Powerglides
So I finally got around to opening one of the new Universe/Classic Ultra class Powerglides that are repainted red like his G1 badass self. Mold-wise, the new one is exactly the same as the first Powerglide. Hasbro did not do anything to improve upon mold, so it really comes down to which color you prefer. Or you can just get them both like I did.
For those of you who are not familiar with this character, Powerglide made his G1 cartoon debut sometime during season 2. He is one of the few Autobots on Earth that can fly as his alt mode is an A-10 Thunderbolt II. His toy in G1 is a minibot (same as Bumblebee), so this Ultra class update is by far bigger. His most famous G1 appearance is probably in “The Girl Who Loved Powerglide”.
This is not a new mold so I’ll just quickly re-cap my thoughts on Classic/Universe version of Powerglide. I really like the alt mode. The A-10 is definitely unique in the TF world, I cannot think of any other. His transformation is unique as well. In robot mode he is nicely balanced. Articulation seems to be good, and the missile fires pretty far. It’s not perfect, however. In bot mode, the sound gimmicks fire way too easily. Also, where the wing needs to stick into the rear engine in bot mode, it doesn’t stay on that well. This happens on both of my Powerglides on the left side only (in fact I didn’t notice this before, I noticed this on the new red one so I went back to check on the white one and they both have this problem). Checking pics on Seibertron confirms this problem as well, so I’m inclined to think this is an issue on all Powerglides produced. Finally, in jet mode, it’s difficult to position to gun to point directly straight ahead because there is other stuff in the way.
So which color do I like better? After looking at it for some time now, I’m tempted to say I like the white one. I know that the red is more G1 accurate, and I was guilty of expressing my share of curses when Hasbro first announced that the US version would be white. But now that I have the red and have had a chance to really compare, I think white just looks better on this mold. It’s hard to explain and I know the pics above don’t do it justice. You would have to see it for yourself.
But you won’t lose either way. This is still a great TF no matter which color you get.
Until next time… Transform and Roll Out!