Retro Bot Reviews: MAAS Toys Skiff.

Originally written February 2020.

Back when Transformers: Siege started up, one of the mission statements of the line was to replicate some of the Cybertronian forms seen in the very first episode of the original cartoon. However, despite the fact that we only saw a few of them, a number of these characters still didn’t wind up getting any representation in the line, including Bumblebee. In all fairness, he was shown transforming into a funky round hovering saucer thingie, while still having a robot mode that looked like it was made from VW bug parts, something hard to replicate at any scale.

While it probably wasn’t intended to specifically fill this hole in the line, Skiff, by MAAS toys, definitely feels complementary to the line, since it’s a homage to that specific version of Bumblebee, albeit one with a very different robot mode, thanks to that vehicle mode’s design.

The world of third-party non-Transformers toys is full of a billion inter-related small companies that, thanks to the shady nature of the enterprise, are a bit opaque. But, my understanding is that MAAS toys were either directly or indirectly behind the Unrustables. They managed to get a few other products out there, and tried to kickstart some Masterpiece-tier seekers, but behind-the-scenes problems meant that their business eventually collapsed (taking the Unrustables with them, sadly) and Skiff and its repaints were the last real large-scale toy they got out there. So, while they’re not making any more, they’re actually really plentiful on the secondary market. Let’s see how this 3P swansong holds up.

Vehicle Mode

Skiff transforms into round, curved, swooshy, saucer-like spaceship, modelled after Bumblebee’s G1, Episode 1 vehicle mode. He’s about the size of a standard deluxe, and scales well with mainline Siege figures.

He kind of reminds me of Samus Aran’s starship from the Metroid games, so I’m inclined to like it.

Despite the fact that he splits into panels to transform, Skiff stays solidly pegged together in this mode, and feels good and sturdy in-hand, which is an impressive bit of engineering.

For colors, Skiff’s almost entirely bright yellow, with almost no paint, save for a black cockpit and some other small black highlights breaking it up. One unfortunate problem (that doesn’t show up well in photographs) is that some of the yellows aren’t color-matched very well, with that panel on the top of the spaceship being a noticeably different shade from the rest of him.

I do find myself wishing there were more accents of color on the body. In particular, the thruster details on the ship’s back are pure unpainted yellow, and usually 3P items don’t skimp on paint, though I suppose they mostly wanted to be cartoon-accurate.

An amusing little gimmick that he has in this mode is his ability to roll on three squeaky wheels on his bottom, despite being a hovering vehicle. It’s a little extra thing, but it’s fun to wheel him about.

Overall, there’s not much going on here, but what is going on appeals to me.

Transformation

Alright, there’s a problem here I need to talk about: This figure does not come with any instructions, and he’s got enough going on that I wished I had them. Instead, he comes with a QR code that leads to a transformation video.

This was problematic for two reasons: Firstly, I hate using videos to transform figures, I find it complicated and unintuitive. Secondly, and more importantly, it turns out that the video doesn’t exist anymore, and got taken down. So, I had to go looking online for fan reviews to figure it out. Not a good time.

It doesn’t help that this Skiff is a pretty big shellformer. Basically, his saucer splits into panels, his robot body folds out, and you try and manage the panels as best as you can. Making it more complicated is the fact that different bits of art and reviews disagree on how certain things on him are supposed to be, like the panels on his shoulders and arms, and the positioning of his shoulders themselves. The fact that a lot of it doesn’t actually peg in doesn’t help, but I’ll get into that in robot mode.

On the positive side, transforming him back was easy enough to figure out (and you can use my photo of his vehicle bottom above), and he pegs together securely, both things you can rarely say about this kind of shell-former. Also, if you half-transform him, he has a passable Big Zam (oh, hey!) mode, from Gundam:

Robot Mode

Like I said, there’s some ambiguity about how his arms and shoulders are supposed to be transformed, so what I’ve got on display here is a combination of popular consensus and what I thought worked best. Instead of attempting to replicate Bumblebee’s cartoon robot mode, MAAS opted to base the design loosely on Dreamwave’s The War Within comic series, making Skiff a bulk, wide robot composed of spaceship parts. It’s a different look for the character, though it’s not a bad-looking one. It makes him look like an armored space explorer, similar to Cosmos. In terms of sculpt, my biggest sticking point is his head, which aims to be G1 Bumblebee, but just looks….off. Something about the mouth and lips feels strange. His colors are basically the same as his other mode, just with a bit more black from his limbs, and the silver paint on his face.

Let’s talk about his issues in this mode: Basically, Skiff’s upper torso is covered in panels, none of which peg down or secure themselves in any way, and many of which block some of his articulation. The big offenders are his shoulderpads, which immediately move into odd configurations the second you start posing him, in addition to limiting the range of motion on his shoulders. Meanwhile, the ones on his forearms are the biggest “they don’t have an agreed-upon configuration” sticking point. The way I have them in these pictures keeps them mostly secured, but prevents his elbows from straightening.

Speaking of his arms, his shoulders don’t attach to his torso, but “float” on a strut descending from halfway down his shoulderpads, resulting in them not really having a definite place to go, aside from “somewhere near his body.” Finally, the folded-up parts on his back don’t peg in, either, and block his waist a bit.

So, what does he have going for him? Well, his articulation is pretty good. He’s got ankle tilts and rotating thighs, on top of the usual modern Siege Deluxe poseability. He also has wrist swivels on his arms, blocked as they may be.

When you can actually get all of his panels and shoulders and other assorted junk in order, he does look good and pose well, it’s just a struggle to get all of his parts into one good pose, plus, moving any of his joints around makes everything immediately go out of whack.

For accessories, Skiff comes with a pair of small black pistols that look to be styled after the generic laser weapons the original cartoon would sometimes use. They actually stash really well at the backs of his shoulderpads, and fit securely in his hands.

If you can get him into a good pose, they look good on him. They’re also compatible with most mainline Transformers Generations fistholes, so if nothing else, they’re a free accessory to arm other figures with.

He also comes with an alternate face, sculpted to resemble the faceplate/battle mask look of his original toy, however, it requires you to unscrew part of his head with a screwdriver to put it on, and frankly, that’s a bridge too far for me to bother.

I’ve ragged on this design choice in the past, but it’s still a bad one, and, honestly, finding and using a screwdriver is an effort I don’t feel like putting in for a faceswap, in an era where official figures (and some 3Ps) just have pop-off faces with no tools required.

Overall

Skiff’s not bad, he’s just very compromised in his robot mode. He’s got an excellent, if plain, vehicle mode, a surprisingly good transformation (even if they didn’t include instructions), and a robot mode that looks good. However, he’s a fiddly mess to pose and handle, embodying some of the weakest traits of shellformers. He fits in well enough with the Siege toyline if you’re looking for a Cybertronian Bumblebee, but I wouldn’t pay too much for him, and carefully consider how much his issues would bother you beforehand. A few repaints were released by MAAS around the same time, including Gold, a golden homage to Goldbug, Volk, a white homage to Bugbyte, and Rune, a blue homage to Glyph, offered as a TFNation convention exclusive. Rune’s the one people are most after on the secondary market, thanks to her obscurity as a homage, but, once again, presumably suffers from the same problems, so keep that in mind as well.