Another haiku?
One made by the great Sky-Byte?
The world shall rejoice!
Last time we saw him,
He was the old toy, you see;
Dated yet still cool.
In twenty-fourteen,
A brand new version was made!
From the ground up, too!
With Age of the Primes,
Having it's own haiku shark,
We must ask ourselves:
Is T30 good?
Or does it fall short from age?
Let's find out today!
Here we have Sky-Byte in his shark mode. While it's curved in a way that makes it dolphin-like instead of a shark (as dolphins point up and down while sharks instead turn left and right), this isn't entirely out of the norm for his character. He did clap his fins like a dolphin and also swam the ocean like one in the end of the series. Though it does add some personality to his beast mode, he is going to need the aid of a flight stand to keep him from appearing dead and tipped over. The sculptwork is reduced in this figure than on the original, which may be a way to help it match the show and possibly the IDW Comics he appeared in. Yes, the original IDW continuity, itself inspired by G1 but with more modern influences, has a tendency to use characters from post-G1 media for their cast. Some made sense like Waspinator and Rhinox, while Armada Starscream was just a form that the former Air Commander took in his weird character development quest. See, whenever the writers weren't busy doing any OCs with varying degrees of quality, they used whatever toys Hasbro was making at the time to help boost sales in their comics, especially when they used to actually come with them compared to that stupid mini-comic wave Marvel Legends had a while back. Anyways, Sky-Byte is in a bit of a gray area since RID 2001 is seen by the US and rest of the world as its own continuity. Meanwhile, Japan would make it part of their own version of G1 continuity (which combined almost every piece of JG1 media in one universe compared to the US separating Marvel, Sunbow, Dreamwave, IDW, etc).
Anyways, back to the figure itself, the beast mode only has articulation at the jaw, though with how little it opens, combined with the pre-posed nature of the beast mode, it doesn't provide much. For a comparison with his RID 01 counterpart, both are relatively comparable in scale, what with Mega figures being the original Voyagers. The original was much more intricate with its details and paint apps due to its origins as Transmetal II Cybershark. The Thrilling 30 figure scales the detailing back, though they still have some of it. The colors are also distinct, with the new one introducing the baby blue on the shark head as well as making the blues brighter. He does retail the spinning tail gimmick, though it looks different than the one on the original.
Transformation is almost similar to 5he original figure, only with less shell forming this time around, the actual shark head forming the chest instead of the butt, and the robot mode facing forward instead of being backwards. The resulting robot mode is mostly close to the old show, but with some IDW influences like the arms. It looks good for the most part though the arms do look a bit shorter than normal. The right arm especially, what with it actually forming a part of the shark mode and looking a bit undersized in some weird the trick manner. The kibble management is handled better, but I don't like how hollow his lower legs are from the back. If the shin panels could cover the hinges, then that would be better. The chest sticks out more, though that is due to it being the actual shark head this time. I'd argue that a lot of Voyagers do a pretty good job in being well-enginerted and not being too hollow like with some 2012 offerings, so this figure turned out well apart from the right arm and lower legs.
His head sculpt is easily the best part of this figure, and I love how gnarly it turned out thanks to the sharper detailing and yellow paint applied. I wish the fin was silver to match the cheek guards. His articulation consists of a limited ball joint at the neck, swivels at the shoulders moving front and back as well as biceps and thighs, hinges for the arms moving in and out, elbows, knees, and ankles, and universal joints for the hips. Two of the claws can now splay outwards like on the old toy, and he now has a spring loaded missile in his in his left arm instead of a separate blaster. The missile admittedly looks a little phallic.
As far as reuses are concerned, TakaraTomy's Gelshark is much closer to the old show, from the darker colors to the larger use of silver in the deco. Even the iconic two-tone chest has the silver on one side. The hips and missile are now blue.
As for Cloud Hellwarp, he represents an upgraded Skywarp from the brief Transformers Cloud series, which consisted of figures ranging from the oldie but goodie known as Classics Optimus but with white thighs and a wind vane colored like the G2 soundbox to a purple Whirl now named Shockwave. This figure could use a deeper shade of purple, or at least have it be metallic, but it does make for a slick contrast from the mostly blue sea Sky-Byte swims in. That being said, missed opportunity to not have a Cybershark repaint.
For a size comparison, he is taller and overall more athletic than the original figure. While it does deviate in some areas, I'd argue that the Thrilling 30 version still manages to be a good take on the character. It does show its age with the lack of ankle pivot, hollow spaces, and the inward elbows, but it's still able to hold up for today's standards in spite of the early-2010s budget. Even with the AOTP version out there, I still recommend this figure for a way to showcase how each decade separates the main three versions of this character.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
No comments:
Post a Comment