Dave's Transformers Cybertron Rant: Ultra Wave 4 Sky Shadow Wing Saber I don't generally get the more expensive recolors, and with a new car taking a bite out of my budget I'm DEFINITELY not getting any for a while. Thanks to Justin Anderson, who did get Sky Shadow, for the information in this review. Also, thanks to Justin for getting me a Wing Saber. Jetfire's original review can be found at: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Cybertron/Ultra1 Updated June 9, 2006, with more Key Code Info. CAPSULES Sky Shadow: Decepticon recolor of Jetfire. At the low end of Recommended if you don't have Jetfire, very mildly recommended if you do (and the fact that I didn't buy one myself is also suggestive). $26.47 or thereabouts at Wal-Mart. Wing Saber: Decent robot mode, decent vehicle mode, fairly simple transformation, okay combination mode. Doesn't shine but also doesn't suck in any mode. Recommended. $26.47 at Wal-Mart. RANTS DECEPTICON: SKY SHADOW Planet: Earth Altmode: Jet Previous Name Use: BW (Fuzor), Energon Previous Mold Use: C.Jetfire Planet Key Code: u06h An often-overlooked observer who prefers to remain in the background, silent and unnoticed. Few who know SKY SHADOW fully appreciate how dangerous he is. Even among his DECEPTICON fellows, SKY SHADOW doesn't quite fit in. While most other DECEPTICONS prefer to bully, boast and plot against one another, he waits, watching, collecting information and laying his plans until he is certain of victory over his enemies. For in reality he is the AUTOBOT second-in-command JETFIRE! Tired of his passive role as commander of the AUTOBOT Earth forces, he has gone underground and taken on a new identity in an attempt to bring down the DECEPTICONS from inside. STR 9 INT 8 SPD 8 END 8 RNK 6 COUR 10 FRB 8.5 SKL 9 Avg 8.31 Key Code Info: Although Sky Shadow is really Jetfire in disguise, the Cybertronian who used to bear this name was a horrible villain. In a distant lifetime, a Predacon/Decepticon named Sky Shadow was one of Megatron's most trusted lieutenants. He was sent to Earth during the legendary Beast Wars, and was an instrumental strategist and tactical leader in the fight against the Maximals. When the Beast Wars ended, so did the treachery of Sky Shadow. Jetfire, in his search for a ruthless Decepticon to pattern himself after, searched the Axalon archives for a suitable candidate. As a master of stealth and concealment, the original Predacon/Decepticon Sky Shadow was the perfect fit! (Also shows the Sky Shadow color guide, albeit without Pantone numbers.) Planet Key: Standard Earth Key. Color changes: The lighter green plastic (and paint) has been replaced with a sort of tannish gold. The darker green has become a reddish purple, and the light gray to dark gray. The translucent red has become translucent yellow. Since I don't actually own the toy, I'm not going to go into further detail on this. :) Mold changes: The molded Autobot symbol on the chest has been smoothed out and a Decepticon symbol printed on that spot. Otherwise, does not seem to have any mold changes, and the sound and light gimmicks are the same. Other notes: May have sat in warehouses for a while, since Justin's came with the Earth map, rather than the Jungle map. Overall: Well, I've seen it in the store, and the color scheme doesn't really grab me. No better or worse than Jetfire, really. AUTOBOT: WING SABER Planet: Cybertron Altmode: Modified A-10 jet Previous Name Use: Energon Previous Mold Use: None Key Gimmick: Heavy blaster cannons and hyperdrive ramscoop Key Code: uya7 WING SABER formed a close bond with OPTIMUS PRIME during the POWERLINX BATTLES, their friendship forged in the treacherous interior of the unconscious UNICRON, when they first combined to form the powerful Sonic Wing Mode. Though he is a canny warrior with keen tactical mind and wisdom beyond his years, he is still eager to prove himself to OPTIMUS PRIME and the other AUTOBOTS. As one of the few AUTOBOTS with a warp system capable of interstellar flight without the use of a space bridge, he is often assigned duties as a lone flanker, attacking enemy positions from behind. With weapons systems and armor to rival the most legendary warriors of CYBERTRON, he is more than up to the task! STR 9 INT 8 SPD 9.5 END 8 RNK 7 COUR 10 FRB 9.5 SKL 9 Avg 8.75 Key Code Info: Still no text as of March 17, 2007. (Shows color guides for both the actual toy, and a blue-dominated color scheme reminiscent of the Cobra Rattler. Well, the "actual toy" colors aren't exactly correct either, as the engines are largely white.] Planet Key: Standard Autobot Cybertron key. Packaging: One of the last Space Camp packages, and I expect if I ever see one on the shelf locally it'll be Primus Battles. Unusually, the instructions and Jungle Planet map are not in a bag, but the game piece is (didn't win this time either). Co-sells are Sky Shadow, CD Red Alert, Soundwave and CD Scattorshot. Five twist-ties go all the way through to the tray back to hold the vehicle mode in the blister tray. Instead of the usual black plastic reinforcements, cardboard ones are used to keep the ties from ripping into the trayback. One tie holds the missiles to the blister itself, but there's no annoying blister-only ties on the main toy. Three rubber bands hold the engines together, and two more keep the swords on the wings. Vehicle Mode: The starting point for this is the A-10 Warthog, a tankbusting attack plane that has been used for several Transformers over the years (i.e. Powerglide, two of the Superion Maximus limbs). However, much like Soundwave starts with the F-117, Wing Saber adds on a lot of details beyond the robot kibble bits, and changes other things to alter the sense of scale (for instance, the cockpit is smaller, proportionally, making Wing Saber look bigger than an A-10). The main color is white, with dark gray (a bit darker than 333333) slightly metallic plastic on the engines, cockpit area, most underwing weaponry, canards and underside of the fuselage (plus the stored sword handles in the tail). The missiles, nose wheel strut, rotary cannon housing and several joint pieces are a lighter gray (666666). There are red (FF0000) details on the nose, wings and engines, plus yellow missile tips (and several yellow (FFFF00) details that are robot kibble). The cockpit windows are light metallic blue to match the paint on the Planet Key. There are several dark gray paint apps that either make a non-gray piece match with the piece next to it, or add some detail to the wing base. The flaps on the wings are painted medium gray on the tops. The Autobot symbols on the wings are part of a unique symbol that evokes a winged form. [Later note: the white plastic is strongly UV reactive, the other colors are not.] About 10" (25cm) long, with a wingspan of 10" (25cm), it weighs a tiny bit over a pound (456g). The undercarriage kibble is pretty obviously his robot chest, and the tail section is a little weird, but otherwise it looks more like a vehicle than like a robot folded into vehicle-like shape. There's largish rear wheels on the undercarriage junk, and a long front wheel spar that folds down at the front. It takes 2 AAA batteries (not included) that go under the landing gear bit. Stability is..okay. The engines clip onto the tail with fairly small bits that lack locking nubs, relying on simple friction. The front half of the fuselage clips into place a little more strongly, but does tend to come loose a little easily. The under-wing hardpoint sections also swing down a little more easily than I'd like. As befits an A-10 descendant, it's heavily armed. In the nose are two cannons that go with the sound and light gimmick. The cannons themselves do not light up, but the nose between them is lit by the red LED that flashes when you press the button behind the cockpit. Machinegun sounds accompany this. The wings have a profusion of weapons. Each has a firing missile launcher, a rack of four air to air missiles (non-firing) and a pod of unguided rockets (four tubes, but long enough there's probably more than four shots per pod). Down by the rear landing gear is a six-barrelled rotary cannon (non-rotating, but has another nifty bit). Other details of note include Mini-Con hardpoints (one on either side of the front fuselage, one under each rocket pod), 5mm peg holes on the rotary cannons (in addition to multiple 5mm wide screw holes), and movable flaps on the trailing edges of the wings. These flaps become his swords, but making them adjustable is a very nice touch. Inserting the Planet Key causes the front half to spring open in a manner similar to Fireflight/Nightcruz, but does not trigger any sounds or change the sound that pressing the button behind the cockpit generates. You can now see the LED flashing inside what I'm guessing the packaging writers decided was a ramscoop. (Aside: the Bussard ramscoop projects a conical magnetic field to divert the thin interstellar gas into fuel tanks to act as a power source. However, the drag this causes may exceed the thrust you can get from "burning" that hydrogen, which is why hard SF generally stopped using the things back in the 70s.) The Key stays in stably without preventing the nose from staying shut, and a peg and hole at the tip of the nose helps keep it together when not deployed. Transformation: The legs transform in a manner similar to that of Energon Megatron, but the turbine fronts of the engines are not on springs, so they have to be moved back manually when going to vehicle mode. A ratcheting pivot joint lets the pelvis rock forward a bit so you can spin it around to get the legs pointed the right way. The front half of the fuselage becomes a backpack, the rotary cannons simply unfold into arms, and the head pops up out of the center fuselage, bringing a rollbar with it (used for attack mode to prop up the front fuselage). A clever bit alluded to earlier involves the hands. Pushing back a tab on the forearm makes one barrel retract all the way, while another retracts halfway. This gives you four fingers and a thumb. Robot Mode: 8" (20cm) tall at the head, the general color balance is darker because most of the white parts are on the back side. The wingspan is the same as before, of course, but you can extend the wings into what the box calls "Super Combat Mode" (aka Sonic Wing Mode configuration) 14.75" (37.5cm) wide. The instructions don't mention this mode among the many attack modes shown. The wingtips are a bit easy to pop off accidentally. The head is white with a gold face, green eyes and dark gray crest. The chest is white plastic with yellow paint on the robo-mane-like shape. There's also yellow on the waist vents and some little yellow details on the shoulders. The hip joints are actually yellow plastic, as are the clip tabs flanking the head. The center of the chest is silver, with a raised red chrome Autobot symbol. Jointing is a little weird in places, but much better than the Energon namesake. The head can turn smoothly, the waist ratchets a couple clicks in either direction and can bend forward a bit thanks to the transformation aiding joint. The shoulders lift up on hinges attached to the tops of the wings, more of a transformation joint than a reasonable posing joint. They also ratchet to the sides, although you need to flip the wing weapons out of the way first. Upper arms swivel, and the elbows are double hinges. The hips are ratcheting universal joints, there's a swivel just below each hip, and the knees are ratcheting hinges. The ankles are hinged for transformation, but stop at "standing up straight" pose, so you can't bend the toes up any further to support action poses. The feet are 3" (7.5cm) long, but shaped a little oddly, so aren't as stable as you might think. Robot mode is just as heavily beweaponed as vehicle mode. The wing flaps can be removed and inserted into handles stored in the tail to become swords. The handles peg onto his forearms, since the hands aren't really suited to holding things. The missile launchers can also be removed from the wings and attached to the forearm peg holes...they're weirdly shaped, but that's because they're meant to snap onto Prime's feet in Sonic Wing Mode. And of course, the front half of the fuselage can be folded up and pegged onto the strut behind his head, either closed or in opened configuration. The pegging isn't as solid as I'd like. Stability is generally pretty good, although the chest comes loose sometimes, and the sliding halves for Sonic Wing mode don't stay together on the chest very well. Sonic Wing Mode Transformation: The instructions show transformation from robot mode, but its probably easier to start in vehicle mode. The rear half is unchanged, the front fuselage folds back to stowed robot position, the rotary cannons unfold to become shoulder cannons, and the robot chest chunk unfolds to wrap around Prime's chest. The chest symbol splits wider, the missile launchers attach to Prime's feet, and the swords can be held in his hands with the help of little pegs on the handles. Oh, and the wings unfold to the 14" span. As for Prime, start from his Super Mode, remove his backpack, and replace it with Wing Saber (the main clip is the slot where his head-stowing tab runs). Sonic Wing Mode: The weird shape of Wing Saber's missile launchers is explained once you have this together. They add about an extra inch of heel spur, which helps support the heavier backpack. Even with the front fuselage deployed over Prime's head, he stands rocked back on his new heels unless you muck about with his legs and have his knees bent "backwards" a click. Prime holds the swords properly, rather in the ad-hoc way they peg onto Wing Saber's arms. It's a little tricky getting them into his hands, but once there are stable. All things considered, though, I prefer the look of Prime's regula Super Mode to the Sonic Wing mode. Overall: For once, they managed to spread the sacrifices out. There's no one mode that's clearly getting the shaft in favor of another. Each has some problems, but all work pretty well. It's not a Must Buy, nor do you need it in order to make Prime not suck, but it's worth getting on its own merits. Dave Van Domelen, gonna display Wing Saber on his own and leave Prime in Super mode.