Revenge of the Fallen Skystalker

Review by Caked-Up:

Robot Mode: Skystalker is very menacing in his robot mode. The cyclopean face, skeletal chest and build, dark paint scheme, and “tattered” wings lend to a very demonic image. He is also very posable with the only curiosity being the spring loaded feet. This might be simulating the motion of snatching and grabbing things like a raven or so.

He wields a pair of axes or hammers as weapons, but in my opinion he should have had something like a rifle. The axes could also have been daggers (instead of Mindwipe), but more on that later. His knee joint is funny looking at first, but is very effective. A side note is that his axes have a clip and can be attached to his forearm instead of his hand. They more resemble flamethrowers with a double barrel when positioned like this. All in all, a very detailed and clean robot mode.

Alternate Mode: Skystalker transforms into a form similar to an RQ-170 Sentinel stealth UAV. I don’t know what that looks like, but the concept is still the same. His overall shape is good for sneaking up on things. From above he is very solidly built and shows little sign of being a robot. If you look closely you will see his head in the nose, but only having one eye makes this much more acceptable.

Large intakes interrupt the overall slick design and give it some texture. His axes are tabbed into the wings and fill in the “tattered” image noted in robot mode. If you flip him over you will see almost all of the robot bits and only one solitary strut for landing gear. He has two pegs simulating landing gear in the back, but more on that later. If you don’t flip him over you will really enjoy this wonderful alt-mode.

Attack Mode: Transform him from robot to vehicle, but leave his feet in a chicken fashion. This is Hasbro’s attempt at getting sued over the Gerwalk configuration again (See G1 Skyfire/Jetfire). If you tilt the wings and nose down it makes a raven like beast mode.

“Later” has come: Skystalker is designed to work with Voyager Class Mindwipe, my favorite Voyager mold. He pegs on the top by using the simulated landing gear, but the effect is a plane on a plane. However, it looks decent, like a plane used to launch the drone into a heated area that is too far to fly on its own, so it works. The only point I don’t like is that they are a team of physical attackers and since Mindwipe likes to stay high in the sky he should have the guns to better compliment Skystalker’s axes.

Key Transformation Points: In robot mode, his feet should be pushed all the way forward until you feel them click in. If you don’t he will require the chicken leg stance to stand. This is not the case for the attack mode.

Conclusion: It is a shame that not every transformer has this kind of useful detailing and posability. I even like the idea of toys interacting with each other. To put it bluntly, go to the store and get him, do not question me. Then whine about not being able to find Mindwipe in stores.

Grade: A+

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