ANIMATED BALCKARACHNEA HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

This figure is from 2008. She is a Decepticon. She was an Autobot at first in the cartoon called Elita 1. She, Sentinel Prime and Optimus Prime went to this organic planet looking for Energon which was inhabited by giant spiders. They were attacked by the spiders and had to fight their way out. They found a Decepticon wreck of a war ship which had Energon cubes in it. During the fight the Energon cubes exploded so they had to evacuate the cave where they were. Elita 1 was separated from her colleagues and she tried to use her power of download on the spiders but it backfired and she was infected with the spiders organic venom and she was turned into a techno organic spider. By the time she escaped the others had left the planet and she thought she was abandoned so she changed allegiance and changed to the Decepticons.
She came to earth looking for the All spark to help change her back. She believes that the Spark will change her back.

 

FUNCTION; Trickster

 

MOTTO; "My sting will be the last thing you feel"

 

ALTERNATE MODE; Technorganic Spider

 

BIO; Not Known

 

SATS; Not Known

 

 

Spider mode front

 

 

Spider mode side

 

 

Robot mode

 

 

Robot mode with grappling claw

 

Her spider mode does have some problems as four of her legs are clearly the arms and legs for her robot mode. You can even see the hands for the figure. I think that this is lazy designing.

She does have good articulation so you can get quite a few poses.

She has a gold Decepticon insignia in her back.

She also has a red hour glass as she is based on a black widow spider. She also has some spines which were not in the cartoon but it does make her look evil.

She has four eyes where as she should have eight.

Her mandables are present and she has little fangs.

her grabbing claw weapon can be attached to her abdomen and attach her to things so she hangs like a spider. She can be retracted in by the string. it is suppose to be a web. It is a good gimmick.

I also have Transmetal 2 Arachnea and this gimmick broke on mine so watch out that this does not happen with wear.

 

The spider mode is not terrible but compared to Beastwars it is kind of weak in comparison.

Her robot mode makes up for it.

Her robot mode looks attractive and is accurate to the cartoon. She has great light piping and four eyes in this mode.

She is an homage to transmetal 2 blackarachnea with the gold helmet. She has an hour glass in red on her forehead and belt.

You can swing her arms and legs as unofficial stabbing weapons.

The Decepticon insignia is now on her neck.

Unfortunately just below her neck there is a gap where you can see right through her but it does not detract from her.

She has high heels which is typical of the few female transformers but they do make her stand at times

 

You can have the grabbing claw attached to her arm which looks better than the other option of attaching it to her neck.

 

her spider legs are over her shoulder which she uses as stinging weapons.

 

Animated is not really a line for detail but they are accurate.

 

Her spider abdomen hangs off her lower back and you can turn it into a kind of skirt.

 

the only complaint I have in this mode is because the front of her feet are on hinges it can be tricky to stand her.

 

overall I think she is a great figure. The spider mode is OK but the robot mode is what makes her. The fans of Animated should collect her.

 

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL MY FOLLOWERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNIVERSE 2.0 GALVATRON

This figure came out in late 2008. He was part of the 25th Anniversary line. All the figures of that period was 25th anniversary up to early parts of 2009.

This is classics Galvatron. The story is the same for all Galvatrons. It is Megatron reformatted in a more powerful body.

This figure is the ultimate Battle Megatron as a tank so this figure is obviously him reformatted into Galvatron not the gun as some of his other forms have been.

This classics form of Galvatron to my knowledge never got into any fiction of any kind. Which is a shame as he would have been good in a comic.

Bio
Arrogant, powerful and ruthless, Galvatron has emerged to seize control of the scattered Decepticon forces. He has formed what was once a loose confederation of assassins and warlords into an army capable of threatening the entire universe. Rumours abound, but no one knows where he came from; they know only that he arrived, and swiftly crushed all opposition to his rule. Some Decepticons hope another leader powerful enough to challenge him will emerge, but most are too afraid of him to even hope for someone better.

SPEC; Strength 10, Speed 9, Rank 9, Firepower 9, Intelligence 9, Endurance 10, Courage 9, Skill 10

 

Tank Mode Front View

 

 

Tank Mode Side View

 

 

Unofficial Ground Artillery Mode

 

 

Robot mode

 

 

Galvatron is now in earth mode in the form of a tank. He has nice moulding in this mode. The bright orange barrel is a little strange but forms his cannon i robot mode. the cannon is the iconic weapon of Galvatron so they could not leave it off. The beam cannon shoots a missile. It does have silver paint on it to break up the orange. He has silver paint on the tank also. I am not sure if the tank would look better lite purple but the original toy was grey and it does not look like Galvatron. It has Galv 25 representing the Anniversary.

 

The button that you press to shoot the missile is a reddish orange but it would have better grey. they really like this colour.

 

He also has a set of rocket launchers on his turret that shoot six missiles.

 

The tracks have nice details

 

It is strange though as the front of the tank looks like a piece is missing or that some thing should be clipped on but I know nothing is missing so a bit of a mystery

 

The turret turns 360o but is not secure and flaps around.

 

He moulded lights on the tank are unpainted.

 

You can see one of his hands on the turret which is a shame but not too obvious and you can see his feet under the tank but it does look like a flap.

 

It can be tricky to unclip when transforming as it is such a tight fit. It does fall apart sometimes which is frustrating.

 

The feet can be unclipped and used as feet in tank mode so he can walk but I think this looks silly so I don't bother.

 

He also had a ground artillery mode. It is not really his space cannon mode from G1 but it is not bad for a fan mode that I saw on You Tube. It reminds me of Brawls mode in Fall of Cybertron.

 

You do not have to have it as I have it in picture as it is a fan mode and you can have it how you prefer.

 

 

 

Robot Mode

 

With everything falling off during transformation I find it easier to do this then clip it all on again later. little kids will need help.

 

In robot mode there is defiantly more purple and his face is cartoon accurate and Galvatron. He has good light piping so he looks realistic.

 

He also has a red panel on his stomach which is G1 accurate

 

What is the little orange thing between his legs? it looks wrong.lol

 

He has a big cannon and is slightly different to the cartoon as it is longer.

 

One arm is longer because of the cannon and he has the insignia on his shoulder.

 

He does not stand that well as he has not heel spurs so have to use kibble

 

One of his hands is a claw and the other is more human.

 

He can get stress marks on his thumb so watch out

 

His head can fall back into his torso but I think this is quality control.

 

He had good articulation and can be posed.

 

 

This is a good figure  but would have been better with a Voyager scale rather than Deluxe. He is the mighty Galvatron

 

He is not the best because of the mentioned problems but looks good on display.

 

There is also a Hankai version which has some chrome on it. This could be more pricey. There was also the repainted version in a three pack in universe 2.0. E-Hobbie brought one out in translucent plastic which looked pretty good. again pricey. This Universe version is worth having.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNIVERSE 2.0 ACID STORM

This figure is from 2008. He is a repaint of classic Star Scream Which is a mould which has been used again and again which such figures as

• Classics Starscream
• Classics Skywrap
• Classics Ramjet
• Universe 2.0 Acid Storm
• Universe 2.0 Star Scream
• Hankai Star scream
• Hankai Skywarp
• Hankai Thundercracker
• Hankai Dirge
• Hankai Ramjet
• Hankai Thrust
• Hankai Ghost Starscream
• Botcon 2007 Games of Deception Thundercracker
• Botcon 2007 Games of deception Dirge
• Botcon 2007 Games of Deception Thrust
• Generations Thrust
• Generations Thundercracker
• Generations Dirge
• Collectors Club 2011 G2 Ramjet
• Botcon 2011 Shattered Glass Thundercracker

Originally this guy was going to be called Rainmaker but for some reason they then went for Acid Rain before decided on Acid Storm. They were going to call him Rainmaker because it was a name from the team he was part of. In the G1 cartoon he appeared in one of the early episodes of the cartoon on  Cybertron there was this team of Decepticon Seekers which I think Shockwave sent out to destroy the Autobots. None of them were named but there was one yellow seeker Sunstorm? One blue one Icestorm? and one neon green Acid Storm ? Their weapon was acid rain which could disable the Autobots circuitry. Trailbreaker managed to shield himself and fellow Autobots with a force field. The Decepticon ran off. They may have been called the Rain Makers by the fans.

 

 

BIO; A member of an obscure squad of Decepticon air warriors known only as "The Rainmakers," Acid Storm is known as an individual only to his teammates and a very few others. He is highly intelligent, eager, and dedicated utterly to the Decepticon cause. He has a talent for marshaling vast amounts of data, as well as a way with words that would make him a powerful speaker. However, he prefers to remain anonymous, as part of his team. His hyperion3 blasters can seed natural clouds with a highly destructive form of acid rain.

 

SATS; unknown

 

Function; Unknown

 

 

 

 

 

Jet mode side view

 

 

Jet mode front view

 

 

 

                                                           Robot Mode

 

 

Jet Mode

 

His colour in the cartoon was a bright neon green with no other colour present. With this version they have gone for a darker green. There is also some brown camouflage colouring on him. I am not sure why he had this as he can not be camouflaged in the jungle as he is a jet.

 

His cockpit is translucent yellow but no pilot. There not many moulded details but on other parts there are lots. Decepticon insignia on wings and tail fins.

he has light blue on hinges and nose cone. I think the light blue looks a little out of lace. It should have fitted in with rest of the colour scheme.

 

They also moulded on afterburners.

 

He also comes with two null rays which fire missiles and is a nice touch.

 

It is a pretty good jet mode and the kibble under the carriage is not too bad.

 

You can see his feet but wheels are moulded on the his feet. He also has landing gear on the front of the jet which are retractable. You cannot roll him however.

 

Transformation is fairly easy and faithful to the cartoon.

 

Robot mode

 

His robot mode is accurate to the G1 cartoon when it comes to the Seekers.

 

It is a shame that the nose cone does not fold into the body like it does on the Master Piece figures. The nose cone hangs off his head like the G1 figures.

 

His null rays look a little over sized in this mode but not too bad. Posing him is difficult with them so you have to tilt the wings back. The null rays block the insignias on the wings. The null rays can be held or clipped onto the wings bit they should be attacked to the arms so it is accurate.

 

There is some yellow in this mode now which does look attractive. the light blue still looks out of place though. Black might have been better.

 

His articulation is decent and he poses nicely.

 

Unfortunately my figure has a fault in manufacture as on leg the knee joint bends the wrong way . A one off with quality control in the factory. I have this ages and only just noticed this a couple of years ago and I have had him since 2008 when he came out.

 

He is a great figure. You have probably already got a version of this mould as you see form the list above but collect him as he is a rainmaker and the only official toy. Hope they bring the others out that are not KO (knocked off). It is a must have. If you do not have any than this figure is a good one to start off with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                     

BEAST WARS RAMPAGE

We are back. Arran is ready to put on some more of  collection now the summer hols are over. Enjoy!

This figure is from 1998. He is from the Beast Wars line. He showed up in series 2 of the Beast wars cartoon. He was created by an experiment carried out by  Maximal scientists. They were trying to duplicate Starscreams mutant indestructible spark in a Maximal protoform. The experiment was a partial success and Rampage or Protoform X as he was named by the scientists was created. He was nearly indestructible. X basically went insane. He escaped and destroyed the colony that he was being held at. Depth charge who was head of security tracked down X and manged to capture him, He brought him before the high council and ask them to find a way to extinguish X spark and execute him. The high council refused him and X was passed over to Optimus Primal and his team.

When this team were on the Excillon on the excavation mission they forced X into a Stasis pod . They wanted to dump him somewhere so he would be lost forever. Megatron stole the golden disc and took off on the dark side ship. Optimus Primal and his team took off after them in their ship the Excillon. They both crashed on prehistoric earth. X ended up orbiting the earth in his stasis pod along with the rest of the Maximal stasis pods. After being hit by a trans warp wave which turned X into a Trans metal. His pod crashed on earth and he broke out scanning the first living creature he came across a crab. In this form he went on the rampage fighting the Maximals and Predicons alike. He was eventually disabled and was left at the bottom of a cliff after  battle and Megatron went to him and cut out his spark and then took him back to his base ship the dark side. Megatron could now control X using his spark. He became Megatrons puppet. Megatron named him Rampage.
He was killed at the end of series 3 of Beast Wars when him and Depth charge destroyed one another. Megatron went on to use his spark in Trans metal 2 Dinobot.

 FUNCTION: WARLORD
The result of an experiment gone awry, Rampage is an evil titan devoid of mercy. Calculating and fearsome, he is a legend among Cybertrons, and it is rumoured that his spark cannot be extinguished. In king crab mode Rampage uses his hulking claws to generate colossal tidal waves, induce earthquakes, and trigger landslides. Thought his bulk hinders his overall dexterity, Rampage makes good use of his impenetrable Armour and multi-weapons arsenal in crab, tank and robot modes. Galva-conductors on his back channel deadly electric currents that he disperses at will. Rampage customarily activates his Gatling cannon to finish off his enemies in a deluge of cluster missiles. All Cybertrons fear his unmatched aggression.

MOTTO: "Bawa-ha-aa-aa-a-aaaaaaa!"

 

ALTERNATIVE MOTTO; "My spark it feeds on terror, let it grow! Let it consume your circuitry, feel the fear!"

STATS unknown

 

 

 Crab mode front view.

 

 

 

Crab mode side view

 

 

Tank mode front view

 

 

Tank mode side view

 

 

Robot mode

 

 

 



Crab Mode

 

His crab mode is pretty amazing. It is huge and well details. He has techno organic details on his shell. He has this orange chrome along with red on the X to represent his original name. He has his name written on him as is normal with all trans metal 1s.

According to his Bio he is a King crab. We did some research into King crabs but they don't have huge claws but he has the body and legs. The claws are similar to the coconut crab. I still think the claws are too over sized as this can cause problems when posing him. He does look menacing though.

 

The chrome details in various colours continue on his claws which adds to his attractiveness.

 

The tops of the claws look like they have gears and add to the techno organic nature of this figure.

His legs are completely black on the figure but on the cartoon they had purple highlights.

His back legs look a little weird as his legs are hanging off kibble that will be used in his tank mode.

 

His head has eyes which are green but they are hard to see as they are positioned at the side of his head. He has gold teeth. I think they added the teeth to make him more menacing. Obviously crabs don't have teeth. His lower jaw is purple and attached to his rocket launcher. Wish they had painted this and not left it purple.

You can split his entire head in two and move his lower jaw . It looks like he is roaring.

He has good ratchet  joints in arms. His arms swivel. He has a lot of articulation in crab mode.

The crab claws open and the shot gun can be stored in them for robot mode.

I wish he had two shot guns though and it can drop out.

 

His legs are posable but you are limited by the claws and they have to touch the ground to support him.

 

His antenna are on ball joints.

 

I love his crab mode . He is amazing

 

Tank Mode

 

 

It can be hard at first to get him into tank mode but once you have to have a knack of arranging his legs it will be fine.

 

When you roll him along he fires the missiles out of his rocket launcher. Unfortunately I not managed to get this to work. Also his tracks on the tank mode are awkward and therefore are tricky to roll. I just roll it by hand to shoot them

 

His tank mode is very good and one of the reasons I like Rampage.

 

It is pretty solid and looks like a tank.

 

It has real rubber tracks which do work after a bit of practise.

 

The tank tracks fit nicely into the crab claws.

 

Robot Mode

 

His robot mode is equally impressive as his crab mode

 

His face is suppose to echo the crab with green eyes and some purple steaks on his head to represent the antenni in crab mode.

 

He also has a weird side ways mouth

 

He has horns. He is monstrous looking, slightly evil.

 

The giant triple barrelled rocket launcher can be held in his hand. The picture shows the way that I like him to hold it.

 

The other hand can hold his shot gun or be stored in his claw. He only used the shot gun a couple of times in the cartoon.

 

The crab legs can be posed in different ways. They can make him look bigger and more menacing.

 

Even if he is ultra class he does not stand any bigger then a voyager in robot mode.

 

His claws hand off his back as kibble.

 

His articulation is decent. You cannot pose him in many poses because of the claws making him back heavy but he is very impressive

 

I think he was more orange than the cartoon version of red. Hasbro decided on this where as the Japanese version is more red and on the side he has Destron written as his name.

 

I highly recommend this figure Rampage. I paid £24.00 for mine and it is worth every penny. I would have gone up to £35.00 but any more than that I think is too much. I have seen him for £60. He is  a must have figure. Make sure he has all his weapons and check the wear on the chrome. Mine only has a few chips that you don't really notice.

 

I would try and find him now.