Review: #229
Name: Silverbolt
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Generations - Combiner Wars
Year of Release: 2015
Size Class: Voyager (Wave 1)
Variations: retooled into Cyclonus (released in Wave 3)
JET MODE:
Silverbolt transforms into a jet resembling a Concorde, albeit with giant long cannon from underneath his nose.
While the plane looks good from the top, the rear is a bit gappy with exposed robot thighs.
Not only that but just like with every single Silverbolt toy, there is a huge chunk of kibble as undercarriage. Basically, this is a plane with a robot tacked onto the bottom.
It is actually not that bad in person and Silverbolt in this mode is very sturdy and solid, he pegs together nicely.
You can opt to not have the gun underneath the nose, doing so will allow you to flip down a front landing gear (not that needs it) and also make the plane look weird with the empty space left.
The toy comes with a collector's card showing some artwork from the Legends mobile game.
Silverbolt is decently sized, this is not an illusion as he feels hefty in your hands.
A solid if flawed jet mode since it carries so much undercarriage junk.
TRANSFORMATION:
Transformation is not too bad, fairly simple to be honest since the arms barely need any manipulation at all (they sit at the sides in jet mode) while the legs just need to be unfolded. Simple yet effective I guess, the surprise and ingenuity comes later.
ROBOT MODE:
Silverbolt's robot mode is spot on and takes heavy influence from his G1 incarnation. The proportions may ever be so slightly off with the elongated torso but he looks fantastic.
He carries the front of the jet on his back along with most of the wings. They generally stay out of the way so I can't really fault it too much.
The head sculpt is absolutely amazing, the squared off look... the sculpting... it's just so good.
He's quite tall but he lacks the bulkiness of some other figures in terms of wideness.
Articulation is sweet, he's lacking a waist joint but otherwise, he's got ratchet joints for his shoulders, hips and knees.
While he may have heelspurs, his feet overall are quite small, which makes any balancing harder in any dynamic pose.
The gigantic weapon in jet mode splits into two here, a gun with an absurdly long barrel and a shield of some sort.
Silverbolt can either hold the shield in his hand in an awkward manner or it can be pegged onto the outside of his forearm.
The gun is still too long to look good and can be awkward when trying to place Silverbolt in a neutral standing pose.
A really good robot mode with barely any flaws. It screams Silverbolt and plus, he can combine too.
OVERALL:
This is a worthy update to G1 Silverbolts and leaps and bounds better from the Universe toy that we got a few years back in 2008. The jet mode has a bit too much of undercarriage kibble but other than that, it's fine. The robot mode is almost flawless too, so this figure is a definite must-buy!
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As you can tell from the line's name, the aim of the game is combiners. Silverbolt is no exception as he is the leader of the Aerialbots and forms the mighty Superion. Superion will be covered in a proper review later on but here's a quick snapshot of his combined form.
The transformation into torso mode is ingenious and probably the most satisfying aspect of his engineering. The way the chest pieces were hidden and how it forms was nothing short of being clever.
The head sculpt is great too, unfortunately, the antennae are made of some really soft rubbery plastic, which are a pain to swivel up and keep it staying there.
In combined form, he looks fantastic with some excellent proportions. I used to think his thighs were too thin but they're perfect when you hold him in person.
Poseability is excellent, the only thing you need to watch out for is the balancing since the feet aren't that big. The gun also scales nicely.
He's really solid in this mode too, you can pick him up and swing him around and he will still not fall apart. That's it for this section though, once again, thanks for reading!