Air Raid: Fall of Cybertron Transformer Toy Review

Even though I already have the Shockwave figure from the Fall of Cybertron line of Transformers, I was interested in getting the recolor of the mold, Air Raid.  Why?  Well, after looking at his weapons, I figured it was worth it to double dip on the mold.

Don't cross him, seriously.

I really dig Air Raid's bot mode.  He has a nice dark red and black color scheme, with some dark gold accents.  His chest is different than Shockwave's, and I actually like it better.  His head looks cool too, but if I had to pick, I think the signature purple cyclops is a better head.  There is some light piping, but it's not very good so don't expect to have glowing eyes on Air Raid very often.  He doesn't have much kibble, and the wings don't really get in the way.  His legs are a big skinny, but does stand well on his own.

Air Raid's head can turn around, and the shoulders have swivel and hinge joints.  The elbows have hinge and ball joints, giving the arms great posability overall.  The only weakness there is the wrists, as they cannot turn.  With the arms so posable, you probably won't notice though.  There is no waist movement, but he has ball jointed hips.  His knees are hinged, as are his ankles.  The feet don't swing very far, so he can't really stand in the myriad of poses he is capable of, unfortunately.  It's that way because of his alt form, so let's move on to the actual alt form.

It's a floating...cannon?

To me, this is the weakest part of the figure.  As a recolor of Shockwave (from the same line of toys, but an earlier wave), his alt mode is very slightly retooled.  My main problem with the Shockwave alt mode was the wings were too small, but it was farily accurate to the in-game model, so I could let it slide.  This time, Air Raid's alt mode is advertised as being ""Cybertronian Mobile Artillery".  It does look more like a floating cannon than a jet.  The only part I actually like better is there is a small peg on the top to store his sword, but you can also turn him upside down and have a figure hold him as a cannon.  His alt mode is ok, but I think he looks far better and is far more fun to play with in his robot mode.  It's a plus that his weapons store so easily on it, and he's not very hard to transform.

To me, this is the best part of the figure.  I'm a sucker for blades, and I really like the sword that Air Raid has.  It has a lot of translucent red plastic that looks nice, with a painted silver edge.  The sword is split in the middle and these two halves can fold back.  This makes it nice and compact for storage on the alt mode, but could also be attached onto another figure's arm to make a sort of claw.  You could also not fold it back all the way and it looks kinda like a crossbow to me.  A surprisingly cool and versatile weapon.

Of course, that's not his only weapon.  Air Raid also comes with an arm gun/blade contraption.  It can be held like a gun or attached to his arm.  When held, it looks pretty cool, but the blade just hangs back and doesn't plug in or anything.  It's slightly less awkward when attached to his arm, but not by much.  When the blade is extended, it is pretty long and looks vicious.  You could have him hold it with the blade out, but I think it looks much better on his arm.  The part with the gun/blade is removable, leaving him with a double barreled weapon.  If you've seen Shockwave's gun without the signature part on the end, it's very similar, just with 2 barrels instead of 3.  I really like the look of it, but it's not too steady on my figure.  it's just the way this one's hands are produced.  The arm gun attaches super tight when put on my Shockwave figure, so it's not a fault of the mold, just that particular figure.

But does it make Julian fries?

Just like a light nigh infomercial, "wait, there's more!"  You can take the gun/blade part off (or even leave that part attached to the double-barreled arm gun), extend the blade and attach it do the sword.  Just split the sword blade a bit and you make a big and crazy sword.  It's not very practical (assuming plastic toys fight), but it's neat.  A very anime style giant weapon that looks cool but unwieldy.  You could also conceivably mount the gun/blade to a peg and give someone a bayonet or a sweet looking arm blade.

If you liked the Shockwave mold, Air Raid is just a slight retool of that.  If you aren't in love with the weapons, there isn't much reason to get him if you already have Shockwave.  If you don't have the purple cyclops and aren't particularly attached to the character, I'd recommend getting Air Raid.  The robot is solid and the weapons are lots of fun to play with.  Just like Fall of Cybertron Starscream, I had to order him on Amazon since I still haven't seen one in stores.  He was in stock almost constantly, so he shouldn't be too hard to find.  That should also mean he won't be price gouged, so you can find him at cost (maybe plus shipping).

Starscream: Fall of Cybertron Transformer Toy Review

When I first saw Starscream in the Transformers: War for Cybertron video game a few years ago, I loved the design.  I'm not a fan of the character of Starscream, but loved the way this incarnation looked and wanted to get a toy of him.  They only had four molds in the toy line for the game (one was a recolor), which is almost insulting considering how good the character designs were.  Thankfully, they had more toys for the Fall of Cybertron line, and Starscream is one of them.

Holding it and underslung

As I've said probably four times by now, I really like this look for Starscream.  I'm not too crazy about his face (in both the game and the toy), but the head is excellent.  He's pretty game-accurate, and is sturdy, too. He holds together really well and can stand without much effort.  His head can turn, the elbows bend and the hands rotate.  His shoulders and hips both rotate and swivel.  The knees bend and his ankles tilt.  He's not perfect though.  There is a gap between his chest and back, but it's pretty hidden.  Also the top of the jet is his back, so the tail is pretty obvious if viewed from behind.  It's not really a problem for me, but I know there are people that aren't going to like that.

Starscream's alt mode (the Cybertronian jet) looks faithful to the game.  Well, it's close to what I remember it looking like in the game at least.  He's a little thick for a plane, but that's what I remember him looking like in the game, so it's fine.  He still looks fairly streamlined.  The wings, while small, fit with the compact design of the Cybertronian jet.  There are peg holes on the wings and the legs (near the wing holes), so there are a few places to attach his guns, or other weapons from other figures.  It's also a sturdy transformation, so he holds together really well.

Now for the weapon.  Conceptually, Starscream's weapon is the Neutron Assault Rifle from the game.  Basically, there are two guns, each with a rotatable triple barreled gun.  Each also has two different pegs, so they can be attached in multiple ways.  They can be held, underslung or attached as arm guns.  They can also be put together to make a gun that looks more like the one from the game.  Since there are gears around the barrels, spinning one will spin the other in the opposite direction.  It's a small touch, but really adds that little bit extra cool.  Even though two posts are close, the gun can be held in one hand when combined.  I'm a fan of versatile weapons, so I'm a fan of this one.  It's really easy to use it with other Transformer figures, which makes it even better.

Overall, it's a great figure.  The only problem is it's availability.  I managed to snag one off of Amazon for cost, since I couldn't find one in stores.  If you like the design of Fall of Cybertron Starscream, this figure should be on your shelf.  It's pretty faithful to both modes from the game, he has nice articulation, and the weapon is lots of fun.

TF Prime Toys: Vehicon Impressions

I finally opened my Transformers Prime Vehicon toy, since it was my birthday recently.  Yeah, I'm old and yeah, I'm a kid.  Hahaha.  I haven't really come up with a structure for toy reviews, so I'm kinda making up categories for right now.  Anyway, here are a few impressions of the figure.

Look
I don't know what's NOT to like about the look.  In car mode, it looks angular, menacing and sleek.  It might be a bit small, but it works with a scout/troop type robot.  The robot form is sleek as well, and doesn't have a lot of kibble.  It looks like the show, and I think it looks a bit better than that.  His proportions are also really good.  No ape arms, tiny head of scrawny legs.

Articulation
Vehicon has great inward arm articulation, and the shoulders are very posable.  The hips are pretty good, as they are the standard ball joint.  The knees bend some, but not fully back.  The feet are stable, but not really able to be put in different positions.  The wrists only go up and down, but they get the job done when combining with the arm articulation.  The outward arm movements are bad, and there is no waist articulation.  The head moves a bit, but not too much.  All in all, it's ok, I would like a bit better.

Transformation
Wow.  I really like transforming the Vehicon.  The whole top of the car folds up and becomes the bottom of the legs, storing them away.  It's not the prettiest, but it looks fine from the front, and more importantly, NO KIBBLE!  The front of the sides of the car are just sitting there, so there is a bit of kibble on the legs.  Compared to most car-formers, it is amazingly small.  The back panel of the car pulls out and brings the head with it, then folds to the back.  You don't even see it from the front, and on the back it looks fine.  To me, it is amazing how little kibble the Vehicon has in bot mode.  Whoever designed this should get a raise.  I'm serious, it's that good.

Weapons
The gun that it comes with isn't that great, but it gets points for being able to attach to several places on the figure.  It can hold the handle of the gun or be mounded to its arm, as if the hand transformed into it.  You can plug the handle into the shoulder, or attach is to the kibble near the leg as if it were holstered.  In car (alt) form, it can be plugged into the back of the side, or attached onto the side of the hood.  It might not look pretty, but great versatility with the Vehicon, and that matters more to me in this instance.

So was it worth the money I paid for it?  In short, yes.  I had to pay a bit more than retail ($20 from a fellow fan), but that is to be expected.  Hopefully the "revision" case that a future wave has with 2 Vehicons is real so more people can get this.  It is rare and unfortunately scalpable, but it is a great figure.