Generations Air Raid



With Wave 2 finally arriving, everyone's getting super excited about Menasor, but another awesome part of the wave is that the Aerialbots are finally complete! So here's Air Raid, the poor Aerialbot seperated from his team mates in Wave 1.



In replacement of the collector cards, Wave 2 comes with a pack-in RID comics, in Air Raid's case is #15. More interestingly, the back of the comic has an all new biography, a psychology report written by Rung himself! Very cool MTMTE reference. Its notable that the Stunticons also come with similar biographies, albeit written by Soundwave instead of Rung.



Air Raid is a Motormaster/Sandstorm level retool of Skydive, with his legs being the only unchanged parts. Due to the unique way his wings transform in robot mode, he doesn't come off as a simple rehash of Skydive, which is greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, he does come with the same weapon and hand/foot/gun as Sky Dive did, which makes him feel a little less new then his team mates. While aesthetically Air Raid is far more pleasing then Sky Dive, he is a bit of a black sheep in the wave, being a retool in a wave surrounded by new molds, plus being the third jet we've gotten. I think Takara are doing the right thing by making sure you get all five at once!



The Aerialbots all look pretty great together. Whilst I am buying the Takara version, I think I'll be keeping the Hasbros displayed in Robot Mode. I really love the look of the whole group and I actually think Alpha Bravo's my favourite of the team.



Once you've done one Deluxe Aerialbot Jet transformation, you've done them all. The body folds up beneath the jet kibble, unfold the wings and done! Just like Skydive, Air Raid features no landing gears of any kind, and instead simply stands on his rather large undercarriage.



From the top, the black jet looks great, definitely one of the better looking Aerialbots, however the undercarriage is pretty massive an obnoxious. Its ultimately an unfortunate by-product of Hasbro trying to be as accurate to G1 as possible, but I do wish that a little bit more effort was done in streamlining the jets, especially considering how excellent Alpha Bravo and the Stunticons' vehicle modes are in comparison.



Leg mode is identical to his partners, for leg-mode, start him in Jetmode, plug in the foot, flip out the connector joint and stand him up!



Arm mode is similarly simple and same-ish. From Robot mode, turn the head around, flip up the connector joint, connect the legs, plug in the hand and fold away the arms. I really do appreciate the simplicity in the way the Combiner War figures all transform. It really emphasizes the Scramble City aspect of the figures. Completely swapping around Superion takes no more then five minutes and I think that's a really great thing. Outside of the rather visible arms, the limb modes are also pretty darn great looking. The Aerialbots definitely out-do the Stunticons in the combined department, in my opinion.



So finally we have Superion completed! Its so good not to have a random yellow car sitting somewhere on him and he just looks great. Superion is a fantastic combiner that I couldn't be happier with. He looks imposing, his pose-ability is stellar and his proportions aren't completely out of whack like his rival.



I definitely recommend to everyone that you pick up a full set of Aerialbots, wether it be the Hasbro or the Takara. Superion is leaps and bounds ahead of Bruticus and the entire line is just fun to collect, display and, maybe most importantly of all, play with. I've spent hours messing around with the Wave 1 figures and now Superion and Menasor are complete, I plan to spend even more messing around. These figures are awesome for both display and play, which is what Transformers is all about!



Ultra Prime also appreciates not having to be stuck with a Decepticon.

Thanks for reading!

 

I want Air Raid (and Slingshot)! Those colors on the jet are magnificent and bio is awesome.

 

Radical! Amazing review as always, but I have some questions if you don't mind.

So do all wave 2 packaging(s) have this long extended Bio on the back?
Is that the US version or another?
Also do you mean RID#15? From like 2 years ago?
Can you list whay comics the Stunticons come with?

 

Pre-ordered this guy today. And while I am excited for him... I dunno, can't help but feel he might be my least favorite. I don't really like the wings and I don't really like the blacklimb for some reason...*shrugs*

Also a wee bit disappointed that we won't be getting the cards anymore...I kinda liked the artwork on them and the sort of teeny bit of nostalgia I got from the ol' Armada days.

 

Nice! I just ordered air raid, can't wait to complete superion. Nice username btw

 

The bios are on the back of the comic, rather then the packaging and yep, they all have them. Stunticon ones are written by Soundwave over Rung. These are from Hong Kong, but I doubt there'll be any differences with the US versions. The last page of the comics also have the design sketches and prototypes that the Transformers facebook page posted a few months ago.

And yeah, Wave 2 has RID #13-#16 from a year or two back, covering Prowlastator's first appearance.

 

In the G1 cartoon. Which leg is Air Raid suppose to be on Superion?

 

Left leg, I believe.

 

Thanks man!

 

Air Raid is the best deluxe Aerialbot in my opinion.

 

All I gotta say is that I can't wait to get the Takara one. With everyone getting Superion now June feels so far away.

I can see where people might say that Air Raid is a retool of Skydive but it doesn't look like it? Now I don't have any of the Aerialbots but from what I see the only thing that is similar is the legs. The body looks like the Firefly style, because Skydive has shoulders that moves on a swing arm for transformation while Air Raid does not.

 

The legs are the same, there's that 5mm port on the top, the fold down back wings.

 

Thanks for the pics.

I love his bio, the last part actually painted a visual in my head. The psych-eval by Rung sounds like and awesome touch.

I actually have to kinda agree. Thanks to his transformation, he looks much more distinctive than they other deluxe jets....and while being a jet has him removed from AB, which he seems to share a similar backpack kibble set up.

Oh man...cannot wait to have this guy and the rest of the Stunticons, it's killing me waiting to open every one up.  .

 

Thanks for the review Starscream Gaga! Can you post pics of the jet mode with wings swept forward, like an F-14 Tomcat? It looks like a stealth Tomcat derivative. The side profile silhouette reminds me of Generations Jetfire too. This is the Aerialbot I've been waiting for.

 

i'm not sure why you (and others) call Air Raid a retool of Skydive.

he re-uses the legs, yes, but everything else is different... even his transformation.


which makes me also wonder why Blades is keeping the missile-launcher arms of Alpha Bravo when First Aid IS an actual (extensive) retool of Off-Road. why not just give him different arms to make him more in line with the Protectobots theme?


then again, Rook is an urban assault vehicle, so maybe i should rethink how Hasbro views the Protectobots.

 

Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.  

 

Like either of these?





Unfortunately moving the wings reveals his arms.

He's heavily retooled, like Sandstorm and kind-of Motormaster, but he's still reusing pieces, hence why I call him a retool. The legs are identical and he even comes with the same weapons to support the evidence.

More Superion pics using the cartoon set-up of limbs:

 

YES! Thank you! You're the only person whose taken a pic with the wings forward!

 

thanks for this. if you get a chance could you post a pic of the cartoon set-up with the arms collapsed like the g1 toys?

 

Excellent review and pics. I can't wait to finish Superion. I might even break my vow of skipping AB just to have a finished look. (even though I know Slingshot's coming) Air Raid's pretty cool. I always like when Transformers switch primary colours between modes.