Pictorial Review - Rumoured BotCon 2015 Transformers Diaclone Black Skids

Nice!

Neat stuff. I hope this is a Botcon exclusive, since maybe that would indicate it being a harbinger of more Diaclone inspired decos.

Man, I love Skids in these colors. However it is released, I hope to pick him up at some point.

Does anyone really like this mold? I hate it. I bought Skids because he was a childhood favorite and I had to have a Classics version, but I really hate it.

GuyIncognito wrote:Does anyone really like this mold? I hate it. I bought Skids because he was a childhood favorite and I had to have a Classics version, but I really hate it.

You often give some trite response to people not liking something for perfectly valid reasons, and yet here you can only muster up a "I hate it" reaction to a figure....

...but I know what you mean. There's something about this figure that just seems inherently unlikable. I think the legs are not quite as solid and well done as they could be, and that along with this ridiculous feet make him hard to pose and generally unwieldy. The backpack parts just get in the way no matter what you're trying to do with him. I like the idea of his multiple guns but they don't look any good separated, so you get stuck with the combined gun that is then too large to look good. I think Skids was a good idea and a fair attempt, but it just did not work out well in plastic.
However, the Crosscut version of this is much, much better looking. All the same physical issues, but it's just visually a nicer figure to me, and in black this figure does look sharp. Not enough to try to get one, but all versions of this seem more appealing than the original to me.

This Diaclone Black Skids, combined with the other Diaclone homage of the Warudaros-colored Waspinator and the Waruder pilot-colored Chop Shop, plus the Ask Vector Prime Facebook confirming that (what scarce little fiction there was for) Diaclone is part of the multiverse in the Cymond cluster, all has me wondering if maybe the big threat that the five criminals have to save Axiom Nexus from might be a Waruder invasion involving an army of the Waspinator redecos piloted by Chop Shop redecos, and with the Black Skids being a Diaclone mech having come to help fight off the Waruder mechs.

GuyIncognito wrote:Does anyone really like this mold? I hate it. I bought Skids because he was a childhood favorite and I had to have a Classics version, but I really hate it.

I really like the original. I have come to love Skids from MTMTE and the toy really captured his look. I actually really like the legs and the backpack on mine works great. His guns do look separated or together to me, and it can works especially in vehicle mode: one gun to each side. Overall, He's one of my favorites.

Looks cool. But that mold still bothers me. It's like they designed the top half of the body great and then just gave up and said "fuck it" on the lower half.

omega666 wrote:Looks cool. But that mold still bothers me. It's like they designed the top half of the body great and then just gave up and said "**** it" on the lower half.

I disagree on the bottom half. His legs fold up pretty well and they look pretty good. I will give you the lack of heal spur and the little bit of fender kibble sticking out back, but it't not that bad overall. If the knees are locked in place correctly, then he has no balance issues, or at least mine does not

Want, and any other classics made as Diaclones. Whirl, bombshell, blitzwing, constructions, Optimus prime/ultra magnus, yellow, red, blue trailbreakers, and any others...

That black skids looks an awful lot like Trailbreaker.

Sabrblade wrote:This Diaclone Black Skids, combined with the other Diaclone homage of the Warudaros-colored Waspinator and the Waruder pilot-colored Chop Shop, plus the Ask Vector Prime Facebook confirming that (what scarce little fiction there was for) Diaclone is part of the multiverse in the Cymond cluster, all has me wondering if maybe the big threat that the five criminals have to save Axiom Nexus from might be a Waruder invasion involving an army of the Waspinator redecos piloted by Chop Shop redecos, and with the Black Skids being a Diaclone mech having come to help fight off the Waruder mechs.

A new Universal Cluster for Diaclone-based redecos? Yes please Plenty to choose from, too:

- Sideswipe: black (Deep Cover), yellow (Tigertrack) Police deco (Clamp Down)
- Sunstreaker: Red, Police deco
- Ironhide: Black (SG)
- Trailbreaker: Blue, Yellow
- Crosscut: Red
- Bluestreak: Blue and Silver
- Hoist: Red, Blue
- Skids: Red, Black
- Mirage: Red
- Wheeljack: Marlboor (Exhaust)
- Tracks: Red (Road Rage, SG)

Plus the Dinobots with blue, the Insecticons in red and green... What else?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:This Diaclone Black Skids, combined with the other Diaclone homage of the Warudaros-colored Waspinator and the Waruder pilot-colored Chop Shop, plus the Ask Vector Prime Facebook confirming that (what scarce little fiction there was for) Diaclone is part of the multiverse in the Cymond cluster, all has me wondering if maybe the big threat that the five criminals have to save Axiom Nexus from might be a Waruder invasion involving an army of the Waspinator redecos piloted by Chop Shop redecos, and with the Black Skids being a Diaclone mech having come to help fight off the Waruder mechs.

A new Universal Cluster for Diaclone-based redecos? Yes please Plenty to choose from, too.

Cymond cluster first mentioned here - https://www.facebook.com/AskVectorPrime/posts/677396725725634

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

omega666 wrote:Looks cool. But that mold still bothers me. It's like they designed the top half of the body great and then just gave up and said "**** it" on the lower half.

I disagree on the bottom half. His legs fold up pretty well and they look pretty good. I will give you the lack of heal spur and the little bit of fender kibble sticking out back, but it't not that bad overall. If the knees are locked in place correctly, then he has no balance issues, or at least mine does not

I've never had any issue with the lower half either. I have displayed my Skids and Crosscut back to back with each other in various "action" poses and their has never been any problems with balance or stance. What does irritate me about this figure is the articulation of the arms/shoulders or lack thereof. That greatly limits the number of poses that they can be displayed in and I can see younger kids whose parents were foolish enough to get them this figure breaking those joints pretty quickly. Otherwise, I love the mold and think that he is a perfect tribute piece for any collector. I can't say as I'm all that excited about the Diaclone variant. I just don't think that black is really his color any more than I think blue is good for Trailbreaker so I'm in no rush to get this variant. That's just my opinion though so for those who are more excited about the Diaclone versions, this is quite the gem.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:

megatronus wrote:I want them. That's all there is to it.

I was hoping to make it out to Botcon, but those hopes were basically dashed yesterday.

BBTS put up pre-orders for the Botcon Souvenir sets posted here

Thanks. Although I wish they listed what they are. I assume one of them is the Waspinator recolors, and that General Prime from upthread?

So far we have:

- a blue Legends Chop Shop, nicknamed "Vice Grip" or "Waruder"
- a black Gen. Skids, based on a Diaclone variant of the G1 toy
- a G2 General Optimus Prime deco of Gen. Roadbuster
- the four Gen. Waspinators, supposedly the Troop Builder. They're based on:

• the Fox Kids Transmetal,
• Halloween Herrorcon,
• supposedly the Diaclone Warudaros, Grandstand's Convertors Siclonoid or Kronoform Wargon (all the same figure, really)
• a white and pink one which reminds me of Five Nights at Freddy's 2 Mangle.

That white one is either SG Pretender Dirge or Beast Wrs Bug Bite based o the Wings of Honor character.

In this thread: several people that don't know how to transform Skids properly If I remember to I'll get some pictures up (or borrow some from the galleries) in a bit of how to do it right. Really fun mold but you have to do everything right or it's super limited.

Flashwave wrote:That white one is either SG Pretender Dirge

But his shell's deco was in Chromia colors.

Flashwave wrote: or Beast Wrs Bug Bite based o the Wings of Honor character.

Bug Bite wasn't in Wings.

Frankly, I hope it isn't a Bug Bite homage.

I have to admit I am not keen on this Mould, the problems I have with it are the shoulders and the feet.

The Botcon 2015 Custom Class figure is Galva Convoy! Thanks to Buchanan Neket Via Instagram just posted a picture of wanted poster for Galva Convoy, tying this release back to their Axiom Nexus story line! Let us know Seibertronians, are you excited about this? Drop us your thoughts here, and remember keep your optics tuned to Seibertron.com for the latest in news and updates!





Update:
Botcon just tweeted out a picture of Galva Convoy! Check out the image we've mirrored below.

Another use of the Orion Pax mold,again..........

Was hoping to see Nova Prime repainted into Nemesis Prime.

Hehe, clever. Neat stuff.

Well, that mystery's solved

And quite an homage there. For those not in the know, "Galva Lio Convoy", basically Lio Convoy in Galvatron colors, was a BWII Lucky Draw figure, as such really rare. Here's a gallery showcasing the figure:

Galva Lio Convoy courtesy of Transformers @ The Moon.

The reverse, Galvatron in Lio Convoy colors, has not happened to my knowledge.

And it looks like he's from Beast Wars: Uprising, like the regular Club Lio Convoy.

With the BotCon 2015 Custom Class figure just revealed. Seibertron is hard at work giving everyone some in-hand images of Galva Convoy! Galva Convoy is a homage to the Beast Wars II - Lucky Draw Galva-Lio Convoy that was released in 1998, in which only 50 were ever made! Check out the pictures of this brand new custom class figure Seibertron brings to you from Botcon below!

I can't believe this mediocre mold got used for three different TFCC/Botcon figures this year.

Diem wrote:I can't believe this mediocre mold got used for three different TFCC/Botcon figures this year.

I wonder that will be a new trend. We had Pirate Hunter (Shokaract) out of Club Rampage last year and this year Galva Convoy out of Lio Convoy/Nova Prime (albeit more limited), not to mention SG Nightbeat in 2008.

Diem wrote:I can't believe this mediocre mold got used for three different TFCC/Botcon figures this year.

Doesn't bother me with it having another use as a Custom Class figure.

Actually, the internet reaction is funny, here and elsewhere (just remember I'm having fun with generalizations here ).

Club does a custom class figure of something really desirable like G2 Sideswipe: "How dare they, I hate them!"

Club does a custom class figure of something really obscure or weird, like Primal Prime or this one: "That's stupid, what a waste of a figure!"

So that explains the third deco on Nova Prime's box art.

Not sure I like the in hand colours personally, those lavender parts just irk me a little.

For those of you down on the mold, let's be honest. Pretty much all of Generations from the FOC Optimus Prime wave to to Arcee/Chromia was underwhelming. We're goin to be getting plenty of repaints from this line over the next few years, so maybe we should just resign ourselves to mediocrity.

That said, I like the colors on this.

It Is Him wrote:For those of you down on the mold, let's be honest. Pretty much all of Generations from the FOC Optimus Prime wave to to Arcee/Chromia was underwhelming. We're goin to be getting plenty of repaints from this line over the next few years, so maybe we should just resign ourselves to mediocrity.

There were certainly a couple stinkers in the line but that's pretty harsh. Even then, some molds I originally didn't like all that much (Bumblebee/Goldfire) have been massively improved by their repaints (Million Publishing Go-Shooter). I'm actually looking forward to more repaints of Armada Starscream. Sure, it was a little small, but it was really well done and pretty faithful to the source material all things considered.

ScottyP wrote:

Diem wrote:I can't believe this mediocre mold got used for three different TFCC/Botcon figures this year.

Doesn't bother me with it having another use as a Custom Class figure.

Actually, the internet reaction is funny, here and elsewhere (just remember I'm having fun with generalizations here ).

Club does a custom class figure of something really desirable like G2 Sideswipe: "How dare they, I hate them!"

Club does a custom class figure of something really obscure or weird, like Primal Prime or this one: "That's stupid, what a waste of a figure!"

Not a fair comparison. BotCon 2010 G2 Sideswipe wasn't made available, even unpainted, the way recent BotCon customizing class figures were. You couldn't spend an extra $75 to get him in 2010.

And the customizing class figures that have been available have been... Blastcharge Strika? Primal Prime? Maybe you wanted them, maybe you didn't, but certainly more obscure and less popular characters.

Is the one pictured professionally assembled? He looks to have paint apps

ScottyP wrote:

It Is Him wrote:For those of you down on the mold, let's be honest. Pretty much all of Generations from the FOC Optimus Prime wave to to Arcee/Chromia was underwhelming. We're goin to be getting plenty of repaints from this line over the next few years, so maybe we should just resign ourselves to mediocrity.

There were certainly a couple stinkers in the line but that's pretty harsh. Even then, some molds I originally didn't like all that much (Bumblebee/Goldfire) have been massively improved by their repaints (Million Publishing Go-Shooter). I'm actually looking forward to more repaints of Armada Starscream. Sure, it was a little small, but it was really well done and pretty faithful to the source material all things considered.

Don't get me wrong, there were deluxe toys in the line that I liked. Waspinator and Chromia were two that stood out for me last year, and before that Bruticus. I was one on the few that really liked Bruticus, evn with his flaws. But on the whole, I'm underwhelmed. None of them grabbed me in the way Combiner Wars does or the Generations/RTS line did before then. The toys were small, expensive, and transformations unsatisfying. The voyagers, though, that's a different story.

It Is Him wrote:For those of you down on the mold, let's be honest. Pretty much all of Generations from the FOC Optimus Prime wave to to Arcee/Chromia was underwhelming. We're goin to be getting plenty of repaints from this line over the next few years, so maybe we should just resign ourselves to mediocrity.

I'd have to disagree with that statement. The Megatron/Dreadwing mold was surprisingly good, the Waspinator, Rattrap, Skids, Armadascream, Arcee and Centuritron were all very satisfying, the Trailbreaker, Tankor and Scoop mold were all perfectly good updates of unambitious toys to start with, which is why they're nothing groundbreaking, and Sandstorm, Rhinox, Sky-Byte and Brainstorm are all magnificent. It just seems like the weakest molds (this one and the Bumblebee mold) are getting the most focus in repaints, which is bizarre.

ScottyP wrote:Actually, the internet reaction is funny, here and elsewhere (just remember I'm having fun with generalizations here ).

Club does a custom class figure of something really desirable like G2 Sideswipe: "How dare they, I hate them!"

Club does a custom class figure of something really obscure or weird, like Primal Prime or this one: "That's stupid, what a waste of a figure!"

I have nothing for or against the character use. I'm just not a big fan of Cybertronian TFs ("Hey, it turns from a robot into a ...thing") and this mold seemed mediocre even by those standards.

I agree with ScottyP! I like the obscure, but not entirely needed, uses for the custom class mold the last two years. I'm interested enough, and if I was in the class, I would not feel ripped off. When the class was building SG this and that I felt a bit ripped off when I was there, without them being really inspired SG versions that had diaclone, or rare or obscure references.

When I missed out on G2 Sideswipe, and Animated Minerva, I felt like those should have been more accessible versions, versions most collectors would REALLY want in their collections. I'm still waiting for HASBRO to release a more accessible version of each.

Now the club / HASBRO has learned a little bit, and made at least some available to folks who could not get into the custom class. And they've also started making the plastic in colors that are different from the initial release, so the class is less on painting and stickering the same club exclusive figure (or other figure) differently to make a new character (SG). I have yet to experience the new type of class, but I'm sure it's rewarding as well.

Ultimately, the rule still applies-- you can't please everyone all the time--hopefully, HASBRO and the club are at least pleasing the folks who pay to be a part of the class experience. I feel that mostly the custom class has upped its game, and that being a part of it should feel as special as the initial classes (Energon Ravage, and Cyberton Rumble). Even the class that turned Classics Grimlock into Classics Overkill was awesome, until HTS and HASBRO Asia decided to release the same basic item a few years later.

By the by, I happen to like this mold. It's not horrible, but is a little small.

Tigertrack wrote:
By the by, I happen to like this mold. It's not horrible, but is a little small.

I agree! I think this mold is actually pretty awesome. I just wish they would stop making Convoy or Prime figures out of it because it really is too small for them. How bout a Kup out of this!

Henry921 wrote:Not a fair comparison.

Agreed, as stated, was just having some fun and generalizing Tigertrack-senpai actually put it best:

Tigertrack wrote:When I missed out on G2 Sideswipe, and Animated Minerva, I felt like those should have been more accessible versions, versions most collectors would REALLY want in their collections. I'm still waiting for HASBRO to release a more accessible version of each.

I very much agree with this at the end of the day.

mooncake623 wrote:I agree! I think this mold is actually pretty awesome. I just wish they would stop making Convoy or Prime figures out of it because it really is too small for them. How bout a Kup out of this!

I was really hoping for Thunderclash out of it. Of course, the club did him 6 years ago with Energon Rodimus, so maybe it got looked over due to that.

To me, this looks very, very nice!!
This is the kind of thing I think should come out of Botcon; Obscure characters, references or homages!
I like it!

Aha! So he's the clone of Lio Convoy instead of Nova Prime. Another one to add to the ever-growing Beast Wars: Uprising shelf!

Now it's back to wondering if Nova Prime might or might not be Shattered Glass Optimus Prime reformatted by the good Unicron.

Sabrblade wrote:Now it's back to wondering if Nova Prime might or might not be Shattered Glass Optimus Prime reformatted by the good Unicron.

Does any Negative Polarity universe affect Primus and Unicron though? Last I remember, it was Primus who reconstructed Nexus Maximus Prime and his power resurrected Megatron into Galvatron, despite it happening in Shattered Glass.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Now it's back to wondering if Nova Prime might or might not be Shattered Glass Optimus Prime reformatted by the good Unicron.

Does any Negative Polarity universe affect Primus and Unicron though? Last I remember, it was Primus who reconstructed Nexus Maximus Prime and his power resurrected Megatron into Galvatron, despite it happening in Shattered Glass.

Have you been following any of the Ask Vector Prime Facebook posts this year? Some big things have been revealed in those, and Jim Sorenson has been strongly hinting of some massive game-changing things to come in this year's TCC fiction that will dramatically alter the Singularity concept, for better or worse. For instance, one of the things revealed by Vector Prime so far is that non-Singularity versions of Singularity characters (like Unicron and the Thirteen) do exist within the Multiverse.

Not to mention that we got a glimpse at the good Unicron in last year's prologue for this year's "Another Light" story:

Sabrblade wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Now it's back to wondering if Nova Prime might or might not be Shattered Glass Optimus Prime reformatted by the good Unicron.

Does any Negative Polarity universe affect Primus and Unicron though? Last I remember, it was Primus who reconstructed Nexus Maximus Prime and his power resurrected Megatron into Galvatron, despite it happening in Shattered Glass.

Have you been following any of the Ask Vector Prime Facebook posts this year? Some big things have been revealed in those, and Jim Sorenson has been strongly hinting of some massive game-changing things to come in this year's TCC fiction that will dramatically alter the Singularity concept, for better or worse. For instance, one of the things revealed by Vector Prime so far is that non-Singularity versions of Singularity characters (like Unicron and the Thirteen) do exist within the Multiverse.

Alpha Trion is a good example of that. So basically, there are versions of Primus and Unicron out there that aren't gods, like the G1 cartoon Unicron which was completely built from scratch by Primacron...

FunPub fiction be cray-cray.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Now it's back to wondering if Nova Prime might or might not be Shattered Glass Optimus Prime reformatted by the good Unicron.

Does any Negative Polarity universe affect Primus and Unicron though? Last I remember, it was Primus who reconstructed Nexus Maximus Prime and his power resurrected Megatron into Galvatron, despite it happening in Shattered Glass.

Have you been following any of the Ask Vector Prime Facebook posts this year? Some big things have been revealed in those, and Jim Sorenson has been strongly hinting of some massive game-changing things to come in this year's TCC fiction that will dramatically alter the Singularity concept, for better or worse. For instance, one of the things revealed by Vector Prime so far is that non-Singularity versions of Singularity characters (like Unicron and the Thirteen) do exist within the Multiverse.

Alpha Trion is a good example of that. So basically, there are versions of Primus and Unicron out there that aren't gods, like the G1 cartoon Unicron which was completely build from scratch by Primacron...

Something like that, yeah.

Here's a copy of all the questions and answers given thus far - http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Ask_Vector_Prime/Facebook_src

Man, a custom paint job really brings the flaws of that headsculpt to light. I don't hate it... but boy, Galva Convoy looks like he stuck his head in a Washing Machine.

Gearslide wrote:Man, a custom paint job really brings the flaws of that headsculpt to light. I don't hate it... but boy, Galva Convoy looks like he stuck his head in a Washing Machine.

The head itself is fine, sizewise. It's that obnoxiously tall flap that sits behind the head that makes it look too small. I always hated that flap even on the Orion Pax version.

When put side-by-side with Pax, the heads are about the same size (Pax's is just a smidge wider, not taller), with the flap towering over Pax's head too:





Click each pic to see the full size.

Sabrblade wrote:

Gearslide wrote:Man, a custom paint job really brings the flaws of that headsculpt to light. I don't hate it... but boy, Galva Convoy looks like he stuck his head in a Washing Machine.

The head itself is fine, sizewise. It's that obnoxiously tall flap that sits behind the head that makes it look too small. I always hated that flap even on the Orion Pax version.

When put side-by-side with Pax, the heads are about the same size (Pax's is just a smidge wider, not taller), with the flap towering over Pax's head too.

Oh no, I'm fine with the size and design. Everything about it looks cool. It's like a perfect blend of Nova Prime from IDW and Lio Convoy.

But the mold itself is not smooth at all. It's lumpy and full of indents. The reflective paint used for customs really shows the faults.

So as the guy who hates every thing funpub, supposedly, what do I think? Well i think it was extremely telegraphed, especially with lio convoys box. But as a toy it's a cute repaint that works for the custom class. Nothing integral like G2 sideswipe or animated Minerva, but nothing throw away like the pseudo blastcharge. If you like it for tue fiction your golden, if you like it for the toy, your golden, and if you don't care about who it is, you get decent mold with neat color mapping. But the head still sucks.

ScottyP wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:I agree! I think this mold is actually pretty awesome. I just wish they would stop making Convoy or Prime figures out of it because it really is too small for them. How bout a Kup out of this!

I was really hoping for Thunderclash out of it. Of course, the club did him 6 years ago with Energon Rodimus, so maybe it got looked over due to that.

Kup out of Orion Pax could be amazing, if Jin Saotome is any indicator:




Also, I've seen speculation that Combiner Wars Motormaster might see a Thunderclash repaint - MM's chest is already shaped like the Elite Guard insignia.

What would be the point of making a Kup out of Orion Pax when the Generations Sergenat Kup figure is already a great Kup figure?

Sabrblade wrote:What would be the point of making a Kup out of Orion Pax when theGenerations Sergenat Kup figure is already a great Kup figure?

Cybertronian alt mode

Sabrblade wrote:What would be the point of making a Kup out of Orion Pax when the Generations Sergenat Kup figure is already a great Kup figure?

It's like asking why Hasbro whould make a new Optimus Prime figure every 3 months. Is it really necessary?

Besides, show me a Kup in mainline fiction that looks like Generations Kup. The Orion Pax body is much closer to Kup's look.