Skipjack (ROTF)

The name or term "Skipjack" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Skipjack (disambiguation).

Skipjack is a Decepticon Constructicon from the Revenge of the Fallen portion of the live-action film series continuity family.

"Whoever says I look like Rampage next is gonna get a tread-whip to the face!"

Skipjack is a Constructicon who looks a lot like Rampage. Because of this, he can form the left leg of Devastator whenever Rampage is preoccupied in battle. Sometimes, he requires some extra help if he is low on mass and height for his combiner component mode.

Fiction

Revenge of the Fallen film

"No, I just saw you! You switched hats and called yourself a different name."
"Ohhh, y'know who does that? My brother, Dock[1]... He's crazy."

During the climactic battle in Egypt between the Autobots, their human allies and The Fallen's Decepticons, Skipjack appeared in a quarry with the other Constructicons before merging into Devastator to attack former Sector Seven agent Seymour Simmons, Leo Spitz, Skids and Mudflap. As Devastator smashed away at the Great Pyramid of Giza after shrugging off Skids and Mudflap, Simmons called upon the United States Navy to fire upon the giant Decepticon. The USS Kidd fired her experimental rail gun, destroying Devastator. Revenge of the Fallen

Skipjack’s involvement in the events of the Revenge of the Fallen film are very controversial at best. For more on this, See: Who is Skipjack? below.

Toy bios

Skipjack was present in Egypt during Operation: Firestorm. He combined with his fellow Constructicons to form the mighty Devastator, forming the left leg.

Toys

They say the chance of an average person finding a yellow lobster is one in 30 million. For this yellow lobster, the chances of finding him seem similar.

Transformers (2010)

• Skipjack (EZ Collection, 2010)

Skipjack is a Japanese exclusive yellow redeco of Hunt for the Decepticons Legends Class Rampage. Because he is not encumbered with the need to combine, both his robot and vehicle modes are much more accurate and detailed.

His "jackhammer" mode can be achieved by connecting his legs together and flipping his cab-feet down as the tip (as per the stock photos), although he will not be able to stand up well. Meanwhile, his instructions depict a more stable biped configuration, with his legs spread out and his cab-feet folded back in their vehicle mode position as his "heels".

Generations

Studio Series

The Jerkhammer: Yellow Edition.

• Constructicon Skipjack (Voyager Class, 2020)
  • Hasbro ID number: 67
  • TakaraTomy ID number: SS-EX
  • TakaraTomy release date: November 28, 2020
  • Accessories: 2 hand blasters, base, "Pyramid Desert Battle" backdrop

Studio Series "Constructicon Skipjack" is a yellow redeco of Rampage, replacing the red with yellow and darkening the grays, along with changing his eye color from orange to red.

He comes with two blasters, made from the pistons of his vehicle mode, that can be placed inside his hand, and a cardboard backdrop display depicting Operation: Firestorm. Owing to Skipjack's unique monopod design, the figure also comes with a small black plastic base to help him stand, which can be stored between his treads in vehicle mode. In combined mode, the stand plugs into Devastator's rump.

Skipjack can be combined with the other Studio Series Constructicons to form Devastator. Though Rampage was the first to use the mold, Hasbro originally intended for him to be displayed alongside Bumblebee, rather than being Devastator's leg. Skipjack's involvement in the combination had been the original intent for Devastator, but since both Skipjack and Rampage share the same design it gave fans the option to use Rampage instead if they wanted.

The first run of this release also had the same incorrectly-assambled waist from his predecessor, but the second run fixed this problem, with the figure now featuring a correctly-assembled waist. However the figure shown in official stock images that were used on most online retail websites still had the incorrect assembly present.

Skipjack's existence was revealed via official full-color images of Devastator, before renders of his own figure were even drawn up. Rather than regular retail release, Skipjack was only available to Japanese fans as a TakaraTomy Mall exclusive, and is the first Studio Series figure to be released this way.

Like the majority of the Studio Series Constructicons, he lacks a Decepticon symbol. Oddly enough, his hand blasters in his official render are colored incorrectly. The one on the left hand is colored black... and the one on the right is colored yellow. While this is incorrect in and of itself (as both guns are displayed as black on the bulldozer render), the real toy has them in gunmetal-gray.

• Devastator (Gift Set, 2020)
  • ID Number: 69

This boxset contains 8 of the Studio Series Constructicons seen in the Revenge of the Fallen film. In order to keep Devastator accurate to his on-screen appearance, Skipjack is included in the set, completely omitting Rampage, as he was busy elsewhere.

This release of Skipjack features additional dirt paint applications to the sides of his vehicle mode.

The gift set first saw release in Thailand without any announcement from Hasbro, with it later being officially revealed on the October 16th Fan First Friday.

Who is Skipjack?

The identity and legitimacy of this Constructicon being a component of Devastator is fairly suspect and should be taken with a grain of salt.

"Skipjack" was originally a preliminary name for Rampage during production of Revenge of the Fallen. Similar to Demolishor's working name "Wheelbot", the "Skipjack" name was used in the credits for the actor who voiced him. However, this can be considered definitely inaccurate in Rampage's case, as Starscream addresses Rampage by the toys' name in a subtitle during the film itself. Therefore, the "Skipjack" name in the credits becomes the odd one out. Up until 2020, the yellow bulldozer that forms the lower half of Devastator's left leg was always named Rampage.

Now saying that, all of the toys up until that point specifically made Rampage the full left leg in combined mode, whereas in the film, a smaller yellow earth-moving truck was added to the extra height and mass of the left leg to allow it to be more believable in size when in comparison to the right leg. Much like all of the other Constructicons in that film, each component of Devastator has a doppelgänger or identical drone. This results in there being some individual Constructicons present during Operation: Firestorm while also having lookalikes concurrently part of Devastator.

That being said, the individual Rampage that was present fighting Bumblebee was colored reddish-orange, while the one forming Devastator's leg was yellow like the former's early toys. The fact they are two different colors is not necessarily because they are two different characters. It could quite well be because they scanned different colored alternate forms. Original concept art for Rampage, which also served as the basis for his original deluxe class toy during the Revenge of the Fallen toyline, depicted the character as being colored yellow. Later on in the very same toyline, Rampage was given a red redeco to make him more accurate to his scene from the movie. As most of the earlier movie toys were based off of concept art were released around the same time as the film was screening in cinemas, it is safe to assume that Hasbro made the connection between Rampage, who was yellow to their knowledge at the time, and the yellow bulldozer used in Devastator's combination as being the same character.

As mentioned above, the Studio Series toyline introduced a yellow bulldozer replacement named "Skipjack" in 2020 to give fans a more movie-accurate yellow leg for the toyline's version of Devastator. While it is likely that this is the only reason Skipjack was added into the toyline, the packaging bio for him mentions that he combines with his comrades to form Devastator, with Skipjack specifically forming the lower half of the left leg. Meanwhile, Rampage's bio only mentions his role of luring Sam Witwicky into a trap to force him to give up the Matrix of Leadership. The Devastator gift set, which was released later that same year, only had Skipjack packaged in with the other components, leaving Rampage as an individual outside of the combination. This further implies that Skipjack may actually be the bulldozer that forms Devastator's left leg.

Mike B., a Hasbro employee who worked on the Studio Series Devastator, went on to mention in an interview posted on Hasbro Pulse's website that "in the movie, Skipjack and Rampage both have the same build or form but are colored differently, [with] Skipjack being yellow and Rampage being orange." It is entirely possible that this is a subtle retcon, suggesting that the yellow bulldozer that forms the left leg is in fact Skipjack. The same interview makes note that despite Rampage being the first release of the mold, Skipjack was the original intention for the combined mode in the toyline and that Studio Series Rampage was specifically made to display beside Bumblebee, though because they share the exact same engineering, one could use either in their personal Devastator.

Notes

• The stock photography (seen above) for both EZ Collection Skipjack and Payload depicts them in shades that hew closer to orange than the yellow they came out in. Whether this was an artifact of the photographic process or an intentional plastic color-change is uncertain. Additionally, TakaraTomy's website calls the toy Rampage rather than Skipjack.
• Due to his small size, Skipjack combines with a yellow dump truck to form Devastator's leg in the film. Another yellow bulldozer forms the left hand, with Hightower as the arm.
• In the scene where all the Constructicons wait aboard the barge for Ravage and the AllSpark shard to arrive, a red bulldozer is visible in the flyover shot. But in the next scene where Ravage crash-lands into the bulldozer upon arrival, said bulldozer is suddenly recolored yellow. When the Constructicons transform into robot mode and dive into the water, the bulldozer is colored red again.
  • Therefore, Rampage (and not Skipjack) is the one present in Megatron's resurrection. Trying to distinguish how many Constructicons appeared in Revenge of the Fallen only continues to get harder with each watch.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Skipjack (スキップジャック Sukippujakku)