Dave's Microverse Rant: Arachnid Guess what? The Microverse sets arrived at the local Toys R Us in large quantities today. Good thing Hex's present for me (Orcanoch) arrived yesterday and not today! }-> CAPSULE Less complex and interesting than Orcanoch, plus has hideous neon green parts where the box art shows yellow. Has three distinct modes, but this isn't quite enough to rescue it. Mild recommendation to avoid unless you're a completist...Orcanoch is better in almost every respect. $10. RANT There are no tech specs for Arachnid, just a back of the box blurb: "Copying the ingenuity of the Maximals [oooh, this is sure to please the Pred-boosters], the evil Predacons created a mobile battle station hidden within a gigantic Predacon Arachnid clone! His body opens to reveal an elevating missile platform that converts to a mini attack ship [it doesn't actually...this must have been changed later in the development], a computerized command center with positionable laser cannon, and a control area to repair battle-damaged Predacons. And if enemies approach, the mechanized legs lash out to capture victims without warning." Not quite as badly-written as Orcanoch's, but not great either. I'm starting to get the impression from this and Orcanoch's note that this station is actually a giant clone of Tarantulas, which might explain things. Especially if this toy was going to be named Tarantulas originally, then got renamed and a search-and-replace done on the box text. Box: The art on the front shows Razorbeast using Orcanoch's flipper ship to attach Arachnid, while Megatoron and Inferno fire back with the base weapons and Snapper and some drill-handed Pred I can't identify cruise around in the little attack craft. I guess maybe the turtle on Orcanoch's box isn't Snapper after all. Spider Mode: Aside from being purple and orange, acceptable. Only the rear pair of legs has any poseability, though, and Arachnid has some serious undercarriage garbage in the neon green webs and control cockpit. Just a bit over five inches long, Arachnid plays second fiddle to Orcanoch. Transformation: Pretty simple, I was able to figure out everything without the instructions within three minutes of fiddling. However, the third mode took the instructions for me to notice. Vehicle Mode: Where Orcanoch's "vehicle mode" is just the beast mode with the head removed, Arachnid does have a distinct intermediate stage between beast and base that counts as a vehicle. Flip down the treads and skid, rotate the head around and move the webs out, and you get a land cruiser mode. The base mode involves a few extra steps (more than one), which is good. Base Mode: The same complaints that apply to Orcanoch fit here, with the added problems that A) this doesn't shoot any missiles, and B) too much neon green, yech. Instead of missiles, this one has two small vehicles in the shapes of a spider and a fly, which can sit on the web. They might even be kinda cool if they weren't solid neon green. The toymakers must be looking more at the show now, since the base mode includes a volcano which splits open to reveal vehicle and repair bays. The control platform has a great deal of articulation, but is not removable as implied by the box blurb. Micro-figures: See the Orcanoch review for general comments. Megatoron suffers the same problem as Primal in that his back is the same color as his head, which looks weird. Razorbeast actually had paint applied, so he'd look good if his legs weren't...you guessed it...neon green. At least the color is almost appropriate for Megs. I'm not sure why they used the ape Primal but the gator Megs, but oh well. As a side note, I've now painted Primal and Tarantulas, and have a warning for those who would do the same. The metallic paint on Tarantulas is soluble in spray glosscoat, and ran together with some of the colors I applied. I lucked out and the result was pretty cool, though. Gimmicks: Just the rubsign. No spring-launchers or anything. The rear pair of spider legs are articulated and have grabber tools you can put on the ends. Stowing: Very easy here. Shove everything into the volcano. Play Value: Mediocre. The three modes just barely bring it up in interest level from "poor." I would probably be a lot more enthusiastic about this toy if the neon green parts were, say, silver or black instead. Dave Van Domelen, moving Razorbeast over to Orcanoch and giving Tarantulas the helm of Arachnid (he doesn't quite fit in the mini-ships).