Name: Shadowhawk (Energon Divebomb)
Series: Superlink
Allegiance: Destron
Alternate Mode: Eagle
EAGLE MODE
Height: 5cm Length: 23cm Width: 9.5cm
That's pretty much his maximum wingspan, by the way, making him reasonably big for a basic. Shadowhawk is a predominantly mid blue robotic eagle with cobalt blue and darkish grey bits and some transparent yellow "energon" bits. He's a Japanese only repaint of Energon Divebomb, and considering that this beast doesn't especially look like G1 Divebomb, I prefer the new name. At any rate, blue very much dominates this eagle, since he sports the secondary cobalt blue on some prominent features - beak, wingtips and hooks on the front edges of the wings. His feet are grey, there are transparent yellow featherlike-spikes on the back of his wings. He also has two big blade like yellow hooks that can attach into the sides of his neck and sit underneath the wings. They look pretty good, and they're removable, so if you don't like them you can leave them out. While the original colour scheme is nice, the two blues here look awesome and the yellow is a much classier colour for the the transparent plastic than green, making this a wonderful repaint.
This is a very robotic and angular bird, but I don't mind since it's clearly a robotic beast - not some weird thing passed off as being "technorganic" and they've got the main bits right - the beak, headshape, wings and claws - so it's clearly an eagle. In fact the only part that's disappointing is the tail, which is narrower than a real eagle tail, since it's the robot head facing downward. This isn't that bad - some Energon toys have the _face_ visible in alt mode - so a tail that looks misshaped I can live with.
The poseability is pretty good for a basic beast mode. The wings flap, even further if you remove his green Energon blades, and the can also retract somewhat (which they do completely for robot mode). The knees are hinged, and he has ball jointed hips, so when you combine this with rear claws that fold forward, the leg poseability is quite impressive. The head doesn't move, although the mouth is moulded open, and looks pretty good there.
Adding to the play value are the transparent yellow Energon bits. Unlike a lot of Energon toys, these actually work on Shadowhawk and the yellow fits right in, rather than interrupting as on some Energon toys. The blades look good as attachments to the bird mode, they're not the "how can we add clear bits to this thing?" that some toys' accessories seem to be. You can attach the Energon chip to the spark crystal on his rump, also.
I really like the spark Crystals on the Energon toys, and Shadowhawk's is no exception. It's clear plastic with a Decepticon logo moulded into it - and is the only allegiance symbol on the entire toy. Why you'd want to cover this up with a silly transparent sunburst is beyond me, but hey, the sunburst is removable (and mine is in storage), so I'm not complaining.
Aside from the malformed tail, this is a pretty decent bird. The colours are fantastic on this repaint, with the yellow fitting right in. The articulation is pretty good and the overall aesthetic is very eagle-like, with good proportions and a well moulded head that has kept me happy.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
You can remove the blades if you like, and although while it might make this transformation a little easier, you don't have to. Lift the wings up and collapse them down. Split the head and swing the two halves back to form the robot arms, fold the robot legs and groin back and peg the groin and chest together. Swing the robot arms down, fold up the bird legs now hanging off the back of his shoulders down, and turn his head around.
This is a fairly simple transformation, but it's a good one. It's taken the "legs from wings" idea that Beast Machines Buzzsaw started and improved on it, meaning there's less kibble than he's entitled to as a basic, and the bird head into robot hand thing works well.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 12.5cm Width: 12cm
Leaving his blades attached makes Shadowhawk taller and wider than he would otherwise be, and since they look fairly impressive, the dimensions above are for the fully armed Shadowhawk.
This mode has a fairly similar colour scheme to the eagle mode. He's mid blue with cobalt blue feet and knees. His shoulders and face are grey while his face is painted cobalt blue. I suspect the designer was going for a bird of prey face, since it's triangular. There's a lot of grey painted on the chest, which centres on the spark crystal. There are some orange flashes on his shoulders which work better than that sounds. Again this is a great repaint.
The yellow is limited to optional the giant blades hanging off his wrists and the optional sunburst over his spark crystal. The blades look really good, the sunburst looks pretty silly, and since it only serves to cover up the Decepticon spark crystal in his chest, I recommend leaving it out for this mode, even if you attach it to his beast mode.
The blades can unclip, and attach to each other in a sort of giant S shape, so that a larger Decepticon can hold them. But this big ass slasher also fits in Shadowhawk's hand, and really suits him. He has giant cobalt blue kneespurs, which not only help make the giant slasher look appropriate, they also mean this is one Decepticon you don't want to charge front on! He has bird-head claws instead of hands, but they can hold the blades (or slasher) quite easily, so the lack of hands isn't a negative at all. They look clawlike, so not only are they still functional, they don't detract from his visual appeal. If anything, they enhance Shadowhawk visually.
Shadowhawk's pretty well articulated. His head turns, the shoulders are have hinges and swivels, so combined with the ball jointed elbows, they give him full arm movement. The hips are ball jointed and the knees hinged. The waist does not turn, but his feet can fold back, allowing him to stand upright in leaning back poses - which is a really nifty feature that's no doubt helped by the counterweight of the kneespurs.
There's very little wrong with this robot mode. The kneespurs and birdhead claws are nice, the weapon suits, the play value is excellent for a basic and the colours work. I suppose if I have to fault it, he has bird claws hanging off the back, but they're barely kibble, and don't get in the way of anything.
VARIATIONS
None as such, but as mentioned this is a Japanese only repaint.
OVERALL
While the eagle mode is very robotic and angular, it's a good beast mode. The weaponry is good, the play value is great, and this time around the colours are awesome. This is a repaint that is worth picking up, if you get the chance - 9.5/10
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