BW: Dave's Transmetal Rant: Rattrap, Waspinator
Dave Van Domelen
Dave's Transmetal Rant:
Waspinator
Rattrap
Looks like these babies are showing up all over the country this weekend
(you can stop sending me emails about it, in other words). And they're
blowing out just as fast...I got the last Rattrap and second last Waspinator
at the store I checked today.
CAPSULES
Waspinator: Very nice colors, good beast mode, vehicle mode needs some
work, nifty-looking (but unstable) robot mode. Recommended. $9.99 at TRU.
Rattrap: Good colors, very good beast and vehicle modes, pretty good
robot mode (big backpack and tapered feet make him unstable in most poses).
Very close to the TV version. Recommended.
RANTS
PREDACON: Waspinator
Function: Aerial Attack
Transformation Challenge: Intermediate (5)
Quote: "Wazzzzpinator takezz doggie-botz temperature now!" (Okay, not
really, but after Tengu's comments about the gun...)
After the quantum surge, Waspinator became a meched-out, armored wasp with
the ability to change into a fighter-jet as well as a bio-genetically
enhanced robot. His personality, however, did not change much; he's still
high-tempereed, aggressive and dangerous when angered. Only now Waspinator
is faster, armed with a toxic stinger and more driven in his mission to wipe
out the Maximals forever!
STR 7 INT 6 SPD 9 END 7 RNK 5 COUR 4 FRP 7 SKL 6 Avg 6.375
Firstly, I think the techspec writers should be barred from now on from
opening a note with any variation of "After the quantum surge." Second, as
often happens, the specs don't match the cartoon's characterization. I'd
drop Waspy's STR by a few points and up his COUR to at least 8. Maybe drop a
few points of INT as well. He's often too stupid to give up. }->
Beast Mode: Very nice use of translucent blue on the wings and gold
chrome everywhere, balanced by black. 6 inches (15cm) from mandibles to
stinger and with a wingspan of 8.5 inches (21cm), Waspinator's legs are too
spindly to support him...but thanks to the placement of his jet cockpit when
in beast mode, you can fake it pretty easily. The hind legs use the same
basic design as Inferno's, but stiffer and with another joint or two. Wings
are poseable, mandibles are movable, and of course all the legs are movable,
making for a very agile bug. The wasp eyes are gold and multifacted, a VERY
effective use of the chrome.
Vehicle Mode: Turning the wings into jet wings is accomplished pretty
cleverly, and the mouthparts of the wasp head hold the jet cockpit quite
firmly. It really does look like a tricked-out jet of some sort. The main
problem is what to do with the legs, especially since there's no nose wheel,
so all the legs stuffed to the back make the jet nose into the dirt. I found
that using the front insect legs as landing gear by bending them the right
way helped a lot. It makes the already bad levels of undercarriage junk even
worse, but helps the appearance from above.
Transformation: Quite involved, I'd almost give it a 6 or 7 rather than
the 5 Hasbro assigned. I especially liked how the abdomen of the wasp hid
the *arms* rather than legs or just sitting there as an appendage to the
robot mode. Again, finding places for the insect legs is a bit tricky, since
they get in the way pretty much no matter where you leave them. But the main
problem is that the holes in the abdomen which the instructions say are there
for putting pegs into...aren't. This leaves the robot form unstable, and
makes it really hard to figure out when you have the exact right combination
of joint angles (the shoulder area has something like four or five joints in
total to mold into position).
Robot Mode: The arms and legs are really poseable, and the joints are
stiff enough to hold in most poses. Unfortunately, they're stiffer than some
of the joints holding the torso together, which can lead to trouble. Plus,
as mentioned, the insect legs get in the way. That aside, the only real
disappointment in poseability is that once again, his feet are fixed, so you
can't get a lot of neat poses to stay standing. The robot mode stands about
5 inches (13cm) tall and for the most part looks really cool. There's even
glowing eyes, for once. The two detractions from his cool appearance are
1) his weapon does look like a rectal thermometer (albeit a painful one), and
2) the irony of having his cockpit squarely over his groin is just too much.
Overall: If the insect legs were just a little more poseable (to allow
for getting them out of the way) or easily removable, this would be a very
cool toy. As it is, it's still a cool toy. Grab it when you find it.
MAXIMAL: Rattrap
Function: Spy
Transformation Challenge: Intermediate (5)
Quote: "We're all gonna die." (Well, if Hasbro won't give them quotes, I
will.)
Following the quantum surge, Rattrap gained the advantage of a meched-out
armor shell and a swift dragster vehicle mode. A top-notch soldier, his
fellow Maximals rely on his reconnaissance reports to locate enemy outposts.
The new hot rod mode has increased his speed and agility on the battlefield,
and a powerful, battle-whip blade that he wields while in robot mode has made
him a powerful adversary to all Predacons.
STR 6 INT 7 SPD 9 END 5 RNK 5 COUR 8 FRP 6 SKL 7 Avg 6.625
Gah, enough with "following the quantum surge" and "meched-out,"
already. And given that he and Rhinox seem to switch off as second in
command in the show, I'd think a Rank higher than 5 is in order. And a Skill
definitely over 7. He's too much of a deus-ex-Maximal to have a Skill of
only 7.
Beast Mode: Body is 4.5 inches (11cm) long, the tail alone is nearly 6
inches (15cm) long. Looks almost exactly like the cartoon version in this
mode, but isn't terribly poseable. Main colors are brown and a brownish
pearly color, with metallic red back, hip/wheels, tail tip and accents. Plus
green eyes. Since his tail attaches to his robot hand in beast mode, it
looks kinda like there's a fist sticking out of Rattrap's behind, a non-too-
pleasant mental picture, yes?
Vehicle Modes: Before discussing his dragster mode, I wanna note that if
you fold his rear wheels out to the sides as far as they'll go and flip the
hind feet in, you get a sort of hover-rat mode. Anyway, the "Brodie" mode
has nicely free-wheeling wheels and is probably the first vehicle mode to
really do what it's supposed to do. Primal's skateboard came closest before
this, since you could get it to roll along if you were careful, same with
Tarantulas, but the only stable ground mode was Rhinox, and it had no real
wheels. About the only flaw in this design is the exhaust pipes, which are
wimpy both in size and color. Maybe I'll add some silver paint to them
later.
Transformation: Very satisfyingly complex, but not too hard once you get
the hang of it. The only irksome parts are the head halves which have to be
wrestled into place around the rat forelegs. It's weird how the entire front
side of the torso folds up to store inside the rat head, while the robot arms
fold down like Hooligan's (cyberjet) to store in the rear of the body.
Robot Mode: Very nice looking main body and limbs, but the backpack and
shoulderpads tend to dwarf this. Stands 4.5 inches (11cm) tall, and I don't
want to know if that pattern on the pelvis is supposed to be intestines. The
color scheme is pretty good, but gold paint instead of orange on the "brains"
and chest badge would have looked a LOT better...that orange looks tacky, and
also looks like it's about to wash off. The feet are long both directions
from the ankle, but taper to points, which reduces their usefulness in terms
of giving stability to poses. And since the toy is so top-heavy with all the
backpack stuff, it's even more of a challenge to find stable poses other than
straight-legged, feet-together.
Weapons: The only intended weapon is a highly-flexible whip-tail, which
uses alternating hing joint directions. A total of 12 segments including the
metallic tip make for some almost whiplike poses. There's no gun (although I
may kitbash him one), and the rear wheels do not detach to become shields
like in the cartoon. However, you can simulate their use as a shield by
pulling one forward as far as it will go, then putting Rattrap's forearm
behind it. Makes for a low block, but hey.
Overall: It's not a perfect toy, but all of the flaws are minor. I'd
say it's the second best Transmetal so far, edged out by Cheetor mainly on
the strength of Cheetor's beast mode.
Dave Van Domelen, notes Rattrap has a few mystery holes in his arms
which go with no existing peg on the toy....
Cronimus Primal
Dave, the holes for Waspinator *are* there, but they are more like
indentations then holes. They are located on the insides of the arm
swivels. Just look on either side of the stinger mount hole, where the
arm are. Also, on Rattrap, did you notice that the rear axels can be
turned ninty degrees back? Very odd, indeed.
~Cronimus Thrasher
"Life is no more assuring than love, and there are no answers from
above. You're fighting the weight of the world, and no one can save you
this time. Close your eyes, you can find all you need in mind!"
~Dream Theater
christopher allen
dave, waspy's legs will support him, but, you have to put him in an odd
pose. he has to balance on the tips of his claws/legs, distributing the
weight between the front and back legs. i put his "thermomator" in the
hole on his arm to form a blade-type weapon. it's not a big improvement,
but every little bit counts.
Timlakin
Dave,
Good reviews on Waspy and Rattrap, I have two notes to add:
Waspy's torso does not work as per the instructions, but it does work. The
twin pegs don't go into the holes as in wasp mode, but in robot mode, you need
to look for two small divots in the gold abdomen part, and the two pegs are
held quite firm in the two divots. It's hard to explain, but it works well
enough.
I kitbashed a nice gun for Rattrap from a Bossk (Star Wars) figure's pistol.
All that needs to be done is to slice off a small portion of the gun where it
joins to the grip, and it fits nicely into Rattrap's hand. Best yet, it stores
in the body in beast and vehicle mode, and looks sort of like Rattrap's style
of gun, sort of a machine pistol. I tried a lot of other styles of gun for
him, and I'm happiest with that one. What did you come up with?
Tim