Saturday, September 12, 2015

Toy Review: Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Air Raid


Review:  #267
Name:  Air Raid
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Autobot
Line:  Generations - Combiner Wars
Year of Release:  2015
Size Class:  Deluxe (Wave 2)
Mold Status:  major retool of Skydive

COMIC:


Air Raid comes with Robots in Disguise #15 (or Combiner Wars #7).  Devatator is on a killing spree against the Autobots, taking over Cybertron for the Decepticons.  The other traitor, Arcee, shows her true colors.  If you were wondering why Arcee would help the Decepticons, it is revealed here.  The only confusing part was the ending where Devastator goes out of control.  A lot of thought-bubbles for Devastator but it doesn't make much sense for someone who's only read the comics packed into the Generations figures.  As noted in other Wave 2 figure, the pack-in comic includes a more detailed bio on the last page, as well as some design phase sketches and gray model shots.

VEHICLE MODE:


Air Raid transforms into a black jet with wings that are swept back.  The wings and tailfins have a nice orange, red and silver lining detail to them.


While he looks good from the top, it still has the robot tacked onto the bottom.  Furthermore, the back is just way too blocky to look good, it has to be this way to accommodate the combiner gimmick.


In terms of size, Air Raid is a Deluxe figure and is as big as you would expect.  Being a jet with wings, he manages to look bigger than he actually is in hand.



Air Raid is also a massive retool from Skydive, to the point where you cannot recognize it in jet mode... because all the jet mode's parts are brand new.



You have two weapons here, both of which can either sit underneath a wing each or one of them can peg on top of the fuselage.


The best looking Aerialbot in jet mode, in terms of the design of the jet and also the colors used.

TRANSFORMATION:

Air Raid transforms like the rest of the Aerialbots in that you unfold the back of the jet to form the legs, pull back the cockpit and unpeg the arms from the sides.  Uninspiring by this point but it gives the Aerialbots symmetry in how they transform.

ROBOT MODE:


Air Raid's robot mode looks great, and the main color now is white (that's because 100% of the jet sits on his back, hence there's barely any black left around).


You can old the wings up however you want, such as leaving them down to give him a wider silhouette.  The instructions officially has them folded up behind his back.


The head sculpt, as is the norm with this line, is fantastic.


Here he is with Drag Strip once again, he's your average Deluxe height.


And now with Skydive, you can see where the parts are reused.  It's only limited to his legs, the middle of his arms, the combiner piece and the weapons.


Poseability is fantastic here, although the shape of his knees and the slim hips can make some poses look awkward.


He has some sparse paint details to break up the white, more paint for his legs would have been nice.


His first weapon is a double barreled gun.


He can hold it in either hand.  The sculpting of the figure looks great, especially the chest detailing.


His large feet allows Air Raid to be stable in mode poses.  The arms and legs are quite hollow though, making the figure somewhat light.


The other weapon is the combiner piece with with sculpting to make it look like a missile launcher.


It is a bit large and awkward to hold as a handheld weapon.


A great robot mode and superior to Skydive.

OVERALL:

Air Raid is a fantastic figure, he is effectively a new figure with shared engineering, rather than your traditional retool.  The jet mode looks wicked and the robot mode not too shabby itself.  Air Raid is a figure worth purchasing.

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For reviews of the other Aerialbots, check out this page.

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Yes, as we all know, Air Raid can combine to form the mighty Superion, who will be in his own review soon.  In the meantime, check out the below with Air Raid's remaining two modes.


Air Raid normally turns into a leg for Superion.  This is basically the jet mode stood up, with the nose folded down to form a kneecap.


Arm mode is more like the robot mode.  A neat thing is that the arms do fold and peg somewhere, which makes it look less messy than Firefly.


Now combined into Superion, he looks absolutely amazing, although the hands are a bit too large and the feet a bit too small, proportionally speaking.


He is poseable in this mode as well, although the heaviness of the figure means that a lot of dynamic poses are not possible.


That's it for now, stay tuned for further reviews, many thanks for looking!

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