Name: Rav
Series: Beast Machines
Allegiance: Maximal
Function: Aerial Recon
Alternate Mode: Raven/Crossbow Emplacement (no robot mode)
RAVEN MODE
Height: 9cm Length: 12cm Width: 4.5cm
A transparent red raven with black feet, a black bear and bronze legs. Rav has some black and bronze crossbow bits hanging out at the base of his tail, which is two feathers (the arrows of the crossbow). The head, neck and body are all transparent with gold painted patches while the eyes are yellow. The colour scheme actually works very well, in spite of the heavy reliance on a transparent plastic.
The bodyshape is pretty good for a standing bird, the body itself is rounded while the legs are quite robotic, the sculpting on his retracted wings features both flight feathers and robotic aspects. The end result is suitably technorganic - a nice blend of both aspects. There's not much play value here - the lower jaw opens and shuts and that's it really. I don't expect much more considering Rav has to open out as a weapon - I'm just happy the designer bothered with that lower jaw.
For a toy that's smaller than a basic, this is a decent bird mode. Sure, Rav doesn't do much more than stand around, but he looks good and is quite convincing as a bird - without the proportion problems that a lot of Transformers birds have. I quite like the colours, and Rav makes good use of his transparent plastic - something that many other Transformers can't manage to do.
TRANSFORMATION TO CROSSBOW MODE
Pull down a little bronze tab under the tail and Rav opens up, revealing a crossbow which flicks into place with a clicking sound. All you need to do now is fold out the sides of the bow itself - the head has folded away, the body lowered and the missiles face forward. The reverse transformation involves folding everything away again. This is one of the most elegant autotransformations I've seen.
CROSSBOW MODE
Height: 7cm Length: 15cm Width: 12cm
A black crossbow, although the actual bow is bronze. The twin arrows are the transparent red tailfeathers, the base is also transparent red, being the body of the bird. The base sits underneath and just behind the crossbow. The colours are again good, although not as appealing since Rav is now just a weapon on a stand.
There are twin bronze buttons towards the back of crossbow, you can fire one or both arrows - they'll fly around 50cm. There's little in the way of aiming - the bird feet can be wiggled a little, allowing you to lift the arrows slightly. Rav doesn't have a post underneath, so he can't be held by larger Transformers, but he still makes for a good sidekick, the crossbow scales well to deluxes.
The crossbow is quite impressive, even if it sits on top of a bird's body. The launchers aren't as powerful as I'd hope, but they're still fairly useful. For a weapon hidden inside a small bird, this is a very good effort.
VARIATIONS
There was a recolour, still called Rav (it was slated to be renamed as Chro), done in transparent purple, blue and black.
OVERALL
As simple as the Deployer concept is, Rav has nailed it perfectly. The auto transform is quite spectacular, the bird mode looks really nice and the crossbow isn't at all forced. Rav is easily the best of the Deployers, and is very much a toy I recommend - 7.5/10
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