Skywarp (Machine Wars) [Botcon 2013 Exclusive]
Vehicle ModeRobot Mode
Allegiance: Decepticon
Size: Deluxe (comes in a 5-pack with Hoist, Megaplex, Obsidian, and Strika)
Difficulty of Transformation: Hard
Color Scheme: Pearly white, metallic pearly white, transparent light purple, and some black, dark metallic cherry red, silver, transparent yellow, and orangish "cheesy" yellow
Rating: 6.6

(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 Revenge of the Fallen Dirge. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Revenge of the Fallen Dirge here.)

    Skywarp here isn't the usual black-and-purple Starscream redeco you're thinking of; no sir, this is MACHINE WARS, wherein the original late '90s line had a lot of names that were kinda slapped on somewhat random molds. (The Botcon fiction makes this sorta work by making these part of a "new order" and thus the completely different names and looks are on purpose.) No sir, Skywarp's main color here is pretty much the opposite, with a rather pearly white being his main color with some red accents. There's just one problem with this, though; on the original Machine Wars toy, this resulted in a rather bland, boring color scheme. The Botcon people improved on it about as much as they could, however-- the white is a rather nice, pearly shade of the color. (However, the painted version of this color on the wings is noticeably more metallic and doesn't QUITE fit in with the plastic color.) The red is a really nice shade too, being a somewhat dark, metallic cherry version of the color that really pops and works against the white well. There's also a a fair amount of black in the color scheme, more noticeable in robot mode as it's used for a bunch of relatively minor connector parts and some parts like the upper arms. Additionally there's a bit of a silver around the nice transparent yellow cockpit, as well as used for the visor on his oddly orangish yellow head, which is the only instance of that color on the entire toy. However, this DOES fit the original MW toy, so I can hardly blame them there. The biggest thing FunPub did to try to make Skywarp more eye-catching, fun-- and honestly a bit less like Jetblade-- is molding his wings in transparent purple plastic and then painting about half of them, with a nice "digital" effect to make it look like Skywarp's just starting to teleport. On paper, this is an AWESOME idea; however, due to some miscommunications/errors with the factory, this effect just doesn't look right. The wings SHOULD be completely transparent past the effect paint app, but white paint along the edges still exists on the main wings. Meanwhile, on the top tailfins, the "digital teleporting effect" paint app is a bit misplaced, with the paint not quite matching up. All in all it just mostly ruins the effect.
    Skywarp does have a new headsculpt, which is quite crisp and matches his original Machine Wars toy's headsculpt quite well, with a somewhat insectoid look along with a silver visor and a bit of red on the forehead. The sculpt looks great, and much better than this mold's original head; no complaints here. On a side note, although the fiction called for him to have a traditional G1 Decepticon symbol, at Botcon they gave out G2 Decepticon symbol stickers for those who wanted theirs to match the original MW toy's.
    Skywarp was a neat idea, but unfortunately the botched paint apps on the wings rather ruin the neat "teleporting effect" he could have had. The rest of his color scheme is fairly decent (though not outstanding), with the red and black breaking up all that white rather nicely, but unfortunately the mold is one of the weakest movie molds and honestly shouldn't have been used for an expensive Botcon exclusive, in my opinion. One of the weakest exclusives of Botcon 2013.



Skywarp Bio:
FUNCTION: Skywarp Squad Commander
MOTTO: "Strike when their backs are turned!"
How Skywarp became commander of a clone squadron is a subject of much musing for his fellow Decepticons. Although capable of the most creative deceptions and devious rouses, Skywarp shows no proclivity for leadership. Nor does he present the intelligence necessary for the task. Often times Skywarp leaves his squadron under the command of Thundercracker while he allows his mind and flight pattern to wander.
Skywarp requires constant observation from his superiors to ensure that he carries out a given assignment. Without this supervision, the Decepticon trickster is prone to deviate from his orders and instead set up a series of pranks on his fellow aircraft.
Strength: 7.0
Intelligence: 7.0
Speed: 9.0
Endurance: 7.0
Rank: 5.0
Courage: 8.0
Fireblast: 7.0
Skill: 7.0

Review by Beastbot

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