Reviewed by Sebastiaan
SilverHawks started a little bit different than the original plan. The first wave of Super7’s ULTIMATES! line arrived only after the second wave of action figures graced our shelves earlier this year. Given the fantastic reception of that wave, the pressure was on. That excitement from collectors meant that the debut entry had to deliver on what was set to be a wonderful line of high end screen accurate representations of the classic cartoon. And boy did they not only deliver on the promise.
For years the chrome vs flat grey argument scrolled on social media screens. There’s really no need to dig up that whole conversation again, because what Super7 said they would do was give us the plastic counterparts of the cartoon characters. And they gave us just that. The bottom line is, if you were expecting these to be shiny like the vintage toys, you will be very disappointed. But if you’ve been yearning for the lot from Limbo to transform from 2D animation to 3D renders in plastic, you will be very, very satisfied.
If you bought into the whole wave (I mean why wouldn’t you?), then the arrival of the box on your porch will have the neighbors scratching their heads again. Didn’t you just get a bigger box delivered the other day to park in your garage? Well this box is like a good chunk of plastic real estate and I honestly did not expect it to be so big. I already knew upfront that it was quite a heavy box, weighing in at 5kgs! (If you don’t know what that is, ask Google to convert it for you…) But receiving it from the friendly courier guy was really something else all together. WOW!
I honestly did not comprehend why it would be so big. Sure, the armored Mon*Star was in there, and we know he was a beast, but the whole box that big? Naah, it didn’t make sense. Until I opened it and found two big boxes alongside two standard boxes. I nearly thought Super7 had mistakenly put in two Mon*Star figures. But then it hit me, our friend Buzz-Saw was big too. And he is the surprise hit that creeps up at night and wakes you with a big grin that will shake you awake. Boy oh boy oh boy. Let’s start with him.
When he was announced back in the day, the only real conversation that had me even looking in his direction was that his vintage toy was green. (I do hope we get a variant of him in green one day!) He was really the least impressive of the lot. I was not looking forward to him in all honesty, he was, well, kinda boring looking. But then when his sheer size shocked me, and his hefty sun yellow body beckoned me to release him from his plastic jail, I had eyes for only him. Yes, Buzz-Saw is a HIT!!
I have never been challenged by a figure before like this. His body is so weird! Yes, of course we know what he should look like, but I realized then that the talented sculptors who designed his guy really had the most difficult job. How do you craft something that is so strange in design to become a fully articulated wonder? I take my hat of to the team behind this guy. He can do the splits and all kinds of movements and he is the most complicated design of all the characters (so far). I felt like I needed instructions to go with him because I had no idea how what worked. How does he hold a gun when he doesn’t even have hands? Well friends, they were very clever when it came to that. Let’s just say, his gun slots into the extra set of hands you get in the back tray. It fits like a glove. The only down side to both his hands and the arm cannon, is that despite them having articulation left and right, there is no space for them to go either side once plugged into the arm. It doesn’t detract though, so I’m quite ok with it. The pull handles can be swopped out with the longer ones and they’re quite tight-sitting.
His bird, Shredator, is another surprise that took the wind out of my sails. His little razor blade atop his head spins, like the others on Buzz-Saw, and that is very neat. But his wings fold out twice and that makes for multiple poses. Even his tail can rotate. I love it when the little guys have articulation. It makes it more special to be able to play with them because they’re usually overlooked in the mass market. The heads on him is also very impressive, and while it is a tad difficult to replace it, they offer you great options, especially the two heads who have spinning razor blades. Take a closer look at the one blade that spins so fast you can’t see anything but the finest grooves on the side. Well done! Very clever!!
That leads me to the leader of the Mob, and while I was fortunate enough to get the Wave 2 version of Mon*Star first, this guy only had his size that I was looking forward to counting in his favor. The massive mane on the regular Mon*Star was my preferred look. But gosh, like Buzz-Saw, Super7 once again knew how to trick you into excitement. It all makes sense as to why they chose this version of him for the first wave. The aim was to impress and kick the door down with this wave’s arrival. And despite it coming only after Wave 2, they still achieved it. It made the wait for this wave worth it.
We’ve got the bright yellow of the buzzing robot in the one corner but on the other side we’ve got this big red monstrosity in the other corner, towering over everything on my shelf. When you look at him it does seem that he comes with very little. It’s not really the case. Apart from 4 extra sets of hands, there is an alt head, the star that connects to the alt head, the huge rifle, glorious Sky-Shadow and the two elbow effects. That’s a mouthful when you actually see it all together. Remember this guy is huge, so that means his hands are huge too. A lot of space is filled in his packaging by this. Despite his size he has normal articulation. There are some limitation due to his armor, but he can do what one needs him to do when you pose him. Just a side note; some folk mentioned theirs have weak ankles, so be careful when you pose him. He IS top heavy.
The many hands will give you plenty of playful poses, and they do look menacing and mighty when you pose him. His rifle is as tall as he is. The plastic however is not rock hard, but more of a soft pliable plastic. And this is predominately apparent in his blaster effects as well as his heads where the horns are very soft. Definitely something you won’t have to worry about stepping on unlike the Club Grayskul Power-Con exclusive from back in the day, Spikor. The pair of red firing lazers are both so soft and bendy just like the star that plugs into this eye. Perhaps my only concern is that over time that star might hang instead of stick out straight. Time will tell. The other blast effects that plug into his elbows is basically him firing up into the sky, and I do like those a lot. These effects are brilliant and I hope that Super7 carries on with this as it really spices up the display.
Finally we have his companion Sky-Shadow. I really like the lizard version that came with regular Mon*Star, and wasn’t expecting any articulation with this in-flight version that comes with him. But Super7 gave his wings motion and that brings him to life. Even more, the rifles under his wings can rotate! That is epic. It’s a tough choice between which of the two versions is my favorite, not counting his sleeping / eyes closed version that also came with regular Mon*Star.
Now if you’re curious if he can actually sit on the Transformation Chamber Throne? Then yes, he can. I first struggled with it because just bending up the legs and knees still didn’t have him sit flat on it. Top tip: turn the thighs sideways and he will sit comfortably in that throne of doom.
This brings us to the silvery side of things. An important thing to note is that there is a difference in the packaging. Like with ThunderCats, where the insignia on the box changes between Mumm-Ra’s symbol and the Cats’ symbol, there is a difference here too but it is way bigger. All the good guys have silver shiny boxes with blue at the base, whereas the bad guys all have red shiny boxes with dark red/maroon at the base. You can immediately spot the good from the bad and this was a clever call by Super7.
The first time an in-hand photo of Quicksilver appeared the reaction online was very negative. Which is a pity. I will say this: pictures are very deceiving and the main reason for that is light. Light makes all the difference. Daylight is the best way to see what a character really looks like. Studio lights and indoor photos on a regular phone is really not going to do any character justice. I’ve seen it time and again. Quicksilver is the same. None of those early photos did him any justice. When I opened him I was shocked. Pleasantly. And I smiled because Super7 really captured him perfectly. I don’t know if he was printed or painted in terms of his face, but he looks like he stepped off my TV screen. Do not pay any attention to those who say his eyes are too far apart. They’re not. Photos close up emphasize things negatively. Looking at you Teela from Club Grayskull. Just holding him in your hand is more than enough to put you at ease.
So let’s talk about his shine. He really does have a lovely sheen to him. It’s not a lot, and I think that it wasn’t exactly what Super7 had in mind, but it came out close enough. Let the sun fall on him and he will reflect it all steel-like and silvery. He is not a GREY Hawk. He is very much a SILVER Hawk. The cartoon look is duplicated here and he has a very great posture that the designer captured just right. Like with Mon*Star and Steelheart, my biggest wish is that his upper torso was a more like the MMPR ULTIMATES! and could move better. It’s not an issue, but it would have enhanced him more.
The wings, also a soft bendable plastic, snap in / out very easily on both him and Steelheart. They follow the contour of these two’s bodies perfectly and makes for the ultimate pose mid-flight. Stamp of approval for whoever genius came up with this. The skin on both of them really works. It is painted. It’s not injected plastic. I prefer it like this. It gives them that perfect cartoon look.
Another thing I really like about his heads are that they can move back far enough to have him look like he is in flight. His heads are way better at achieving that pose vs Steelheart. Quicksilver really is a stunning figure, and even if he appears very monotonous in terms of his appearance, he has the right amount of shading and color to make him come alive on your shelf. He is perfect. He really is. And he is worthy of being the leader of the SilverHawks. I prefer the normal head vs the helmeted head because that human face really just presents this character for me the best. There were chances of a third head back in the day, a smiling one, but it didn’t work out how they wanted I assume so it’s fine that he only has two heads. With so many hand options, who needs another head when your Lieutenant’s human face can change expressions just by tilting his head slightly to the left or right. That’s a very grand feat on Super7’s behalf. The motion on his neck brings him to life.
The two versions of Tally-Hawk have the same type of matte silver look to them. They both look just like they flew out of my screen. Very good detail on there. Did you know however that the two heads are swappable? You can take them out and switch then around. Very good! See, I told you we needed instructions here. Another great discovery that ToyBro shared a while back. Tally-Hawk is also articulated at the legs, and he has double articulation. That perhaps is it’s downfall, because the legs can be a tad too loose to have him stay in the position. And getting him to sit on Quicksilver’s arm is very difficult. A nice thing about the in-flight version is that his wings of steel remind me of an African instrument called the Mbira, or the thumb piano. It makes the same kind of noises. Try it. Just don’t play too hard!
Which brings me to the last figure of the four: the first female of the line, Sergeant Emily Hart. The saddest part of her is that she’s overshadowed by so many great and impressive characters, that she is my least favorite of the bunch. The irony is, she’s a brilliant figure. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with her. In fact, I think if she had been in a different wave to anchor it, she would’ve outshone the rest. But when you have such a variety of characters that wow you, she comes across as underwhelming which is disappointing. She is everything but that.
Steelheart completes the twins of the space opera, so luckily that is out of the way. (We’re still waiting on the twins from Third Earth to be paired up again by Super7, but that’s another story all together.) A very interesting thing to note about her is that her body is rock hard. It’s not soft to the touch a-la-Cheetara. That’s obviously because the latter has her outfit as a separate softer piece of plastic placed over the body. But Steelheart is not crafted like that. Since she’s made of steel, that is probably why she doesn’t need it. She has the perfect waist fellows, so you wont’ be disappointed by the female figure here. Her hard body however does mean that it limits leg articulation. So no splits here or kicking back. Otherwise, she has great articulation. Her upper torso cut means that her lower body can spin 180. Like with Quicksilver, I do wish there was a little bit more movement there, but it’s not a train smash.
A nice touch when it comes to their laser effects is that the front starry explosions are removable! I never knew that! And yes, I know they were solicited like that, but when you get them in the packaging as part of the laser effect, you forget what was sold to you and you accidently pull too hard on one of them and there it goes: a removable blast effect. Very good! I like that a lot. They plug in to her shoulders well, but you need to be careful and use a bit of muscle. For such a tiny thing it fits in tight. Hers are more difficult to place than Quicksilver’s, but they work fine nonetheless.
The heads are once again very good at capturing her persona, and the more expressive head with the raised eyebrow once again gives you so much to look at. The helmet/hairdo paint on the stoic head on mine bleeds a little onto the face, whereas the more expressive one is pristine. Fortunately it’s only something you pick up on when you hold it closeby. She remains a beauty.
Rayzor comes in two forms just like Tally-Hawk, and he too has removable heads. He only has articulation at the upper end of his legs, but this works for him and he can sit with ease on her arm. That’s far better than Tally-Hawk, but it may also be because his claws are thicker and can hold on better. With crisp paint on both versions, it’s tough to choose which one to display. I seriously hope we get some sort of bird stand for all the hawks in the future as a pack in somewhere. It would be fun to have them perched together like in the cartoon.
Of all 4 characters in this wave, she is the only one to have her hands covered by those blister lids in the packaging. Since her hands are petite, it may very well be the reason for this. But don’t get fooled by the size of them, they are really beautifully done. They no longer look like some of the old MOTUC female hands, but you can see the fingers properly and not blunt stubs. Hands are something that Super7 is excelling at lately, and they give a lot of depth to a character, and, in turn, your display. Once I get to Wave 2, it will be way more apparent.
In closing, the SilverHawks line have given extra depth to my shelf and they fit in perfectly with the ThunderCats. They’re in the same universe anyway. But they work so well as an extension of the brand and I am really hoping that one day we may at very least get Mako and the gang from Water-O. SilverHawks fans have been concerned that this line was dead on arrival, with so many rumors going round that Super7 have lost the license. That is not the case ladies and gents. With Copper Kidd and his racer already announced for Wave 5, and Wave 4 around the corner, there is still a lot of life in this line that will keep fans asking for more. If you’re in the game for cartoon accurate characters, you’re going to be very happy with what Super7 delivered.
Provided for review by Super7.