by kirbenvost » Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:00 pm
- Motto: "Deal with it."
- Weapon: Sniper Rifle
Well, there doesn't seem to be a thread yet as only a few lucky Canucks (like me) and those over the pond have seen him, so I'm making one.
I don't have Takara's Skywarp (only Greenscream) to compare to, so I'm not going to go into a detailed comparison like that, but I'll give a general overview, and observations you might not be able to tell from pics, or general things to know. I can take a few pics later if people want.
First of all, it's a very nice looking, well-painted figure, if you are able to take the time to compare a few in-store before buying. I found minor paint flaws on a few, but nothing major. The packaging is nice, pretty similar to the Hasbro Starscream from what I've seen, though I don't have it to compare to.
His eyes are yellow, which is a big difference from the Takara version. He's got a very G1 paint scheme, as seen from previous pictures. The stripes are all very well-painted. There is also no sticker sheet like the Takara one, so what you see is what you get, which is fine with me, because he's got some of the nice details from the G1 version, the red on the intakes, and a little on the hip pieces. Also, the nametag on the stand is painted on, whereas it was a sticker for the Takara MPs, if I recall correctly. The Decepticon symbol on the stand is properly chromed, as it should be. The little minifigure (forgot his name) is completely unpainted, but no one cares about him anyway. One nice detail I noticed was some gunmetal detail on the weapons, as well as some colored stripes on the missiles. Just a nice little detail they didn't have to put on, but they did anyway.
Edit: A couple more notes on the paint job - the rocket launchers behind his chest fans are not painted in detail like the Takara versions. However, since his whole chest is painted silver, this doesn't look as bad as on the US Starscream where it's all red. Also, the fans on the chest are also not painted gunmetal, but again, it looks fine because it's silver.
There are two big things people should know: His faces are the same as MP Starscream's, not Skywarp's. So he really is a repaint of Starscream. That's fine with me, but might bother some. Another, perhaps bigger thing, is the shade of purple used for his hands/forearms and leg detail is the same slightly-transleucent, pinkish purple from the Classics version, NOT the G1-esque lilac. This may bother a lot of people. For me, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for a more affordable Skywarp.
One more slight flaw is some of the joints are a bit loose, especialy the rear thrusters which become his heels in robot mode. The ball joints are not very tight, and this could cause problems standing the figure. But it's a pretty back-heavy figure that takes a lot of work to stand up, so I'm betting most people would use the stand anyway. The fingers are also a bit loose on mine, but they still stay in place, so that's fine with me. I did notice it's a lot easier to get the landing gear out, which is a good thing. Otherwise, the joints on mine are pretty good, a couple are even tighter than on my MP-03. No stress marks so far, though I've only Transformed him twice.
I'm not familiar with/can't remember the assembly flaw that happened with MP Thundercracker's chest, but this Skywarp looks normal to me. Haha, hopefully it's not one of those "once you see it, you can't unsee it" things.
So, I guess that's it. If you're trying to decide between the Hasbro and Takara versions, I would recommend this: If you can manage to find the Hasbro figure at retail, get it, unless the purple really bothers you. It's a great-looking, quality figure, for a great price, with only a few very minor flaws. However, if you have to buy online, the cost is going to be almost as much as the Takara version, judging by scalper and aftermarket prices so far. So I'd think carefully about which version appeals more to you, and make your decision based on that.
Feel free to ask questions, post comments, or request pictures!
Last edited by
kirbenvost on Wed Oct 28, 2009 3:07 am, edited 4 times in total.
We're all hoping for a restock, and 1 store has so far, but in very limited numbers. Considering how fast they're going, Walmart would be crazy to not get more in.
