Transformers Rise of the Beasts Scorponok w/Sandspear review

Of all the toys that we got from the ROTF toys, some characters are more prominent than others. Obviously, the Optimus Duo and Bumblebee get the spotlight, with a secondary tier dedicated to Cheetor, Scourge, Rhinox, etc, and some even have a smaller presence. Then there's Scorponok, who is not only lacking in merchandise apart from this one figure, but it's also going to make people raise questions if whether or not he's even going to be an individual character or be connected to Blackout. I mean, G1 had two Scorponoks, with one being a Titan and the other being a Predacon that's much smaller by comparison, but who knows what ROTB will have. It might even be a case of Hasbro reusing names for more recognition. But let's see if this guy is worth getting, even if he is a Target exclusive.

Here are the scorpos in their titular modes. Their designs more or less match up to the appearance they'll take in the movie. They aim for a more technorganic design philosophy rather than what the original Scorponok had as a fully robotic design. Obviously, the beast mode is not going to be that poseable, a common trend for various insect or spider-like creatures. The tail is on two ball joints, though the back of it is much blockier than the front. It's a much simpler design in order to integrate the toyetic aesthetic of the Beast Weaponizers. Sandspear's aesthetics are a little more refined, but his articulation is more or less the same.

Here is Scorponok next to his Beast Wars counterpart made in the Kingdom line. With the likelihood of the ROTB guy being a minion of the chaos bringer Unicron, I went with the idea that the new Scorponok is a character with nothing in common from the pet of Blackout, much like the same going for the Beast Wars guy having nothing in common with his G1 self. Of course, they both have aesthetics that are different from each other, with different color schemes and design philosophies to boot. BW Scorpy's pretty much a mixed bag in his beast mode if I'm honst, so I guess the ROTB guy does a better job at looking cooler.

Transformation is very basic. Flip the legs down and hide the scorpion legs, straighten the arms out, hide the beast head, and rotate the robot head. That's it. The resulting robot mode is the standard Moviefied look on the Beast Wars designs, with the Maximal receiving that design approach. While it does feel pretty much what I'd expect for a transforming toy, the figure is annoyingly hollow; the back of the robot has nothing really filled in, and there are plenty of holes from the forearms and the knees. I do wish that the scorpion legs can be folded away.

Head sculpt may seem like a G1 homage, but the head sculpt actually comes from a custom Scorponok figure that was meant to be BW accurate with a head sculpt taken from ROTF Dead End...soooooo, maybe a freelance designer stole from a custom that was basically not the intended look of an official toy? Anyways, the articulation consists of a neck swivel and ball joints for the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. His tail can be straightened into some sort of sword, and the scorpion can become a spear of some kind that looks a bit unwieldy with how the legs aren't folded away.

For another robot mode size comparison, here he is next to his Beast Wars counterpart, and you can see where some of the inspiration went between the two designs to some extent, although the green is also part of the G1 homage along with the head sculpt. So overall, this is a basic figure of a Predacon that is actually a Terrorcon and a minion of Unicron that can be army-built for the movie if you really must. It is a cheaper figure than from what I've seen of the Beast Weaponizers, so I'd only recommend this guy if you're a fan of the movie, or if you like Scorponok (but not if you're that one CBR writer who is still whining about how Scorponok is not a Titan in the movies as if it was some sort of requirement by law and is probably faking his TF knowledge).

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐