A new year, a new mainline for the Transformers family. The sequel to the Legacy line, subtitled Evolution, seems to be using the same MO - pluck legacy characters, some obscure, and return them back to the realm of the relevant. Not much of what I've seen so far excites me, but there are a few things that got me smiling. One of them would be Metalhawk, the leader of the Japanese G1 Pretenders subfaction with of course a Japanese exclusive figure. I'm not sure about he years in between, but I'm aware the character saw some action maybe 4 years ago as part of the Titans Return lineup, and with Evolution, he gets a voyager class figure, albeit one that is recycled from Cyclonus.
Packaging is still the windowless box, and I'm guessing with the use of single use plastics going away, this is probably going to be a thing. Still not sure what "Evo Fusion" is, though my guess is that all weapons going forward are going to form part of the vehicle mode. Whatever the case may be, its certainly an improvement over the Energon weapons from last year.
Content wise, nothing exciting. The figure, two pistols that come together and also form tailfins on the jet mode, and his sword.
The robot mode certainly takes many cues from its animated G1 predecessor. The only real major difference would be the arms, and the wings attached to said arms. Otherwise, pretty good modernization of the character, including the gorgeous head sculpt.
Jumping a bit ahead, honestly this is a very solid figure. it's not a particularly fantastic engineering marvel, but it's a mainline figure, which is fine. Truthfully, everything came out quite nicely. No crappy plastic. No poor build quality. The only real complaint I have about this figure is the sheer lack of paint, and it really hurts on the gold parts as they're this really dull yellow plastic instead of the metallic gold that Metalhawk ought to be. There will, of course, be those who aren't happy about the hollow parts, but stuff like that doesn't bother me, so long as the figure isn't impacted structurally. No issues here - this is one of those figures you can just pick up and handle like a toy.
Articulation isn't bad, and is pretty typical of a Voyager classed figure. As the photos show, you're probably going to be able to get most of your desire poses in, so long as it doesn't require any real crouching. Due to the proportions of the legs combined with the inabiltiy to go past the hip, all your crouching poses are going to look crooked. Ankle articulation does allow for some decent lunging poses, though again it's not going to be an extreme level regarding range of motion. Rotating wrist allows for sword poses (and gun poses too) to not be as bland looking as your typical 80s action figure.
Transformation into vehicle mode is pretty straight forward, though the resulting jet form isn't exactly the strong suit of this release. Weapons can clip onto the figure as shown in the photos. the primary weakness of this form is that on Cyclonus, only the tip of the vehicle mode is formed from parts concealed in the robot chest. Metalhawk, sadly, has the entire front end of his vehicle mode stuck in there. As a result, the entire cockpit and front end of the jet mode looks incredibly out of proportion compared to the rest of the vehicle mode.
All-in-all, Metalhawk isn't going to be figure of the year nor is it Masterpiece level of design and engineering. But it is a solid, all around figure that will satisfy fans of well made figures, and appease fans of Metalhawk... at least in robot mode.
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