Takara Transformers Generations TG-30 Waspinator Review

I would have loved to own a Transformes Generations Waspinator made by Hasbro, but as luck may have it the wave it was distributed with never showed up in my area!  We can add some other characters like Rhinox and Whirl that I would have easily bought if I saw in person.  Instead the shelves are clogged with Fall of Cybertron leftovers, Springers, and Sandstorms.  Not that some of those figures aren’t great, Springer is one of my favorite non-Masterpiece Transformers out there.  But those figures have also been on the shelf for almost a year now.  Clearance that stuff already Target and bring in some fresh blood!


The “good” to come from my inability to buy one localy is that it gave me time to see how the Takara version would turn out.  It’s easy to fall into the “import better than all” mentality with Transformers, I’ve done it plenty of times!  Waspinator was one robot Hasbro did not do justice with its paint and the color of the plastic it was molded in.  The Takara version takes a much more subdued look with both their paint and plastic.  Where the Hasbro greens were very bright the greens on the Takara version are much more dark.  The bright yellow has also been replaced with gold.

Takara Transformers Generations TG-30 Waspinator Review Beast Wars

I’m not a huge fan of the bright colors.  I find the Funpub Botcon exclusives to be some of the worst Transformers product made for that very reason.  Subdued colors in general work a lot better with me.  It makes the toy look like a higher quality item as well.  For the most part the brighter the colors on a figure the more it looks like a dollar store knockoff.

Takara Transformers Generations TG-30 Waspinator Review Beast Wars

Waspinator is marked as a “three” on the box’s transformation difficulty label basically placing him right in the middle.  I think he’s actually a pretty easy transformation, but I may be jaded as my last venture was putting together Diesel and the Stunticon team into not-Menasor.  He comes in robot mode so you basically close his chest, fold in his arms, and flip his legs around and push them into his chest.  The tabs all lined up for me fine and I had a nice little wasp!  Unfolded back into robot mode and to the shelf he goes …

Takara Transformers Generations TG-30 Waspinator Review Beast Wars

I actually thought the original Japanese Waspinator figure was pretty good for the time.  Every figure since has been complete shit.  It only took until this Generations wave to finally get the proper mix of both a great robot and alt mode.  Waspinator and Rhinox (I don’t actually have Rhinox yet so I can’t comment on his quality, but his sculpt is dead on) make me hope they eventually do that Optimus Primal Masterpiece figure they teased in the fan poll last year.  I do love that monkey!

Takara Transformers Generations TG-30 Waspinator Review Beast Wars

There are a couple of things you should probably look out for with this figure.  The first, and it is probably pretty obvious when you start fiddling around with him, is the legs and antennae.  I didn’t break mine but I could totally see myself “fat finger” snapping one of them by accident.  The are small and made with rigid plastic so it is just something I would watch out for.  The other thing is the paint.  This might be a tough one if you are importing since you won’t see it until it arrives.  Mine has some paint scraped off the top of his head.  The rest of the body looks great, and it very well could be I just lucked out and got a less sharp one.

Takara Transformers Generations TG-30 Waspinator Review Beast Wars

So yes, Waspinator is a damn great figure and Beast Wars fans should be very happy with how he turned out.  The decision you will have to make comes down to if a superior paint job is worth about an extra $20 or so to import?  The domestic figure is still hard as hell to find and if you check Amazon the price right now is as much as the import.  Obviously that could change but I’ll stand by the opinion that the better paint job is well worth the extra money.  It’s always nice to add an official Transformer to the collection and while I don’t really collect the Generations scale, sometimes a figure comes out that you can’t miss.

Now I realized I have a handful of Transformers that turn into animals … perhaps a theme week?  I don’t know if I can handle the pressure of such a thing!

 

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