Action Figures & Their Beers -- Bring out the BIG guns!

by Beedo Sookcool
on 2026-04-01, 11:52:53

MAGIC ROCK BREWING CANNONBALL I.P.A.

Happy 25th Anniversary to CreatureCantina.com! Let's break out some beer and celebrate!

Now, this beer makes me a little miffed that I already used the Decepticon Pirate, Cannonball, for my review of The Bluebeard’s Revenge, but Hasbro made another good partner for this brew, so that’s okay. It’s a steampunkish Megatron design from the 2006 Hearts of Steel comic series, where a bunch of Transformers wake up sometime in the Late 19th Century and take on (mostly) era-appropriate alt-modes, including steam engines, an ironclad paddle-steamer, some anachronistic triplanes, etc. John Henry and Mark Twain even show up in the story. (Yes, that John Henry and that Mark Twain.)

Unfortunately, both Optimus Prime and Megatron are not actually around for said mini-series, as both are in stasis lock at the time, but when has that ever stopped Hasbro from making more Optimus & Megatron toys? So they put out two 2-Packs to truly remind us of the the good ol’ days of the New Millennium Transformers Revival, when practically every. Single. Frickin’. Wave. had to have new versions of the OptiMegaBumbleScream Big Four. Steam Engine Optimus got packed with Triplane Starscream, and Steam Engine Bumblebee – who is adorable in locomotive mode, but in a surprise twist, isn’t actually Bumblebee, but another guy called Centurion who’s got amnesia and thinks he’s Bumblebee for a while – gets packed in with Megatron.

And Hearts of Steel Megatron gets teamed up with Cannonball IPA, because he turns into a giant cannon on a very menacing-looking gun carriage:

Apart from one of his enormous spiked carriage wheels / shields being a bit “stickier” on its peg-axle than the other one, he actually rolls surprisingly well, though not on really smooth surfaces, because of the spikes. He’s even got a couple of little pegs on the outer sides of his shins / carriage that you might be able to hook up to another vehicle for towing purposes. This is actually a really cool figure, but there are just two minor things I would’ve done differently. First, I would’ve liked him to be a bit bigger, and secondly, his “metal” parts are done in a very dark brown, and I just think his “iron” parts would’ve looked better in straight-up black. Then I’d’ve considered him perfect.

Cannonball is a whopping 7.4% ABV IPA from the Magic Rock Brewing Company of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, now owned by the Keystone Brewing Group as of early 2025, saving it from complete closure. Cannonball has the tag “Think Magic Drink Magic” on the label, which is mercifully not sandpaper-textured. And apart from “Juicy / Light / Refreshing” and the website address and the fact that it contains barley and wheat, there’s really not much else useful information about this beverage on its label.

The website has this further to say: “Cannonball is an India Pale Ale in the true tradition, massively hopped to survive a long sea voyage. Heavily inspired by West Coast IPAs; the orangey, pine and citrus hop profile complements a dry malty backbone, while a rasping bitterness builds to a mouth puckering crescendo. This hop bomb will blow you out of the water . . .”

So before I even put this in the fridge to chill, I got the feeling I was not going to like this beer one little bit.

And I was wrong.

You definitely get a refreshing (but generic) citrus taste on drinking. If you like shandies, that’s the first thing that hits you about this stuff. The “dry malty backbone” is indeed very dry and crisp, to the point I barely noticed it – but I did notice it. It’s a bit seed-cake-y / parkin-y / granola-y. It’s mild, but it’s there. And the pine and “rasping bitterness” isn’t that piney, or rasping, or bitter. It’s a bit bitter, but not disgustingly so. It lingers a long time, but all it does is give you a mildly sharpish, mouth-watering aftertaste that leaves you wanting another mouthful. Unless, by some fluke, I happened to get an already-aged can that has already mellowed and lost most of its hazy-dank-juice-bomb-ness, this stuff is very nice, indeed!

I found a stock of Cannonball at one of my local supermarkets, and I was not only pleasantly surprised, but impressed. I think I’ll get a few more, so I can try aging them to see if they mellow into something even nicer . . . like you’re supposed to do with IPAs.

Drink this if you also like: Really good IPAs, slightly sharp beers, strong ales, shandies.