As opposed to many of
the more animalistic RID2015 Decepticons, Scorponok's a more "traditional"
beastformer, with an alt mode of a robotic scorpion. His proportions are
pretty spot-on-- the claws aren't ridiculously oversized for once! The
legs may be a titch small, but that's about it. He's very nearly kibble-free,
too-- his robot legs stick out just a tad underneath his scorpion body,
though near the feet they stick out more obviously. From a side view they're
definitely more apparent than from the front. It should also be worth noting
that, due to his transformation, his claws wiggle ever-so-slightly on his
arms when you move said arms around, as they can't lock in place completely,
though they don't move much-- a minor complaint, really. As for the mold
detailing, Scorponok has plenty of the RID2015 typical duo/trio of angular
divots, such as on his tail, claws, and his shoulders. There's some really
nifty detailing that looks like armor plating on his back and especially
his tail-- the latter has angled armor detailing to make it look more robotic.
His legs are pretty angular and thus have some basic angular details on
them, as well. I love his head, which is a slightly humanized scorpion
head, with two sets of eyes and a simplified set of mandibles that can
open and close like a human jaw. (As for his other articulation in this
mode, he can move at the shoulders (at two points), where the legs meet
the body (all three as one piece on each side), and at the tail (at three
points). For his color scheme, Scorponok's actually the color of a lot
of scorpions (no green and purple here!)-- that is, brown, mostly. He's
got a nice shade of darker brown that's pretty much the exact shade of
milk chocolate, and then a lighter shade of brown that has a bit of glitter
in it to make it look semi-metallic. The two different shades both contrast
and complement each other quite well, and make for a pretty decent main
color scheme. There's also two shades of gray on Scorponok. He's got that
blah light milky gray, unfortunately-- though it's mostly relegated to
minor parts in this mode-- and some darker gray. They work decently as
neutral colors so he isn't ALL brown, but otherwise I'm not a huge fan.
He DOES have a really nice shade of metallic charcoal gray on his head,
which looks great, though. He's also got some red paint on his eyes and
the rectangular details on his claws and tail. There's also some light
brown paint on the stinger to help vary up that dark gray.
For once, Scorponok
DOESN'T transform in the traditional manner where his scorpion claws become
his robot claws. No, this one takes a rather interesting approach-- his
scorpion claws actually open up and slide up his arms to plug into his
shoulders, revealing three-fingered hook-like hands; his heads essentially
trade places; his robot body, which is on the underside of his scorpion
body, moves up a bit; and the robot legs unfold from the bottom and form
very skinny, chicken-walker-like legs. I love the originality in the robot
mode. To be fair, there is some kibble; the sides of the scorpion body
stick out pretty obviously from his skinny robot body (he's got a positively
anorexic waist), and the scorpion legs stick out even more from the sides.
I mean, the legs fold back some, but not nearly enough. The scorpion tail
just kinda hangs behind his back, but he uses it in robot mode (and it's
articulated so he can use it from the sides of his body), so I just count
it as part of the robot mode and not just an extra. The claw "shells" look
great on the shoulders, and help accentuate his silhouette and bulk up
the toy in one area, given that it's not really bulky anywhere else. His
skinny, backwards-bending knees are a really neat idea, and I love the
"hooves" on the bottom, but the sheer skinny-ness of them makes him a bit
difficult to pose, despite his otherwise pretty decent articulation. (He
can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows, hips (at two points),
knees (at two points), and forward-and-back at the ankles.) Scorponok's
color scheme trends a bit more toward the gray end in this mode, with all
of his limbs being primarily gray, so he doesn't look quite as exciting
to me, though certainly not bad. For paint, he's got some silver on his
face and stomach; light brown on the sides of his lower arms; and red on
some divot-like details on his forehead, chest, and the outsides of his
arms, with red eyes ars well. I do love that headsculpt, which looks sort
of like a scorpion head on the top and sides, but with a humanoid face
poking out of it with a long, strong jaw. For weaponry, Scorponok's sword
can come off the end of his stinger and plug into one of his hands. It's
a ridged, curved sword, calling to mind his armor plating detailing, and
is fairly unique-- a cool accessory.
RID2015 Scorponok is
a really unique take on your usual scorpion-former, with a unique transformation
for his claws and legs, in particular. Some of it doesn't always work--
his legs are too skinny, and he does have some minor kibble issues on his
body in both modes-- but he's still a pretty good Warrior toy overall,
and I'm glad to see more unique Decepticons like him. Mildly recommended.
Review by Beastbot