Toy Review - SKYQUAKE (Legacy Evolution)
SKYQUAKE
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Legacy Evolution
Size/class - Leader
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 2
Released here - April 2023 to online retail.
Approximate Retail Price - $80-$100
Approximate Size - covfefe
Allegiance - Decepticon
Sub-Group - TF Prime universe?
Alt-mode - Fighter jet
Main Features/Gimmicks - Evo-Fusion compatibility I guess? It has the usual 5mm ports all over.
Main Colours - Green, grey, red
Main Accessories - minigun and sword
This is a real odd duck of a figure. '
Jet Mode
- Solid once properly transformed, and just the right side of chibi proportionally.
- It is effectively a brick with wings, but it carries it very well. I think part of that is because the bulk is distributed along the whole fuselage.
- The included gun does nothing super interesting in this mode. The nicest place to put it is in the robot mode's 5mm waist port (which is at the back of the jet, along the centre line). It sticks out below the landing gear, but at least it sort of looks okay. The sword stores inside the gun, so I guess that's good?
Transformation
- It's been a while since I've had a retail release where specific order of operation is so important. If you do everything in precisely the right order, it's a smooth, fun transformation. If you do anything out of order, it turns into a clunky mess.
- This is compounded by two issues. The first is that instructions portray a version of the figure with different engineering around the cockpit area. The instructions are no help in getting the thing properly transformed. The second is that getting the cockpit to fold up and go into the chest cavity properly requires a lot of pressure applied into a very specific way. Here are the two videos I've followed for this: video 1 video 2
- You'll know that the transformation is done properly if the arm flaps can't pivot back into the chest cavity, as the properly folded up nosecone provides a stopping point. The proper transformation also allows the struts that the wings sit on to lock (softly) into the detents on the side of the folded nosecone.
Robot Mode
- The robot mode is solid if the figure is properly transformed.
- Articulation (heels aside) is very good. The butterfly joints on the arms are a fantastic addition, and pair very well with the minigun accessory. I love that independently articulated shoulderpads have become part of the design language of leader class toys in Legacy. This, Blitzwing and Laser OP all have them.
- The accessories are a study in contrast. The minigun is fantastic. The shoulder articulation, and the front handle of the minigun being on a balljoint, mean that you can get the figure into a bunch of really nifty organic looking two handed poses. The sword on the other hand, is terrible and for some reason only keyed to work in the figure's left hand.
- Poor ankles, and no heels. The lack of heels is probably the figure's primary issue. The ankles can get a little bit more range if you open up the jet mode rear landing gear (on side of the legs in robot mode), but they're still not only going to get to 40 degrees at most.
- I'm not sure whether this is specific to my figure, but the shoulder ratchets for side to side movement are scary tight.
I think this is a fun figure. It justifies the leader class point more than something like Laser OP or Blitzwing, where I felt as if I was buying a Voyager with accessories tacked on.
There are about three obvious repaints of this mold (MW Starscream, G1 Skyquake, TfPrime Dreadwing), so if you're on the fence you could probably pick this up down the line in a different deco.
