Powerglide

Status: Released

Release Date: July 2008 (July 2008)

Wave: Universe 2.0 Ultra Wave 1

MSRP: $24.99

Size Class: Ultra

Suggested Age: 5+

Assortment Number: 83679

Product Number: 83687

UPC/Barcode Number: 653569325246

Recolors/Reuses: Universe Storm Cloud , Universe Powerglide (G1 Deco)

Oh man, what a great day for mail today; Classics 2.0 Onslaught and Powerglide. Onslaught's already got his review up, so now it's the turn of everyone's favourite little red jet.
...hang on.
...He's not little. In fact, he's bigger than Classics Jetfire.
...He's not red either. Hmm.
OK. Let's take a look at this guy.
PART ONE - JET MODE
Powerglide's jet mode remains a stylised A-10 Warthog. VERY stylised, I have to say. He is predominantly light grey, with red details. I think he must have some kind of identity crisis; he's got 3 different sets of ID markings on him.
Powerglide's undercarriage folds out; a single nosewheel, and double wheels from each wing. However, I really hope I've got him somehow mistransformed; his nose points down at an alarming angle. In fact, when you put his nose-mounted chaingun on, the front wheel doesn't even touch the ground.
Oh dear.
The chaingun, incidentally, is really quite nice; it doubles as his robot mode's rifle (more on that later). However having the missile in it when it's attached to his jet mode means that the end of the missile hits a piece of underhanging robot mode kibble and either stops the gun pointing straight or bends the missile. Oh dear again.
Anyway. Moving on.
Detail-wise, Powerglide is exceptional. he is covered in panels and rivets and vents and such. I particularly like the nose section. It has some really nice detailing, and the attachable chaingun just enhances the look SO much.
The red button on top of the jet activates Powerglide's sound & light gimmicks (the batteries, 2 AAA ones, are stored in his engines. Very nice, I thought) - the orange rears of the engines light up, and he makes:
-a whooshing jet noise
-what sounds like a missile firing
-a rapid fire chaingun-like sound
Pretty sweet.
In conclusion, Powerglide's jet mode is a REALLY nice one, with a few unfortunate issues. To be honest, though, there's nothing that would have actively put me off getting him.
PART TWO - ROBOT MODE
...Dayum. Somewhere between G1 and now, powerglide pumped some iron. He's seriously bulked up. In fact, his proportions in general remind me of a body builder. Well, that or his legs are just too bloody small.
Yeah. As you can probably already tell, I'm not so fired up about this guy as I was about Onslaught. Still, he has some VERY nice redeeming features.
In fact, one of my favourites is related to his transformation (which, by the way, is fairly complex, but nothing mind-shatteringly hard). When you transform his chest, you hear the classic G1 transformation noise, as heard for vehicle->robot. When you transform him back to jet mode, you hear the classics G1 transformation noise again - but this time as heard for robot->alt mode! REALLY nice touch!
Anyway, Nerdgasm #1 over. Back to robot mode.
Powerglide's robot mode kibble doesn't really hurt him that badly; he's oddly proportioned, yes, but he absolutely oozes character. his head is a rather radical update on the original, but it's definitely still Powerglide. Right down to the gun barrel on one side of his head. Nice touch, that.
Sounds and light gimmicks are, as with Onslaught, carried over from alt mode to robot mode. However, the red button to activate them is now hidden beneath the jet's tail. no biggie; you just press down on the tail. As with Onslaught, Powerglide's eyes flash when you activate the sounds.
...And so do his manboobs. LOL.
And speaking of his chest: He has a HEART! Nerdgasm #2!
(Although not for me; I hated that episode violently. Oh well)
Now. Articulation.
Powerglide has articulation in his head (no balljoint, 360 degree rotation), shoulders, above-elbow swivel, elbows, waist, hips, knees. Ankles due to his transformation. In all, not bad. The only problem is that he's not that stable. Because of his hip ratchets, he can either stand with his legs close together, or splayed apart just enough to stop him balancing properly on his pointy lil' feet. However when you do find a pose that works, he looks... pretty good. Alternatively, you could "fix" him. Powerglide's hips are ratchet joints; if you shave off the first notch on the bottom of the ratchet, he is a lot more posable. the hip joints are tight enough to allow him to stand perfectly well after modifying them like this.
CONCLUSION
Powerglide is... flawed. Jet mode looks brilliant, except for the undercarriage (possibly/hopefully my fault, but I don't honestly think so). Gimmicks are pretty nice. Robot mode is oddly proportioned and difficult to pose, yet somehow endearing. He's not red, but the Henkei version probably will be ENTIRELY red.
He's nice, but nowhere near as good as Onslaught. I'd give him a 7/10, with a very large "try before you buy" attached to it.

Contributors: Sol Fury, Tim Formas, Draven, tamo536

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