Name: Tankor
Function: Vehicon General
Motto: "Among the winners, there is no room for the weak."

A giant power-tank Vehicon. Tankor exists only to crush everything under his treads that he doesn't blow up first. Simple-minded, Tankor is unquestionably loyal to Megatron - or so he wants everyone to think. In reality, Tankor hids his intelligence, playing the Vehicons and Megatron off of each other so that he might someday take sole control of Cybertron. He wields a flamethrower in tank mode, while head mounted energy lasers top off an assortment of heavy weaponry in robot mode. One of Megatron's three generals, Tankor is in charge of the powerful tank drones.

Tankor is one of Megatron's Vehicon generals. In command of both the tank and Destruction vehicle drones, it is appropriate that this is a mega sized toy. With cool features and a nice design, Tankor offers up a strong toy.

Vehicle Mode:
In vehicle mode, Tankor is a Cybertronian tank. His design makes him bulky, yet sleek at the same time. With many angles and sharp points, he looks futuristic while his sheer bulk, huge treads and turret all make him imposing. Small details such as grills, vents and bolts all come together to help make Tankor look like a powerfulmachine.

As a tank, Tankor is mostly dark grey and black. Silver detailing is used on his tank treads and cannon. His turret and cannon also use metallic grey plastic. Red-orange detailing is used throughout his body, with a nicely colored translucent orange/clear plastic towards the front and middle of the tank.

Tankor's articulation in this mode is twofold. First, his cannon can swing up and down. Second, by turning the thruster at the rear of the vehicle, you rotate his turret around. Flip open the small panel on the back of the turret and you can see light being focused through the "eye" in the turret's visor. This creates the effect of an eye scanning for targets. Pressing the trigger on the right side of the cannon launches his missile (which is molded to look like flames, and in translucent orange and clear plastic, a nice touch). Open the small round, red panel on the left side
of the turret to reveal his Vehicon Spark Crystal.

Tankor's alternate tank mode can be done by simply opening up the translucent orange/clear panels on the front of the tank and moving them tothe sides. Flip out the black claws in the front and then roll Tankor along to see the saw blades inside spin like a death trap!

Transformation to Robot Mode:
Begin Tankor's transformation by swinging out the rear treads of the vehicle to the sides. Then straighten them out towards the back, forming Tankor's legs. Now swing down the piece which the legs and robot waist are attached to. Rotate the waist piece around. Next, split the front of the tank to two halves, and swing them up to form the robot arms. Fold the orange/clear panels down, and open up his claws. Move the translucent orange square shaped panels on his upper arms to the side. Next, fold back the thruster piece and turn the robot head so it is facing front. Turn the tank turret so that the cannon can swing down onto his left shoulder. Tankor is now completely in robot mode!

Robot Mode:
In robot mode, Tankor continues to look intimidating, but his bulk definitely takes over here. His arms are easily the bulkiest part of his body, containing his dangerous looking claws and his saw blades. His saw blades can be moved by turning the wheels on the sides of his arms. His robot chest detailing shows both two guns and a series of missiles.

Tankor's color scheme is mostly black and metallic silver in this mode. Some of the dark grey from his tank mode carries over as well. His robot head is red, with silver spray ops and a black "jaw". The missile and gun detailing on his upper chest are yellow. With his main weapon being a flamethrower, it is nice to see such bright colors applied so nicely along with the dark, machine like grey and silver colors.

In robot mode, Tankor has fifteen points of articulation. This includes his cannon, claws and waist. It also includes his head, which can turn from side to side. When he does so, his black jaw piece moves up and down, giving the impression Tankor is talking! Translucent red plastic on his head also allows for light to shine through to his eye, giving it a "glowing" effect.

Tankor is a nice toy, but like Optimus Primal, although you can see where the CGI animators got their influences for the CGI model, this toy still differs enough in both color scheme and appearance to make some fans scratch their heads in bewilderment. As a toy I highly recommend it, but as a perfect representation of the Tankor from the Beast Machines Transformers show, I have to say be warned and stare at the pictures for a while before making your purchasing decision. A

Note: For those interested in packaging variations, Tankor came in boxes that described his weapon at least three different ways: "With Firing Torpedoes!", "With Firing Torpedo!" (the "s" was covered with a sticker) and "With Firing Energy Bolt!". Most likely the "With Firing Torpedoes!" is the oldest considering it required a
sticker to correct it.