General Information:
Release Date: April 2017
Price Point: $297 for the Transformers Collector's Club Subscription Service 5.0 (One of seven figures)
Retailer: Fun Publications (Collector's Club Subscription Exclusive)
Accessories: Blaster
The theme for Botcon 2016 was the "Dawn of the Predacus", riffing off the "Beast Wars" Combiner character known as Tripredacus. The story told the tale of the fall of the Decepticons and the rise of the Predacons, featuring many Maximal and Predacon characters in their "pre-Beast Wars" forms. Botcon had played with this theme before in 2006 with the "Dawn of Future's Past" set, featuring vehicular forms for many Beast Wars characters.
The Transformers Collector's Club Subscription Service continud this theme in 2017 with new figures featuring characters from "Beast Wars" transforming into vehicles instead of beasts. Scorponok is based on the Scamper sculpt that was included with Titan Class Metroplex. This review will focus on the changes made to the figure for this release. Check out the Metroplex review to see my detailed thoughts on Scamper.
Packaging:
Scorponok is packaged in a cardboard box with a top that flips up. Inside the figure sits in a foam tray. He is packaged with Fractyl, Lifeline and Quickslinger. The tech specs, instructions and accessories are all in baggies underneath the foam tray. The stickers keeping the flaps closed indicate this is part of the TFSS 5.0.
Accessories:
Scorponok includes the same dual barreled blaster as Scamper. The weapon is cast in the same purple plastic as the figure itself. It features a 5mm peg that allows it to attach to Scorponok in both vehicle and robot modes.
Vehicle Mode:
Scorponok's "pre-Beast Wars" vehicle form has been shown in "Timelines" stories before. One story had him in a body based on Cybertron Shortround before he magically switched to a body based on Energon Scorponok. Now in this new form he gets a third vehicle based form, which might be some type of record. I will say that out of all the forms chosen, this is probably the one that is hardest to really connect to the character in any way. The Shortround sculpt had some superficial design similarities thanks to the claw like hands. The Energon Scorponok, well, that's kind of obvious, no? But a futuristic, heavily armed sports car? That's not exactly a form I would have associated with Scorponok. I mean, it's a nice heavily armed sports car, but nothing about it screams "Scorponok" to me.
Most of this figure is cast in purple plstic. There are some grey parts on the sides and the wheels are cast in red. I believe Fun Publications was trying to use the Scorponok CG model from the television show as reference. While Scorponok's color looked mostly grey, I could see how there could be a purple-like tinge depending on the lighting. However, this purple is very bold (and border lines on being a lavender). I think if the tone had been darker with some grey tossed into the mix it would call back to the CG model (and the original "Beast Wars" Scorponok toy) a lot better
The paint colors used on this figure include grey, silver, red and yellow. The grey is used on the hood. The silver is used on the windows. Red is used to paint the lightbar on top of the car and the blasters over the rear wheel wells. The engine-like pieces sticking out in the back are painted yellow. The finishing touch is a tampographed Predacon symbol in yellow against a black circle on the hood. I do appreciate the use of grey on the hood as it calls back to "Beast Wars" Scorponok. Yellow and red were also key Scorponok colors so they work as character homage as well. I also have to say it is nice seeing this much paint on such a small figure.
Scorponok's blaster attaches to the top of the car. He can roll on his six wheels on a smo
oth surface. Thanks to the robot mode fist holes winding up on the sides towards the back, you can attach additional weapons there as well.
Transformation to Robot Mode:
- Detach the weapon if connected and set it aside for now.
- Swing out the sides of the vehicle.
- Swing the back of the vehicle out.
- Pull down the waist and upper legs.
- Swing the front section of the car down.
- Rotate the lower arms around.
- Attach the weapon to one of the fists.
- Attach the weapons to the hands.
Robot Mode:
While the vehicle mode does not seem to have much association with the character of Scorponok, the robot mode calls back to the character a lot more so long as you stretch your imagination a bit. First there's the head sculpt. Featuring visor eyes and an oval "helmet" section there is a superficial resemblance to Scorponok's head from "Beast Wars". Also relative to the rest of the body the forearms on this sculpt are huge, making them sort of analogous to Scorponok's giant claw hands in "Beast Wars". Finally the lower legs on this figure have some raised armor sections that are sort of call back to the raised knee armor on "Beast Wars" Scorponok's legs. It's not a perfect homage, but in this mode at least I can see where Fun Publications was going with this.
This mode shows off more grey plastic via the shoulders, biceps, waist and thighs. There is also some grey plastic on the section the head is attached to. The only new paint applications shown in this form revolve around the head, and they are very creative. The crest is painted yellow, as are the eyes. Then there are two parts of the jaw area that are painted yellow with a break in the middle. This is a nice reference to Scorponok's "Beast Wars" helmet design, which featured two parts that came to points near his mouth along the jawline. Kudos to Fun Publications for working that into the deco.
All nine points of articulation on this figure are nice and tight and his weapon fits into his fists nice and snug.
Final Thoughts:
The Scamper sculpt is really nice as an "add on" to a larger figure (or in this case a set of figures). If it was say, a $5-10 mass release figure I would say it is worth it for "Beast Wars" fans or those looking to bolster their Legends Class army. However, given his exclusive status, this figure is averaging about $40 USD on the aftermarket right now and that is a lot to ask for a figure that just barely qualifies as a Legends Class. I would only recommend this for the super hardcore "Beast Wars" fans out there. It's a good figure, but it is not a "must have" for every fan.
Pros:
- Nice sculpt in both modes.
- While it is not a full fledged "Legends Class" figure it does have a weapon.
- Lots of ball joints, allowing for a good range of articulation.
- Aside from the purple color, the designers really tried to call back to Scorponok as best they could.
Cons:
- Very little about the sculpt directly calls back to Scorponok in appearance or theme.
- For a relatively basic figure this will cost a very high price.
