BotCon 2013 "Machine Wars: Termination" Skywarp Production Sample

The effects & new head sculpt, although very cool, are not nearly enough to save this terrible, terrible mold.

Props for trying, though.

Oh god, the white plastic is so bland and unpainted that most of the details become flat, bland, unnoticeable. Although, the new headsculpt's quite nice.

Thank goodness for the drop shadow effect! If not for that, I'd swear this was a photo of some missiles and blobs of paint.

So is this the worst figure in the set?

GuyIncognito wrote:So is this the worst figure in the set?

Pretty much.

I have the original Revenge of the Fallen NEST Dirge version; I think it's okay, but only as that specific character in that specific line. Using it as anyone else just doesn't look right. In my opinion, the mold they should have used for this specific character should have been Prime FE Starscream.

GuyIncognito wrote:So is this the worst figure in the set?

Depends. I personally like it better than Hoist, but he's still far from being my favorite.

This one looks really bland. Should've guessed the white plastic would go largely unpainted...

Okay, while I have mixed emotions about the set... and mold choices... I do really like the teleporting effect. Since I don't have this mold — or any movie molds — it may be fun to mess with.

Mind you, I hope they can avoid movie molds in the future... especially MIXING them. They don't fit with the aesthetics of the other figures, and I'd much prefer some Classics for Botcon.

gothsaurus wrote:Since I don't have this mold — or any movie molds — it may be fun to mess with.

I wouldn't get my hopes up. From my experiences with this particular mold, I'd give it a 7-7.5 out of 10. The fact he has two visible canopies (one of which is the faux part you see on the chest) is one of my main issues. You can always take it off - in fact, I've actually lost that piece - but even then, it's still meh. Especially the "shield" arm, as I call it.

Mind you, I hope they can avoid movie molds in the future... especially MIXING them. They don't fit with the aesthetics of the other figures, and I'd much prefer some Classics for Botcon.

I'm with you there. If they opt for a movie theme, I'd have no problem, 'cuz you know, movie . Maybe even add a couple molds from lines past here and there into said theme (they've done it before, and it didn't look too bad). But mixing movie molds in with fictions such as this aesthetically doesn't look good on the toys in my opinion. Same goes for Prime figures.

They really should have retooled Megaplex with a Megatron-esque head, but the damn budget only allows for four retoolings.

You gotta love the way Funpub poses his arms to make him look symmetrical. I'm no fan of the "teleporting" wings, It's just as silly as battle damage. But Ill take him, I've seen worse.

There's one complaint about Skywarp that bugs me. I accept that the mold is...an acquired taste, to say the least, and that the unpainted white plastic washes out ALL of the molded detail.

But Skywarp has a mid-warp deco. How is that not a good thing? It's even pulled off quite nicely; it's subtle but effective. I mean...maybe they should have made it -less- subtle? Maybe made the entire thing translucent? But all in all it's a pretty good effect.

RAcast wrote:the unpainted white plastic washes out ALL of the molded detail.

Up until now, I'd have called insanity on anyone considering customizing a Botcon exclusive, considering you could always modify its mass-release counterpart and not destroy a limited figure. But this toy's whitewashed detail just scream at you to be be brought out with a dry-erase marker, Gundam style!

Maybe the right shade of purple could even enhance the starting-to-warp effect?

Bumblevivisector wrote:

RAcast wrote:the unpainted white plastic washes out ALL of the molded detail.

Up until now, I'd have called insanity on anyone considering customizing a Botcon exclusive, considering you could always modify its mass-release counterpart and not destroy a limited figure. But this toy's whitewashed detail just scream at you to be be brought out with a dry-erase marker, Gundam style!

Maybe the right shade of purple could even enhance the starting-to-warp effect?

Even then, I wouldn't dare customize or kitbash in any way, shape, or form.

Mindmaster wrote:

Bumblevivisector wrote:

RAcast wrote:the unpainted white plastic washes out ALL of the molded detail.

Up until now, I'd have called insanity on anyone considering customizing a Botcon exclusive, considering you could always modify its mass-release counterpart and not destroy a limited figure. But this toy's whitewashed detail just scream at you to be be brought out with a dry-erase marker, Gundam style!

Maybe the right shade of purple could even enhance the starting-to-warp effect?

Even then, I wouldn't dare customize or kitbash in any way, shape, or form.

Yeahh, if you have any intent to sell it ever, I wouldn't touch it. You'd be better off buying a mass release one. Someone will probably recreate the head on shapeways at some point if enough people are interested.

Mindmaster wrote:They really should have retooled Megaplex with a Megatron-esque head, but the damn budget only allows for four retoolings.

The head sculpt limit isn't the excuse they're using. Earlier in this thread it was mentioned that Dreadwing's mold became available very late in production. One could infer there wasn't much time to do anything but repaint it.

Still, if wishing made it so...

I think a cost effective fix for this, to have it come out much better, would have been to mold larger parts in translucent. You then paint over them in an uneven style for the tele-porting effect, while at the same time making it LOOK like the parts aren't molded exactly the same.

I actually dig this mold. This definitely is one of the better selections from the movie line imo.

Too bad I can't get the set.

The official BotCon facebook page continues to share images of their production samples from this year's convention exclusive Machine Wars: Termination box set. Today we get a look Obsidian, check him out below!

Probably the best figure in the set. Although a new Megaplex head would surly change my mind...

Does the term "production sample" mean that they still don't have the actual sets in hand only 18 days before Botcon ?

Don't like him quite as much now... his gray is a bit too light, and there are more yellow highlights than I anticipated.

Still, easily the best figure in the set.

Hmm, he seems a lot more gray and a lot less blue than I was hoping for/expecting. I may not be quite so determined to pick him and Strika up after all.