When I was a kid, I had a limited number of Transformers from the first generation of toys, so those will always catch my attention when a new version is released. Skywarp was one of those few Transformers and I’ve liked the Siege line, so I had to hop on this one. Let’s take a look at Skywarp and the rest of Phantomstrike Squadron set!
If I had my druthers, I probably would have preferred to buy Skywarp just on his own, but he comes with three other smaller bots: Shrute, Terror-Daxtyl, and Fracas. I have to say, the names have that silly feel that automatically endears them to me.
The set comes in a solid box without a window, but a really cool battle scene painted on front and a graphic that shows off all the figures really well.
The set comes with four robots and five blast effects. Terror-Daxtyl is a repaint of Pteraxodon and transforms from dinosaur to axe mode.
The dinosaur mode works well for me. His little feet and head hinge up so he can be put in different flight modes and he’s got a lot of excellent tech and panel details.
Axe mode is a little less convincing to me, but I like how the blast effect looks attached to the blade of the axe.
Fracas is a repaint of Battle-Master Firedrive and transforms to a double barreled gun. As a robot, he’s got a really lovely design with nice proportions and all of the excellent greeblie details this line employs so well.
In robot form, he’s got a little movement with ball joints in the shoulders and hips. It’s not the kind of articulation I prefer, but the little guy is still fun to play with. Like the axe, I find the gun mode a little less convincing as it really reads to me as a robot bending over and grabbing his legs.
I do like the blast effects and they can be used on many figures, so are really useful.
Shrute is the other gun guy and I like the robot mode a little less than Fracas, mostly because the gun handle is in the center of the chest. It seems like a silly thing to focus on since that’s the paradigm of this class of Transformer, but it’s not really my thing.
The gun mode is similar to Fracas, but I like the blue blast effects. They look especially nice lit up, but are pretty bendy and don’t stay straight.
Finally, Skywarp is really fantastic. The robot mode is all I really want from the Decepticon jets outside of the Masterpiece versions. They capture the feel of the original cartoon, but there’s a ton of cool detail.
The jet mode is also good, though it’s slightly weaker for me than the robot mode. From above this mode looks like a phenomenal space-fighter.
However, from certain angles the legs and arms are just folded up under there and it really shows.
I also really like the paint applications on this figure. The battle damage on the figures in this line have been a little hit or miss for me, but I find it works well here. The metallic paint is pretty nice in a lot of spots, especially the wings and the nose cone of the ship mode.
I also love the light-pipe eyes. It’s such a simple, but great effect that adds a lot of life to the figure. Overall, I like the set, though I think I could have done without buying the battle-master figures to get my old favorite Skywarp.
