Dave's Transformers Energon Rant: Ultra Scorponok Updated 11/24/04 with bio note. Sole new figure at the $25 Ultra level in Wave 1, it's actually in Wave 1.5, with Wave 1.0 being solely recolors (Ultra Magnus and Tidal Wave). I may get Ultra Magnus if I see him in stores, but I've passed on Tidal Wave. TW looks good enough, but looks alone aren't enough to get me to pay $25 for another copy of the mold (if it had had the light and sound stuff hinted at a few months ago, I might have gotten it, but it doesn't). CAPSULE Scorponok: Main vehicle mode manages to be simultaneously not a scorpion yet very much evocative of one. Robot mode is good, if a little clunky. Jet mode is okay, if clearly not aerodynamic. Lots of sound gimmicks and motion tricks (even though a couple were dropped between prototype and final). I hover between Recommended and Strongly Recommended on this one. $24.47 at Wal-Mart (although I've gotten reports of some Wal-Marts charging $27). RANT Packaging: Slightly larger box on the same basic plan as the Mega boxes, 12" (31cm) wide, 9.5" (14cm) tall and 4.5" (11cm) deep. The package art does not match the color scheme of the actual toy, I'm told it matches the Japanese "Superlink" version instead. The pictures on the back of the box are somewhat better matches, but much brighter than the actual toy and with a few colors changed (the purple on the box becomes nearly black, the green is more olive). The picture also shows two details not present on the toy: joints on the "thumbs" and positionable cannons on the hips (which are single blocks on the actual toy). A mere five twist-ties and a handful of rubber bands hold the toy together, plus one more twist-tie that doesn't connect to the box. Oddly, the box proclaims that Scorponok is a Terrorcon, in seeming contradiction of the idea that Terrorcons are only basics. He has no energon chip piece, and while some of his energon weapons are removable in practice, they don't seem to be intended as combinable weapons. I'm therefore willing to say this is a package-design error. The instructions are sufficiently clear (and not really necessary in many cases), and amusingly use something like a third of the total space in warnings about the electronics. The pictures use the prototype shown on the box back, although it's less obvious. They do not specifically name the scorpion mode, but they do call the jet mode a Hover Jet. Scorponok is not quite packaged in scorpion mode, the tail being tucked somewhat underneath the body so as to take up less space in the box. And it's probably more stable, requiring less twist-ties. The two missiles are in their own little bubble glued to the cardboard tray. DECEPTICON: SCORPONOK Altmodes: MechaScorpion, Hover Jet Function: Terrorcon Commander Quote: If I do not crush you with my claws, I will finish you with my sting! SCORPONOK is a power-hungry warrior who believes that he is the rightful leader of the DECEPTICONS. He can back up this claim with a three-mode arsenal and a nasty attitude. In scorpion mode, beware of his huge mechanical claws and energon stinger. In vehicle mode, SCORPONOK is a powerful jet and construction vehicle with a talent for destruction. MEGATRON beware! This dangerous DECEPTICON is coming for you. STR 10 INT 8 SPD 7 END 9 RNK 9 COUR 9 FRP 9 SKL 10 Avg 8.875 It's interesting to note that all the trading cards for new toys divide up alphabetically by faction...all the Autobots are H-O, both the Deceptcons are in S. Ultra Magnus messes this up, of course. }-> MechaScorpion Mode: With the claws tight against the body and the tail in the correct position, this mode is 9" (23cm) long, 6.5" (16cm) wide and 6.5" (16cm) tall. It has the odd distinction of clearly not being a scorpion when you look at the details (treads instead of legs, power shovels instead of claws, crane instead of tail, a truck-like cab on the back), yet also very clearly BEING a scorpion when looked at in general. The claws and tail are held correctly, the mandibles and chelicerae are there, it just screams "scorpion" when looked at as a whole. Quite a nice design accomplishment. It's a riot of colors, but mostly very muted so that they don't clash too much. Dark gray body, treads and outer claws. A sort of orange-brown in various places, with gray wash. A slightly grayish green on the cab and tail. Some bits of black, pale gold and antique gold as accents. A few bits of translucent yellow and stoneware blue. And a purple Decepticon symbol atop the cab. Oh, and a bit of silver paint streaking on the bottom of the dozer blades. Yet...it works. It does look like it was pulled together out of pieces of several different vehicles without a care towards being pretty...just deadly. And now to go over the various pieces. Head: It's a mix of a tractor grille/bumper setup and sharp bits that form the mouthparts. The chelicarae (the bigger bits) can move up and down through about sixty degrees, and are made of black plastic. The grille and bumber are antique gold. Stoneware blue pistons flank the head, although they're just decorative detail, there's no motion in the direction the pistons would suggest. Cab: A green truck-style cab with clear yellow windows. It flips open as part of transformation. A screw-peg thing inside looks vaguely like a driver, and I'm tempted to glue a Mini-Con head or something onto this peg to become a driver. Clear yellow cannons are pegged in on either side of the cab, each about 4cm long. These have standard-size pegs, but the pegs are notched, suggesting these aren't supposed to come out. Orange-brown ladders are molded on either side of the cab. The ladders and the size of the cab itself suggest a scale of 15mm = 2m (a common historical wargaming scale), so the 23cm toy length translates to a scale size of around 30m (100 feet). Just a piece of useless information unlikely to be relevant in the cartoon or comic. :) Left Claw: Has a dead hardpoint on a bit of stoneware blue plastic near the back. The claw is hinged so that when you pull open the main part, the "thumb" is also opened up. This uncovers a clear yellow plastic missile launcher which can be slid forward about a centimeter. As far as I've been able to determine, it cannot be removed. The trigger is protected from accidental hitting, but as long as the claw is open, you can easily fit a finger or thumb in from the side to launch the missile. My thumb fits fine, so children should have no problems. There is a small energon spur on the outside which can move about 20 degrees back and forth, but cannot be safely removed. The "fingers" of the claw are orange/brown power shovel scoops that can bend inward by about 45 degrees. The black "thumb" has a 90 degree range of motion. If pulled all the way open, it can get in the way of closing the whole thing. The maximum span of the open claw is 3" (8cm), although it's only about an inch (2-3cm) deep, so it can't grab really big stuff as well as the maximum span might suggest. The "shoulder" is a ratcheting universal joint, and the elbow a simple stiff hinge that can bend up to 90 degrees. Atop the claw is a single "ribbed" wheel for use in jet mode. Right Claw: Almost a mirror image of the left, but instead of a dead hardpoint, it has the spark crystal. Treads: Each tread is 3" (8cm) long on its own, a rounded triangle shape with the longest side on bottom and shortest side as the front slope. Most of the tread is dark gray, with a stoneware blue wheel at the front. Attached to this wheel is an orange-brown bulldozer scoop 3cm long and 2.5cm wide at the front. Two small gray wheels on the underside of the tread are what actually roll the toy along. At the rear of each tread is a clear yellow claw piece like that at the back of Beast Machines Scavenger, some kind of dirt scraper or something. The treads are not pegged onto anything, but the hip and knee joints of the robot mode's legs are stiff enough that this isn't an issue. Hips: Behind the cab on either side are the robot mode hips, which are orange-brown. Attached to each hip is a stoneware blue turret an inch (2.5cm) wide and a little shorter from front to back, about 7mm thick. There's two stubby barrels and the turret is free to turn 360 degrees. The turret is a single solid piece, unlike the version shown on the box prototype (which has the two barrels independently raiseable). Tail: The tail is mostly green plastic and made up of chunks 3.5" (9cm) and 4" (10cm) long with black hinges. The sound gimmick is housed in the lower and shorter tail chunk, but since there's a trigger out at the tip, the hinges are very robust and not more poseable ball joints. Atop the longer piece is a blue and pale gold cockpit piece with a pseudo-live hardpoint (i.e. it does something, but doesn't require a Mini-Con attached to make it work). A black hook is on a 90 degree motion hinge at the tip, and clear yellow cannons are folded back to the sides under the cockpit. Pulling the cockpit back causes the guns to deploy on gears. The tail isn't too poseable, with just hinges (double hinge on the tip piece, ratcheting hinge where it attaches to the body) and no rotation. Sound Gimmicks: Because no section is big enough to stick AAA batteries, this one uses LR44 watch batteries instead, in the component with the speaker and electronics. There's a pull-tab to remove to let it activate, but unlike Armada Jetfire and Galvaton, it's not easy to re-insert this tab. And believe me, you'll want to. }-> You have to unscrew the compartment and put the tab back inside. With sound activated, any movement of the tail triggers clashing metal sounds, and you get some extra motion sounds when transforming (I think, might be the same sounds, but I don't feel like removing the tab again). Deploying the tail guns makes one sound, pressing "Button B" while doing so gives a different sound. Pushing "Button A" makes an engine sound reminiscent of Armada Scavenger, but not the same. There are no lights, and the sounds get kind of annoying pretty fast. Transformation to Robot: The front of the cab splits to form big shoulderpads, with the claws becoming, well, claws. The treads unfold into legs, with the dozer blades becoming toes and the trailing claws becoming wicked knee spikes. Heel spurs also fold down and lock in place. The cab opens up and you pull the head out from it. And if you've followed this order and not moved the tail to the back yet, you'll see why Scorponok is popular with the femmecons. The transformation is a bit tricky because of all the very stiff joints in the toy, but conceptually simple. Oh, the shoulderpads are supposed to be at a 45 degree angle to keep the massive fists away from the body, but you can also mess with the joints so that the shoulderpads point straight up (using a jet transformation joint to get them away from the head). Robot Mode: 7.5" (19cm) tall at the head, 9.5" (24cm) tall at the stinger when it's raised over the head and depressed to fire straight across with the energon cannons. The cockpit is upside-down in this configuration, unfortunately. The only totally new part is the robot head, which is a stoneware blue helmet, gray face, red (or maybe orange-brown) eyes, and a clear yellow visor that can be tilted back. The visor is clearly meant to evoke G1 Scorponok, and the blue-and-gray helmet is similar to Zarak's purple and yellow-gray scheme. I may be reaching here, of course. The tops of the shoulderpads are also revealed (having been concealed when the halves were together), and have some nice techno-details. Arm jointing is as mentioned above for the claws. The hips are ratchet hinges, but they have a little side to side play, maybe ten degrees to each side to help with standing stability. There's a swivel above each knee and the knees are very stiff ratchet hinges. The toes have some freedom of movement thanks to transformation joints. Turning the claws over into fists reveals some standard peg holes to let Scorponok use energon weapons. His own cab-flanking guns fit in these holes as well, but look kinda puny. Transformation to Hover Jet: Manipulate the shoulders to free up more space above the chest, stow the head, and then refold the tail so it sticks up between the shoulders. Lower the arms to the sides and extend the spikes into winglets. The toe/ankle assembly folds out to become engines and tail flaps. This piece may pop off, it's only pegged in and not solidly connected. The knee spurs form the vertical tail pieces, more or less. I recommend opening the claws at this point, it increases the "wingspan". Hover Jet Mode: Well, it's big. 15" (38cm) long, and if you open the claws up it gets a wingspan of 13" (33cm). Small wheels in several places let it roll along more or less. The missile launchers face backwards, although the backs of the missiles poking through look kinda like additional cannons. While the "ugly assembly of parts with deadly purpose" look works for the MechaScorpion mode, it doesn't do so well here. As third modes go, it's okay, certainly better than most Transmetal "transport modes". But I much prefer the MechaScorpion. Overall: A very cool toy with a few minor annoyances here and there. Worth the price, but not quite so good that I'd recommend rushing online and buying it that way if there's a decent chance you'll see it in stores. Dave Van Domelen, now to open Optimus Prime. And make dinner. In some order.