Transformers Generations: Titans Return – Galvatron (Voyager Class)

Company: Hasbro

Year: 2016

Sigh…I’ve been putting this review for a while, because generally I try and write positive reviews rather than negative ones. But in for a penny, in for a pound. Today we look at Galvatron from Titans Return.

Galvatron first appeared in Transformers: The Movie, way back in 1986. After Megatron came close to being killed during battle with the Autobots, he was taken away by Unicron and reformatted into GALVATRON, complete with a new voice from Leonard Nimoy.

Now the original Galvatron toy was somewhat unusual; most of the original Transformers toys were repurposed from a couple of different Japanese toylines – Diaclone and Microchange. But by 1986, Hasbro had burned through a lot of the designs from both these lines that worked with the Transformers concept and were starting to branch out with a few of their own designs. Galvatron was one of the first cabs off the ranks, as Hasbro had essentially planned to kill off a bunch of characters who were being discontinued in the next year’s range of toys – including Optimus Prime. That’s quite a story unto itself, of course…

I’ll start by saying that Galvatron is not a bad toy, but I’ll be keeping it fairly short. Refer to the points below:

•  Considering I recently bought the quite similar-looking Cyclonus, I can’t help but think he wasn’t quite worth the price of admission.
• The Titan Master function is a great concept, but it’s hindered by the execution of the head’s faceplate – you can’t turn his head, which is just kind of…silly in this day and age.
• The alt modes are a chore to transform. The gun/cannon mode looks good, particularly as a tribute to the original toy, but the jet is a really mixed bag. It looks cool on the box and I love the concept, but I don’t it just doesn’t translate in physical form. The whole thing screams of computer design combined with improperly tested protos.
•  There are a few known production issues with the toy – read about them here.
• Overall? Cool bot mode, but given my time again I would’ve saved my $$$. Here’s hoping he gets a better toy in years to come.

  

Transformers Generations: Titans Return – Apeface

Company: Hasbro

Year: 2016

Titans Return continues to throw up more awesome toys, and today we take a look at another awesome Decepticon* – Apeface!

Black and purple Decepticons are my favourite. And as with all the Titan Masters, there’s four modes – the head, the Titan Master on his own, robot mode (in this case, a gorilla-bot) and combined vehicle mode (a jet). All of them work reasonably well, and it’s actually a bit of a shame that we’re not seeing this guy in deluxe size. In jet mode, he looks like a mini-Skywarp, which means I’m 99% guaranteed to love it. 

My only real criticism is that he doesn’t stand quite right in his gorilla-bot mode, but you can fudge the effect well enough. And this brings us to the most important question of all – in light of this year’s most popular meme, should we be calling this guy Harambot?

*Autobots can get in the bin 

 

Transformers Generations: Titans Return – Terri-Bull

Company: Hasbro

Year: 2016

So after buying Crashbash, I got pretty excited and went back to Hobbyco the next day, with plans for picking up another Titan Master figure. The only other Decepticon Titan Master released so far is the subject of today’s review – Terri-Bull.

Back in the 1980s, he was known as Horri-Bull, and was a Headmaster who transformed into a bull. Here he’s been reimagined into a small head who rides a miniature tank, which in turn can be transformed to a jet. Not the most faithful interpretation of the character, but hey, times change. It would've been nice to see a bull Transformer, but I assume the moulding vs the reuse potential wouldn't necessarily cost out. Such are the economics of modern toys, I guess...  

But what’s more annoying for me is that the colours of the promotional images vs the actual figure are incredibly inaccurate. Hasbro has been using renders for a while now, and that’s okay in theory, it’s sometimes a little…misleading. This is one of those times. What’s rendered as gold on the package is more akin to some kind of unpleasant beigey-orange. That may not sound like a big deal, but it makes the whole thing look much more toy-ish, and the colour scheme isn’t anywhere near as appealing. You'll also notice that mine has a chip on his faceplate, though there's no way to be able to tell this when he's in the packaging, Good luck!  

The jet mode is pretty cool, and it’s good to have another Titan Master figure. So Terri-Bull isn’t from…terrible. But he’s a bit of a poor cousin to his prehistoric friend Crashbash. Fun, but not really essential unless you were a big fan of the character as a kid. Don't worry -- it shouldn't take the sheen of the Titan Masters for you. I've got a really fun one coming up soon...

Transformers: Titans Return -- Crashbash

In the 4.5 billionish years this planet has existed, dinosaurs have been pretty much the coolest creatures to ever walk God's green earth. Sure, humans weren't around for their heyday -- but ever since that first Megalosaurus bones were discovered back in 1824, they've had a stranglehold on popular culture, showing up in all sorts of bizarro places -- not least of which was Transformers.

Titans Return is pretty much the reintroduction of the Headmasters concept to the Transformers franchise, last seen in the late 1980s. Basically, the theme introduces the concept of Titan Masters – small Transformers who can combine with larger ones to supplement their power by replacing their heads. While it’s an excellent idea for establishing a play pattern, it’s slightly disturbing in storyline terms – two robots bonded together for the indefinite future, the larger stuck in a useless state when the head decides to pop off and move around on its own. I’m sure that’s not quite how it works, but it’s the version of events that sticks in my mind.    

However, as these transforming heads are intentionally designed to be interchangeable with one another, Hasbro has taken the novel step of selling some heads separately, using it to reintroduce some characters who presumably might not have gotten a release in another form. But though a head that transforms into a teensy robot is pretty cool, it's a little thin for a regular release...so each of these figures also comes packed with some kind of vehicle that can also be transformed into a weapon -- which can then be used either by the miniature pilot or by a larger figure. Pretty cool, huh? 

Considering that Hasbro tends to overprice TFs a little, I expected these heads to sell for $15-20 each, but I found this one at Hobbyco for a much more reasonably priced $11.95. This means they'll probably be $9-10 at Big W/Target/Kmart. The first wave offers some good options, but I was naturally enough drawn to Crashbash -- a purple Decepticon t-rex? Had I died and gone to heaven??? After recovering from this  near-death experience, I seized it tightly and knew that I had to buy it. It would go with my bizarro collection of other Decepticons, which currently numbers at somewhere between "waaaaaay more Transformers than I had as a kid" and "why didn't I buy a Thundercracker when I had the chance, aftermarket prices are redonk now".

Now, Crashbash is a character that was released back in the 1980s, though he was then known as "Squeezeplay" and was a kind of crab-person thing. Pretty cool, but the only real resemblance this modern version has to his 1980s incarnation is in the head mode. The T-rex look is a new one. 

And it's awesome!!! Crab people are cool and all, as South Park taught us years ago -- but T-Rex alt mode conquers virtually all other contenders. It's made by combining the Titan Master and the weapon mode together, Ingeniously, the legs become the lower half of the jaw, while the Titan Master's arms become the T-Rex's arms. You can also cheat a gun mode for bigger figures by fiddling with the legs and tail while using the "cannon" as a gun handle, but I haven't included a pic here.  

The Dragon (weapon) mode, by contrast, is neither here nor there -- it looks kind of like some kind of dino-chicken hybrid, and I don't really plan to make much use of it. It's nice to give the Titan Master something to stand on to. 

And head mode? Well, with the purple colour he might look nice on Galvatron. But I think he's going to stay in T-Rex or Titan Master mode most of the time. Though it is cool that the Titan Master's own head is a miniature facsimile of the larger head.

Now, I do have some minor criticisms. First, the promotional render makes this toy look as though it's kind of lavender in colour, but the real toy is much darker, more of a magenta colour. This isn't a problem -- I prefer magenta -- but the increasing reliance on renders in Hasbro's promotional material is giving a less and less accurate impression of what the final toy is actually going to look like. Going back to hardcopies really would be a better option, even if their paint jobs tended to be a little... questionable.  

Secondly, be warned -- the Titan Masters are a bit fragile, so have a spare or two handy if your kid plays rough. I'm quite gentle, and I've already had a couple of white pressure marks appear on him. 

Overall? If this toy had existed when I was a little kid, I have little doubt that it would have been one of my favourites. There's something indisputably awesome about a gigantic chunky figure like Devastator, but I have a lot of love for figures that are near capsule-toy size too. Ideally, I'd build an army of these guys...but I'll probably limit myself to just to or three. I vote that these separately-sold Titan Masters are a big success!  

Transformers Generations: Combiner Wars – Cyclonus

Company: Hasbro

Year: 2015

Originally debuting in Transformers: The Movie back in 1986, Cyclonus has never quite achieved the fame of some of the A-list characters of the franchise, but that doesn’t mean he’s not pretty awesome in his own right. Controversy still dogs his G1 origins – is he a reformatted version of Skywarp, or Bombshell? 30 years on, no one is really sure. For good reason, more recent continuities have avoided the question altogether by simply making him a separate character. IDW continuity currently has him as a good guy, serving aboard the Lost Light – but here, he’s all villain.

Retooled from the Aerialbot Silverbolt, Cyclonus is (to my eyes) a much better use of the mould, primarily thanks to his purple colour scheme. It’s weird; I don’t like purple all that much in my day-to-day life, but I have a real weakness for purple on Transformers.  

Cyclonus is a little unusual in that he doesn’t have an accompanying wave of bots to serve as his limbs when in his combined Galvatronus form. According to the box, his “official” limbs are Sky Dive, Air Raid, Dragstrip and Breakdown – but his bio also indicates that he can wield hypnotic power to make any compatible bot a potential limb, including Autobots. Personal canons can obviously run wild at this point. Currently I own three compatible bots, so if I ever buy a fourth (and I probably will at some point) I may actually build Galvatronus. Keep an eye on my Instagram (@lupinebookclub).  

The transformation is simple in principle but quite frustrating in execution. DO NOT LOSE YOUR INSTRUCTIONS if you can help it; I had an absolute pain of a time trying to track down some online after mine vanished into the aether. But the transformation essentially amounts to a sort of shellformer, like most of the Aerialbots did -- fold the nosecone up and then fold away the limbs to create the vehicle mode. 

Speaking of which, the vehicle mode is supposed to be some kind of Cybertonian plane, but as it shares a mold with Silverbolt it essentially amounts to a purple Concorde jet. Which is pretty great; Concorde jets were amazing to look at, and it's a shame that they're no longer in service -- the speed at which they could travel between countries was incredible.  

(Side note: in a curious twist, the fins on his on the back of his vehicle mode are actually assembled incorrectly in the box – they’re flipped the opposite way to the original G1 toy. You can pop them off and reattach them easily, but they do look fine in their “incorrect” form – they’ve been corrected for these pictures though.)   

In bot mode, articulation is pretty good – ball-jointed head, swivel shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows, swivel-hinged hips, cut thighs and hinged knees. The neck doesn’t have a lot of motion, but his shoulders, biceps and hips are ratcheted, so they’ll stay put – and also keep everything sturdy when in Galvatronus mode.     

Accessories are always kind of ordinary with Transformers these days – the fact that the main toy can transform is really the main draw – and Cyclonus continues that trend. He’s armed with the same weapon as Silverbolt, but this time it’s been cast in a greyish silver. It splits into two pieces – a shield and a gun – but I think it looks a lot better as one long rifle, myself.  

Dubious accessories aside, Cyclonus makes a fine addition to any Transformers collection. As a big ol' purple Decepticon, he was a near essential purchase as soon as I laid eyes on him, and he continues the high standard that the Transformers Generations line has been setting for some years now. He's mostly gone from shop shelves now, but you may still be able to find him kicking around at a Target or Kmart. Recommended.  

Transformers: Combiner Wars – Devastator

"Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" Air Raid included for scale. Look how big this guy is!

Company: Hasbro

Series: Generations – Combiner Wars

Year: 2015

I have been putting this particular review off for quite a while. The better part of a year in fact. Not because I thought it was going to be a bad one – not by any means – but because I just didn’t quite know how to approach it; it was going to be a massive one whichever way I sliced it. This quite possibly the biggest figure I’ve ever reviewed, and certainly the most complex. This is a childhood dream come true – DEVASTATOR!

The Devastator toys I knew as a kid were in G2 colours – yellow and purple. I liked this, and still do; real life construction vehicles tend to be yellow, so it makes sense that the Constructicons would be too. I never owned all six figures, but at various stages owned Long Haul (who met his end in a urinal trough in Kindergarten) and Bonecrusher (who I still owned until somewhere round late high school).  After doing some research over at TFWiki, and considering the timeframe of owning these guys, I suspect that they may have even been part of a European release of the Constructicons that were cast in yellow and did not actually combine (heresy!) – but with the passage of time and the original items lost, I just can’t be sure.   

(Incidentally, at this stage, I don’t think I’ll be doing individual reviews of his component bots – there are plenty out there online already, though. OAFE’s are particularly comprehensive)   

But enough about my own, disappointingly limited encounters with the character. Suffice to say I’ve come to love the original green and purple look, and when I discovered this release was happening, Devastator immediately went on my must-have list. It took a couple of months of waiting, as I waited for stock to actually arrive, and then having to pay the thing off – but eventually, he was mine. And I was thrilled.  

Now at this point, I should mention that I bought the regular Hasbro release, which some people will no doubt tell you is for chumps. I buy enough Transformers to know that the Hasbro vs Takara wars are likely to rage until the sun burns out and takes Earth with it – possibly even longer, to be honest. From a more neutral perspective, though, there are three different versions of Devastator doing the rounds. The one you see in pics here is the “vanilla” one, which I believe was the only one that released in Australia. There was also a version released for SDCC 2015 and sold on the Hasbro Toy Shop website – this utilised the same sculpt, but came in a different box, incorporated a number of additional paint apps, had some vac-metallised parts and also featured a visor-less head sculpt. Pretty cool! But SDCC Exclusives come with a premium…and I’m not huge on vac-metallised toys, so it was never really an option for me. However, the Takara version – released under the Unite Warriors banner – may be worth springing for if you can get it at a reasonable price. The paint apps are different, and arguably better, as tends to be the case with Takara releases. But perhaps most importantly, the individual bots have been slightly retooled from their Hasbro incarnations to include additional articulation. The combined form has also been given ratchet joints in the shoulders, which is a nice additional source of stability for the figure. Each individual bot also gets its own gun, as the original figures did.  

Now to the combined form of Devastator itself/himself. This is one big toy. It’s not as big as Metroplex, granted, but it’s no slouch in the height department. Scale may be relatively non-existent when it comes to Transformers of any vintage, but you can rest assured that he will appropriately tower over any of your other figures – as he should. He totally dwarfs the original Devastator too, and makes it look terrible by comparison. I understand nostalgia very well and everything, but if you think Transformers toys from the 1980s were better than the ones we have today, you need to get with the program.  

That said, he takes a lot of cues from the vintage toy and the G1 cartoon. He’s still made up of six robots, and clicks together in the same formation – though obviously attaching everything together is a bit more convoluted. And he actually stays together this time, too! What a world we live in.

I mentioned earlier that I didn’t plan to do individual reviews of his components, and the G1-ish nature is partially why. The individual bots are very cool, but as someone who doesn’t have a strong attachment to the cartoon, I think they should have opted for a slightly updated look to their head sculpts, rather than going for cartoon accuracy. It wasn’t a deal-breaker by any means, but I was slightly surprised, given the primarily more modern aesthetic of the Combiner Wars figures. While the core design of Devastator’s head is definitely pretty 80s-tastic (those sunglasses!), it’s been given enough detailing to bring it into the 21^st century.  

More importantly, he now has articulation. Though not as agile as some of his smaller brethren, his ratcheted hips and knees, combined with a good centre of gravity mean that you can get him into plenty of awesome poses. There’s even some neatly concealed ankle articulation, though be careful when you access it – you don’t want to pull it the wrong way and accidentally break something. His shoulders feel a little flimsier, but they won’t pop off without you meaning them too or anything; you may just need to do some rearranging of the treads that make up the “sockets” after you move the arms. I would note here though that every time you move the ratcheted thigh joints, it sounds and feels like it’s going to break. It won’t – at least mine hasn’t yet – but I try to be pretty gentle. If this bad boy broke I would be furious.

Amazing as a collector’s piece or kid’s toy, Devastator is an essential addition to ANY Transformers collection – or a great excuse to start one! I bought a bunch of toys in 2015, and Devastator here is easily one of the best toys I bought during that time. Possibly the best, even.  Having been out for in Australia for almost a year now, you may need to do a bit of legwork to track him down – but he’s well worth it.

Transformers Generations: Combiner Wars – Swindle

Company: Hasbro

Year: 2015

I haven’t reviewed a Transformer in quite a while, but I have a couple more planned for the next couple of weeks…including one particularly big one that’s been eyeing me off from the shelf for a few months.

Though I’m definitely not all-in on the line, Combiner Wars continues to go from strength to strength with the release of the component Decepticons for Bruticus. Bruticus and his component Decepticons received figures relatively recently, during the 2012 Fall of Cybertron subline of Generations. However, as these were based on the game, they weren’t very G1-looking, and the actual execution got a bit of a mixed reception. But truth be told, I don’t remember Bruticus at all from my younger years of Transformers fandom. I don’t remember seeing any of his component toys (maybe Blast Off), as by the time I was old enough to really be interested in Transformers, the G2 re-releases were the ones on store shelves. Bruticus got one in 1994, long after they’d dropped off my radar.

Basically, Swindle is new territory for me, so you get to undertake the magical voyage of discovery with me. Apparently Swindle is a heavy retool of Rook (the Protectron), but they’ve done an impressive job of making him look totally different. He transforms between ‘bot and some kind of army jeep, just like the G1 version, but is now a little less squat and obviously a lot more articulated. The articulation is pretty much what you'd expect, and he moves very well. The main noteworthy feature is that he seems to have some sort of side-to-side swivel on his ankles -- it's surprisingly not part of his transformation, but it helps him stay balanced for deeper poses.   

On another note, I tend to prefer my Transformers without humanoid faces, but the purple sunglasses are a nice 80s retro-futuristic throwback, which in my book gives him an edge over some of his other befaced Decepticons.        

Swindle’s colour scheme is a nice desert camouflage in vehicle mode, but when you transform him to bot mode he’s actually got a lot of black and purple, along with a bit of dark, metallic grey. It’s not dissimilar to the colour scheme the Constructicons had back in G2, though somewhat more realistically executed (though I use this term loosely as realism doesn’t really factor in to Transformers). But speaking of G2, there will apparently be a G2 colour scheme repaint box set of Bruticus later this year too – I think I’ll pass on that one though, it’s a little too 90s neon for my tastes.      

And for those who like the mould but not Decepticons or the colour scheme, you’re in luck! Swindle has undergone a further retool to become Autobot Hound, who's be part of Sky Reign (who looks awesome, by the way).

In addition to his gun and his hand/foot piece for becoming part of Bruticus, Swindle is also packed with a copy of Robots in Disguise #12, which has been rebranded as Combiner Wars #4. It’s a good read – and reminds me that I need to pick up some of the IDW compilation – even if it doesn’t actually include Swindle in there. Still, that’s oddly appropriate, given that Swindle’s characterisation is all about ripping people off.   

I don’t plan to complete Bruticus; his combined form is pretty cool, but some of the regular bots just don’t grab me. But overall, Swindle is a great standalone character for any Decepticon collection. And even if you don't want Bruticus, he still works as a Cyclonus limb too.   

Jarugar and Trypticon (Transformers: Age of Extinction Kre-O Microchangers)

Some months ago, I reviewed a few characters from the Transformers 4: Age of Extinction blind-bagged Kreons. But I bought several others too – so let’s look at two Decepticons today, Jarguar and Trypticon.

Jarugar changes into a car. This is unfortunate, as I hate the Kreon cars. While some of them look good, the articulation of the arms and legs on the Kreon body makes them quite flimsy, and they don’t hold together particularly well. Move it slightly and wheels start popping off, pieces don’t hold…it’s a pain in the butt. You’ll also notice that there’s no photo of him in alt mode, but if you’re really keen you can see it here. As you’ll read on that link, building him in alt mode works even more poorly than normal cars in this line.   

Nonetheless, he’s a cool-looking grey bot. His burgundy dual-wielded guns are particularly flash, and he makes for a solid, if unspectacular addition to my Decepticon forces.

Trypticon is a little more interesting, given that he is a giant purple tyrannosaurus rex. How could that possibly go wrong? Oh, wait…

Obvious jokes aside, Trypticon is fun in his T-Rex mode, and perfectly serviceable in his bot mode. I’d love to see more of this design in different colourways. My only real issue (and this applies to Jarguar too) is that their paintjobs have clearly been inspired by the Michael Bay style of Transformer, where there are zillions of moving parts -- this works fine for the movies, but for this style of figure, I tend to think simpler is better.  

Essentially, neither of these guys really blew me away, but Trypticon in particular is a fun addition to my small collection. 

It seems that the Microchangers theme has come to an end, but we will see another blind-bagged Kreons line sometime in 2015, re-branded as Kreon Warriors. Will they make it to Australia? Given that these guys are still pretty easy to find almost a year after the movie came out and that Collection 2 of the Age of Extinction Microchangers never made it here, I'm a little sceptical. But it's been a reasonably fun ride while it has lasted.  

Transformers Generations: Skywarp

 

Series: Transformers Generations

Year: 2014

Company: Hasbro

RRP: See “Availability”

BACKGROUND

My first Transformer was bought c.1991. A friend of mine – the same friend who owned the Lego Ghost that intrigued me so, actually – had one, a grey or white jet, if I recall correctly. It was an amazing toy, and I immediately begged my parents for one of my own. They agreed pretty quickly, and shortly afterwards I found myself in possession of a black jet – I had to have a different one, of course. Many afternoons that followed (or at least a couple) were spent with my friend fwooshing our respective jets around the living room and backyard at his place. Such memories sparked a love for Transformers which has continued somewhat erratically to this day.

That black jet has long since broken and its name been lost to me, but thanks to the expertise of a friend of mine and TF Wiki I’ve managed to narrow it down to two possible contenders – Air Raid or the subject of today’s review – Skywarp.

Transformers historians will know that Skywarp’s creation could be perceived as being a little on the cynical side. There weren’t a huge number of Transformers when they were first released, and one way to create new characters without forking out the big bucks for new moulds was to simply re-cast an existing figure in different colours. It’s a toy trend that predated Transformers, and will likely continue for the foreseeable future. But anyway, Skywarp was one of (initially) three characters created using the same mould – his kin were Thundercracker and most famously, Starscream.   

In the 30 years that have followed, there have been numerous Skywarp toys, most of them subtly retooled from Starscream moulds, to make them more distinct as separate characters while still saving on costs. But now we have come full circle, and we again have a Skywarp identical to Starscream!

 

 

PACKAGING

The packaging for the Generations series is plain, but functional. The backing card has got a red background and the Transformers logo. On the back there’s some copy about the character’s background, and a photo of the toy in both robot and vehicle mode. It’s all printed on some nice sturdy cardstock, which in theory should make it great for MOCers.

The Generations toys now come packaged with an IDW comic book, given a Hasbro-exclusive cover to highlight the toy it’s packaged with. Skywarp comes with Part 2 of the Dark Cybertron story arc, which looks like it has some cool art but is (at this stage) somewhat incomprehensible to me, only ever having read one or two other issues of the IDW Transformers series.  As far as I could tell, the Skywarp appears in it once, and has no lines. The cover, while misleading, is great – drawn by Phil Jimenez, who has done some great work for DC in the past. 

Skywarp is held in place by papery string ties, which were much easier to get off than they were on Starscream. Additionally, the weak glue issues seem to have been addressed, partially through tape. Seems someone at Hasbro has presumably been listening to feedback.

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

This toy is the same mould as Starscream from the Fall of Cybertron wave. It hasn’t been retooled at all, as far as I can tell, just cast and painted in different colours. So much of what I said about that toy will apply here – I’ll be repeating myself a bit. As with Starscream, it’s a nice design which updates the G1 Transformers aesthetic for the modern age, without moving into the more realistic but less endearing “movie Transformers” territory.

I’m told that the current IDW comics continuity is based around G1, so technically this is a G1 version of the character, as opposed to a Fall of Cybertron one. However, no one’s going to dob on you if you use it for that purpose.

For articulation, he’s got:

*cut neck

*swivel-hinged shoulders

*swivel biceps

*double-hinged elbows

*cut wrists

*ball-jointed hips

*hinged knees

*hinged ankles (which I never noticed on Starscream)

His front “toe” is also hinged, but it’s more of his transformation than articulation per se.  

As with Starscream, I love the light-piped eyes. Thanks to a translucent plastic panel on top of his held, Skywarp’s eyes will glow when held up to a light source. It’s not a major feature, but it is a cool little touch.

I mentioned this in my Starscream review that one detail I would have liked to see sculpting-wise that I might have liked to see was opening and closing hands. When you look at the detail and overall vibe of the toy, the “clenched hands with a hole in the middle” seem a little odd by comparison. Still, as before, this is a minor quibble.

 

In aeroplane mode, he doesn’t directly resemble any “real” aircraft – rather, he’s some kind of futuristic fighter jet. The transformation process is identical to Starscream. The instructions aren’t in colour, which can make them a little tricky to follow – and again, the only area I really had issues with was the process of folding the arms into the underside of the jet. The image on the backer card shows him slightly mis-transformed, with his jet nose not tucked away in bot mode. But again, a minor issue.

ACCESSORIES

Skywarp comes with one accessory – a gun with (manually) rotating double-barrels, just like Starscream. As seems to be standard with Transformers weapons, it’s ludicrously oversized compared to his robot mode, but still looks pretty awesome. The gun/s can be held in his hands, but there’s also a variety of 5mm plugs all over Skywarp – theoretically, the gun/s could slot into any of them, but how aesthetically pleasing they appear will vary wildly.

PAINT

Paint apps are pretty minimal on Skywarp, and consist solely of flat colours. He’s cast in a grey, purple and black, with these colours also painted over other parts as necessary (e.g. purple on his grey chest, gray on his purple back etc). There’s a couple of pink highlights on his chest and back, and the Decepticon logo is tampoed in pink on both his wings (slightly smaller than on Starscream).

The edges are much less sloppy than Starscream, though there are still minor detail issues on his feet/thrusters. But the main problem area is his face – it’s not quite properly covered, and seems quite thick, obscuring some little details. It’s enough of an issue for me that I think I’m going to fix it myself, probably with some kind of wash.  

ISSUES

Ah…this is where Skywarp is Starscream’s inferior. Both of his arms pop out at the swivel bicep joint far too easily. I’m not sure if this is because they’re cast slightly too big for the joint, or if it’s a mould-related issue. But nonetheless it’s annoying – you can hold it in with some pressure, but this brings its own series of concerns – you don’t want to actually break anything. Check it before you give it to your kid and play carefully.

AVAILABILITY

Skywarp has been out for some months in the US, but doesn’t look likely to show up in Australia anytime soon. I’ve only really seen Toys R Us and Target stocking the Generations line over here(with the exception of the T4 movie ones that have recently been released), and they seemed to primarily stock the Fall of Cybertron-related figures. Target put its Generations figures on clearance some months ago, presumably in anticipation of the movie line. So I’m hopeful that we’ll eventually get a few more released over here in the post-movie sales buzz.

So if he’s not out in AU, how did I get him? Well, he’s available on Amazon reasonably easily. I paid about $USD16 for him, which is quite reasonable, considering most of this range is $30AUD over here.

OVERALL

Skywarp is nowhere near as well-known outside of Transformers fandom as, say, Optimus Prime or his fellow Seeker Starscream. Truth be told, I remember nothing about him from the cartoon, but his cool visual aesthetic has really endeared me to him. Though the arms and face are an issue, I’m still extremely happy with him. I said in my first Transformers review that I’m philosophically I’m aligned with the Autobots, but the toys for the Decepticons tend to be much cooler. Skywarp continues this trend. As a jet – a purple and black jet – he is far more awesome than he has any real right to be.

As always, I think Hasbro is onto something good here. The Generations range is toy-ish enough for kids, but just nice enough to be collector’s pieces too. Again, I maintain that the price is a little high for what’s on offer (in AU, at least), but ordering from Amazon eliminated that particular issue.

How many more of the Generations line I buy is up in the air at this point – Skywarp was my big “get”, and I still have Scorn and Scoop waiting to be reviewed. While Metroplex looks amazing I don’t have the budget or space for him at this stage. Maybe the forthcoming Optimus and Megatron toys? Time will tell. But if I finish here, I think I'll be going out on a high.

Fall of Cybertron Starscream (Transformers: Generations)

Series: Transformers Generations

Year: 2012

Company: Hasbro

RRP: $29 AUD

BACKGROUND

By all rights, Starscream should be one of the least-liked Transformers, not one of the most-loved. His distinctive voice (originally provided by the late Chris “Cobra Commander” Latta) can be seriously grating, he’s always plotting to overthrow his boss and he’s quite the coward. Yet these unpleasant traits have actually elevated him to status of “favourite Transformer” for many, including myself.

Philosophically I’m aligned with the Autobots, but the toys for the Decepticons tend to be much cooler. None of the Autobots turned into bizarre or cool things like a boombox (Soundwave) or a giant scorpion (Scorponok). By and large, the Autobots turned into cars – which in spite of many Matchbox, Hot Wheels et al toys as a child, are things that have never held as much appeal for me as they have for the average male. Starscream has (as far as I know) always been some kind of fighter jet, which is much more awesome than a car.

A friend of mine is quite the Transformers collector, and his interest in them has piqued my own, so I’ve been umm-ing and ahh-ing over picking this guy up for the last few months -- here's what I thought.

PACKAGING (photo from Amazon.com)

 The packaging for the Generations series is plain, but functional. The backing card has a red background, the Transformers logo featured prominently and a large illustration of the character themselves. On the back there’s some copy about the character’s background, and a photo of the toy in both robot and vehicle mode. It’s all printed on some nice sturdy cardstock, which in theory should make it great for MOCers – but the glue around the edge of the blister was quite weak on mine, so MOCers beware!

Starscream is held in place by string ties, rather than the common plastic twisties. They were a little easier to get off than plastic ones, but having scissors handy will definitely be helpful.

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

This particular sculpt is based on Starscream’s appearance in Fall of Cybertron – a game which I still haven’t got to playing. It’s a nice design which updates the G1 Transformers aesthetic for the modern age, without moving into the more realistic but less charming “movie Transformers” territory. In robot mode, he pretty much just looks like you expect Starscream to. He seems a little thinner than previous iterations that I’ve seen, but he’s also much more poseable.  I’ve never thought of Transformers as being particularly well-articulated – this was one of the limitations imposed by the transformation process, particularly in ye olden days. But Starscream is much more poseable than I had expected – or hoped – him to be!

He’s got:

*cut neck

*swivel-hinged biceps

*double-hinged elbows

*cut wrists

*ball-jointed hips

*hinged knees

His front “toe” is also hinged, but it’s more of his transformation than articulation per se. Starscream’s not going to win Articulation of the Year or anything, but all the joins are nicely concealed in among his robot parts, and as I said – he was able to move a lot more than I expected! 

One particular feature I do enjoy is Starscream’s light-piped eyes. Thanks to a translucent plastic panel on top of his held, Starscream’s eyes will glow when held up to a light source. It’s not a major feature, but it is a cool little touch.

The only detail sculpting-wise that I might have liked to see on Starscream is opening and closing hands. When you look at the detail and overall vibe of the toy, the “clenched hands with a hole in the middle” seem a little odd by comparison. Still, this is a minor quibble.

In aeroplane mode, he doesn’t directly resemble any “real” aircraft – which makes sense, as Fall of Cybertron is sent many millions of years before the modern day. However, it most resembles some kind of futuristic fighter jet – again, much cooler than a car.  

As for the transformation process, it’s simple enough to follow. The instructions aren’t in colour, which can make them a little tricky to follow – but the only area I really had issues with was the process of folding the arms into the underside of the jet.

I can’t really comment on whether Starscream is “in-scale.” Speaking as someone who’s never delved terribly deep into the history of the line, it seems to me that scale wasn’t really a concern back in ye olden days of the toyline. Didn’t the characters on the show tend to vary in size as required for a particular scene or storyline? Perhaps my memory betrays me, and someone more familiar with Transformers lore can fill me in.

ACCESSORIES

Starscream comes with one accessory – a gun with (manually) rotating double-barrels. As seems to be standard with Transformers weapons, it’s ludicrously oversized compared to his robot mode, but still looks pretty awesome. The gun can also be split into two pieces, which can then be attached to the underside of his wings, providing Starscream with MASSIVE FIREPOWER to rain destruction from above on the Autobots.

The gun/s can be held in his hands, but there’s also a variety of 5mm plugs all over Starscream – theoretically, the gun/s could slot into any of them, but how aesthetically pleasing they appear will vary wildly.

Though I’m not a big action feature guy, it would have been nice if he had a firing missile, or if the gun barrels spun via button press, rather than having to manually rotate them.  

PAINT

Paint apps are pretty minimal on Starscream, and consist solely of flat colours. He’s largely cast in a grey colour, with a few small parts in blue or red (maroon?). There’s quite a bit of slop around the edges, where paint hasn’t gone quite up to the line or just over it. By and large you won’t notice and it doesn’t ruin the look of the figure, but for $29 I can’t help but feel that a little more attention should have been paid to these details.  


"With this Energon...cone...I will surely have enough power to seize control of the Decepticons from Megatron, and destroy the Autobots once and for all!"

ISSUES

I haven’t had any issues with Starscream myself, but my aforementioned friend picked the figure up a while before I did — he had one of the plastic circles around the knee joint snap loose from the rest of the leg. As a result, his leg is quite wonky. Just something to watch out for, particularly if you do give this toy to kids.

OVERALL

This is the first Transformer I’ve bought in almost ten years, since the tie-in toys for the Energon series. Very few have caught my eye since then, outside of the occasional high-end one (well out of my price range) that would pop up at Toys R Us. But I’ve caught glimpse of Generations here and there over the last couple of years, and I think Hasbro is onto something good here. They’re toy-ish enough for kids, but just nice enough to be collector’s pieces too. I think the pricing is a little high for what’s on offer – I would have bought him months ago had he been $15-20, rather than $29, but I’m increasingly coming to (grudgingly) accept that’s simply what toys cost these days.

But I’m happy with Starscream, and I’m interested in picking up a few more from the line in the near future – another friend who’s off to Japan is searching out a Takara Skywarp for me!  Hooray!

(Not my favourite batch of photos this time -- sorry guys! I was in a bit of a rush to get this online).