TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Additional Image:

Box Art:

Rookwise's Review: Maketoys Hover & Bomber

Name: Hover & Bomber
Function: 3rd Party minibot creations (Naval Defence & Warrior)
Size Class: Legends/Cyberverse Leigon

Hover and Bomber are the 2nd and 3rd creations by the new 3rd party maker Maketoys. These 2 figures resemble the Transformers Generation 1 Seaspray and Powerglide characters.
Hover and Bomber come boxed together in a nice white box and features both characters artwork all over.

Hover

Hover is the one that resembles the G1 Seaspray character. What a resemblance. Apart from some additional detailing and articulation. He's virtually identical to his G1 counterpart.

Alt mode

Hover transforms into a hovercraft. His colours are blue, yellow and white with a little black on the windows and propellers. Unfortunately. Hover doesn’t have any wheels underneath so cannot be moved along the floor unless you want to cause the underside to be marked and scratched.
The hovercraft mode is quite realistic for it's size and features a lot of detail. Everything is tucked together nicely with little or no gaps. All the robot mode parts are well hidden with the only noticeable piece of robot is his head. The head doesn't stick out much however and its positioned so that the face is not on show.

Robot Mode

After a fairly easy transformation. Apart from a problem (at least on my version) where one arm keeps popping off at the shoulder balljoint when moving it into place. Probably due to one side seemingly being shorter than the other.
We get to the robot mode. Again. Hover is a very close to his G1 counterpart in all but the head design. The head is nicely sculpted and is done to resemble his counterparts cartoon face design.
Again. The main colours are blue, white and yellow. Hover features 5 pairs and 1 single points of articulation (11 separate) which gives plenty of ideas for putting the figure into various poses. This is a massive improvement over his G1 counterpart which, if I remember correctly. Only had 2.
The only thing missing from Hover is a weapon. Its not a big deal imo but I guess it could be for some people.

I quite like Hover and he fits in well with my other Transformers figures of the same size (Perfect Effect's Scouting Force X have someone to play with).



Bomber

Bomber resembles the Transformers G1 character Powerglide. This, apart from some extra detailing and articulation, is actually a direct look of the original G1 figure in almost every way.

Alt Mode

Bomber's alt mode is a type of deformed A10 Thunderbolt type aircraft. This is done virtually all in red with some black and grey in sections. Again. This basically seems identical to the 80's G1 Powerglide. There is more detailing on the Maketoys version however. With detail such as panel lines and sections of the wings showing the flaps. The familiar cannon is also present. This is placed on the front section just below the cockpit. Underneith the alt mode. We can see quite a bit of the robot mode parts. Again just like his G1 counterpart. All sections of the figure join together really well with little panel gaps.


Robot Mode

After a fairly easy transformation we get to the robot mode. You can tell straight away that this is Powerglide. Its virtually identical to the original toy. Apart from a few slight differences.
Firstly. The colour scheme is a bit darker over the original G1 figure. There is slightly more chest and arm detailing over the G1 toy as well as the eye colour changing from black (on the g1 figure) to yellow. What is completely different compared to the G1 figure however. Is the legs. The original Powerglide made his legs by simply sliding the rear alt mode section downwards which would expose 2 thin grey legs. That was about it. The legs didn't move or separate from each other. This Maketoys version however. Has separate legs which are very articulated via balljoints. The alt modes tail fins/wings fold away behind the jet thrusters instead of just sticking out to the sides. Leg articulation comes from the balljoints in the hips and knee sections. There is also some swivel joints in the ankle sections but they are mainly for transformation.
Bombers/Powerglides arms have exactly the same articulation as his original G1 version. These being shoulder and ellbow balljoints. On my version. Depending on how the elbow joint is moved. The forearm just falls off as if the balljoint and socket are slightly different sizes in one section (basically not completely rounded). A dab of clear nail polish on the balljoint will help build up a layer to close the gap and help the forearms stay attached.
In total. There are 4 pairs and 1 single points of articulation (9 in total). These being the knees,hips,elbows,shoulders and head. The head also has virtually a full range of movement (left,right,up,down) and sits about 2/3 milimeters away from the chest section.

Overall Bomber/Powerglide is quite a nice figure apart from a few minor flaws. Certainly a worthy update over the original G1 figure. He is fairly well put together and has been made of good quality plastic.


There is just one addition that makes these 2 characters even better. 3rd party creator Reprolabels have designed a decal set which allows you to attach the appropriate decals that the G1 Seaspray and Powerglide had come with along with a few additions if you wished to have something slightly different.


Marks out of 10 for the following:-

Transformation Design: 7 Fairly easy transformations. Just be careful with Hovers/Seasprays arms when converting to robot mode.
Durability: 7 Seems quite well put together. However. A few possible QC/design issues on certain sections of the plastic are a concern.
Fun: 7 Nice figures to mess with and everything goes together quite well with fairly easy transformations.
Aesthetics: 8 Lots of detail, the colours work well together and resemble the characters these 2 are based on.
Articulation: 7 Plenty of articulation to enable varied poses.
Value/Price: 6 High price for their size (Approx £30/£40 from UK online retailers) but as can be expected with these 3rd party creations.
Overall: 7 A nice second offering from Maketoys. Lets hope it continues with their other items.