General Information:
Release Date: November 2012
Price Point: $29.99 (Depending on retailer)
Retailer: General release (Toys R Us, Online retailers etc.)
Accessories: Sword, Cannon
Skyquake was one of the earlier "new" Decepticons introduced in "Transformers Prime". He didn't last very long however, but his brief appearance made a big impression, especially once his brother Dreadwing appeared to avenge his death!
Oddly, Dreadwing's voyager Class figure was released before Skyquake's. Skyquake's figure did not pop up at retail until late 2012. However, its distribution was extremely limited, sending his after-market price beyond $85 at one point. However, starting around the second quarter of 2013, Toys R Us stores began to receive the cases which contained Skyquake. He was only one per case however, so he still wasn't exactly "easy" to find, but his after market price did go down to more respectable levels and I was able to personally find him on shelf three different times and three different Toys R Us stores.
Skyquake is a redeco/retool of the Voyager Class Dreadwing sculpt. This review will focus on the changes made to the figure for this release.
Robot Mode:
The colors between Skyquake and Dreadwing are a fairly straight forward swap. The blue plastic on Dreadwing has been replaced with green and the translucent yellow has been replaced with translucent orange. The other parts are the same color including silver on parts like the hands and feet and black on the knee armor. While the swaps are simple they are very effective. He totally looks like a different character despite the lack of change in the sculpt.
There aren't a ton of paint applications on this figure, but it actually works well for the character. He wasn't exactly choc full of painted details in his original animated appearance. He was mostly green with some orange and silver coloring, so this works well even if not exactly accurate. He has silver on his torso and head. Gold is found on the edges of his "horns" on the head and black is used on the feet. Interestingly, his eyes have been painted red despite being made of translucent orange plastic that would allow for light piping.
All the joints on my copy of this figure are just as tight as those on my Dreadwing. That said, I did find that the waist piece gad a very tiny gap in the middle where the two halves of the plastic come together that my Dreadwing doesn't. In terms of functionality, this makes the clips that connect to the cockpit/torso section a tad more loose in this form. I squeezed the two halves together more tightly and the connections tightened up so it's not a huge deal.
Skyquake comes with the same sword as Dreadwing. The weapon is also similar, a transforming weapon that becomes a cannon when extended out. The base of the weapon and the middle section is the same as Dreadwing's, but the barrel of the cannon has been changed to look more like the gatling gun style weapon Skyquake had in the TV show. The middle and barrel section are translucent orange while the rest is a combination of green and silver, matching up with the main figure. The light up gimmick works fine, but I do still find it frustrating that the weapon can't lock in cannon mode (in my photos I used a piece of tape to keep it "transformed").
Transformation to Vehicle Mode:
- Detach the weapons if attached and set them aside for now.
- Straighten out the arms to the sides.
- Rotate the robot hands so the palms face outward, then swing the arms up and rotate the forearms around.
- Pull the back section with the wings and stabilizers back.
- Swing the robot head up.
- Rotate the shoulder armor around so the insides face up.
- Swing up the chest/nosecone piece and swing out the nosecone.
- Push the translucent piece on the underside of the cockpit against the front section so it's not sticking out.
- Push the panels on the sides with the landing gear together.
- Push the shoulder armor panels against the front of the vehicle, fitting the pegs into the holes on the sides.
- The wings wind up going over the front section a bit (on the parts that made up the shoulder armor).
- Push the rear stabilizers section down.
- Swing the hips/robot legs section forward.
- Swing the arms in and connect the tabs on the forearms to the slots on the underside of the section with the vertical stabilizers.
- On each leg, swing the robot feet into the lower legs.
- Split the waist section to swing the legs back.
- Swing the legs back and tuck them into the underside of the vehicle so the landing gear wheels are pointed down. Note: You may have to shift the robot arms around so the pegs on the legs can attach to the holes near the shoulders.
- You may need to push the wings down a bit to snap them into place and then swing back the ends of the wings.
- Weapons can be attached to the underside of the wings or on top behind the cockpit.
Vehicle Mode:
Much like the robot mode, the vehicle mode on Skyquake substitutes the blue plastic from Dreadwing with green. The rest of the colors are pretty much the same as Dreadwing including the small silver pieces and soft black plastic on the more pointed parts such as the nosecone and vertical stabilizers. The translucent orange appears here too in the form of the cockpit.
The paint decos are definitely inspired by the CG model used in the "Transformers Prime" TV show. The most notable detail in this respect is red paint trim on the edges of the wings. On the CG model these red trim details were found on the front horizontal stabilizers, wings, vertical stabilizers and rear stabilizers. However, on this figure they're only found on the wings and the rear horizontal stabilizers. Part of this is likely due to the soft plastic used for the front and rear vertical stabilizers, both of which are made out of soft black plastic which is likely difficult to get paint to adhere to. Also, while there's silver around the edges of the cockpit, there are silver details on the CG model on the nosecone, but those are absent here. Truth be told, I'm seriously nit picking here. Overall the vehicle mode evokes the character in the show very well.
All the attachment points for weapons hold the weaponry securely. The landing gear flips down without a problem as well.
Final Thoughts:
Overall Skyquake is a cool figure and just as worthwhile of a purchase as Dreadwing. However, he's really for those who like to collect all figures in a series or those who like color variants. Nothing really sets Skyquake apart from Dreadwing where he's a "must buy", but his previously "rare" status does add an extra appeal. Recommended, but consider the sculpt is pretty much the same figure as Dreadwing.
