Aerialbot Silverbolt Silverbolt the Wondercolt Transformers Age of the Primes Commander Class Item No.: Asst. G0473 No. G1018 Manufacturer: Hasbro Includes: 2 blasters, big booster Action Feature: Converts from plane to bigger plane to robot to bigger robot Retail: $89.99 Availability: June 2025 Other: Outsourced Battle Suit
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I almost skipped - but did not skip - Aerialbot Silverbolt. I'm pretty happy with the Combiner Wars toys, but professional curiosity is a real thing and I had to see what Hasbro would do here.

The resulting toy is impressive... and weird. The Silverbolt robot mode is good, but not necessarily better than previous solo efforts. The combined mode is a neat mix of previous cartoon and toy influences. The vehicle mode is a decent plane, with a ridiculous bulked-up mode using the spare robot kibble. All in all, you're going to enjoy fussing with it.

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The basic Silverbolt robot is fine. The 2008 Universe one was really good too - rocket launcher! Lights! Sounds! Fairly simple transformation and a big robot! But it couldn't combine. This one has ankle articulation, but looks very similar. I don't think I'll be selling the Universe one because it looks great on its own, and this one can live on as Superion. There is surprisingly little paint other than the face, eyes, and Autobot logo. (And, yes, the gold windows you can't see on back.) Hasbro must be saving a fortune on paint masks and labor here. Articulation isn't any great improvement over previous Silverbolts, but you'll probably appreciate the smaller size - and not the higher price - if you just want the team of five hanging out with Alpha Trion on Cybertron.

What you're paying for, though, is a giant pile of kibble. The back end of the jet is a massive accessory that you can turn into a little bunker. I appreciate that you can do something with it, but it's kind of ridiculous and I don't imagine people are going to feel it's worth the asking price. You absolutely need the mass to build Superion, though, and it's certainly an innovative way to use the whole frame-based combiner rather than the ones before where the little robots are the limb, rather than an ornament on the limb. You can mount a blaster on it, and... let's be honest, it's not much to be excited about. Unless this set is in use for Superion, you're going to be shoving this piece away in a box somewhere.

Packaged in vehicle mode, you have the basic jet ready to go. With a few quick changes, you can clamp on a massive posterior that carries all the combiner bits. I love how everything connects with various clips and clamps, and the tabs/slots all align nicely. Deco is good, colors are nice, and it gets the job done. It also isn't much of a toy, in that there aren't a lot of action features or firing rockets or anything. It's a plane with a landing skid, and it can also be a bigger plane. It's not as elegant as what we got from Motormaster - which I guess I never finished reviewing - but Hasbro needed to get that mass somewhere. I assume fans are also less demanding of the alt modes anymore, once they get this home it's going to be the big combined robot and it's going to stand on a shelf that nobody touches until they move again.

As a big robot - or a skeleton for a robot - it's good. The robot is tall, the face is admittedly a little bland, but it looks a lot like Superion from Combiner Wars, what with the silver face and mask. It seems a little off to me - it doesn't quite match any incarnation. The same can be said about the body. It takes cues from a lot of places but, like the face, owes a lot to the episode "Forever Is a Long Time Coming." Articulation is pretty good, it feels nice and sturdy (without all four boys on him - they're not out yet as of my reviewing this), and the ratcheting joints feel nice and safe. It's a pretty good big robot for the money, and at $200 it really has to be. Given the complexities and nuances of this kind of toy, I do wonder if the next stage in Combiner evolution will be a pre-built non-transforming figure. Hasbro and Takara-Tomy have been doing a great job getting figures that hold together well, have a lot of articulation, and are generally stable, and that's amazing. But I'm beginning to wonder what if we got all five robots as little guys with no combining elements, and then a separate big robot figure that stays connected at all times. Might that be a better product? Once you combine a combiner, if it tends to stay that way, what's the benefit to having the ability to separate it or deal with engineering the kibble? Food for thought.

A common refrain in collector toys has been "if you're happy with the Superion toys you have, maybe you don't need this one too." If you missed out on Unite Warriors or Combiner Wars, I would recommend picking this up - it's a cool big robot! It's only slightly bigger than the 2015-era combiner, but the proportions are better and the joints feel way better than previous versions. It's an improvement, but you may also have G1, Energon, Micromasters, or other releases and you don't need another one. Or, if you have all of those, you probably do. I'd say it's an amazing interpretation of a puzzle, engineering something that sort of looks like the cartoon, sort of looks like a toy from 40 years ago, and sort of looks like a toy from 10 years ago. Given the variations in each version, no fan will be satisfied by anything - but it's really nice for a figure made out of jets and jet junk. The little Silverbolt is also excellent, but again, not necessarily better than the very cool 2008 release.

I'd only recommend this set if you want to build the big robot (and you do) or you want a Silverbolt in scale with the little limb guys (and you probably do, too.) Given how things have been going I assume they're going to try to do "toy stickers" Superion boxed set in a year or two, a G2 version over the next 5-10 years, and maybe an all-new version once again in 2035. I'd say "there's no way I'm buying this guy again!" but I'd buy G2, and depending on how this guy ages... we'll see, I suppose. It's the best Superion by far, but you've got other very good options for stand-alone Silverbolt toys.

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