Steelwill (SilverHawks (Super7)) Review

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Steelwill (SilverHawks (Super7)) Review

Steelwill
SilverHawks (Super7) (Super7)Like me, you've probably never heard of Silverhawks until Super7 announced they got the license. I wasn't too enticed at first, but I got interested in the designs, and checked out the show; it's pretty good. A little over a year later, we finally saw the release of the line: with wave two coming before wave one. Super7 really can't get their release windows straight, can they?

We all know the usual Ultimates packaging - a trapezoidal box with slip cover. The slip cover is simple, with the Silverhawks emblem on the front of a shiny silver color. The box underneath is a starry blue, with the back having an illustration of the character and a bio. The only thing needed to remove from the plastic tray is a tie holding in the figure, and everything's easy to get out.

Steelwill's face has metal covering everything but his face, with a chiseled jaw and cheekbones. The likeness is great, and it's helped by the fact that his face utilizes face-printing technology rather than being simply hand-painted, and hope to see more use of this tech in the future from S7. He has a stoic look by default, but you can swap that out for a smiling, open-mouth face or a head with his face mask on for flying through space. Then again, it's not so much a mask as it is a football helmet.

Standing around 7" tall, Steelwill is the most muscular of the hawks, with a prominent six-pack and pecs. As a cyborg, most of his body is covered in metal, save for his left arm. Interestingly, most of the flesh tone is painted onto blue plastic, but the hand(s) is molded in flesh-colored plastic. Speaking of, the paint is relatively good, save for some fuzzy edges, and the wash really helps bring out the appearance. There's one major issue with it, however: the armor is too blue. It's supposed to be a dark gray. I'll give it a little leeway, though, since it still looks great.

The articulation is a bit more than what we usually get out of Ultimates, but it still has its issues. The ball-jointed head can look up well, but any other direction of tilt is practically non-existent. The arms move well with swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, and wrists, along with swivel biceps. The chest is another ball-joint, but it can barely move (why is it so hard for Super7 to do good chest articulation?). Below it are swivels at the waist, thighs, and calves, along with swivel/hinge hips, knees, and ankles. Most of the joints have pretty good range, allowing for plenty of nice poses.

There is one major issue with the joints, and its the biggest dampener on this guy: the right bicep. The socket for the peg on the shoulder to plug into is too small, and I needed heat to pop it free. I believed the arms could swap at the biceps as well as the shoulders (more on that below), but doing it too much ultimately broke the peg off. I got a replacement, but it suffered the same stuck joint (and also broke cause I'm stupid). What I did with the first one was drill a little hole on both sides of the break and insert a metal bit from a thumbtack in it, superglue it together, then shave down the peg and socket for a better fit. It moves well now and I don't have any fears of more breakage, but it should've moved well from the start.

When it comes to accessories, Steelwill is loaded. There's the two extra heads I mentioned, and they swap on and off the joint with ease. There's also five sets of hands - relaxed, gripping, gun grip, closed, and saluting - and they all swap easily. There's also an extra pair of arms, with the wings out and exposed laser blasters on the shoulders. These arms swap at the shoulders, and I believe the original plan was to have them swap at the bicep pegs as well, but they can't really do that on the final figure. If you want to, just heat up the plastic around the biceps and pop them off the pegs, but just be aware of the risk you carry doing so.

As for additional extras, Steelwill comes with two two-piece laser effects that plug into the shoulders with minimal effort, along with his fighting hawk: Stronghold. There are two poses of Stronghold included - relaxed and in-flight - and while neither have any articulation, both clip onto Steelwill's arm well. It would've been nice have a stand for the flying Stronghold, allowing for a creative display. Lastly, Will comes with two funky-looking firearms: a "Streamer” with translucent blast effect, and a "Screamer" with open and closed mouth options. I haven't seen either of these in the show yet, but they really help spice up the figure. One other extra that would've been nice is a pair of alternate feet without the talons, since they're said to be retractable on the back of the box. I believe when the unpainted sample was on display at SDCC '22, alternate feet were shown, so why take them out?

Super7 certainly has been stepping up their game lately, and Steelwill is proof of that, thanks to great likeness and plenty of accessories. If it wasn't for the inaccurate metal colors and that stuck bicep, he'd be perfect. While I won't be making this line a priority, these are pretty great figures from what I've been hearing, and I'll still make sure to get everyone.

- 4/16/23