Silverhawks was one of those properties that I had a huge amount of interest in during the time it existed, but I didn’t have many of the toys associated with the property. Thundercats and Silverhawks were both very similar in that way, mainly because the toy aisle just didn’t want to cooperate, and then the shelf life of the properties itself just…ended.
What that means is I’ve been waiting for this moment since 1986. I think as soon as Mattel announced the Thundercats line…that then quickly died, and then was resurrected by Super7, many of us were waiting and hoping that Super7 would do something with Silverhawks as well. These properties always felt as if they had a connection anyway, so they might was well make it out under the same roof, so to speak.
It took some time, but I was beyond thrilled when it actually happened, and now that they are here, I am not disappointed at all. I can say that while I wasn’t able to be all in on the original vintage line, I have every intention of doing so this time around.
I’ll be covering the good guys in this review. Later in the week I’ll be taking a look at the villains of the wave. While I have yet to open those two, if they’re as strong as our heroes, I can’t wait.
Of the two of these, Bluegrass has the most nostalgia for me, since he was one I actually had as a kid. One of my frustrations with the line when I was a kid was the limited articulation, an issue that these figures easily solve.
The aesthetics of the line are clearly going to skew towards the cartoon, at least this early in the line, and they do look like the animation. While many wanted them to have a more vac-metal look to them to better resemble the original figures, I didn’t have a strong opinion one way or the other. In hand, I like the colors and the “look” of them. There’s a slick quality to the figures that, while maybe it doesn’t look perfectly like “metal,” gives them a reasonable facsimile to the source. There’s a subtle shading in the recesses that gives the plastic a depth, so it doesn’t come across as flat. In short, they look like they should.
The articulation does a great job. Anybody who has any Super7 figures knows that they’re going for articulated but not super-articulated, so I knew not to expect crazy articulation and double joints. I am one who would like as much articulation as possible, but managing my expectations keeps me sane in this hobby.
As such, both figures feature single jointed elbows and knees with very nice clearance, giving you a full 90 degrees of bend. There is also a rotation above the elbows and knees, and both feature a bicep cut as well. The hips have a great range, with a full lateral split on Bluegrass and almost the same on Steelwill. There’s a hidden rotation point to the hips as well, allowing some swivel while maintaining an unbroken aesthetic to the upper thighs.
The heads are ball-jointed, with some very decent range. Steelwill’s chunkier head is a bit more hindered, but since he’s the only one of the two that can fly, it seems the ability to tilt his head up in a flying position was given priority, so luckily he can look nearly straight ahead while flying.
The torso articulation is probably the weakest point on these figures. They both have an upper torso wobble joint and a waist cut, but the range on the wobble joint is pretty piddly. It is a bit better on Bluegrass, but Steelwill’s is so restricted that he might was well not have a point of articulation there at all. I think a little better clearance in the engineering of that area would go very far in adding a lot more dynamics to their posing. Much of the crouching they can do is left up to the hips.
Super7 figures are on the pricier side of things, but at least they didn’t skimp on accessories. You get a ton of hands for each figure. Bluegrass has fists, grips, special guitar hands for gripping the neck and to simulate a pick, and many more. Check out the pictures to see them all.
Each Silverhawk toy came with a bird sidekick. Blue grass came with a guitar that transformed into a bird, called Sideman. While the transforming gimmick is not carried over here, we do get Sideman as a guitar, Sideman perched, and Sideman in flight. In addition, we also get the style of guitar that Bluegrass used in the cartoon, with a very cool musical energy burst with notes and staff. It clips to the end of the guitar and looks pretty authentic.
Bluegrass also comes with a coiled rope and a lasso. The coiled rope is fine, the lasso less so, because it’s pretty stiff. It seems like it should be made out of something bendy, but as is it doesn’t quite feel authentic. But it’s not something I would have had much use for anyway.
Bluegrass comes with three heads: neutral, smirking and winking. They’re all pretty cool, but I think I’m going to go with the smirking head as my default. The cowboy hat fits on all of them very snugly, with a groove in the inside of the hat that slides over his mohawk.
Bluegrass was the lone Silverhawk who didn’t “wing it” or have a winged mode, so that ability falls to Steelwill. To replicate that ability, you can remove the entire arm up to the shoulder and replace with with a mostly static arm that has wings. The winged arm does have full shoulder articulation, so that does allow some (literal) wiggle room.
You’re supposed to be able to swap the shoulders as well, to facilitate his shoulder beam gimmick, but my shoulders were stuck. I’m going to have to heat them up to get them unstuck and fully functional, so just…pretend there’s a picture here of that. There are two beam effects that plug into the weaponized shoulders.
Steelwill comes with a pair of guns, one with a blast effect that is removable, and one with a removable mouth like those chattering teeth. There’s a closed mouth and an open mouth, both of which are removable. I just watched the cartoon a few years ago but can’t remember this gun in the cartoon at all.
Steelwill’s bird sidekick is Stronghold. Like with Bluegrass, you get him perched or in flight.
Finally, he comes with three heads as well. You get neutral, jovial and his flight-masked head, the one where the flying Silverhawks all swipe their face and it magically appears. Steelwill’s has a football helmet look to it, fitting with his burly linebacker look.
There is a lot to these figures. A lot of accessories, a lot of play options, and a lot of fun. I’ve bought a lot of stuff from Super7, but I don’t think I’ve been as satisfied with a Super7 purchase as I am with these two. Finally knowing I’ll be able to go deep on a Silverhawks line is something I’ve been looking forward to, and they don’t disappoint. I’ll be taking a look at Mon*Star and Windhammer later this week, so hopefully the streak continues.
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Source: The Fwoosh
