TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:
Alternate Mode:
Additional Image:
Box Art:
Technical Specifications:
STR
INT
SPD
END
RNK
CRG
FPR
SKL

*Note* In some markets, this set was sold in Revenge of the Fallen packaging. Otherwise, it's identical to the Universe release.

Blackjack's review: Superion box set

UNIVERSE 2.0 SUPERION
Allegiance- Autobot
Subgroup- Aerialbots

Like Energon Bruticus Maximus and Devastator (Constructicon Maximus), Energon Superion Maximus is repainted as part of the Classics line in his G1 colours.

Surprisingly, unlike Bruticus Maximus or Constructicon Devastator, Superion retains his original name. You go, Hasbro!

SILVERBOLT
Function- Aerialbot Leader
Motto- "Don't look down, look straight ahead."

To be fair and blunt, I've never cared too much about the Aerialbots. When watching the episodes and reading the comics, they all look... generic to me, unlike the Stunticons (different colours), Combaticons, Terrorcons or Protectobots (all of the latter teams have unique alternate modes and colour palletes). Even the similarly coloured Seacons, Predacons and Constructicons are easy to tell apart. Hey, the Constructicons, although they all have similar colour schemes, all have unique heads and body designs.

Not so with the Aerialbots... only Silverbolt stands out. The four smaller Aerialbots are nearly impossible to tell apart in robot mode... they have generic heads, similar colouring and near-identical bodies. Even now, I still don't know how to tell the smaller robot-mode Aerialbots apart.

Still, that didn't stop me from buying this bad boy. Let's delve into fiction history, shall we? In the comics, the Aerialbots were created by Optimus Prime and Wheeljack using data scanned from Decepticon combiner Devastator. However, the Decepticons piggybacked on the Aerialbots' creation and came up with the Stunticons. The Aerialbots participated in many battles against the Decepticons, mainly against gestalts until the entire team was blown apart by an Underbase-powered Starscream. They were later revived using Nucleon by Grimlock, and appeared in Earthforce, Unicron and G2 arcs.

In the cartoon, the Aerialbots were created using Vector Sigma after the sacrifice of Alpha Trion. They appeared constantly throughout Season two and three, before they are blasted apart by Sixshot in season four. They seem to have survived, though.

Leader of the Aerialbots is the valiant acrophobic Silverbolt. Acrophobia (is it the correct term?) means the fear of heights. I always liked Silverbolt's unique personality. In the cartoon it's because his body was a low-flying freighter. In the comics his fear was bought into the open by the kickass fear-using Decepticon Dirge.

Unlike Onslaught, Silverbolt appeared several times throughout transformers history. There's the G2 reissue of the original Silverbolt. He also got a Beast Wars toy, an eagle. The next major Silverbolt is in the Beast Wars show. Not to be confused with G1 Silverbolt who is also released in Beast Wars. Silverbolt the second is a poetic wolf-dog fuzor, and became Blackarachnia's 'Knight in shining armour'. In Beast Machines, Silverbolt was captured by Megatron II, his spark lobotomized and brainwashed into the Vehicon Jetstorm. Through the efforts of the Maximals, he was changed back into Silverbolt again. BM Silverbolt was a condor, and his robot mode is stylized after a samurai/ninja. Oh, and he has a goatee.

G1 Silverbolt later saw another reincarnation in the Universe line as part of the Micromaster Aerialbot combiners. In the Universe 2.0 line, both Silverbolt I and II got new toys. BW Silverbolt was reincarnated as a cutesy robot hero, while the original Silverbolt got an Ultra toy, a legends redeco of Cybertron Thundercracker and this.

VEHICLE MODE

G1 Silverbolt was a concorde supersonic jet. Universe Ultra Silverbolt manages to use a Valkyrie-style jet to represent an update to his alternate mode. This Silverbolt, a repaint of Energon Storm Jet, has a futuristic jet alternate mode.

As far as Energon molds go, it's quite good. Better than Onslaught, anyway. His robotic kibble is hidden rather nicely, and his legs become engines. While there's some sloppy paint job--the back wings are painted only on the inner side--and the overall effect makes him look more like Sky/Jetfire than Silverbolt in my opinion, it's still nice compared to the monstrous paint job Silverbolt's Combaticon counterpart got. (the Universe combiner only. G1 Onslaught rocks.)

ROBOT MODE

Silverbolt stands taller than other Classic deluxes such as Prowl, Mirage or Hound, and is about the same height with the Sideswipe mold.

His colourings are... well, I'd have to give it a leeway due to the mold. G1 Silverbolt's chest is found in the undercarriage (same with the Universe Ultra class version), while this mold uses the nosecone as the jet. Well, it gives a rather sleeker Silverbolt, although, again he resembles Skyfire more.

His head somehow reminds me of comic Broadside... the legs are nice and poseable, but there's something terribly wrong with the upper limbs. The shoulders are slightly lower than where a shoulder should normally be, so it looks like Silverbolt has dislocated shoulders or something. Also, his lower arms (elbows down) is an entire brick, being comprised of the jet engines. Not visually pleasing, but hey, it helps in a fight.

Like Onslaught, he does not come with any sort of weaponry. Well, there's still the Gorilla Fists...

TRANSFORMATION- 9/10 Damn, but Silverbolt's the only toy repainted from the Energon line that gave me difficulty in transforming. The oh-so-clear instructions don't help either.
DURABILITY- 8/10 Joints will break. Mark my words.
FUN- 8/10 He is a fun toy, but not that much. No gun and all.
OVERALL- 9/10 Much better executed than Onslaught, in terms of alternate mode and paint job, and although he's far from the perfect toy, he combines.

AIR RAID
Function- Warrior
Motto- "If you look first, you may not leap."

My second-favourite Aerialbot is Air Raid. He has a cool name, a cooler motto, and an easily recognizable jet mode (the only black coloured one in the group). Air Raid is the team's hotheaded warrior. Always throwing himself headlong into the battle.

G1 Air Raid transforms into a F15 Eagle, the signature alternate mode of the Decepticon Seeker jets. Not that I mind. The original toy was repainted in G2, but he received an all new Cyberjet toy in G2, transforming into a kickass F117 Stealth jet. This G2 Air Raid is repainted as Universe Air Raid. Also, a representation of G1 Air Raid is included in Universe's Micromaster combiner. The Movie toyline also had a character named Air Raid, who is a repaint of Energon Skyblast. I reviewed him some time ago. Universe 2.0 gives us two representations of G1 Air Raid- a repaint of LoC Jetfire and this fella.

ALTERNATE MODE

What draws me to Air Raid is his excellent paintjob. A redeco of the excellent Treadshot/Windrazor mold, this Aerialbot is different from the others in that he is jet black with blood-red detailing, instead of the white-red-and-other-random-colours that the Aerialbots (and Starscream) use. It gets tired easily. Air Raid livens up the set, and his alternate mode, a futuristic fighter jet (similar in design to F22 Raptors) nicely gives Air Raid a modern-age update.

Of course, there are the energon weapons. But unlike the Combaticon molds or even the other Aerialbot molds, this mold just looks silly with the 'breadstick' energon weapons. Best to display
him as he is.

ROBOT MODE

Air Raid doesn't disappoint in robot mode either. The transformation is simple
but sweet. His light-piping feature in his head (which has a nice head sculpt, by the way) is perfect, mainly due to his large eyes. Poseability is excellent too, and he can assume many different poses. However, his weaponry looks ridiculous and it's best left aside. They're supposed to be blasters of sort, but it resembles more of a pole-styled melee weapon to me. Whatever. He looks nice with or without the weapons, in any event.

TRANSFORMATION- 2/10 Easy as pie.
DURABILITY- 9/10 He's quite sturdy, but you can lose his breadstick energon weapons.
FUN- 10/10 Very fun.
OVERALL- 10/10 Possibly the best mold in the set.

AIRAZOR aka Slingshot
Function- Ground Troop Support
Motto- "I'm even better than I think."

Poor, poor Slingshot. First, his face in the toy is a blob of orange plastic. Then, Budiasky portrayed him as the 'smallest and weakest' of the Aerialbots. Then, the TV show portrayed him as a total loudmouthed jerk (his tech spec actually describes him as a more sympathetic character with inferiority complex). Then Hasbro lost the trademark to his name ever since G2 Superion. (so the only character with the name Slingshot is the original Slingshot)

Now, the character supposedly representing Slingshot is renamed Airazor, after the Beast Wars fembot falcon. I'll be kind and call him Slingshot in this review.

ALTERNATE MODE

Slingshot shares the same mold with Air Raid, and you've already known the sheer awesomeness of the mold. While in not too similar to his original AV88 Harrier Jump Jet alt mode, it's close enough.

The difference is in the colouring. While not as good as Air Raid's jet black, Slingshot's pale white/blue with red and yellow is classic enough for me to like it. It's brighter than original Aerialbot colours, in any event.

ROBOT MODE

Mostly, he's the same with Air Raid. Although my Slingshot's mouth is nearly nonexistent. Seriously... it's barely there.

TRANSFORMATION- 2/10 Easy.
DURABILITY- 9/10 Pretty sturdy. Again, the breadsticks can go haywire.
FUN- 10/10 Because he's Slingshot.
OVERALL- 10/10 Someone in the forum once said 'there's nothing remotely good about energon other than the wonderful Scout class toys.' and I agree.

SKYDIVE
Function- Air Warfare strategist
Motto- "Only by studying the past can we win the present."

Unlike Air Raid, Fireflight and Slingshot, whose names are barely known outside G1, Skydive is a busy person.

G1/G2 Skydive is a F16 Fighting falcon jet. He's described as the best studier of air warfare, and is able to imitate any aerial maneuver he has seen. Kewl. There's a second Skydive in the G1 universe, the Decepticon Predator Skydive. He transforms into a YF23 black widow jet. Flash forward several years, and the next Skydive appears in the Beast Machines line, as a Quetzalcoatlus. This third Skydive is repainted again for Universe Skydive. Universe also has a Skydive as part of its Micromaster combiners. Skydive (a repaint of Starscream) also appeared in the DS game for the 2007 Movie continuity. Universe 2.0 gives us two Skydives--a repaint of LoC Soundwave and this feller.

ALTERNATE MODE

Skydive is repainted from the Energon Sky Shadow/Terradive mold. Now this is where Skydive gets heavily penalized. No, it's not the alternate mode choice--the A10 Thunderbolt is fine. It's his damn paint job. G1 Skydive is a rather plain white jet with black wings and yellow thunderbolt stickers.

This Skydive is a horrendous patchwork of pale pink, gray, baby blue, pale red and yellow. At least Swindle got his paint job correct. This mold is pretty good, but the paint job ruins it all. It doesn't even resembles G1. G2 maybe, but I've never seen the G2 Aerialbots before.

That aside, the mold is pretty well detailed, with a spitfire shotgun under the cockpit, a double-barreled turret underneath and the energon weapon doesn't look too silly on top of his cockpit.

ROBOT MODE

In robot mode the paint job is muted a bit, with the removal of the icky baby blue from the wings. Skydive's turbines become his hands, and fists are molded inside. Wings spread sideways on his back, and he's very poseable.

The best thing I love about this mold is the head. There's this binoculars/turret thing that can be lifted up and down like a pair of glasses. Gives two different faces. So the bookworm Skydive can have his glasses-turrets thing down, while the Fireflight can have it up, giving distinct faces during display.

TRANSFORMATION- 4/10 a bit harder than Air Raid/Slingshot, but still easy.
DURABILITY- 5/10 the toy itself is quite durable, but his goggles has a very annoying habit of falling off.
FUN- 9/10 Oh yeah.
OVERALL- 5/10 As I said on my review of Swindle--no matter how good the mold, if the paint job's supposed to represent a character, it better represents the character properly.

FIREFLIGHT
Function- Recon
Motto- "When I'm flying, no enemy is safe--nor friend."

Next to Silverbolt, Fireflight has the most interesting characterization. A daydreamer, he often neglects his recon duties while daydreaming. This turns disastrous when the Aerialbots had to fight Megatron's giant gryphon (yeah. The guy's running out of ideas) and he's nowhere to be found.

Fireflight's alternate mode is a F4 Phantom jet, so he's ideal for recon I guess. Fireflight, like Slingshot, only exists within G1. However, his name does appear in the recent Classics line, as a 'filler' name for legends Classics Powerglide. (At that time, Hasbro hadn't gotten Powerglide back yet. They have now, though.) Then, of course, there's this latest reincarnation of Fireflight.

ALTERNATE MODE

Like Skydive, Fireflight isn't painted in Geewun colours. However, the paint job is rather realistic and in robot mode he looks like G1, so I'm not complaining. His blood-red paint job is substituted by a more realistic reddish brown, with bits of gray and red (and yellow. Damn yellow) to brighten him up. He pull looks colourful, but at least not mismatched like Skydive.

ROBOT MODE

A great paint job sure gives him a more impressive look. Fireflight looks more impressive than his mold-twin.

The thing I like about this mold is the energon weapon. It looks impressive, like a proper gun, instead of breadsticks.

TRANSFORMATION- 4/10 same with Skydive.
DURABILITY- 5/10 same with Skydive.
FUN- 10/10 due to his more interesting personality, he gets a ten.
OVERALL- 9/10 A nice mold, lotsa weapons... pretty cool toy.

SUPERION
"To live is to fight, to die is to stop."

Superion is the first Autobot gestalt that appeared in the cartoon and the comics. While his original toy was gangly, the same cannot be said for this Superion. Standing head-to-head with Bruticus Maximus (more or less, depending on who's doing leg duties...), Superion also manages to be slightly taller than Ultra Silverbolt.

Unlike Bruticus, however, Superion's arms are all malformed claws that do not resemble hands of any kind. Bruticus has fingers at least. The hand from Skydive/Fireflight looks stupid, and the one from Air Raid/Slingshot is very fiddly to attach and is merely four sticks.

As legs, the Air Raid/Slingshot mold nicely supports the weight, but the thinner nosecone of Skydive/Fireflight is unsuitable for long-term display. So I'd suggest using both Air Raid and Slingshot as legs, and the other two as hands.

The head sculpt gives him two gigantic yellow rubber horns, which looks very silly in my opinion. Unlike Bruticus, the shoulder/knee joints of Superion are very tight, and it's a big pain in the fingers trying to latch them onto Silverbolt or to bend them. Ah well. Wear by play, I say.

Overall, five excellent toys that combine into an adequate gestalt.

TRANSFORMATION- 10/10 it took me a whole hour for me to assemble Superion for the first time.
DURABILITY- 7/10 as Superion, he's liable to topple. But nicely durable.
FUN- 10/10 Fun. Very fun.
PRICE- X/10 Again, I got these for free...
OVERALL- 9/10 Superion's limbs are nicely done, other than Skydive's eyesore-giving paint job. Fireflight and Silverbolt is nice, while Slingshot and Air Raid are splendid. Get him if you like the Aerialbots better than the Combaticons.

Detective Barricade's review

Name: Superion
Function: Aerialbot Gestalt/Combiner
Sub-Group: Universe 25th Anniversary G1 Series/ROTF Combiners class

The mighty union of the five Aerialbots, Superion thinks of little else besides destroying any Decepticons he encounters, and protecting any innocent bystander nearby. The robots that combine to form this powerful warrior are experienced teammates, working in tandem to see that the Autobots emerge victorious from the fire of the ancient war.

Superion is one of the more iconic combiners from G1. In Energon, we got a new form of him known as Superion Maximus. For Universe and ROTF, we get a Target/Zellers exclusive repaint giftset of the Energon combiner as Superion. And I have to say, this is an interesting set. I’ll review each mold individually and then Superion himself, since there’s only three distinct ones.

Silverbolt

Alternate mode:
For this Silverbolt, he turns into a futuristic supersonic jet that very vaguely resembles a SR-71. He’s the largest of the set since he forms the central component. The arms half-heartedly form the wings, but the legs do manage to hide well enough in plain sight. He also has a pair of Mini-Con plugs, though there isn’t much room beside the tail to make use of them. A spark crystal resides along the fuselage where an energon star can be attached if you want. Finally, he features retractable, non-functional landing gear.

Robot mode:
Transforming to robot mode is pretty easy by today’s standards. Of course, since this is a straight repaint of Energon Storm Jet, he doesn’t look like G1 Silverbolt very much at all. His body is quite hollow due to the combined mode, but it’s not that noticeable from the front or back. The light-piping works very well despite the large piece of kibble on his back that would seem to obscure it somewhat. However, the quality control for the entire production run of this set must have been blind because the knees are assembled backwards, and apparently this is true on all of them. Granted, this problem is easy enough to fix, but still... With the knees fixed, he’s got 21 points of articulation.

Transformation: 3 Not as easy as the Silverbolt that forms Magnaboss or the Universe Ultra, but still very easy.
Durability: 8 Seems stable enough.
Fun: 6 He’s fun, but he lacks anything extra other than combining.
Overall: 6 He’s alright on his own if you can ignore the Powerlinx Combiner nubs on his forearms.


Air Raid/Slingshot (Airazor)

Alternate mode:
These two both end up as futuristic fighter jets that kind of resemble very squat F-22s. They have retractable, non-functional landing gear, but the barely hidden arms virtually make this a moot point. The transparent canopy on each reveals a decently detailed cockpit for a Scout sized toy. They each get a pair of cannons and a connector piece for the combined mode, as well as their very own energon star to fit over their spark crystals and pretty much leave there. The cannons can attach over or under each wing, though they don’t add to the look of them.

Robot mode:
Since they’re repaints of the Energon Treadshot/Windrazor mold, they bear little resemblance to their G1 counterparts. Moving right along, the robot modes are really well done! I personally think the mold suits Air Raid a little better than Slingshot. The weapons can be held in the hands from above or below. Or both in the same hand if you’re feeling crazy. The light-piping works wonderfully since there’s nothing to block it. Their 11 points of articulation apiece mostly consist of ball joints. Although, I’ve no idea why the shoulder ball joints are translucent...

Transformation: 4 Fun and interesting for Scouts
Durability: 8 Quite sturdy.
Fun: 8 Despite having the worst weapons out of the set, these two are very nice.
Overall: 7 Perfectly fine on their own. Even if their weapons stink.


Fireflight/Skydive

Alternate mode:
These two become futuristic assault jets, somewhat resembling A-10s. They’re easily the most convincing of the three jet molds for this combiner set. They of course include retractable, non-functional landing gear. They also have their very own energon stars to plug onto their spark crystals and leave there until it goes into the great toy box in the sky. I never really understood the whole idea behind this for Energon, but then I never watched much of it. They also have a neat double barreled cannon that can mount under or over each wing, though the nominal position is just above and behind the cockpit. There’s a molded in seat in the cockpit as well. Unfortunately, his head barely hides underneath as an odd looking turret.

Robot mode:
Now these two have hands down the best robot modes out of the individuals. Of course they don’t even have remotely the same paint schemes as G1 Fireflight and Skydive, which for something that’s also part of the Universe G1 Series is incredibly odd. That aside, they still manage to look good. They can hold their weapon in either hand. Personally, I wouldn’t want to argue with these two considering they’re left foot has a machine gun on it, they have turbine fists, they’ve got a comparatively huge gun, and ‘gun goggles’! Each of these two feature 12 points of articulation, in the same places as the other two Aerialbot limbs plus a waist. Oh and his light piping works wonderfully too!

Transformation: 4 Very intuitive and fun.
Durability: 8 The ‘gun goggles’ pop off easily, but otherwise very tough little Scouts.
Fun: 10 Just about enough weapons to kill a Decepticon to death. And the articulation to use it!
Overall: 9 My favorites out of the set. They stand out nicely alone.


Superion
Now for the combined mode. As a repaint of Energon Superion Maximus, Superion employs the ‘Powerlinx Combiner’ method. Silverbolt forms the body, the other four can form any limb or can be swapped for any limb from Classics Constructicon Devastator and/or ROTF/Universe Bruticus Maximus. Air Raid and Slingshot’s weapons really show off just how awful they are in the combined mode. They work slightly better as ‘hands’, simply because then you’re not relying on them to support the combiner’s weight. Fireflight and Skydive work okay as arms, but are phenomenal as legs. Unfortunately, the nosecone has trouble staying tabbed in it’s slot in this mode. It seems that FansProject, the company that made the City Commander armor for Classics Ultra Magnus to truly make him into Ultra Magnus, has paid attention to the faults of the limbs and is producing an Add-on accessory kit to give him proper hands and feet. Needless to say I’m looking forward to getting this.


Transformation: 3 Very easy.
Durability: 7 Air Raid loves to pop off on occasion. And the F-22-ish limbs’ weapons suck
Fun: 8 It’s articulated, but not very stable as is.
Price: 7 For about $40 CAD, it’s worth it.
Overall: 7 This set is good. But the FansProject Add-on kit for Superion may just make this set so much more worth it.