Review: Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Predacons Rising Skylynx

Hi everyone! I'm back for another review; this time its the blog's first Transformer review! Today I'm gonna be looking at the Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Predacons Rising Skylynx (wow, bit of a mouthful!).

Now when I found out there was going to be a new Skylynx figure, I could hardly believe it! One of my favourite G1 characters was going to get a new lease of life! I already knew it was going to be a repaint, but I didn't mind, I am a sucker for slavish G1-themed repaints after all! You can imagine my surprise though when I found out he was going to be a Predacon instead of an Autobot! Nevertheless I really liked the look of him, and as soon as I saw him I snapped him up! So did he live up to my expectations? Well, lets take a look!

Now Skylynx is a repaint of Beast Hunters Skystalker; a figure that I have any interest in buying, much like most of the other Beast Hunters toys (except for Predaking and Ultra Magnus). However I can safely say that I have grown to like this version of the Skystalker mold! Here we have him in his beast mode, which is easily my favourite of his two modes! Like the other Predacons in the Beast Hunters series, he transforms into a dragon-like creature, though I have no idea what it actually is! While Skystalker was coloured in various shades of blue, Skylynx here takes his colours directly from his G1 counterpart, being predominantly white and blue with gold and burgundy parts (substituting for the G1 counterpart's red). Despite him being the wrong faction, the colours suit this mold a lot better than Skystalker's colours did, and also give him a very skeletal appearance, which I love! Look at that head and tell me its not a skull!

In terms of features, all Skylynx has to offer (in both modes really) is that his wings double up as disc launchers. By rotating them forward and pushing on the white internal section of the wing, the gold disc will fire out. An interesting little feature, but very underwhelming as the discs do not fly very far. I can't help but feel that the lack of the discs is an improvement on the beast mode, helping to enhance the skeletal appearance.

Thats all for the beast mode! Now lets take a look at Skylynx in robot mode!

As I mentioned, Skylynx's robot mode is my less preferred of the two modes. However, that doesn't mean i don't like it! Its certainly growing on me! Again, the mold works much better in these colours than in Skystalker's, with the white, gold and blue presenting a much more visually appealing robot mode than the several shades of blue.

Skylynx has some excellent poseability in this mode, with ball joints at his shoulders and hips, and also hinged joints at his elbows and knees. His head is also mounted on a swivel joint (sadly not a ball joint), and his wings can be positioned in whatever way pleases you.

One thing I did intitially dislike but has now grown on me is his head. In a very unique way for a transformer, his head is mounted inside his beat mode's mouth, giving him the appearance that his face is being sicked up by a dragon skull. However, looking at it now it reminds me of a tribal headdress, where tribe member would wear animal skulls on their heads! Think the Ewok leader from Return of the Jedi!

Like I said before, the only action feature in this mode is the wing disc launchers. Sadly the transition from beast to robot doesn't enhance their power, so theres no point in mentioning them again! A small extra feature is that the tip of his beast mode's tail can detach to become a kind of spiked knuckle duster. A nice little feature, but for some bizarre reason the instructions don't mention it!

So thats about it for Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Predacons Rising Skylynx. Do I like the figure? yes I do! Is it the G1 Skylynx homage that I wanted? Mostly, yes (all it needed was to be an Autobot). Finally, do I recommend this figure? Yes, especially if you haven't got the Skystalker version, this one looks much better! If you want to get this guy, he is exclusive to Tesco shops here in the UK where you can pick him up at a reduced price, along with most of the other Beast Hunters figures!

Thanks for checking out this review, I hope you enjoyed it! Stay tuned to the blog for more Transformer reviews in the near future!