Thanks to our very own 2005 Boards member ChErikS for sharing with us the first in-hands images of the highly expected War For Cybertron: Siege Deluxe Skytread.
It seems ChErikS used some mysterious dark magic to get this early copy of Skytread, but he was kind to share images and comments about him in our boards.
Skytread is a modern rendition of the G1 Duocon Flywheels. Different from Power Of The Primes Battletrap, Skytread has no individual robot mode for each vehicle, but this is G1 toy-accurate anyway. We are sure you will be very pleased with this toy, and here we share some highlights:
- This figure has no battle-damage finishing like other Siege toys we have seen before. Correction – Skytread has battle damage on the sides of his tank treads.
- The articulation is great including ankle tilts.
- No bio on the box.
- No card included.
Update: Image combining Skytread with POTP Battletrap added.
We won’t spoil more details, so you can click on the bar to see the mirrored pictures and read the full review on the 2005 Boards!
thedicemaster
Dr. WU is doing an unofficial WFC compatible squawkbox "chatter"
bird and gorilla, with combined robot and individual cassette modes.
TargetmasterJoe
Uh-oh. That's gonna make me want them to do a redo of Battletrap that forgoes the robot modes for the two halves…
Bass X0
Would anyone like more toys like this? A Deluxe toy with two vehicle or beast modes that combine into one robot mode? Because I'd like a new Squawkbox, made up of Squawktalk hawk and Beastbox gorilla. Obviously they would not transform into cassettes as well.
I find that Skytread's vehicle modes not having individual robot modes of their own is better, as Battletrap was a loose floppy mess. Skytread holds together well and is far more poseable than Battletrap.
JT-bob
Just picked this figure up at Ross for $8. I had initially passed because he doesn't look that good to me, the Duocons not having their own bot modes after Battleslash got it so right kinda bummed me out, and there's a simplicity about the way this thing looked that turned me off. Alt modes mean a lot to me, and these didn't look like they were gonna get it right. But my Siege Decepticon ranks are really low compared to the Autobots. So how did it do?
Flywheels' vehicle modes are a big ol' disappointment. The plane would be really quite good if they hadn't just abandoned the robot arms underneath, they should have found a way for the tank to take those arms instead. Transformers lately has suffered a lot of "it's a plane… with a huge box underneath" and this is a big one with the robot arms as tall as the fuselage of the plane. It's disappointing too because the plane has a few clever moves in transformation, even fold-out panels that tab into place under the wings. Aside from the arms, the paint could have had more going on, but otherwise just really stings from the bot parts.
The tank, meanwhile, deserves no credit whatsoever. This isn't the laziest transformation, but dang if it isn't down there. There's obviously a problem with the PVC not shrinking to the tolerances expected, leaving them slightly too big to allow for transformation, this can be assumed because not only does the turret mount problem exist, but the top covers also don't tab in well. That said, even if you left out the technical issues, it's a crummy tank — the turret can't move, the cannon can't move, the back of the tank is just hollow robot parts, and there's not nearly enough paint on it thanks to the turret being mostly PVC. It's a shame because the lower tank body looks alright, aside from having nowhere for a driver to go.
Transformation is a mismatch, the lower body is pretty simple, while the upper body gets to do cool stuff like splitting apart and folding in and locking into place, then you mash 'em together and they're a robot.
Flywheels' robot mode is a bit of a bland thing, short and with not enough deco. It has all the minimum peg holes and blast effects points and articulation requirements of a Siege figure – albeit with a restricted waist joint – but there's just something missing. The only weathering ends up in the sides of the feet, and because of the large swaths of brown plastic and then red plastic, he could use a lot more deco of any kind. He also has just one forward-facing blast effect point, and it's on his left forearm; the other 2 are on the top of each shoulder, which suggests this wasn't designed for Siege at all — or maybe someone just forgot about this until the 11th hour.
The biggest thing that gets under my skin is the lack of fine detail sculpting on this figure. Siege figures generally have a lot of fine detail which helps them pop, and Flywheels… er, Skytread here doesn't have nearly as much. The details it does have aren't particularly sharp, so he seems kinda shallow. Taking a step back, his feet are huge with substantial permanent heel spurs. That makes him really good at holding poses, he's not insanely articulated to go beyond what a general Transformer can pose, but he can hold those poses pretty well.
Each gun has some silver paint details and a blast effect point at the tip. His guns can "combine" by jamming one up the other's rear end to form a very long, thin gun. It's not super awesome, but it can be held in both hands at once and he can pose facing the direction he's holding it, so that's not nothing. If he had wrist articulation he could do a lot more here, he has great elbow joint range of motion, but you're locked into one basic pose without wrists.
Overall, he's what I expected, which isn't a good thing. If I had paid full price for this, this would get a D+ grade. At the $8, he's a C, if you don't mind weak alt modes a C+ but no higher.
heltskelt
There’s little to add. I really like the figure. I just got it. I’ll have to fix that flange before it drives me crazy. Such a shame that it went into production with that flaw. Although, small, but should’ve been caught.
Edit to add photo after fix.
reluttr
Ok so I just worked up enough courage to do this to my copy of Slamdance… and it works! The turret now pegs in rather securely, though personally I still wish hasbro had made the peghole slightly taller so it is rock solid. Still though, it was easy enough to do with the wood carving knifes I have. My only complaint is that I couldn't quite make it look like it came this way from the factory, but it is pretty close. lol
But yeah if you find the turret wont stay plugged in on the tank, just do the mod and more than likely it will fix the issue. If it doesnt then just hit the peghole with a little future and that should do it.
BTW for anyone wondering what wood carving knives I use. The ones I got were advertised as 3d print cleanup tools and came in this cool box with a woodpecker on it, but that was way back in 2012. But this set here is identical, they just relabeled the box.
https://www.amazon.com/Octave-Tool-…s=wood+carving+3d+print&qid=1578817695&sr=8-5
If you search amazon for "wood carving set" you can actually pay slightly more for a way more fancy set with wooden handles that even comes with tiny whetstones you can use to keep the knives sharp.
https://www.amazon.com/Mudder-Carvi…d_r=9NF4E93Z9JVJ33BN4YJZ&psc=1&qid=1578817917
Which speaking of that, these things are unexpectedly REALLY sharp, so be very patient when using them or you will likely wind up customizing your thumb when it unexpectedly slips through a soft section of plastic. I did that once with a box cutter, went through a leather welding glove right into my thumb, right the to the bone. It still kinda aches depending on the weather. lol
CobraKai
Or the gif plays in reverse then forward over and over right when the barrel appears/disappears
Wh33ls
How did I miss this post?!
Fantastic work, @OptimusTimelord!
Though, I may have to ruin it for some of you possibly, and I'm sorry but; I LOL when I saw where the tank barrel shrank and retracted into. Perfectly placed, though I'd hate to see the reverse of that animation as it might be too lewd.
Sorry, not sorry.
OptimusTimelord
Thanks! It's the faithfulness to his G1 self that really makes this a stand-out figure for me; usually mainline figures seem to go out of their way to re-imagine the designs/alt modes etc. Skyfire and Omega look promising, but I wish they did a whole line of this kind of no-nonsense 'Masterpiece-on-a-budget' and perhaps cover some obscure but well-loved G1 characters who would otherwise never get a MP look-in.
CobraKai
I can’t stop watching that GIF! Amazing.
Now I REALLY want this guy.
Revoticus
Wow! That is too good, if I hadn't already bought him I would run out to the store the second I saw this
ultramagnus1
I have two copies
One is in bot mode with his titanmaster as a backpack and the other is in altmode on sky shadow who is in base mode.
Great fig
GoLion
I actually prefer this figure to the POTP toy. Trying to squeeze in the individual robot mode into each component had a net negative impact on the POTP figure.
weevil
this figure is freaking awesome. I have this one.
Urizen123
This – as I understand it – is a fundamental design issue, rather than a sporadic quality control one.
The most elegant solution is the modification outlined below (props to thedicemaster!) which will allow both the cannon and leg panels to connect securely in tank mode.
CobraKai
I agree. It was actually that stop motion short that was released recently that led me to buying him. As for the 2 separate robots, wasn’t the G1 just like this? Jet/tank that formed into one robot? I know that they split them for Battletrap, but even he was originally only one robot. So, I don’t mind Skytread having one robot mode
smf2045
I'm glad we got this guy, and I don't care that he doesn't transform into two separate robots.
My only complaints are that I had to trim some plastic off of the back of the tank cannon with an Exact-o knife in order to get it to fit into the 5mm port. The port was showing serious plastic stress marks, so I felt like I had no choice.
He looks good with his fellow Duocon, Battletrap from PotP.
I do recommend Skytread, but be careful and be ready to modify if needed.
Wh33ls
It may have or may not have been. Since we're not privy to 99% of any given toy's design phase, it's only just largely guess work and not indicative of any supposed thought processes from either hasbro or takara design teams.