Dave's Beast Wars 10th Anniversary Rant: Trans-Mutate Assortment 2 Rattrap (Transmetal) Predacon Tarantulus Dinobot Again, ordering based on the P/N from the packaging. Here's the original review files. The first has Dinobot and Tarantulas, the second has Rattrap. Dinobot was originally Recommended, Tarantulas was Strongly Recommended (I'm no longer as impressed), Rattrap was Recommended. http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Phase1/DeluxeW1 http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Phase2/DTMet2 I've got two previous official versions of the TM Rattrap mold (original and Wal-Mart exclusive) plus a knockoff. Two versions of the Tarantulas mold (original and first Blackarachnia), and I'm not exactly sure how many Dinobots (original, BW Grimlock, Thrustol mold mod, Dinotron mold mod, G1-styled Grimlock from RiD, at the least). Repeating disclaimer, my recommendations here will be aimed at people who do not have other copies of these molds, they're aimed at people who didn't get 'em the first time around and are looking at an alternative to eBay. Note: I bought these online at Hasbrotoyshop.com, where the list price is $14.99. But I was taking advantage of a sale code that gave you free shipping and 25% off, so I really paid $11.74 each. CAPSULES Rattrap: A good mold, and I like the color changes, subtle though they may be. Recommended. Predacon Tarantulus: A definite beneficiary of the increase in paint applications in this line, looks better than previous versions. I'm not as impressed by the mold as I used to be, but it's still recommended. Dinobot: Different colors, but not necessarily better. By modern standards, only a mildly recommended mold. Completed Trans-Mutate: Well, it's not very poseable, it only has one plastic color, two paint apps and a black wash, but it's not too bad. Especially for a show-only character that no one thought would ever get a toy. Effectively $90 to get if you're buying BWX just for this toy. Or $30 if you figure it's where the extra $5 for each toy comes from (we've seen $10 toy with DVDs and in boxes this size, after all). Not worth buying six other toys just to get unless you are a major completist, though. RANTS Packaging: Same as the first assortment. Each has the other two as co-sells. MAXIMAL: RATTRAP Altmode: Hot Rod Rat Weapon: Bladed Whip Episode: A Better Mousetrap (Season 1, Rattrap versus Axalon security) Trans-Mutate Part: 3 - Right Arm Getting stranded on a remote, empty world to serve as a spy and sneak- thief for OPTIMUS PRIMAL wasn't high on the list of priorities for RATTRAP. Smart, sneaky and sarcastic, RATTRAP often rubs other MAXIMALS the wrong way. He's never been too keen on lobbing artillery around like the others; a stand-up fight just isn't his thing. Give him a chance to bust into a PREDACON base and snatch some juicy data though, and that's when he really shines. STR 6 INT 7 SPD 8 END 5 RNK 7 COUR 6 FRB 6 SKL 9 Avg 6.75 (Old tech spec for comparison: more skill and rank, less speed and courage.) STR 6 INT 7 SPD 9 END 5 RNK 5 COUR 8 FRP 6 SKL 7 Avg 6.625 My original of this toy has lost almost all its chrome, easily the worst case of chrome flaking in my collection. Packaging notes: Three thick twist-ties hold Rattrap to the blister, and two thin ones secure his tail. Two rubber bands hold the beast mode together as well. The packaging art is accurate. Colors: Overall, it's mainly the original TM Rattrap, but with the pale gold color replaced by silver or silvery light gray where relevant. The medium warm gray plastic is replaced by a slightly darker, cool gray. The brown plastic is a little darker, within batch variations. The metallic blue paint masks remain about the same, and the chrome and orange paint bits are the same. The braincase is now orange, as is the chest badge. They added a silver and red Maximal logo on the badge, but there was no smoothing. The robot eyes are now red instead of green, but the beast eyes are still green (albeit a slightly lighter shade). The name on his spine is in silver rather than gold. Mold changes: None I can find. They didn't even smooth out the place where they put the Maximal symbol. Trans-Mutate Part: No elbow joint. The forearm is a blaster-ish pod painted gold with black wash. The upper arm is unpainted blue plastic with black wash. Overall: A slightly more faithful version of a good toy. Hopefully the chrome isn't as flaky this time around, but only time will tell on that count. PREDACON: PREDACON TARANTULUS Altmode: Spider Weapons: Rocket Pistol, Grapple Episode: Spider's Game (Origin of Inferno) Trans-Mutate Part: 6 - Left Leg PREDACON TARANTULUS is the very soul of treachery. As a PREDACON spy, he had every intention of betraying and destroying MEGATRON when the time came, but now that he's stranded on this stinking, mudball planet his agenda and ambition have grown. Access to the alien technology of the mysterious Vok has given him a taste of true power, which he will stop at nothing to claim as his own. STR 4 INT 10 SPD 7 END 6 RNK 8 COUR 4 FRB 6 SKL 9 Avg 6.75 (Old techspecs, significant changes.) STR 8 INT 4 SPD 7 END 6 RNK 5 COUR 7 FRP 7 SKL 8 Avg 6.5 The trademark for "Tarantulas" slipped away, and rather than merely go with Predacon Tarantulas, they changed the last a to u so that they could have a more stably trademarkable word. Packaging: Despite the rubber band around the abdomen, the gun popped out and was rattling around in the box. Each of the four front legs is held down by a thin twist-tie, two thick ties hold down the main body. The grapple is actually held in purely by the blister. You don't need to undo the leg ties, just undo the other two and slide the legs out carefully. The packaging art and photos are accurate. Colors: This gets a little tricky. Even in the original run, there were variants, such as the infamous yellow elbows (which this one doesn't have). I'm going to compare to the colors in the Cybertronian Index for this and Dinobot, because my copies of the originals are at the very bottom middle of a large stack of boxes. :/ The cool light gray plastic on the robot head, gun, torso core (maybe, I forget if that was originally gray) and lower legs has been replaced by a pale olive green to match the upper arms. The spider eyes are now transparent green, the pedipalp roots (robot elbows) are not yellow, and there's a little bit of yellow paint behind the eyes. There's a fairly large Predacon symbol in purple with white border printed on the abdomen's gun part. The head is extensively painted, making it much more show-accurate for the "mutant head" part. The ninja head picks up a painted forehead from the mutant head paints, but is otherwise unchanged. Mold changes: None I could find. Trans-Mutate Part: The leg is unjointed, and snaps onto a peg. The foot is the same as the right foot, but the leg looks like two simple struts joined together, less complex than the right leg. The joints (functional and otherwise) are painted gold, and black wash fills in the lines. The leg can stand on its own. The knee bends backwards. Overall: While I'm not impressed by this toy as I was when it was the best of wave 1, it's still pretty good, and they did a good job with the colors. It's not as good as the BWX Waspinator, but worth considering. MAXIMAL: DINOBOT Altmode: Velociraptor Weapons: Energo-drill sword, spinning blade weapon Episode: Code of Hero (natch) Trans-Mutate Part: 4 - Left Arm A warrior to the core, DINOBOT lived only for honor won in combat. Disgusted by the greed and dishonesty of MEGATRON, and with a life-debt owed to the MAXIMAL leader, he joined OPTIMUS PRIMAL. Though DINOBOT was never fully trusted by some MAXIMALS, his strong honor code and philosophical nature led him always on the path to victory. He was one of many to fall in the BEAST WARS, sacrificing his life in a heroic battle against overwhelming PREDACON attack. STR 8 INT 7 SPD 9 END 9 RNK 6 COUR 9 FRB 6 SKL 9 Avg 7.875 (Original techspecs. Smarter, tougher, more skilled.) STR 8 INT 5 SPD 9 END 5 RNK 6 COUR 9 FRP 6 SKL 6 Avg 6.75 Packaging: They kinda cheat on the package photos, removing the mutant head shells from the toy in robot mode. Mind you, pretty much everyone pops those lame things off as soon as they get any version of this mold out of the package anyway, so it's more along the lines of a helpful hint. Four twist-ties hold the toy to the main blister, and a secondary blister is taped to the main one to keep the legs separate. Colors: Closer to show-accurate, but others have already pointed out online that some of the paint apps are off. The clear orange plastic has been replaced by a shiny dark brown, which also appears on the forelegs ad the dino hip joints, robot hips, torso core, sword and trigger. The rest of the weird flesh color (clearly there were two mold trays of that color) is replaced by metallic bronze plastic. I think they were trying to emulate the somewhat shiny CG effect, but would have done better to make it more matte. The stripes are still brown, but also shiny. The face, the inside of the spinning shield pieces and some of the torso core are painted bright blue, the kneecaps are light blue, and there's metallic pale green paint on the shins. There's a Maximal symbol printed in red with silver border on what becomes the left chest of the robot mode. Mold Changes: This seems to use the Grimlock variation, with the flattened area on the torso core for the rubsign (they also used this for the G1 Grimlock repaint in RiD). Otherwise, seems to be unchanged since that tweak. It even still has the mysterious peg on the back in beast mode, which is a tiny bit less than 5mm wide, allowing you to mount Energon weapons on him or something. Trans-Mutate Part: No elbow joint, this arm ends in a hand with the middle and ring fingers missing (two fingers and a thumb, but with a big gap between the two fingers). The shoulder socket, hand and a piece over the shoulder are left blue, with the rest painted gold with the usual black wash. Overall: It's a decent toy, but suffers a lot from kibble in beast mode. Odds are pretty good you DO have some version of this mold, given how often it's been recolored or tweaked. But if you don't, it's not a big sacrifice to pick this up to complete Trans-Mutate. NEUTRAL: TRANS-MUTATE Altmode: None Weapons: Warp Scream Episode: N/A (but appears in "Transmutate") Transmutate Part: All of 'em. No bio note or techspecs. I've covered the colors in the "parts" entries. All put together, I wouldn't say it's exactly show-accurate, but it does successfully evoke the awkwardness and asymmetry of the character. Too bad they couldn't supply two heads: one normal and one screaming. I modified mine so that the right leg can move at the hip, but since there's no other leg articulation, this doesn't add much to the toy, so you might as well leave yours alone. I figure someone will eventually use this toy as a base for building a fully poseable version, if it hasn't happened already. Sadly, it seems that the line isn't selling very well, as evidenced by the sluggishness with which this trio seeps into stores. It'd be nice to see an anniversary Beast Machines set in a few years, with a Botanica "Build A Figure" pack-in, but unless this line picks up in sales a LOT with the new mold leader sets, I don't see that happening. Dave Van Domelen, anyone need an old Rattrap with massive red dandruff?