Smokescreen w/ Sky Claw

Allegiance: Autobot
Size: Cyberverse Vehicle Set
Difficulty of Transformation to Robot: Very Easy
Difficulty of Transformation of Vehicle: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Dark blue, yellow, light milky gray, and some dark charcoal gray, black, silver, dark metallic gunmetal gray, clear plastic, and moderately light bluish gray
Figure Rating: 7.6
Vehicle-Base Rating: 8.6

(NOTE: Because part of this set 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 the original Prime legion Smokescreen. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of the original Prime legion Smokescreen figure here.)

Vehicle ModeRobot Mode
    Smokescreen's color scheme for the Sky Claw set is the same that he takes for most of the third season of the show-- it's not an homage to anything that I'm aware of, but it's a pretty slick scheme. The dark blue plastic is of a particularly nice shade (perhaps with just a titch of purple mixed in there), and it contrasts VERY well with the yellow paint apps. The stripes down the middle, along with the curved designs on the sides with a blue "7" imprint, look fantastic and really make this color scheme pop. The silver headlights and paint on the face also make for a nice contrast color. One big plus that you don't see much of these days is that Smokescreen's black paint on his windows is actually painted on the REAR windows, too-- a rarity especially at this scale, though they are so dark they tend to blend in with the dark blue a little. The dark charcoal gray used for the wheels and a few inner bits of the robot mode makes for a better dark color that also contrasts with the dark blue well enough. Unfortunately, the paint apps on Smokescreen are very much vehicle-focused, with his robot-specific portions only getting some paint on the face-- this means that his robot mode can be a bit overly dark blue without quite enough yellow or lighter colors visible. Smokescreen comes with the standard chainsaw-gun weapon that many other Legion-class Beast Hunters figures come with, the weapon itself done up in a rather neutral bluish gray color.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Smokescreen.

Vehicle ModeBase Mode (w/ Beast Hunters Cyberverse Bumblebee)
    The "Sky Claw" is in fact Dreadwing's ship from the show, though for the toy it's been requisitioned as an Autobot spacecraft and given to Smokescreen who is now in Dreadwing's colors. In vehicle mode, the proportions are quite well-done, looking more or less exactly like the spacecraft's brief appearance on the show. It follows the typical slightly-stylized Prime aesthetic, with large spaces of relatively sparse mold detailing (such as most of the top and wings) and small spaces of more intricate mold detailing, like the quite cool-looking cockpit window with all sorts of Cybertronian HUD-like details and fairly detailed side engines as well. The angled wings in particular give this mode a dynamic appearance, and its color scheme is very similar to Smokescreen's, so my comments about the colors are roughly the same here-- they look quite good, with the yellow stripes contrasting very well with the dominate color of dark blue. (The dark blue on the cockpit piece isn't actually noticeably lighter than the other colors as it appears in the above pics; darned camera lighting.) There's also a bit of light and dark gray on the engines. These are certainly fitting colors for the thrusters, but the light milky gray is always a really blah color, and I wish had been a bit more metallic in its shading. The cockpit top can fold open for you to put a Cyberverse-scaled figure inside (though there isn't anything in there to keep the figure snug in a particular position). It's large enough where Legion-class figures can fit in, but larger figures can be a bit of a tight fit.
    The Sky Claw's "base" mode is really just a variation on the jet mode, with the "guns" and weapons extendinh with a sliding back of the yellow lever on the back end and an opening up of a few panels. On the left side, the engine becomes a rotary missile launcher-- rotate back of this section and the missiles will shoot forward from the yellow pointy front, one by one. On the right side, a larger-barrel gun swings forward-- pressing forward on the yellow slider on the side of the barrel causes the lone missile to shoot out. Finally, a large claw rotates out from underneath the nosecone, with a gray slider on the back of the contraption allowing you to open or close the claw. (If the claw is opened all the way, a small gray gun will poke out the front.) There's also flip-out handles for Transformers to "man" the side engine-guns, though the right gun has an odd flip-down panel where the TF should stand, which was a weird choice as it doesn't make for very stable footing. Other than these modifications, this mode is the same as the jet mode. There's also clips on the sides of the engine/guns to allow you to connect the Sky Claw to other Cyberverse-scaled Prime vehicle sets, if you desire to make one large base. One last thing of note; there's Cyberverse-scaled weapon ports behind the cockpit, on the top of each small wing jutting out near the front of the cockpit, and two on each of the large lower rear wings, so you can pump up the Sky Claw a bit more with weaponry.

    The Smokescreen w/ Sky Claw set is one of the best Prime Cyberverse vehicle sets out there, with a rock solid jet mode, some nice colors and detailing, and some nifty missile-firing and claw gimmicks, even if the "base mode" isn't remotely convincing. If you're at all interested in a Cyberverse vehicle set that's primarily a vehicle and not a big suit of armor, I'd recommend this one the most.



Smokescreen w/ Sky Claw Bio:
FUNCTION: Intelligence Specialist
With Predacons dominating the skies, the Autobots needs a vehicle that can strike where the enemy is strongest. The Sky Claw piloted by Smokescreen is the ultimate supersonic, stealth-striking spy jet!
Strength: 5.0
Intelligence: 8.0
Speed: 8.0
Endurance: 6.0
Rank: 7.0
Courage: 9.0
Fireblast: 7.0
Skill: 8.0

Review by Beastbot

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