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Transformers Toy Review Archive (older series, 1984 to date)
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Warcry's review of: Silverbolt

Name: Silverbolt
Allegiance: Maximal
Function: Aerial Assault/Tracker
Sub-Group: Fuzor
"Even in the face of the darkest nights, justice will ultimately prevail."

Hailed as a Maximal hero by the general populace for his role in the liberation of Cybertron from Megatron's rule, Silverbolt had finally been able to recover from the nightmare of constant battle and begin an idyllic life with his love Black Arachnia. However, once Unicron, the ancient monster planet, resurfaced to threaten the cosmos, this new dawn of peace and prosperity for the reborn Cybertron had abruptly been cut short as the planet's populace must again prepare for battle against the ultimate evil. Silverbolt exemplifies the finest qualities that one might expect in Primus's defenders: He is an honourable and brave fighter, righteous in his cause and noble in bearing. In his newly reformatted Fuzor body, Silverbolt has reverted to the powerful form he started out with in the Beast Wars. In beast mode Silverbolt possesses keen olfactory sensors enabling him to track his prey like a bloodhound. In both modes, Silverbolt boasts superior speed and agility. In robot mode his main weapons are bio-mechanically created feather weaponry that can be fashioned into swords or launched as explosive missiles. In the battle against Unicron, Silverbolt's primary goal is to save and recover Black Arachnia from the Chaos Bringer's corrupting influence. However, his feelings for her are even stronger than his own sense of self-preservation, and can easily be exploited by his enemies.

There are times when one really has to wonder what Hasbro's designers are thinking. This is one of those times.

Now, despite having reservations about Silverbolt's aberrant colour scheme, there was never any question in my mind about whether I would buy this figure. Silverbolt was my favourite character in the Beast Wars series and his toy from that line is one of my absolute favourites. Since my BW Silverbolt has been gone for ages, the chance to get my hands on a shiny, new version of the mould was too much to ignore.

Alternate Mode:
Despite his odd colours, Silverbolt looks really good in this mode. He just doesn't look like Silverbolt. A demon from the pits of Hell, maybe. But an honourable, chivalrous warrior? Not so much, no.

Silverbolt's wolf/eagle mutant body is mostly a medium purple. However, his back is mostly silver, bordered by red that carries over to the inner leading edges of his wings. The feathers on the trailing edges of his wings are black. At first glance, his tail feathers seem to be black as well; however, upon closer inspection they are in fact very dark blue. His eyes are bright green with white pupils, his teeth are silver, and there is a tiny tuft of silver fur on his muzzle. Patches of eye-searing neon yellow are present on his rear legs and talons.

Like several other Universe figures, Silverbolt's paint scheme is surprisingly detailed. However, one can easily see why this repaint was originally going to be released as a Decepticon.

'Bolt is articulated at his hips, knees and ankles on his talons, and at his hips on his rear legs. As well, his wings can move up and down. Despite his wide wingspan, he can hold pretty much any pose you can put him in.

His talons can open and close, which I suppose is meant to be used to grab his enemies the way a bird of prey would swoops down and grabs small animals off the ground. It doesn't really work, but can make for some interesting action poses nonetheless.

Lifting up his tail feathers will move his wings forward, and if they move forward far enough his feather missiles will launch automatically. The missiles can also be launched manually by pressing the trigger on each wing.

Robot Mode:
In robot mode, it's a lot harder to find things to like about Silverbolt's colour scheme. Aside from the beast mode parts behind his head, he is coloured almost entirely purple. Those parts that aren't purple are coloured that God-awful neon yellow, while his eyes are still that awesomely unsettling green. All in all the scheme is horrid, and one must wonder who at Hasbro thought it was a good idea.

However, aside from the ugliness Silverbolt is a wonderful toy. Articulated at shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, ankles and neck, you can put him in pretty much any pose imaginable. He is, however, somewhat top-heavy with his wings and other beast parts hanging above his shoulders.

Silverbolt's feather missiles can still be launched in this mode. Alternatively, they can be used as melee weapons (I can't bring myself to call those things swords; at best they're short spears, at worst, big spoons). The weapons are short and light enough that he can pose with them and not have any balance problems.

In this mode, Silverbolt has a single irritating design flaw. His lower body is made up of several separate pieces that connect to one another during his transformation, and the pieces sometimes won't stay together very well. If you're not careful when moving his hips, the whole lower body assembly will split apart. However, if you are careful it is no big concern.

Transformation: 9 - Brilliant. Silverbolt changes from two distinct modes with a minimum of kibble, and that which is there is integrated well enough that it looks like it belongs. However, the transform sequence is a bit challenging the first few times through.
Durability: 7 - Several of the parts that move during transformation look a bit fragile, but I haven't broken mine yet.
Fun: 10 - Incredible articulation, silly weapons and firing missiles. What more could you want from a deluxe figure?
Price: 8 - He's not shipping anymore, so he might be hard to find. Conversely, that means you might be able to find him at a discount.
Summary: 7 - Ugly, but still a very, very good toy. This version of 'Bolt is recommended if you are a huge Silverbolt fan or if you can get past the bad colours. Otherwise it might be better to track down the original on eBay.

 
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