TransFormers Collectors' Club 2005 Members Incentive (Timelines) Skyfall

(Members Incentive Monday #3)

While the TransFormers Collectors' Club now seems to be going from strength to strength, with BotCon getting bigger every year, it seems quite strange to look back at Fun Publications first faltering steps as the official fan club license-holders. Plagued by production delays in the beginning (their much-publicised '2 Exclusives per year' not really happening reliably until only a couple of years ago, and their first exclusive, Astrotrain, was a whole year late), I'm sure it wasn't just me that wondered if their license would see them through to the end of their much-vaunted 5-year plan of creating a whole new Prime for their Timelines continuity by giving Club members one piece of an Energon/Superlink-derived gestalt free every year. Skyfall was the first...

Vehicle Mode:
Using the Energon/Superlink A-10 mold, which is probably one of the better gestalt parts from that era, Skyfall is molded mainly in transparent blue plastic, with some parts in opaque red. His Energon chip and weapon are both molded in transparent red, as is his cockpit. This model didn't quite set the precedent for the rest of the components to the Timelines gestalt, but it kind of fits in with the way some molds - most frequently Starscream - have been released officially in transparent plastics, often as 'Ghost' or 'Crystal' versions.

He looks pretty good... but somehow I can't help but think of Wonder Woman's invisible jet when I look at him...


Robot Mode:
The colourscheme appears more balanced in robot mode, with far more of the opaque red visible. Not much else to say about this, since no changes have been made to the mold other than the plastic colours. Just bask in his glowing, transparent glory with these photos.


Skyfall was a distinctly underwhelming introduction to the Club and yet still quite a cool freebie. While the A-10 was one of the better Energon/Superlink gestalt components, none of them were particularly special in their own right.

Way back when I first joined, I had visions of Hasbro pulling the plug on Fun Publications before they completed their 5-year Membership gestalt, but they're still going strong... I actually had to buy Skyfall separately from the Club because I joined in 2006 (such an auspicious year in TransFormers lore), and had my doubts about how worthwhile the expenditure was... but now I have a complete Nexus Prime on my shelves, so I'm glad I took the risk.