Review: #763
Name: Skyquake
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Generations - Legacy: Evolution
Year of Release: 2023
Size Class: Leader (Wave 1)
Mold Status: new
JET MODE:
Skyquake is an amalgamation of his G1 and Prime incarnations and it manages to blend both quite well. The jet mode looks great, it is a chunky thing.
There aren't too many exposed robot parts, only really the robot feet sticking out the back. He has three thrusters.
As expected, he is not too big, definitely above Voyager sized class, and being a lot heftier. In terms of sheer size, he isn't as big as previous Leader figures, but he is less hollow as a result.
The cockpit opens up to reveal a seat.
He also has three flip down landing gear, which is quite nice. The robot gun also stores underneath.
This is a very nice jet mode.
TRANSFORMATION:
This is probably one of the weaker aspects of the figure. It's not complex, but just somewhat unintuitive and ultimately, not very well designed. There are some clever aspects, such as how the whole wing assembly ends up flipping over to his back. There are also some annoying aspects from how the instructions are vague and hard to decipher in some places, to how some pieces don't actually tab securely into place. Ultimately, the back of the jet forms the feet, while the wing assemble swings to the back of the torso, which opens up to reveal the head and other bits and pieces.
ROBOT MODE:
The robot mode looks very nice and once again, a combination of his G1 and Prime self. Surprisingly, it manages to merge together in a nice and coherent way.
The back is a bit messy and there are tabs for the wing assembly to be secured into place, but due to other pieces, it doesn't quite tab in. Thus the whole upper torso can detach when fiddling around with the figure. This is the single biggest annoyance for the figure and it could be down to poor quality control.
The head sculpt is good.
Again, he's clearly bigger and bulkier than a Voyager, just not as tall as you would like a Leader to be. at least enough to make up for the price difference.
Articulation is fine, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees and ankles.
He comes with two weapons, a sword and a Gatling gun.
He can hold the weapons in either hand.
He slings the Gatling gun underneath his arm though.
The shoulders / arms don't tab into place, and this is to allow them to flex out such that he can hold the Gatling gun with both hands. It's not a bad idea in theory, but can be annoying because the shoulders will move as soon as you try to move the arms, which are on tighter ratchets in comparison.
The sword can store in the gun, and both of them can peg on his back for storage in robot mode.
A good looking robot mode, just a few bits and pieces that make him less fun to play around with.
OVERALL:
Skyquake definitely deserved the Leader class treatment, and he comes out to be a solid figure. He's not amazing, because there are too many minor-ish design flaws in robot mode that holds him back. He does have an impressive shelf presence though, so that might make up for his lower play value.
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