General Information:
Release Date: January 2016
Price Point: $99.99 (in a boxed set with Firefly, Powerglide, Quickslinger, Silverbolt & Skydive)
Retailer: Limited Release (Toys R Us, Target, Amazon, Walmart etc.)
Accessories: None
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.
Of all the figures in this Collection Pack Powerglide is a bit of an outlier. The character first became an Aerialbot during "Combiner Wars" and he was never part of the team in "Generation 2". That said, he is a very welcome addition to this set.
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.
Vehicle Mode:
Powerglide's deco gave the designers a lot of freedom since there wasn't a G2 Powerglide to homage. To do this the designers did something kind of fun, they took the core colors of Powerglide, changed them up a bit and then inverted them. The grey on the first "Combiner Wars" Powerglide has been replaced with a lighter silver. The red has been replaced with an orange-red color, but a lighter shade than the one used for Silverbot. The color switch up turns the silver color into the primary color and the orange-red into the background color. The brightness of the two colors is fantastic as it stays true to the character in a way but also reflects the garishness that has become the hallmark of "Generation 2".
Some black paint is used on the cockpit windows and the gun on the nosecone. The ends of the thrusters and vents in front have orange-red paint on them. Overall this is a simple color scheme, but very effective.
Transformation to Robot Mode:
- Rotate the wings down.
- Push the rear of the vehicle down a bit.
- Swing the panel on the middle of the vehicle mode up.
- Split the legs in the middle and swing the robot feet down.
- Pull the cockpit up and swing it down.
- Rotate the bottom of the cockpit section around to reveal the robot head.
- Swing the wings up and attach them to the sides of the vehicle.
- Swing the arms out from the wings and straighten out the arms.
Robot Mode:
Powerglide's new colors really shine in robot mode. Silver makes up a good portion of the upper body and his lower legs. The orange-red color makes up his arms and thighs. The colors just skirt the edge of being too loud but somehow they manage to work. His face is painted orange and his eyes are blue. Rounding out the deco is a huge G2 Autobot symbol tampographed on his torso. The thing is literally the size of his head and it looks amazing. The symbol is orange with yellow outlines, running with the theme of the orange-red plastic. Powerglide's not all about the bright colors though. The middle of the hip area has some black and blue (though frankly it barely balances anything out, but that's okay).
All the joints on Powerglide are tight. His hip joints are a tad more loose than the shoulder joints, but overall the mold appears to be in good shape. Both fists have 5mm ports and they can hold weapons just fine.
Transformation to Weapon Mode (Starting in vehicle mode):
- Swing the rear stabilizers down.
- Rotate each wing forward, then swing it up to attach it to the tabs on the sides of the vehicle.
- Swing the front landing gear down (this will serve as the handle).
- Swing the middle panel on the top of the vehicle to reveal a targeting scope.
Weapon Mode:
Powerglide's weapon mode largley winds up being silver with the orange-red parts on the sides and middle. Blue is used on the targeting scope and black is used to paint the missile pods on the sides. One of my favorite decos is the use of orange on the thrusters. Here they wind up looking like weapons charging up with energy.
One odd thing about this set. When I first received it, I transformed Powerglide into weapon mode (the same day I photographed it) and the robot legs wouldn't stay together. I would press them together, they'd stay together for a few seconds and then split apart. When I revisited the figure for this review, the legs now stayed together. The only difference is that the week I received him it was rather cold (in the 30-40's) whereas the week I reviewed him the temperature was now in the 50's. I speculate that this may have made the plastic soften up a tad so it could hold together better. Either way he's holding together now and for that I'm happy, but I figured I'd note this in the review just in case you encounter the same issue.
Final Thoughts:
Powerglide is a really fun addition to this set. I'm glad he was included because he's not only a cool figure as a vehicle and robot, but he also adds a weapon for Superion to the set. If the rest of this set is one big ice cream sundae, Powerglide is the cherry on the whipped cream.
