Transformers 3rd Party: Unique Toys - War Hawk

When newcomer to the 3rd party Transformers market, Unique Toys, announced they were making a new "Predaking" fans went crazy.  Then resin images were shown of their first 'bot, War Hawk, some of the fans that were clamoring before started to back off.  I was reserving my thoughts until I saw the final product and even though I never placed a pre-order for War Hawk, I was tempted.

Of course not that long after Unique Toys' announcement, Mastermind Creations also announced their plans for their own take on "Predaking".  I wonder how many canceled pre-orders BBTS had for War Hawk?

I can appreciate what Unique Toys was trying to do here with the packaging, but look at all the wasted space!  Turns out this release was rushed through production and subsequent releases featured a large window showcasing the toy inside the box.  I like the box art and the gradient fade and grid lines harken back to the days of G1.

I love how the box art of War Hawk wraps around the side of the box.  On the other end in comparison is an image of the actual toy.  Beneath the image is a gold War Lord logo of sorts.

The back of the packaging just looks really drab and unexciting to me.  It doesn't help that the little bio doesn't make a lot of sense.  "No member of the War Hawk as struggled with a sense of identity quite like War Hawk".  Huh?  So is War Hawk a team name or the name of the individual character?

Inside the box you'll find a clear plastic tray holding War Hawk along with his sword and a fist for the combined mode, War Lord.  You also get a combination instruction book / comic book and a tech spec card.

Instructions are well laid out and the line art makes it easy to follow the transformation directions.

I don't recall who the artist is that supplied the art for the comic portion of the instruction booklet, but it's nicely drawn.  It seems the inker however laid it on thick in some areas though.  By the worst part of the comic is the dialog.  If this isn't a good example of "Engrish" I don't know what is!  Nice attempt though and I would like to read all the parts to the comic to see how the story turns out.

  

I love trading cards so I'm really enjoying that many of the 3rd party companies are including tech spec style trading cards such as these.  While some companies are producing thick plastic, credit card like, cards, these are just your standard thin cardboard.  The rounded corners give the card a playing card feel.

To be honest I was surprised at how small War Hawk turned out to be and how "simple" he seems.  Many have described Unique Toys' version of the Predacons as G1 toys with more articulation.  I can see that now.  Color wise it looks good.  The orange and black look great, however the fists and feet are cast in a different shade of orange.  A lot of people early on also reported very sloppy paint applications to the chest and eye visor.  My sample seems to be worry free.

The wings each attach to the back via a small black peg.  This allows for a lot of articulation independent from the other wing.  Articulation for the rest of the figure is done quite well, but it still reminds me of a G1 figure so don't expect FansProject type articulation here.

One aspect that I really applaud Unique Toys on is the individually articulated feathers on the wings.  Being able to spread each feather out a bit gives the toy a little more sense of realism.  War Hawk's only weapon is a sword and it looks great.  The black hilt and red stripe in the center of the blade puts the sword over the top.

War Hawk's robot head is not contained inside the mouth of the eagle, but underneath it.  I kind of wish the designers would have made the eagle head to lie down flat behind the robot head.  As is I think it looks like he's wearing one of those old dunce hats.

The robot head itself has a great sculpt, features red eyes and a yellow face just like his G1 counterpart.  Side by side with G1 Divebomb you can see how Unique Toys take on the Predacons are stylish, but simplistic upgrades.

I often forgot to show off the scale of toys I review so I grabbed Henkei! Ironhide off the shelf so everyone could get a better idea of the size.  As you can tell War Hawk is basically deluxe size.  For this reason alone some people complained that the asking price was too high.  (and yes I realized I have his legs in the wrong position in this picture)

Eagle mode is where I feel this toy really falls flat on it's face.  Granted G1 Divebomb was never my favorite Predacon, the eagle just looks so boring.  Transformation from robot to eagle is also very simple.  The eagle claws fold up inside the legs and during the transformation I noticed that one of the claws was the wrong one!

I don't know if this was a wide spread issue or not, but this is just another example backing up the rumors of War Hawk being rushed through production.

Top down back view

More articulation in the wings and legs when compared to G1 Divebomb, but the eagle mode still fails to impress me.

War Hawk's longer legs allow for "elbow" articulation in arm mode. That one small feature I'm sure goes a long way once the arm is combined with the rest of War Lord.

The large hand for the combiner is no longer stuck in a fist.  The wrist and fingers are all on ball joints allowing for great poseability.  The thumb is on a hinge joint.  Each finger sports two points of articulation in the knuckles.  What I don't care for are the large spikes protruding from the top and bottom of the hand.  Also the little nubs on the back of the fingers along w/ the claw tips are pretty sharp so use caution when playing w/ this toy.

I really wanted to like this toy, but there are just too many things about it that disappointed me.  For that reason I'm glad my friend lent me his figure to review because I would have been severely disappointed if I had paid $75 for this toy.  I applaud Unique Toys' vision and it seems they have learned a few things with subsequent releases in this War Lord series.  However if you want a new "Predaking" to add to your Transformers collection, spend the extra money and go for MMC's Feralcons or even TFC's version that is now underway.

Transformers G1 Return of Convoy: Sky Garry C-360

Today's post will be a combination review and learning lesson. What I mean by that is this. I've always taken my time when it comes to approaching making a purchase of a vintage toy. I've always carefully looked at pictures of the item if it's an online auction, asked questions and made sure that everything was legit. However in my excitement a few months ago I made a mistake. Granted I wasn't able to ask the seller questions about the item (I had to use a proxy service to acquire the item) I'm educated enough that I should have been able to spot at least one thing that should have thrown up a caution flag.

Back in October I had my own mini Japanese G1 haul. Now my haul isn't near as impressive as what Heroic Decepticon is currently showing off on his blog, but none the less I was on cloud 9. I'll eventually unveil some of the other items I acquired, but for now we'll take a look at Sky Garry. First off, can you spot the "warning flag" in the above picture? Do you see what is wrong?

It's got the wrong Micro Trailer. Sky Garry came packaged with a black trailer with the number designation of 0. The trailer inside the box is obviously not the correct one. Stupid me for not catching that!

Outside of the wrong Micro Trailer, I was initially happy w/ my purchase. Overall the box was in great shape and it still retained it's vibrant colors.

This isn't my first Return of Convoy release, but it is my first larger set.Sky Garry's large box finally gave me a chance to really appreciate the beautiful art that adorns the box. I know Sky Garry isn't the most popular or desired of the exclusive Japanese molds, but he is one that has always intrigued me - even more after buying the Brave version earlier this year. Then again it helps that I love Micromasters and I've always dreamed of making my own massive Micromaster city with the various playsets.

If modern day Transformers featured artwork this cool on the packaging I'd be in trouble as I would never want to open the box! Personally I think Sky Garry looks pretty tough and his red white and blue colors evoke a little Star Convoy feel. Appropriate I assume since Sky Garry is supposed to be Star Convoy's right hand man...or bot.

The red skis aside, Sky Garry has a very nice alternate mode and one that just screams Cybertronian. Too bad the artist didn't include his Micromaster, Shotbomber behind the glass in the cockpit.

I've got a few of the Return of Convoy Microtrailer releases in my collection and one of my favorite aspects of their packaging was the artwork. Seeing a Micromaster being launched out of the trailer just looks awesome.  ere we have Shotbomber rushing into battle against the Destrons. Love it.

Speaking of great artwork, the back of the box features not only Sky Garry in action, but also Grandus and several random Micromasters! One of these days I'll acquire Grandus and I'll be able to die a happy Transformer collector.

Towards the bottom of the box you can see the play mechanics of Sky Garry in vehicle mode. If it wasn't already cool enough that he could carry and transport his include Microtrailer, he can be extended to carry an additional 2 trailers. Oh and did I mention that he also transforms in a (tall) Micromaster playset?!

Top and bottom of the box

One side of the box

Tucked away inside on a inner box flap you can find Sky Garry's tech spec rankings and robot points. As you can see Sky Garry ranks pretty high in every category. This means he ain't no push over.

Once I slid the styrofoam tray out of the box my excitement level started to decline a bit. While it isn't extremely noticeable, the left side of the toy was showing signs of yellowing. Of course most vintage toy collectors are familiar with white plastic yellowing over time, but I really didn't even think about that when I placed my bid. Whether it was intentional or not, the seller didn't include any photos of the toy out of the packaging and the box's window doesn't show enough of the toy to really gauge whether the white plastic has yellowed much. Bummer.

  

OK.  So the yellowing isn't that bad. I'm sure I could use that do-it-yourself solution and bleach the plastic to restore the white...but 1) I fear that I'll ruin the toy and 2) I'm lazy.

I don't know if it's just me, but do you think the large red Cybertron/Autobot symbol on his chest looks odd? Perhaps it's the fact that the red seems to bleed over in the lower half, obstructing the white outline that defines the symbol.

At first glance his two white guns don't look so bad. We are dealing with Transformers however where there is More than Meets the Eye.

Flip over one of the guns and you'll see that sometimes looks can be deceiving. With no additional paint applications I would think this piece would be easier to whiten using one of the methods available out there, but again I'm chicken and I let the gun be.

Even with the yellowing on one side of one of the guns, they still don't look that bad when Sky Garry is wielding them. I still had a hard time with just knowing the white plastic was imperfect.

Another drawback to my newly purchased Sky Garry was the fact that he was naked. The auction's description did list that there wasn't any paperwork included, but I wasn't sure if that meant no sticker sheet or if the stickers had been applied. After I made my decision to look for another Sky Garry in better condition, a collector buddy of mine, brr-icy told me that Reprolabels was making a sticker sheet for Sky Garry.

Even with new stickers, you would still have to strategically position Sky Garry so as the yellowed plastic not to show. I went back and forth trying to decide what to do and in the end I had to have a new one. I was also happy to know that Sky Garry isn't the hardest or most expensive Japanese G1 figure out there.

Yellowing plastic aside, I really like his alternate mode. In true G1 fashion, the toy is very simplistic. Sky Garry does have a few "tricks up his sleeve" though.

Using Sky Garry's included Microtrailer or one of the many other trailers that exist, he can effectively grab and transport them. Open up the gray claws in the center and place any Microtrailer underneath.

Now as much as I love Micromasters and the bases and playsets, I gotta admit the designers seemed to have a hard time squeezing in a base mode into some of these toys. I can't stand Sonicbomber's base mode and if I'm honest here, Sky Garry's base mode isn't that great either. To transform from alternate mode to base mode, you basically stand the jet up on it's rear and fold down the arms. There are two separate pieces that you must connect - a great platform and a black ramp. You can place one of his guns on the newly installed gray platform and one at the top. Load him up w/ Micromasters and you're set. Oh yeah, the instructions show Microtrailers set up on each side, with the black trailer in the center attached to the other end of the ramp.

Sky Garry's included Micromaster is Shotbomber. He too has a Cybertronian form - a missile carrying tank. Surprisingly this little guy is still pretty white and looks good. The orange missiles on the top aren't removable, but you can rotate them up and down.

The thing about Micromasters is if you've seen one, you've seem them all. That isn't necessarily a bad thing though. Shotbomber is a bit taller that most Micromasters and at least the orange missiles on his back up add some needed color into his white/gray color pallet. Too bad the chest or head doesn't have some small paint apps as it would really go a long way.

All in all I love this toy and it really pained me to find so many things wrong with it. In fact the only saving grace I had w/ this purchase was that I got it for cheap. Now I know why I wasn't outbid and why the seller starting the bidding where they did. I can't really say I regret the purchase though as it was nice to get my hands on the authentic G1 version of this mold. In the end I just couldn't talk myself into keeping this toy and I eventually sold it on eBay.

So let this be a learning lesson to all of you other collectors out there if you are bidding online. Do you homework. If there aren't many pictures in the listing, ask for more. Not sure about the overall condition, sticker quality, completeness? Ask questions! Now in my case I couldn't ask the seller questions, but that is the risk/reward of bidding outside of eBay.

Transformers Bot Shots: Skywarp

Not to be outdone by his fellow Decepticon seeker, Skywarp too got the Bot Shots treatment and if I might say looks very nice.

The black, purple and silver look great on the mold. Just like how the three Decepticon seekers shared the same mold in G1, the same is true here. However each Bot Shots seeker did receive a new head/face. We go from Starscream's smirk to Skywarp looking like he's sitting on a Cybertronian toilet all stopped up.

The black washes out some of the detail, but there is just something about black TFs that look great.  Even when that TF is a small Bot Shots toy.