Cliffbee.com Movie Air Raid Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Air Raid
Series: Movie Tie-ins
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: Space Fighter



FIGHTER MODE
Height: 7cm Length: 18cm Width: 13cm

   Incidentally, at first glance, the above dimensions make Air Raid a very large basic, but 7cm of the length is the add-on nose cannon.

   Air Raid is an army greet space fighter with black and olive brown square camouflage all over - an unusual colour scheme since jungle camo usually isn't required in space. He does not look like G1 Air Raid at all, so it's a random name reuse. The extensions and cockpit are a glossy black plastic while there's some grey here and there. There are sculpted but unpainted Autobot logos on his wings and a clear spark crystal on top. There are four transparent black add-ons, the first is a long pole that clips underneath the nosecone and significantly adds to his length. There's an Energon chip that can clip over the spark crystal, which is pointless in solid black (the original idea was a transparent Energon chip). The last two pieces are wingtip covers of sorts. Air Raid looks equally good with or without the additions, so I guess it's up to you whether or not to attach them. Either way it's a very distinct colour scheme which you're either going to love or hate. I like it for the creativity, but I'm not really a fan of the random nature of this repaint. While the Autobot logos are unpainted there is a black Sector 7 logo on top, just ahead of the spark crystal.

   While the colour scheme is unusual, Air Raid is a well designed fighter plane and with the accessories added he's got a giant gun on the front. He has twin grey engines on the back and underneath has grey claws for grabbing things. He has front wheels moulded underneath, but no rear wheels since he rests on the folded up claws. While he might not be camouflaged too well, he's clearly a space fighter, which I appreciate. One downside of Air Raid's plane mode is a lack of play value. Really, the play value is only in the ability to remove and attach the Energon pieces, and while I don't expect much at this scale, he does feel a little static.

   I like the creativity in his colour scheme, but Air Raid is a rather random repaint, and this jet does end up being very strange. The Skyfire elements of Skyblast are gone, and there isn't really anything here that justifies the name. The black add-ons generally look good, but the solid Energon chip just covers his spark Crystal. Yet again the Autobot logos are unpainted, the designer wasn't really trying too hard. It _is_ a good plane mould, so if the colours work for you, Air Raid will have something to offer in vehicle mode. If they don't work for you, this repaint won't offer much.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   The wings swing out and forward, revealing the robot arms to which they're attached. You can then swing down the legs and swing the arms back in alongside the body. Flip up the feet and heelspurs, rotate the wings on his forearms up. Rotate the chest panel 180°, which will cause the cockpit to rotate and reveal the head, then swing the cockpit back behind his head. Give him his weaponry.

   I'm not sure why they included it, but the internal mechanism that causes the head to rotate is a nifty feature that really adds to the appeal of this toy. By rights it's more than you'd expect of a basic.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 12cm Width: 12cm

   The green continues and brings the weird square camo with it. His chestplate and boots are green with camo while the wings hang off his arms, but they're unpainted green - with unpainted Autobot logos. The arms, thighs and feet are grey. Air Raid's head is dark grey with a grey face and red eyes. The spark crystal is central on his chestplate and looks really good there, but the totally unpainted wings look poor, especially when the other green areas sport camo. The basic colour layout works otherwise.

   The Skyfire homage is more obvious now - since even in greys, the head is easy to pick as Skyfire. Again there's not really any Air Raid here. The wings sweep up, and I guess you could rotate them to reveal camo, but then they sweep down and look really awkward.

   The weaponry can be used in three ways, the first two involve combining them together. The first option is to give the combined weapon to a larger toy as a giant sword, but that's beyond the scope of this review. The second is as a giant staff for Air Raid, and this is my preferred option, since it's taller than he is and makes for a formidable melee weapon. The last option is to attach the wingtip parts to his wings and the use the blaster as a giant gun, but it's a little awkward. The giant staff is fine but a gun that's this long just looks impractical. It's actually possible to detach the main shaft leaving the handle to form a shorter handgun, but it looks like he's holding a luggage rack or something. You can attach the Energon chip to his chest if you like, although the Autobot spark crystal looks better.

   The poseability is for the most part, pretty good. The shoulders rotate and hinge outwards, the elbows are hinged, as are the feet and heelspurs. The head doesn't really swivel since the cockpit is locking it in place. The hips are ball joints, but since the knees only rotate and don't bend, the hip poseability is only of limited value. The head being restricted isn't really an issue, but the knees are probably this toy's biggest flaw.

   Despite the knees and unpainted wings, this is a good robot mode. The colours are nice, and not as controversial here. The weaponry is goof, the proportions are good and there are some nice poses available.

VARIATIONS

   None that I'm aware of, but he is a repaint of Skyblast, as mentioned. He also shares the mould with Movie Skyblast.

OVERALL

   A really nice mould with unusual colours, Air Raid is the type of repaint that some will love and some will hate. As interesting as the colours are, they're not really suited to either the mould or the name. Mouldwise, his jet mode is excellent and the robot mode is also strong. The Energon accessories actually add to the toy, which makes him even cooler. If the colours work for you, I'd recommend him, but there is a lack of focus in this repaint - 7/10

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