Beast Wars Scorponok

 

My Review:

Robot Mode: Scorponok is a big, strong-looking robot with giant claws for hands and rather delicate-looking legs. His proportions make him look like an over-developed body builder, which fits his character in the TV series quite nicely. Overall the resemblence to this TV incarnation is quite good except for the colour. Here he is mostly black, while on TV he was grey. Apart from that, though, a very good likeness. Scorponok is very posable and carries a double missile launcher in his left claw and can launch a robotic bee drone from his right one. There is a lever on his scorpion tail, which can make it sting forward, but it takes a lot of pressure and the tail doesn''t stay in that position. Also, the tail can''t be folded away properly. It either stands up straight or points directly backwards, you can''t position it down his back. Scorponok also has the Mutant-Head-gimmick that many early Beast Wars toys had and he is one of the few where I really like the look of it. It''s like a really scary helmet. Looks good on him. All in all, a good robot mode with some minor problems.

Beast Mode: Unsurprisingly Scorponok becomes a scorpion in beast mode and does a pretty good job. I think the scorpion is slightly misproportioned, the claws too large and the main body too short, but that''s just a minor thing. The tiny red legs can''t really hold the body up, so it rests fully on the ground, but again, not really a problem. The claws are fully posable here as well and the stinger attack works, too. A good beast mode, no complaints.

Remarks: Scorponok was Megatron's second-in-command during the first season of Beast Wars, but died a very unspectacular and unlamented death in the first episode of the second season. The toy gives a pretty good showing, even if the colour is off, and has only a few minor things to complain about. So all in all, not a revolution as far as Beast Wars Transformers go, but a good figure.

Rating: B-

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And for a second opinion the review by Tobias H:

Prelude: In the first season of the Beast Wars series Scorponok was Megatron’s first officer and second-in-command. He was also one of the strongest fighters the Predacons had to offer. With a rather substantial arsenal of various weapons the powerful Predacon was a lot of trouble for the Maximals. He once managed to turn Optimus Primal into a enraged madman by way of his Cyberbee, which meant lots of trouble for everyone.

Apart from his impressive fighting skills, Scorponok's most noticeable characteristic was his firm conviction, that he and Megatron were connected by a relatively deep friendship. It goes without saying that this was a rather one-sided affair.

Unfortunately Scorponok died a rather unspectacular death in the first episode of season two, when he and Terrorsaur fell into a lava pit and perished.

Robot Mode: Scorponok is a Mega-class figure, which is more or less consistent with today's Voyager-class. Considering his class, though, Scorponok is a rather short fellow. He is pretty much at eye level with Beast Wars Deluxe-class figures, which were a tad smaller in general than today's Deluxe figures.

What he lacks in height, though, he makes up in width and mass, which starts with his giant scorpion claws and continues with his scorpion tail, which in robot mode sits at the back of his head and sticks out upwards. The latter makes Scorponok look a lot taller than he actually is. All in all Scorponok looks like a very muscular body builder, a look which fits this figure very well.

Colour-wise Scorponok does appear a bit boring at first glance. The dominant colour is a deep black, broken up by a few red highlights. Upon closer inspection, though, you notice a few more interesting details held in a subtle steel-grey, which break up the monotony of the robot mode quite well. So I can’t really say anything bad about Scorponok’s looks.

In terms of posability Scorponok adheres to the high Beast Wars standard, meaning he’s pretty bendy. Arms, legs, the head, and even the scorpion tail are posable. Unfortunately Scorponok can’t adopt many dramatic poses despite that, look further down for the reason.

Because first I want to talk about Scorponok’s gimmicks. He does have a few of those. First he sports the “double face” that was typical for first wave Beast Wars figures. Meaning that, apart from his normal face, he has another - and in my opinion completely redundant, not only for Scorponok but for BW figures in general - mutant face. In his case this comes in the form of a kind of mask, which slides in front of his normal face, which by the way is a great likeness to that of his TV counterpart.

He also sports different weapon systems hidden in his two scorpion claws. One claw contains a twin missile launcher. If you open up the claw, two red missiles are launched, with quiet a bit of force, actually. Not a very innovative, but nicely done weapon gimmick. The weapon system in his second claw is the innovative one. If you push a lever there, a part of the claw is launched and transforms by way of a simple spring into one of those drones (called Cyberbee) which have made trouble for the Maximals time and again. It can serve as mini spy or as a flying weapon, or even as a character-warping parasite.

All in all Scorponok could have a very good robot mode if not for one small “but”. Given the - for his size - rather large extremities, both the big and heavy claws as well as the over-sized scorpion tail, it is rather difficult to balance Scorponok properly. The figure is extremely hard to pose properly without toppling over. If you stand him up, a simple movement of one claw usually suffices to make the figure topple forward. If you leave the claws hanging down, the tail at the back of his head makes him prone to topple backwards. It takes some patience to find any stable pose for Scorponok. He can pose, but you need to be careful.

Alternate Mode: Was there really any doubt? Scorponok transforms into a scorpion, of course. The animal is relatively large, once again thanks to the giant claws which are present in this mode as well, naturally. Colour-wise the black is once again dominant, just like in robot mode, along with some red. Scorponok features far less highlights in this mode, but that is consistent with his counterpart in the TV series.

In terms of posability, though, I have to say that I expected more from Scorponok here. The claws of this multi-legged monster are fully posable and both his weapon gimmicks can be used here as well, of course. The tail, too, features a nice gimmick here, a kind of “stinging” motion caused by a lever. Looks pretty good. What I’m missing, though, is any kind of articulation in Scorponok’s scorpion legs.

I’d have understood it in a Deluxe- or Basic-class figure, no problem. But Scorponok is a Mega-class figure. Would it really have been too much to ask to include individual legs with ball joints? Well, this is a small flaw for me, but doesn’t really drag down this mode all that much.

As far as realism goes Scorponok pulls it off pretty well, even though his claws are somewhat oversized. If I remember right, though, that, too, is consistent with the way he was shown on TV. So all in all not a bad alternate mode at all, but with room for improvement.

Conclusion: I like Scorponok. In the TV series the character was involved in many of the more interesting plots and he’s one of the more interesting designs among the Predacons. The toy version is a very good likeness to the TV counterpart with only a few minor differences. The only thing that really bothers me is his miserable balance. I think that could have been done a lot better, maybe with some internal weights or such. As things stand you need a bit of a delicate touch and patience to pose Scorponok in any way.

Nevertheless he is a pretty good Transformer and also a rather rare toy. I got my version from ebay seller thetoyaddict1, so many thanks for that.

Rating: Despite the odd problem here and there, I think Scorponok does deserve a solid B-.