Skids' vehicle mode takes less cues from his previous versions--which were more square, very un-aerodynamic cars-- and goes for a more generic, compact sportscar type of look. Proportionally everything looks pretty tip-top in this mode, with no robot mode extras to speak of (his windows are too dark to see any robot bits through them). He still keeps his G1 color scheme, though, being mostly blue with a white-and-red stripe down the sides of this mode. His tires also have oddly red spokes-- not sure I like that, that's a bit weird-looking-- and he's also got red taillights and a silver front grill with a few red and metallic yellow details. Overall the color scheme is fairly basic, but it gets the job done. There is a bit of blue paint used on the sides of his windows, and it's just a TOUCH lighter in shade than his blue plastic-- but the difference is slight, to be sure. Skids' mold detailing in this mode-- as befits a sleek car mode-- is somewhat sparse, though a few places that need it-- like his front bumper, windshield wipers, and a back end with what looks like rivets and armor plating-- still provide him with some intricate detailing in spurts. Still, this mode feels like it needs just a touch more paint-- particularly on the top side, there's just a bit too much blue here. Painting the rear end or rear view mirrors silver, perhaps, or making his transparent dark blue plastic a shade that stood out a bit more among his color palette? Any of those would've worked, in my opinion. Skids has two 5mm ports in this mode, one on each side, in front of his rear wheels. What a co-winky-dink, since he also comes with two guns that can be held in those two ports! One gun looks a fair amount like his G1 gun, while the other is a smaller pistol that looks like the gun he has in the comic series More Than Meets the Eye. What's quite cool about these weapons, though, is that you can actually plug his smaller pistol into his larger gun to make it a longer gun-- how's that for mixing new with old, eh?
    Skids' transformation is largely familiar when compared to other deluxe sportscar Transformers-- the front bumper becomes the chest, the sides become the arms, the roof becomes the back, etc. There are a few differences, though, the biggest one being how his legs transform-- yes, they're formed from the back end, but the transformation also involves a waist rotation and separating and flipping out of his feet from his shins, which is pretty interesting. Overall, it's very apparent from both the detailing and general design of this mode that this is clearly meant to be More Than Meets the Eye Skids, rather than a direct update of his G1 version (in vehicle mode it was questionable)-- nearly all of the robot-specific details mesh with his design in that comic miniseries, and his face sculpt (which is very well-done) has the sharp nose and an expression that look like it came directly from Alex Milne, the primary artist for that comic. Skids' proportions in this mode are generally quite good, with the only caveat here being that his arms are a tad short, particularly if you consider the entire wheel upper sections to be his shoulders and not his upper arms (hey, it's debatable). Most of his vehicle mode extras either make themselves part of the robot mode (the chest, the roof on his back) or enhance the silouhette of the mode, as is done with his side door-wings behind his upper back. However, despite their interesting transformation, on his lower legs he's left with rather substantial chunks of the back end of his vehicle mode sticking out below his knees, which is pretty much my only deduction for him in this respect. I do love how he's got wheel heels, though I wish that another flap flipped out to provide him with more substantial heels, as he is slightly back-heavy in this mode. His coloration is a bit more diverse here, with black, red, and gray/silver making themselves more known. The gray plastic is of that ugly milky type, though it's a bit darker than most of the milky gray plastic used in TFs and thus doesn't bug me quite as much. The silver paint used on some of his guns looks superb, though, and other little paint apps like the red toes and black-and-red waist help keep Skids from looking like he's missing some needed paint here. What's the most impressive aspect about this mode is definitely the weaponry-- as (again) is fitting given that this is More Than Meets the Eye Skids, he's got a LOT of weaponry, particularly for a deluxe figure. His shoulders flip open to reveal missile pod detailing in each, four barrels swing out from behind his midsection to poke out in between the sides of his head and his shoulders, and there's two additional gun barrels that rotate up from underneath each of his fists. Add his gun(s) to all this and Skids looks PUMPED and ready to take on just about anyone. This said, there are a few downsides to all this weaponry-- with everything deployed, if you look at him from the side there's a definite gap in between the front of his chest and his back, though that's only unsightly at very select angles. A bigger issue is that all the flip-out weaponry really interferes with articulation in his arms. Technically, Skids can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows, waist, hips (at two points), knees, ankles, and at the tips of his feet-- which sounds pretty good when listed, and for the most part IS good. However, his shoulders are very restricted when it comes to anything but forward-back motion, with the main connection point only being able to move side-to-side a bit and the connection point where his shoulders meet his red mid-arms being so restricted as to be almost nonexistent. As such, this quite limits Skids' arm poseability to levels that I'm generally not used to on mainline deluxe toys, and is a bit of a bummer. If you keep his missile pods hidden, it also makes his shoulders/upper arms look even more stiff, another bummer.
    Generations Skids may be a bit of a departure for fans who solely want a Skids that's a strict G1 update and instead is "just another Autobot car"; that said, his More Than Meets the Eye design is quite interesting, and the myriad weaponry this new version of Skids has really makes this deluxe a lot more noteworthy than "just another Autobot car". I wish his vehicle mode had a few more paint apps, but generally his design is quite well-done and sticks out on a shelf in robot mode-- his overly restrictive arm articulation in robot mode is the only thing keeping him from receiving a "must-buy" rating of 9.0+, but I'd still recommend him, particularly to More Than Meets the Eye fans.

Review by Beastbot

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