It's almost been 25yrs since Transformers first invaded the United States. Hasbro has several figures lined up to celebrate the occasion, but Universe is giving us a precursor. Silverbolt, a jet afraid of heights, kicks off the 25th year markings. Check him out here.

He is a nice figure, though I am a bit disappointed by the whole "robot glued to the bottom of a plane" thing he has going on.

Silverbolt is nice. Remember, Powerglide is what can happen when they try to fully integrate the robot mode into the plane mode.

"Time for a sandwich."

I was disappointed with this figure ever since the first pictures of him were shown. It's like almost no effort was put into the design

I can appreciate him for what he is; G1 with more articulation. While a reinvention would be nice, the opposite is refreshing to see now and then.

it's funny, people have been saying "G1 with more articulaion", silverbolt is just that and he's getting slated.

Personally I'll get him for a kitbash involving installing powerlink points.

I think the problem is "that's a neat idea, but not for 25 bucks."

I'm curious... with propper unscrewing, could I have a robot and a plane?

What I find funny is that Silverbolt is being slated for having a G1 accurate transformation, and Onslaught is getting slated for being reinvented. Hasbro can't win.

Heh...I have read that idea elsewhere, so probably.

Again my biggest problem with this is the same as Onslaught...too big. This would have made a great Voyager sized figure...Smaller scale and I'd be happy. NOT a $25 price tag. 13-15 yes. I may get the figure as a I really like the Universe/Classics line, but only if I get a nice nice check from work...but if not, will pass.
Not a bad figure...but for it's size I want more complex. Yeah we all have some issues with Powerglide, but at least we get the headache for our buck if you know what I mean.

I'm not sure what "slated" means, but maybe the problem is that they're both a new (big) size class and neither figure seems to really warrant it.

You won the thread

That is EXACTLY why Hasbro is getting slated (read: criticized) for these Ultras. They're fine ideas and all, but not $25 fine. With the simple transformations that Onslaught and Silverbolt had, they could have easily been deluxes and bee perfect. Powerglide is a bit more complex and therefore might warrant a Voyager body. However, as it stands, all three of these are priced beyond their value.

Voyager would have been fine. But seriously...an ultra for this guy?

The sound and lights gimick is not worth an extra $10

And really thats what youre paying for.

As an Ultra with poor SFX I just don't see a lot to like here.

As a voyager without the SFX and a lower price point I could see myself investing a bit with Universe but as is and with limited disposable income I think I'll just focus on the TFA figs.

Do any kids really like the sounds? (apart from transformations sounds as even being 20 I still think that's cool in a toy)

How easy would it be to attach the powerlink points from energon stormjet onto this guy?

yes... very skylynx ish


for my money, energon storm jet is classics silverbolt. it had the concord/sr71 alt mode, intergrated alt mode and was even a gestalt torso. piss on this overpriced futue skylynx repaint.

Look at Pascal's youtube 'quick' review on him. You will change your mind. When i first saw pics too he was god ugly awful IN THAT PIC, but i know that first pics (or even pics at all sometimes) can be deceiving. And so should you.

This toy kicks asss! He makes the transforming sound when you shove his legs up into his waist, and his head pops up & eyes light up! That alone is pretty cool PLUS he has G1 esq style.

Another great review by Cadogen!

yah lost me at "pascal"

Indeed

I'm pretty forgiving of Silverbolt though, since he really does win at evoking his G1 self. The more I look at Onslaught, the more I'm like "...who?"

The Onslaught head looks almost exactly like G1 Onslaught's head.

Yeah it does, but the color scheme looks like nothing in particular. And the rest of him... it would have been helped a lot if they'd stayed true to the G1 colors. Silverbolt's color changes aren't as significant because you can still look at the guy and he's immediately recognizable.

vs



I see the gunmetal blue, I see the pea green, I see the gray. Where's the coloration issue coming from again?

It's not major; like Silverbolt there were some color variations they made for the Universe version. But G1 Onslaught is navy blue, and the Universe version is almost gray. And the olive drab on G1 Onslaught is a kind of puke gold on the Universe version.

OMFG... now you're just arguing light-refraction semantics. So the colors aren't ZOMFG EXACT MATCH, but they're pretty fukcing close.

My major issue with these Universe Ultras (and I don't have any issues really, I love them all) is that Hasbro's new deal with Ultras seems to be "oys that should have been Voyagers, but we shoved some crappy lights and sounds in there for an extra $5".

I hate lights and sounds. I just want a robot that transforms into something else, and back again.

With a gun.

Considering the number of toys that have electronic sounds, I'm going with "YES."

The color on Onslaught looks a lot like the box art color, which was different from the toy. I thought the box art looked cooler.

I'm not arguing anything, actually... but if you want to read my posts as OMG I HAVE ANGST then you're entitled. I wasn't gonna buy Onslaught anyway.

Sorry. It just struck me as really funny to hear so many people saying, "Well, his olive drab is really more of a bright olive color. Because of that, I hate this toy."

You mean it's not champagne gold?

My color-phagginess is well-documented... I can be, particular, about such things.

The reason why I mentioned it with Onslaught is because the robot mode is different enough from his G1 self that a more precise color match would have really helped in the homage department. Silverbolt is like dead-on G1 so the color variations don't affect the overall figure that much IMO.

But...it doesn't combine...

Slated=criticized (more or less).

Anyway I wasn't commenting on the size class complaints*. I was commenting on those who are saying "OMG Onslaught sucks because he doesn't have his G1 alt mode!" and "OMG Silverbolt sucks because he's too much like G1!"
They reinvent a character's design, the fandom complains. They stay true to a character's design, the fandom complains.

*FWIW I'm also puzzled by the size class complaints. Everyone gushes over Animated Leader Megatron, but as someone who bought him I can say that his transformation isn't "worth" the Leader price point. He, like the Universe Ultras, could have been done just as well as a Voyager.
Yet the Ultras get slammed and the (more expensive) Animated Leader Megatron gets showered in praise. It is a tad perplexing.

Probably because the sizing matches the scale. Megatron towers over most other bots, so it makes sense to have him as a leader class.

Yes, but aren't Onslaught and Silverbolt suppose to be bigger guys as well?

I just don't see the logic in loving a Leader class figure that has a Voyager-sized transformation and bashing Ultras that have a Voyager-class transformation. Either they all work as figures despite their over-priced size classes or they're all too simplistic for the price asked and not worth the money. Personally I'm more in line with the former.
The bots looking good in both modes is the final line for me. The complexity of the transformation really doesn't factor into it as long as both modes look good.

Saying Animated Leader Megatron is awesome despite his simple transformation scheme but saying Universe Ultra Silverbolt/Onslaught aren't worth it because of their simple transformation scheme is full of from my PoV.

Onslaught and Silverbolt weren't particularly huge... IIRC they were the sort of "almost as tall as Prime/Megatron" height that Starscream et al. were.

I think also the difference is that these Universe figures are complete start-from-scratch figures, whereas Animated Megatron has an existing design that he needs to match. And he pretty much does, so no harm done.

G1 was all kinds of fail as to matching the size to the anime's scale. Animated isn't perfect either, but they come way closer. That's not the point though. They could have made all FOUR of these figures (Powerglide, Onslaught, Silverbolt and Galvatron) Voyagers and cut out a ton of this negativity IMHO.

My love still falls to Onslaught the most.

Yeah, but Megatron could have achieved that existing design with a Voyager figure, kept pretty much his entire Leader class transformation, and have cost $20 less.
Which seems to be the major complaint with the Ultras; that they could have been engineered at a lower size class and still work just as well as figures.

Don't get me wrong, I have Animated Leader Megs, and I think he works as a Leader despite his simple transformation scheme. He looks great in both modes, so no harm no foul. I also feel the same way about Universe Ultra Silverbolt and Onslaught.

It's bashing two figures when you love a third figure with the same problems as the other two that I don't get.
But eh.

THE TOYS CAME FIRST

Sorry, it's just reflex

It's because it's not as subjective as just evaluating the merits of the individual toys themselves- and of the three, one represents a popular new character, while two are half-hearted attempts to revive 20-year old characters about whom most people never really cared. Guess who gets cut the slack?

Sigh... I shall explain myself in more stark detail:

Powerglide got bashed because his coloration is bland, his detailing should have been colored in and because he's not worth $25

Silverbolt got bashed because his transformation is Scout-class difficulty at an Ultra-class price, the colors in bot mode were gaudy and the jet mode looks like crap from the nosecone down

Onslaught DIDN'T get bashed because he had the cleanest alt mode, had good detailing and was the most justifiable to have an Ultra pricepoint

Keep in mind, the reviews are based on MY opinions. They're not meant to tell anyone what they should think, but only offer another viewpoint. I try to be as subjective as possible in the body of the review, leaving my final personal view until the end.

Megatron's a popular new character? So I guess the lead antagonist in BW really was Barney on steroids....

Anyway, while I see where you're coming from (kinda), I really don't see the logic behind it. At the end of the day the character represented is second to the actual toy. I don't know about you, but I would buy a kickass toy that represents an obscure character then a so-so toy that represents a primary character (Energon Sharkticon > Energon Optimus Prime).

At the end of the day we have Leader Megatron, Ultra Silverbolt, and Ultra Powerglide. All three have very simple transformation schemes that could probably work on a Deluxe sized figure. All three also happen to have good alt modes and really good robot modes. Megatron gets praised despite the simple transformation and the two Ultras get slammed because of it, when in actuality all three toys have pretty much the same things going for them and against them.

Try to rationalize it if you want, to me it just seems like a knee-jerk reaction on the part of the fandom.


No worries. I wasn't even trying to single you out. I was commenting more on the fandom's reaction to those three figures in general, rather then on one individual's opinion.

Well, a popular new version of a popular old character .

But to your second point. It's because logic doesn't have anything to do with people's subjectivity when it comes down to it. Shoot, Blackout was one of the poorer movie toys, but everyone wanted an even bigger, more expensive version of him.