Skywarp drone

The Skywarp drones are clones from the Generation 1 continuity family.

The Skywarp drones are clones of the original Skywarp, mass-produced air warriors who overwhelm their foes with sheer numbers. Mindless and obedient, if there's any trace of the original Skywarp's mercurial and unpredictable nature in these drone soldiers, it's hidden quite well.

Fiction

Wings Universe

The Skywarp drones were clones of the original Skywarp, and inherited his power of teleportation. Although the clone soldiers were under the nominal command of their cloned leader Skywarp, he'd often dump them on Thundercracker so that he could do his own thing.

When clone commander Megaplex and his generals confronted the Autobot/Decepticon resistance on Cybertron, his forces included a number of Skywarp drones. Termination In the battle that followed, the drones teleported in to confront Electro and Mirage when they attempted to ambush Skywarp. However, a party of Decepticons quickly arrived, and an enlarged Oilmaster scattered the Skywarp drones. Shortly before Jhiaxus's surrender, one drone was neatly decapitated by Electro. A Common Foe

2019 IDW continuity

During the War of the Threefold Spark, Exarchon and Shockwave attempted to clone Skywarp in the hopes that they would be able to create an army of teleporting warriors and use them to rule Cybertron, raising large numbers of them up from the planet's living metal. Although the resulting clone-drone army lacked their progenitor's innate teleportation ability (or any independent thought), they were powerful warriors that nearly won the war. Escape Part Three Sea of Rust I Ultra Magnus and Megatron once fought their way through multiple clones, Storm Horizon Part 1 and Skywarp later deployed the swarm during the subsequent battle of Yuss. The Change In Your Nature Part Three

To fight back, Nominus Prime authorized the creation of a Seeker army that would actively hunt down and eliminate the clones with extreme prejudice. Evidently, the Seekers did their job well: by the end of the war, all of the clones had been killed. Escape Part Three Cyclonus was seen wading through a number of fallen drones in the final battle outside Iacon. Darkness, Once Gazed Upon: Part One

When Exarchon returned, he fled to his base in the Sonic Canyons and activated the clones that had been kept in stasis, deploying them against the Decepticons who had come to destroy him. War's End Part Two Though the Decepticons managed to destroy all the active clones, they ultimately retreated when faced with the advance of Devastator. War's End Part Three

Alternate future

In the future where Exarchon returned to conquer Cybertron, the Skywarp clones served as the bulk of his army. Test Flight I When the Voin captured Jumpstream, Skywarp drones brought her before the Threefold Spark before turning her over to the Mercenaries. A group of rebels saved her, but they were confronted by Triggerhappy, Vortex, and another wave of Skywarp and Insecticon drones. Test Flight II

Toys

Machine Wars

Let's clone the Skywarp again!

• Skywarp (Basic Class, 1997)
  • Accessories: 2 rifle halves

Sharing a mold once again with Thundercracker, Machine Wars Skywarp transforms into a white Dassault Rafale fighter jet with spring-loaded one-step transformation from jet to robot. The two halves of his rifle store in his lower legs. Like all Machine Wars toys, Skywarp was an exclusive to KB Toys stores and related stores like Toy Liquidators.

This mold is also used by Beast Wars II Dirge, 2001's Robots in Disguise Skyfire, Robotmasters Wingstun, and Timelines Waspinator.

• More information on Machine Wars Skywarp at TFU.info

Classics

• Ultra Magnus vs Skywarp: Battle For Autobot City (Multi-pack, 2006)
  • Accessories: Left & right missile launchers, 2 missiles

Classics Skywarp is a redeco and slight retool of Classics Deluxe Class Starscream, transforming into an F-15 Eagle fighter jet, though with a canopy like that of an F-14 Tomcat. Unlike previous (and future) figures, the shade of purple used for this figure has a more reddish tint to it. He comes with a pair of spring-loaded missile launchers that can be mounted on his biceps or used as hand-held weapons in robot mode and can attach under his wings in vehicle mode. As with most Classics toys, he also features a heat-sensitive rubsign.

Skywarp was slightly retooled from the earlier Starscream figures. The retool is present in the jet intake area. The slope of his shoulders was decreased from Starscream's, and a fifth rectangle was added to the vertical area. This retooled version was used for all subsequent releases of the mold, and was also used as a running change on Starscream.

Skywarp was only available as part of a two-pack with Ultra Magnus exclusive to Target in the United States. The set's price was $19.99, despite including both a Voyager Class and Deluxe Class mold in it, which would be approximately $30 worth of toys if they had been sold separately. The pack was also available in Woolworth stores throughout the United Kingdom.

Stock photography of Classics Skywarp showed a more detailed color scheme than the actual released figure. Much like Classics Ultra Magnus, the changes were most likely due to an overabundance of paint operations. This more detailed version was shown at BotCon 2006, and at least one sample found its way to a collector's hands. The sample also used the original Starscream mold, and not the retooled version mentioned above.

• More information on Classics Skywarp at TFU.info

Timelines

• Machine Wars (box set, BotCon 2013)
  • Accessories: 2 missiles, 2 missile launchers

Timelines Skywarp is a retool of Revenge of the Fallen Deluxe Class Dirge, transforming into a Harrier-like fighter-bomber jet with a deco based on Skywarp's Machine Wars body and a new head to match. He has two spring-loaded missile launchers that mount under his wings or, in robot mode, onto his arms, though his left arm's kibble makes this an awkward fit. His Mech Alive gimmick is spinning gears on his chest when you lift his arms. He comes in a boxset with Hoist, Strika, Obsidian, and Megaplex.

This mold was also used to make BotCon 2013 Thundercracker, while its original version was redecoed into Jetblade.

• More information on Skywarp at TFU.info

War for Cybertron: Siege

• Decepticon Phantomstrike Squadron (Multi-pack, 2019)
  • Hasbro ID number: WFC-S27
  • TakaraTomy ID Number: SG-EX
  • TakaraTomy release date: January 20, 2021
  • Hidden message code: TELEPORT
  • Accessories: 2 "HPI Null-Ray Laser Launchers", Battle Masters Fracas, Shrute, and Terror-Daxtyl, 5 fire blasts

This Siege four-pack version of Skywarp is a retool of Voyager Class Starscream from the same line with a new slightly sneering face, transforming from a heavily Generation 1-inspired robot to a Cybertronian "tetrajet" based on the Seekers' appearance in "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1" and back; although the jet mode has the robot legs sticking out from the undercarriage. In an unusual move, Skywarp's plastic is molded in a light charcoal gray rather than his traditional black. He includes two "HPI Null-Ray Laser Launchers," which can mount on his upper arms, or under the wings in jet mode, and three Battle Master figures, Fracas, Shrute, and Terror-Daxtyl, respectively redecoed from Firedrive, Aimless, and Pteraxadon, each with their respective Fire Blasts.

This set was made available at general retail in Taiwan without prior announcement from Hasbro, and was an Amazon exclusive for North America, which also labelled the set as "Final Strike Figure Series: Part 2", and a TakaraTomy Mall exclusive in Japan. In an uncharacteristic irony, Skywarp's face features a sneer, but with the help of customizing, you can swap his head for Thundercracker or Red Wing's to patch things up a bit.

Notes

• In the drones' brief background appearance in Timelines #8, they are drawn identically to the "primary" Skywarp's BotCon 2013 toy body. In Timelines #9, they have a different design (at right), based on the original Machine Wars Skywarp toy, that was previously created by Josh Burcham for a fan project.
• It seems the Skywarp drones in the 2019-2022 IDW comics are supposed to have the Siege Seeker body-type in accordance with other Seekers in the continuity, and lacking internal variation per their nature as sparkless drones, but the published comic depiction varies by artistic choice:
  • Glaringly, the drones first appeared in Galaxies #10 in a somewhat generic non-toyetic Seeker look, albeit in indistinct colour scheme(s). Oddly, one of the drones appears to have a Conehead. These flying drones are also accompanied by several faceplated units of a different body-type, though no other story gave Exarchon's wartime army any different drones.
  • The Skywarp drones who appear in Transformers #31 seem to be based on the Classics Skywarp toy (or possibly the Earthrise remake?), though not coloured exactly according to said toy.
  • By contrast, the ones who appear in a flashback in Escape #5 appear in multiple original colour schemes on the Siege Seeker mold.
  • Finally, the drones who appear in Transformers #37 and War's End are distinctively drawn according to the Siege Skywarp toy.