Review – Deathstalker (Not-Scorponok)

PerfectEffect has made the most adorable Headmasters ever and this 2.75-inch tall (to the top of the head) not-Scorponok toy is way more fun than I expected. They named the toy Deathstalker, but anyone with Transformers knowledge will simply look at the design and start calling it Scorponok from the very first moment. And with good reason . . . it’s Scorponok!

Plastic

Wonderful quality PVC for the body and weapon. There’s a lot of flex in the plastic, and everything about the Scorponok body makes this feel toyetic and playful as I pose the toy and transform it between modes. The head’s a more durable plastic — either a very high durometer PVC (unlikely) or ABS (yeah, that seems right) — and ultimately the overall plastic quality is as great as we can expect from any company regardless of size.

Articulation

Don’t expect a lot from it and you’ll be happy with the toy’s articulation. There are swivels at the shoulders, waist, and hips . . . and nothing else. The head is forever fixed in that “I’m staring straight ahead” position and is the only place I wish we had another swivel, but with the PVC construction and SD design of the toy I can accept no head movement. To be fair to the toy the treads on the back also swing up, but it’s not exactly all that exciting a movement and is there only so the legs can clear during transformation.

Paint

Wonderful paint apps! I love the bright colors, and all of the paintwork is applied nice and neat with little mess to make us sad. The clear plastic visor is a great touch, and this is definitely Scorponok in his Generation One form. PerfectEffect really needs to make more toys in this line; I want a Unicron next!

Scorpion Mode

Rotate the waist 180-degrees, fold the legs up and snap them together, plug the rifle into the foot, and swing the arms around and you have a robot scorpion, right? I can fully admit that the Deathstalker transformation design is very basic and not at all exciting, but I can also say I would have been perfectly happy with just a robot mode; getting an alt mode with this feels like a bonus to me.

Closing Thoughts

PerfectEfect’s Deathstalker is the sort of toy I would love to see more of. It’s a cute design, fun, playable, and a great twist on what we typically see from the third party Transformers toymakers. Unfortunately, the toy’s priced too high to be successful (in my opinion), and I expect that this venture will ultimately fail. I personally love the design and think that more like this would be a blast, but with the overly-crowded third party market I have a hard time seeing how this can gain enough of a fanbase to do well.

But maybe I am wrong. Maybe there are many more out there who can appreciate and enjoy what is essentially a super-deformed PVC Transformers toy. I hope I am wrong, because as I think about it I realize I want to see PerfectEffect try a set of Constructicons in this style . . . especially if they combine.