Perfect Effect's PE-DX02 Aranea is the coolest thing I've seen in a long while. In fact, until setting eyes on her I hadn't even realized how long it'd been since I last saw a truly cool thing. That's because Aranea is a robot that can turn into a spider that can turn into a motorcycle. What's that? The sound of your brain exploding? Yeah, it's pretty darn cool.

Sure, some people may come along and mention Airachnid, pointing out that she's a spider-helicopter but, c'mon, helicopters just aren't as cool as motorcycles. Motorcycles are pretty much the coolest way of getting around. To top that off, spiders are among the coolest animals on the planet. It's basically like multiplying awesome by awesome.

Aranea's bike mode has an incredibly futuristic vibe to it, courtesy of the way her spider legs extend over the front wheel, and looks spectacular thanks to the color scheme. The spider mode is neat as well, but it's more of a standard-spider look (except for the odd placement of the two hind legs) than anything novel. The robot mode is probably where things get really neat since the spider legs afford all sorts of cool display options. However, the color choice at least somewhat obscures the level of detail.

Aranea is listed as coming with two knives, two laser guns, a shield, and an electromagnetic gun. She's slated to release in March.

[ Pre-order at Big Bad Toy Store ]