Dark
Scorponok
(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Energon Scorponok. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Energon Scorponok here.)
Dark Scorponok, in terms
of his color scheme, is a nod to the Japanese character Black Zarak, who
had a similar scorpion alt mode and color scheme. There's a few differences,
to be sure, but the homage is still clear. But even ignoring the homage,
Dark Scorponok's color scheme is amazingly cool-- black, gray, gold, and
red is always a winning combination for a Decepticon, especially an evil
resurrected Energon vampire one like this bad boy! Some people don't like
the blue, but I think it adds a bit of contrast to the other colors, and
still fits in with the overall color scheme pretty well. There are only
two minor changes I'd personally make to the color scheme, otherwise it's
perfect; first, I'd change the color of the tail guns to the same transparent
red as the rest of the clear Energon parts, as having only the guns being
a different shade of red while the rest of the Energon weapons share a
common color is a little odd. And secondly, I'd change the color combo
of the robot face from light blue and black to black and gold-- having
a light blue head looks a little out-of-place, as it doesn't look as "dark"
and evil as the rest of the body does.
As for mold changes,
a minor change has been made to Dark Scorponok's tail to make it conform
with the Cybertron Cyber Key gimmick-- instead of being able to manually
flip the tail cannons in and out by moving the cockpit back and forth as
you could on Energon Scorponok, to flip out Dark Scorponok's tail guns,
you need to insert his Cyber Key behind his cockpit. The end of the tail,
the cockpit, and the guns are also themselves redesigned-- they look slightly
more angular, a bit "meaner". Due to the Cyber Key gimmick, however, there's
a bit of a flat space behind the cockpit, which looks a little out-of-place
with the surrounding detailing if the Cyber Key isn't inserted. Otherwise,
the mold is the same as it was with Energon Scorponok. I have noticed on
my toy, however, that it looks like the mold's knee and hip joints have
degraded somewhat during this second run-- they're still reasonably tight,
but they move significantly easier than they did on Energon Scorponok.
Dark Scorponok also retains the sound effects of his former version, including
that stupid super-sensitive "mechanical whirring" whenever a slight wind
blows past his tail, so you're better off just taking the electronics out.
Dark Scorponok is a
superb repaint of an already awesome toy-- so superb, in fact, that it
puts Energon Scorponok to shame. The new Cyber Key gimmick added is a bit
unimpressive for such a large toy, but you can't expect much of a Key gimmick
for a toy designed for another line, so that's easily overlooked. Highly
recommended if you don't have Energon Scorponok; otherwise, mildly recommended.
Review by Beastbot