Toy Review - The Last Knight Skullitron

SKULLITRON
Allegiance - Autobot
Sub-Group - Knight of Iacon
Series - The Last Knight
Sub-line – Premier Edition
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco – New
Wave – Toys 'Я' Us Exclusive
Released here - June 2017
Approximate Retail Price - $40
Approximate Size – 13cm
Alt-mode – Supposedly a robotic dragon
Main Features/Gimmicks – Overpriced
Main Colour – Bronze, grey
Main Accessories – Pathetic sword

DRAGON MODE

Crap. Just utter, ridiculous crap. It's basically just the robot strung out with a dragon head and tail sticking out from either end, wing-a-lings and bestial legs. But there are gaps all over the body and things just sit loosely without really locking into place. Trogdor the Burninator is a better freaking dragon than this rubbish excuse for an alt mode. Okay, the way that the legs split apart to form either end of the dragon is neat, but it doesn't make up for the rest of the flaws on this mode. I kid you not, but I prefer Injector's alt mode over this. This is one of the most disappointing alt modes I've seen since Animorphs. This is as much as I can say about this mode without swearing, so let's move on.

ROBOT MODE

Average. Not bad, but not great. Just really average. The sculpting is nice - I like the "Paladin armour" aesthetic. The face is just ugly, which is screen accurate - he's meant to be decrepit. The sword is sculpted to make the blade appear thoroughly weathered. 13 points of articulation. This mode suffers from the current movie aesthetic which insists on having no alt mode kibble in robot mode, so as a result much of the dragon parts rest on his back, most noticeably the wings and forelegs. But to be fair, it's really the best they could've done with toy at this size.

OVERALL

Avoid! It is certainly not worth shelling out forty bucks for such an underwhelming figure representing a "Hi-then-die" character who appears for only a few seconds in the film. I managed to get mine for $24 and I still feel ripped off.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22..._jaam_pain.gif

Injector's alt mode ? Wow. This thing must be bad :o
Admittedly, I did like his weathered look & melty-face.

Fiddly piece of crap, looks good when posed well, set aside 40 minutes just to get him to stand...

Was thinking of getting this toy but then I started to have second thoughts about the dragon mode and considering this guy makes Injector look better, I'm glad I've consulted this review. Thank you.

Where did you see it for $40? At every TRU I have seen him at it was either $29 or $34...

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Originally Posted by MayzaPrime

Where did you see it for $40? At every TRU I have seen him at it was either $29 or $34...

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Those might be sale prices, as Skullitron and Megatron have always been $40. The regular Movie Deluxes are $35, so it was annoying to have the same sized toy and box next to something at a different price.
(I paid $32 for each of mine from that last 20%-off coupon, and still felt cheated, for paying more than the full price of a Movie Deluxe at other stores like Kmart and BigW)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by griffin

Those might be sale prices, as Skullitron and Megatron have always been $40. The regular Movie Deluxes are $35, so it was annoying to have the same sized toy and box next to something at a different price.
(I paid $32 for each of mine from that last 20%-off coupon, and still felt cheated, for paying more than the full price of a Movie Deluxe at other stores like Kmart and BigW)

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That totally sucks... $40 is just a middle finger to consumers. I see these shelf-warming for a very long time at those prices.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MayzaPrime

That totally sucks... $40 is just a middle finger to consumers. I see these shelf-warming for a very long time at those prices.

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You'd think so, but they've been moving really fast at the store near me, and their other Movie exclusives too. :confused:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by griffin

You'd think so, but they've been moving really fast at the store near me, and their other Movie exclusives too. :confused:

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Same, I thought i'd hold off until they went on sale but from my last check the Castle hill TRU is out of skullitrons entirely. they may have been put in storage though since the movie display from the front of the store was packed away.

Thats crazy... there are heaps still at Majura Park TRU :confused:

I have to admit im a bit biased when it comes to Medieval related transformers. A robot knight that turns into a dragon? Hell yeah, sign me up. Wait, he also looks like an undead robot knight that turns into a dragon? Take my money. In my excitement I paid the full $40 price for this guy.... do I regret it? Somewhat, whilst I agree $40 is overpaying, if he was $30 at any other retailer i'd still get him knowing what I do now. This guy wont win transformer of the year but he is far from the worst movieverse figure in my opinion (I'm looking at you AOE Lockdown).

The dragon mode looks decent if you remember this guy is a decrepit old rustbucket so the hollowness of his dragon mode kinda makes a bit more sense, although still looks kinda bad even with that perspective. Attaching the sword does help cover some of that hollowness on his back though. Speaking of sword I really like the design and how it looks like it too, has degraded over the years like skullitron's face.

The transformation is really cool, its gone from a bulky short knight to a really slender and long dragon, makes it seem like he has actually grown from the transformation. The ball joints on mine are craptastic but not as bad as some others I've seen. In dragon mode he cant keep his arms up and the dragons neck is constantly headbanging. I think a little bit of floor polish will go a long way with this guy.

Robot mode is pretty good, the wings tuck away alright and I kinda like the look of them on his back in this mode. The detail in the armor is appreciated with things such as the tiny chainmail hanging from his waist. The tabs that hold robot mode chest in place kinda suck and I wish it pegged in or locked some other way as well. The headsculpt as others have mentioned is great and I dont think i've seen anything really like it before on a transformer, so points for being unique and awesome looking.

One thing I dont see many people mention is the paint apps, I really think its done well to give him that weathered rusted copper look which is nicer than something like an iron rust color which would just be silver with brown/red spots over it. The colors really enhance his overall undead robot kinda look he has goin on. I think a little bit of decrepit sculpting in his armor as seen in his face and sword would have been made him a lot more enjoyable for people to at least have him displayed on their shelves.

To summarize, is he great? Not by a long shot. Is he horrible? I've seen worse. I think he is a pass for most people, but for those like me who enjoy the concept of the character and the details in it, I think its flaws can be overlooked. With the steelbane remold/re-color the overall hollowness of the dragon mode is gunna be a lot harder to justify, since he is meant all shiny an new. Whilst Skullitron isnt going to wow most people I give it points for being unique in a lot of ways and for those quirks he has earned a place on my shelf... just not at the front

I liked Age of Extinction Lockdown, as did most other people (only 11% of respondents voted "No" or "not interested" vs 80% of votes for this on Skullitron!). You can re-read my thoughts about Lockdown here.

"Not the worst toy" doesn't exactly redeem a toy. That's like saying that Age of Extinction isn't bad because I've seen worse films. :p Everything seems better if you lower the bar. :p

I suppose in that regard I'm a bit of a contrarian between those two figures, being part of the 11% on Lockdown and the 20% on Skullitron.

Yeah my review wasn't trying to redeem it, like I said I think most people will skip and they are right to do so. But I did want to try and explain why that 11% like me, might actually like that figure despite its flaws.

I had the opportunity to get this at $24 when I price matched BigW sale price. But chose Megatron instead. I think $24 is still too expensive for Skullitron. I have Steelbane anyway.

I think the robot mode is pretty cool (though it may need some nail polish!) and the head sculpt is amazing (if you're looking for a gross decomposing skull on your transforming robot).

But the alt mod is just inexcusably, stupidly dreadful. No redeeming features whatsoever to that mode or the transformation.