War for Cybertron: Kingdom Blackarachnia

(Femme-Bot Friday #75)

A fitting follow-up to Big Firebird's inaugural entry into the 'sort-of-TransFormers-but-not-quite' market, since Beast Wars Blackarachnia was one of the first - if not the first - TransFormers TV show character to have blatant robo-tits, even though her toy was largely androgynous thanks to its original use as the male-coded Tarantulas. The TV show was able to better differentiate between the two Predacon arachnids, and the character designers clearly didn't want any ambiguity around her role as the Femme-Bot Fatale, giving her the proportions of a pin-up.

It's also interesting to see a mainline Blackarachnia toy so soon after the mostly well-received Masterpiece, since that figure's nigh-flawless robot mode came at the expense of a bulbous and hopelessly inaccurate beast mode.

What better way to begin, then, than by looking at how it's done with a Deluxe class toy?

Beast Mode:
It comes up pretty much every time I write about a Blackarachnia toy, but I'm actually an arachnophobe. It's not as bad as it was in my youth - that is to say, I'm no longer paralysed by sheer terror at the sight of an eight-legged creature the size of my thumbnail - but I'm still not a fan of having them around. Conversely, I've been a fan of Blackarachnia toys since the TF Animated version, and now have at least one version of each mold except the original Beast Wars version, as well as a Third Party homage, and this toy has one of the more convicing spider modes among them.

Much like the flawed Masterpiece, this has an oversized abdomen that barely disguises the robot's legs, coupled with a tiny cephalothorax that doesn't even try to accommodate the robot's arms. These are just lined up under the spider's belly, with her claws loosely clipped into her feet. Making matters worse, the high contrast between the black plastic of the spider parts and the 'Bumblebee Yellow' plastic of the robot parts, it looks as though the beast mode has boobs, let alone her robot mode. The two rounded lumps of her shoulder and narrow pauldrons hang down right behind her mandibles, looking ridiculous. It seems almost inevitable, somehow, that a Blackarachnia toy will have its beast mode flawed by some similar means, given that the TF Legends version basically unfolded the robot's boobs and called them mandibles. The obvious solution would have been to enlarge the cephalothorax a little but, here, that would have ruined her slender robot mode.

Her spider legs are surprisingly well done - and this is coming from someone who bought two copies of Revenge of the Fallen Scalpel, only to have to throw both of them away because all of their legs broke. The inner sections of all four legs on each side are joined together on a single hinge below (and slightly too far back on) the cephalothorax, but the eight outer parts are attached via ball joints. Much like the Masterpiece version, there is only this one joint per leg, with the two other 'knuckle joints' being fixed, sculpted detail on the uncomfortably-textured legs. All it really loses is the MP version's individual ball joints where the legs meet the body.

Paintwork is minimal - three raised, smooth areas on her abdomen, and eight nobbly eyes on the cephalothorax are painted red, while the back end features nine yellow-painted bobbles above the tips of robot mode's yellow-and-black striped claws, which make for passable spinnerets. Since Blackarachnia is such a small figure, there really isn't that much beast mode surface area for sculpted detail, but what's available is used for a creepy, bobbly texture on her seemingly segmented posterior, while the front end remains fairly smooth beyond a few sculpted curves on her back, and the requisite stubby mandibles.

While she can't wield her weapon in beast mode, its storage is provided for by a couple of slots in the backs of her robot mode wrists. The connection isn't great and, in the absence of any additional connection via the gun's 5mm grip peg, it has a tendency to fall out. It's not helped by the vague instructions about how to arrange her arms for beast mode, because the space between the pegs on the underside of the gun doesn't appear to match the distance between the slots in her arms... and it seems to come down to having the forearms and feet tilted to a very particular angle.

Robot Mode:

Given the much-simplified engineering of this figure versus the Masterpiece, I was pleasantly surprised by how good Kingdom Blackarachnia looks in robot mode... but there are some substantial caveats. The overall sculpt of the figure - her proportions and details - is excellent. She's a huge improvement on TF Legends Blackarachnia in terms of show-accuracy... though the wide beast abdomen shell plate on her back is a bit of a pain, since it disguises how narrow the robot's waist actually is, when viewing her from the front.

However, while the overall design is phenomenal - slender, well-proportioned and as detailed as it needed to be to replicate such dated CGI - the paint job is appallingly meagre. The majority of the paint is a sunshine yellow - warmer and more vibrant than the plastic but, by this point, that's never a surprise - with a cooler, possibly metallic yellow on her pelvic 'eyes'. The only additional touches are the copper-coloured spider leg design across her chest and the yellow Predacon insignia on her collar. Her CGI animation model - and, indeed, the Masterpiece figure - featured a range of metallic shades along the spectrum from gold to copper, along with metallic green and purple for certain areas. None of that variety is in evidence here, and barely any of the paint is remotely metallic. The applications of red paint visible in beast mode are concealed here - the spider's eyes sit inside her pelvis, while two of the red markings from her spider abdomen are still visible on her back, and the third has been folded inside her (very small and tidy) backpack. It feels cheap and incomplete, and really lets the mold down... And I can't help but think it's partly deliberate, to limit the amount of thunder this figure steals from the Masterpiece.

...But let's talk about that chest, with particular reference to Big Firebird Toy's Nicee. There is literally no mistaking that these golden-yellow mounds are tits. They were part of Blackarachnia's CGI model in the TV show (with occasional bounce, if I remember correctly), and they're faithfully recreated here. Beast Wars was one of those TV shows that operates on two levels - the goofy/fun/exciting level for kids, and the slightly more adult level... And guess which level Blackarachnia's tits are on. Bear in mind, also, that this was a significant deviation from the design of her toy, and that the Beast Wars TV show debuted around nine years before TransFormers Cybertron/Galaxy Force's slightly less rudimentary CGI gave Thunderblast/Chromia a defined underboob which was absolutely not present on her toy. But, at the risk of repeating myself, here's the thing: Blackarachnia's CGI was deliberately designed to play up her Femme-Bot Fatale character... and I don't recall any complaints about oversexualisation back then, or since. Admittedly, it was possibly a different story with Blackarachnia's later TransMetals toy, (thanks to a removeable 'bra' and the resultant nipple-holes) and certainly was with Thunderblast/Chromia's depiction in the TV show, but neither caused quite so much consternation. I'd even argue that her techno-organic nature makes her more overtly sexualised than Nicee because she doesn't look robotic except where there's a small amount of tech detail sculpted on the biceps, where her spider legs attach. Additionally, since she's largely duochrome, one could look at her and see a golden-skinned female wearing knee-length, chaps-style, strapless dominatrix lederhosen... But, of course, that's as poor an assessment of Blackarachnia's appearance as the 'bikini' view of Nicee. Plus, if Blackarachnia gets a pass because the character had agency over herself in (most of) the TV show, then some folks must have been assuming that Nicee does not, in the absence of any associated fiction, based on her appearance alone.

Her weapon - 'Poison Anchor', a name seemingly adopted from the Masterpiece version - is very accurate to the CGI, in that it's a somewhat embellished, somewhat simplified interpretation of the original toy's spring-loaded grappling hook. The back end is covered with strange, asymmetrical ridged details with a grille section at the back. It's painted copper, matching the CGI, while the serrated 'hook'/bow part at the front - not consistently part of the CGI weapon - and the 5mm peg on the bottom are bare yellow plastic. She can wield it in either hand via a specially-designed 5mm grip, right at the claws' fixed 'joint', but it never really looks as if she's holding it with only two long digits on her 'hands'. Surprisingly, there's not really a storage point for the gun in robot mode, unless you count the 5mm hex-sockets on her calves, which are intended more for Weaponiser/Fossiliser upgrades. These, and the 5mm sockets on the soles of her feet are the only connection points for such parts, so she's not the most adaptable toy in the line. Then again, according to the TV show, each of her spider legs had some sort of gun at the very tip so, if she already has eight integrated guns attached to her arms, she doesn't really need any additional weapon upgrades.

In keeping with the rest of her body, the TV show played fast and loose with the original toy's head sculpt to create an ornate helmet that showed only a sliver of face from just above the upper lip to her chin. Back in 2016, I though the head sculpt on Takara Tomy's TF Legends figure was "as spot-on as you could hope for, almost as if it was 3D printed from the TV show's CGI". Frankly, this one blows it out of the water. It's possible not as detailed or refined as the Masterpiece version, particularly around the mouth, but it's exceptionally good for a Deluxe class toy. The paintwork is largely just the warm yellow used elsewhere on the figure, but the exposed part of her 'face' is painted gold, and the miniscule hourglass symbol on her forehead crest has been picked out in red. It's a little disappointing that her eyes aren't painted, but that's actually true to the CGI - they only became either red or green in very specific circumstances in the show. The sides of her helmet are fluted, and she even has the seven small bumps on the back of her head that are sort-of a reference to the 'monster' face on the original toy. Aside from the use of non-metallic paint, I think the yellow has been applied excessively, as it spreads onto the very edges of the outer helmet on either side of her face - this should have been bare black plastic according to both the CGI and the Masterpiece figure.

Transformation is substantially simpler than the old TF Animated/Legends mold, and somewhat less fussy than the TransMetals toy. Much as I find her beast mode a little disappointing, the process of arriving at it is quite fun, and ends up being surprisingly novel. The legs are mostly straightforward, apart from the easily-missed sliding panel on the outsides of her hips - they barely move, but make all the difference in lining up her beast mode abdomen. One seriously wacky aspect is that the shoulders are connected via a rotating section which pulls away from the inside of her chest to rotate them 180°, only to lay back along the length of her underside. It seems completely unnecessary, given that her arms feature rotation joints on either side of the base of the spider legs, but it's probably the most efficient way of accomplishing the movement required in the shoulders. The way the head stows inside the body by swinging through the space in some internal framework reminds me a little of the MMC Reformatted Azaleas, but is far easier to accomplish. It's also a bit like the TF Animated version but, again, much smoother here. The weirdest part is that her robo-boobs separate from her chest to swing up after her head, and the frontmost flap of abdomen has to swing over them to complete transformation into beast mode. It's another step that feels unnecessary, but there's no way for the abdomen shell to get into its proper position without it. The tab that fixes it in place in robot mode is reportedly prone to breaking, but mine seems OK so far. Probably my least favourite aspect of her transformation is how insecure all of it is in beast mode. The legs don't clip into position as part of the abdomen, the arms don't peg in anywhere on her underside... the whole thing relies on pegging her gun into the slot on either wrist to hold together, and the feet and arms have to be aligned just so to ensure the gun stays in place. A fraction off, and it either won't peg in at all, or won't stay pegged in.

On the upside, what you get for this fussy transformation and dubious beast mode is a very well articulated version of Blackarachnia that doesn't have trouble standing on its own, like the TF Animated/Legends version or the TransMetals version, but nor does it have comically oversized feet to ensure stability, like the Beast Machines version. She may lack waist articulation due to virtually all of her transformation centring in her lower torso and pelvis, but she has excellent range in all other joints. The ankles are pinned in two places, allowing a huge range of sideways tilt, but only about 90° upward tilt due to transformation, and no backward tilt, likely to ensure the structural strength of her ankles. The knees are only singly pinned, but swing right up against the hips for transformation. One knee on mine - the left - feels a little loose after a few transformations, but it's not bad enough that she's falling over. There's an upper thigh rotation joint, the legs can swing about 45° forward (clashing with her pelvic plate), 90° back, and a little over 90° out to the sides. The shoulders offer a full 360° rotation, albeit forced to a weird angle due to her pauldrons, and perhaps about 140° range of swing out to the sides. She then has dual bicep rotation joints, either side of the spider leg section, and almost a full 180° swing at the elbow. The head itself is mounted on a surprisingly restricted ball joint, but this is then on the end of a pinned 'neck', which supplements its range of tilt. While the only articulation in beast mode is on the eight ball jointed legs, they do offer a good range of movement without seeming too inclined toward popping off or cracking (yes, I'm still bitter about RotF Scalpel!). That they're also strong enough to support the figure in a variety of positions is a huge bonus... Though, all things considered, that should probably be a minimum requirement in a spider toy.

I posted my write-up of the TF Legends version of Blackarachnia five years ago (to the day - how's that for planning?) - and, while I still think that's an excellent interpretation of the character, this has now become the definitive version of the Beast Wars character in her original form, as far as my collection goes. I was never going to go looking for the original BW toy, because it looked a bit rubbish... but now I have filled a gap in my collection that I never truly felt until this figure came along. Hasbro allowed the 20th Anniversary of Beast Wars go by with very little fanfare, and a paltry selection of toys as part of their Thrilling 30 lineup. It then took till last year for Takara to develop a Masterpiece version but, stunning as it was in robot mode, it looked awful in beast mode and, at upwards of £100 for a comparatively small figure, just doesn't seem worthwhile. This toy is far from perfect, particularly in terms of its paint job and plastic colours but, for a mere £18, it represents far better value for money, and will fit equally well as part of a War for Cybertron: Kingdom collection, or as part of a Beast Wars collection with a particular emphasis on show-accuracy over toy-accuracy.

Part of me, honestly, cannot understand the marketing strategy behind releasing a cheaper, more accessible 'toy' version of so popular and significant a character when the Masterpiece version is still quite a recent addition to the line... but I have problems understanding Hasbro's whole marketing strategy for War for Cybertron... Assuming I'm not being overly generous in thinking they even have a marketing strategy. Had Kingdom come out first, it might make sense, but I forsee a lot of collectors 'settling' for this version instead of the Masterpiece, and I really don't blame them. Kingdom Blackarachnia is a fantastic figure, hindered only by a miserly paint job... But I think we've all come to expect that from Hasbro.

One other thing I'll say against her is that she's very small. While she's just about comparable to a Deluxe class Beast Wars figure, such as Cheetor or Dinobot, she doesn't compare as favourably with the likes of Generations Rattrap or Waspinator. In overall size, she's perhaps closest to Robot Masters Lio Convoy, and that toyline had a scale all its own. That said, she works well enough next to Kingdom Optimus Primal, who is absolutely dwarfed by his Ultra class Beast Wars antecedent.

That said, I received this figure on a Friday and had completed this write-up by the following Tuesday, making it by far the fastest and easiest toy write-up I've made over most of the last year, and I would tend to suggest that says something quite strongly in her favour, considering how ambivalent I have generally been towards the War for Cybertron line.

Packaged alongside this toy - slipped into a pocket in the back of her cardboard backing and not actually visible until you specifically go looking for it - is a card/holographic foil sticker combo collectors' card. I gather there are only four of these 'Golden Disk destiny' cards and I received the exact same card with both Blackarachnia and Optimus Primal - a fabulously glittery Optimus Prime on the sticker, and the so-called 'Alternate Universe Optimus Prime' (that is, the grey one) captioned 'dies in battle', in the Ancient Autobot font, on the card itself. The back of the cards show an image of the Golden Disk, which will apparently feature in Kingdom's Netflix series in some capacity.

These cards are but one aspect of the Kingdom line that I just don't understand... Why are these cards also holographic stickers? Will they serve some additional purpose? Why are there so few designs? And why has each chapter of War for Cybertron had its own completely unique and unrelated pack-in 'bonus' feature? Hasbro really need to plan these things a bit more thoroughly or, if they can't be bothered to do proper, G1-style Tech Specs cards across each complete continuity, at least stick to collectors' cards like those in the Prime Wars trilogy.