(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 Skids. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Generations Skids here.)
Burn Out is based off
one of the many color variations of the G1 Skids
mold that was used in Diaclone, one of the major predecessor lines to Transformers.
Given that Diaclone robots weren't sentient but had pilots, Burn Out is
paired with Dia who comes with Sgt. Hound,
which makes Burn Out... female, I guess? As female as a piloted mech can
be, I guess. Except for the face, it generally works-- the face is still
too "Skids-y" for me. Regardless, the major color for Burn Out is definitely
black, with a fair amount of red and light milky gray, along with several
accent colors-- let's just say Burn Out is hardly a toy wanting for paint
apps, as there's no large section on the toy that's too one-tone. The red
is used on some small robot parts such as the toes and middle of the arms,
as well as some other minor parts, and painted stripes on the sides of
the car mode, along with red headlights and taillights. Although they're
very much in the same style as the red stripes on Generations Skids-- which
is certainly intentional, as the Diaclone toys of the mold (mostly) had
the same stripes as G1 Skids-- the white outlines and bronze "tapering
off" paint apps on the sides look quite nice and help make it pop more.
That said, I wish the bronze was a bit more metallic, as it doesn't contrast
with the red quite as much as I'd like. The light milky gray is mostly
used on her weapons and upper robot legs-- it's a rather blah color, but
at least it's spiced up a bit with a good amount of glitter in the plastic
mix to make it... well, tolerable. Better-looking is the amount of silver
paint on Burn Out-- from the wheel hubs to the windshield wiper details
to the face and headcrest details to the shoulder guns, it all looks good
and contrasts with the black quite nicely. The transparent plastic is an
odd color that seems to tread the line between pale purple and pale blue--
regardless, it's too pale to really add much to the color scheme in either
mode. As for "lesser" colors, I LOVE the metallic gold on the slide-out
shoulder launchers, as it gives a little additional color "surprise!" to
the feature. The yellow used for the eyes is okay, but isn't used elsewhere,
when a couple of other yellow accents would've looked nice. There's also
some easily-missible dark blue paint apps on the inside of the door-wings.
No mold changes have
been made to Burn Out.
Burn Out is pretty well-done
for what she is, with a good number of paint apps that also contrast well
with all her black. That said, because it's homaging a toy that was basically
Skids in black, this toy looks just too much like Skids in black in both
modes. If you're a Diaclone fan this is most certainly worth a pick-up,
but as far as something really unique and different there's certainly many
other BotCon exclusives that fit that bill more.
Review by Beastbot