Superion G2 Silverbolt, Powerglide, Firefly, Skydive, Air Raid, and Quickslinger Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Leader Item No.: No. B3774 Manufacturer: Hasbro Includes: Trading Card, poster, 6 robots, 2 pipes, 4 hand/guns, 5 blasters, and so on Action Feature: Transforms from Robot to Plane Retail: $99.99 Availability: January 2016 Other: If You Want It? Here It Is. Come and Get It.
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While I never bought the original set of Generation 2 Superion, it was always on my "I'd like one of those" list. Unfortunately the original Slingshot toy was known to shatter with age, so I figured I'd rather just not bother. Hasbro made this new one and at Comic-Con 2015 in San Diego, said this wouldn't suffer the same fate. Well, OK, let's say I agree and that this is a wonderful little set. Also: a new G2 Minibot, which is arguably worth the price of admission if you're nuts like I am.

What's neat about this set is that you get a decent recreation of the classic set - with some changes, and no spring-loaded blasters - but it's otherwise a solid set.

The odd bot out (and secret reason to buy this set) is Powerglide, now basically inverted for this release. A silver plane now has red arms and a red face, plus a G2 logo on his chest. His third mode is a gun, and he fits together just as well - if not better - than the Powerglide [FOTD #1,153] from 2015. It's charming, the color is nice and clean, and if they sold it individually I would demand you all buy it.

The gun mode is no better and no worse than the previous one. It's neat, but it's heavy and will weigh down the combined Superion's elbow joints. I would not necessarily suggest posing him in any way that might put more weight on the combined robot's elbows. Aside from that, this is one of the best bots in the box.

The biggest figure in the set is Silverbolt, and he's just as good as last year's G1-themed Silverbolt [FOTD #1,210]. There's still a lot of red on him, but the level of blue gives me a "Powered Convoy" vibe. Articulation is good, the gun is still black, and I'm actually kind of hard-pressed to say much more about it. This all feels very superficial, but the main differences are color and the jet deco. A couple of "5" marks resemble the original toy from over 20 years ago, and a checkered stripe across the "neck" is pretty slick. A metallic silver dusting also brings a lot of life to the jet mode and, sadly, is completely invisible when combined. It's nice to see Hasbro put this much effort in to the toy, complete with cool triangles on each wing, but what really matters is the torso mode. It's great. Gold eyes! Gold antenna! It's G2licious. On the back of the box he's assigned the number 1, which is unfortunate but whatever. Some people miss an opportunity for synergy, as the toys are rarely numbered themselves most of the time.

The odd jet out is Quickslinger. This is an update of the original Slingshot, which was notorious for shattering with age through something called Gold Plastic Syndrome, which Hasbro says this toy should not have. This isn't a swirly gold plastic, so hopefully it will hold up to the ages. The jet mode is nice, essentially taking that Firefly body and giving it a silver and gold finish. It's a little gaudy, and it doesn't quite match the rest of the set, but I like it. The wings have a nice tampo with a "4" on it, and these resemble the original toy's labels. These toys all lack the word "AUTOBOT" or "SLINGSHOT" like we saw on the originals.

The robot mode is gorgeous. The silver head has a different pattern and the face feels very different from Blast Off [FOTD #1,344] and Quickslinger [FOTD #1,174] from last year. There are no mold changes, but color can drastically alter a toy's personality. This is easily my favorite deluxe limb in the set.

I'm very fond of Air Raid, now a blue jet with a mostly white and silver robot mode. Now, which gun is his? Good question. The official shots shows him holding the blue double-barreled gun. However, he is boxed next to the grey one. The original 1994 toy had a black pistol, so I really don't know what to tell you there - I'm giving him the blue one because it blends in less. The robot itself is pretty sharp, with loads of silver and white. The tiny G2 Autobot logo on his shoulder is terribly small, but at least it's present and colored consistently with his teammates. The toy has the exact same articulation as last year's Air Raid [FOTD #1,159], and feels a little less snazzy than that original release.

As a plane, he has a wonderful red patter on his wings with a "2" on one and an Autobot symbol on the other. It makes a fine limb, and as a jet it has little painted silver guns under its wings - a nice touch! It is also worth noting it doesn't do much else other than be a jet, which is the case with most of these.

Skydive is much less colorful than his ancestor, the wonderful late 2014/early 2015 Skydive [FOTD #1,095]. This one is just blue and silver, and oh, so silver. So, so silver. The face is blue and it is so covered in silver paint you should be amazed. A little Autobot logo on his shoulder adds some faction sense to his ensemble, plus his color layout really doesn't match last year's model.

As a jet, he's great. The wings have a cloudy checker pattern that looks like it could only have come from the early 1990s, and the look is completed with a big number 1 and another Autobot symbol. The grey plane look is sensible and not too different from the G1 flavor, plus the look continues on his tail fins. I would say that the plane is more exciting to look at than the robot, and it's kind of a shame all those crazy patterns vanish in combiner mode.

A QC note - the robot shoulders/chest are a tight fit. You really have to shove them together to snap in place, and you will hear the snap. If you have last year's version, you'll notice it's a much smoother fit. The silver paint appears to be a little thicker, and that could cause problems for upcoming toys in the Menasor set. (Cough.)

Rounding out the team is Firefly, and boy howdy does he look a lot like the first one. The G2 robot drops the blue on the torso and ads in some more silver, but aside from that it's very similar. The red is a little brighter, the landing skid is a little whiter, and of course the wings have an awesome pattern that's way cooler, but it's fundamentally still the same basic layout. If you blurred your vision, they'd be pretty much the same. This isn't a knock against it - it's true of the original 1994 toy, too. It's a pretty honest update of that original toy.

As with the version from 2015, Superion is pretty much perfect as these items go. There are little quibbles with each team, but as a team it's easily the best of breed so far. Maybe Sky Reign will be awesome, but I don't have one yet. I'm finding the joints are a little tighter and the fits are a tad better than the G1-themed release, although the color matching is certainly really weird. Quickslinger's gold finish stands out as part of a team, but as a single figure it's utterly spectacular. The bright colors work quite nicely, and the yellow outline of the G2 Autobot symbol on Superion's chest looks fantastic.

As with regular Superion, you can use G2 Powerglide as a gun adjunct. Even though Superion's limbs are tighter, once you add Powerglide to the normal Superion rifle the arm sags pretty much immediately. I'd suggest just keeping Powerglide separate, but depending on your pose needs it might not matter much. If you want him to aim a gun, though, I'd leave him off.

To add costs to this set, Hasbro stuffed a small brown cardboard envelope in the box. In it, you'll find a thick cardboard card with G2 Superion art. You'll find a thick-ish small poster featuring G1 deco Superion art that I don't believe I saw elsewhere. You'll also find a dual-sided instruction sheet that shrinks down the transformation directions to postage stamp size. I appreciate their packing it all in a thick envelope for protection, but let's be honest - the card is a waste of resources and I don't expect many (any) of you to actually hang up the poster due to its small size.

I've had a chance to play around with a few interesting new toys early, and I can say that Superion is better than one of them. The set fits together well, all the individual robots look fantastic, and it's generally a better play experience than the other teams. Skydive's shoulders are my only legit problem, and I'd probably pay $50 to get a G2 Powerglide just to get one. The fact that an entire combiner comes with it is a bonus. Hasbro - if you love me, follow this set's lead and please give me more G2 "Minibots" in this Legends-class. Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Warpath, Cosmos, Swerve, Pipes, Huffer, and so on and so forth. We'd buy it. I'm good for it. Let's do it.

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