Toy Review: Beast Hunters DLX Skystalker

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

Series - Transformers Prime
Sub-line - Beast Hunters
Size/class - Deluxe
Wave - 3
New/remould/redeco - New
Released here - not yet (globally March/April 2013)
Approximate Retail Price - $23-$30 (US$15 in America)
Approximate Size - 14cm
Allegiance - Predacon
Alt-mode - Winged beast
Main Features/Gimmicks - splotchy plastic colour, spiky
Main Colours - Light blue, blue, white, yellow
Main Accessories - 2x discs

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/tftoys/tfpbh14.jpg

A quick recap...

DLX Lazorback - worst toy ever.
VOY Shockwave - worst toy ever.
DLX Ratchet - worst toy ever.

Okay, Skystalker - NOW the worst toy ever.

A trend of lazy designs lately, this would have to be one of the worst. The toy just stands up, with a few cosmetic adjustments to the head, hips, hands and wings.
Figurines are more interesting.

Even the Legion sized Twinstrike had a more complex transformation.

So far, the Predacon faction of toys have been more misses than hits... which is disappointing, as the faction is likely to be only around for a year. Actually, the Terrorcon legions look to be the only Predacon toys that interest me.

Well I like it. That's all that matters really in my opinion.:)

I was interested in the Beast Mode. How does that fare? Good wing movement and stuff or what?

Robot mode looks a bit bleh and not all that fond of the colours

The wings rotate at the arms, and have a hinge halfway through the wing, so can have a variety of "settings".
The big white discs spoil it though, with or without them attached.

IMHO this toy isn't nearly as bad as I'd expected. I was expecting to really hate this toy, but I don't. I find the transformation to be quite intuitive and there were some pleasant features in the design. The yellows look a bit odd, but used sparingly enough that it doesn't look bad. I find the overall colour scheme works well, particularly with the airbrushing on the wings; a nice touch. Yes, it is fundamentally another "stand up quadruped," but there are enough neat features in the engineering that work in making this a reasonably decent toy.

The hand transformation is... weird. They seem to have revisited that part of Injector's transformation where the beast head regurgitates a robot face, but I think that it's a lot better executed here because the robot head actually transforms into the upper palate of the mouth, so you can still open the beast's mouth in beast mode without exposing the robot head. But I can see how this wouldn't be everyone's cup of Energon, so I think this is one part of the design that people are either gonna love or hate. ;)

The disc launching gimmick on the wings is simply but effective, and I don't think it detracts from the toy too badly. It does make the toy somewhat top heavy, but the figure stands surprisingly well in robot mode considering. The only weird thing I find is the robot's melee weapon, which is the creature mode's tail tip that you detach and place on the hand. Kinda like a spiked boxing glove... on one hand. (o_O) But I do like how the robot mode has both melee and ranged offensive capabilities.

Overall I think this is a pretty nice toy. Is it worth full RRP? Maybe... but if you can find it at below RRP I'd definitely recommend it. :)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22.../jaam_jaam.gif

oooh can't wait to pick one up! It will complete my big figure Beasts quite nicely, Im not interested in the robot mode for these figures anyways as most of them look like an after thought really. :)

Actually I find the robot mode on this toy to be better than the creature mode. The main draw back with the creature mode is the hips which are theoretically meant to attach/clip to other side of the tail - you can see the tabs and stuff - but in execution it just doesn't work and instead the halves of the hips just sit loosely on either side. The tail sits in between which does serve to stop the hip halves from closing in on each other, so it's not as bad as say the shoulders on Deluxe Movie Brawl or Masterpiece Lambor. I can see how this design feature would've looked good on the drawing board, but somewhere along the line it just failed to adequately translate into the final product. :o
P.S.: Posted pics here

Quote:

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Originally Posted by griffin

DLX Lazorback - worst toy ever.
VOY Shockwave - worst toy ever.
DLX Ratchet - worst toy ever.

Okay, Skystalker - NOW the worst toy ever.

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Wait...worse than Deluxe Airachnid?:eek:

Got mine today - along with Ratchet and Dreadwing - after a bit of a hunt on the weekend.

Keeping in mind that I have never had a problem with "stand up and fiddle" beastformers, this guy is my favourite of the deluxe sized BH Predacons. Colour scheme, proportions, moulded details and I'm a sucker for digitigrade robot legs. The only thing I'm tepid on is the robot face sculpt. I think it would've been better with a more humanoid face, but that's just me.

This entire line, even the retooled PRiD toys, are growing on me in ways I never through they would.

That said, does anybody else feel like there was originally supposed to be a little more going on here than is on the instruction sheet and official shots? I mean, he has a 360 swivel at the waist that, as far as I can tell, is basically superfluous (could just be the cheapest way to attach the legs to the body) and the sculpt of what becomes the robot chest looks more like a spine than it does a sternum. Indeed, despite the fins on the robot back, it certainly looks like that is not really intended to be displayed in as prominent a way as the dragon back. There's a lot of exposed screws, pins and hinges, as well as some asymmetry that generally end up hidden on most toys if possible. The whole wing / should assembly certainly seems more complex than is needed for the standard transformation too.

Not to mention the sculpting on the robot/dragon abdomen that looks suspiciously like a saddle with stirrups (complete with sculpted grip for feet).

Maybe I'm just imagining it, but I wonder if there was going to be a hip/leg rotation in this guys transformation (along with the extra work with the wings and shoulders) that turned out to be a bit too fiddly and was abandoned at some point before the final product.

IMO, doing it this way improves the look of the dragon mode somewhat, despite losing the fins to the underside.

What do you guys think? Am I reading too much into it?

I like this toy, it does as Goktimus said has it's down side, the hips I may actually glue them together but I think I may cracked the back of mine sliding the wings back on one side. Oh well.

I do wish that Hasbro had omitted the hand conversion as I like the beast claws just fine :)

Other than that I enjoy Skystalker a fun litte toy.