Official Stock Photos for MP-46 Masterpiece Blackwidow (Blackarachnia) from Takara Tomy Mall

Man, they really didn't try at all when it came to the beast mode, did they?

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

Malicron wrote:Man, they really didn't try at all when it came to the beast mode, did they?

Indeed. So much for thinking there was mistransformation with the previous images

There was some mistransformation, but as I wrote, it was never gonna be enough to change people's minds over paying $130-$150 for this.

Thing is, Blackarachnia didn't have any backpack in the show. Her back was lean and skinny.

Sabrblade wrote:Thing is, Blackarachnia didn't have any backpack in the show. Her back was lean and skinny.

So was Dinobot's. I was specifically talking about the mini backpack on the MP figure. The numerous mini panels that Megatron's backpack stores, show that they have the know-how to do it, but chose not to.

william-james88 wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote: If they could achieve that way back in 1996/7/8, it is unacceptable to leave most of her gold legs visible on what should be a solid black abdomen.

I am with you on the dissapointment and I know where you are coming from but I do take issue with the text I bolded. It's apple and oranges because the toys came first back then. So of course it was fine. But then the character designer based her model on a stripper and made the character look nothing like the toy.

Now, we are basing the toy on the show model, which we can all agree is a rather peculiar one.

The better comparison, if you want to make one would be hod different the toy looks to the show model between then and now. This toy is inifitely better in that respect.

I was generalising the difference in aesthetic in Beast Modes, back then. Less so for individual characters. There was always some "cheetor" visible in his Beast Mode, as with the rest of the Maximals. Waspinator, Scorponok, Tarantulas etc Typically their bot legs were only visible if you turned the toy upside down.

Maybe the toy should have just come with a black balloon to put her back in spider mode, as that's pretty much all it was--a big, black, circle with a red hour glass.

Don't get me wrong, I love the bot mode on Blackarachnia, and I'm sure that she will have great possibility. But this is supposed to be a Masterpiece figure. If they couldn't engineer her properly to look like how she looked on the show... then they probably should have just put out a robot mode action figure and done an MP figure of someone else.

As it stands, I think that the Takara recolor of Animated Blackarachnia works better

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Waspinator, Scorponok, Tarantulas etc Typically their bot legs were only visible if you turned the toy upside down.

So what? Are you saying you would rather have that and compromise the robot mode? I dont understand what you are complaining about. Those original toys still exist if this one isn't doing it for you.

william-james88 wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Waspinator, Scorponok, Tarantulas etc Typically their bot legs were only visible if you turned the toy upside down.

So what? Are you saying you would rather have that and compromise the robot mode? I dont understand what you are complaining about. Those original toys still exist if this one isn't doing it for you.

When sat on your desk, they were designed to form a seamless Beast Mode. Everything pegged in to form a uniform alt-mode.

Maybe a G1 example would make it a bit clearer the point (not "complaint") I am making. Imagine G1 Prime's cab. Looks like a truck, yes?. Now open the chest, flip his head over and pop his hands out, so they are visible in truck mode. Now, he doesn't look like a believable truck.
The initial mode was the Predacon Beast Modes. The latter example, both the Maximals (initial and MP versions) and now Blackarachnia.

Nor would it have been a "compromise" to make minor panels fold out from the small backpack the MP figure clearly has, to conceal the gold in her legs. Again, Megatron's flush, intergrated backpack says so.
I don't care about the character herself. I've never liked Blackarachnia. The whole sexualized design was quite repellent to me, even back in the day.
I am concerned what her lacklustre Beast Mode says about the future of this line. The figures to come should be the easiest to conceive in fully integrated Beast and Bot modes, this is supposed to be the MP line, after all.

If you wouldn't excuse MP Prowl's legs hanging out of his car mode, don't make excuses for them here.

How much would you be willing to pay extra for those panels though? To play devil's advocate, they've made her price the way it is for best profit value for them, and share holders. If they thought the price was too high then they wouldn't have set it as that. We consumers want the most bang for our buck, but the businesses want the most profit for the least cost.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I think, as it stands, her Beast Mode makes her potentially the weakest of the MP Beast Wars designs so far. Including Shadow Panther, that isn't even a Panther...

But there is no such thing as a panther species, it's just a toy deco homage.

To give the visual discrepancy between a Cheetah and Panther's actual body shape, paralleled by the MP figures.

A Panther is a black leopard. Not a cheetah.