General Information:
Release Date: January 2016
Price Point: $99.99 (in a boxed set with Air Raid, Firefly, Powerglide, Quickslinger & Silverbolt)
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 digestable 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. My "final" rating on the set will be in the review of the combined Superion robot.
Skydive has been released only once before in the "Combiner Wars" line in a more G1 oriented color scheme. The sculpt is due to come out in various incarnations including the Botcon exclusive Cicadacon, club exclusive Windsweeper and even a Starscream in "Unite Warriors". Check out the original review for details on the sculpting. This review will focus on the changes made to the deco 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:
Skydive's weapons are a dual barreled blaster and a hand/foot/weapon piece. Both weapons are cast in all blue plastic. The hand/foot/weapon piece is still nice and tight and both weapons fit into his fists and onto his wings without a problem.
Vehicle Mode:
G2 Skydive was one of the Aerialbots whose color scheme did not change as dramatically from his G1 incarnation as say, Silverbolt or Slingshot. His main color was still grey but this time out he featured blue on his wings instead of black. In the case of this new iteration of Skydive his primary plastic color is silver. Black rubbery plastic is used for the tip of his nosecone and you'll see metallic blue plastic on the underside of the vehicle.
Interestingly, the blue you see on the wings in this mode all comes from deco, not blue plastic (unlike his G2 counterpart). The wings each feature blue on the edges. The pattern on the wings features a blue and white checker pattern that fades towards the back. This same pattern appears on his vertical fins. On each of the vertical fins and the right wing is the number one in red. The left wing features a red and yellow Autobot symbol in the shape of Optimus Prime's head. The cockpit is painted black, echoing the deco on Generation 2 Skydive. Overall I think the pattern looks fantastic. It's very eye catching and the tampographed pattern actually helps bring out some of the sculpted detailing on the wings. My only regret is that the rockets/missiles under his wings are left unpainted. It would have been nice to see those in silver.
All the weapons attach to Skydive without a problem. You can attach the weapons to the port on the top of the vehicle or on the undersides of the wings.
Transformation to Robot Mode:
- Detach all weapons and set them aside for now.
- Swing the horizontal fins up.
- Swing the robot arms out and up.
- Each arm is connected to a piece of the chest. Swing those forward.
- Pull the front halves of each lower leg forward.
- Pull the robot legs down and snap the two halves of each lower leg together.
- Split the lower legs in the middle.
- Swing the cockpit up, then swing it forward on the hinge and attach the tabs on them to the corresponding grooves on the back of the robot.
- Swing the wings back.
- Attach the weapons either to the fists or the wings for storage.
Note: on my copy of this figure the right wings popped off two different times during transformation. It snaps back on easily enough, but it is definitely not as securely attached as the original release of this figure.
Robot Mode:
In robot mode G2 Skydive was very plain, made up mostly of silver grey and blue plastic with some silver paint details. There were no stickers on the G2 Aerialbots so a lot of detail the original G1 Skydive had was lost. This is why you see G1 stickers on my G2 Skydive, the lack of detail was something I hated even as a kid. Given that, the designers had a bit of a challenge if they wanted to remain true to the original figure and for the most part they've succeeded.
True to the original G2 figure, Skydive is mostly silver and blue plastic in this mode. The blue is actually a flat color, which is good because there is a lot of silver paint in this mode. So much so that I'm kind of amazed at the sheer quantity. The torso, face, fists and the front of the lower legs are all painted silver. A small G2 Autobot symbol can be found on the left side near his shoulder in yellow and red. This sounds very plain and I guess in a way it is, but it actually looks really good. I credit this mostly to the silver, which looks fantastic.
Of all six figures in this set, Skydive's joints are the most loose. I mean everything from his hips to knees to elbows. He can be posed just fine mind you, but when you move the parts they "give" way too easily compared to the other Aerialbots. He can hold his small blaster up easily enough, but the hand/foot/weapon piece does cause his arm to droop a bit.
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.
- Swing the horizontal stabilizer fins up.
- Swing each robot arm out to the side.
- Open up the halves of the robot legs and swing them down, then reconnect them together.
- Swing the cockpit section up and back.
- Swing each wing up.
- Swing the shoulder sections up, then fold the forearms up, bending the arm at the elbow. There are notches on the outside of the forearms that align with the tabs on the underside of each wing.
- Swing the robot head down to reveal the limb connection piece.
- Attach the hand to the bottom of the feet.
Arm Mode:
With a lot of his tampographed details and silver paint facing inward, Skydive winds up looking rather even toned in this form. He basically looks like a blue and grey arm and in that sense he offers up some nice contrast to say, the more attention grabbing Quickslinger. I like the way the grey and blue colors work together. One serves as a good backdrop for the other.
All of the ports for weapons in this mode work just fine, but the relative looseness of the joints means that out of the box Skydive can't really carry a Legends Class figure as a weapon. He can support the weight of his own blaster however.
Transformation to Leg mode (Starting in robot mode):
- Detach all the accessories.
- Take the fist/foot piece and push in the fingers (if they're out) and swing the thumb back to form the heel.
- Swing the jet cockpit piece back.
- Swing the head back and point the connector piece up.
- Swing each rear half of the legs back, then swing the legs up on the knee hinge and reconnect the pieces together (as if you were forming the vehicle mode).
- Swing the shoulders down.
- Swing each robot arm down to the sides, connecting the notches on the forearms to the tabs on the sides of the legs.
- With the cockpit sections facing front, attach the foot piece so the rocket launcher details are facing the same way.
Leg Mode:
Like the arm mode, the leg mode mostly shows off the silver grey plastic with some black and blue parts here and there. Combined with the foot piece it makes for a good pair of colors, each contrasting off the other. The leg mode is stable and it looks good combined with the other very colorful G2 themed Aerialbots.
Final Thoughts:
Skydive is a great toy overall, but this figure slightly disappoints with its relatively loose joints. If this was a standalone release I'd probably advise against getting it, but as part of a set and with easily tightened ball joints I think it works out as a good toy, just not the best of the set.
