Powerglide gets an upgrade for Universe, from a tiny jet to a BIG one (at least in terms of toy size). In vehicle mode, Powerglide looks great, for the most part. The vehicle mode proportions are generally spot-on, and there's surprisingly little robot kibble on the underside. The arms are a little obvious on the underside of the main wings, though they're compressed and twisted in a manner to make them somewhat inconspicuous. Those are really his only robot extras of note-- a real accomplishment on a jet 'former. His landing gear can pose a bit of a problem, however-- they're oddly off-center on the wings, and the landing gear that folds down from under his cockpit gets in the way of his machine gun/missile launcher pegged in that same area in this mode, making it look even more oddly off-center than it already is. Powerglide is covered in mold detailing, another big bonus-- plates and "rivets" you can find molded in everywhere. His paint detailing is adequate with the red contrasting with the off-white fairly well, but I wouldn't call it any better than that-- some areas, such as the middle of this mode and the inside of the rear wings, could still really use some paint. The gunmetal gray bits on the outside of the turbines and the cockpit are nice touches color-wise (though I'm not sure why the INSIDE of the turbines weren't painted the same color), and he's got several military-esque decals on him. The transparent orange cockpit looks nice, with some seat detailing inside, and the transparent orange is also a nice color to be used for the rear part of the turbines, as well. In fact, that's Powerglide's main feature-- if you press down on the light red button in the middle of his vehicle mode, you'll hear alternating "turning turbines on" and "swooping" noises, with the cockpit and turbines blinking on and off a couple of times. One last noise that's played through an alternating loop when you press that button is a machine-gun sound, though this one plays (with the blinking cockpit & turbines) as long as you hold the button down, as opposed to just once like the others.
    Powerglide's robot mode is fair, but it's not nearly as good as his vehicle mode. I appreciate that Powerglide's wings clip to the sides of his body-- not only is it a good G1 homage, but it cuts down on kibble-- however, including this and the electronics makes his upper body really bulky proportionally, especially compared to his rather slim waist and short arms. (During transformation, a classic "transforming sound" effect is emanated as you bring his waist forward, though it can activate more than once easily-- also, due to the placement of the button on vehicle mode, it is pretty easy to activate Powerglide's sound effects during transformation and, to a lesser extend, in robot mode, due to how a panel fits up almost against that button.) His head also sticks up rather awkwardly from in between his engines in this mode, and he has a few blantant vehicle mode extras-- namely, the tail wings hanging off his upper back and the cockpit segment hanging down behind his waist. They don't interfere with movement much, however-- Powerglide's got some pretty awesome articulation. He can move at the neck (at two points), shoulders (at two points), elbows (at two points), waist, hips (at three points), knees, and ankles. I just wish due to his proportions he was a bit more pose-worthy-- darn those stubby arms! His wings also don't peg to the sides of his body all that well, so they can come undone rather easily when you're moving Powerglide's arms around. I'm also not fond of the milky greay parts that are more visible in this mode-- they really don't contrast well at all against Powerglide's already fairly bland off-white scheme. On the plus side, Powerglide's mold detailing remains excellent in this mode, and his headsculpt is done absolutely perfectly-- lots of paint detailing and mold detailing and perfect proportions. His legs are also done quite well, no complaints there. And there's one detail that's a really nice, obscure nod-- open up the Autobot panel in the middle of his chest and you'll see a molded-in heart symbol-- a reference to the G1 episode "The Girl Who Loved Powerglide"!
    Overall, Powerglide has a great vehicle mode-- one of the best of its kind-- but his robot mode suffers a bit proportionally from it-- more specifically, the overly bulky body and short arms. The wings not pegging into the sides and the easy-to-activate electronics don't win him any bonus points, either. However, he is the only mass-release Universe Ultra to have a transformation that seems complicated enough to justify the large size class, so take that as you will. If you're not a big one for innovative transformations over good proportions in both modes, though, this one is a pass. And if you only want one version of this mold, I'd go for the better-colored Storm Cloud repaint instead.

Review by Beastbot

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