Collectibles Reviews

I'm in my 30's and, like many others, loved the original cartoon, the movie and the toy market they spawned. That left me rather surprised to see the Gen 1 Skywarp with an Age-5-and-up rating since the first thing I did was temporarily lose half of the components under my desk. This toy seems completely inappropriate for anyone under 8-10 years old.

So let me rate this two different ways, as a toy for the age range advertised on the box (age 5-10) and then for preteens/adults.

For a 5-year old, expect him/her to lose 30% of the pieces (wings, missiles, front landing gear, robot hands) within the first week. Expect an even younger child, such as a younger sibling, to be in the choking-hazard range. Expect parents to be irritated by the number of lost pieces that are only rediscovered when stepped on in bare feet in a middle of the night potty break. For youngsters, this toy is neither durable nor age appropriate.

Age 5+ rating: Fun ***, Educational ***, Durability **

For a preteen-or-older this is an aesthetically pleasing model. Skywarp looks good as a robot, although the extraneous wings poking out of his back are unwieldy, and he looks great as a jet. I hesitate to call it a toy, though since it's not that easy to transform (feels like you have to force it sometimes just to get the arms out of the underbelly) and, as mentioned previously, the pieces are easy to lose. From a "Transforming Robot" perspective he's a tad underwhelming.

However, Skywarp really does look great perched on a desk, shelf or PC monitor. Just be forewarned that each guest to your office/cubicle will a) pick Skywarp up b) attempt to transform him and then c) spend the next 3-5 distracted minutes picking up the wings and missiles that fell off and scowl as they try to put it back together.

Preteen/Collector rating: Fun ****, Educational ***, Durability ***

Overall, I'd reserve this toy for older kids and adults only.

This toy is pretty close to the original, but the only thing that wasn't like the original are the missles. For some reason they decided to make the new missles really long. Other than that this toy is pretty darn close to the one i had in the 80s.

This toy is awsome! I am 11-years old and transformers are the biggest things in my school. I picked this toy up today at the toys r us by the hotel my family is staying in. my only complaint is that younger children might lose the hands that you must remove when you transform it into jet mode. That is my only gripe. I hope hasbro will soon release re-issues of the mini-cars, and rachet.

GOOD TROOP BUILDER,BUT THE BAG I RECEIVED WAS TORN OPEN AND THERE WERE PARTS EVERYWHERE....

This 10-Pack Sandtrooper Army Buiilder Set consists of 10 Sandtroopers, each armed with a Lance and a Blaster.

The Sandtroopers come in two versions; 8 of them in the all White (or Clean) version and 2 of them in the sandblast (or "Dirty" a.k.a. yellow) version.

In the original POTF range of Star Wars toys by Kenner in the 1990s, both versions of these Sandtroopers come in the Beast Assortment Pack with each Sandtrooper being packaged with a Dewback Beast. This explains the Lance equipment which is basically used to control the Dewbacks.

One noticeable absence in the Sandtroopers' equipment in this set is the Backpack (this was present in the original Dewback Beast Assortment Pack by Kenner). Therefore, if you are a Star Wars fan who is particular about the accuracy of the equipment for your Troopers, this may not be a good buy unless you already have spare Backpacks. But if you are not particular about the equipment, this is a great addition for your diorama setup at a great price.