It's very weird to get two Skids toys within two days of each other. It's a veritable Skidslebration!

The Masterpiece version of Skids was announced in January 2021, went up for pre-order in April, and was originally supposed to ship in November of that year. Production delays pushed things back a bit, and now I've finally got mine, just over a year later.

According to Google Lens, his box (which is in Japanese) does mention that his character only appears in two cartoon episodes ("Quest for Survival" and "Triple Takeover"), and also mentions a plan to return to the idea of Masterpice toys being authentic representations of real cars. To this end, Skids is fully licensed from Honda Motor Co. and I suspect we'll also see this sort of official licensing when and if they get around to doing Jazz, Mirage, and Trailbreaker/Hoist.

This was the first Masterpice I'm aware of that doesn't use screen shots from the cartoon series to showcase the character's gimmicks and weapons. I'm a little sad that they broke with tradition, but I guess it was necessary.. Instead, the instructions play up the toy's various realistic functions like the opening car doors, the opening hood, and the opening hatchback. Unlike G1 Skids, there isn't room for a driver in the cabin. There is room for a scooter in the trunk, but this version of the toy doesn't come with one (they included it with Reboost, though). You can, however, stuff his weapons back in there if you want.

His vehicle mode is a little over 4.5" in length, and is of course bigger than the G1 toy and even larger than the Legacy version. All the realistic, authentic details are there—the Honda logo, the windshield wipers, even little tiny silver keyholes on the passenger doors and gas tank door. The headlights, which are yellow, have little plastic caps covering them to make it look like they're made from glass. (Weirdly, it's the Legacy toy that has more detail on the insides of the windows. You can see the automatic door locks and interior speakers on the Legacy version, but the Masterpice toy doesn't exhibit these details on the doors at all.)

His transformation isn't too different from the G1 toy. In broad strokes, it's the same idea. The rear of the vehicle becomes the legs, with the rear wheels tucking around to the insides of the feet. The side view mirrors tuck away, folding into the hood compartment. There are some flip-out panels to partially cover the wheels. The arms are folded at the elbow and tucked under the hood. Unlike the Legacy toy, the shoulders pretty much have to be in a high position, closer to the head. You can do some finagling and position them lower, but you have to unfold parts of his torso to get there.

As a robot, he's just under six inches in height. I've still got Legacy Skids on my desk, who I just bought yesterday, and I'm struclk by how short and squat the Legacy version is compared to the Masterpiece version, the latter of which being closer to the proportions of the G1 toy. His hips make little click-click-click sounds when you pose the upper legs, but those seem to be the only ratcheting joints on the toy. He's got impressive articulation—rocker ankles, moving fingers, a swivel waist, etc. No interchangeable faces, and no scene-specific accessories (a canister of robotic insecticide might have been appropriate).

He comes with the nitrogen gun (blue with black barrel) and twin electron blaster (vac-metal chrome), like the Legacy toy, as these were the two weapons he equipped in the cartoon show. No sign of the rocket pod, the third weapon that came with the G1 toy (that also came with Reboost, along with a more Diaclone-style gun instead of the cartoony-looking nitrogen gun). As per the cartoon, you can mount the guns to his forearms on little tabs, but he doesn't actually hold them at all.

Even though this is a hybrid design that borrows a lot of elements from the G1 toy, he's colored more like his animated cartoon model, with lighter blue used for his arms and head and kneecaps. Also, even though there's sculpted detail on his upper legs that suggests the consumer-applied stickers, the legs themselves are plain blue. The head sculpt is also based on the cartoon look, as the G1 toy had Jazz horns and a prominent chin guard that that this version lacks. Aspects that remind me more of the toy include the red details on the shoulders (these were the stickers that heled hide the screws used for assembly) and the off-center Autobot symbol on the hood.

Hasbro Pulse sold Masterpiece Skids for $89.99, which is expensive for a Voyager-sized toy. But, he has the intricacy and complexity you'd expect from a Masterpice release, and he's far less pricy than a lot of recent Masterpiece toys have been (looking at you, $tarscream and Thunder¢racker and $kywarp). Hopefully this will see the end of the toys just continuing to get more and more costly. Also, the hybrid design approach, as opposed to the extreme cartoon accuracy of recent releases, will hopefully make fans happy.

Zob (he got so little screen time that it honestly doesn't matter much to me)