Name: SixWing
Series: Japanese Generation 1
Allegiance: Cybertron
Function: Six Robot Gestalt Warrior
Alternate Mode: N/A - Gestalt comprising Chain-Gun, Falcon, Flanker, Missile-Run, Raker & Super Sonic
Thanks to heroic decepticon for loaning me SixWing for this review
CHAIN-GUN
Helicopter Mode Height: 2.5cm Length: 6cm Width: 3cm
Robot Mode Height: 5.5cm Width: 3cm (ignoring the rotor on his back)
A grey Apache style Helicopter with an amber canopy and baby blue rotor. The blue isn't the best choice for a rotor, although the grey and amber both work well. The chopper is fairly well moulded, although most of the finer detail is hidden by the dull grey. There are stabilisers on the tail and on the side of the main body
There's not really any play value here. He does sport two black wheels underneath the cockpit, but the back of the chopper rests on the table so rolling him along is out - it'll only scrape the chest. The rotor turns, albeit very slowly since it's plugged in rather than on any sort of fixed joint. Thankfully it plugs in fairly firmly - sure this limits play value but also means that it's far less likely to fall out and get lost.
Transformation is pretty straightforward - fold out the canopy to form his boots, fold the tail up over the rotor to reveal his head and stand him up.
Chain-Gun's grey is still dominant, although his chest, head and thighs are light grey while there's amber on his groin and face. The canopy is now on the front of his boots and the blue rotor sticks out on his back. He has a wrap-around eyestrip and delicately moulded nose and mouth. Chain-Gun has well moulded fists which cleverly have digits only visible in robot mode.
This is one of the better toys in the set with kibble that stays out of the way. His colours are fairly drab but this works well for the most part. I just wish the rotor wasn't baby blue.
FALCON
F-16 Fighter Jet Mode Height: 2.5cm Length: 6.5cm Width: 5.5cm
Robot Mode Height: 5.5cm Width: 2.5cm
A grey F-16 with red wings and an unpainted canopy, Falcon has at once the most logical colour for a fighter jet in grey and a weird colour for his wings, in red. While I can live with the red - it's not like red on Transformers jets is at all are - I really dislike the fact that his canopy is devoid of colour.
This is barely an F-16 in truth, the nose and canopy doesn't look much it should, because there's a giant hinge behind the canopy. The back section is broadly accurate, although the level of detail isn't great. There are missiles on the wingtips.
Like his teammates, Falcon has two black wheels under the wings, but there's nothing in front to help out so he'll either tip right back or sag forward. The end result is an unnecessarily poor fighter jet. Granted, the colours are a large part of that, but with the mould problems he has Falcon needed better colours.
To transform Falcon, extend the nose, flip the canopy back, fold the wings and stand him up. The tailfins and thruster sit awkwardly above his head with nowhere else to go.
The robot mode's colours are better, but he still sorely lacks paint. The torso and head are baby blue and just as in plane mode, there's no paint (on the face, this time). His arms and thighs are red while we still have grey on the overhead kibble and boots. The sculpt on his chest and head is actually fairly good, but without any paint on his face, this doesn't get a chance to shine.
The boots are a single hollow block, which is pretty disappointing. The feet have a hole that I can deal with, since this hole is needed to clip him into SixWing's thigh piece - but coupled with the lazy thigh moulding the legs looks awful.
While I quite like the F-16's design, Falcon is probably my least favourite of this set, yet with some paint I'd probably like him a lot more. There are still some mould problems, but with proper colours these would be tolerable.
FLANKER
SV-27 Jet Mode Height: 2.5cm Length: 6cm Width: 5.5cm
Robot Mode Height: 5.5cm Width: 3cm
A baby blue fighter with twin thrusters, twin tailfins, tailwings and swept back wings. Unlike Falcon he has a painted canopy, and while there's still that awful hinge, it's not as prominent thanks to the navy blue paint on the front part (the canopy).
The jet mode itself is reasonably well moulded for the most part, aside from that awkward hinge-canopy. The engines, thrusters and plane seams are all pretty good for a Micromaster. This is all undone by the wheels, which are as unstable as Falcon's. The transformation is also the same as on Falcon.
The robot mode colours work very well. The baby blue is restricted to the overhead kibble and boots, while the chest, head and thighs are black. His arms are grey while the face and waist are painted silver. Flanker has a simple face is simple, but with good colours here, that doesn't really stand out at all. Unlike on Falcon, they've actually done something with that overhead kibble - there are tiny missileracks moulded on either side of his head. Sure, it's still kibble but at least Flanker is making a feature out of it. The boots are almost as bad as those on Falcon, although the feet are slightly better defined.
While the poseability here is limited to swinging arms, Flanker's robot mode is proof that with some thought, a limited mould doesn't have to suck. Okay, so he's nothing special, but is far more focused than Falcon.
MISSILE-RUN
B-1 Bomber Mode Height: 2cm Length: 6cm Width: 5cm
Robot Mode Height: 6cm Width: 3cm
A black bomber with royal blue on his wings, tail and cockpit, he sports silver cockpit windows. The black and royal blue don't mesh well, since the boundaries between the two colours are the seams involved in transformation rather than seams between sections of the plane.
Like his teammates, Missile-Run has two black wheels, which sit underneath the engines, and the front just rests on the plane's belly. He slopes forward very slightly, but not enough to really worry about. He has typical bomber wings, which stick out and sweep back, while the relatively small windows tell us that this is a fairly large warplane (certainly next to fighters, at least).
Transformation is simple enough, with the tail flipping out to form his boots, the nose folding up to reveal the head and the wings folding back out of the way. Most of the robot is tucked away underneath, which explains why the bomber mode has kibble.
The robot is slightly taller than it should be thanks to Missile-Run's long thighs. The tail section forms more of a stand than boots, although we're meant to think that it's two separate boots. The colours are a little messy. The torso is grey while his groin and face are painted red. The thighs are baby blue, the arms white and the boots are royal blue. While none of these colours clash and none are too bold, it's just not unified.
While the legs aren't great, the colours are what really hold back Missile-Run's robot mode - there's a little too much happening. The robot mode is well moulded above the knees, with fingers on the hands and a face which is a little overwhelmed by red paint. The plane mode is good, but again the colours hurt. It's a good mould but suffers from lazy colouring.
RAKER
Space Shuttle Mode Height: 3cm Length: 6cm Width: 4.5cm
Robot Mode Height: 6cm Width: 2.5cm
A white shuttle with black skirting, black wings, a black tail and black cockpit windows, Raker's colour scheme is pretty realistic - especially compared to many other Transformers space shuttles. The tops of the wings should probably be painted white (something that happened on the reissue Decepticon set), and there are some seams on the cargo hold. We don't see any NASA badges or anything like that, but there wouldn't be much point in trying at this scale anyway.
For the most part this is a well defined shuttle, and other than the back end being flat rather than having mounted thrusters, it's about as realistic as I'd hope for a Micromaster. There's a single black wheel underneath the tail and two bumps underneath the front most reaches of the wings, on which he rests. The shuttle slopes forward slightly, which is actually how things should be.
This is probably the strongest vehicle mode amongst the set, and that's not just because of the colours. There's no kibble, the shape is good and of course the colours are accurate. In truth it's better than some of the larger shuttle Transformers, such as Blast Off.
Transformation is pretty simple - fold down the nose to form his chestplate, fold the wings up and flip over the rear to form his boots. The tailfin will sort of stick out from the single boot-piece, although you can fold down to one side if you prefer.
The robot is mainly black, with a white chestplate in the form of the shuttle nose (and cockpit) while the boots are also white at the front, which is the base of the tail, Raker's head is royal blue with an amber face, and his thighs are blue. The black and white colour scheme keeps things simple and makes this robot mode work well. The face is well sculpted with a nice heroic crest on his forehead.
The arms are the front sections of the shuttle wings and sit very close to to torso, which is the nose and canopy. There are fists moulded on the insides of the arms, which you'll only really see if you lift the arms. The single wheel sits between his knees, which looks a little strange, as does the tailfin between the boots. There are no real feet here, which isn't immediately obvious since the tail draws your attention away. Despite the flaws this is one of the better robot modes in this set, and Raker's shuttle mode is great, making him my favourite of the set.
SUPER SONIC
Concorde SST Passenger Jet Mode Height: 2.5cm Length: cm 7Width: 4cm
Robot Mode Height: cm Width: cm
A white Concorde with blue cockpit windows and some red undercarriage junk, Super Sonic has a realistic colour scheme just like Raker. While he lacks moulded cabin windows, there are seams on the fuselage and wings. Super Sonic has two black wheels underneath the wings and red false wheels underneath the fuselage itself. Two front wheels on a Concorde might be a little silly, but at this scale the fact that he has them is enough.
Transformation is pretty standard Micromaster - fold over the back to form boots and fold the front down as a chestplate. Super Sonic gets the extra step of folding the wingtips _up_, so that they form quasi-kneecaps.
The end result is a very awkward robot that looks like it's been stretched on the rack. Super Sonic looks like he should be playing basketball. The boots, chest and head are white while the arms are red and the thighs black. The face is sadly left unpainted but has a reasonably good facial sculpt. The blue cockpit windows sit on his chest.
The boots sit further forward than the rest of the toy, and while he'll stand without any trouble, he looks incredibly awkward. The only useful poseability here is in the arms - which can lift up, but need quite a bit of force to move.
Super Sonic is a tale of two modes. The plane mode is good and the robot mode is poor - I'm more annoyed about the unpainted face than the shape, since that's not as easily fixed.
COMBINED MODE
Height: 17cm Width: 10cm
A mixture of black, red, baby blue, white, two greys and royal blue. It's a bit of a mess but nothing like the eyesore of the reissue. The central chest is the black Missile-Run, Super Sonic & Raker form the arms, Flanker & Falcon the legs and Chain-Gun forms a backpack. The baby blue is largely confined to one leg, so Sixwing largely manages the standard "heroic" colours. The fists and head are dark grey while the face is silver and his gun black.
The overall mould is nice, there's a definite Superion tribute in the mould, with vaguely similar colours. The chestplate _does_ work, since it's the top of a plane, although the jarring black & blue transition is still there.
Play value is pretty much what we'd expect - the arms swing at the shoulders and the head turns. There's a plane that can be formed from the add on pieces (chest frame, thighs, feet, hands, head & gun), which is a mix of red, black and grey, and it's pretty much the jumble of parts we'd expect.
A good mould and a nice Superion-like head, and the combination itself is as clever and well-though out as the other Micromaster gestalts. The colours are somewhat jumbled but still work quite well - and much better than the pastels of the more common reissue.
VARIATIONS
None as such. As mentioned, this set was reissued as Decepticons in pastel colours in 2003. There was at the same time a white chase set (as Autobots) - I have only reviewed Falcon amongst the chase series. Hasbro repainted the mould under the Universe label as Superion, in 2006.
OVERALL
A good set and while there are some weak links, this is a nice set. Sixwing is one of the weaker Micromaster Gestalts, but is still a nice set. Most of the component toys are good although Missile-Run is a disappointment. This set is certainly better than the Takara reissue, but it's tricky to find and expensive, so I'd recommend the easier-to-find Superion set instead - 6/10
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