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

When she chokes you she can taste your fear.
  • Blackarachnia (Deluxe Class, 1996/1997)
    • Japanese ID number: D-8
    • Accessories: Launcher, 4 leg-missiles
Beast Wars 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).
She might have an F-cup...or an E.
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. Japanese catalogues showed a figure with a gold face and black eyes. It is unknown why this was changed for the released figure.
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.


Battle of the redecos.
  • 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.


She's got a great personality.
  • 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.


'Sup, bra.
  • 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

In Beast Machines, Silverbolt doubled his bird and so did she.
  • 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.


This is transformed correctly, right? Right?
  • 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)

You can pick your faction, and you can pick your girlfriend, but you can't pick your girlfriend's faction.
  • Blackarachnia (Deluxe Class, 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.


Eyow.
  • Leatherhide Vs. Blackarachnia (Halloween Horrorcon value pack, 200?)
    • 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.
Your bargaining posture is highly dubious.
Your bargaining posture is highly dubious.

Proceed on your way to oblivion.
This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.


Beast Wars Returns

What a maroon.
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

It almost works!
  • Blackwidow (2007)
    • Japanese ID number: TM-06
    • Accessories: Launcher, 4 leg-missiles
As part of the Beast Wars Telemocha line, the original Deluxe Class 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

Honda wouldn't appreciate their car being hot, poisonous, and deadly.
  • 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
  • Hasbro:
  • Takara:
Your bargaining posture is highly dubious.
Your bargaining posture is highly dubious.

Proceed on your way to oblivion.
This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.


Kre-O

File:KreO-Toy Blackarachnia.jpg
  • 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 Hasbro Asia's 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

File:Blackarachniaanimateddeluxe.jpg
  • Blackarachnia (Deluxe Class, 2008)
    • Japanese ID number: TA-09
    • Accessories: Grapnel-hook
Animated Blackarachnia was repurposed as the original Blackarachnia in the 2005 IDW continuity.
Animated 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

On the "Important Blackarachnia Anatomy" hierarchy, apparently "boobs" outrank "torso."
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.


Masterpiece

  • Megatron (Beast Wars) (March 30, 2019)
    • Japanese ID number: MP-43
In one of Megatron's hidden voice clips, one of Ryōka Yuzuki's voice clips as Blackwidow was reused.
The robot's mode is real good, but the spider mode....
  • Blackwidow (Beast Wars) (11-23-2019)
    • ID number: MP-46
    • Accessories: Smiling face, screaming face, visor, visor cable, "Poison Anchor", Anchor missile, Anchor missile with cord, base, arm, spider web, robot mode spider web adapter, spider mode spider web adapter
First shown in grayscale prototype form at Winter Wonder Festival 2019, this Masterpiece Blackwidow is a brand new animation-accurate mold, depicting her original, pre-Transmetal beast form. She transforms into a show-accurate black widow spider and features multiple accessories, including her trademark anchor missile launcher (which converts into a panel for the rear of her spider mode), a missile for the projectile and an alternate version with a cord, 2 faces for robot mode, a visor and cable, a giant energon spider web and adapters to attach her in both modes. Blackwidow's engineering means that she lacks any major traces of unwanted kibble, and for the pleasure of display owners is incredibly posable. She is also one of the smaller Masterpiece figures, and is smaller than her fellow Beast Wars castmates. In a slightly intimate display of design her breasts have some very faint protrusions.
Care should be taken especially when handling the spider legs of the figure as the tips are known to chip off.
Per the brand unification of TakaraTomy and Hasbro, Blackwidow will be directly released with no changes by Hasbro Pulse in the United States and Canada.


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

Cute and poisonous.
  • 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.


Notes

Dirty girls, make some noise. Move that ass for dirty boys.
  • Blackarachnia's original Beast Wars card art has her wearing a spike-studded collar... while her chest seems to be leopard-spotted. Kinky.
  • The artwork advertising the Transmetal Blackarachnia toy on Happy Meal Bags was rendered with the toy transformed incorrectly. Her beast mode head isn't flipped down, leaving her organic-looking robot mode chest exposed.
  • Even though Transmetal 2 Blackarachnia's toy has a unique faction-switching spark crystal, the feature doesn't make sense in a fictional context. By that point in the Beast Wars television series, the Transmetal Driver had destroyed her Predacon shell program, making her fully Maximal. (Though, to be fair, it had happened mere moments previously.)

References

  1. ↑ "TF Expo Pics - Masterpiece Star Saber In Color and More!" at TFW2005.
  2. ↑ "TF Expo Pics Part 2 - G1 Prototypes, Movie Props, and More Masterpiece!" at TFW2005.
  3. ↑ "TF Expo Pics Part 4 - Prototypes and Figure Displays from Diaclone, G1, G2, Beast Wars" at TFW2005.
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