Retrax: special needs robot or keen concept delivered poorly

[JediTricks]

Retrax wants to hug you. He reallllly wants to hug you:
http://tfu.info/1997/Predacon/Retrax/retrax.htm

I actually remember buying Retrax back in the day when he first came out, I remember coming back from TRU Burbank and on the drive back I stopped somewhere and decided to open him and was like "what the hell is going on here???" Retrax seemed like a cool concept to me, and the beast mode worked really well for what it was, but man did that robot mode take the wind out of my sails. It wanted a hug, and it wanted that hug very very badly. Its sculpting seemed way off from the other entries, and the bot mode deco really sucked as it was one of the first to be wrecked by white plastic (which I guess is technically accurate to the pill bug species, but looks lousy in bot mode*), but the thing I most noticed about its oddity was that it had realistic human-style hands.

I just goofed on Retrax in my vote for Hall of Fame choice, but upon reflection, I really liked Retrax's pill bug beast mode, it's probably the best insect they ever did in terms of display (it's a big, scary, armored bug and it's got bug colors). I hate to say it, but I'd like to see them take another crack at delivering Retrax, one without a corny spring gimmick and with a better bot mode.

I wonder if I'm alone in this.


* - the joke there is the pill bug is also called a "wood louse"

[Dominic]

I will say good idea done badly. Even the spring-loaded gimmick could be good with proper tuning.


Dom

[138 Scourge]

Really neat concept. I would have loved to see Retrax in the cartoon, rolling up into his armored ball form and just crushing everything? That would have been fantastic stuff.

So I always liked that concept at the time, but somehow never got around to getting the toy. Years later (2004 or so) I found him for sale for a dollar, so I pretty much had to get him. Transforming him really confused me, I remember thinking "Okay, legs, sure. And there's the arms, but is that really the body? And seriously, I can't have these arms right, can I?". But, even though the spring gimmick kind of screws the robot mode, I really like how the bug mode just snaps together at the touch of a button there. Kickass pillbug to, basically, mace in less than a second!

And oh, that pillbug mode. That thing takes possibly the least creepy bug in the world and makes it just horrifying.

All in all, I was happy enough with this toy for what it was. He kind of ends up as "Keen concept delivered in such a fashion to produce a special needs robot", but screw it, if you're that attached to moving arms, there's plenty of robot toys that can deliver on that department. Not many have the instant snap-together powerhug, though.

If they wanted to take another stab at Retrax, though, I'd be all for it. I won't go nuts expecting it, it's probably about as likely as that Jar Jar/Gungan Sub SWTF I'm always rooting for, but it would be pretty neat.

[JediTricks]

I will say good idea done badly. Even the spring-loaded gimmick could be good with proper tuning.

What good would the gimmick do in bot mode though? It's a defensive action in beast mode, but seems like a silly gimmick for bot mode just to defend himself. Would it be another hug of doom?

Really neat concept. I would have loved to see Retrax in the cartoon, rolling up into his armored ball form and just crushing everything? That would have been fantastic stuff.

I can see them having him roll over Waspinator, now that you say it.

So I always liked that concept at the time, but somehow never got around to getting the toy. Years later (2004 or so) I found him for sale for a dollar, so I pretty much had to get him. Transforming him really confused me, I remember thinking "Okay, legs, sure. And there's the arms, but is that really the body? And seriously, I can't have these arms right, can I?". But, even though the spring gimmick kind of screws the robot mode, I really like how the bug mode just snaps together at the touch of a button there. Kickass pillbug to, basically, mace in less than a second!

A buck? Geez, that's a good get!

If they wanted to take another stab at Retrax, though, I'd be all for it. I won't go nuts expecting it, it's probably about as likely as that Jar Jar/Gungan Sub SWTF I'm always rooting for, but it would be pretty neat.

See, now I'm thinking I have to ask Archer for Retrax at Comic-Con.

[138 Scourge]

I dunno, work in some kind of weapon into his hands, maybe do something that brings the claw bits on each end of bug body up, call it a "quickdraw" or "sword drawing" kind of thing?

If they were to take another shot at Retrax, though, I'm not saying the gimmick would be necessary there, just that it was kind of fun for the original.

[Onslaught Six]

86 convinced me that Retrax rules. And I don't own him, but I agree. So much that we turned him into a crazy guy who had one of Overlord's keys and was in charge of an entire planet of giant pillbug things where he got his Beast Mode from. (Ethereal did stuff like that. Torca landed on a planet of elephant-whale hybrids and scanned one.)

[Shockwave]

I read somewhere that Retrax could function as a beast head for Fort Max. Come to think of it, it might have been on Ben's site.

[JediTricks]

I read somewhere that Retrax could function as a beast head for Fort Max. Come to think of it, it might have been on Ben's site.

Wow, if you find confirmation on that, link me, I gotta see it.

I may have to ask Archer at SDCC next week to revisit Retrax, even just for laughs.

[Mirage]

Points for thinking outside of the box, and for at least standing out in a somewhat boring sophomore year for Beast Wars, but man that is a craptastic figure. An interesting gimmick for sure, but it just destroys the robot mode. It's one of the worst shellformers, and ugly to boot (unitentionally ugly). The gimmick renders the arms useless, the legs are too skinny, and all of the little insect legs get in the way when you try to put him in... uh... ball mode.

The customs into Unicron, though, are a hoot.

[138 Scourge]

The customs into Unicron, though, are a hoot.

If they ever wanted a pre-Beast Retrax, I've been saying forever that Cybertron Tank Unicron would be a fantastic choice for this.