TFW Exclusive First Impressions Reviews of Universe Classics Ironhide and Silverbolt

Maaaaaaan, everytime I hear about Silverbolt I want him more and more.

I know that Silverbolt and Onslaught have been stated to not be combiners before but after seeing it do you think there is any room in the design to for them to add on arms and legs if they decided to change their mind down the road. Do you think that there is any chance that they may have left themselves an "out" just in case?

The one I got a really good look at was Silverbolt, and I didn't see anything obvious in terms of "outs" for combination points. But, never say never. People have made, at least, fan-combiners out of toys like the RiD car brothers without any modifications.

Really excited for Silverbolt, i think he's the truest G1 update yet in the classics/classics 2.0 line-up, and the original was honestly pretty crappy. he's an "A" by me.

Ironhide's decent enough, but the arms really leave me cold. and all the seems in Alt mode look a bit tacky (plus the bright blue painted windows look terrible, should have gone black with something "smokey" for the clear ones.) Still, we've been waiting for a good G1 ironhide for, oh, 24 years, so he'll definately do

Ironhide's bot mode looks like he'll fit in well as a future movie line repaint(which, given the first movie line, should be within the realm of possibility).

His alt mode is disappointing. I hope the parts in the final release will line up better. And they really need to use a deeper shade of blue for the painted windows.

But I always like inventive transformations.

Silverbolt on the other hand, seems an uninspired redo of an uninspiring character. I'll probably end up getting it, but I could easily do without.

The transformation seems excessively convoluted for a character design that is so fundamentally simple... and the number of diagonal panel lines really do clash with established TF aesthetics where normally the lines of fragmentation in the transformation follow or echo the right angles already present in the vehicle.

Have you handled the new Ironhide figure yet- were you at the convention? If so, these comments are a legitimate opinion.

Since I haven't actually seen the figure in person yet, I have no idea how the transformation is truly accomplished. It could be terribly awkward and complex, or it could be enjoyable in its complexity.

I don't think Transformers really has a great deal of established aesthetics for alt modes. From its inception, many have been more cartoonish or more realistic even within a line. There is a quantity of established aesthetics- this is beyond a doubt. However, the designers have a great deal of room for freedom, as evidenced by the difference in aesthetics between Classics Mirage and Classics Astrotrain, which were engineered by two different people.

Regardless, we are both adult men arguing over the way a toy comes apart. I will enjoy my Universe Ironhide figure, and you can evaluate him for yourself.

Do you think that there is any chance that they may have left themselves an "out" just in case?

Did you ever see Redline's Classics Menasor, or the late TFMaster's Menasor composed of Alternators? If amateurs can engineer any figure to combine, imagine what the professionals can do.

I don't think neon means what you think it means.

that Orange might not be quite neon, but it's getting into the neighborhood

i don't mind it in Bot mod, it works within the deco, but those Bright orange landing gear are a bit silly....

Fine. BRIGHT orange. Eye-catching orange. Traffic-cone orange. Regardless---it is extremely unrealistic (which seems to be a goal for Universe lately) for a plane's landing gear etc, or any part of a tank. And simply "pointless" for a character which doesn't have those colors to have joints etc made of them.

It's like adding BRIGHT green joints to a "typical" red and blue Optimus figure---it really doesn't look like it belongs and seems utterly pointless, when simple grey or black (or a "matching" color) would have been far better.

I was at TFCon and messed around with the samples too, and I gotta say... Ironhide is awesome, but I'm REALLY disappointed in Silverbolt. To me he seems like basically G1 with a couple added points of articulation. He's a jet with a robot attached to its underside, and turns into a robot with a jet on its back. And I'm hoping (while I'm not planning to get it when it comes out) that they do a better job with the paint application. To me, the whole thing just felt cheap and clunky.

The other ones they had on display, though... they were really quite cool!! Not sure if we're allowed to talk about them though... they said no photos. ^_^

Ironhide, bot mode looks great, alt mode, not so much. Hopefully, the final product will look better. I'll no doubt buy one anyway.

Silverbolt, both modes look great. I do not care for electronics in my Transformers, however, and I wish he was a Voyager rather than an Ultra (why a Deluxe Galvatron, why?! Ahem, sorry). I'll probably get this one, but it's not a guaranteed buy like most of the new Classics/Universe molds.

I hear ya

Ironhide's a bit small, I've not opened Sunstreaker yet, but he's probably a shade shorter.

Silverbolt has shoulders the swing out as well as up down, elbows, biceps, universal jointed hips, knees, swivels above the knees, and full neck movement. The head movement is good - it's a decent sized head so I'd imagine the neck is big enough to allow movement and the lights.

...i can't imagine you wouldn't be allowed to talk about it unless they made you sign an NDA...

I've been waiting for a g1 styled Ironhide for a while. They had better not make a repaint of him as Ratchet and have him as a exclusive of some sort. Silverbolt is nice also I just wish that he was part of a combiner set,

There is a certain amount of extrapolation about the actual transformation one can make based on the pictures we've seen and the reviews recounted. Beyond that, the pictures give us a pretty clear image of the end transformation, and on that count, I stand by my opinion (which regardless of your criteria, remains "legitimate") that the array of angular panels in the vehicle mode are noticeable, ugly, and likely unnecessary.

The fact that this has been brought up by a number of people should indicate that my feeling on this is not merely a lone, subjective voice in the dark...

Not sure where you're going with this. I think that while the fresh perspective brought by having a diverse crew of designers is a good thing, on the other hand, there is something to be said for having a consistent aesthetic that runs through a particular line.

Also, regardless of how successful the line has been at achieving convincing alt-modes over the years, I think it could be broadly agreed upon that the more credible an alt-mode is (be it cartoonish, realistic or futuristic) the better.

And generally, if it can be said that TFs share certain established aesthetic qualities, the tendency for separating panels in vehicle modes to follow right angles consistent with the orientation of the vehicle would certainly be one... and for good reason, as with this Ironhide we can see how deviating from that norm can make the the illusion of the vehicle's structural integrity more glaringly obvious than usual.

I can't help but notice that you're insisting I cannot form a legitimate opinion on this figure until I handle it in person, yet you are quite confident that you will enjoy it despite having no empirical data of your own. Presumably this is due to your superior ability to enjoy toys meant for children, while I am just a curmudgeon.

Sadly, this presumption of divine proficiency on the side of "professionals" is often wildly misguided. A casual search through some of the most famous and popular minor mods, kitbashes and scratch builds will demonstrate that quite often amateurs outdo the professionals... though admittedly often this can be ascribed to certain limitations professionals must work under due to budgets, marketing, factory practices, etc... not to mention the fact that a fresh perspective can sometimes make all the difference.

A pro can engineer the best, smartest, coolest TF they can muster, and it's still easy to imagine how a fan might, after handling the toy for a few minutes, spot an obvious improvement that could be made. After all... in our way, we fans are the experts. I'm sure a lot of us spend more time handling Transformers than some of the pros.

zmog

guy relax, Smog can think whatever the heck he wants to think, Free World(ish).

There's always Henkei!

Cool. I'm looking forward to getting these when they come out.

how thick are silverbolt's legs would ya say? and how tall is he?? These are important for me as I want to use it for Superion..

anything ironhide i got to get!

thanks for the reviews, you were indeed lucky. I wasnt sure about getting Ironhide but i'm considering that now.

Hey, anyone else think Trailbreaker would be a good Ironhide remold?

I did notice that too about Ironhide's panels being angular and not looking to good in alt mode and bot mode, but still even though Ironhide's mold is hard to look at sometimes. Some or most of us are going to buy it and put him with our Transformers collection and I think thats good enough for me.

Am I the only one who thinks Ironhide is a unique and well-engineered new TF, while Silverbolt is simply an exact copy of the old one and for that reason suffers from "undercarriage junk" almost as bad as movie Starscream? (And I'm not an Ironhide fan but a big Silverbolt fan)

well, the reviewer said Silverbolt's "undercarriage junk" is well incorporated, so i'm inclined to believe him until we see otherwise ~ Ironhide is certainly unique, but i 'm not sure if i can agree with "Well engineered" with how visible all the cuts and panels are ~ maybe "impressively engineered" (given what the reviewer says about his complexity)

I don't think you can be comparing silverbolt to movie starscream

silverbolt=movie starscream?

Anyone have any pics of Ironhides weapons?

Also Silverbolt could be a combiner, the other aerialbots might have grooves that slide over his limbs and he might get a slide on helmet for his Superion head, ya never know.

Universe Classics Silverbolt has almost nothing in common with Movie Voyager Starscream.

could someone tell me how tall he is, or how thick his legs are?

WOW! That Ironhide is nearly 25 years overdue!!! Definately getting that bad boy... Thanks for the reviews duder!

i'm not going to go through the 9 pages to find out if someone's already said this so sorry if its been mentioned.


Has anyone else noticed that ironhide seems to be looking at the ground? i think the fig is alright except for that one little problem (i think its a problem). do you think hasbro will fix it?

After looking at the pictures of him that we have, it's more along the lines of a positioning issue than an issue with the mold itself. Basically we really haven't seen a picture of him posed correctly yet.

Anyone have a BELLY shot of Silverbolt? That'd answer a lot of questions.

Movie Voyager Starscream is a better figure in my opinion, from what I saw of Silverbolt. Easily.

Not to say Silverbolt is bad. The undercarriage is better done than I thought it would be.

Sadly, no. I was gonna take pics, but they asked me not to.

To be fair, I think when discussing undercarriage kibble in a jet mode, it is appropriate to compare Movie Starscream to this Silverbolt. Though of course, it does look like Silverbolt fares MUCH better in that category.

Wow. Movie Starscream is, off the top of my head, one of the worst figures I could imagine owning for the price-point. I mean, to the degree that if someone offered me one for free, I'd turn it down! It looks terrible in both modes, and isn't well-engineered. I just don't see the appeal.

zmog

I agree. Universe Silverbolt looks TOO much like a Transformer to be compared to the Monkeybot.

I love Monkeybot! The Premium version anyways...

I agree.

Also agree.

Totally disagree. One of the better surprises of the movie line was how good that toy was engineered.

-airfox

I like Starscream better more for his transformation.

Silverbolt is a "fold out the arms and legs and fold the plane in 2" type Transformer.

Starscream on the other hand has a very complex and satisfying transformation.

I don't find complex transformations satisfying for their own sake, but rather, I like fluid transformations... which can be complex OR simple.

It's too soon to say how Silverbolt will feel in my hands, but I know that for me, Movie Starscream was tedious and unsatisfying... partially because I disliked the robot mode (AND vehicle mode) so much, but also because the design is full of weird idiosyncrasies that felt awkward and needlessly fussy.

Granted it is hard to get excited about a figure's transformation when the end result is so appallingly unattractive. sigh.

zmog

Which is why I was pleasantly surprised by Starscream, as I didn't like the bot mode and still feel the undercarriage in jet mode is the worst offense ever in a jet TF.

But the figure itself, I found fun and with a great transformation. I couldn't say the same about others from the movie line though.

-airfox