Name: Skywarp
Series: 6" Titaniums
Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Warrior
Alternate Mode: Cybertronian Jet
JET MODE
Height: 6.5cm Length: 15.5cm Width: 14cm
A black Cybertronian jet with extensive silver and light purple painted highlights and amber windows on his cockpit, Skywarp sports grey thrusters at the rear. His jet mode is taken from the War Within comics, which in turn were inspired by the pyramid-shaped seekers seen in the G1 Cartoon episode More Than Meets The Eye. This jet is more of flying arrowhead shape than a pyramid, with a raised area around the base of his single tailfin. Much of the fuselage is made of die-cast metal, with the small wings, tail, raised tail base and nose being composed of plastic. The nose is actually composed of soft purple plastic. There's a Decepticon logo just behind the canopy, itself in the centre of the top of the jet. The colours are close to those of the cartoon incarnation of Skywarp - the purple is a couple of shades darker than on the original toy. Skywarp is actually a repaint of Thundercracker, which parallels G1 (Thundercracker and Starscream are Diaclone transplants, Skywarp was a new colour scheme not seen in Diaclone). The black, purple and silver work well on this mould - better than the lighter colours of Sunstorm and Starscream, in my opinion.
Since Skywarp is composed primarily (maybe 65%) of die-cast metal, this jet mode is quite heavy for its size. The rear is hollow - so don't look at him from behind or you'll see his hands and head. Thankfully the weight distribution still works - and this isn't really an angle you'd typically look at. The stuff in that cavity is black in this case, so Skywarp looks slightly better from behind than the others - even if the purple fists are easy to pick. Also on his underside are three black plastic wheels - the front one actually folds out on a metal leg. The wheels and retractable leg represent all of Skywarp's play value here.
The sculpt is well executed, with small cannons at the base of his wings, various vents on the fuselage and a complex rib pattern on the rounded canopy. There are quite a lot of sculpted seams, none of which are what I'd call typical of planes - but then Skywarp isn't an Earthen jet anyway. The glossy black paint on the metal is easy to pick from the black plastics, but being black this isn't really an issue.
There's not much play value here - I've already covered what little movement he does have here. The 6" Titanium line is aimed at collectors as display pieces anyway, so I'm not so worried about play value. On top of that, this jet holds together very well - which is far from given amongst this line which tries to marry die-cast metal and modern articulation, with varied results.
A good jet mode with great colours, a well thought out paint mask, a good sculpt and a attractive colour scheme which captures the character well. It's stable, which is perhaps the most important aspect here, in the context of the line. While it's not quite the flying pyramid seen in the G1 cartoon, it's close enough, and represents a more realistic airframe.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Fold up the nosewheel if you haven't already. Split the tailfin and fold the tail and its base out to the sides, revealing his head. Unclip the sides, releasing the nose, which folds underneath and reveals his groin. Clip the nose onto his back, pull the sides forward to form his legs, rotate the boots forward and flip up his feet. Swing down his shoulders, swing down the forearms from the back of his upper arms and you're done.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 16cm Width: 14.5cm
A black robot with pueple forearms, feet and thighs, Skywarp has a black head with a silver face, red eyes and about half the amber canopy on his torso, just below the line of his shoulders (as on the original G1 toy). There are red pylons on either side of his head, which are meant to resemble the classic air intakes on the seeker bodyplan. The Decepticon logo is now well placed in the middle of his chest. The purple, silver and black, along with some thoughtful placement of details like his canopy and pylons, anchor this robot as Skywarp. The three colours contrast well with one another.
The wings sit on the outside of his upper arms, behind the now opened tailfin (on either side). These compound wings resemble the traditional seeker wings, although the attachment point is quite different. The panels which were the base of the tail - which form the front of his upper arms - don't actually attach to anything, although the transformation hinges are quite tight so they'll stay in place without any trouble.
Again there's quite a bit of die-cast metal - the front of his torso, backpack, back of his upper arms, boots and feet are all die-cast. Most of the robot mode aspects (thighs, lower arms, head) are plastic, along with the joints. His centre of gravity isn't affected by the die-cast metal, since his boots are metal, ensuring that the metal isn't a liability.
The poseability is quite good here. His head turns while the shoulders swing, and lift maybe 10° out to the sides. There are two hinges per elbow and his wrists rotate. His hips swing and lift out to the sides, the knees are hinged with rotators just above these hinges. It's worth noting that all four of these leg joints are ratcheting and are quite tight - which is a good thing considering how heavy the upper body is - Skywarp won't collapse in a heap, doing the splits spontaneously. The feet can swing down, which is really for the transformation rather than robot mode, but it does help in posing. The heelspurs are short but effective. As with all of the 6" Titaniums, Skywarp comes with a grey plastic stand, featuring his name and faction symbol on the front. He doesn't need this to form stable poses, thankfully. His joints are all quite useful. Skywarp lacks a weapon (as with other Titanium seekers), and his hands lack holes anyway.
A nice robot mode with striking colours and a good colour layout - and Skywarp's colours match the character perfectly. Again everything holds together well and the articulation is good - and useful. He's stable and visually appealing. The colours and quite a few details really sell this robot as Skywarp - the layout of elements that resemble the traditional seeker look is actually quite clever, when you consider that most of them are visible in jet mode. The stand is a nice add-on, really - he's stable enough without it.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of, although as mentioned, Skywarp one of several repaints of this mould. He was sold exclusively at San Diego Comicon 2008.
OVERALL
The fusion of die-cast metal and modern articulation is dicey on some 6" Titanium figures however this mould does that well. Skywarp carries the best colour scheme of this mould - striking, G1 accurate and well laid out. He makes for a great display piece offering both G1 style metal elements and modern posing. While he's not perfect, this is a rewarding figure even if War Within jet mode is really geared towards the more dedicated fans. Sadly, he's quite limited (Hasbro decided to do Thundercracker, Sunstorm & Starscream in the general release, not Skywarp for some reason), but if you can find Skywarp for a decent price, he's a very good repaint who rounds out the set nicely - 8.5/10
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