Transformers Beast Wars Neo: Dead End D-32

Beast Wars - in both the U.S. and Japan - have brought a wide variety of animals to figure form. While most of the animals are, shall we say mainstream choices, others have been down right odd. Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever imagined an ammonite being a candidate. Leave it to Japan and the exclusive Beast Wars Neo series to deliver.

Dead End was released in Japan in 1999 and is a basic sized toy...now referred to as the scout class. In typical Japanese fashion the toy comes in a very nice laid out box. In addition to the window showcasing the toy itself we are also given a very nice CGI rendering of Dead End.

 

The right side of the box (on left) depicts Dead End in robot mode wielding his weapon while the right side of the box (on right) shows the action feature if you will - that being the right side of the shell being a giant spring loaded missile!

Like with all the rest of the toys in the series the bottom of the box shows off other releases as paired in their versus 2 packs. Dead End was paired with the awesome Cybertron Break who just happens to be a shellformer as well.

Dead End has to be one of the oddest, yet coolest Transformers to date. I love how the ammonite shell has holes in it giving it an old, weathered feel. The large purple peg sticking up on the top is actually the trigger that when depressed, launches the entire right side of the shell. The shell of the toy is an off white plastic with painted pink/red highlights. You can see some of the purple robot bits through the shell's holes.

As a kid I could transform any of my TFs without ever looking at the instructions. As I grew older and the toys grew more complex this changed. Up until the Car Robots / RID line I could still manage to transform most TFs without having the instructions in front of me. Dead End was not one of those TFs! Like most shellformers this toy is carefully folded up in a certain manner to fit inside the shell. I can't tell you how much this guy originally frustrated me. As you can tell in the above picture Dead End has his arms and legs and mashed up.

After you get all the parts folded out and in their proper places you have a robot that appears to be bigger than he actually is...thanks to his ammonite shell halves. Dead End features a great head sculpt and his articulation is through the roof. However like with many shellformers the weight of the kibble ways him down and makes it hard for the figure to stand on it's own. It also seems as if the shell halves are too heavy for the shoulder connections and have loosened the ball joints a bit. His neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and ankles are all on ball joints - and all of them are loose on mine.

The front tentacles from beast mode double has a hand held weapon. I don't know how well you can tell from my pictures, but right in the middle you can see the gun's barrel.

If you were curious here is what Dead End looks like "naked". He is actually quite small once the shell halves are removed. He is a marvel of engineering and a very unique Transformer figure. As shown on the bottom of his box he was partnered up w/ Break C-32 which is an equally impressive toy. If you don't have either figure and you aren't turned off my shellformers then I highly suggest tracking down the VS-32 set.