General Information:
Release Date: July 2015
Price Point: $9.99 (depending on retailer)
Retailer: General (Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart etc.)
Accessories: Blasters x 2
Official images and text below in italics are from Amazon.com:
Convert, arm and attack with all the Transformers action you can handle! Skywarp is a teleporting flier Decepticon who can attack the Autobots out of nowhere. This Skywarp figure looks just like him and he’ll be a match for any Autobot who tries to take him on! Armed with a double-fisted blaster attack, he converts fast from robot mode to fighter jet mode, and no enemy can hope to escape him. Keep converting him back and forth so he can handle whatever his foes dish out! Transformers and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro.
The Seekers have long been the "generic troops" of the Decepticons. Each one shares a similar body type to the other Seekers and in general they all become some type of aerial attack craft. With that in mind, generally sculpts that are used for one Seeker wind up getting redecos as another. This has been true for the Legends Class Starscream released in 2013. The sculpt would later be used for Acid Storm and more recently as Thundercracker. Intent on making sure the original trio of Seekers is finished, Hasbro released Skywarp as the fourth use of this sculpt as part of "Combiner Wars".
Since I've reviewed this sculpt a few times, this review will be relatively short, focusing on the deco since no changes were made to the sculpt itself for this release.
Packaging:
Skywarp is packaged in a blister set against a rectangular backing card. The card features a large segment of Skywarp's package art in the front with a black bar and the modern "Transformers" logo over the black bar. The "Combiner Wars" logo is in smaller letters at the top. The back features multiple languages and a brief bio of the character with photos of the toy in both modes. The photography is set against a light colored grid background, evoking Generation One packaging. The bottom features several legal notices and an "Authentic Transformers" symbol.
Robot Mode:
This release of the Seeker sculpt is mostly cast in black plastic, one of G1 Skywarp's primary colors. The parts composed of soft plastic (including his feet) are soft, purple plastic. This purple plastic is the softer type used in more recent versions of this figure. The original Starscream use of this sculpt had more solid plastic in those sections. It's not a huge deal since there are only a couple of parts using it.
Since black is the core plastic color, it serves as a canvas for a lot of paint detail (for a figure of this class anyhow). The torso section surrounding the cockpit on his chest is painted silver. This includes the thin protrusions that stick up on either side of the head. Silver is also used on the face. Red is used to paint the eyes. The cockpit cover on his chest is painted gold and the forearms are painted purple. The wings are visible on the back of the robot so you can see purple and white patterns on it with two huge silver and purple Decepticon symbols. Is this the most impressive color scheme ever? Hardly - but it fits the character perfectly and it looks great.
After four uses of this sculpt (not including the Japanese release) I was worried that the joints may begin to get loose, especially since several joints on this figure are ball joints. However that is not the case. Skywarp is every bit as stable as any other iteration of this sculpt I have, which was a relief. If you're curious, this also includes how tightly his fists hold on to his weapons.
Transformation to Vehicle Mode:
- Detach the blasters and set them aside for now.
- Straighten out the arms and legs.
- Push the robot feet down and back.
- Push the robot legs together, connecting them using the tab and corresponding groove on the inside of the lower legs.
- Pull each arm down.
- Pull the cockpit section of the chest up and flip the nosecone piece up.
- Push the stabilizer fins out to the sides.
- Swing the jet wings back.
- Connect the forearms to the wings by using the tabs on the underside of the wings.
- Attach the weapons to the sides of the arms.
Vehicle Mode:
Even though the vehicle mode is still mostly black plastic, there's a ton of color thanks to the way the plastic is laid out and paint applications. The rear stabilizers and the nosecone are purple plastic, creating a nice bookend on either end of the vehicle. The cockpit is painted gold, echoing the G1 toy's orange cone. On either side of the cockpit section is silver paint. The wings now show off the white and purple colors that were partly hidden in robot mode. This mode also shows off the large Decepticon symbols though I noticed on my copy of the figure they are slightly uneven. The vehicle mode looks great overall and it is instantly recognizable as Skywarp.
All the parts are nice and tight in this mode. There are no functionality issues.
Final Thoughts:
This figure looks great in both modes. If you've been buying all the iterations of this sculpt you may be a bit tired of it by now. Personally I'm super happy the "original Seeker" trio is complete in this scale.
