Skywarp - G1 Reissue - Figure

I managed to win one of the reissue Skywarps off Ebay, finally completing my trio of original jets. This is another nicely done package by Hasbro.

First, the packaging. Book style, with the front flap velcroed shut, so you can open it and display the entire figure. There's some new art for Skywarp, which looks as if it may have been drawn by Don Figeroa. I have the original box to compare, and though I've been hoping for original art on the more retro-styled Hasbro packaging, the new picture has grown on me. The box has the familiar grid in the background, the classic logo, and the fade from purple to black. The top has the old sequential change from plane to robot, while the back has the Decepticon group shot from Dreamwave, and Skywarps rephrased tech spec. It says the same thing as the original, just with different wording, apart from one change. I do find it amusing that his intelligence is ranked at 9, yet on the original packaging, he's said to be 'not too smart'. On the new spec he is 'cunning' and instead of being not too smart, 'would be a misguided soldier' without Megatron's direction. Someone's paying attention here, and making the numbers mesh a bit more with the bio.

Anyway, very nice box, made with plastic inserts that allow me to display Skywarp either MIB or remove him without destroying the packaging. Made for the collector to keep, not for the little kid to throw away.

Skywarp is an F-15, and gets points from me for having the vehicle mode of an actual aircraft. Makes the 'disguise' part of 'robots in disguise' more plausible. It's black with purple rear stabilizers, and a silver undercarriage and an orange cockpit. The nosecone is black and made from a soft rubber.

Transformation is very easy. There's not much too it at all, just split the section behind the cockpit to form the arms, put the nose of the plane through the gap, and pull the nose up revealing the face between the intake vents. attach the fists, open the feet, rotate the wings and there he is. A few simple changes.

Skywarp is a little plain without his stickers. His face gets lost in all the black, but there's some nice contrast going on. The purple that makes up the feet and fists is a very light purple, so it stands out sharply from the black. The orange cockpit that forms the chest really stands out.

Yes, the guns and missles are huge now. Doesn't matter to me, since I probably won't take them off the tree. A minty new Skywarp with slight alterations is far better than an old worn one that's missing parts.

Despite the fact that I own all three seekers, they hardly feel like the exact same mold. The color changes are that effective at making them distinctive, and the character bios also help differentiate Skywarp from Thundercracker and Starscream.

I'd recommend Skywarp. I like him better than the Armada seekers, who while having better articulation and (arguably) robot modes, aren't very good planes. Skywarp has a good color scheme, excellent vehicle mode, and good robot mode, if you don't mind zero leg movement. And the packaging is outstanding. Worth having.

Reviewer	Shane Anderson
Date	June 6th 2003
Score	(10 out of 10)
Reads	9319

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