Swings from a Creepy Web

I'd been really looking forward to Legacy Tarantulas. I've always liked the guy, and not just because he's a bug. Specifically because I've always liked his evil mad scientist characterization and his neat design. He's also a bug, but that's just bonus points. Since I can't think of a better time of year than to talk about a spider, I figured Tarantulas is a perfect candidate. I've always really liked his purple coloring BTW.

Tarantulas is not difficult to transform, however it can be a bit annoying to get everything to line up just right. That's something that really stuck out to me about this toy. I felt like things just suddenly went into place after doing the same thing over and over. That's probably more of me having clumsy hands than the actual toys fault. Either way, he's pretty great in both robot and beast modes. One thing that'll probably stick out to folks who either don't like Beast Wars or are new to beast era stuff is the kibble. Alt mode kibble is just something you get used to when dealing with Transformers.

Usually it's part of the robots design overall. With many beast era toys... you tended to have things like animal legs just hanging off a body part. Sometimes it'd be a clever part of the design... sometimes not. With Tarantulas, there's no ignoring those spider legs in robot mode. The best thing you can do is pose them out of the way or as guns as they'd be used in the show. Basically I'm describing a part that that'll either be a deal breaker to some folks or a non-issue to others. I clearly love Beast Wars, so it's a welcome annoyance.

Tarantulas is a good toy (assuming you like this sort of thing) and a solid update of him. He had his signature weapons. Both the crossbow from his original body and the buzz-saw weapon from the Transmetals version. Unfortunately he doesn't have the vehicle mode that would suggest, but both weapons can be combined into a larger rifle... or tree saw