Skullgrin
(Generations)
(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 Darkmount. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Generations Darkmount here.)
Generations Skullgrin
is a rather interesting combination of homages. He's an homage-- or update,
whichever you prefer-- of the 1988 G1 Pretender of the same name. The alternate
mode of a tank is taken from his "inner shell" vehicle mode, while his
general color scheme and look is taken from his more well-known Pretender
shell, which was a monster with a ram skull-like face. The overall color
scheme works fairly well on a tank. A fairly dull pasty white gray is the
main color, though it's not the overly done milky shade of the color we
see on so many Transformers these days. It's more a dull bone color-- which
is, of course, very appropriate. It complements the couple bits of actual
bone-white plastic on the figure fairly well, and the charcoal black, while
not a particularly attractive color, works decently as a dark contrast
color. To keep Skullgrin from getting too monochrome, though, another secondary
color is a nice shade of fuchsia, which really pops out exceptionally well
in robot mode. In vehicle mode, sadly, there's not enough of it that shows
through for my liking. However, the bronze paint apps do help highlight
a few areas on the toy, and the silver works nicely against the charcoal
black plastic (though not so much against the gray plastic). The metallic
gunmetal gray paint used to the tank treads also looks quite nice-- I wish
it or the bronze was used a bit more liberally in the tank mode to spice
things up there a little.
Skullgrin's only mold
change is that he has a new head, designed to be a more "robotic" version
of his Pretender ram skull-head. It looks marvelous, unique, and incredibly
evil. Definitely one of the high spots of the figure. The angle of the
horns also calls to mind the mold's scythe-weapon, which is a neat touch
there. (To note, just like Darkmount, Skullgrin CAN transform into that
lame "turret" mode-- however, I omitted a picture of that for A. space
reasons, and B. it's dumb and best forgotten about.)
Generations Skullgrin
is an oddly fitting remold, with a fantastic head and a fitting color scheme
that comes together quite well in robot mode-- though his tank mode is
a tad monochromatic and plain, though by no means bad. Recommended just
as much as Darkmount (mainly because of the head mold and creativity in
making this Skullgrin more than the colors themselves)-- which one I'd
recommend more depends on whether you like predominantly light or dark
color schemes more.
Review by Beastbot