STRENGTH             RANK
8.0                   7.5
INTELLIGENCE      COURAGE
9.5                   8.2
SPEED           FIREPOWER
8.9                   7.7
ENDURANCE           SKILL
8.3                   8.0

Color Scheme:

What the slag were they thinking?!? I mean, sheesh! Even if they don't go with the colors from the show, what in the pit made them choose bright orange and yellow?!? But I digress. Yes, he's a wild concoction of red, orange, yellow, and blue, with some silver accents and a little purple on his chest. It really is horribly ugly... I can't explain why I like it. :\ But still... he would be MUCH cooler with the color scheme from the show.

Robot Mode:

Interestingly enough, he was packaged in robot mode. Contrary to what Hasbro said at BotCon 2000 (something about trying to make him sell better?), I think they packaged him in 'bot mode because they KNEW his beast mode sucked and that kids wouldn't want him otherwise. Again, I digress. Apart from the condor head sticking out of his gut, his robot mode is pretty good, and somewhat similar to the show. At the very least, his head is just like the show, right down to the pony tail thing. He also has the cool feathers sticking out of his back/shoulders, although they get in the way of putt his wings on upside-down, which would be cool in robot mode. Without his wings on (which are used as a weapon), he's fairly well proportioned, though his hands could stand to be a little smaller.

Beast Mode:

Someone on the design team was smoking something. It's obvious that the robot mode had priority for this guy. He's only barely bird-like, and that's because he has these huge wings that attach to his back. Take them off, and he looks like some kind of freak. What's really messed up is that his "arms" don't even connect to his wings. They just stick out to the sides, as if to be part of the wings... but not really. It's fairly lame. He can't even bend over so that his wings are flat as if to fly. He can only stand upright, stretching his arms out to the side, with his wings behind them.

Transformation:

Vaguely reminiscent of Optimus Minor. With a little flipping and turning, his arms and legs switch purposes, and one head is replaced by another. In either mode, he's got a head for a butt or a gut. The trickiest part is getting his "arms" in beast mode to look as if they have anything to do with his actual wings, even though they don't.

Gimmicks:

His wings come off and have a handle so that he can hold them. They can come together like scissors, and open up quickly when you press the release button.

Pros/Cons:

Good robot mode, but the wrong colors, and the beast mode really reeks. It would also be much cooler if his wings could be placed on his back inverted, but his shoulder feathers prevent that. Unless you're trying to be a completist, or Silverbolt is your FAVE who you can't live without no matter how sucky the toys is, you might consider leaving this one on the peg. I hear Night Viper is cool, though. ;-)

Fan Mode:

A Griffin! Well... sort of. Even if it's not a perfect Griffin, it's a whole lot better than the lame condor mode Hasbro gave him. This fan -mode redeems this toy for me, and I like him a LOT better now, knowing that I can put him in this mode when feeling the urge to transform him out of robot mode.