Blackarachnia (Transmetal 2)

Blackarachnia {Transmetal 2}   Function: Saboteur   Group: Maximal
 "I use deception for the purpose of good - I use it a lot."
    | Stren. | Intel. | Speed | Endur. | Rank | Cour. | Firep. | Skill |
        5.5     9.3      7.2     6.8     5.0     7.6     6.1      8.5

    Stealing Megatron's mysterious new technology, Blackarachnia - black
    rose of the Maximals - succeeded in altering her Maximal protoform
    into a powerful Transmetal 2 structure. Despite her Predacon pride, 
    she detests Megatron and fights for now with the Maximals. The
    definitive femme fatale, she despises life's pleasantries. Fires 
    strong venom pincers that operate as paralyzing claw, retrieving
    enemies from up to 100 meters. Electro disrupter housed in rear
    segment casts illusions altering her physical placement and appearance
    for up to 5 minutes. In robot mode she packs a deadly roundhouse kick.
    Generally concerned with her own self-preservation, Blackarachnia will
    at times astound with heroism, but cannot be fully trusted.

Color Scheme:

I'm constantly tempted to just say "look at the pics" but that would be lame of me. ;-) As most Transmetals (and TMet2's) do, she's got quite an array of colors. Starting with black, she also has purple, gold, dark brown/gray, and some yellow/gold accents. One would think that so many colors would clash like crazy, but she pulls it off.

Robot Mode:

Once you get her standing, she's pretty cool! She looks pretty much like what we see in the Beast Wars cartoon, but with a few features exaggerated. Her shoulder "pads" are WAY too big, and her spider legs get a little bit in the way. At the last minute, Hasbro decided to put a "bra" on her chest. Someone probably thought parent groups would get up in arms abour her "breasts."

Beast Mode:

Pretty keen as well. She has virtually no undercarriage, since her slim body is small enough to fit completely inside the abdomen of the spider form. The thin spider legs aren't really stable enough to hold up the body unless you turn the top parts of the legs so that the connector socket braces against the ball, as is required by Rampage for him to stand on his legs. The "mandibles" are a little big, since they have to be big enough to be the robot arms.

Transformation:

Since her entire body is in the spider abdomen, it's basically a matter of opening up the abdomen, folding out her body, and doing the right things. The toughest bit is getting the arm section to fold against the back of the robot form, and maybe getting the chest unit to slide down and latch to the torso.

Gimmicks:

Her "weapon" is a grappling pincers, which is basically on the end of a string that has a sprung-wound base. You pull the pincers out, and when you let go, they quickly retract, like a tape measure. She also boasts a "roundhouse kick," which is basically a spring in her body... you rotate her waist, and when you push her head back, it releases the spring and her legs spin back around. It's actually quite lame. Last but not least, she has a "changing" spark crystal. It's in a little shell on an axis so that you can turn it around to either Maximal or Predacon signs.

Pros/Cons:

Tiny feet, BIG upper body, you figure it out. ;-) OK, I'll spell it out... she's very unstable in robot mode. It's a marvel I got her to stand for her photographs. That's the main con. The "bra" is kind of silly, but it is readily removed (at least on the .0000 versions). The head shot above has a side image of her holding her bra in her hands. Pros? Everything else! She's a great addition to any BW/TF collection!