(Femme-Bot Friday #22)
If there's one thing that's certain about TransFormers, it's the black repaint. These have been appearing quite regularly in the toyline, at least since the first Nemesis Prime, if not longer. Arcee seems like a peculiar choice for a black repaint, all things considered, and especially since she'd also been given a G1-homaging pink-and-white paintjob, but that sort of thinking had never been known to stop Takara.Vehicle Mode:
This version is apparently an attempt to reference the bike Captain Lennox rides when he takes on Brawl towards the end of the first movie. I honestly recall very little about that bike, but I'm pretty certain it didn't have a pink/purple flame pattern on it, and I never got the impression that bike had been a robot in disguise at an earlier stage in the creative process.
Nevertheless, Black Arcee looks rather good. Virtually everything is cast in black plastic, the only exceptions being the windscreen (obviously) and a few bits in the middle/back of the bike. Paintwork is kept to a minimum, with the headlight and indicator lights picked out at the front, a few bits of bike frame and the wheels picked out in silver (the latter being a slightly different shade, subtly yellower than the bike frame), and then indicators and the numberplate painted at the back. There's also the comparatively subtle purple/pink flame pattern on the sides and back of the bike. The numberplate is exactly the same as the other two movie Deluxe Arcees I own, so clearly they are all supposed to be alternate versions of the same character, rather than there being a true 'Nemesis Arcee'
Robot Mode:
If the original looked like a dominatrix, this one looks like a full-on bondage queen - glossy black from head to toe with only a few painted details in hot pink, silver, and that godawful AllSpark Blue. Far from looking plain, she actually looks fantasic, testament to the quality of the mold - the only things I'd pick out as poorly chosen are the AllSpark Blue flash on her head and the silver paint on her face - something darker, less contrasting with the black plastic, would have worked better for the face. It's also odd that her mouth/beak was left unpainted, perhaps referencing the black paint applied to the mouth/beak of the original movie Arcee. Whatever the reason, it looks all kinds of weird, like she's wearing a silver masquerade mask as part of her bondage queen get-up. Also odd was the choice of translucent yellow for her light piped eyes, but it does give her a more individual appearance. As black repaints go, this really is quite minimalist, and far more of a true black repaint than the average 'Nemesis' figure.
Being an AllSpark Power figure, Arcee came with a small 'AllSpark'. This is literally just a chunk of rubber about 1cm³, and painted swirly grey with vague 'AllSpark'-ish details printed over the top. As accessories go, it's pretty rubbish.
Considering my G1 movie Arcee was missing its missile, I was pleased to find this one complete, though the weapon somehow doesn't seem to fit the arm quite so well as it did with the original or the G1 repaint. That, or I just can't get the wheel halves properly aligned on the upper arms.
There's not really much summing up to do with this one: I have a penchant for Femme-Bots and a habit of buying black repaints. I'd intended to get her, somehow, someday, from the moment she was revealed, and the fact that it's taken about eight years just goes to show how rarely she turns up. It's entirely possible that this is a good quality knock-off, except that I've never heard of this mold being ripped off and still being released in TransFormers packaging, though it would appear that one knock-off, 'AlteraTion Man - Carroll' is available in original movie Arcee colours as well as the blue one featured in Thew Adams' Knockoff Beatdown IV, so it's not impossible...
Since this basically ticks all the boxes for me, I was only ever going to say it's brilliant, wasn't I? Whilst this version of Arcee is still meant to be an Autobot, with a colourscheme that's vaguely opposite the G1 version, I've decided to display this as my Shattered Glass movie universe Fetishwear Arcee. I mean, with those hot pink and AllSpark Blue bits, she could hardly be some kind of 'stealth ops' Arcee, could she?
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