Back in April 2021 we learned that this guy was a thing, and while he was initially scheduled for a January 2022 release, pandemic-related delays pushed back all three original jets from coming out in a timely manner. I just received Skywarp today. (If this had been a leap year, then he would technically only have been a month behind.)

There isn't honestly a lot to be said about Skywarp that hasn't already been said of Starscream and Thundercracker. The back of the box mentions that Skywarp is often chosen to carry Megatron (I'm pretty sure he just did it once), and they point out that Skywarp has the opening missile pods in his chest despite not actually using them in the cartoon. So, points for accuracy.

You would think that after buying Starscream and Thundercracker, that I would be familiar enough with the toy's basic design that transforming Skywarp from jet mode to robot mode would not be a problem for me. If you thought that, though, you would be mistaken. I didn't refer to the instructions, but I had to relearn a lot of transformation steps that I had forgotten. My brain does not retain these highly complex transformations at all.

Skywarp comes with pretty much the same basic stuff as Thundercracker: three alternate faces (surprise, smile, and laughter), two rocket thrust blast effects, three differently-shaped blast effects, the elaborate figure stand with armature, and a clear mount to connect him to the stand. Skywarp also gets a gun-mode Megatron, the same type of accessory that came with Starscream. There are a few scene-specific accessories they could have probably included with Skywarp (like the control device Chip Chase stuck to his leg in "Roll for It," a baseball player for Soundwave to throw at Skywarp as per "Child's Play," etc.) but they don't really do that with Decepticon characters too much, it seems.

I love his colors. We've gotten quite a few Skywarp toys over the years based on his Sunbow colors, and they've varied in terms of accuracy. Sometimes they remember to paint his shoulders purple and sometimes they don't; sometimes he gets the correct purple guns and sometimes he gets black ones; etc. This time, they got everything pretty much exactly right. He's a slightly off-black color, which is typically the color he appeared in animation, so you could actually see the black pen lines they used to draw him. His fingers are a slightly different color than his actual hands, probably because they're made of an alternate thermoset plastic with greater tensile strength, and they don't quite match up. I would say this is his only flaw.

I guess now that I've got all three toys, I'll have to remember where I put the figure stands for the other two guys and connect them all together. My Masterpiece toys are already packed up for the move, though, so I won't be able to do any group shots until later in the month.

I'm really prepared to be done buying Masterpiece versions of the 1984 jets.. Yes, they all benefited enormously from this very expensive do-over, but now I'm ready to move on to some new characters we haven't seen yet. Let's get some Masterpiece versions of the Insecticons or the Constructicons or the Triple Changers! And I really hope they don't announce Thrust or Ramjet or Dirge 2.0, because I'm not prepared to replace those guys.

So TakaraTomy had previously announced that if you mailed them the box flaps for all three toys, thye would send you a coronation kit for Starscream 2..0. Then they followed up with a clarification that it was meant only for consumers in Japan. Well, I went ahead and sent them my box flaps anyway. I drafted a letter, translated it with Google into Japanese, and asked them to please send me the kit. I'm technically one day past the deadline, but I guess we'll see what happens. (I have since read about fans sending their box flaps to somebody they know in Japan, so it could be postmarked from that country. Well, I didn't think about that. Oh, well.)

Hhhhhhh. So much buyer's remorse today. I mean, I love him, and if I didn't own him, I would have pined for him until I finally got him. But, I spend way too much money on plastic robots. This guy was ridiculously expensive. And now I need to find a nice, Skywarp-sized box to stuff him into, at least for a little while.

Zob (putting off boxing up all my Final Fantasy IV customs... I really don't want to end up unpacking a box full of broken projects, you know?)

On Tuesday, March 1, 2022 at 4:26:33 PM UTC-8, Zobovor wrote:
> So TakaraTomy had previously announced that if you mailed them the box flaps for all three toys, they would send you a coronation kit for Starscream 2.0. Then they followed up with a clarification that it was meant only for consumers in Japan.

I can almost guarantee that someone somewhere is going to be selling these kits on the secondary market, either YahooJapan or ebay. And given that you seem to have made completing these guys a high priority I'm sure you'll find the funds if the opportunity arises.

> Well, I went ahead and sent them my box flaps anyway. I drafted a letter, translated it with Google into Japanese, and asked them to please send me the kit.

It's an exercise in madness to wonder if Takara will ever get back to you so forget about that happening. Don't let it keep you from jumping on a kit if you have the chance. You missed the deadline and don't even meet the qualifications so get it out of your head and move on.

> Hhhhhhh. So much buyer's remorse today. I mean, I love him, and if I didn't own him, I would have pined for him until I finally got him. But, I spend way too much money on plastic robots. This guy was ridiculously expensive..

Yeah I can see looking at the three MP 2.0 seekers sitting on a shelf and wondering if that's really $750 worth of toy robot fun. But it's the definitive Skywarp, Starscream and Thundercracker so it's mission accomplished in a way. You don't ever need to buy another one of those guys again. They nailed it and short of metal flake paint decos or versions with voice chips or some other highly unlikely weird but desirable gimmick, they'll never improve on these significantly before you die. Now you don't even need all the other versions from all the other lines you have. You could sell all the other ones and be happy with your forever seekers. Like Sheryl Crow says, if it makes you happy then $750 for MP 2.0 seekers can't be that bad.

On Thursday, March 10, 2022 at 10:55:33 AM UTC-7, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:

> It's an exercise in madness to wonder if Takara will ever get back to you so forget about that happening. Don't let it keep you from jumping on a kit if you have the chance. You missed the deadline and don't even meet the qualifications so get it out of your head and move on.

I know it was a shot in the dark. I'm certainly not counting on it. If it happens, great, but if it doesn't, then it didn't cost me anything. It's not like I was going to do anything else with those box flaps!

> Yeah I can see looking at the three MP 2.0 seekers sitting on a shelf and wondering if that's really $750 worth of toy robot fun. But it's the definitive Skywarp, Starscream and Thundercracker so it's mission accomplished in a way. You don't ever need to buy another one of those guys again.

And yet I'm sure I'll find a reason to, at some point down the road. If they do a new Voyager-class version of them for neo-G1 and fix the cockpit/chest issues, and they have smooth body panels instead of all those greeblies? I'm there.

Something tells me we're probably going to get a Masterpiece Grimlock do-over, when and if they get around to doing the other Dinobots. But most of the other releases they've done have been quite excellent, and I'm not perceiving a real need to keep hitting the same characters ad nauseum. They did a great job with Starscream and friends. They no longer have to be embarrassed by Masterpiece Starscream. But it is seriously time to move on to different characters now.

Zob (my cat saw me removing the under-the-counter DVD player, so now she wants to play with the screwdriver)