Review: #698
Name: Skipjack
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Generations - Studio Series
Year of Release: 2020
Year of Release: 2020
Size Class: Voyager (Wave 10)
Mold Status: repaint of Studio Series Rampage
VEHICLE MODE:
Skipjack transforms into a yellow bulldozer, he is just basically a plastic color swap with Rampage, making him a low effort repaint.
This mode looks good at first glance but the gappy back is quite disappointing.
In terms of size, above is a comparison against Voyager Titans Return Optimus, and Skipjack is an okay size. He's not as small as some other recent Voyagers in vehicle mode but nowhere near as big and bulky at what Voyagers used to be.
A simple but functioning vehicle mode. He does have small plastic wheels underneath his treads to allow him to roll on flat surfaces at least.
TRANSFORMATION:
Getting Skipjack to robot mode is quite simple since the bottom folds out to form the singular leg, and the treads folds out to form the arms. Lift up the head and flip out the hands and you're pretty much done.
ROBOT MODE:
Like with a lot of Revenge of the Fallen designs, Skipjack is really unorthodox and takes some getting used to. However, this uniqueness is one of his charms.
For such a simple transformation, it's surprising that it works so well here. He does have the shovel as a major piece of back kibble though.
The head sculpt is absolutely perfect, capturing the alien feel of the design.
You might notice that Skipjack is on a "jackhammer" for his legs, and there is a small plastic stand that you plug him onto so that he can at least stay upright.
With such a weird design, articulation is not stellar either. Most disappointing are his arms, which are one solid piece and cannot bend, they can only rotate. While this was probably needed for stability in combined mode (as he takes on most of the weight in leg mode), it's still feels restrictive.
His jackhammer leg can also rotate and bend at a higher joint, but overall, it's hard to get a great pose out of him, but you can definitely get creative.
The trends being his whips while using hard plastic jointed together works better than expected. This is an average robot mode, just for how restrictive and limited he can be.
OVERALL:
The mold is not an amazing one, but is compulsory (well, it's either him or Rampage) to form Devastator. Bearing that in mind, it could have been a lot worse. The yellow color scheme is definitely more conventional and breaks up the red in Devastator as well, so Skipjack may well be worthwhile to grab.
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