Toy Review - Generations IDW Waspinator

[BigTransformerTrev]

Series - Generations
Sub-line – Thrilling 30
Wave: Wave 1 - 2014
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - New
Released here – Not yet
Approximate Retail Price - $28Aus
Approximate Size – 14cm
Allegiance – Predacon
Alt-mode – Wasp
Main Features/Gimmicks – Design based on IDW design
Main Colours – Green, Yellow, Brown
Main Accessories – IDW exclusive comic, Stinger Gun


http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b615/BigAngryTrev/Generations_waspy_zps811024ce.jpg (http://s1294.photobucket.com/user/BigAngryTrev/media/Generations_waspy_zps811024ce.jpg.html)


Robot Mode
*Quite good looking, faithful to both Beast Wars and the IDW incarnations. He has good articulation and the light piping works really well with his huge optics.


Wasp mode
*To my mind the wasp mode here is better than both the Beast Wars and the Animated versions of the character. Very compact, very well coloured and very well balanced. The flapping wings are a nice touch that add a lot of play value.


Transformation
This transformation would be far easier if the instructions were REMOTELY USEFUL! I was able to figure him out because, well, if I can’t after 30 years of collecting I should hand in my Autobrand right now. But I wouldn’t give this to a little kid or a novice who would try to go soely by the instructions because Waspy would be flung out the window after 10 minutes. Once you've done it though, it takes about 15 seconds to transform him back


Worth getting?
*For me, as more of a G1 than BW fan (technically the same universe I know), the only BW characters (besides the odd Robot Hero) I’ve bothered to collect over the years have been Depthcharge's and Waspinator's so I was happy to grab this guy to add to the collection. I’ll be bypassing the new Rhinox & Rattrap figures altogether. But if you are a big Beast Wars fan I’d say this is the figure to get for the new year. Oh, and the free comic is a nice bonus too :)

[MayzaPrime]

I bought a 2nd Waspinator

[i_amtrunks]

Excellent figure, painted brilliantly.

Ignore the instructions, he can be transformed easily enough going off the packaging images. The wing flap mechanism is nice without the figure needing to be built around it and the head sculpt is fantastic.

Like the stinger gun is just that, not firing missile to lose!

Probably appeal to BW fans more, but overall a strong figure, second only to Skids (or third to Hoist) in the Generations line.

[DELTAprime]

I have both the Hasbro and Takara versions coming. I hope I can give Waspintor's gun to FOC Shockwave, then all I need is a Necrotitan toy.

[Bidoofdude]

Got this guy the other day, and he is just stellar. Robot mode is pretty much flawless, the colours and details are just right, really accurate to his BW incarnation. The headsculpt is just perfect. Sometimes the height of his wasp head can obscure his headsculpt a little bit, but it's not too much of a problem.

Though I admit I did have a few problems understanding the instructions at first, after transforming him a couple times I think he has a really nifty transformation.

The wasp mode is pretty great as well, I don't really seem to notice his arms on his sides as much as I thought I would. The insect eyes are really nice as well.

[snaketales]

His light piping is SUPERB

[GoktimusPrime]

I had a fiddle with liegeprime's Waspinator at the last Parra Fair, and IMO it's a nice toy but I'm not convinced that it substantially improves over the original Waspinator toy to want to import one. The robot looks lovely and there are some neat features, but in some ways the original still feels better to me. Original Waspinator has a more solid robot mode that doesn't have a large gap like Gen Waspy does, and also BW Waspy's arms and hands and legs are better incorporated into the beast mode than Gen Waspy's. The somewhat "cybernetic" mould features also detracts from the 'robot in disguise' element of the more organic looking beast mode of the original toy.

There are some features of Gen. Waspy that are really nice and better than BW Waspy, of course. The flapping wing gimmick is fantastic -- works well and is rather non-intrusive. I also like how the toy is able to stand on its insect legs, which was a not only a shortcoming of BW Waspy, but of a lot of BW bugformers (who often flop onto their bellies). Also the beast mode seems to be proportionately more zoologically accurate than BW Waspinator's (particularly with the head and hind legs). So I do think that there are some really nice things about Generations Waspinator, don't get me wrong. But I don't feel that it's that 'significant' an improvement over the original like many other Classicsverse toys are over their G1 counterparts. But that's also because the original BW toys were so well made in the first place, they really haven't dated as much as G1 IMHO.

I came across a review on Shortpacked (http://www.shortpacked.com/blog.php?dp=2) which I think describes it well:

He's basically a perfect Waspinator toy, if what you're looking for is a toy of Waspinator-the-character, not toy-that-will-become-Waspinator-the-character. But if you'd rather the latter, then you probably already have that one.

Here are some comparison pics between BW and Gen Waspinator:
http://www.bwtf.com/toyreview-images/generations/waspinator/rmboth.jpg
http://www.shortpacked.com/image/Waspys.jpg

[liegeprime]

I had a bit of confused moments when trying to transform his legs into the Insects abdomen. but I figured it out after a few minutes. it's coz the arrows in the instructions are incomplete and confusing. I love the proportion of the figure, though I wish they made the arms more hidden. Robot legs/foot transforms as part of the lower mandible , thorax but somehow it feels bulky and not really well thought off thus if you look at it from below - it's not any insect part Ive ever seen. Oh well it looks nice from side and above views, insect mode wise. They invested more I believe in the robot mode which is really neat, though a little bit more paint apps here and there to make it better. Loving the flappy wing gimmick, though I wish there was a lock point so they can be kept open positioned. A few pics from the fair...

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb313/liegeprime/Paramatta%20Fairs%202014/DSC04368_zpsfffc9620.jpg (http://s205.photobucket.com/user/liegeprime/media/Paramatta%20Fairs%202014/DSC04368_zpsfffc9620.jpg.html)

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb313/liegeprime/Paramatta%20Fairs%202014/DSC04367_zpsedfb0bb5.jpg (http://s205.photobucket.com/user/liegeprime/media/Paramatta%20Fairs%202014/DSC04367_zpsedfb0bb5.jpg.html)

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb313/liegeprime/Paramatta%20Fairs%202014/DSC04376_zpsf2c99235.jpg (http://s205.photobucket.com/user/liegeprime/media/Paramatta%20Fairs%202014/DSC04376_zpsf2c99235.jpg.html)

Ill have to take some newer shots of the robot mode.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Got my Taktom version in the post the other day and I quite like it. Much prefer the darker colours over the Hasbro version, especially since they are are uniform colours. No lime green upper arms sticking out on this guy.

Really nice robot mode. Not bad beast mode, as long as you ignore the robot parts hanging off the bottom.


Originally I was in two minds about buying Waspy. The original toy is pretty good and the images of this guy don't look like as much of an update like with Rhinox for example, as Gok stated. I am glad I did though now as the head sculpt is great. Light piping is brilliant and on the Taktom version, the eyes and wings have a slightly pearlescent light refraction going on.

Instructions were rubbish on the hips, as stated above. Took me some messing about to work out what was going wrong.

I love the little guy now!

[ILikeSoundwave]

My favorite out of this wave:), don't ask why as I don't know because I hate Beast wars (Sorry to all you fans out there).

[Trent]

My favorite out of this wave:), don't ask why as I don't know because I hate Beast wars (Sorry to all you fans out there).

That's it! Someone get me my gun.

:p

[Omega Metro]

I only got this as it was cheaper to buy the 4 from that wave. It's currently in my 'crappy Transformers' box with Rhinox. :)

[ILikeSoundwave]

I only got this as it was cheaper to buy the 4 from that wave. It's currently in my 'crappy Transformers' box with Rhinox. :)

As much as I hate Beast wars Waspinator and Rhinox are one of my favourite figures in my collection.:)

[MayzaPrime]

As much as I hate Beast wars Waspinator and Rhinox are one of my favourite figures in my collection.:)

We will make you a Beast Wars fan yet :p

[Verno]

Does anyone have a spare MOSC Waspinator? BBTS just pushed back their pre-order until September so I'm thinking I might cancel that.

[Trent]

I only got this as it was cheaper to buy the 4 from that wave. It's currently in my 'crappy Transformers' box with Rhinox. :)

You could sell them. Might as well if you're not getting any enjoyment out of them.

[Lint]

I'm not convinced that it substantially improves over the original Waspinator toy to want to import one.

After recieving mine I echo these comments.

The thing that bugs (:rolleyes:) me the most about this figure is the feet that hang under waspinators chin in alt mode. Anatomically it just looks wrong and is extremely distracting for me. If those feet could fold into the abdomen I'd probably be singing nothing but praise for this figure.

On the plus side the bot mode is great. TT have done a great job with the light piping, articulation, stability and poseability. However the original toy wasn't that bad at all of these either.

If you already have the toon accurate 10th Anniversary Waspinator this new figure is not a substantial improvement and can probably be skipped unless you want Waspinator in this scale.

[christalcase]

Agreed with most comments about how the wasp mode is too bulky, particularly the kibble under the head (looks good from an angle looking down, but holding the toy level, you can see the bulk of the robot parts that isn't well integrated). I don't like the gaps either, particularly the one behind the wasp's head where you can partially see the robot head.

The focus is clearly the robot mode which looks amazing. Knee poseability is disappointing since you only get a 45 degree bend on it. The flapping wings gimmick means you can't get the wings facing the sky. Overall, a solid figure.

[Verno]

I (finally) got my hands on this figure, thanks to gdmetro. I gladly cancelled my pre-order of him with BBTS yesterday afternoon.

I've been longingly staring at pictures of Generations Waspy for many a month now, and can say he's just as nice in the flesh (plastic).

I can look past the robotic kibble being visible in beast-mode. I mean, honestly, there is literally nowhere else to put the robot arms and legs.

The robot-mode is a masterpiece. People have often commented about a want for up-sized 'Masterpiece' Beast Wars figures, but if you can get this much detail into a deluxe toy, why would you need a 'Masterpiece' version?

The piece of absolute beauty for me is the mechanism for splitting the wasp head and displaying the sternum in robot-mode. That's just superb.

A mechanism to 'lock' the wings in an upright positing would have been nice, as well as being able to divide the larger and smaller wings, but they look good regardless.

I'm extremely pleased with him. I think Hasbro/Takara should be continuing to release updated/reimagined Beast Wars toys of the original 14 characters. 3 down, 11 to go!

[Zommael]

I'm extremely pleased with him. I think Hasbro/Takara should be continuing to release updated/reimagined Beast Wars toys of the original 14 characters. 3 down, 11 to go!

It's actually 5 down, arguably 7. They've made toys of Rhinox, Rattrap, and Waspinator in Generations. Then there's Cheetor and Dinobot in Universe. The arguably seven comes from Megatron and Optimus Primal getting new toys as part of the 10th anniversary a long while ago, and they're arguable because they were designed to be "Cybertron compatible" so as to fit into the mainline at the time. They also released screen accurate remolds of OP and Megs shortly afterward. So yeah, either 5 or 7 of 14. I'd certainly like to see modern versions of dragon Megatron and Optimal Optimus, though.

Waspinator kicks all kinds of ass. And he has planzzzz, yezzzzz....

[Verno]

It's actually 5 down, arguably 7. They've made toys of Rhinox, Rattrap, and Waspinator in Generations. Then there's Cheetor and Dinobot in Universe. The arguably seven comes from Megatron and Optimus Primal getting new toys as part of the 10th anniversary a long while ago, and they're arguable because they were designed to be "Cybertron compatible" so as to fit into the mainline at the time. They also released screen accurate remolds of OP and Megs shortly afterward. So yeah, either 5 or 7 of 14. I'd certainly like to see modern versions of dragon Megatron and Optimal Optimus, though.

Waspinator kicks all kinds of ass. And he has planzzzz, yezzzzz....

Let's not sell ourselves short here.

3 down. 11 to go.

[Zommael]

Let's not sell ourselves short here.

3 down. 11 to go.

I very much doubt Hasbro will make another version of Dinobot or Cheetor. Nor would I want them to, when there are other figures I want made.

[Ravagecat]

Got sick of waiting for the Hasbro release so found a HK dealer selling the Takara version for a reasonable price. Look forward to getting this Buzz-bot :D

[Zommael]

Got sick of waiting for the Hasbro release so found a HK dealer selling the Takara version for a reasonable price. Look forward to getting this Buzz-bot :D

My version is the Takara version. It's all kinds of awesome. Especially good for leaving around the house to scare the girlfriend with.

[Verno]

I very much doubt Hasbro will make another version of Dinobot or Cheetor. Nor would I want them to, when there are other figures I want made.

Stay positive. They need doing right.

[Zommael]

Stay positive. They need doing right.

I quite like the Universe Dinobot. :p But I do take your point. Maybe they could do updated versions of the Transmetal or TM2 forms, or even BM for Cheetor, rather than trying again for the original forms. Admittedly that wouldn't give us a completely perfect first season cast, but it would avoid those who've bought some of the earlier releases ending up with doubles of the exact same character.

[Verno]

I quite like the Universe Dinobot. :p But I do take your point. Maybe they could do updated versions of the Transmetal or TM2 forms, or even BM for Cheetor, rather than trying again for the original forms. Admittedly that wouldn't give us a completely perfect first season cast, but it would avoid those who've bought some of the earlier releases ending up with doubles of the exact same character.

Dinobot is ok. I have the Henkei versions of both he and Cheetor, but ultimately he's too small.

As for Cheetor, both modes suffer from the same thing - the gimmick. The jaw opening mechanism is far too cumbersome for such a small, thin figure. Doing away with that would be a great start for that mold, but there is still quite a bit wrong with it.

The point of these Generations figures was to get as close to screen accurate as possible, at least in robot mode. Cheetor and Dinobot were never designed to be that.

[Bidoofdude]

I'd like them to do the rest of the S1 cast. Dinobot would probably have to be a voyager to capture my interest though. I honestly wouldn't mind if they did Cheetor as one of the later figures, as I'd rather have characters that haven't been done and then the redos.

[Verno]

I'd like them to do the rest of the S1 cast. Dinobot would probably have to be a voyager to capture my interest though. I honestly wouldn't mind if they did Cheetor as one of the later figures, as I'd rather have characters that haven't been done and then the redos.

I couldn't agree more.

If Hasbro are scared people won't buy them (which I think the response to and sales of the BW Generations toys (when and where available) disproves anyway) go with the 'Deluxe' sized characters. Blackarachnia, Tarantulas, Airazor, Scorponok -- and if dinosaurs are in vogue atm, start with Terrorsaur! They've already wheeled his original mould out of the retirement home to turn it into an AoE toy. Give us a new one!

[MayzaPrime]

I couldn't agree more.

If Hasbro are scared people won't buy them (which I think the response to and sales of the BW Generations toys (when and where available) disproves anyway) go with the 'Deluxe' sized characters. Blackarachnia, Tarantulas, Airazor, Scorponok -- and if dinosaurs are in vogue atm, start with Terrorsaur! They've already wheeled his original mould out of the retirement home to turn it into an AoE toy. Give us a new one!

I have said it since I first got Terrorsaur so many years ago, I would love a screen accurate figure of him!

[Verno]

I have said it since I first got Terrorsaur so many years ago, I would love a screen accurate figure of him!

The designers would certainly earn their keep if they got him screen accurate considering how little 'bulk' there is to hide his robot parts in beast-mode. Ultimately, his beast-mode may have to suffer some concessions to give us an accurate robot, but I'd take that any day of the week.

[MayzaPrime]

The designers would certainly earn their keep if they got him screen accurate considering how little 'bulk' there is to hide his robot parts in beast-mode. Ultimately, his beast-mode may have to suffer some concessions to give us an accurate robot, but I'd take that any day of the week.

I agree, I would much rather an accurate robot mode than a beast mode.

[Bidoofdude]

The designers would certainly earn their keep if they got him screen accurate considering how little 'bulk' there is to hide his robot parts in beast-mode. Ultimately, his beast-mode may have to suffer some concessions to give us an accurate robot, but I'd take that any day of the week.

You'd have to sacrifice bot or have a lot of kibble (preferably somehow removable).

[Verno]

You'd have to sacrifice bot or have a lot of kibble (preferably somehow removable).

Removable? This isn't G1, where you have pieces lying around. This is BW, where everything is incorporated.

[Omega Metro]

I have to admit after opening my Waspinator and having a play, he is not too bad.:rolleyes: fairly solid and fun to transform. It was cheaper for me to get the 4 figures from that wave but I only wanted the other 3 at the time. I know nothing about Waspinator as a character and don't really want to know TBH. I still can't help but think its a MOTU toy though.:)

[GoktimusPrime]

The designers would certainly earn their keep if they got him screen accurate considering how little 'bulk' there is to hide his robot parts in beast-mode. Ultimately, his beast-mode may have to suffer some concessions to give us an accurate robot, but I'd take that any day of the week.
But the current Terrorsaur toy's robot mode is accurate! It's the cartoon model that deviated from the toy, not vice versa. The original toy designers would've required a time machine in order to travel to the future to see how Mainframe's animators would adapt the Terrorsaur toy as a cartoon model, then travel back to their original point in time and attempt to tweak the Terrorsaur toy to make it look more like the cartoon. This in turn would create a multitude of questions regarding temporal paradoxes (would they actually be able to alter their own universe or create a new one or destroy their original one etc.???). :confused:

The cartoon wasn't even out yet when I got Terrorsaur, so the idea of how he looked compared to the show was never an issue. And when the show did come out, I actually thought that the toy still looked better. The larger wings on the toy makes him look more majestic instead of those stunted puny bat-wings on the show model. Pteranodons have six metre wingspans! It doesn't make sense for him to have itty-bitty wing-a-lings like in the cartoon. I also prefer the colours on the toy ... the black and purples look nicer and help break up all that red, which the show model doesn't do nearly as well. But I must admit that the beak looked nicer on the cartoon model, although both the toy and cartoon were anatomically incorrect in giving the beast mode teeth; like modern birds, Pteranodons had toothless beaks. Toy pteranodons are often erroneously given teeth by toy-makers (making it look more like a Ludodactylus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludodactylus) instead ;)).

[Verno]

I'm talking about a possible new Generations iteration of Terrorsaur -- not the original from '96. I'm well aware of the course of events in regards to the design of the original toys.

What I'm talking about are updated toys, like Rhinox, Rattrap and Waspinator. Their design has had a definite focus on getting the robot-modes quite similar to the TV show, and in Waspinator's case, at the expense of the beast-mode to a certain degree. My point about Terrorsaur was that the same would have to happen to him in order to get a robot with a similarly bulky frame as his CGI model has.

The tables have now turned, Gok. It's no longer Animators using the toys as reference -- It's toy designers using the CGI models as reference.

[GoktimusPrime]

I'm talking about a possible new Generations iteration of Terrorsaur -- not the original from '96. I'm well aware of the course of events in regards to the design of the original toys.
Oopsies... disregard my last post then. :p


The tables have now turned, Gok. It's no longer Animators using the toys as reference -- It's toy designers using the CGI models as reference.
:rolleyes: Guh... :rolleyes: I can accept this methodology for Classicsverse and Masterpiece, but for other lines... well, you all know how I feel about that (http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/1569/PreviewComp/SuperStock_1569R-9024710.jpg) :o

[Sinnertwin]

Meh. He's just another bug i have 0 interest in apart from completing the 30th Anniversary line up. Can't win them all i suppose.

[Trent]

Meh. He's just another bug i have 0 interest in apart from completing the 30th Anniversary line up. Can't win them all i suppose.

I swear some people's taste is in their ar... Oh, hi K, how's it going?

:p

[Sinnertwin]

I swear some people's taste is in their ar... Oh, hi K, how's it going?

:p

Ha ha ha! :D i'll pay that.

One of these days... :p

[Ravagecat]

Just got the Takara version of Waspinator in the mail and I have to say I'm really impressed with this guy :D


http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p498/ravagecat/20140520_114515_zpsf1b80c84.jpg (http://s1152.photobucket.com/user/ravagecat/media/20140520_114515_zpsf1b80c84.jpg.html)


The Paint apps on this version a really good and the amount of detail that has gone into his head...WOW..the light piping works really well in illuminating those big bug eyes too :eek:


http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p498/ravagecat/20140520_114843_zps8490883f.jpg (http://s1152.photobucket.com/user/ravagecat/media/20140520_114843_zps8490883f.jpg.html)


IMO the wasp mode is not that bad. I really like the way they ahave managed to incorporate the robot legs into the bugs abdomen instead of having huge rear legs like the original BW toy :)


http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p498/ravagecat/20140520_120251_zps0c9c6a35.jpg (http://s1152.photobucket.com/user/ravagecat/media/20140520_120251_zps0c9c6a35.jpg.html)


Waspinator is an all time favourite of mine from the show so I'm really happy to finally have the generations version of him in my collection :cool:


http://i1152.photobucket.com/albums/p498/ravagecat/20140520_114709_zpscac9e7bb.jpg (http://s1152.photobucket.com/user/ravagecat/media/20140520_114709_zpscac9e7bb.jpg.html)

[Verno]

Sexy!

[GoktimusPrime]

I got this toy today. You all know what I think about this toy, so I'll just leave these piccies here. ;)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/waspinator_generations01_zpsf16437c2.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/comparisons/Classicsverse/waspinator_compar_zps26fe9fc0.jpg

[Paulbot]

Opened Waspinator last night and made the mistake of looking at the instructions. The result was I could figure out the beast mode and gave up. Trying agin and using photos from this thread as reference I worked it out and he's a nice looking wasp and particularly like that he can stand on his insect legs.

In robot mode Waspinator is excellent. The design is wonderful and like Rhinox, worth getting just for the action figure.