Combiner Wars Silverbolt Review:

Well much to my surprise I was fortunate enough to snag a Combiner Wars Silverbolt this morning from my local toy shop, I thoughts I'd offer my thoughts on him here.

Robot Mode:



I'll start with Bot mode as this is haow he comes out of the box, a very nice Bot mode that evokes his G1 repesentation very well, he has a nice vibrant colour scheme and is proportioned very well, the paint apps are of good quality however there are some areas that could have benifited with being painted, such as the shoulders, they dont look horrible in black, but I feel silver or white may have been a better choice. He has good articulation and all the joints are nice and tight,he has a ball jointed head, very sturdy ratcheted shoulders and there are a few soft ratcheted joits elswhere on the figure. There is a fair bit of kibble on the back, with the nosecone, tailfin and wings being folded back there, however the wings can be folded all the way back to make them look less intrusive, the tailfin is the most obvious peice of kibble and it does hang down rather low on the back of the figure, if I'm honest I wish there was a way to collase that up a little but its not that big a deal. Dispite the back kibble he balances very well and is able to hold some nice poses. Accessory wise he comes with a big assed gun, which can seperate for him to wield in botmode, the second half of the gun forms a shield that can be stored on his other arm, I'm not to sure about this really, the gun appears a little on the large side and the shield appears far to small, I would have rather the gun not separate but thats just me.



Jet Mode:







The transformation is quite simple however is quite satisfying, it is not unlike Leader Class Jetfre to be honest, and there is a fair amount of kibble on the underside. Kibble aside the jet mode is very nice, the transformation seams are well hidden along the wing sections however I cant for the life of me figure out why Hasbro used the orange plastic as the connection hinge for the nosecone, white would have looked much better, there is also that rubbery plastic on the nosecone and at the tip of the tailfin, I dont care for it personally but all toys appear to have it these days. All in all it is a nice update to the G1 Concorde mold, as a nod to Concorde the nosecone can tilt forward slightly, which I think is a nice touch. The gun can be stored in Alt mode, you need to raise the landing gear which reveals a second 5mm hole in oreder to store the gun, and the gun has a small molded wheel on it to replicate the landing gear.




Torso Mode:

The Transformation to torso mode is quite impressive, I love how the arms form his legs and the way the chest section is formed is very well engineered, I dont yet have any limbs to attach to the figure so I cannot comment on how well they intergrate. There are two things however I dislike about the torso mode, first Superions anttene are made of that awful rubbery plastic, and it is very, very pliable, very little presure at all is needed to move them around, they also dont stand upright, leaning a couple of degrees back, its not that bad but I would preffer they were made of a more robust material, no doubt Shapeways will fix that in time, secondly in order to make the combiner ports available Silverbolts fists need to be pivoted to the rear of the knees, the problem is they just kind of sit there and no attempt has been made to conseal them in torso mode, sure there at the back and very unlikley to be seen but I would have liked them to have been stored away a little better.



Comparison with ROTF Silverbolt.

Ive done this comparison because, firstly I've not seen it done yet and secondly this is the figure he will be replacing in my collection.








As you can see Combiner Wars Silverbolt is a huge improvment in every mode.

Conclusion.

Silverbolt is a fine figure, I am very happy with my purchase, he is a very solid Voyager class figure, he has good quality plastics and has a simple yet satisfying transformation, there are some compromises due to him being a combiner but these dont detract from the overall enjoyment of the figure, I reccomend him highly and cannot wait to find the rest of his brethren to see him in all his glory.

Thanks for reading.

 

I can't WAIT to get this guy in my hot little hands!

 

I'll definitely be getting the full Superion. I just wish that he had thicker thighs.

 

I'd be tempted to treat the hands behind the knees the same way I intend to jse Ops smaller robot hands: use them to tool up the larger robot and, in Silverbolt's case, give him knee cannons!

Fab review. Some real useful size comparisons

 

I'm happy to hear that this line as well as the RiD line has a better feeling plastic quality. Thank You for the review.

 

Absolutely my intent if I pick 'em up. Great minds, sir, great minds.

 

Ill be buying a shitload of the autobot Air team. this looks SO awesome.

 

Your welcome, that is a great idea about the kne cannons!

Your welcome, the plastic feels different with these guys compared to some of the Thrilling 30 figures, more robust, there are no hollow parts on this guy either.

 

Looks great. Can't wait to get him.

 

Super excited.

 

Thank you. I am simply stoked for this guy!!

 

Given that Silverbolt's hands (and 5mm ports) are sticking out the back of the legs, it'd be a cakewalk for someone on shapeways to design a part that adds thickness to the thighs (and maybe even tapers into the waist) using that port to attach.

Could make the parts turn into bombs or something for the plane modes...

 

This guy looks fresh and dressed to impress.

 

Silverbolt is cool. He has under junk but tahts a prob with most/all plane formers. Cant wait to get the other stuff to form Superion.

 

Looks excellent. Genuinely excellent. And TCracker's pics of the combined mode really display the potential of the poseability and presence of the whole thing.

Plus, love the set of lower nipples that Superion's antennae give him.

 

Ratchets all over and that modernized G1 look sold me. Eagerly looking forward to this. Just wish the arms didn't stick out under the wings in jet mode(from above they stick out further than parts of the wings). Love that head sculpt for Superion too.

 

QFT. I cant remember a time when I was this excited about an entire years worth of possibilities.

And...AND...the 1st ones they make are usually the shittiest. I cant wait to see more...

 

Got him, he is great and transformation is satisfying.

 

I am sure a 3rd party may create an add on as well and package it with the helicopter replacement.

 

Thanks for the review and especially the comparison to the RotF mold. I really think there's a case to be made for using that RotF mold as the Cybertronian form and this new guy as the true classics option.