Still, Sky-Wind is the Skywarp analogue, so at least you know you're about to see photos of the sexy black-and-purple version, and that has to count for something, right?
No box shots with this one either because there's so little difference between the three... So, without further ado...
Vehicle Mode:
Yep, that's a sexy black-and-purple jet alright... and, as with the others, a reasonably well-designed interpretation of the F-22 Raptor. The bulk of the jet is molded in black plastic with the same semi-matte finish as the others, with the tailfins, nose and weapons molded in purple plastic. The paint template for the wing and fin stripes is identical, but uses silver and purple, as is appropriate for a a Skywarp-analogue, while the cockpit canopy is molded in translucent orange and framed in silver.
Skywarp-analogues tend to end up looking best out of the three G1 Seekers, not least because white and blue jets seem so unlikely outside of a display team. Particularly with this being a representation of the F-22, the black colouring makes him look more 'stealth', even though the real-life Raptor's stealth capabilities come from its shape rather than a special paint job... However, since earlier stealth aircraft, such as the B-2 bomber and the F-117, tended to be painted with a radar-absorbing black paint, matte black does still tend to be associated with the concept of 'stealth'. I gather the choice of colour on those specific aircraft was more because they're both intended for night-time operations...
He comes with the same display stand as Thunder-Wrath and Star-Burst, and there are no differences in the sculpts of his weapons. The purple missiles are unpainted and the guns simply have a bit of black paint applied... It does seem a shame that there's no variation in the weapons, particularly in comparison to Mastermind Creations' Hearts of Steel-inspired steampunk Seekers, but it's not as if iGear have a stellar reputation for pulling out all the stops with their products.
Robot Mode:
Sky-Wind certainly looks cool in robot mode, but I have to confess a preference for Skywarp analogues having black thighs. Knight Morpher Warper had black armour over his metallic-look thighs, and that worked well enough... but having so much metallic grey on this one - running from the mid-waist down to the knees - makes it look like he's wearing high-waisted shorts along with his large, knee-length boots. I'm sure some would complain that he was too samey if his thighs were black, but it just doesn't look right to me... On the whole, though, and much like Thunder-Wrath, what sculpted detail there is stands out better here than it did on Star-Burst.
In most respects, he's the very model of an IDW-style Skywarp, with forearms, feet and kneecaps in purple plastic, and the shin protrusions painted to match. He does suffer from that same, rather weird head sculpt with its concave face, and the same blank expression as Thunder-Wrath. Having looked around, it seems I've missed the boat on a set of replacement heads made for this model... but, to be honest, I think I'd be in the market for a set of replacement weapons as well, by this point. The guns each of these figures come with are competent enough, and fit them perfectly but, when placed side by side with the Knight Morpher Eliminators, a set of figures that are nothing more than colour-swapped is a huge let-down... even moreso because they arrived two years after Mastermind Creations' Steampunk figures.
Much as I like owning all three of these jets, part of me can't help but think of them as cheaply-made cash-ins, designed to entice those of us with Seeker OCD with minimal effort. Each iteration of this mold has a similar issue with the chest plate not fully or securely pegging in on both sides, and some of it feels downright flimsy... but I'd still rate this mold as one of the better, original attempts at the Seekers, and I find it odd, looking back now, that Hasbro's Classics Seekers were broadly based on the F-15 rather than something a little more up-to-date.
With better head sculpts and more variety in their weapons, these would all be must-have figures... As they are, I'd say just pick your favourite and try to find it on eBay. Alternatively, iGear also produced a set of 'conehead' variants - Athodyd (Ramjet), Cacophany (Dirge) and Vertakill (Thrust) - who each had both unique wing designs and weapons (albeit with the same head) and came as a boxed set which is often a more cost-effective purchase than one of the individual Seeker-analogues, and almost always cheaper than all three!
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