Beast Wars Waspinator

Robot Mode: Among a line of very show accurate toys, Waspinator falls a little by the wayside. While most of him looks very much like his TV character, the head and chest do leave something to be desired. That is not to say it looks bad, no. Just not one hundred percent show accurate. Anyway, like most Beast Wars toys he can store his gun away on his body (it becomes his ass, basically) and the missiles attach to his wasp wings. He also has a fun little gimmick: He can switch his insectoid head for a more humanoid-looking one. All this makes for a good robot mode.

Beast Mode: Waspinator becomes a wasp (big stretch). The animal mode looks pretty realistic (though there are no green wasps to my knowledge) and show accurate, the only drawback here are the robot legs, which don't fold away completely. Still, the wasp looks decent enough.

Remarks: The number one comic relief of the Beast Wars cartoon show, Waspinator holds the distinction of having been blown apart more often than anyone else, but also of being the one bad guy who got away in the end. The final shot of him sitting on a throne, sipping some brew and being worshipped as a god by primitive humans was priceless, especially with his final line "Waspinator finally happy" added.

While the toy itself is not one hundred percent show accurate it still gives a very good showing as Waspinator and if you saw the show you just gotta have it. Bottom line, Waspinator is a must-have for any serious Beast Wars collection, even though more because of the character than the toy itself. And if you don't intend to get him, well, you can "pucker your mandibles and plant big, wet dookie one on Waspinators big ... fat ... stripy ..." (you know the rest!)

Rating: B

And for a second opinion the review by guest reviewer Sam:

Robot Mode: Let's put the negative things first: The insect head on Waspinator's chest is almost impossible to fix into position and keeps getting loose. That's pretty annoying and looks stupid. I also don't much care for that gimmick with the two different heads. Why does a robot need that? What bugs me the most, though, are the insect legs on his arms. I wish they'd have built them with some kind of folding mechanism to make them shorter or something.

Now for the positive: Waspinator can pose with the best of them and his gun looks pretty cool, too. His legs have that warrior-look, like a middle-aged knight with armoured plating. Waspinator is clearly one of the bad guys.

Robo-Rating: D

Beast Mode: Apart from the rather stupid hind legs the wasp looks very decent. Well-made and all the things that make a wasp really stand out. The insect head, the wings, and the narrow torso. Everything's okay here.

Beast-Rating: B

Transformation: It takes some doing because the wasp legs keep getting in the way and the chest is kinda hard to fix into place.

Trans-Rating: C

Remarks: One thing that bugs me about this figure (same as with most Beast Wars figures) is that the two modes look a bit too similar for my taste. The main idea of Beast Wars makes that pretty much inevitable, I know, but what can I say? It's a matter of taste. Just like Waspinator, who's certainly a favorite character. I bought him way back when because I liked him in the TV series. Unfortunately his figure doesn't quite do him justice.

Total Rating: C-

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