General Information:
Release Date: January 2016
Price Point: $99.99 (in a boxed set with Air Raid, Powerglide, Quickslinger, Silverbolt & Skydive)
Retailer: Limited Release (Toys R Us, Target, Amazon, Walmart etc.)
Accessories: Hand/Foot/Weapon, Blaster
Official images and text below in italics are from Amazon.com:
Superion is driven by one thing and one thing only: a desire to obliterate the enemy. He attacks Decepticons – on the ground or in the air – with all-out force.
Convert, attack and destroy with this incredible 7-in-1 Superion Collection Pack! There’s a whole force of Autobots in this pack and they’re spoiling for a fight with their Decepticon enemies. Whether these daredevil Autobots are in robot mode or jet mode, they’ll attack with everything they’ve got! And when that’s not enough, they’ll combine to form a massive, unstoppable Superion figure! Maybe the Decepticons could defeat Silverbolt, Skydive, or Firefly alone. Maybe Quickslinger, Air Raid and Powerglide won’t be enough to stop the Decepticon advance. But when they combine, Decepticons beware! Dominate the Transformers battle with your Superion Collection Pack!
Back in the 90's Hasbro made an attempt to revive the then-failing "Transformers" toy line be re branding it as "Transformers Generation 2". This line took old sculpts and new sculpts and mashed them up into one line of figures. Among the G1 sculpts that were used for Generation 2 (or G2) were the Aerialbots. The Aerialbots largely featured dramatic new stickers in jet mode with all new decos that tended to lean towards the bright or somewhat gaudy side. At the time many fans were divided on this, either fully embracing the new colors or walking away from the line. Over the years these colors and sticker designs have gained a sort of nostalgic charm representative of a very different era not just in "Transformers" but pop culture as a whole.
When "Combiner Wars" began one of the first things fans wondered about was "Will we get the Generation 2 color schemes?!" and last summer it would indeed release G2 versions of certain characters! This caused quite a bit of excitement among a segment of fandom and in early 2016 fans finally had their chance to pick up the first G2 styled boxed set: Superion! Superion was packaged with all five Aerialbots and a redeco of Legends Class Powerglide who became an Aerialbot team member in "Combiner Wars", serving as a weapon for Superion. Retailing around $99.99 this set was most readily available at online retailers such as BWTF sponsor Bigbadtoystore and other stores such as Target and Toys R Us. Some stores such as Toys R Us in Canada had these at physical retail locations as well.
While this set did come in one big boxed set I've decided to divide up my reviews of this set into digestible chunks by team member. I think this is a bit more organized and also keeps you from having to scroll forever through one gigantic review.
Firefly is the modern day name for Fireflight, one of the original Aerialbots who was re-released in "Generation 2" in (relatively) different colors than his G1 incarnation. This figure is a redeco of the first "Combiner Wars" Firefly figure, so check out my review of that first release. This review will focus on the changes made to the figure for this release.
Packaging:
The "Superion Collectors Pack" is a really impressive looking set. The box is large and rectangular, intended to be displayed horizontally. The front uses the black background seen on most "Generations" packaging with the red "Transformers" logo set vertically on the right. The middle section has new artwork featuring Superion in his G2 colors. Overlaid on top of that are small thumbnail images of all six Aerialbots and the words "Combiner Wars Superion" below that. The back of the packaging features a large photos of Superion fully combined with a brief write up on the character.
Open up the box and you slide out a huge, clear plastic tray with all the Aerialbots in vehicle mode. The accessories are all placed near the member they belong to. Also included in the package is a cardboard envelope with the instructions and a print inside. Oddly, the print features Superion's original "Combiner Wars" colors and not the G2 colors. It is also different art than the one on the cover. I love the presentation of the figures on a big tray and the idea of including a print is really cool.
Accessories:
Since this is a boxed set, most of the figures can use any of the accessories in the set. However using the first release and colors as a guide, it appears Firefly's weapons are a single barreled blaster and a dual barreled hand/foot/weapon piece. The blaster is a metallic blue plastic (the same as the other accessories in this set). The hand/foot/weapon piece is mostly cast in the same blue, but the hinge piece connected to the thumb is white, one of the main colors of Firefly himself. Both weapons fit nice and tight in his fists and the hand/foot/weapon piece is nice and tight.
Since this boxed set has two hand/foot/weapon pieces and four blasters, you really can interchange different weapons with different figures. You'll note in the leg mode photos below I used the alternate hand/foot/weapon piece for fun (and illustrative purposes of course).
Vehicle Mode:
When people think "Generation 2" they think radical color schemes that potentially offend the eyes. In the case of G2 Fireflight (Firefly's original name) however the basic colors of the G1 and G2 toys were the same: red and white. With that in mind, it's no surprise that this G2 themed version of "Combiner Wars" Firefly does the same. However, if you put him side by side with the first Firefly, the red plastic is a lighter shade. The red plastic has beautiful metallic flake in it and under the right light it shines brilliantly.
If there's one thing you could say about Generation 2, it wasn't shy about pushing a theme. G2 Fireflight had stickers on his wings with flames. This new incarnation does the same with tampographs. His wings and the vertical fin all have flame designs on them in yellow with black stripes behind them. On top of the left wing and vertical fins is the number three in yellow. On top of the right wing's designs is a red and yellow G2 Autobot symbol resembling Optimus Prime's head. This takes the place of Fireflight's name which appeared on the G2 version of the character (I guess having the character's name is a bit too on the tampographs look fantastic and I love how close they come to the originals. I also prefer having the G2 Autobot symbol in place of the character's name.
Firefly's wings still accomodate his weapons without a problem. The landing gear also swings down and stays in place without a problem.
Transformation to Robot Mode:
- Detach the accessories and set them aside for now.
- Swing the vertical tail fin up.
- Swing the two horizontal fins up.
- Swing the wings up.
- Swing the cockpit section up, then swing it forward, connecting the tabs at the base to the corresponding gaps on the top of the jet.
- Swing the robot arms out to the sides then down.
- Pull the front halves of the robot legs forward, then pull the rear sections back.
- Swing the halves of the robot legs down and connect them together.
- Attach the weapons to the hands.
Robot Mode:
In this form Firefly's white plastic takes center stage, making up almost all the major portions of his robot mode including the head, arms and legs. Most of the red winds up on his back and the back of his legs. There are a lot of silver paint applications on this figure. The head has it on the top and mouth plate. You'll also find it on the fists, the torso and the section above the hips. The legs also have silver on the knee armor, lower legs and feet. It's pretty impressive looking and nowadays most figures don't have this much paint on them. Against the white color the silver looks great. Adding some color is blue on the right side of the chest and the eyes. Rounding out the deco is a yellow and orange-red G2 Autobot symbol on the left side of the chest. Overall the deco is clean, crisp and bright and it really draws the eye.
The joints on my copy of this figure are nice and tight. The right hip joint is slightly more loose than the left, but they're both relatively tight. His arms are good too, allowing him to hold up even the slightly heavier hand/foot/weapon piece without a problem.
Transformation to Arm Mode (Starting in robot mode):
- Detach all weapons.
- Transform the fist piece into the hand. Flip out the four fingers that are sculpted together, then swing the thumb up to the side you want to form.
- Press the two lower legs together.
- Swing the jet cockpit piece back.
- Push the robot head section back, this will swing out the square peg that serves as the Combiner connection point.
- Swing the jet cockpit piece back into place.
- Swing each robot arm down.
- Bend the arms at the elbows so they roughly line up with the angle of each wing.
- Rotate the waist around so the red parts on the back of the lower legs face forward.
- Attach the hand piece to the port under the robot feet.
- The weapon can be attached to the hand.
Arm Mode:
While the robot mode focuses heavily on the white color this mode gives a nice mix of the red and white. Depending on what angle you look at the figure it also has some silver showing. I like this aspect of the figure. Almost every angle you look at looks great. It's very bright in many ways but the colors fit well with the rest of the team.
Functionally the fist piece attaches nice and tight to the wrist section.
Transformation to Leg mode (Starting in robot mode):
- Detach all the accessories.
- Swing the jet cockpit piece back.
- Push the robot head section back, this will swing out the square peg that serves as the Combiner connection point.
- Swing out each half of the lower legs, then swing them forward and condense them (as if you were forming the rear of the vehicle mode).
- Push each arm down against the sides (as if you were forming the vehicle mode).
- Unfold the fist/foot accessory so it's flat. Make sure the "thumb" is now a heel piece.
- Attach the fist/foot piece to the hole on under Firefly's feet.
Leg Mode:
Like the vehicle mode the leg mode mostly shows off red in front, but white and silver in the back. It looks good and the foot piece stays attached without a problem.
Final Thoughts:
Firefly looks fantastic. One could argue that he's among the "least changed" of the Aerialbots in this set (though Skydive gets a shot at that title too) but I think he looks fantastic. Between the colors and the paint scheme he's very eye catching. This is one of my favorites in the set.
