BotCon 2013 "Machine Wars: Termination" Skywarp Production Sample

The effects & new head sculpt, although very cool, are not nearly enough to save this terrible, terrible mold.

Props for trying, though.

Oh god, the white plastic is so bland and unpainted that most of the details become flat, bland, unnoticeable. Although, the new headsculpt's quite nice.

Thank goodness for the drop shadow effect! If not for that, I'd swear this was a photo of some missiles and blobs of paint.

So is this the worst figure in the set?

GuyIncognito wrote:So is this the worst figure in the set?

Pretty much.

I have the original Revenge of the Fallen NEST Dirge version; I think it's okay, but only as that specific character in that specific line. Using it as anyone else just doesn't look right. In my opinion, the mold they should have used for this specific character should have been Prime FE Starscream.

GuyIncognito wrote:So is this the worst figure in the set?

Depends. I personally like it better than Hoist, but he's still far from being my favorite.

This one looks really bland. Should've guessed the white plastic would go largely unpainted...

Okay, while I have mixed emotions about the set... and mold choices... I do really like the teleporting effect. Since I don't have this mold — or any movie molds — it may be fun to mess with.

Mind you, I hope they can avoid movie molds in the future... especially MIXING them. They don't fit with the aesthetics of the other figures, and I'd much prefer some Classics for Botcon.

gothsaurus wrote:Since I don't have this mold — or any movie molds — it may be fun to mess with.

I wouldn't get my hopes up. From my experiences with this particular mold, I'd give it a 7-7.5 out of 10. The fact he has two visible canopies (one of which is the faux part you see on the chest) is one of my main issues. You can always take it off - in fact, I've actually lost that piece - but even then, it's still meh. Especially the "shield" arm, as I call it.

Mind you, I hope they can avoid movie molds in the future... especially MIXING them. They don't fit with the aesthetics of the other figures, and I'd much prefer some Classics for Botcon.

I'm with you there. If they opt for a movie theme, I'd have no problem, 'cuz you know, movie . Maybe even add a couple molds from lines past here and there into said theme (they've done it before, and it didn't look too bad). But mixing movie molds in with fictions such as this aesthetically doesn't look good on the toys in my opinion. Same goes for Prime figures.

They really should have retooled Megaplex with a Megatron-esque head, but the damn budget only allows for four retoolings.

You gotta love the way Funpub poses his arms to make him look symmetrical. I'm no fan of the "teleporting" wings, It's just as silly as battle damage. But Ill take him, I've seen worse.

There's one complaint about Skywarp that bugs me. I accept that the mold is...an acquired taste, to say the least, and that the unpainted white plastic washes out ALL of the molded detail.

But Skywarp has a mid-warp deco. How is that not a good thing? It's even pulled off quite nicely; it's subtle but effective. I mean...maybe they should have made it -less- subtle? Maybe made the entire thing translucent? But all in all it's a pretty good effect.

RAcast wrote:the unpainted white plastic washes out ALL of the molded detail.

Up until now, I'd have called insanity on anyone considering customizing a Botcon exclusive, considering you could always modify its mass-release counterpart and not destroy a limited figure. But this toy's whitewashed detail just scream at you to be be brought out with a dry-erase marker, Gundam style!

Maybe the right shade of purple could even enhance the starting-to-warp effect?

Bumblevivisector wrote:

RAcast wrote:the unpainted white plastic washes out ALL of the molded detail.

Up until now, I'd have called insanity on anyone considering customizing a Botcon exclusive, considering you could always modify its mass-release counterpart and not destroy a limited figure. But this toy's whitewashed detail just scream at you to be be brought out with a dry-erase marker, Gundam style!

Maybe the right shade of purple could even enhance the starting-to-warp effect?

Even then, I wouldn't dare customize or kitbash in any way, shape, or form.

Mindmaster wrote:

Bumblevivisector wrote:

RAcast wrote:the unpainted white plastic washes out ALL of the molded detail.

Up until now, I'd have called insanity on anyone considering customizing a Botcon exclusive, considering you could always modify its mass-release counterpart and not destroy a limited figure. But this toy's whitewashed detail just scream at you to be be brought out with a dry-erase marker, Gundam style!

Maybe the right shade of purple could even enhance the starting-to-warp effect?

Even then, I wouldn't dare customize or kitbash in any way, shape, or form.

Yeahh, if you have any intent to sell it ever, I wouldn't touch it. You'd be better off buying a mass release one. Someone will probably recreate the head on shapeways at some point if enough people are interested.

Mindmaster wrote:They really should have retooled Megaplex with a Megatron-esque head, but the damn budget only allows for four retoolings.

The head sculpt limit isn't the excuse they're using. Earlier in this thread it was mentioned that Dreadwing's mold became available very late in production. One could infer there wasn't much time to do anything but repaint it.

Still, if wishing made it so...

I think a cost effective fix for this, to have it come out much better, would have been to mold larger parts in translucent. You then paint over them in an uneven style for the tele-porting effect, while at the same time making it LOOK like the parts aren't molded exactly the same.

I actually dig this mold. This definitely is one of the better selections from the movie line imo.

Too bad I can't get the set.

The official BotCon facebook page continues to share images of their production samples from this year's convention exclusive Machine Wars: Termination box set. Today we get a look Obsidian, check him out below!

Probably the best figure in the set. Although a new Megaplex head would surly change my mind...

Does the term "production sample" mean that they still don't have the actual sets in hand only 18 days before Botcon ?

Don't like him quite as much now... his gray is a bit too light, and there are more yellow highlights than I anticipated.

Still, easily the best figure in the set.

Hmm, he seems a lot more gray and a lot less blue than I was hoping for/expecting. I may not be quite so determined to pick him and Strika up after all.

xyl360 wrote:Hmm, he seems a lot more gray and a lot less blue than I was hoping for/expecting. I may not be quite so determined to pick him and Strika up after all.

But the gray is show-accurate. That's the closest color any Obsidian toy has ever been to his cartoon colors.

Sabrblade wrote:

xyl360 wrote:Hmm, he seems a lot more gray and a lot less blue than I was hoping for/expecting. I may not be quite so determined to pick him and Strika up after all.

But the gray is show-accurate. That's the closest color any Obsidian toy has ever been to his cartoon colors.

Yeah, that's true, I think the blue just looked nicer to me and the gray more bland (even though show accurate). It would be nice if they'd re-release he and Strika in fully show-accurate colors though (the original toys, not these) but I don't think that will ever happen.

xyl360 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

xyl360 wrote:Hmm, he seems a lot more gray and a lot less blue than I was hoping for/expecting. I may not be quite so determined to pick him and Strika up after all.

But the gray is show-accurate. That's the closest color any Obsidian toy has ever been to his cartoon colors.

Yeah, that's true, I think the blue just looked nicer to me and the gray more bland (even though show accurate). It would be nice if they'd re-release he and Strika in fully show-accurate colors though (the original toys, not these) but I don't think that will ever happen.

For now, thought, the BWR toys are the closest options.

Sabrblade wrote:

xyl360 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

xyl360 wrote:Hmm, he seems a lot more gray and a lot less blue than I was hoping for/expecting. I may not be quite so determined to pick him and Strika up after all.

But the gray is show-accurate. That's the closest color any Obsidian toy has ever been to his cartoon colors.

Yeah, that's true, I think the blue just looked nicer to me and the gray more bland (even though show accurate). It would be nice if they'd re-release he and Strika in fully show-accurate colors though (the original toys, not these) but I don't think that will ever happen.

For now, thought, the BWR toys are the closest options.

For Strika (which I have), yeah. I also have one that I custom painted along with 3 Universe Obsidians (which were a nice shade of dark blue).

hey xyl360.... pics or it never happened.

Seriously, would love to see a pic of the customs you did. It's... well... KINDA pertinent.

BotCon has tweeted production sample images of Megaplex from this year's convention exclusive Machine Wars: Termination box set. The figure is a straight repaint of the Skyquake/Dreadwing Voyager mold from the Transformers Prime Robots in Disguise line. Check him out in the mirrored images below.

Looking at this newer image of Megaplex, I actually like it much more than I previously had.

So far, Skywarp is the only one I don't like out of this set.

Yeah, Skywarp seems like a good homage to the original Machine Wars one... but didn't really stand out. That makes me really glad the added the gimmick of the warp to it. Seemed like it needed a cherry-on-top to make it fun. Glad they added that lagniappe. (look it up! It's a great word.)

Knowing that he isn't going to be the exact same guy as the 1997 Megaplex helps me get passed the lack of a Megatron head.

Regardless, still looks really good as a figure.

Also, this particular Tweet seems very mysterious - https://twitter.com/BotCon/status/344110441900953600

Megaplex and his clone army will look very sharp displayed together. Megaplex, Skywarp, XXXX and XXXX all will be revealed at #BotCon2013

We know one of those is Thundercracker, but the other one is new.

Sabrblade wrote:Also, this particular Tweet seems very mysterious - https://twitter.com/BotCon/status/344110441900953600

Megaplex and his clone army will look very sharp displayed together. Megaplex, Skywarp, XXXX and XXXX all will be revealed at #BotCon2013

We know one of those is Thundercracker, but the other one is new.

Has to be (based on) BWII Dirge. Or maybe RiD Skyfire?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Also, this particular Tweet seems very mysterious - https://twitter.com/BotCon/status/344110441900953600

Megaplex and his clone army will look very sharp displayed together. Megaplex, Skywarp, XXXX and XXXX all will be revealed at #BotCon2013

We know one of those is Thundercracker, but the other one is new.

Has to be (based on) BWII Dirge. Or maybe RiD Skyfire?

Unless it's a different body-type since both Megaplex and Skywarp/Thundercracker are clones yet have different body-types.

I'm getting Megaplex because I didn't get Dreadwing nor his bro.
I swear, no store withing 50-70 miles from my house had him.
The paint looks blah on this figure. Time for customizing

Anyone else think this would look good repainted as G1 Thunderwing?

Windsweeper wrote:Anyone else think this would look good repainted as G1 Thunderwing?

Ehhh, maybe. But we already have a Classics Thunderwing in the form of Generations Thunderwing.

We do have a deluxe Thunderwing. (read "deluxe" as "deal-breaker size class")

NOTE: This is NOT from the comic, just a fun pic I found:

Nice echo of Milne's Megatron: Origin, there!

Is it Burcham's art, or someone emulating him?

EDIT: It is Burcham, just saw the signature on the last panel. The image seems to be titled MWPrequel. Are you sure it's not going to be part of the comic?

Va'al wrote:Nice echo of Milne's Megatron: Origin, there!

Is it Burcham's art, or someone emulating him?

I dunno. The person who posted it (also for fun) didn't say.

Sabrblade wrote:

Va'al wrote:Nice echo of Milne's Megatron: Origin, there!

Is it Burcham's art, or someone emulating him?

I dunno. The person who posted it (also for fun) didn't say.

Well, it would explain why his head isn't Megatron-y.

Va'al wrote:Nice echo of Milne's Megatron: Origin, there!

Is it Burcham's art, or someone emulating him?

EDIT: It is Burcham, just saw the signature on the last panel. The image seems to be titled MWPrequel. Are you sure it's not going to be part of the comic?

Well played FunPub. Well played.

Va'al wrote:EDIT: It is Burcham, just saw the signature on the last panel. The image seems to be titled MWPrequel. Are you sure it's not going to be part of the comic?

That's what the guy who posted it said.

Unless he was trying to throw us off.

Either way, I'll make no assumptions until official confirmation says one or the other.

SNAP!

I didn't realize it at the time because he was using a screenname, but the person who posted the pic originally was Josh Burcham himself.

But, as I said, it's just a pic made for fun, rather than official.

Mindmaster wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Va'al wrote:Nice echo of Milne's Megatron: Origin, there!

Is it Burcham's art, or someone emulating him?

I dunno. The person who posted it (also for fun) didn't say.

Well, it would explain why his head isn't Megatron-y.

This production sample makes the head look more Megatron-y than ever. I still see Dreadwing when I look at this guy, but he looks more like an original character than he did during the first reveal.

Much as I hate to admit it, Megaplex is starting to appeal to me...

Sabrblade wrote:Also, this particular Tweet seems very mysterious - https://twitter.com/BotCon/status/344110441900953600

Megaplex and his clone army will look very sharp displayed together. Megaplex, Skywarp, XXXX and XXXX all will be revealed at #BotCon2013

We know one of those is Thundercracker, but the other one is new.

I'm hoping for Thundercracker and a Dirge in Waspy colors from that mold.

gothsaurus wrote:hey xyl360.... pics or it never happened.

Seriously, would love to see a pic of the customs you did. It's... well... KINDA pertinent.

Here you go:


Sorry the camera on my phone kinda sucks, but it's all I got.

hmm... really needs more paint in robot mode.

Having trouble telling what changes you've made (probably the camera phone) — though it seems shinier, for sure. I can see some extra silver trim, I think. (?) Any hints?

gothsaurus wrote:Having trouble telling what changes you've made (probably the camera phone) — though it seems shinier, for sure. I can see some extra silver trim, I think. (?) Any hints?

He added the purple. The chest piece is of the original Beast Machines toy. The Japanese version retained the retooling done for Universe Nemesis Strika, which added an

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

gothsaurus wrote:Having trouble telling what changes you've made (probably the camera phone) — though it seems shinier, for sure. I can see some extra silver trim, I think. (?) Any hints?

He added the purple. The chest piece is of the original Beast Machines toy. The Japanese version retained the retooling done for Universe Nemesis Strika, which added an

Bingo !

I purpled her up, that's all . Not one of my most extensive customs/repaints, but she works well enough for my purposes.