Packaging is the same old stuff, with the figures packed in their robot forms. The presentation still looks good, but I’m getting a little tired of the bios on the back. Why does every character have to be paired with some kind of personal vendetta against another? Bah! Let’s start with Skystalker.

I can’t tell whether Skystalker is supposed to be a stealth bomber or just some little stealth tech drone. The little red eye on the front of his cockpit makes me think he’s supposed to be an unmanned device. Either way I absolutely love his aircraft mode. The design is fresh and original and we haven’t seen anything quite like it in the Transformers line yet. There’s an impressive amount of tooling on a figure this size, right down to the panel lines and rivets. The white ID numbers stenciled on the sides look great and I love the Decepticon logos with the wings. Apart from a folding front landing gear, Skystalker’s jet mode doesn’t do a whole lot, but it sure does look awesome.

It took me a bit to get this guy into his jet mode the first time, but once I knew what I was doing, transforming him is a breeze. In robot mode, Skystalker looks pretty creepy. He’s got huge feet, but the rest of him is pretty lean and lanky. His head is certainly reminiscent of G1 Shockwave and I really like how his eye in jet form is also his eye in robot form. Nice continuity there. I also have to point out all the nice details sculpted on the inside of his wings. Its just a fine example of Hasbro going the extra mile on these toys. Fantastic.

About the only thing I’m not crazy about with this figure is the way his wings hang off his arms. They’re on balljoints so they can be folded neatly to the back, but since they’re attached to his shoulders and not his back, every time you move his arms, you pretty much have to reposition his wings to keep them out of the way. Its not a huge deal for me, since I just display these guys, but I’m thinking it might interfere with the play value a bit.

Skystalker also has a pair of hooks or axes or some kind of hand weapons concealed in his wings. You can pop them out and put one in each of his hands. Doing so also creates some cool cut-out patterns on his wings while he’s in robot form. Generally speaking, i’m not a big fan of my Transformers having swords and axes and shit like that, but then again, weapons are always a nice bonus, so who am I to complain?

The articulation on this figure is excellent. He’s got balljoints in his neck, shoulders, elbows and upper legs. His knees are hinged and for some strange reason his feet are spring loaded and fold up as soon as you pick him up. Weird.

Next up is Breakdown.

Straight away, this guy gets extra points in my book for being a Decepticon car and an homage to a G1 Stunticon. Unfortunately, he needs that extra cred. His car mode is pretty simple, which I probably wouldn’t mind so much if I wasn’t looking at him at the same time as Skystalker. The difference in detail on these two figures is huge and the car design seems a little over stylized or even super deformed. Also, Breakdown’s colors, or lack thereof, aren’t helping him too much either. His white motif is pretty boring and the red patch on his hood looks like it was thrown in as an afterthought. I’m sure this figure will be repainted into something much more interesting, but that doesn’t mean that Breakdown here couldn’t have gotten a better treatment with the brush.

Overall, Breakdown is easy to transform and has a pretty good robot mode. The fact that his chest is made up from the back end of the car is at least something different and I really like his head sculpt. I’m not crazy about how far his hood hangs off his back, but at least its out of the way as is most of his car kibble. He’s a lot more colorful in robot form, as most of his hidden robot parts are blue, but I’m still not sure about the color scheme. The whole red, white and blue motif makes him look like he should have been a Red Alert figure, rather than an evil Stunticon homage.

Breakdown’s articulation includes balljoints in the neck, shoulders and upper legs, and hinged elbows, knees and ankles. He’s a fun little figure with nice balance and poseability, but with some of the incredible Scout Class figures we’ve been getting lately, he defintely comes up a little short.

And that’s about all I have to say about these guys. The Scout Class figures have come a long way since the launch of the Revenge of the Fallen toys. These guys were $7 a piece, and I think they were both worth it. Yeah, Breakdown could have been better, and I’m sure this sculpt will be put to better use with more interesting colors down the line, but either way I’m glad to have both of these new Decepticons in my collection.