Blackarachnia (BW)/toys
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If you have a fembot spider-former toy, it is most certainly one of Blackarachnia.
Toys
Beast Wars
- Blackarachnia (Deluxe, 1996/1997)
- Japanese ID number: D-8
- Accessories: Launcher, 4 leg-missiles
- Blackarachnia's original toy is a redeco of the Tarantulas mold, transforming into a rather generic-looking organic spider. It features a removable spring-loaded launcher hidden in its beast mode abdomen. It nominally fires the "grappling hook" attached to its abdomen by a string, but its front four beast mode legs can also be removed and used as ammunition. Like all first-year Beast Wars Deluxes, the robot mode head has both a "robot" face and a "mutant" face; Blackarachnia is always depicted in fiction using the "robot" one (or a rough approximation thereof).
- The Takara release of the toy has numerous color differences from the Hasbro version, but they are of dubious merit as far as making her more "show-accurate" go. The bright green of the Hasbro version's forearms is replaced with dull silver, while the brighter purple is replaced with a darker, more desaturated purple. Her dark copper paint is replaced with a brighter gold. Her robot mode facemask is painted gold, which is closer to the show model... but her face beneath is black with gold eyes (instead of gold with black eyes), and she inexplicably gains a new painted-black forehead crest, where the show model has gold. It is worth noting that the Japanese catalogue showed a properly gold face with black eyes version of Blackarachnia. As to the reason why this wasn't carried over to the final product is unknown.
- This mold was later used to make the "Beast Wars 10th Anniversary" version of Tarantulas, and the Beast Wars Telemocha version of Blackarachnia. It was intended to be used to make a second Universe version of Blackarachnia, but that toy set was canceled.
- Deep Forest Showdown: Tigatron VS Blackwidow (VS set, 1997)
- Japanese ID number: VS-8
- Accessories: Launcher, 4 leg-missiles
- In Japan, "Blackwidow" was available both as an individual and in a "VS" pack with Tigatron. Both toys were identical to their individual releases.
- Blackarachnia (Happy Meal promotion, 1998)
- McNumber: 5
- Part of the second McDonald's Beast Wars Happy Meal pack-in, Blackarachnia's "Transmetal" form resembles some sort of dust mite more than a spider, though it does have a black widow-esque hour-glass shape on the abdomen. It has a very similar transformation to the earlier promotional figure Beetle.
- Like the other two Transmetal Happy Meal figures, Blackarachnia has some metallic-sheened plastic intended to resemble the colored chromed finish of the retail Transmetals toys.
- Blackarachnia (Transmetal 2, 1999)
- Japanese ID number: C-48
- Accessories: Mandible grapnel-line
- The Transmetal 2 version of Blackarachnia transforms into a large, organic/mechanical, monstrous spider, featuring a grappling hook, switching faction symbols activated by rotating her spark crystal around, and a spring-loaded spin-kick action feature. She also has a half-assed "defense mode", bringing the chromed abdomen bits down to cover her chest. Like all larger Transmetal 2s, Blackarachnia has hints of an abandoned "transport" mode, mainly the free-spinning wheels and concealed rockets in the spider mode abdomen.
- This toy was initially hard to find at retail, as one of the toy's features, a piece of removable chest armor (no, really), was altered slightly, delaying later shipments.
- This mold was used to make the BotCon 2001 exclusive Arcee.
Beast Machines
- Blackarachnia (Deluxe, 2000)
- An early toy in the Beast Machines line, Blackarachnia transforms into a technorganic spider. In spider mode, squeezing its pedipalps together raises its central fangs; they were spring-loaded to release and lower, respectively. In keeping with the early Beast Machines "articulated features" motif, her robot mode head has a multi-piece articulated brow, which can slide up to reveal two extra sets of eyes, as she does on the cartoon.
- This mold was later redecoed to make the Universe version of Blackarachnia, as well as Crystal Widow.
- Blackarachnia (Happy Meal, 2000)
- McNumber: 6
- As one of ten toys in the third Transformers McDonald's Happy Meal promotion, Blackarachnia is a super-simplified version of her retail toy, with a coloration closer to the Mainframe CG model, though more shockingly pink rather than maroon. This toy is designed for the younger set, with softer plastic and no removable parts.
- She is the only Beast Era character to get two McDonald's Happy Meal toys.
Universe (2003)
- Blackarachnia (Deluxe, 2003)
- Part of the second wave of Universe Deluxes, Blackarachnia returned as a Decepticon and as a redeco of the original Beast Machines figure. However, her forearms were mistakenly swapped, leaving her forearm "spikes" pointing up towards her biceps rather than down near her elbows. She received a Decepticon faction symbol over her spark crystal as well.
- This mold (with the same swapped-forearms error) was used to make Crystal Widow.
- Leatherhide Vs. Blackarachnia (Halloween Horrorcon value pack, unreleased)
- Accessories: Launcher, 4 leg-missiles
- In 2004, a group of test-shots made their way onto eBay, among them a redeco of the original Beast Wars Tarantulas/Blackarachnia mold in black with silver spider-legs and salmon-colored robot parts. Later, Hasbro's official website checklist featured listings for two Universe "Halloween Horrorcon Value Packs" that were to be Wal-Mart exclusives... which also likely explains why they were canceled. (Wal*Mart had taken a good half-dozen exclusives and released them more-or-less simultaneously, leading to a huge glut. A lot of other Transformers exclusives were canceled during the Universe era.) One of the sets was "Leatherhide Vs. Blackarachnia"... and thus, the mystery spider was confirmed, as the other test-shots in that group lined up with the name listings given in the sets.
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Beast Wars Returns
- Part of the Japanese Toys "R" Us-exclusive Beast Wars Returns series, this toy is a redeco of the original Beast Machines Blackarachnia in a more show-like maroon coloration. Reportedly, this toy was limited to 3000 pieces, a full thousand less than the others in the original assortment. Since she was also the most changed from the US release in the initial batch of toys, this made her considerably harder to get.
Beast Wars Telemocha Series
- Blackwidow (Deluxe, 2007)
- Japanese ID number: TM-06
- Accessories: Launcher, 4 leg-missiles
- As part of the Beast Wars Telemocha line, the original Blackarachnia toy was extensively redecoed with a ridiculous number of gold paint operations, making her closer to show-accurate in coloration than the other versions of the mold, but still not quite there. (Her shoulders are silver in the show.) All of the gimmicks of the original toy were retained, though her alternate head didn't receive any paint that wasn't intended to make her nominal head look more show-accurate.
- She came with a DVD containing "The Assassin Virus", the Japanese dubbing of Beast Wars episode 10, "Gorilla Warfare".
Binaltech
- Blackwidow (Binaltech, unreleased)
- Japanese ID number: BT16
- Accessories: Engine-rifle, roof-shield
- In 2005, the sculpt used for Alternators Decepticharge was presented as an upcoming release for the Japanese Binaltech line. Takara decided to give the toy an entirely new deco, as the Hasbro toy's deco didn't appeal to their ideal of "real-life accuracy". In robot mode, the toy was given a color scheme based on Transmetal 2 Blackarachnia, with the toy's name being changed to "Blackwidow", Takara's name for the character. Though a bio and story chapter were written to accommodate it into the Binaltech fiction, and photoshopped images released through an online retailer revealed the intended color scheme, Takara ultimately decided to cancel the toy altogether, as they were fearing that another redeco (in addition to the then upcoming Binaltech Asterisk toys) would be too repetitive. Plans to release this toy as part of a different line were never picked up again. A prototype of Blackwidow was later featured in an exhibit at Transformers Expo in 2014.[1][2][3]
- This sculpt was ultimately released in Japan as part of an unexpected Binaltech continuation, this time as Arcee. The original version of the mold was used to make Alternators Windcharger and Binaltech Overdrive. It was also planned to become a new toy of the Paradron Medic, but that also got canceled.
| Alternators mold: Windcharger | ||
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Kre-O
- Decepticon Blackarachnia (Kreon Micro-Changer, 2014)
- Collection: Age of Extinction Collection 2
- Accessories: Logo brick, scoped pistol
- Part of the sixth assortment of blind-bagged Kre-O Micro-Changers, Blackarachnia is a Kreon mini-figure that can be rebuilt into a (four-legged) black widow spider. She sports Ironhide's helmet.
- Unlike prior Micro-Changer assortments, this series does not have any sort identification code for the bags' actual contents, meaning you'd best be good at the feel-though-the-bag method.
- This assortment was originally slated to be a ToysЯUs exclusive, but US stores dropped the line before its release. It was still available in Canada, Australia and Chinese/Asian markets. In 2015, the Collection appeared in US Dollar Tree stores, with a price tag of a whopping $1 a pop. They didn't last long.
Animated
- Blackarachnia (Deluxe, 2008)
- Japanese ID number: TA-09
- Accessories: Grapnel-hook
Animated Blackarachnia was repurposed as the original Blackarachnia in the IDW Generation 1 continuity.
- Blackarachnia transforms into a mechanical spider with some organic aesthetic. Many of her pointier parts are molded in softer plastic to keep unfortunate children from putting their eyes out. She comes with a grapnel hook accessory. This is spring-loaded, with a jointed claw at the end of it. Pressing a button causes it to retract along the string. It may be mounted under her abdomen in spider mode or on her back in robot mode, via two different sets of pegs. There is also a peg hole in each wrist, for web-slinging action.
- The spider's head is mis-transformed in the package, making the first step of her instructions initially confusing. Furthermore, the pedipalps will easily come off if manipulated too much, and her transformation requires that they be turned around completely. Because of this, they will often fall off ... over and over and over...
Legends
- Blackwidow (Blackarachnia) (2015-10–24)
- ID number: LG17
- Legends Blackwidow is a retool of Animated Blackarachnia. The tooling changes include a new head, a new chest/spider eye cluster, and new, larger pedipalps that form her breastplate in robot mode...albeit made of translucent plastic. (Her pedipalps resemble the kind found on male spiders, incidentally. Oh dear.) Her official robot mode transformation leaves her robot arms half-transformed, with the spider leg tips unrotated, to more closely resemble the original Blackarachnia's claw-arms.
- Because her pedipalps are no longer filling in her stomach area, she now has a tiny, tiny waist. Considerably more annoying is that her torso is misassembled such that pushing up her chest/spider eye cluster into the correct position for robot mode (and thus avoiding her having a gaping hole in her chest) is considerably more difficult than it should be.
Merchandise
- Beast Wars Transformers Mutating Card Game (1997)
- Blackarachnia was one of the 24 beast warriors to receive a battle card representation for the Beast Wars card game.
Robot Heroes
- Cheetor vs. Blackarachnia (2-pack, 2008)
- Part of the first wave of Universe-branded Robot Heroes, Blackarachnia is a simple, yet well-detailed two-inch tall figurine with exaggerated, cartoony proportions. She was only available in a two-pack with Cheetor.
References
Categories:
- Pages using duplicate arguments in template calls
- Pages with image sizes containing extra px
- Unreleased toys
- Pages with broken file links
- Alternators Decepticons
- Beast Machines Maximals
- Beast Wars Maximals
- Beast Wars Predacons
- Beast Wars Telemocha Series
- Fast food exclusives
- Kre-O Predacons
- Kreons
- Legends Predacons
- Repurposed toys
- Robot Heroes
- Universe Decepticons
- Universe (2008)
