(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Revenge of the Fallen Skystalker. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Revenge of the Fallen Skystalker here.)

    Laserbeak may not look like at first, but he's meant to be an homage to the G1 bird-cassette Soundwave minion of the same name. This homage certainly... stretches it, though. The most obvious callback to Laserbeak is the color scheme-- particularly the painted silver-and-red apps on the wings, which adds up to a surprisingly amount of paint on the toy. The general color scheme is pretty basic-- being silver, red, and black-- but they contrast against each other well and make for a fairly solid scheme. There's also a bit of pale gold on Laserbeak's robot head, to mimic the gold eyes on the G1 toy. I do wish that the two shades of gray plastic mostly seen in Laserbeak's robot mode were of a more metallic shade-- unfortunately, they're both the standard blah shades of the color, and make certain robot parts-- the feet, in particular-- bland. Laserbeak's red paint also doesn't quite match up with his red plastic, with the plastic being a noticeably duller, paler shade than the paint. It's not SUPER noticeable, but it catches the eye in an unflattering way when the two different shades of red are right next to each other, such as down the midsection of the vehicle mode. As for the homage itself-- people tend to think it's either an incredibly awesome idea or an incredibly lame one. I tend to lean towards the latter. Yes, this mode has a "gerwalk" mode where you can extend the robot leg sections in vehicle mode, and the legs are bird-like-- and yes, the alt mode is a flying alt mode. But other than that? I just don't see it. It just doesn't share enough features with any previous form of Laserbeak to really work, and since it's clearly not a new character with the same name, I felt they could have done a lot of other, more fitting things with a redeco of this mold.
    No mold changes have been made to "GDO" Laserbeak.
    "GDO" Laserbeak has a basic but pretty nice color scheme, and plenty of paint apps to round things out and keep things visually interesting. I wish he had a little less gray plastic in robot mode, but that's about my only complaint color-wise. It's also a great mold, and one that I would highly recommend purchasing if you don't have already-- however, when looked at not just by itself but as a Laserbeak toy, it falls flat, not feeling evocative enough of the character outside of the wing paint apps and MAYBE the feet to really fit the bill. It's best repurposed as some new character if you want to add the toy to your personal collection.

Review by Beastbot

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