Skywarp gets the proper masterpiece treatment to help build your seeker collection because you can't build an army of just Starscream. Black is more cool anyways.
In the animated cartoon, Transformers, the evil Decepticons are waging a long war against the Autobots across space. Their war brings them to Earth where they crash land and get re-imaged into Earthly machines so they can transform between their robot form and vehicle form to disguise themselves. Skywarp is one of many Decepticons that take the form of a F-15 fighter jet - collectively called seekers. In the cartoon, Skywarp possesses the ability to teleport which he uses to play pranks. His tendency to merely follow orders from Starscream or Megatron and low intelligence never make him a notable character in the show.
The success of Masterpiece Convoy (MP-01) by Takara (original designer of the Transformers line of toys) and released to the rest of the world by Hasbro as 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime or DVD Optimus Prime, Takara continued the line with further Masterpiece figures that are a remake of the original Transformers line of toys (known as Generation 1 or G1) with an emphasis on accuracy to the TV show. Takara released Masterpiece Skywarp (MP-06) in Japan a few years ago and now Hasbro has release Masterpiece Skywarp to the rest of the world. But just like earlier Masterpiece figures, Hasbro has made some changes to Skywarp to reduce manufacturing cost and suit the tastes of target audience outside Japan. A few readers may want to know some of the differences between the Hasbro to the Takara release so I will frequently mention it.
The Hasbro release uses a clear plastic box as packaging much like the previous Starscream release.
Packaging front:
Sides (left/right):
Back:
Skywarp transforms to a black F-15C Eagle at approximately 1/60 scale.
Jet mode front:
Jet mode back:
Jet mode top:
Jet mode bottom:
The purple hands really stand out but the kibble is reasonable. The missiles are just painted copper at the tip and a ring of red and yellow. The Takara has white painted missiles.
Jet mode side:
The rear landing gears are nothing like the real F-15 and provide very little ground clearance.
Open radar cone and cockpit:
Unlike Takara's, the radar is not painted and the nose cone is unpainted purple inside.
Intake:
The intake fan is partially convered. It would've been nice if the piece of plastic covering it could be folded out of the way
Compared to Takara's MP-06 Skywarp:
The Decepticon logo and stripes is tempo printed in the Hasbro release compared to the included sticker sheet for Takara. There are no small text markings as found on the Takara. The tail fin is molded in purple plastic rather than black.
Hard to align panels:
3 pieces form the top of the wing and one piece seems to always pop out after pushing one into place.
Skywarp in robot mode
Front:
Skywarp is very close to the colors of the original 1980s cartoon show. Differences are the shoulder colors should be purple and the eyes should be red.
Back:
Lots of kibble
Side:
Here the kibble looks bad like the panel connected to Skywarp's hip
The stern look
The head is on a ball joint so it can turn 360 degrees
Flip the face:
Pull down the face by the nose and you can rotate it to reveal the other face
Smirk:
This is similar to Masterpiece Starscream's smirk. Takara features a grinning angry face.
Articulation:
The legs are close together and open up to the side at most 30 degrees hindered by the hip attached kibble. The leg can rotate the the top and bend forward and back slightly. The knee can bend forward 10 degrees and bend back 90 degrees.
Finger:
The elbow can bend upto 125 degrees forward. The hand rotates at the wrist. The thumb and index finger are independent but the other 3 fingers are molded together.
Compared to the Takara MP-06 Skywarp:
The intake has painted red and orange blocks. No white stripes are painted around the wrists and shoulders. Unlike the old 1980s cartoon and Takara release, Hasbro's has yellow painted eyes which matches the original G1 toy. The intake is silver unlike the dark grey in the Takara but both do not have painted missiles.
Stress marks:
This bend point was a frequent area for stress marks on Starscream but it looks better in Skywarp.
Skywarp is awesome and truly a masterpiece
The Hasbro release of Masterpiece Skywarp is more cartoon and G1 toy accurate than the Takara release. For those who skipped over the Takara release but like the Masterpiece line should definitely check out Hasbro's. It's almost half the cost of the Takara release with nearly the same build quality. I highly recommend picking up Hasbro's Masterpiece Skywarp if you can find him.
Eric Toy Score: 4 out of 5
Publisher: Hasbro
Year: 2009
Price: $59.99
0 comments:
Post a Comment