Uh oh! Sounds like they didn't do proper vac metal clear sealent coating on them. Even this early joint flaking wear is a extremely bad sign. Anyone remember the transformers beast wars transmetal rat trap? That thing started flaking as soon as you took it out of the package when it was released back in the day. That's what happens when you skip seal coating vac metal.And I hate to say it, but high articulation flaking wear excuse is total bull muffins. Look at the vintage figures arm sockets. every part of those arms are vac metal. Including the peg /male conector that the arm swings on. I beat the heck out of those figure, and swung the arms and legs religiously. And you know what? those socket joints were the most prestine part of the vac metal on all those figures to this very day. Those weren any less friction stressed than a ball joint or modern hinge. Modern plastics not taking the vac metal process I could believe, but joint friction being the bigger issue? No. The actual reason companies stopped doing the vac metal process is because it was litterally poisoning the factory workers. So in actuality for Super7 to do vac metalling again they either need to throw ethics and factory workers health to the wind. Or go back to reinvent the wheel on vac metalling to make it safer. Which one do you think would have them not admit those problems or changes in the process? The answer to that is probably worse than consumers would want to believe....
I guess the positive side is that this is good news for my wallet. I've been cutting back on collectibles in general, and I never did buy the previous versions from S7. I was kind of tempted by these. I definitely prefer the look of Monstar and Buzz-Saw in their toy colors. As a kid, I had the main 5 Silverhawks, Commander, Stargazer, Flashback... and on the villains side I only had Monstar and Buzz-Saw, so those two villain figures in those colors are very nostalgic for me. The vac metal S7 figures look cool, but I've been worried what that would mean from a QC perspective, and based on this video, it is not good. Also I had noticed in pic that Quicksilver seemed a little too dark in color, and this video confirms that. While I am otherwise nostalgic for the vac metal look, and while it is annoying that these came out after Brian said they couldn't be done.... what REALLY bothers me is that we never got the versions that were promised early on. In some interview with Brian (it may have been that same one you had with him when he said vac metal couldn't be done), he had said that they were going to try to get find paint that would be as shiny in color as possible, but without doing a vac metal/chromed look. I was interested in seeing how that would turn out, at it seemed like a reasonable compromise. But instead, they released them in these dull, not at all shiny, supposedly "cartoon accurate" colors, which didn't do much for me, so with that coinciding with when I was starting to cut back on collectibles anyway, I opted to not bother with them. Then they announced these toy variants with the Vac Metal. I was potentially interested, but annoyed on behalf of those who already bought the previous versions (and REALLY glad that I hadn't bought them), but also concerned based on what Brian said when you interviewed him when they were first shown. He made it sound like there would be plenty of replacements available, etc., basically anticipating there being a lot of problems with these. That didn't give me much hope. And it was still contrary to what fans had been told, even if somehow they would have come out without any major issues. But as seen in your video here, there ARE some glaring issues. And given all that is now known, I would still prefer those theoretical versions with really shiny paint and no vac metal, but we will likely never get those. Heck, even if they were to try to release those, how many people would actually buy them? Anyone who bought the first versions thinking they'd be the only options, and then bought these only to have some major QC issues are NOT likely to give S7 their money again on more versions of these absurdly overpriced figures. On some level Monstar and Buzz-Saw are tempting to me, but if I'm not getting the main heroes, I don't have much interest in collecting just the villains. This whole thing is a mess.
@@ZedMazaus480 As someone with several Soul of Chogokin figures it isn't "bull muffins" as you put it, Chrome on modern toys scruffs and flakes super easy.
@@ZedMazaus480 No, it has nothing to do with sealant coating. It's not worth it. This is a case of people just saying that they want a thing without knowing how it's actually done.
That first version of silver hawk should have been painted silver instead of that gray. If he was painted with a metallic silver I don’t think fans would have cried out for vac metal as much. I’m not a Silverhawks collector just an observer.
Same thing happened to my ultimate Dukes neck. Also had issues with storm shadow. Super 7 have great sculpts but their quality doesn’t justify the cost.
@Charmander009 The novelty of vac is cool but lt literally chips of after taking it out the box of posing (wasting money). Vac could definitely work for a statue or maquette.
I could be misremembering but didn't Brian say at one point that they made some adjustments to the sculpt so that there was more clearance around the joints to help minimize rubbing? If so, that would explain the shoulder joints. Doesn't mean anyone has to like it, of course. I also recall Brian said that the production process meant that the arm and joints (for example) are made and then the vacmetal is applied to the entire arm+joint but the vacmetal can't really adhere to the joint plastic very well so chipping of the joints was basically guaranteed from the start (I realize you probably know all of this, just commenting on this for the community who might see my comment.)
THat's correct. because vac metal basically is dipping the entire piece to the paint so it adds thickness. So to counter it you will have to sand off the part to make it fit easier. I don't have a set of these vac metal silverhawks but I suspect in person, the parts will will less elastic that what you normally would get.
@@ConstantineCydoneaI don’t think that’s fair. Brian said they couldn’t do it at the time. They had to redesign the joints to fit together with the vac metal and took quite a bit of time to get it right. He also warned early on that flaking was going to possibly be an issue. That said, I have my chromed out Steelheart on my shelf in the pose I want her im and don’t plan on playing with her at all, so she looks great.
You weren’t being negative, this was an honest review. Flynn knew how this would play out, and he did specify that tolerances in joints, plastic incompatibility issues with the vacmetal process, and overall fragility could be real possibilities. The neck peg coming out and the neck area separating is another level of wtf. I don’t envy being a toy creator these days between costs, varied fan expectations, feedback, and finding a final product and msrp that can cover expenses.
@@tyreewilson2140 My non-chrome cartoon version of Steelheart had the exact same issue with the neck seam coming apart and the peg popping out. So that particular issue is with the original design/mold, and not due to the vac-metal. I've even had that issue with figures from other lines as well.
@@Alatartheblue damn…I stand corrected. Must’ve not been widespread enough for this is my first time seeing or hearing this. I hope I didn’t come off disrespectful as it was not my intention 🙏
I wish they'd done a version of the wings on soft goods like the OG Quicksilver. That was my only real complaint. Monstar was definitely bigger than I expected.
I’m seeing video reviews of the vac metal flaking/breaking apart easily right out of the box and that the articulation isn’t on point. Yet, S7 had no problem charging 65 or more for these two figs. Cmon, we as collectors need to hold S7 accountable for thier bad QC if they’re gonna want that much money for these.
This video perfectly shows how sad the 'quality' of S7 figures are....especially for the outrageous prices they continually keep raising. I seriously don't understand how they stay in business. 😢
I recall Brian saying the abs parts that the joint swivels are made of can’t be chromed, but they couldn’t be excluded when chroming the rest of the parts so it will just flake off those parts when used, because they weren’t supposed to be chromed to begin with. So it actually should slide off of the inner joint discs.
I feel that if they just used a very shinny paint as opposed to the vac metal, the fan base would have been satisfied for the most part. It was that the initial release had such a flat paint job that made the figures look dull.
Well, then fans will whine that it's not vac metal. I think fans of the cartoon will be happy that series 1 was close to the cartoon colours. However, the original plan was to use a nice metallic paint but that development didn't work out because of the pandemic.
Metallic paint doesn't give shiny mirror finishes like the people who complained wanted. Chrome paint has problems with rubbing and flaking on moving parts no matter how you apply it: see Molotov Liquid pens.
The neck breaking isn’t just a problem with these vac metal figures. This also happened with aMondo Gecko Ultimates I got from them and also a Thundercats Rataro. I’m pretty sure a few others where I could see the neck starting to pull apart so I never changed the head.
The moment the neck joint snapped makes me wish there were multiple cameras filming you at that moment, because while I never want to see something that many people genuinely wanted and paid good money for being faulty, that may be one of my favorite "oh s^&t" moments in a product review ever.
They warned people this would happen and people kept dogging them anyway so they finally did it like they wanted. And would you look at that? They were right all along.
The open fingers on Buzzsaw are to "pull" his chest ripcords. That's how I have my yellow one displayed (the toy versions are still in my Pile of Loot).
Super7 makes some beautiful looking figures, but I have learned to keep whatever I buy from them in packaging (or buy 2 to have 1 loose). Their quality control issues are well documented at this point.
TBH I feel like this is one of those cases where you can't really be mad, because they did warn the fandom that this would happen. It also happens with my SOCs that have metallic paint like these so it isn't exclusive to Super 7.
@@mr.rocket7550 I'm not sure he's joking. Sure, they are priced like premium collectibles, but the quality is generally just not there. They cost more than Mythic Legions, for example, but are definitely not as good.
@@yauyuso sorry, strong disagree. It's not just the style that makes something a premium collectible, although that does help. But the engineering, tolerances, amount of paint and precision of application, even quality of sculpting, all play into that. The S.H. Figuarts Dragon Ball characters (not Z, original DB) all have a cartoony appearance, but still strong sculpting and paint applications. Super7's products are mostly at the level of Hasbro and Mattel. Sometimes they release a banger, and they do tend to load out the accessories at least, but a lot of it is greatly underwhelming (their Power Rangers figures, for example, are not even as good as the remastered Lightning Collection, IMO. I also purchased their Cobra BAT, but honestly do not find it particularly superior to the Classified version).
Mon-Star was the ultimate big bad in my toy universe growing up. Skeletor, Cobra Commander and Megatron reported to HIM. So I really would like one for my display, but with that limited articulation and price point I don't think he's going to bossing around anyone on my villains shelf.
If you keep your eyes peeled the Wave 1 version can be found at a much more reasonable price. I got mine for 45 from BBTS on a daily deal. Its a fantastic figure and at that size and price was cheaper than an oversized Marvel Legends; but that was luck and timing. That toy version will likely be in shorter supply, so I would not count on that specific version being discounted but who knows.
@@MrWolf12000 I was going to say the same thing, and I think I got the same deal as you. The new one might be shorter supplied, but I don't know, I don't think there is a lot of demand for Silverhawks, and Super7 may have actually killed collector's enthusiasm for the line by playing these games with saying they couldn't do vac metal, and now putting them out. I guess we'll see. Incidentally, I did get the toy version of Mon-Star. It is... okay. Limited articulation is still frustrating (hard to get him to sit in his throne) and his entire torso is completely unpainted, just colored plastic. Not only that, but I had the old figure, and I based on my memories and this video, he had a semi-gloss finish, but the new release is completely matte all over. I don't hate it, but it does feel lacking, especially for such a high price point.
The same thing happened to the neck joint on my SteelHeart, too. I wasn't able to pull the dumbbell out of the head, so I had to just put it back into the neck. Despite doing it as delicately as possible, the front and back halves of the neck/torso started to split when I did. Luckily it finally went back in, but I'm not touching that thing again! No mask for SteelHeart. 😅
There's this Japanese toyline called Saint Seiya that does heavy vac metal all of the time, so it's a question of materials. Given how stingy super 7 is with their QC, they'd never be willing to do it right in the first place.
I like the phrasing "this Japanese toyline called Saint Seiya", like it's an obscure thing. In Europe (especially Italy) and of course Asia it's actually massive!
@@ryanbobadilla2527 I have two of them myself and to OP yes, they do scratch and the instructions flat out warn you to be SUPER careful with handling and attaching parts to minimize risk of damage to the paint.
I have the Quicksilver and it looks beautiful!!! The thing is I would not move the joints much if at all. These are mainly meant as display pieces and as such works just fine on a display.
Well this is what Super 7 warned all those that begged and pleaded for the chromed out versions of these specific figures so can we really blame Super 7 or do we take the blame ourselves for being nit picky on something that we actually wanted ???????? Now as far as the price point it's fine in my opinion reason being we are not living back in the 80's , 90's, or early 2000's. Action figures in general are done way better as far as articulation and accurate sculpts and paint apps to the characters, let's be honest they've come a long way from what we had back then Super 7 has done a great job thus far it's just you can't please every consumer everyone can be a critic but if you actually don't create, sculpt, or design figs you actually don't realize what's the process behind what the consumers want so it's a double edged sword. Overall they're great figs and pricing doesn't bother me, if you want a marvel legends price point then your going to get less for your figures it's the nature of the beast. I mean we go out to toy shops and purchase vintage figures and pay upwards of $80, $100, to $200 for a VINTAGE FIGURE that only has 5 POA he-man, G.I. JOES, Dungeons and Dragons etc, etc and we'll justify that but then complain with figures that have better articulation, sculpts, paint apps and accuracy of asking price of the same value or more for me it's a make it make sense. I collect, hottoys, three zero, sideshow, Super 7, mattel , storm Collectibles, the list goes on and on and it is what it is on pricing some companies charge less some more all depends on what you want Raman toys made a silverhawks quicksilver and for me doesn't look like the character at all it's their take on the character which is fine but did not move me to own or purchase but hey I know some friends of my did and that's ok . Overall great video and good topic to bring up on your thoughts on it and giving us an opportunity to comment about our thoughts on the figs .
@@Redeemer23collectibles I have that figure as well. I had to mess with it for a while before I had flaking of any kind. Also didn’t have to worry about limbs falling off or looseness in the joints.
I have several Soul of Chogokins that have flaking and scruffs on their chrome parts just from being stored so yes it very much is an issue and not just Super 7.
Not to dimiss S7 qc issues, but SHF are just as if not more expensive from a far more experienced toy company. Not excusing anything but we cant seriously compare the quality of S7U to SHF. Its Apples and Steak. OT I have long thought that Ultimates needed to be in line with NECA pricing
I cancelled my wave 1 figures that I had set aside when the vac metal was announced. I just saw my sister open her Steelheart and when I saw Rayzor was one color and toy accurate, I realized what's up and I want both. They are both gorgeous. Keep 'em coming!!
It was nice to meet you at joefest! I didn’t know they made these, I think it’s a little pricey for me. Especially if they scratch up too easy. I’d be afraid to even touch them. I may get and maybe not.
@@dannycruz5446 but that's not what people were bitching about. They wanted it like the toys. Super7 said ok and it's clearly dumb. I knew it would be unnecessary. I rather have cartoon accurate characters than vac Metal, which never last long.
@@kaylemathewcomendador6964 Then it would've look too cartoonish. Somehow it works with 1/6 scale X-Men but the original release are good, as they look like what I remember in the show. Vac is just a gimmick
Why didn’t they just use very metallic paint on the regular cartoon releases? It didn’t have to be vac metal. Finding a middle ground would have been fine.
That seems to be the eternal question. I mean, Silverhawks isn't MOTU or Transformers or something where it has a huge fanbase demanding slavish cartoon accuracy. I really doubt many people would have been disappointed with shiny metallic paint.
@@Freefall347 The music intro of the cartoon is a lot of fun, but the cartoon itself is pretty bad. The old toys are what always came first. The whole situation is a big misfire.
I'm kind of sad those toy versions of Buzz-Saw and Mon*Star come with fewer accessories, but still cost the same as the initial releases. They've each got a new head sure, but it looks like they cut a lot of other stuff out just to put those in or to keep it more faithful to the vintage toys...but without adjusting the cost for getting less stuff over all
As much as I love the look of the vacuplated figures, they would either remain in the box or, honestly, i like the gray first release and will probably stay with that. Thanks for this review!
Trying to give collectors what they asked for, Super 7 spent a lot of money to produce something they warned everybody in advance that it couldn't work. Now these things are out, more expensive than usual because Super 7 had to apply a process that's new to them, and since they're super fragile nobody will buy them. So in order to please a dumb request from collectors they wasted a lot of money that will never come back. They never should have: it was clear since the beginning that couldn't be done; joints are based on flexibility and friction, paint over chrome is weak, it always was and it always will be, they should have ignored the clueless request.
Plenty of old toys had chrome and are still just fine today... and they weren't obscenely expensive. Just dont put chrome on articulating points. This entire line is a mess.
If I ever got these they would never come out of the box. I switch to being an in box collector awhile back. These are expensive figures and the quality issues that come up with many developers are insane, especially Mcfarlane.
It's semi-complicated because Brian DID warn everyone it wouldn't work out so great. So he was truthful and up front about that. They are pretty, no doubt, but at the cost and almost guaranteed risk of damage and scratches? It was a bad idea to make these. Shoulda stuck to their guns of "it doesn't work, trust us" and that been that. Cause now you're getting people that will be doubly unhappy.
When I finally bought the four Silverhawks figures (Quicksilver, Steelheart, Steelwill, and Blue Grass) they surprised everyone by releasing the vac-metal figures. I was so disappointed because I couldn't afford both. However, seeing this, I'm now extremely happy that I got the original versions. They might not be as pretty, but they are a lot more sturdy and fun to play with.
Great review. I thought that neck snapped at first and was like “oh no”. Then can already tell I’ll be afraid to handle these. I’m going to do my best to accept that there be flaking and scuffs.
As a kid I thought the shiny ones were awesome but now they just look cheap, the cartoon version is an upgrade we shouldn't go backwards...my cartoon version Steelheart had the same neck problem too.
I love the sculpts of their Silverhawks figures...but I had QC and engineering issues with 5 of the 6 figures I own. Loose as hell ankles on almost all of them, lack of ab crunch on many of them, self-destructing bicep on Steelwill...etc. They were a disappointment after collecting quite a few of their Thundercats figures which have been fantastic overall. I agree that the vac metal figures look amazing, but I couldn't imagine actually getting them after my lackluster experience with the regular figures. If I were a real Silverhawks nut, I could see myself getting these vac metal figures and keeping them sealed in their boxes. But, just being a casual, I just can't take that dive. Thanks for the great and honest review!
I didn't have very many Silverhawks either...or Thundercats. My Mon-Star and Buzz Saw became stand-ins for mutated forms or any other monster characters I wanted. They usually fought Superman.
I'm not sure why the original cartoon version release didn't have cell shaded style 3 tone highlights painted on to give them a better faux metallic look that was still TV accurate
This seems weird to me. The chrome should thicken the joints up, not make them lose. Unless they modified the joints to try and compensate for the chrome, and went a bit too far.
I remember the toys as a kid, and the cartoon feels more like a dream as I was REALLY young when it was out. So when S7 said they were making the line I was pretty excited....then they released. Wow what a disappointment with the flat colors. But their version of the villains were INSANE. Fast forward to today....these are everything I hoped they would be. And then some! I might have to start collecting a new line now!
I'm sure these are fine for folks who keep their figures in the package to display. But I open my toys and play with them. I loved my old Silverhawks figures as a kid, and I played with them constantly... and of course, they got completely scraped up and just trashed because of it. These look a-freaking-mazing, but clearly they fall into that dangerous collectible category of *not a toy*. I'm perfectly happy with my cartoon Silverhawks figures thanks!
If Pixel Dan has real complaints, you can trust him. If both Shartimus Prime and Pixel Dan have problems, it’s wise to be cautious with the Super 7 Silverhawks.
My non-chrome cartoon version of Steelheart had the same issue with the neck seam coming apart and the peg popping out. So that is an issue that existed with the original design/mold rather than the vac-metalization. Personally, I wish they had used shiny metallic paint/plastic on the first Silverhawks Ultimates releases, like Super7's own Mecha Godzilla, and like Hasbro's Walgreens exclusive Marvel Legends Silver Surfer.
Seems like you should use white museum gloves or neoprene gloves to handle these things and that's just for the fingerprint issue, nothing is going to help with chipping and flaking short of never removing them from the box.
Great video! I always thought there was a huge miscommunication between the fans and Super7. We didn't want vac metal, we wanted a silver Quicksilver. He was to grey! I love my animated hawks and will stick with them. Bring on the Copper Kid!
The VACs looks so good at a glance, but the moment you get to Steelheart they start falling apart. Do kinda want the green guy through as I never bought the original (got the other three originals).
As a transformers collector, I learned long ago that chroming parts that are constantly moving around is simply not going to work. In my branch of collecting, we had many such cases and, honestly, I am really glad TF toys moved past it (aside from the eyes, please, hasbro, leave lightpiping in the past and start chroming figures' eyes). Honestly, I think some sort of pearlescent plastic would work much better, especially in showing the colored hues of the metal. For the toys shown, that Buzzsaw looks really good, far better than the cartoon version. In character design, color separation is so important to avoid your character (or toy) look like an undefined blob and, on a sale perspective, you want your customers to be able to spot the character they want even among a sea of other toys.
yes..! and btw.. bring back all vintage figures.. make it like remake one.. for we that once little kids back then who doesnt has money or parents can buy us one.. now we has all the money to buy everything we want but its not in the market anymore..
