Name: Guyhawk
Series: Combiner Wars
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alternate Mode: Fighter Jet
FIGHTER JET MODE
Height: 5cm Length: 15cm Width: 11cm (16cm with wings out)
A bright pink jet with silver wings and stabilisers, Guyhawk has an orange canopy and yellow and black stripes on the and stabilisers. While the original has white instead of silver, they've nailed the hot pink and the stripes match G1, so this is very much Guyhawk, even if the original didn't have the swing-wings on this version. Guyhawk has a sort rubberised nose, but unusually, it's pink, not black. The pinks are a very close match. Lastly, there are two Decepticon logos, one on each wing.
Guyhawk is a repaint of Combiner Wars Air Raid, but the mould matches Guyhawk well, so this really doesn't feel like a shoehorned Aerialbot. It helps that he's not just an F-15 - this jet is most reminiscent of an F-14, in fact - not quite the Mig-29 of his G1 self, but still fairly close. There's some kibble under the wings (his arms) but there are little black missile racks under the swing hinges which help cover it, and the stuff behind his wings is only visible if you bring the wings out. So it's not very prominent.
As is common for the line, there are attachment points for his weaponry in this mode. One hole under each wing and a hole on top of the fuselage. He comes as part of a giftset containing two black and two white dual-cannon guns (along with two black and two white foot-hand pieces). As always, the foot-hand pieces just look stupid attached in anything but limb mode. I'm not a fan of attaching a single gun, but the two black guns look good attached under his wings - and even better attached to the holes on his forearms under the wings. The wings look weird out thanks to gaps behind the hinges... so I just leave them swept back (even if the swept-back config is really for supersonic flight only). It's nice they gave us the option though - especially given he has no wheels underneath.
A pretty good jet mode with good colours that REALLY nail the character. The weapon options work well enough and while the swing wing isn't perfect, it's some extra play value. I like the attention to detail here - the pink soft nose in particular shows the designer of this set really was using the original characters/toys for reference.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Detach any weaponry & set aside. Swing the nose section up, then pivot back down and clip into the fuselage. Fold up the horizontal stabilisers, detach the arms underneath his wings, lift up the rear of the fuselage, swinging back the legs and them fold the rear section down and plug into his legs. Split the legs, stand him up. Swing back his wings, pivot the arms up so they're on the outsides of his shoulders. Rotate the head and swing out his ears. Arm as desired.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 16cm Width: ~8cm (depending on pose)
Guyhawk is again predominantly pink, with off white thighs, a silver face with pink eyes and extensive black on is chest and arms. There's a couple of splashes of yellow here and there - most notable is the yellow hawksbill on his helmet as seen in the Victory cartoon. It's a sharp colour scheme and while the colour blocking isn't a great match to G1, again this is distinctly Guyhawk. The black combiner peg on his chest actually resembles the black head of HawkBreast fairly well, and while he lacks the blue face of the G1 toy, this resculpted head very much matches the cartoon. This is probably the best example I've seen of using a head resculpt to represent a new character - sure the distinctive pink helps a lot, but the choice of paints, choice of black for that peg and the excellent headsculpt really do a great job making this robot mode all Guyhawk.
The weaponry options are a little better here. Since there's now some white on his thighs, the white guns work visually in a way they didn't in plane mode. That said, I like the black guns as they match the black paint on his arms. I'm actually a fan of putting them on the outsides of the forearms, but they still work well enough in his hands. Of course, if Guyhawk gets two guns, one of his mates misses out (but then Ironbison has the turret of his tank mode as a hand weapon.
Poseability is standard for Combiner Wars - which is not a bad thing. Guyhawk has ball joints in the neck, shoulders and hips. His elbows and knees have hinges and rotators. The feet are fixed in that slightly-spread pose. His ankles and wrists don't move but his waist can rotate. He can hold the various weaponry in either hand... of course the hand/foot pieces look pretty stupid. Sadly the guns do not look like the G1 bat-gun at all. You can swing the wings up behind his shoulders if you like - it looks good visually but I leave them down as the animated version notably had wings pointing down on his back... and it's a good match to that. Besides, I leave them up on Air Raid to evoke the visible wings he had in the G1 cartoon and so it differentiates.
Lack of HawkBreast aside, there's not much more one could ask for here. Given he's using an existing CW mould, there are some inevitable coloublocking choices made there that wont match G1 but I think the designer has made all the right choices. The peg in his chest works particularly well - much better than on Fellbat. The colours and retooled head are all Guyhawk & he's a visually attractive robot. The play value is actually pretty good - and while I understand the breast partner would have really blown the budget, it would have been a great touch.
VARIATIONS
The character name gets rendered as both "Gaihawk" and "Guyhawk" - there was no english name on the G1 packaging. I have always called him Gaihawk as it's probably closer to the Japanese pronunciation, but for this version Hasbro have gone with Guyhawk. So it's official for this version, at least.
As mentioned, he's a retool of CW Air Raid. Guyhawk was only available in the Liokaiser giftset with Fellbat (aka Hellbat), Ironbison (aka Killbison), Dezarus, Drillhorn and Ion Scythe.
Incidentally, I bought this set for the limbs & promptly sold off Dezarus and Ion Scythe - so I may never review those two or the gestalt.
OVERALL
A fantastic retool of one character that just does not feel like a co-opted mould at all, really. Thanks to Guyhawk's distinct pink & very well thought out paint job in both modes - along with a great head sculpt - this is the bright pink Breastmaster through and through. Play value is good in both modes, with my only complaint there being the awkward look when his wings are swung out. Sure, theres' no HawkBreast, but expecting that to be added to this retool would be fanciful. He's only available in a giftset, so it's not necessarily easy to just buy Guyhawk, the best of that set in my eyes, but it's a generally strong set - 9.5/10
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