People forget how different certain incarnations of Transformers can be from continuity to continuity. Scorponok's a prime example of this, being either a city former in G1 that would take over the role as the leader in certain continuities, having a pivotal role in the series with a bit of a rivalry towards Ironhide in Energon, serving as a symbiotic partner to Blackout the same way Ravage and Laserbeak are to Soundwave in the movies, or a goon in RID15. Beast Wars depicted him as a moronic yet loyal Predacon towards Megatron, even if it led to him getting killed off in Season 2. Much like Terrorsaur, who also died, Scorpy doesn't get much attention in terms of toys up until Kingdom, but maybe the original Beast Wars toy would be good enough?
Here is Scorponok in his beast mode, which is already winning me over with how badass it lookw thanks to the face, the pincers, the colors, and the tail+stinger combined. This beast mode may look a little toyetic, but that doesn't stop it from looming intimidating. Seriously, imagine someone running into this and freaking out over it. The red legs do look a little toyetic, but the rest of the beast mode manages to work pretty well in my opinion. The tail has a pretty neat spring-loaded gimmick where you push on a lever and it springs towards its victims. Long before the gory details of Beast Wars Neo toys and the bloody tusks of Universe 2003 Nemesis Prime, Scorponok's stinger is still bloody red and it also looks more like a stinger than the Kingdom version.
For a size comparison with his Kingdom counterpart, here they are in their respective beast modes. I appreciated the new toy for being closer to the cartoon while still maintaining a bit of realism, but I have to admit it fails in comparison to how the original version looks, both in the meanness and how it captures the essence of a scorpion. I think the colors help capture the vibes better, and the same goes for the stinger; the original version looks pretty intimidating while the latter weirdly looks like a dick. Also worth mentioning is that this figure is a Mega Class toy, which puts him around the price of an older Voyager at the time it was around, so while he lays lower than Deluxe wavemate Tigatron, he's wider and has the tail high up.
Transformation is very different from what one would expect with a scorpion Transformer, as the robot legs are within the underside of the body and the feet are made from the head of the scorpion; the tail also swivels around and hinges upward to give him that traditional tail over head look that Scorponoks are known for. And of course, the arms are from the pincers, but at least the torso is actually facing upwards in beast mode, which breaks the norm of other Scorponok toys (to my knowledge at least). The resulting robot mode doesn't really look like the TV show, but I think it benefits him that way. The colors of this figure are intended to better match how they looked in the cartoon, which isn't a bad thing, but I much prefer the broad, alien design of this figure much more than I do the cartoon look. He also has quite a bit of height not by his head but from his tail instead, which looks very disturbing with it almost ready to stab anyone in the back or in the front if they don't care about their well-being while standing next to this Pred! Annoyingly, the figure has the shoulders with the screws on the front, but it's otherwise something that is found with older toys back then.
Head sculpt for the mutant mask looks awesome and very bounty-hunter esque, while the robot head underneath looks a little non-descript. I think it's supposed to be him yelling like in the package art, but the pin-head look of the face combined with the sex doll-esque mouth doesn't sell it, and speaking of, remember how Peter Griffin pretended to be one when he and the family snuck into the US to go back home and was tested on? Well, it turns out that even he was tested in a similar manner because he's shedding a golden tear. His articulation is normal for the time, with a ball joint at the neck, shoulders that move front and back as well as in and out, bicep swivels, elbow bends, claw swivels, ball-jointed hips, and knee bends. One claw has the launching missiles while another claw launches a cyber-bee that admittedly doesn't stay in as well in its folded-up state. Let's hope the tab doesn't break down overtime.
As far as reuses are concerned, this is the original version of the mold, depicting a much darker color scheme for the figure that I feel makes him even more evil than the cartoon-colored version. You get a sense of that from the mutant head with the combination of black and red.
And this is Double Punch from BotCon 1998 Japan. Cast in transluscent plastic, this guy was meant to homage a European Action Master of the same name, who was basically G1 Scorponok/Black Zarak in crazy colors. His stinger appears to have the blood of an alien because it's green. The Cyberbee is amusingly named Beeline.
And here is Sandstorm, who has quite a sandy deco with the orange and gray with some purple here and there. The blood on his stinger is the only one that matches the coloring of his claws.
For a size comparison in robot mode, here he is with his Kingdom counterpart and the reissue Beast Wars Tigatron that came out around the same time this guy did. Despite being what is essentially a 1996 Voyager, he isn't that much taller than the Deluxe on his left. That comes from his tail, though. Regardless, I think the original Scorponok is better than the Kingdom version thanks to its better thought out engineering and design; the Kingdom version is fine as it is, but I do find the way the tail+scorpion legs+waist swivel clash each other does make the figure feel rather annoying, especially with the way the backpack works. That and the new toy's beast mode doesn't look as good now that the original one is here, having a more striking appearance in comparison. If you want to have a Scorponok, the reissue is great, though maybe wait for it on clearance since like the rest of the line, these figures are priced much higher due to inflation. What originally cost you $15 in 1996 costs you $40 now.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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