Review #72a: Takara Unite Warriors Superion
Part One: Silverbolt
Howdy, folks! Sorry for the delay since the last review. In fact, heck, I meant to have this review up sooner! But I just kept not finding the time for things... And finally, I said to myself, "Hey! You need to work on that Superion review! Maybe it'd be an easier task to handle if you broke it up into multiple parts? Thus, this is what I have decided to do.
First, a bit of background information. Not long ago, Hasbro began releasing a toy line called Combiner Wars, in which they would present updated versions of some of the classic "Scramble City" style combiners from the days of G1. And the fandom rejoiced.
Alas, depending on your tastes, Hasbro's Combiner Wars had a few issues... As I talked a bit about in July of last year when Hasbro first announced these figures, I had some concerns that the two teams announced at the time both seemed to be missing one of their original members, with a newly created character taking the place of those missing members.
In the case of the Aerialbots, one of the original five jet characters had been replaced with a helicopter character. At the time, I said, "This is not the end of the world, and if I have to live with one of this team as a helicopter, so be it." But I went on to hope that perhaps one of the other jet characters might at some point get recolored to make a toy of the original missing member for those who wanted the original Aerialbot team.
Well, fast forward a little while, and Takara (the distributor of Transformers in Japan) announces their equivelent toy line, which is to be called Unite Warriors. And soon after that, they start releasing some teaser images. What is this? Five jets? No helicopters in sight? All sold in one package, so I don't have to hunt down individual members? My first thought was, "Well, sorry Hasbro. Now, when do pre-orders for this version go up?"
Not long after that, Hasbro seemed to suddenly want to get some of those potential Takara customers back, because they then announced toys of the previously missing members of both the Aerialbots and the Stunticons. But I already had my pre-order for the Takara version placed. I suppose I could have canceled that pre-order, but I also liked what I saw of the Takara versions' decos better then those of the domestic versions, as well. So even though Hasbro ended up getting their toys out first (even for the previously missing members) I decided to leave my pre-order alone and wait for the Takara version.
Anyway, today we're taking a look at a character that has always been in both versions of this team, the leader of the Aerialbots, Silverbolt.
First, a bit of background information. Not long ago, Hasbro began releasing a toy line called Combiner Wars, in which they would present updated versions of some of the classic "Scramble City" style combiners from the days of G1. And the fandom rejoiced.
Alas, depending on your tastes, Hasbro's Combiner Wars had a few issues... As I talked a bit about in July of last year when Hasbro first announced these figures, I had some concerns that the two teams announced at the time both seemed to be missing one of their original members, with a newly created character taking the place of those missing members.
In the case of the Aerialbots, one of the original five jet characters had been replaced with a helicopter character. At the time, I said, "This is not the end of the world, and if I have to live with one of this team as a helicopter, so be it." But I went on to hope that perhaps one of the other jet characters might at some point get recolored to make a toy of the original missing member for those who wanted the original Aerialbot team.
Well, fast forward a little while, and Takara (the distributor of Transformers in Japan) announces their equivelent toy line, which is to be called Unite Warriors. And soon after that, they start releasing some teaser images. What is this? Five jets? No helicopters in sight? All sold in one package, so I don't have to hunt down individual members? My first thought was, "Well, sorry Hasbro. Now, when do pre-orders for this version go up?"
Not long after that, Hasbro seemed to suddenly want to get some of those potential Takara customers back, because they then announced toys of the previously missing members of both the Aerialbots and the Stunticons. But I already had my pre-order for the Takara version placed. I suppose I could have canceled that pre-order, but I also liked what I saw of the Takara versions' decos better then those of the domestic versions, as well. So even though Hasbro ended up getting their toys out first (even for the previously missing members) I decided to leave my pre-order alone and wait for the Takara version.
Anyway, today we're taking a look at a character that has always been in both versions of this team, the leader of the Aerialbots, Silverbolt.
Silverbolt was a Concorde jet in G1, and as you can see, his new toy maintains a very similar look.
We'll get right to the obvious elephant in the room, though. He is a jet with a very obvious folded up robot underneath. Alas, this is nothing new for Silverbolt. It was true of his G1 toy. It was true of his previous "Classics" style update in 2008. And it is true of this Silverbolt, today. But is that necessarily the end of the world? Yes, it would be nice if his robot mode was more hidden. But this is not the most uncommon thing in transforming aircraft. And I am willing to be a bit more forgiving of it here since the toy does still look good from most angles. And also, it is a toy that has to have three modes! |
Takara really went all out coloring their toys as much as possible to match how the characters looked in the G1 cartoon. I suppose for Silverbolt, in his jet mode, the differences aren't quite as drastic. But, and I don't normally do this, let us compare, shall we?
Like I said, no drastic differences it this mode. But the Takara one is definitely closer to the animation model.
Here's something you don't see in jet Transformers everyday: articulation! Real life Concords had movable nosecones. Something to do with flight dynamics during landing or some such. And this toy is able to emulate that.
Silverbolt comes with a large black gun which, as seen above, pegs onto his jet under the nose section. Even though, realistically, it is a ridiculously oversized gun to be under such an aircraft, it manages to not look too out of place. When the gun is tabbed in, it has a nub that acts as a front landing gear. When the gun is not tabbed in, Silverbolt has a separate fold down front landing gear he can use. He has two little nubs on the back end of this mode that act as rear landing gear. |
Let us move onto robot mode now, shall we?
A damn fine looking Silverbolt, if you ask me! While he does technically have most of his alt mode hanging off of his back, it folds up very nicely and doesn't detract any from his robot mode's look.
Silverbolt has a pair of accessories, a gun he can hold in either hand and a shield that can plug into a port on either of his forearms. For articulation, he can turn his head. He can also look up slightly. He has some nice ratcheting joints in his shoulders which allow for 360 degrees of motion forward or backwards, as well as some outward movement. Then there are upper arm swivels, and a good 90 degree bend at the elbows, Alas, no waist articulation, which can be a bummer in a Voyager class figure, but because of how this toy transforms (especially in how it gets to its third mode) this is forgivable here. Like the shoulders, the hips have good forward, backwards, or outwards movement. There's an upper leg swivel, and a good knee bend. The ankles, due to transformation, can also bend forwards or backwards a bit. Overall, a nicely poseable toy. Anyway, shall we do another three-way comparison? |
The differences between Takara's and Hasbro's versions are much more clear here then they were in vehicle mode! Takara's yellow is a closer match to the cartoon then Hasbro's orange. Likewise, the same goes for the white down the center of the Takara version's chest, as opposed to Hasbro's chest being all red. Finally, Takara painted the shoulder wings and the kneecaps appropriate colors, whereas Hasbro left those parts unpainted.
This is not to say that Hasbro's toy is a bad Silverbolt, or that modern updates of toys must look just like they jumped off of the screen of a thirty year old cartoon. But if such a thing might tickle your fancy... well, Takara's got you covered!
Anyway, to wrap things up, this is a great modern Silverbolt toy. Even before we get into the fact that it is also part of a combining team, I'd say it is a better update to the character then his previous modern take in 2008. (Not that that was a bad toy either. Just this one is better!)
That should then wrap things up... for Silverbolt, at least! Stay tuned for the rest of the team!
On to part two: Fireflight and Slingshot
Review added 26 July 2015 by Yotsuya. Comments are welcomed!
This is not to say that Hasbro's toy is a bad Silverbolt, or that modern updates of toys must look just like they jumped off of the screen of a thirty year old cartoon. But if such a thing might tickle your fancy... well, Takara's got you covered!
Anyway, to wrap things up, this is a great modern Silverbolt toy. Even before we get into the fact that it is also part of a combining team, I'd say it is a better update to the character then his previous modern take in 2008. (Not that that was a bad toy either. Just this one is better!)
That should then wrap things up... for Silverbolt, at least! Stay tuned for the rest of the team!
On to part two: Fireflight and Slingshot
Review added 26 July 2015 by Yotsuya. Comments are welcomed!