Waspinator
(Animated)
At long last, fan-favorite
Beast Wars character Waspinator returns, this time as a freaky technorganic
wasp in Animated! In wasp mode, Waspinator certainly looks insectoid, though
in keeping with Animated's sharp lines and relatively sparse mold detailing.
I particularly like the snazzy green-and-black-striped abdomen when it
comes to detailing, and the little insectoid hexagons in the wings also
look great as well. As for colors, Waspinator keeps his original's dark
green, but adds in some light green (which makes for a fantastic contrast
color) and some transparent violet to make him more "Decepticon-y" and
shake things up a bit. The transparent plastic works quite well for "light
piping" in both his beast mode and robot mode optics, and using bits of
transparent plastic in the legs also looks great, too. However, that said,
another accent color or two wouldn't have hurt, particularly on the legs
which are complelely lacking in paint detailing. There are a few major
things I don't like about this mode, though. The first is that the antennae
from Waspinator's robot head carry over into beast mode, and they look
RIDICULOUSLY small proportionally when used for the wasp head. It looks
goofy. Also, Waspinator's insect legs are rather weak in terms of their
design. The back two legs are obviously the robot legs, and are awkward-looking.
The front four "legs" are actually only connected to the body at one point
on each side, as they only split slightly below the shoulder, so that looks
rather weird. On the plus side, Waspinator has a simple, though rather
nifty gimmick-- pushing up and down quickly on the small lever in Waspinator's
lower back will cause his insect wings to flap back and forth very quickly,
"vibrating" as you'd typically see a wasp's. Nice, and it doesn't interfere
with the toy, either!
Waspinator's robot mode
is quite nice, overall, and a bit better than his beast mode, if I do say
so myself. His proportions are quite nice, being fairly "slim" like an
insectoid robot should be while still having somewhat bulky upper arms
to emphasize his increased power and strength in this "new" form. His overall
design, though, is way too similar to his beast mode for my liking. It's
basically just his wasp mode, standing up, with a new head and the front
four legs combined into the arms. Plus, Waspinator's head looks similar
to a wasp's anyway due to the homage, so the head isn't too much of the
departure either. (The head mold is done very well, however-- an obvious
homage to his Beast Wars self, but with longer antennae, smaller optics,
and a larger chin-- certainly fitting for the Animated aesthetic.) I do
really like the added vestigial limbs on the stomach, though, as they make
Waspinator look more freakish than he already is and sort of emphasize
that aspect of him more. Waspinator's articulation is quite good-- he can
move at the neck at two places, shoulders (at two places), elbows, up-and-down
at the waist, at the hips (at two places), the knees, and the ankles. More
lower arm articulation is about the only thing he's really missing. (Also,
in case you're wondering, Waspinator's wing-flapping gimmick works in this
mode as well.)
Waspinator looks fairly
good, particularly in robot mode, and is definitely a great homage to the
Beast Wars character of the same name. However, there's far too little
to his transformation for him to be all that interesting when compared
to most of the other Animated toys, as his two modes are far too similar.
He doesn't have any particularly complex gimmicks or weapons to offset
that big downside, either. This is certainly a recommendation for big "Waspy"
fans or those who like insectoid Transformers, but otherwise your money
is better spent elsewhere in the Animated line.
Review by Beastbot