Silicon had the potential of being one of the coolest
Super Powers figures of all. When I first looked at this
concept art, I was puzzled at why Kenner would choose
such a bland paint deco for this character. then it dawned
on me: he was going to be cast in translucent plastic!
With a very colorful mechanism showing through! To further
drive that point home, included in the presentation were
the two "works like" photos down below of a
clear Darkseid with painted face and colored innards.Plus,
look at his cool boot soles! Although not indicated on
the concept art, the final figure appears to sport some
sort of power rings on his hands. Maybe he was to be a
Green Lantern sidekick? I've included my colorized version
showing how this unique figure might have looked.
The big question here is: why Silicon? This is a Kenner
created character, much like Golden Pharaoh and Cyclotron
in wave three. With so many unused characters from the
DC universe, why go to another figure that no one knows?
Granted, the idea of a clear transistor robot guy is pretty
neat. And it's been pointed out that he almost looks like
a cross between the
Phantom and the robot
Manhunters. In any case, Silicon got farther
than any figure except maybe Man-Bat. Recently found in
addition to the hard copy is a tooled prototype with the
joint prepared for manufacture (shown below in pieces).
Photos of the Silicon hard copy and prototypes are courtesy
of the fine folks at The
Earth Toy Mall.
