TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

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

fort_max's review of: Silverbolt

Name: Silverbolt
Allegiance: Maximal
Function: Tracker
Sub-Group: Fuzors

Shadows of mystery cloak this silent and proud warrior. Part wolf, part eagle, Silverbolt possesses all the attributes of a great lone warrior: speed, power, wisdom, intelligence. His uncanny ability to track and then furiously overcome Predacons by himself, only to suddenly disappear into the backdrop, has inspired myths describing a fierce winged warrior who has come to defeat their evil ranks one by one. Preferring to work alone, Silverbolt is a ferociously intelligent fighter: extremely dextrous, he seems to be everywhere at once, striking with fearsome talons and firing hidden point-missiles from his wing tips to ultimately surface victorious.

Alternate Mode:
Let me start this by saying one thing: I don't like the majority of the Fuzors. Most of them look like they were slapped together using spare parts the toy designers had lying around. Silverbolt is different, though. He has a mythical quality to him that the others lack, and his design looks...intentional. One of the major draws of this toy (at least, as far as I'm concerned) is the sheer amount of sculpting, especially for the beast mode. Unlike a lot of the earlier Beast-era toys, Silverbolt has sculpted fur and feathers. Every feather is intricately rendered, giving him a highly realistic look. Obviously, this is infinitely better than, say, Cheetor, who just had some spots haphazardly splashed across smooth plastic.

Honestly, the only real problem with this mode would have to be Silverbolt's rear legs. During transformation, the leg folds back, and a forearm moves down. This wouldn't be an issue, except that these forearms only have a flap of plastic concealing them, and not very well. Fortunately, this isn't enough to really damage the look of what amounts to a first rate beast mode.

Robot Mode:
After a great beast mode, Silverbolt has a lot to live up to, and he very nearly succeeds. His robot mode looks great, and he looks almost exactly like he did in the cartoon (barring, of course, the slightly top-heavy design). Unfortunately, there are a couple of things that keep him from achieving lasting greatness.

One of the most glaring problems with Silverbolt is the lower torso. The only thing holding his waist together is his...skirt, and it doesn't do a very good job. Any sort of rough play would cause his legs to go in several very painful directions, but it doesn't really hurt his display possibilities. Then, there are the wings. Silverbolt's wings just sort of sit on his shoulders, and there's no way to do anything with them. It's a fairly minor complaint, but I really wish his wings had been more like Tigerhawk's, if only because they could at least fold up a little. On the whole, while not quite as likable as his beast mode, Silverbolt's robot mode is definitely one of the best Fuzors, and worth a look.

Transformation: 8 - The visible arms did hurt the score a little bit, but the transformation is simple and does a fairly decent job of hiding the robot mode.
Durability: 9 - Even after nearly ten years of moving around, he's still in really good condition. Little bit of warning, though; the wing missiles have a nasty habit of disappearing.
Fun: 6.5 - While a little wobbly and unreliable in robot mode, Silverbolt is just plain fun.
Price: 9 - Prices vary, but he doesn't seem to cost more than ten dollars on Ebay.
Summary: 6 - Great beast mode, decent robot mode. If you find one, I'd highly recommend buying it.