Toy Review: Transformers Generations Studio Series Ironhide (Bumblebee) (Deluxe)

Review:  #906

Name:  Ironhide

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Autobot

Line:  Generations - Studio Series

Year of Release:  2022

Size Class:  Deluxe (Wave 16)

Mold Status:  retool of Studio Series Ratchet

VEHICLE MODE:

While the figure is based upon the Ironhide that appeared in the Bumblebee movie, he never transformed onscreen, and so for the toy, this mode is made up.

It's not a bad vehicle at all, and the rear of the vehicle doesn't leave any unsightly gaps or exposed robot parts, which is great.

The biggest negative though is the small size.  He's small and compact for a Deluxe.

Ironhide is a retool of Ratchet, but there are no new parts in vehicle mode, just a different color scheme.

The robot weapon can peg on top of the vehicle.

The front section is transparent blue plastic, so a lot of red paint was needed to cover up the parts that are not windows.

A decent, if small, vehicle mode.

TRANSFORMATION:

Ironhide has an interesting transformation and one that's complex, but let down by the small size so it can be a little bit fiddly.  The easiest are the legs which just unfold.  The hardest (and thus the most interesting) is how the the arms the panels at the back kind of fold backwards / inside out around the torso.

ROBOT MODE:

Ironhide's robot mode is great, he has a buff bulky look to him.

Impressively, Ironhide has no kibble.  Thanks to the transformation scheme, the panels fold up around the torso nicely and neatly.

The head sculpt is good, although like with most movie toys, the face can be slightly overly complicated with too many details.

He's around normal Deluxe height in robot mode.

The only retool compared to Ratchet is the head.

He comes with a cardboard stand depicting Cybertron.

Articulation is great, he has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, knees and ankles.

He comes with a black gun.

The gun itself is actually quite large and long, a bit too large for him.

The gun can peg on his back for storage.

The robot has a really good design, although you can see the weirder plastic color clashes where they must have been on different sprues, such as his red hips but grey thighs.

The other thing is that while the Deluxe class usually has a lot of balljoints, Ironhide actually has hinges and swivels.

A great robot mode.

OVERALL:

Ironhide is a good solid figure.  If you don't want to get both Ratchet and Ironhide, then whichever one you like the color scheme more of is worth getting.  It's a nicely engineered figure, where the only negative really is his smaller stature.

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Toy Review: Transformers Age of the Primes Superion

Review:  #905

Name:  Superion

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Autobot

Line:  Age of the Primes

Year of Release:  N/A

Size Class:  N/A

Mold Status:  new

AERIALBOTS:

And here we have it, the complete set of updated Aerialbots using the new "frame" system, which has Silverbolt lugging extra kibble as an extension to his jet mode.

The Aerialbots are comprised of Skydive, Fireflight, Slingshot and Air Raid, led by Silverbolt.

The individual Aerialbots are... okay.  They're quite generic as individual robots, none of them feature any interesting or surprising engineering marvels.

However, coming together as a set, they do look coherent as a team and it makes collecting them worthwhile.

Despite the flaws of each bot, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

TRANSFORMATION:

Unlike previous attempts, the torso of Superion (being Silverbolt), needs to partsform.  Silverbolt himself still folds up to form the torso core, but the extra combiner kibble becomes the chest plate, and the skeletal arms and legs.  Fireflight and Slingshot snap onto the arms and separate into two.  While Skydive and Air Raid are in jet mode as well with the wings and cockpit folded up to be plugged into the back of the legs.  It's a transformation where all the heavy lifting is done by Silverbolt.

COMBINED MODE:

And the combined form of Superion looks surprisingly good, despite the skeletal frame system where the rest of the members look somewhat slapped onto the limbs rather than an integral form of them.

There is quite a bit of kibble here and there, including Superion's cockpit, and both Skydive and Air Raid just stick out the back of the legs.

The head sculpt is quite nice, especially with the silver faceplate.

As expected from a Commander toy combined with four Deluxes, Superion is quite big.  He towers over your Voyagers.

A comparison against Legacy Menasor.  While they use a similar system and there are some bits and pieces that are interchangeable, on the whole, they're not "Scramble City" style and you cannot just mix and match different limbs.

He has really good articulation for such a big figure, such as joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees and ankles.

It helps that the skeletal frame provides the stability to allow those joints to be used properly.

However, the negative of that system is that Skydive and Air Raid barely contributes to the legs.  They just plug to the back, and two springloaded panels closes together, completely obscuring them.  They feel pretty pointless as a result.

They stick out a fair way from the back too, so can get slightly awkward when trying to move his legs.

Superion comes with a long black gun, that is plugged onto his forearm for stability rather than directly held in his fists.

Interestingly, you are able to swap the arms around or the legs around, but you can't make an arm to a leg and vice versa.

It's not surprising being formed from five figures that Superion is hefty, but he is surprisingly well put together, pieces won't easily come off.

That means Superion is able to pull off dynamic poses more easily, and those ankle tilts are super helpful in keeping him stable.

A wonderful combined mode that ends up justifying the individual Aerialbots' blandness.

OVERALL:

Superion is a solid combiner.  He looks really good in combined form, and has a sense of presence and elegance to him.  He's not as generic in combined mode, and while the execution of the legs sacrifices the visual (and physical) contributions of two members of the Aerialbots, we gain extra stability so it kind of nets off.  Superion does make collecting all of the Aerialbots worth it.

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Toy Review: Transformers Age of the Primes Slingshot (Deluxe)

Review:  #904

Name:  Fireflight

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Autobot

Line:  Age of the Primes

Year of Release:  2025

Size Class:  Deluxe (Wave 3)

Mold Status:  retool of Age of the Primes Slingshot

JET MODE:

Fireflight is based upon his G1 appearance and transforms into a predominantly red jet.

It's not a bad looking jet, and the red looks quite vivid in person, bringing some color and pop, helping him stand out.

He is an okay size for a Deluxe.

Fireflight is a minor retool of Slingshot (the wings are situated lower against the fuselage), and the contrast in color schemes helps to differentiate them, but this also means that Fireflight is not that exciting.

Due to the design of the jet, it is quite chunky, but it also means that he does not have much undercarriage kibble, which is a worthwhile tradeoff.

A decent looking jet mode.

TRANSFORMATION:

Unfortunately, Fireflight transforms pretty much like the rest of the Deluxe Aerialbots, so it's quite boring and generic.  The simple transformation has the back extend to form the legs, while the arms unfold from either side of the cockpit.  The cockpit then folds onto his back.

ROBOT MODE:

In robot mode, Fireflight can also be a little bit generic, but the extra white that comes out, which is contrasted nicely by the splashes of red makes him more visually interesting than some of the other Aerialbots.

Unfortunately, as a by-product of the simple transformation (and probably budget issues), Fireflight has a horrendous amount of kibble.  The cockpit on his back may be forgiven, but all the wings and tailfins sicking out the back of his legs are terrible.

The head sculpt is okay, it's squared off look reminds you of the original G1 toys.

His height in robot mode is fine, although proportionally, his arms are a bit skinny.

A shot against Slingshot shows that the biggest change in robot mode is the different head.

Articulation is fine, he has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, knees and ankles.

He comes with a pair of double barrelled blasters.

Fireflight can either hold the guns in his hands.

Or they can plug onto the outside of his forearms, which does look slightly better and more integrated.

Those guns can peg onto the wings outside his legs (the same place as in jet mode), but you're just adding to the amount of kibble at that point.

And speaking of the kibble, his heels stick so far out the back, and the wings are so big, that it makes the legs too chunky and unwieldy.  It's awkward posing them.

Too much bulk is in his legs, if only some of that could have been transferred to his arms, which feels flat in comparison.

It's not a horrible robot mode, but is a tad generic and bland.

OVERALL:

Like the rest of the Aerialbots, you have no choice but to get him if you wanted Superion.  He's better than Slingshot due to his more visually interesting color scheme (but that is a subjective thing).  Otherwise, this is an average figure, it's doesn't do anything amazing, and the kibble in robot mode really hurts.

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