Wing Saber

Wing Saber Tech Specs

Base information for character / toy Wing Saber.

Name	Wing Saber
Japanese Name	Sonic Bomber
Japanese Number	GC-22
Faction	Autobots

Bio
WING SABER formed a close bond with OPTIMUS PRIME during the POWERLINX BATTLES. Their friendship was forged in the treacherous interior of the unconscious UNICRON, when they first combined to form the powerful Sonic Wing mode. Though he is a canny warrior with a keen tactical mind and wisdom beyond his years, he is still eager to prove himself to OPTIMUS PRIME and the other AUTOBOTS. As one of the few AUTOBOTS with a warp system capable of interstellar flight without the use of a space bridge, he is often assigned duties as a lone flanker, attacking enemy positions from behind. With weapons systems and armor to rival the most legendary warriors of CYBERTRON, he is more than up to the task!

Tech Specs chart for Wing Saber.

Strength	9	Intelligence	8
Speed	10	Endurance	8
Rank	7	Courage	10
Firepower	10	Skill	9

Wing Saber Images

Wing Saber Toy Information

Information related specifically to the toy.

Status	Released
Release Date	March 2006 (March 2006)
Wave	Cybertron Ultra Wave 4
MSRP	$24.99
Size Class	Ultra
Suggested Age	5+
Assortment #	80288
Product #	81185
Recolors / Reuses	Galaxy Force Sonic Bomber , Galaxy Force Sonic Bomber (Fire) , Movie Wingblade

Wing Saber Parts List

Wing Saber toy parts information.

Figure Type	Plane/Spaceship
Figure Color	White
Disc	Clear
Missle	Grey/Silver
Sword	White

Wing Saber Review

-Submitted by: Scantron | Overall Score: 7

Sonic Bomber

Notes

- This review is for Sonic Bomber, the Galaxy Force version of this toy. There may be differences between this figure and the Cybertron release, Wing Saber.
- Sonic Bomber can combine with Galaxy Convoy and that combination will be detailed below. See the individual review of Galaxy Convoy for details about that figure.

Vehicle Mode

In this form, Sonic Bomber is an A-10 Warthog bomber. White is used for the top half of the fuselage, the central body and the struts that attach the rear thrusters to the body. White also serves as the background colour for the wings and tail fins. The area surrounding the cockpit, the underside of the fuselage, the main thrusters and the under wing thrusters are a dark brown. The under wing thrusters are set closest to the body and are flanked by numerous weapons. Directly beside these thrusters is a dark brown missile pod with four molded missile tips and, beside that is a cluster of four white missiles with yellow tips. Underneath each wing tip is a dark brown missile launcher and, attached to the underside of each under wing thruster is a six-barreled machine gun. The aforementioned dark brown is also used on all six barrels of these machine guns and on the landing gear wheels. Red appears around the cockpit and extending down the nosecone, as well as on the wing tips, atop the main thrusters and as the main colour on the outsides of the tail fins. On the top of each wing, close to the wing tip, is a red design resembling an air force ‘wings’ medal, with an Autobot symbol in the center. These symbols are set such that the badges are right side up when the plane is viewed from the rear. Light grey is used for the front landing gear, the missile launcher projectiles and the bodies of the six-barreled machine guns, while the nose-mounted machine gun barrels, cockpit and a stripe on each tail fin are silver. Finally, the rudders on the back of each wing are chrome. Much of the mold detailing in this form consists of cut lines and panels sculpted to be on the same level as the vehicle body, fitting in with the need for a plane to be aerodynamic. The white background is very effective at showing off these details on the main body, while the dark brown reflects light well enough that the molding on the thrusters and cockpit area isn’t lost. Besides cut lines and a few raised vents, the main thrusters have detailed turbines on the front and the exposed ratchets of the robot ankle joints serve as realistic output vents. My favorite molded details are the aforementioned weapons. Under the nosecone are pair of large machine gun barrels, each with multiple vent holes and tubes connecting the base of each barrel to the winglets flanking the cockpit. The yellow-tipped missiles under the wings are designed so that they extend all the way under the wing, with dark brown tails that can be seen by flipping the jet over, rather than just realistic tips molded onto a featureless housing. Even though only the wing tip missile launchers are functional, this level of molded weapon gives Sonic Bomber an appearance of high firepower and adds a lot of character to the toy. Robot kibble is negligible in this form, with only the thighs clearly visible, although they function as the struts to support the main thrusters. In general, I really like Sonic Bomber’s aesthetic in this mode. The white catches the eye very nicely and makes the dark brown and red areas stand out. The three main colours work well together and, although black might have contrasted better with the white and red, it wouldn’t have shown off the background sculpting as well as the dark brown. Another detail that looks great are the ‘badges’ on the wings, that add even more of a ‘military’ feel to the bomber and make the wings more visually interesting than just flat red and white would have. The level of sculpting detail is impressive and stands out surprisingly well against the background (white tends to wash out detailing on most figures). My only aesthetic complaint about Sonic Bomber is that there is a gap in the central body between the main thrusters. This gap is necessary for the transformation, but between this and the light grey strut that runs from the gap to the base of the cockpit, it takes away from the realistic appearance of the vehicle a little.

The only points of articulation in this form are based in the landing gear. While the rear wheels are attached to the bases of the six-barreled machine guns, the front wheel is located on an inch and a half long strut attached to the base of the cockpit. This strut can swing up 90 degrees to store under the cockpit during ‘flight’. All three of the landing gear wheels are hard plastic and, although they don’t spin readily when turned by hand, the weight of the vehicle allows them to roll along smooth surfaces without sliding. Besides the missile launchers (see “Weapons and Gimmicks”) and molded weaponry, Sonic Bomber also has a number of other locations where extra armaments can be attached. On each side of the fuselage and underneath each wing is a hardpoint peg that allows for attachment of Minicons or any other weapon with Minicon connectors or standard size peg holes. The under wing hardpoints are more restricted than the pegs flanking the cockpit, so these are more difficult to use for housing Minicons or larger weapons. In addition to the pegs, Sonic Bomber has standard peg holes on the body of each of the six-barreled machine guns. Due to the location of these peg holes, however, any weapon attached to them will block the under wing hardpoints and vice versa.

Unfortunately, Sonic Bomber does have a couple of minor stability issues. Although the toy isn’t floppy, there are a few areas that can be dislodged during manipulation. First is the fuselage, the bottom of which clips onto the central body and which can be knocked slightly out of position on occasion. Second are the main thrusters and tail fins, which attach to the rear of the jet by a thin ridge that inserts into a shallow slot. This is the area that is least likely to be disrupted, but can pop apart and leave the engine ‘floating’ above the rear of the jet, attached only to the struts. Third is that the missile pod, yellow-tipped missiles and missile launcher are set on a panel which swings out from underneath the wing during the combination with Galaxy Convoy. However, this panel doesn’t clip tightly onto the underside of the wing and the weight of the various weapons can lead to the clip detaching and the panel drooping about 10 degrees. This is probably the unstable area that comes apart the most often, due largely to the weight of the weapons acting against the clip. Finally, when detaching Minicon from the hardpoints on the fuselage, it’s necessary to hold the nosecone together, lest the fuselage ‘shell’ split in half as with the Force Chip gimmick (see “Weapons and Gimmicks”). While none of these instabilities is a fatal flaw, or have any negative impact on the figure’s display value, they do add some frustration to manipulating Sonic Bomber. The fuselage and under wing problems could have been easily fixed by using stronger clips.

8/10

Transformation

To transform Sonic Bomb into robot mode, begin by retracting the front landing gear and detaching the tail fins from the rear of the jet. Flip the turbine covers up 90 degrees and slide them up to sit atop the engines. Next, extend the robot legs fully and bring the jet tail fins up 90 degrees to form the feet. Raise the tail nub on the jet central body 90 degrees, tilt the robot hips down 90 degrees and flip the vehicle over. Raise the robot chest 90 degrees, rotate the hips 180 degrees and then lower the hips, return the chest to its original position and stand the toy up. Swing the vehicle fuselage back and adjust it such that the underside of the cockpit sits flat against the back. Bring the panel with the robot head up and rotate the head 180 degrees. Finally, swing the six-barrel machine guns down 90 degrees to form the lower arms and slide back the dark brown box on the inside of each to shorten two of the barrels. Sonic Bomber is now ready for combat! Transformation back to jet mode is basically the reverse of this procedure. However, when returning the figure to vehicle form, it is somewhat difficult getting the jet tail fins to attach correctly to their base on the central body. The robot hips and knees to be aligned in a precise manner for the transformation to work and this can get a little frustrating, as the tail fins will pop apart on their own if the alignment isn’t correct.

7/10

Robot Mode

The majority of this form consists of pieces that were on the underside of the jet in vehicle mode. The feet and lower legs are made up of the jet tail fins and thrusters, respectively, with the turbines becoming kneepads. White is used for the upper legs, the ‘collar’ surrounding the neck and for the area surrounding the upper elbow joint. The under wing thrusters become shoulder pads, with a set of four small yellow stripes now revealed on each. As mentioned, the six-barreled machine guns become the lower arms and hands, with the light grey body of each gun forming the lower arm and the dark brown barrels making up the fingers. A neat trick in the transformation shortens the inner two barrels on each gun, causing one to retract completely into the palm and reducing the other to half length, making it resemble a thumb. This arrangement makes Sonic Bomber’s hands look more realistic and less awkward than other figures with gun hands, such as Armada Demolishor. For the torso, dark brown is used as the background, with yellow pieces flanking the sides of the abdomen and light grey supports on the side of the chest plate. The chest plate itself is mostly gold chrome, with silver chrome used for highlights on the top and bottom. At the center of the chest plate is a red chrome Autobot symbol set on a metallic silver-blue background. Sonic Bomber’s head is mostly white, with navy blue antenna over the ears and a navy crest stretching from the center of the forehead to the back of the head. The face is gold and the eyes bright green. Unfortunately, there is a strip of white plastic that crosses the face, resembling a visor. Although this detail would normally look fine, and fit nicely with an aerial theme figure, the center of the visor is warped and has an upward curve. As a result, it not only sits too high on the face, but obscures the bottoms of the eyes as well. This has the effect of making Sonic Bomber’s face look too long and his eyes set too high in the head. While it’s true that the eyes are a set a bit high, the warped visor exacerbates the problem and makes it far more noticeable than it would be without the visor. Much of the molding detail present in this mode was visible to some degree in the jet mode, with the head, shoulder pads and chest plate being the only major areas of unique detail. While the head has an arrangement of cut lines and vents, the shoulder pads rely mostly on cut lines and a single vent. The chest plate is sculpted very nicely, with multiple layers of armor and an appearance that vaguely resembles a lion’s mane surrounding the Autobot symbol. Sonic Bomber looks pretty good in this mode, with the chest plate acting as a great visual center piece and the various shades of grey and brown on the limbs blending together well. The white, yellow and red that do appear make a good break in the darker colours and keep the figure from looking too plain. Besides the warped visor, the main aesthetic complaint I have is that the amount of weapons underneath the wings makes the area around the arms look cluttered. While the missile launchers can be removed (see “Weapons and Gimmicks”) and that helps clear things up a little, an extra joint to fold the wings back would have prevented the arms from getting lost amidst the under wing launchers.

Sonic Bomber has the following points of articulation:
- The knees can bend back 90 degrees.
- A swivel just below the hip joints allows each leg to rotate 360 degrees.
- The hip joints are universal ratchets, allowing the legs to swing 90 degrees to the front, side or back.
- The waist can rotate about 30 degrees either direction using the transformation joint, but it only clicks into place in the ‘robot mode’ and ‘vehicle mode’ positions.
- The head can rotate 360 degrees at the neck.
- The arms can be raised 180 degrees at the joint where the shoulder pads attach to the wing.
- The arms can swing 90 degrees to the left or right at the joint where they attach to the shoulder pads.
- A swivel located just above the top elbow joint allows the arms to rotate 360 degrees.
- The elbows have two joints, allowing the lower arms to bend up 180 degrees to sit against the shoulder pads.

Although Sonic Bomber has a decent level of articulation, unfortunately, the figure has limited poseability. The weight of the fuselage, which contains the battery pack for the light and sound gimmick, makes the figure tip over in most poses where both feet are not directly beneath the body. While the feet look broad, only a strip of that width actually touches the ground, as the strip directly connected to the tail fin is angled and doesn’t sit on the ground. One way to increase Sonic Bomber’s leg poseability is to bring the fuselage up to sit above the head, which shifts the center of gravity forward. However, the ankles don’t tilt forward, limiting the amount of poses the figure can take. There are a few dynamic stances that can be achieved by swinging one leg back and putting the weight directly on the ‘toe’ on that side, but these poses don’t have the greatest balance and would likely fall over if the surface Sonic Bomber is standing on were bumped. The next major issue is the arms. The joint that allows the shoulder pads to raise 180 degrees is likely a transformation joint, as it looks unnatural having the arms raised at that location and there is a weak clip that seems intended to keep the shoulder pads down (as with many other clips on this figure, it’s not even close to being strong enough). With the shoulder pads down against the wings, the arm poseability is severely limited. The joint that allows the arms to swing to the side is completely blocked by the under wing kibble and the arm swivel is severely restricted. Having a joint above the elbow that allowed the arms to be raised 90 degrees forward would have been much better use of joints than the side-to-side joint that doesn’t even work. The elbows function, but the elbow joints are tighter than the clips holding the shoulder pads down, so trying to move the elbows usually just raises the entire arm. In addition, adjusting the arms often dislodges the panel to which the missile pods and launchers are attached and dislodges it, as mentioned in vehicle mode. Although it’s easy enough to push this panel back into place and clip the shoulder pads back down, it gets annoying having to make these adjustments every time the arms are moved. As mentioned before, a joint to swing the wings back would have removed the impediments from the arms, although it probably would have made the figure even more back heavy than it already is. A final, minor, instability is the kneecap turbines, which don’t lock into place and tend to shift around when the legs are adjusted.

5/10

Weapons and Gimmicks

Fitting in with the main gimmick of the Galaxy Force line, Sonic Bomber comes with a Force Chip that can be used to activate some of his features. The Chip included with this figure is a typical Cybertron design; translucent colourless plastic with a raised red Autobot symbol in the center and a silver border with mechanical detailing. To activate Sonic Bomber’s main gimmick, insert the Force Chip into the slot just behind the cockpit. This will release a pair of triggers, causing the halves of fuselage to snap forward and out about half an inch way. The force of these pieces snapping out splits the nose cone, allowing the fuselage flanks to separate completely. With these pieces out of the way, more dark brown colour and mechanical detail is exposed around the cockpit and a broad rectangular cannon barrel is revealed above the nose-mounted machine gun barrels. Just behind the cockpit windshield is a light grey button which, when pushed and released, triggers a machine gun sound followed by an explosion. At the same time, a red light housed in the rectangular barrel to flash three times. If the button is held down, the machine gun noise and flashing light will run continuously until the button is released. Whether the Force Chip is inserted or not doesn’t affect the sound or light pattern produced. Unlike a lot of sound effects in the Transformers toy lines, this effect actually resembles the sound it is intended to evoke and is very well done. Since the trigger is exposed, the sound effect can be used when the fuselage is closed, but the light is only barely visible under the fuselage flanks. Sonic Bomber’s Force Chip slot has a spring that pushes the Chip back slightly once the gimmick is trigger, so the fuselage can be closed again without removing the Chip. Although this gimmick is mainly useful for the jet mode, it can be utilized in robot mode. Behind Sonic Bomber’s head is a grey bar that can be raised 90 degrees to sit against the back of the head. The front section of the jet can then swing up off the back and the underside pegs into this grey bar, positioning the fuselage above Sonic Bomber’s body and giving him a shoulder/head-mounted weapons pack. Although this position of the weapons pack does shift some weight off the back and allows the figure to use the features in robot mode, the size of the fuselage looks a bit odd balanced on Sonic Bomber’s head and makes the toy look a bit awkward. This position was designed more to be used in the combination with Galaxy Convoy, but it’s nice to see that it works alright for Sonic Bomber on his own. The only definite negative is that the fuselage doesn’t peg into the grey bar very tightly (a recurring problem with this toy…) and can be dislodged easily.

Besides the main gimmick, Sonic Bomber also comes with two other sets of weapons. The first are the missile launchers, which can be detached from the wings. Once the pieces are removed, the launchers are revealed to each resemble a straightened out ‘S’, with three main segments. Flanking the launcher triggers are the pegs that allow the launchers to attach to the wings. These can be inserted into the peg holes on the sides of Sonic Bomber’s wrists. The launchers have very good power to them, firing their grey projectiles about three feet with each shot. While the launchers work great, they look a bit awkward, as the other two sections of the ‘S’ , besides the launcher component itself, just hang down off the elbows. Surprisingly, the launchers are one of the few things on this figure that peg in tightly, although bumping the portions that hang off the elbows can dislodge them.

The second set of weapons is one of my favorite accessories for a TF in a long time. Shift Sonic Bomber’s wings out of the way and detach the chrome rudder from each wing. Sonic Bomber comes with a pair of dark brown pieces that vaguely resemble guns, each with a peg hole at one end. Insert the pegs on the ends of the wing rudders into these handle pieces to form a pair of swords. Remove the missile launchers from Sonic Bomber’s wrists and insert the pegs on the sides of the handles into these holes, giving Sonic Bomber a pair of wrist-mounted blades. With the blades about three and a quarter inches long, the swords are a good size and look dangerous mounted on Sonic Bomber’s arms. The use of chrome on the blades is an excellent touch, rather than going with clear plastic and calling them ‘energy blades’, as tends to happen on most Transformers figures. Unfortunately, this Sonic Bomber’s articulation issues mean there aren’t a lot of dynamic sword-fighting poses that the toy can assume. Like a number of other features, it seems the swords were designed more for the combination with Galaxy Convoy and just had an extra peg added so that Sonic Bomber could use them. Either way, this figure looks great with the blades attached and they add a lot of character. The handles can be stored in the jet tail section in vehicle mode or when not using the blades in robot mode.

9/10

Combination with Galaxy Convoy

Although the instructions suggest starting with Sonic Bomber in robot mode for the combination with Galaxy Convoy, it’s a little faster to begin with Sonic Bomber in vehicle form. Remove the wing rudders, sword handles and missile launchers from the jet. Assemble the swords and set the four weapon pieces aside. Swing the under wing panels out 180 degrees, lengthening Sonic Bomber’s wings by about two and a half inches, and flip the vehicle over. Extend the arms and swing them up 180 degrees at the shoulder so the six machine gun barrels on each side point the same direction as the nosecone. Unpeg Sonic Bomber’s chest plate from the body of the jet and swing it back 180 degrees, unfurling the grey supports and leaning it against the underside of the fuselage. Now, take Galaxy Convoy in Super Mode and remove the backpack. Insert the large pegs on the backs of Galaxy Convoy’s heels into the clips on Sonic Bomber’s missile launchers, providing a launcher on each foot. On the underside of Sonic Bomber are two square blocks and a thin clip. Line these up with the corresponding gaps in Galaxy Convoy’s back and combine the two figures. Swing Sonic Bomber’s chest plate down over Galaxy Convoy’s chest, clipping it in place at the shoulder. Lower Sonic Bomber’s arms so they sit over Galaxy Convoy’s shoulders, adjusting the arm joints to position the machine guns as desired. Bring Sonic Bomber’s fuselage down against the combination’s back, as when transforming Sonic Bomber to robot mode. Finally, insert the small pegs on the sides of the sword handles into Galaxy Convoy’s hands and pull apart the halves of the chest plate. Sonic Convoy is now ready for battle!

Since Sonic Bomber ends up mostly forming a backpack for Galaxy Convoy, most of the aesthetic is the result of Galaxy Convoy’s colour scheme and detailing. The combination gives Sonic Convoy wings that extend about three and a half inches past Galaxy Convoy’s shoulders, with Sonic Bomber’s missile tips pointing upwards. There is no way to close the wing panels to give Sonic Convoy shorter wings. Opening the panels on Sonic Bomber’s chest plate reveals more dark brown around the central Autobot symbol as well as four silver-blue bands extending out from the faction symbol background. Since so much of Sonic Bomber is on the back, and not visible, the colour schemes of the two figures don’t clash nearly as much as the Ligerjack-Galaxy Convoy combination. In fact, the white and dark brown of Sonic Bomber blend fairly well with the red and blue that serve as the main colours on Galaxy Convoy. The chest plate, in particular, looks very nice, looking more like a part of Galaxy Convoy than a piece of Sonic Bomber. I also like how Sonic Bomber’s main engines are positioned at the base of Sonic Convoy’s back, forming a believable jet pack.

In terms of functionality, this form is capable of using virtually all of Galaxy Convoy’s articulation for the central body and Sonic Bomber’s arm articulation can be used to manipulate the shoulder-mounted machine guns. These machine guns need to be adjusted to allow Sonic Convoy to raise his arms fully, but they move out of the way easily enough. Since the backpack on this combination extends down further than Galaxy Convoy’s Super Mode backpack, Sonic Convoy’s legs can’t move back as far at the hip without bumping into the main jet engines. Sonic Bomber’s heavy fuselage, while a problem for the individual figure, isn’t an issue here due to Galaxy Convoy’s weight and the size of the super mode feet. About the only poseability issues I have with this combination is that the chest plate hinders some of Galaxy Convoy’s hip articulation and the missile launchers attached to the feet are an issue as well. I find that the foot launchers tend to get in the way and restrict positioning of the feet quite a bit. It’s also a bit odd having missile launchers on the feet, so the aesthetics of these pieces aren’t really the best. Unfortunately, they help to lengthen the heel spurs and prevent Sonic Convoy from falling over when Sonic Bomber’s fuselage is mounted on the back. To make Sonic Convoy a little less back heavy, the fuselage can swing up and be mounted behind Sonic Convoy’s head using the same grey bar that allowed the weapons pack to sit above Sonic Bomber’s head. In this case, the weapons pack sits about an inch behind the head, looking much more natural than on Sonic Bomber alone. Sonic Convoy’s increased size also helps the weapons pack look a little less awkward.

For weaponry, Sonic Convoy can use Sonic Bomber’s missile launchers attached to the feet and can hold the swords in the hands. Where Sonic Bomber didn’t have the articulation to make the most of the blades, Sonic Convoy’s arms have the appropriate joints that the combination can take a number of excellent sword-fighting poses. The blades are a bit short for Galaxy Convoy’s size and come across more as long daggers or short-swords. However, they still look incredible in the figure’s hands and are probably my favorite of all the weapons available to Galaxy Convoy. Sonic Bomber’s Force Chip gimmicks, contained in the weapons pack, can be used by Sonic Convoy and having the fuselage open and mounted above the head makes the combination look even more impressive. As a final note, there is no way to combine Galaxy Convoy to both Ligerjack and Sonic Bomber at the same time, without removing one of Galaxy Convoy’s arms.

9/10

Overall

Sonic Bomber is a figure that was clearly designed to combine with Galaxy Convoy first and to be its own figure second. The vehicle mode is the best individual mode, with a neat aesthetic and heavy weaponry helping make up for a few minor stability issues. While the robot mode still looks good, it has significant articulation problems and some different stability problems. The gimmicks are well-done, however, with powerful missile launchers, a simple-yet-effective Force Chip gimmick, realistic sounds and a pair of the best swords I’ve seen in a Transformers figure. The Sonic Convoy combination is definitely the best part of the figure, providing a cool flight mode for Galaxy Convoy that looks nicer and is more stable than the Ligerjack combination. If you’ve got Galaxy Convoy, I’d strongly recommend Sonic Bomber because the Sonic Convoy form is excellent. On its own, Sonic Bomber has enough pluses to be recommended, but be aware of some of the stability problems.

7.6/10

Wing Saber Cartoon / Movie Information

Info about Wing Saber in the Transformers cartoons or movies.

Voice Actor

Sam Vincent

Appearances

Cybertron
28 Assault
29 Starscream
30 United
31 Cybertron
32 Balance
33 Darkness
34 Memory
35 Escape
36 Family
37 Titans
38 Warp
39 Giant
40 Fury
41 City
42 Ambush
43 Challenge
44 Duel
45 Optimus
46 Showdown
47 Guardian
48 Homecoming
49 Endgame
50 Unfinished
51 Beginning

Additional Wing Saber Resources

Notes
Cyber Key Code: uya7
Wing Saber's Cyber Key Content on the Hasbro website had no text, only an image of a blue version of the toy which never saw the light of day.

Contributors: Tony_Bacala, XJunky, Sol Fury, Optimus Scourge, Scantron, holygrail 4, Smkscrn GT, TreKain

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