General Information:
Release Year: 2005
Retailer: Fan club Exclusive
Price: Free with purchase of club membership
Transformation Difficulty Level: 2
Accessories: Energon Star, Gun
Images:
2005 saw the creation of the new Transformers Collector's Club run by Fun Publications. One of the incentives for joining the club was a free action figure. The decision was made early on to redeco combiner team members from the Energon series. Over the course of each year from here on, another combiner figure will be released as part of the club. By year five there will be a new combiner created. The first of these figures utilizes the sculpt originally used for Superlink Skydive and Sling. Later in Energon, the sculpt would be used for Sky Shadow and Terradive. Read the reviews for Superlink Skydive and Sling for detailed reviews of the mechanics of the toy, this review will focus on the changes made to the toy for this release.
Vehicle Mode:
Skyfall is primarily cast in three colors: translucent blue, translucent red and solid light red. The primary parts are translucent blue, a fairly dark shade. However, when you shine them in the light you see right through which looks cool. The cockpit piece, Energon Star and weapon are also translucent red. The rear fins, landing gear and front gun are a solid light red color.
On each wing is a large Autobot symbol. This is the only extra deco on the vehicle mode. It should be noted that there was very little time to create this figure. This was primarily due to the time constraints between the time Fun Publications obtained the Transformers fan club license and the time the figure had to be manufactured. The fact that it was the first free figure from Fun Publications also meant costs had to be kept down. On the one hand, the translucent colors look great, but there is not a whole lot else going on besides that. The intention is to create more complex color schemes for future club exclusives since there will be more time to plan those out.
Robot Mode:
In robot mode, Skyfall gets a few more breaks in the deco pattern. His upper arms, upper legs and binoculars are all solid light red plastic. The head is the part with the most deco, consisting of red and blue paint. The eyes utilize translucent red plastic for light piping.
The joints are still surprisingly tight on this tool considering how many times it has alread been used prior to this release. I also found that the binoculars hold onto his head a bit better than they did in the Superlink versions of the toy.
Final Thoughts:
Skyfall does not have the best deco pattern or even an average one for a mainline Transformers figure. But for an exclusive that was rushed into production and was free, it suits the purpose. If you are a club member, you can buy extras of this figure for $20.00 now. It depends on how much of a completist you are will affect whether you want to own this figure or not. I personally like it, but I do wish there had been more deco to it.
