Toy Review - TARANTULAS (Legacy)

[GoktimusPrime]

TARANTULAE
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Legacy
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 2
Released here - July 2022
Approximate Retail Price - $37
Approximate Size - 12.5cm
Allegiance - Predacon
Alt-mode - wolf spider
Main Features/Gimmicks - weapons can combine
Main Colours - purple and black w/ green and gold accents throughout
Main Accessories - crossbow, pizza cutter^buzzsaw





















THOUGHTS

Legacy Tarantulas is a whole new mould that shares zero parts with Kingdom Blackarachnia. Even the crossbow weapon is a whole new mould. As one would expect, this is a really well executed cartoon-like rendition of Tarantulas (within the confines of a Deluxe price point, of course). There's even a lavender Predacon insignia tampographed on the purple right thigh. The spider mode looks much more like the cartoon model, and also more like an actual spider, specifically a wolf spider. While it's still not a tarantula, it is am improvement over the original BW Tarantulas who transforms into a generic spider. This is something that we have seen with recent BW CHUGs; Kingdom Blackarachnia looks more like a black widow spider, Kingdom Cheetor looks more like a cheetah etc. Legacy Tarantulas benefits a lot from being based on a bulkier robot form in the cartoon model, resulting in a more robust figure, and especially doesn't need to have that annoying breast panel with the weak tab that Blackarachnia has. Although Cheetor (and his repaints) have that notoriously fragile neck panel, so it could also be a flaw with two of those Wave 1 Kingdom figures that seems to have not been repeated since (although disappointing that it wasn't fixed for Shadow Panther or Nightprowler).

The crossbow weapon has no missile launching or grappling gimmick, and the buzzsaw weapon doesn't spin; both are just solid pieces with no moving parts. Tarantulas' claw hands do encompass a 5mm round grip and holds both weapons just fine. The weapons can also combine and have can store in beast mode. My only minor gripe about this toy is the little hole on the backside for a flight stand to plug into... it's concealed by the backpack kibble, making that port inaccessible to any flight stand unless you twist the waist as far across as you can, and even then it barely fits in. And this is why Tarantulas' waist is twisted in this shot.

But admittedly this is not the primary play pattern for this toy. A minor annoyance, but by no means a dealbreaker.

Overall: A really nice figure that's well worth the Deluxe price point.

P.S.: This is how the flight stand was inserted into Tarantulas for that flying kick shot.

[Tha_Phantom]

Legacy Tarantulas benefits a lot from being based on a bulkier robot form in the cartoon model, resulting in a more robust figure, and especially doesn't need to have that annoying breast panel with the weak tab that Blackarachnia has. Although Cheetor (and his repaints) have that notoriously fragile neck panel, so it could also be a flaw with two of those Wave 1 Kingdom figures that seems to have not been repeated since (although disappointing that it wasn't fixed for Shadow Panther or Nightprowler).

Oddly, they fixed the weak tab on the Buzzworthy repaint of Blackarachnia, but not for any of Cheetor's repaints so far (and I've owned them all). Anyway, yeah, I agree Tarantulas is more fun to play with than Blackarachnia. I respect both for not sharing ANY parts as you said, so they can be as show accurate as possible, but I think Tarantulas does it better while still being a fun toy to mess with.

[Lord_Zed]

I was surprised by this toy, It's quite good and there's actually very little to gripe about compared to some of Hasbro's other recent offerings.

[GoktimusPrime]

but I think Tarantulas does it better while still being a fun toy to mess with.

Agreed. But I think it's also because the Tarantulas cartoon model was more toy-accurate than Blackarachnia. Blackarachnia was more heavily modified to make her look different from Tarantulas on the show, and also to make her look undeniably female. Unfortunately this does make it more challenging to translate as an action figure. :/ The Japanese dub of BW was able to change Airazar to a bloke since Airazor's robot form is pretty androgynous, but it would've been outright impossible to change Black Widow's gender.

I was surprised by this toy, It's quite good and there's actually very little to gripe about compared to some of Hasbro's other recent offerings.

So what do you find are the particular strengths of this toy?

[Lord_Zed]

So what do you find are the particular strengths of this toy?

Well I'm a fan of the character, but as for the toy itself, it has a good sculpt, probably the best spider alt mode we've seen on a Transformer, fun transformation, he's fairly solid, and aside from his spider abdomen he isn't hollow doesn't have that eggshell feel some recent toys do. Also good articulation and his accessories are on point unlike Cheetor. I also think this toy is sufficiently different from the previous incarnation that it is more refreshing than the likes of Waspinator and the Maximals.

I think you mentioned on the Jihaxus thread that your Tarantulas was loose, but I lucked out on the QC on mine, as he has no loose limbs, feels solid, and no breakages unlike the other spider, so he made a very good first impression on me out of the box.

I personally would rate him as the best Kingdom/Legacy Beast Wars deluxe toy so far, with Dinobot and Megatron taking top spot for the other two classes.

[Autocon]

Any pics of spider mode with blackaracnia?

[Autocon]

He looks great in both modes. Very spidery. Looks solid with the spider legs to stand by himself.

Looks great with both spiders in bot modes

[Bemblebuu]

I wonder how resident huntsman spiders (or any other spider), react to large spider toys?