Name: Waspinator
Series: Beast Wars
Allegiance: Predacon
Function: Aerial Attack
Alternate Mode: Wasp
WASP MODE
Height: 7cm Length: 16cm Width: 19cm (Wingspan)
Well, it's a wasp. Although there's not that many green wasps with striped abdomens, they do vary a fair bit, so it's excusable. He's mainly dark green, with blue compound eyes, black mouthparts, front & middle legs, back & antennae. Oh and black & yellow striped abdomen (with a green post on it for realism - the abdomen conceals his gun). His wings are a clear bluey-grey colour, with that oily sheen you get on insects' wings - a rather nice touch. There's a pea-soup green that shows up in places - namely the sides of the body and the upper back legs. This green really comes into it's own in Robot mode, though.
The back legs are very poseable - they have to be since they're also his robot legs. The front two sets are smaller and are attached to each other (left to left, right to right), so they're not as poseable. The wings are on ball joints and are fairly poseable, although they wont go as far down as a wasp's wings actually would on the downstroke during flight. But overall poseability is good. The only draw back being that once Waspy gets a bit old the joints loosen and he becomes hard to stand, so he has to rest on his body. Mine's loose, whereas Buzz Saw is still tight. It's a bit of an annoyance but he still looks cool. Overall this is a good mode, there's attention to detail, poseability and show accuracy.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Remove the gun from the abdomen, set it aside. Pull the robot legs out from the abdomen, swing the robot groin up into place, swing the thighs down and fold the shins up into place. It's best if you position the upper insect legs so he can bend his knees. Re-attach the wing that just fell off (they get loose after a while), fold out the robot arms and swing down & split the insect head to become the chest. Before putting the chest halves in place properly, swing down the grey panel between them to change the head (if you want to). Waspinator is from the days of Ye Olde Mutant Head, so you can give him a head like the cartoon or a more robotic head. I actually prefer the robot head, but keep him with Mutant Head since that's what I'm used to on the show (though I got the toy before I saw the show). Lastly, swing the wings up and take a missile out from the bottom of one of them, stick it into his missile launcher and position him.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 13cm Width: 18cm (wingspan)
Well, it's Waspinator, just as in the show. As with a lot of Beast Wars toys, the show version is _really_ closely modelled on the toy, so unless he has his robot head he'll look like he does in the show, although he may not get blasted apart as often (: Again Waspinator is mainly green, with stripey abdomen on his gun & thighs, a pea-soup green groin, pea-soup green on his shoulders, grey upper arms, sternum & head (both of them). The chestplates formed from his wasp head are green, black & blue. It's a good looking robot. Lots of wasp bits are visible, but he's not a wasp stood up. His wings, wasp head, antennae & front legs are all clearly visible. The only bits that can get in the way are the front leg assemblies, attached on his forearms (longer than they appear on the show), but they can be snapped off for robot mode if it pleases you.
As with most Beast Wars Deluxes, Waspinator is very posable. Head, hips, knees & shoulders are ball joints, with swivel joints just below his shoulders (so he can swing his arms around & point), and folding elbows. The only thing that really gets in the way is his abdomen if you want to kneel him, but he has huge feet so he can stand in pretty much any position. The missile launcher works fairly well, and looks fine as a gun if you want to leave the missiles in place (I usually do). The missiles, like the wings, are clearish blue-grey. You can even leave the gun in place in the abdomen, though it'll noticeably add to the abdomen you can see between his legs, and take it from unobtrusive to being a little too big.
VARIATIONS
He came on either a rocky or rounded bubble, but the toys were identical. Mine was a rock bubble, for what it's worth. He was the inspiration for Buzz Saw, whose the same save for colour. Waspinator was released a couple of years later as a part of the Fox Kids! line. Dirgegun of BW Second is a significantly different cyborg retooling of Waspinator.
OVERALL
Along with Terrorsaur, this guy was my first taste of Beast Wars (I imported them pretty much as soon as BW hit the USA). And it was a pretty good way to start - like most of the original Beast Wars toys, time and effort has gone into this toy, and as a result he's strong in both modes. There's a few quirks, but nothing to drive you to contact Hasbro's "We really do care" department. And of course he's a cartoon character (and a cool one at that) as an extra incentive to get him. Unlike some of the lesser Beast Machines toys, this is a deluxe I'd actually pay $30 for - 8/10, but ignore the Fox Kids! version
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