Toy Review - TFPrime Voyager Skyquake

[griffin]

(Please post photos, comments or even a fully comprehensive review - these are just brief details to start you off)

Series - Transformers Prime
Sub-line - Robots in Disguise
Size/class - Voyager
Wave - 5
New/remould/redeco - Redeco
Released here - not here yet (globally December 2012)
Approximate Retail Price - $40-50 (US$20-25 in America)
Approximate Size - 17cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Alt-mode - Fighter Jet
Main Features/Gimmicks - light up flip weapon
Main Colours - Dark green, grey, orange
Main Accessories - LED weapon, sword

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/tftoys/tfpr25.jpg

[BigTransformerTrev]

Phew, just finished transforming this guy to jet and back. Feel like I need an icepack on my wrist!

Now I was a BIG fan of G1 Skyquake. In fact it's safe to say that for a few years he was my most played with toy and by far certainly my largest TF (looked like he could pick up Menasaur with 1 hand). He was great in that he had two sets of rotating barrels that could drop missiles, a ton of other places to peg missiles all over his body, the 'supersight' capability which meant you could plug the other Predator jets in etc. Will stop there in case this turns into a review of G1 Skyquake instead, but yeah - huge fan! So even though this wasn't an exact correlation to the original, I was excited about this character and the toy:

Correlations to G1 Character:
*Powerful Decepticon
*Green in colour
*Brown horns coming off tips of head at sides
*Translucent chest]
*Turns into a military aircraft

Robot mode
By far his best mode. A really great looking bot with a well sculpted face, excellent proportions - he really looks like he can kick some arse! The sword is well suited and not too huge, and can clip into his back like Drift's when not using it. The gun - well I hate all the TFP guns (see the rant from my TFP Magnus review) but it looks good when unfolded. One of the best looking TFPrime toy bots in my opinion.

Jet Mode
Bollocks! Looks good from the top, looks a mess from any other angle! From the back you see his hands sticking out into the middle of nowhere, from the front you see this giant gray grill thing underneath that would totally F'up flying by the amount of air resistance, from the side you see just home bulky his legs are below, making him look more like a brick with a nosecone than aerodynamic.

Transformation
The transformation from vehicle to robot is not great but not too bad. The transformation from robot to vehicle is simply annoying as so much stuff gets in the way of each other. The instructions are of little help, telling you to dick about with his arms for like 5 moves when they are not really necessary until the end when their movement make more sense. I get the feeling his tailfins are rubbery simply because you need to push his wings up and over them at one point and they need to bend to get out of the way. Overall a pain in the butt.

Worth getting?:
If you already have Voyager Dreadwing, you know the drawbacks to this figure so don't bother getting a recolour. If you are a completest or don't have Voyager Dreadwing, if you can Skyquake cheap grab him for the awesome robot mode. Then you can grab the Beast Hunters Deluxe Dreadwing instead. My advice is to transform him to jet and back so you can say you've done it, then unless you enjoy self-flagellation just sit him on a shelf to brandish his sword at you and never do the irritating transformation to his crappy alt-mode again.