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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To a T (PC)

To a T is a weird game, from the creator of the Katamari series. Whereas the Katamari series at least still has a concept that sounds interesting and understandable on why it can be addictive, T a T… doesn’t really. It has a unique premise that sounds like it could work, you play as a character who’s stuck in a T-pose (the default pose of character models in games and computer animation), and you see how this affects their life.

The game starts off by giving you the ability to customize the appearance of the character somewhat, plus name them whatever you like. The default name is Teen, and he’s a 13 year old boy living in Japan. The game is basically a slice of life story, as Teen goes to high school. Soon after the story starts, you’ll realize that Teen’s T-pose issue was always there since birth, although there is some cryptic dialogue from his mother that suggests that there may be more to it.

However, the game is slow paced, and is designed to be relaxing and chilled, with little tension, if any. All the gameplay are mundane things to do, such as getting Teen to school, using the right stick and the shoulder buttons to manipulate his arms so that he can eat or do other things. It’s amusing to see how he copes with doing normal things with his arms stuck in a T-pose, and it can be clever every so often, but since it’s mostly the same, it can get mundane and bland.

The controls are very easy, giving that you just use the analogue stick to move, a button to run, and the rest of the buttons as prompts which perform different things depending on the context. It’s a semi-open world, as Teen can explore his neighborhood. Everyone speaks gibberish, but you are expected to read the text dialogue to understand what they are saying. There are some weird things in Teen’s world that are just accepted, such as him permanently stuck in a T-pose, and the giraffe that makes food that just seems to be everywhere.

Teen has a dog, named Dog, who follows and guides Teen around. Dog acts as the objective marker, since it’ll lead you to where you need to go next. The game has fixed camera angles, and usually side on so that Teen runs from left to right. However, these angles will shift, which makes exploring confusing since you can’t see what’s coming up ahead, or lose your orientation due to the camera shifts. There are some minigames scattered around, but aside from the main story, there aren’t many side activities. You get to explore the town and collect currency, but there’s not much incentive to do so.

The story starts off focusing on Teen not appearing keen to go to school. There are no surprises why, given his condition, there are bullies. It will eventually move on and resolve that issue, given it’s a coming-of-age story. Unfortunately, that story is bland and down to earth, except for the random strange things that are accepted as normal in this world. It picks up in the final third of the game, where the story really takes a turn for the strange, yet somehow still makes sense. That’s not to say that the plot twist was not predictable, but it has a heartwarming finale.

There’s plenty of casual fourth wall breaking, even though the characters act clueless about it. The story is split up into episodes, complete with an “opening” and “closing” theme. There’s eight episodes, which are around half an hour to an hour each, depending on how much you want to get sidetracked. So, the game itself takes four to five hours to finish. After the story, you can reload your save and explore the town but nothing new unlocks.

Overall, To a T is an interesting and experimental game, although it lacks a gameplay hook. The story itself is good, given it’s more of a chilled and relaxing slice of life game as it slowly explores Teen’s life and background, giving a reasonable explanation for his permanent T-pose. The ending is interesting but given the slow pacing and mundane content, it is hard to say whether the payoff is worth it. A lot of the game feel boring given all you do is run around and read dialogue.

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

Review:  #903

Name:  Skydive

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 Air Raid

JET MODE:

Skydive transforms into a jet, with his defining feature being the patterns on his wings.

It's a decent enough jet mode, but it's looks simple and it is simple.

He is okay size for a Deluxe figure.

Skydive is a retool of Air Raid, and the main difference is in the tailfins.  It's a bit disappointing that Skydive is a retool but it is also understandable (and the Aerialbots never really had that much unique character anyway).

The biggest negative is the undercarriage kibble.  Skydive is thick, which is disappointing, and it's because the whole robot is shoved underneath.

A decent jet mode, just a shame about the undercarriage kibble.

TRANSFORMATION:

Skydive has a simple transformation, and that makes him boring, adding to the generic feeling of the figure.  The cockpit folds back.  The legs unfold from the back, fold out the arms and then the head, and you're done.  Effectively the whole robot was the undercarriage kibble from jet mode.

ROBOT MODE:

Skydive's robot mode is accurate to his onscreen appearance, and there's now an added splash of red to help break up the black and grey.

For such a simple Transformer, he carries a decent amount of kibble.  Not only the cockpit on his back, but the tail fins behind his legs are giant blocks sticking out too.

The head sculpt is okay, the face has surprisingly organic curves to it.

He is approximately normal height for a Deluxe.

Again, the retool in robot mode is minimal, mainly regulated to a new head.  Well, it's better than a straight repaint.

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

He comes with a pair of guns.

The guns aren't too big, in fact, they may be a little bit thin to look good.

The guns can peg onto the wings on his back, the same place as in jet mode.

As mentioned earlier, he has a lot of kibble, which makes him feel lazier, in that the designer could have done a few additional things to make him cleaner.

In particular, those large blocky legs can feel awkward to pose.  It's also annoying that the rear tailfin is only attached via a 5mm post.

While this is an inoffensive robot, it's also quite generic and bland.

OVERALL:

Like the rest of the Aerialbots, Skydive is only one to get if you wanted Superion.  He's not a horrible figure, but just lacks any sort of cleverness or ingenuity in his design.  It's a symptom of the G1 character, but when translated into toy form, he just feels so generic and bland.

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