As I become more and more experienced in the Third Party Transformers market, I'm seeing more and more interesting things, including the TransArt take on Transmetal 2 Black Arachnia, named the BWM08 - Metal Jungle Metal Spider Queen. Bit of a mouthful? Yes.. yes it is.
If you've never owned/seen a TM2 Black Arachnia, well let me briefly describe it. Naturally, it was the toy of the character on the Beast Wars show. The toy was released in the late 90s, was Voyager sized, and despite some very questionable design choices was probably the best Fembot we ever got in a mainline series. at least from an aesthetics perspective.
Among the questionable design choices are of course her stupid spin kick gimmick, which resulted in a looks waist and inability for the poorly balanced figure to stand, and of course, the removable blue bra that had parents so upset that future releases of the figure had this part glued on.
Good times.
So this figure was purchased from ShowZ for about $85 USD shipped.
TransArt, it seems, is a Third Party company that takes the Beast Wars toys and generally improves upon the original design. I'm not sure how much is changed on other figures, but in this case the overhaul was fairly extensive, though if you've handled the original toy, you'll see the source material quite easily:
- Size reduced, though I'm not sure if it is to meet MP scale or their own in house BW scale.
- Eliminated spin kick gimmick.
- Eliminated spring recoil system for her weapon.
- Eliminated spinning Maximal/Predacon emblem.
- Made main Spider mode pieces removable.
- Return of the removable bra.
- Added bottom to Spider abdomen to better hide the robot kibble.
- Vacuum chrome plastic replaced with a nice metallic paint job.
- General colour scheme overhaul (vastly improved over OG).
- Some articulation upgrades, most notable being on the legs.
- Improved the overall sculpt of the parts, most notable being robot mode.
This change to the Spider main body effectively means a more streamline robot mode (though you can clip the shell back on and make it bulkier) but you're no longer going to be able to form her look with the giant shoulder pads and shoulder cannons any more.
TransArt also included a weighted base and stand for your posing effort, but, like BingoToys, has opted for a Youtube video rather than a printed manual.
After you've applied some hot water to the spider legs to loose them up, you attach them to the main robot body and get this. It's not perfect, of course, but between the upgrades to the body silhouette and the vastly improved paint work (the OG toys had great curves but look like bird puke), this release is certainly much closer to its CGI counterpart than the Hasbro toy. It truly is night and day.
As mentioned, the elimination of bulk and improved legs do make for an easier time trying to pose the figure, and if you're really in a crunch you can always use the included stand. The ankle joints on mine are a tad loose, so that annoys me once in while. It should be noted that the "toe" section of the foot is shiny because it's metal, probably in an effort to add weight for balance, though I think some on the lower leg would have further helped in that regard.
The head sculpt is, again, vastly improved over the Hasbro toy. It's not quite perfect, with some proportion differences and her eyes look a bit weird to me, but again, on the right track.
The removable bra sounds more titivating than it actually is. They're not particularly well sculpted, and it's not like some inhuman proportion. Unless you find Barbie dolls to be stimulating, you'll find this to be quaint at best. I guess I might as well mention at this point, the bra is held on by a weak magnet, and you'll need to take off the bra for Spider mode, with the goods covered up by the Abdomen bottom.
The weapon no longer does that recoil function, and in the original toy was really just a way to make use of the Spider mode mouth while in robot mode. On this figure, the "projectile" part forms not only the mouth of the Spider, but also a secondary head. Biologically, this makes zero sense but I guess the designers were trying to make it look cool. The pincers are spring mounted, and the jaw opens and closes manually.
Actual articulation is pretty good. The figure doesn't have a waist joint, but it does feature a chest level swivel. Shoulders are sadly, standard, and pretty damn tight - it's not just mine because even on the instructional video you can hear the squeezing over the music. Head is on a ball joint. Lets are vastly improved over the OG, featuring proper ankle joints (separate rotate and tilt), technically double jointed knees, knee swivel, thigh swivel, and like Nicee/MP Arcee the thigh can extend out of the hip a bit for extra range of motion.
Truly some great leg posing options.
Which is why I'm confuse they didn't really do anything for the arms. There's bicep swivel and double jointed elbows, but there's no wrist swivel/rotate. The hands are effectively always stuck such that they're in "normal" position only when the elbow are out to the side of the body. Needless to say this really affects the posing you can do with the hands.
I cannot stress how nicely painted this figure is. I've done my usual full body and Macro photos, and usually I notice something. But for this figure, I've not seen anything that is report worthy. Maybe there's some small blemish on the face? The paint apps are not just sharp, but they level of expertise in applying them is fantastic. The lower leg and claws actually feature some transition between red and orange and I have to say thing were done quite nicely. Even the non exotically coloured spots appear to be all painted. The main body features a nice metallic blue, and the legs are metallic purple. This overall paint coverage would be the reason why the figure is shimmering in almost every single picture of her (light conditions of course can always impact things).
Build Quality is surprisingly good with this figure, or at least when it comes to tolerances. Spider legs, as stated, will likely need to have a hot water bath and joint loosening prior to true use, and the shoulders are so tight they squeak, and my ankles are a tad loose. But tolerances are great. Even spots that have very tight fits, such as the base of her neck, where the shoulders fold into robot mode, and the panels that make up the bottom of the Abdomen, all come together quite nicely. There are no rough finishes, which is always a nice surprise when I think Third Party figures. Finer details do not look washed out in any way. Joint tightness is appropriate overall.
Transformation into robot mode is a bit more involved than the original toy, but ultimately you end up with Spider that share many visual cues of the original toy, but with a vastly improved colour scheme. I think Kingdom Black Arachnia remains the only Spider alt mode that can stand on its insect legs, with the other one in my mind being the Happy Meal Toy.
Unfortunately, there's no spot to store the detached bra in Spider mode, so keep it safe.
Overall, I like the figure, mostly due to the vast improvement of this version over the original, as well as the commendable production values of actual figure. I know some collectors have voiced their annoyances over the bra that detaches with a slight breath (being the most vocal complaint) and I think I saw some engineering related quirks here and there. For me, the parts forming, which disappointing, is understandable. I just wish they had improved the articulation in the forearms to make it more useful.
For Full Gallery, please visit:
Comments