We are really cracking on with Combiner Wars, and next up is Firefly - the artist formerly known as Fireflight.
I found myself locked in a battle with my own inner fanboy to not to title this review: Transformers Combiner Wars Fireflight review.
You can check out the review of Fireflys sort of mold mate Skydive, Aerialbot Leader Silverbolt or the lonesome Stunticon from the first wave Dragstrip
Jet Mode
Fireflight (Firefly, these two will be used interchangeably) has a very G1-esque jet mode, which if you were just going from memory you could be forgiven for thinking was the G1 toy.
All of the details are here, with the Silver cockpit, and tail fins pointing down. The wings are a bit pointier on the ends, but even the paint on the tail fin and wings is fairly similar.
The standout here is the Red plastic, which is Fireflights defining colour and it looks really nice.
The colours also make Firefly look more toy like than the other Aerialbots, so he stands out from the usual, White, Black and Greys traditionally used on jets.
Unlike Skydive, Firefly does have landing gear, but only at the front. Just like skydive his robot feet do not fold away, and stick out to hold the jet up when parked.
With the feet being more pointy, they are a bit more obvious than they are on Skydive.
Just like almost every jet Transformer, you will have noticed that Firefly is a robot box with a plane on his back. Whilst most of the jet looks nice and well detailed, the arms glaringly do not fold away. They just fold down, and peg onto the sides, which is not as obvious when viewed side on, but from every other angle it looks quite poor.
It is easy to forgive, thankfully, because it is such a fun toy and is cheap enough, but it does not seem like it would have taken that much effort to find some way for the arms to be less conspicuous. Even molded jet detailing on the reverse of the forearms might have worked.
It is still a very fun toy to play with in jet mode, and is my favourite of the deluxe wave so far.
Robot Mode
Transforming Firefly is almost an identical process to that of Skydive . Open the backs of the legs, fold them out, pull the arms out and the nose cone back - you are done.
Only the shoulders differ from Skydives transformation, as they don't roll up on a hinge, but in my opinion I think it works better like this.
One in robot mode, you will be shocked by how good this looks for a Hasbro deluxe, that was so simple to transform.
A simplified transformation has not lead to compromises with the robot mode.
Many of the cues from the G1 character are used here, and the Autobot badge on his left peck looks beautiful on the Silver background.
The head sculpts on all of the Combiner Wars figures are all pretty stellar so far. Firefly's head is based off his original toy, instead of the animation model like Skydive, Air Raid and Silverbolt.
It is an interesting choice, and looks really nice. The detail is spot on, and the bright blue paint on the eyes looks beautiful, and all glowy.
The best thing about this figure is just how poseable it is, and how much you will enjoy holding it in your hands.
Firefly's shoulders have very good ball joints, which give a great amount of movement and the arms rotate at the bicep. There is a waist swivel, and the legs have ball joints at the hip, and knee joints.
When you combine all of this with the ball jointed head, Firefly becomes a brilliantly expressive figure.
The feet are slanted and permanently fixed, but you can still use to good effect as Firefly is so well balanced.
The quality control is excellent as all of the joints are tight enough to hold poses, but are not so tight you think they will break.
It creates such a fantastic toy to just play with, and you will really want to.
Like most Transformers, Firefly does come with a hand weapon, and it is an awesome looking flame thrower.
There is so much detail on here, right down to a little pilot light on the front. I am a big fan of Transformers coming with rifles or pistols, and this is perfect.
Firefly's limb modes are similar to Skydives, though Hasbro has still made efforts to differentiate them.
His robot mode arms fold over the top, and have a divot which matches the intakes on the jet nose. There are two ridges that the hand holes can grip to, but I am not sure that is intentional as they seem slightly too big and the hands pop out.
You can also peg Silverbolt's gun to the peg holes on his wings to kind of recreate his cartoon/comic design, of the giant arm cannon....if you want.
I have been quite glowing in my praise for all of the Combiner Wars figures so far, and it probably won't surprise you that I love Firefly too. In fact, Firefly is my favourite of the first wave of Combiner Wars figures, which is no mean feat when they have all been so good.
But of all of them, Firefly has a strange intangible quality, that is tough to describe unless you have it in hand. It is such a fun toy to transform and pose but is still so characterful.
I am tempted to buy a second to have on my desk to play with.
If you only buy one Combiner Wars figure, it should be this one....and Silverbolt....and Drag Strip....oh just buy them all.
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