william-james88 wrote:AllNewSuperRobot wrote:This has the distinction of being the first MP figure I didn't need the instructions to transform. I'm unsure if the simplicity of it is a good or bad thing, given it is more expensive/overpriced than the more complex contemporaries within the BW MP line.
I think it's a good thing. For a smaller figure, making it as complex as MP 36 might have lead to frustration. Simplicity can be as hard to engineer as complexity. You have to get to the mode with fewer steps so you have to figure out a way as a designer to make the most of the parts. there is a certain elegance to it, which is fitting for this character.
As I said before this is Masterpiece, not CHUG. Complexity is The Standard, because all of the best engineering and design techniques should be at play to make Both Forms as close to flawless as possible.
As an example, look to Universe Cyclonus (2008). An 11 y/o CHUG figure. Find the altmode or alternately, find the Bot Mode when Transformed. As opposed to MP Blackarachnia, look to the seams. The visibly hollow torso that doesn't exist in a far cheaper figure from over a decade ago.
An extra click 'in' with the backpack for example, would have made her a practically perfect show model. Her limbs, on the other hand, are as good as it gets. The articulation of her claws is quite impressive visually and her feet are a lot more stable than they appear.
william-james88 wrote:I am also happy with how stable the figure is, especially when you'd think she'd be super top heavy with those extra 8 limbs. That's where the real engineering comes in. Fans tend to use engineering and design interchangeably, but in truth anything linked to transformation is from a designer. The toy engineer is more about the composition of the toy, what plastics are used, for it to come together as a designer intended. And when looking at it from that aspect, the engineering is really impressive. The toy's composition backs up the great articulation so that many fun poses can be achieved.
And we do get an extra click on the back, at least I felt we did. The back piece with the hourglass symbol does clip adjacent to the hole at the base of the back of the neck. It hooks there and you can feel a "click". I find her super solid in robot mode.
The extra click I'm referring to would apply to the lower back hinge and could potentially have tidied up the hollow torso and streamlined her overall. As it stands she has a vague Quasimodo hump, due to her backpack, which didn't need to exist.
If she had ever been top heavy from the spider legs that would have been extremely bad design. The original figure wasn't compromised, so why should the MP figure?. Not even TM Rampage had weight issues assigned to his crab legs. So it isn't really anything noteworthy here.
Objectively, I do find her the weakest of the Beast Wars Masterpiece collection to date. They took some puzzling and unnecessary shortcuts. Subjective opinions may vary, but I think the deco is the only strong point to this figure.