Amazon multipacks and availability are two things that never got along, especially during the War for Cybertron trilogy. Skywarp was a pain in the ass to obtain, the Coneheads were IMPOSSIBLE to find for a good price, and the sets that have Prowl, the Paradron Medic, and the two Onebox Vanette bros are not only hard to find but also 75% disappointing. Kingdom would either continue the curse or at least make reuses of figures that feel nice to own on top of being accessible overall. Perhaps it's the fact that each set had a Beastie that went along with a G1 character that kept scalpers from ruining anyone's chances of getting these figures, but I'm more than happy to say that I'll be going over these two because of what they have in store.
I've decided to go in reverse order this time, starting with the Sideswipe and Maximal Skywarp multipack. At first glance, it is amusing that the more readily available Skywarp is not the G1 guy but the Maximal from a niche part of the Beast Wars series. At first, there's not much to really expect from the set. You're getting a repaint of a bird character that's not as prominent as Airazor, and Sideswipe is seemingly too similar to the Siege version, but he does fall into the route of a Cybertronian to Earth Spectrum, with one side being the abysmal-retool-transition like Ironhide and the other side being a wholly new mold like Optimus Prime and Starscream, then Sideswipe falls around the subtle yet noticeable side, much like Earthrise Megatron. We'll get to the other point in a bit, but you'll see what I mean in the comparison. Either way, these are two good Deluxes in nicely done alternate modes, with one being the best we've gotten for an organic bird, and the other being a mostly nice retool of a figure that didn't need to be an Earth figure at first glance.
Skywarp is a rather interesting case, given how he's a peregrine falcon colored as a bald eagle. Thankfully, the result is much more effective than one would expect, especially considering how the base mold isn't as specific to the cartoon as is the case with the Beasties in general. The brown plastic combined with the white for the legs and the yellow for the beak makes for a visually distinct beast mode, especially with the nice golden talons that he's given compared to Airazor's all-orange feet. Maybe the eyes can be a little more refined, and the beak could be a little less imperfect, but it manages to be well-done nonetheless.
The transformation is the same as with Airazor, and the resulting robot mode is done up pretty well even if it's not 100% accurate to the robot mode of the original design. See, Skywarp's eagle head was also the upper part of the robot head, which was a pretty unwieldy design if you ask me. While I'm sure some would want the eagle head to become the robot head, I'm fine with the robot head being a faux part, and it manages to be sleeker and refined compared to the old toy. I don't even mind that the beast mode head isn't altered, because the way this is a Deluxe figure with the current budget they have means that altering the design would likely compromise the functionality of the toy. His articulation is the same, and the white plastic is thankfully nice and vibrant, even if the missile pods aren't altered or have paint.
For a comparison, here is Skywarp next to Airazor. I should mention that the figure has the wings splayed out while the feet are left unchanged because I wanted to distinguish him further from Airazor. The leaner design of Airazor was already a similarity to Skywarp, and given how the design isn't as feminine as Arcee, Skywarp manages to work rather well. I don't know if Airazor was changed to a guy for Kingdom like he was in Beast Wars for Japan, but I do find it interesting that Silverbolt was not the name chosen for this figure. Whatever. I do wonder if Selects would give us an Elephant Ironhide/Santon and a Lion Prowl/Lio Junior, even if they won't combine into Magnaboss.
Next up, it's the Autobot Car from 1984 in the form of Sideswipe. Comparing him to the Siege counterpart, they did a fairly substantial job in retooling this guy to be distinct from the Siege version. Taking away the Cybertronian/futuristic elements with earth details that better align his car mode with Sunstreaker, things like the vents on the side, the rooftop, the front of the car, etc are different from what the Siege version has. Even the weapons are different from the Siege version; apart from having them all painted in white plastic, the missile top loses the 5mm peg to make for a more cohesive rocket launcher as well as coming with the gun that came with Red Alert and select versions of the mold. Weirdly, the 5mm port on the roof is a little distracting, especially when it was almost nonexistent on the Siege version because of how it's mostly black.
The tooling for the robot mode is the same, but I do appreciate that the arms and thighs are made out of a more opaque and bright white plastic; the Siege version looked rather awkward with those parts in those colors out of the box, and instead of battle damage on the shins, the knee pads are painted white like the feet and midriff are. The articulation is the same, and yes, the rocket launcher still has the issue where if the tab is used on the shoulder, then the head movement is limited thanks to the 5mm port. The differences are not as prominent between him and Sunstreaker, but those white parts do make him look a little more pristine than the Siege version. I'm not sure why that's the case for Sideswipe unless it's a structural purpose. Either way, he looks a little more consistent with Sunstreaker.
This set definitely gives Skywarp more attention thanks to the beast mode and the retooled head being different enough from Airazor to make him more worth the purchase. Sideswipe may be the less impressive of the two if you already own the Siege version, but he's still a good addition if you've never gotten that toy, and it is great that he's in a multipack for Amazon instead of taking up the spot of a more important Kingdom figure. Skywarp is definitely the stronger part of the set, though, and it helps with the fact that he is not repainted as often as Sideswipe is.
Next up, we have the set consisting of a Voyager accompanying a Deluxe. Helps spice up the line, and it consists of Maximal Grimlock and Mirage! While the mold Grimlock uses was already awesome in the Kingdom line, Mirage's Siege toy was one that I didn't hate as much as Doctor Lockdown but am not as super in love with as someone like PrimeVsPrime was. I'll go back into the in-depth comparisons in a moment, but as far as the beast mode for Grimlock is concerned, it has the same pros and cons that Dinobot had, but...
...comparing the two shows that Dinobot has a less cohesive match between the white paint and the white plastic, with the former not having as much of a strong coat to make it look less patchy and the latter being rather ugly as far as how it looks. The white plastic looks a bit waxy, not as bad as Apeface or as horrendous as Maverick, but it definitely doesn't look as rich as the color of the brown plastic used to make Dinobot's beast mode skin. Some would be upset that he's not accurate to the original toy, but that dalmatian raptor looked pretty stupid. This deco looks more believable for a velociraptor, but I have to admit that it's not as refined as Dinobot is., and while the hip joints blend in with the beast mode somewhat better, the white paint definitely looks a little unfinished and the sleeve look on the shoulders of the dino arms are a little meh. At least the head looks nicely done, and at least the teeth don't blend in with the skin (my favorite part is the black surrounding the green eyes).
Grimlock's transformation is the same as before with Dinobot, but the head sculpt is the newest addition to the toy. It looks great, and a nice nod to the old toy without it being too slavish. Makes him eviler than Dinobot, especially with how that mouthplate looks compared to the exposed face of the Predacon turned Maximal. The articulation is pretty much the same as before, and his weapons are pretty underdone as far as paint is concerned, though the sword blends in better in beast mode than with Dinobot.
For a comparison with Dinobot, you can see that Grimlock definitely feels unrefined compared to his moldmate; between the better plastic colors, the extra paint apps, and the layout of colors being better handles than with the former Dinobot Leader, the Shakesperian Transformer is just short of paint for the tail weapon yet he manages to look superior to Grimlock. That's not to say that Grimlock sucks, as I can at least praise the forearms for looking gruesome in gray while the bronze on the inner thighs and lower legs are a nice bronze that ISN'T susceptible to GPS, but he definitely feels budgetary compared to what Dinobot has...
...and perhaps his packmate might explain why he's undercooked. Finally, now we have Mirage up close. He's gone from Cybertronian to Earth for this heavy retool, which means he's changed up both the tooling and engineering of the original Siege figure. He's an F1 Formula race car, with a lovely color scheme of blue and white, and the differences in retooling are done up rather well as we'll get to. It's a much more refined design that doesn't feel as toyish or compromised as the Siege design is.
The weapon storage is changed from the spoiler to the side bonnets of the car mode, which looks a little more convincing if you ask me.
For a vehicle mode comparison, you can see how things start to go from seemingly indifferent to significantly altered when going from the front to the back. The biggest changes include the placement of the arms and the canopy where someone would sit in the vehicle. Siege Mirage had this big block that didn't make the figure look coherent and was more reminiscent of the big, clunky back of Energon Prowl. While you'd think that the latter wouldn't be any better than the Siege version when looking at the arms on the Kingdom figure, at least it flows better than the block wall on the Siege figure. Also, not only are there no clear parts much like the Netflix repaint on the middle portion of the vehicle mode (which becomes the legs), but the faux chest is not visible from the back of the vehicle mode and is instead relocated at the bottom. The tires are not altered, but at least the front of the car is swept back on top of being molded differently.
The transformation is pretty similar for the legs, but the torso has a few differences in mind: apart from the faux chest being in a different position and mechanism, the arms aren't on the same hinges, and the piece that goes in-between the tires are is one hinge and not a multi-piece one. Mirage's robot mode looks differently proportioned from the Siege version, too. Like, the chest isn't as wide and it sticks out a bit from the front; the shoulder pads being spoiler halves is still there but not as slapdash this time around, and the legs, as stated earlier, are opaque! The wheels on the back are shorter in length and thus don't look ugly when viewed from the side, and while there is that annoying thing of the forearms being painted on the front and outer sides only, you still end up with a good retool all around. Going back to the Cybertronian-to-Earth Transition Spectrum, he's in the same vein as Soundwave.
The articulation is about the same as with the Siege version, but there appears to be a subtle addition of an ab crunch that helps make the poses a little more dynamic than without it. It may not be intentional, but it works better than Wreck-Gar's if you ask me. Next to the Siege version, his robot mode is definitely better handled in terms of proportions, and while I do wish that the thighs, chest, and forearms were white plastic, there is one actually issue many have with this toy: the lack of a port for the shoulder cannon. Apart from the cannon not having paint like the Siege version does, many are greatly pissed off because of the lack of a 5mm hole on the collarbone. That being said, it's mainly because of the new transformation, and I'd rather he be functional than have a weird compromise.
And that covers the second 2-pack. OF the two, Mirage manages to be the star of the set, with this being the case where the Autobot takes the cake, unlike the Maximal. Maybe Grimlock would have been better if his paint was better handled or if he had better white plastic, but the truth is, this guy is pretty undercooked compared to his Aubobot packmate; all that retooling sure made him a surprise addition to the line if you ask me.
Overall, these multipacks have been better handled than the ones we got with Earthrise, whether it's the Vanette retools or the Conehead Compromises. You get two beasties that have distinct decoes and heads compared to the previous versions, and the G1 guys are pretty well done (especially Mirage). Plus, they aren't suffering from the same distribution issues that the previous sets had. So yeah, if these interest you, I recommend getting them!
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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