Skywarp
(2016 Collectors' Club Exclusive)
(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Generations Armada Starscream. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Generations Armada Starscream here.)
Now THIS is the paint
job this toy was REALLY made for-- the 2016 freebie
was just a bonus, let's be honest. Skywarp here helps complete the trio
of Seekers made from Armada Starscream (Thundercracker was released in
Japan), and although he sticks with the usual Skywarp colors of mostly
black and purple, there's a few differences that has this being one of
my favorite Skywarp designs over the years. First, the purple is a bit
lighter and paler than usual, which actually looks a bit better than you'd
think and contrasts against the black excellently. There's some dark transparent
purple plastic used on the rear of the missile launchers and the swords,
which is a great shade of the color, though it's definitely darker than
the rest of the purple on Skywarp. My least favorite color is the light
flat gray used for part of the nosecone, the waist, fists, and a few other
minor connector parts. It's thankfully not a blah milky gray, and it's
not used to a large extent, but I do wish it was more metallic in nature.
(It IS accurate to the original Armada Skywarp
toy, though.) Rather unique to this version of Skywarp, there's some nice
orange too, used on the rear wings as well as on the eyes and lower arms.
This takes the place of the bronze from the original Armada Skywarp, and
I think it's a positive change-- it REALLY looks nice against both the
purple and black. Finally, there's a few red details along the legs, chest,
and missile launchers. As with pretty much all Seekers, the cockpit window
is a transparent yellow/orange, though Skywarp's is a bit duller than usual.
Skywarp has the same
headsculpt as Ramjet, which looks just as fantastic here and is done up
with some nice colors-- the orange eyes in particular, though this is one
area where I think the flat gray works, as it helps emphasize the black
faceplate and bring out the details more. Otherwise he has no mold changes,
so sorry, no rear turbine-wings on this version.
The "new" Armada Skywarp
is a solid redeco, with a good color scheme, a lot of great paint apps,
a slight improvement color-wise with the orange chosen over the original's
bronze, and he has a fantastic headsculpt. An easy recommendation if you're
in the market for Club exclusives.
Review by Beastbot