General Information:
Release Year: May 2007
Retailer: General release (Wal-Mart, Target, Toys 'R' Us etc.)
Price: $9.99 (Depending on retailer)
Accessories: None

Images:

• On Card (Front)
• On Card (Back)
• Beast Mode
• Beast Mode (Side)
• Beast Mode (Back)
• Beast Mode (Close up)
• Beast Mode (Tail stinger fired)
• Robot Mode
• Robot Mode (Side)
• Robot Mode (Back)
• Robot Mode (Posed)

Tech Specs:
Scorponok is barely what the other TRANSFORMERS would even call alive. His core programming is only a tiny bit more complex than pure instinct. In most things, he acts almost entirely as an animal. He never speaks, and lives only to hunt and destroy. Unlike most of his fellow robots, he prefers his alternate mode with its energized stinger and drill-claws, to his robot mode. Capable of burrowing through solid earth at nearly eighty miles per hour, he can be a terrifying opponent as he springs suddenly upon his target in a shower of dirt from the ground.

Packaging:
Scorponok is packaged on a standard movie blister card with the sides wrapping around to the back of the card. The curved cardboard piece with tech detail has no text on it, which makes sense since the figure does not feature anything like an "Automorph" feature. He is packaged in beast mode with the tail stinger extended. His package art is the head from the beast mode (which doubles as his robot mode head). It's oddly colored, suggesting at the time the art was done the final colors may not have been decided for the figure. Either that or it is some stylistic choice. The back pictures the figure in robot and beast mode. His cosells are Bumblebee, Jazz, Barricade, Wreckage and Brawl.

Beast Mode:
Scorponok is a name that has popped up many times over the years. Starting with the G1 Headmaster, the name would later go to a Predacon warrior and after that the powerful warrior seen in Energon. In the biggest departure from the G1 character to date, this Scorponok is a symbiote of sorts that links up with Blackout and serves as his backup in combat situations. Scorponok is not really intelligent, acting more like a trained beast than a thinking Transformer.

Scorponok was one of the first Transformers revealed in promotional images and videos as he comes bursting out of the sand, charging at some soldiers in the desert. This figure replicates what has been shown in videos very well. He's really the only "animal" Transformer in the movie, so the designers had a good bit of freedom in making this figure accurate to the movie CGI model. Scorponok uses the "panel on machinery" look of the Transformers movie style, but it is used differently than on the vehicular Transformers. His arms look like two huge turbines with angled pincers on them, each with a blade like end. His head is a creepy looking one, with mandlibles and four round eyes that really just stare at you if you look at the figure. The main body is made up of panels over two spinning drums in the middle of the figure. This leads to the tail which has several sculpted sections leading to the stinger. The stinger has also been shown in the previews as a piece with several blades on it, and those are replicated here in this figure. It looks particularly evil and even has two diamond shaped designs on it that look like eyes. The blades look sharp but are made of soft bendy plastic.

Scorponok is choc full of details. The inside of his arms each have three turbines in them (that could also be the barrel ends of blaster weapons). His pincers have tube sections on each segment where they would bend if they were articulated. His mandibles have a grid pattern etched into them and there are panels with small circles representing bolts on his main body. This goes along with the look of the character in the film where some of his plates seem to "shift" when he is being fired on to protect his internal systems.

Scorponok is cast in metallic silver and metallic gold plastic, matching the colors of his onscreen counterpart. There are lots of smaller painted details that take the form of text. Some sections say "Keep Away" while others have "Rescue" written inside an arrow. Other panels say "No Step" and "Fuel". On either side in white are the numbers "0360". The idea here is that Scorponok's panels actually form components of Blackout's helicopter mode. These are all phrases commonly found on aircraft. I like the way this links him further with his Decepticon counterpart. A Decepticon symbol is found in black right behind the head.

Scorponok has twenty five points of articulation in this form. That may sound surprising but it makes sense when you consider each of his six legs are articulated and his tail has three points of articulation itself. His pincers can also be moved as well, adding another six points of articulation. Push the figure along a flat surface and you'll see the drums inside the center of the body spin. At the same time his pincers spin around, duplicating an action seen (over and over) in various commercials/trailers for the Transformers Movie. His tail stinger can also launch forward, but it's not a missile, it just strikes forward which I actually prefer since it gives you one less piece to potentially lose.

Scorponok can be connected to the underside of Blackout in vehicle mode. You have to turn the tail around and then plug the two pegs on Blackout's underbelly to the two holes on Scorponok's back. When you push Blackout's button to have his rotor blades spin, Scorponok's claws spin as well. I like this interactivity since it makes sense to have the two figured work together, albeit the scele of the two figures are completely off.

Transformation to Robot Mode:

1. Swing each section with the scorpion legs to the side and rotate them around and back.
2. Swing the robot head down.
3. Swing each robot arm down.

Robot Mode:
If you think Scorponok's robot mode feels much like an afterthought, you're probably right. All leaked images and footage of this robotic scorpion from the upcoming movie has shown him only in scorpion mode. Indeed, even his tech specs indicate he prefers staying in that form - a big indicator that we do not get to see this mode in the film. To put it bluntly, Scorponok's robot mode looks somewhat goofy. I say "somewhat" only because frankly, the upper body isn't all that bad. His scorpion head makes a fine robot head. Since so many of the Decepticons in the film use insectoid heads, having an arachnid head actually serve as the robot head isn't too much of a stretch. Having the scorpion arms become the robot arms is hardly new, and considering how big and bulky they are, they look fantastic here. This is not a guy you want to shake hands with! Even the mid-body looks menacing with the spinning drums that have razor details sculpted into them.

Sadly, where things get a bit comical is the lower body. The tail really doesn't do anything but stay in place between his legs awkwardly. His legs are rather tiny and out of proportion with the rest of his body, and without clearly defined feet or heel pieces they seem like they were just slapped on there for the heck of it. I think having pieces extend out from the legs, or having the sides of the scorpion be able to fold out in half might have made for more robotic and clearly defined legs. The way he looks now, he sort of looks like he's constantly kneeling.

So much of the scorpion mode makes up the robot mode that there are no real color surprises here. No new deco patterns are introduced as well, which is a shame. The saving grace is that his colors work well together, and the metallic colors of plastic give him a gleam that makes him look like metal even though he is plastic.

Scorponok has nineteen points of articulation, owing most of it to his arms (and the pincers on them). I'm also counting the head since it can move up and down. While I still think the leg design could have been better, it was nice to see that his legs can bend at the knees. His action feature is intact in this form as well. Spin the wheels on his back and his claws turn just like they do in beast mode. I do have to give kudos for the arms having as much articulation as they do and still having a working action feature in both modes.

Final Thoughts:
Despite a somewhat odd robot mode, I have to say that I really do like this figure. What saves this figure is a great sculpt, cool deco and fun action feature. His ability to interact with Blackout is also a big plus. Recommended.