Yup. It would not make sense for those black thigh panels to not line up with the top panels.

Kinda sad that the people in charge of transforming these things don't get how fans more often than not take things at face value and jump to conclusions. But then again, I thought we'd already be used to this from years of Hasbro doing it.

 

I see what you're trying to convey. All i'm saying is that I think the spider mode would benefit from a longer thorax  . Let's just keep our fingers crossed for now.

 

Entirely possible. I'm just spitballing based on where it looks like hinges and pivots are that aren't being fully utilized.

Nobody should get their hopes up at this point, honestly. This could be what we're getting, properly. Not saying it isn't. But I can absolutely see where the existing engineering might allow for things to change.

 

That’s literally a wad of robot parts with a plate bent at an odd angle stuck over it. From the looks of things, NOTHING is tabbed in. I can say with certainty that the actual alt. mode will be cleaner than what we see here.

 

I'll totally admit I was wrong if this turns out to be the final design (as unlikely as that is). Just wondering how many people here will do the same if it does happen to be mistransformed.

 

I agree. Although, if I'm right, the thorax (if that's the middle section of the spider), should extend from the head to where the purple feet are in these pictures. I think that should help things immensely.

 

It'll definitely be cleaner, but I don't think it'll be a dramatic improvement. For the sake of people who want this, it'd be great if it was horribly mistransformed. I'm not expecting too much, but we'll just have to wait and see.

 

M8...spiders don’t have a thorax...at least not a distinct one, its fused with the head. Unlike insects which have three distinct body parts, the head, thorax, and abdomen, arachnids only have two, the head/cephelothorax, and abdomen.

In laymen’s terms, there shouldn’t be a middle part at all, and there certainly wasn’t one on the animation model.

 

That's cool. I don't claim to know anything about real spiders. Very educational. However, it's also pedantic and not terribly helpful to the discussion at hand.

But, terminology aside, the cg model clearly has the spider legs joining the body just behind the head. This is what I'm referring to as the "the middle section" as it is between the spider head and the hourglass bulb. It may not actually be a separate body piece, it may not have a fancy name. But the pics we have don't have this bit of the spider at all. We go straight from head to bulb, with the legs just kind of chilling out alongside the head in space.

My point, lost in the minutiae as it is, is simply that there appears to be room to remedy that. Call it whatever you want, I honestly don't care.

 

The more photos I see of Blackarachnia's Spider mode, the more I'm reminded of when I tried to transform ROTF Mixmaster into a cement mixer and just gave up.  

(translation: the final toy might not have a great spider mode, but it can't possibly look THAT bad.)

 

He's talking about this section

 

Looking at the new pics, it's so very obvious that it is mistransformed at least in just the orientation of the spider legs base ballsocket pieces.
if that is so off, then there is easily a chance a lot more is off too. So much for "if it's a takara product display, it's transformed correctly because Takara never display their products wrong".

 

This is a half-assed attempt to showcase how the beast mode should look like IF the mistransformation theory is correct (lowered the abdomen, extended the "torso", positioned the robot arms under the spider body)



Comparison with the original photo:

 

I think you're mostly in the right direction there, though the way the legs are set up is going to also go a long way towards making the spider body more elongated and spaced out. Right now its essentially at 45 degree angles instead of being horizontally flat.

 

Just having the legs start at the sternum does wonders, nice job. I'm guessing if any of us were at this show we'd be hassling the staff to try and let us have a stab at fixing her up for them.

 

Wow! Thats a lot of debate about her beast mode to wade through this morning. I'm very much of the opinion that a) It's mis-transformed and b) when we see it properly transformed it will look better but not fantastic. After Bumblebee and now this I'm in two minds as to whether TT 'bumbled' (no @Goldimus Prime it wasn't an intended pun...maybe I should have pretended it was?) the reveal or are doing this on purpose so when we see it correctly transformed we'll be so relieved it's 'not THAT bad' that we'll forgive them? I dunno, possibly a tinfoil hat theory, but it seems dumb of TT to allow the first look at a figure to be so poorly presented....unless it's deliberate?

I can't say I'm not disappointed, even cleaned up I'm pretty sure this is going to be the least attractive and most compromised BWMP beast mode thus far. It really does just look like all you need to do to 'Transform' her you roll her up into a ball and sit her down on her legs (I really hop those legs support the spider, I think they will as thankfully they appear to be ratcheted). I'ts no surprise they appear to have concentrated making the beast mode look good/best head on. They've gone this with across the line, however Beast Wars are different from G1 in this regard as their alt-mode is essentially another action figure, so both modes are approached the same way... make it look best from the front and hide the rest round the back.



So yeah head on it looks ok I guess, but that really is the only angle it looks even passable. Those leg sections have got to sit more flush with the spider body surely? The head looks good and even the abdomen looks kinda ok from this angle but it is gappy as hell and the robot mode knees being just there....thats hard to countenance. My biggest complain though is her cephalothorax (that's the term for the combined head and thorax that spiders have) looks way too short, it was longer in the show and its longer on your average spider.



From the side and back it looks terrible. I really feel like there should be a few more panels to cover all that robot kibble, but instead is all just hanging out there. To be honest Id have accepted some parts forming to achieve this...maybe something clever utilising the grapple gun? Clever is the operative word her, none of this looks or feels clever, it looks forced and compromised and sort of badly thought through.. I really hope she cleans up a lot better in proper product shots but for now Im really not feeling it.

All that said unlike Bumblebee (who I laid into for his mess robot mode and totally stand by it) the robot mode looks phenomenal! It's perfect and really that is my number one priority. I can live with a (possibly) shitty looking beast mode because that robot mode looks so spot on. I understand she is small(I wish the price tag reflected that!) and maybe only so much can be done but I would have accepted a little more kibble in robot mode for a better Beast mode so long as it wasn't ugly or compromising or like i said earlier some parts forming. I am going to buy one, no question, but my excitement over this figure is considerable deflated by both the price and the beast mode.

 

Bitch where the fuck are my notifications!? This is too annoying.

Also I think I’ve decided that these photos of the alt mode aren’t good. I really hope this is improved later on. Cause I don’t see this shit being put on a box to buy.

 

I just want her. don't care about the beast mode.

 

Okay, looking at the clearer photos I'm 100% convinced she's horribly mistransformed.

She has all the right parts, they are just in the wrong place. I really think I'm going to find her beast mode pretty impressive when it's done right. I'm starting to see how it could come together. If I'm wrong, I'll freely admit it, but I think the change is going to be much more drastic than some people think.