Transformers Beast Wars Masterpiece MP-46 Blackarachnia Official Images

So, my final verdict (IMO) is that I don't really enjoy this product.

I just spent an hour with Actar's back-to-beast video (well-made & inadvertently hilarious), I was unable to lock her in, everything stable and pegged in. The problem I have with modern transformations is that there are too many swivels and hinges. As soon as I attempt to rotate one part, choosing carefully an anchor for my fingers, another part or two rotates or pops out. It feels like trying to do a rubik's cube with oven mitts on and the toy covered with Vaseline, only a Rubik's Cube has détente positions. I finally gave up once I saw that a tab had broken off/in.

I have to put these things back in their boxes for storage, so having the BWMPs in beast modes is a real pisser. In her case, there's really no room to put a wrapped/protected figure in the box with every single cm filled out.

As a robotic action figure she's wonderful – save those damn spider legs – I sure wish each had at least one more POA. I realized this morning that all of them are that way: Great, poseable, beautifully-finished figures that I don't ever want to convert.

As a transformer, I have only frustration and anger as feelings and an experience.
Because it's painfully obvious that, with this sub-line, the goal and final product is 100% about the robot figure (and they just happen to [sort of] transform), why not sell them as if they were action figures and package them in figure form? I would buy these figures as often/much if they were non-transforming figures, and clearly the articulated action figure is where the production team is putting most of their efforts and energies, why the hell not package them in robot mode?

I think in the future, I won't transform them until I'm in a position to display them. My worry has been, what if they're a lemon? I wouldn't know for years, and by then buying an OOP figure would be even more stupidly priced. I guess I should just take a c'est la vie attitude in regard to getting QA losers in the future. I was gonna open up my Cheetor reissue this weekend, but I'll just leave him sealed when packing my Beast Wars storage boxes this weekend. I can remember the hours of frustration when I got the first issue, so this is probably a good idea.

Since I feel like a heretical pariah in these threads, I should probably avoid them as well, save for news.

such a nice figure, really like the look with the visor

iuJacob

Finally got her in hand after coming back from a vacation. She’s been sitting with DHL since the 28th waiting to be picked up.

She’s…. fine.

I still think the beast mode is just as bad as it looked in the first pictures we ever saw of her. Mis-transformed or not, it’s still a mess. Paint was flaking off in my hands, too.

Unfortunately for me, like Megatron before her, I think this is another ‘transform once, put on the shelf, and never touch or even really look at again’ type figure.

 

I hope I don’t feel the same way about Dinobot when I finally get him.

Man, I'm really sorry you feel that way. Why would Megatron be a transform once for you though? Neither mode is a mess, is it?

Is it the difficulty of the transformations? Why would you not want to look at either of them again? Do you not enjoy either mode?

I'm just trying to understand what is making you so down on these figures.

Exousia

I finally cracked mine open and transformed her. Beast mode is actually pretty great, the only real issue being the gold bot legs on the sides of the abdomen. Transformation [to bot mode] was mostly pretty intuitive. The only hang ups being properly seating the abs section and getting the back plate tabbed in. Bot mode is fantastic, incredibly streamlined and very poseable. Just some butterfly joint motion away from being a top-tier action figure.

My only big complaint is that I wish the knee joints of the spider legs were better. I have to be really careful with using that joint in order to click the ratchet without popping the leg off. And one leg specifically doesn't have the same range as the others– it just pops out– I figure maybe there's some mold flash that I need to take care of.

Could it be that the top part of the leg was installed upside down? That was the case on my figure. After flipping it over it's been fine.

Ektris

Thanks! Gotta do some fiddling tonight to get it lined up then. That's what made the most sense to me, but I just could not get the hinge anywhere close to it.

It was a bit unnerving the first time I did it hahah.

Ektris

Maybe it's because I phrased the question poorly, but I'm not sure if you're saying that it should go in the higher deeper cut or does sit in the lower shallower groove.  

Hahaha, no that’s what I get for not reading properly (I had just woken up bahahah.)

It tabs in the higher deeper cut.

View attachment 28470575

Ektris

Finally got mine last night. Only transformed her once and messed around with her for like 15 minutes.. But in all, not too shabby. Pretty happy.

But there's one step of the transformation I'm a little confused by – pegging/positioning the back in robot mode. The way things are shaped, it looks like that peg should be plugging in higher on her neck, instead of just kind of resting in a really shallow groove a little lower down. Is that really where it's meant to go?

Yep, it does.

View attachment 28470384

View attachment 28470385

As nice as the web that is included with Blackarachnia is, I wanted to see if I could make something more realistic. Above is my first go at it.

Verno

Whether it's a happy accident or something planned by TT to do the biggest then smallest Pred, we'll never know. But it's a wonderful thing.

Well since they’ve also done the biggest Maximal maybe a similar pattern will follow.

9999eachhit

+1. I would much rather have joints that are a little too tight and require some precision, than a little too loose. Wouldnt want either extreme, but at least when it's too tight, it will loosen up over time. Too loose, and you're screwed for the lifetime of the figure.

Yeah I'd rather have them be a little too tight than too loose as well. However there are remedies for both.

Pledge for loose joints and silicone spray (or RC Shock oil) for tight joints.