Skids' vehicle mode is a Chevrolet Spark, and is pretty darned accurate, overall. The proportions are pretty much perfect, and the green color scheme is a bit unique for a car and works well with him. The black stylized "skids" marks on his sides that no doubt give his name help to break up the green a bit, though, as does the black bit on his front. All of the NECESSARY details are there, such as having transparent headlights, painted grills and tail-lights, and the like, but his roof really could've used something, being devoid of paint and nearly devoid of mold detailing. Some paint on the tires would've been appreciated, too. His license plate, predictably, reads simply "SKIDS". My main problem with this mode, however, has to do with being able to very clearly see his robot parts inside the transparent blue plastic used for the windows. This is one of those instances where either very dark translucent plastic or just paint should've been used for the windows, as it rather ruins the otherwise robot part-free alt mode. (If you look at Skids from a direct-on side view, you can see the very tips of his hips and upper arms poking down below the bottom rims of the car mode, but this is a minor issue at best.)
    Skids' robot mode isn't nearly as good as his vehicle mode, sadly, and has some MAJOR kibble issues. Pretty much the entire top part of the car hangs off his back, and it doesn't sit flush with his body below the waist, instead extending out down almost to his feet. That's my biggest issue with this mode, as it really can impede leg movement and just loooks bad. Skids also has most of his side panels on his legs. They're wrapped around said legs near his feet, but seeing as how his legs are pretty skinny, they still remain pretty unwieldy. On the other hand, the rear wheel pieces on his shoulders add some bulk there, and the car front works quite well as Skids' chest. His proportions are another sore spot, with his legs being way too skinny and his head extending a tad too much above his chest. I do like the uneven nature of his arms, though, with one being a bit on the small side and one having an overly large, bulky fist and lower arm piece. The mold detailing is fantastic, and although it's something that definitely has to grow on you, I ended up loving his head sculpt with the "tuft" of hair and the gold tooth. His eyes could've been painted a bit better, however. The added jungle green on his robot parts helps to contrast a little with his light green, though generally two shades of green and gray just doesn't make for a very eye-catching color scheme, though it's certainly not bad. (The jungle green that's visible in robot mode is MUCH more palatable in person than it looks in these pics-- it's one of those colors that looks garish under camera light, for some reason.) As far as articulation goes, Skids can move at the neck, shoulders (at three points), elbows (at two places), at the wrist on his left arm, and at the hips, knees (at four points), and ankles. Listing the legs implies considerably more articulation that is actually possible, however, due to the aforementioned roof-skirt hanging behind his legs and his having small feet, which makes him rather off-balance particuarly given his back-heavyness. Skids has two gimmicks-- pressing in on the center button on his chest causes his head and chest panels to "pulsate" slightly, almost like he's nodding his head to the beat of some music, which fits his character. In addition, pressing in on the lever on his lower right arm causes his large fist to shoot forward slightly while his lone gun on that arm pops up a little for some shootin'. Both are pretty decent gimmicks.
    RotF Skids is another of those movie designs that looks a lot better in concept than in reality. Although his alt mode is great (except for the visible robot parts inside his windows), his robot mode has some major vehicle mode kibble issues, as well as some funky proportions (and in a way that isn't meant to be funky-- granted, Skids being a comic relief character, IS a bit goofy in his proportions on the CGI model). Althogh it's not too difficult to get him from vehicle to robot, he's another RotF toy that's quite frustrating to get everything to line up just right when transforming him back to vehicle mode. He does have character, though, I'll give him that, and some pretty decent gimmicks. Still, there's many better RotF designs out there, and if you're only going to get one version of this character, I'd get the more expensive Human Alliance version instead.

Review by Beastbot
 

Second Opinion by VBBN

Difficulty of Transformation: Hard
Rating: 7.0

    In his vehicle mode, Skids is a pretty good representation of the actual car in which is presented, the Chevy Spark (Also called the Beat at one point I believe). Proportions are spot on, and it rolls quite well when transformed correctly (more on that later). With that said though, He is desperately in need of paint apps. Compared to his larger Human Alliance counterpart, he just really is lackluster. If anything, he could at least have the silver rim on his tires like his brother's deluxe form has. Oh, and did I mention his headlights? Because those are quite nice looking indeed. His tailights are just red painted plastic though, nothing fancy (again, thats a different story on his HA form). Lastly, regarding to what Beasty said about the light blue transparent windows, those don't really bother me too much, but that is all a matter of preference.
    Quick transformation note, turning him into robot mode isn't too hard, but getting him into vehicle mode will spring quite a many curse words, so take your time and make sure you know what you are doing, otherwise the car won't sit flat on all four wheels. Robot mode for me is where he falls apart. Let me begin with the good things, Beasty mentioned the backpack. Yes, it's there, yes it's big. Personally, I don't mind it. For one, it's the twins "schtick". And for two, it's at least more compact compared to his brother's. The window hanging down behind his legs is the only thing that hinders articulation and stability in this matter. Oh, there's a peg behind his neck that it tabs into. Shave down the tab on the backpack a bit on either of the short sides, so it doesnt push his head forward. Most people I know have already done this, but if you are getting one MISB, you may need to do that as it really does help. His sculpt really is good, and his gimmicks are nifty while not getting in the way of the figure. Now, the bad things about him. First, is a minor quibble, early releases of him did not have the gold tooth painted, mine being one of those. This leads me to my second complaint, he has a major lack of paint detailing on any part of him not seen in vehicle mode. His legs and arms are BARE. Finally, the leg kibble as well as loose knees really kills the stability of this figure, and can make him very hard to pose.
    Overall, I would get this guy only if you are short of cash yet really want a Skids. Otherwise, pass him up and spring for the Human Alliance version or the Tuner Skids repaint instead.

Review by VBBN

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