These could shine a little better than they currently do, but at least it is appreciative that they're added in the figure given how G1 characters don't get rubsign homages that often apart from Gen Selects Galvatron!
Here is the original toy for reference regarding how clunky it was. Obviously not a terrible toy, and I love the gimmicks it used to have, but it did have that archaic look to its appearance where it ends up feeling somewhat gangly at the arms and not quite as dynamic. The beast mode proportions were especially improved upon for the new toy, and it makes me wonder if Hasbro will do the same for other BWII/Neo characters.
For a size comparison, here he is next to Megatron from the Kingdom line. It is said that Magmatron is a fairly short Commander Class figure if put next to Armada Optimus, but the scale does work fairly well here, especially if Hasbro plans to make Big Convoy in a size comparable to Megatron given how huge his beast mode is compared to Optimus Primal and Lio Convoy. As it stands, Magmatron is yet another great addition to the Commander Class line-up. I love how much dino thunder his design carries, especially in fiction where he'd charge at his enemies with quite the fury he has. HasTak took a design that looked impractical at first glance and made it larger, more proportionate, and an impressive Transformer overall. I doubt he'd need a Masterpiece figure at this rate given how the new direction of the MP line is changing, even if you own the original, you can't miss out on this guy.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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