The final deluxe from the first wave of Combiner Wars toys is Alpha Bravo, a new character who replaces Slingshot as a member of the Aerialbot team.
Instead of just naming this new toy Slingshot, Hasbro decided to come up with a new character and keep the original intact despite the suspiciously Slingshot-esque headsculpt.
You can check out my reviews of the other figures from the wave, Silverbolt, Firefly, Skydive and Drag Strip by clicking on their names.
To continue on to the Alpha Bravo review, click the button below
Helicopter Mode
Breaking from the usual tradition of each of the Aerialbots being a jet, Alpha Bravo is instead becomes a Helicopter, that is more than a little reminiscent of the chopper from Jurassic Park.
That is begging for a Reprolabels set.
Whilst he may not have much in common with the Generation Aerialbots -t here are familiar elements from with the other combiner wars Aerialbots.
Most glaring of these is the arms being stuck on the side of the alt mode and not hiding away anywhere.
Hasbro have done something a touch different here though, by covering the hands with bad ass looking missiles.
It is cool, but it clashes with the alt mode as that looks like a passenger Helicopter, not a military one.
Errr....there is not a lot more to say about this mode really. Forgive me if it seems like I am rushing past it, but there is not a great deal going on.
Yes it is a cool recreation of a helicopter, and yes you can hum the Jurassic Park theme as you pretend to fly it around the house - but there is not a great deal more to say.
Robot Mode
Transforming Alpha Bravo is a touch more interesting than the deluxe jet Aerialbots but is virtually the same basic process.
The only real difference is spinning the waist and flipping the feet out, everything else is the same.
One thing that is quite annoying is the rotor blades don't have a secure position where they can store, and so you have to figure it out as best you can. Problem is, they tend to be a bit loose and flop to the sides, so can be very frustrating to sort out.
Alpha Bravo looks very nice, and his design fits in with the other Aerialbots,
If you slapped some wings on his back, you could easily mistake him for any of the Aerialbot jets, whilst his head looks like a robotic flight helmet with blue aviators.
The head is quite reminiscent of Slingshot, which plays even more to Alpha Bravos role as Slingshots understudy.
All of the Combiner Wars figures so far have had good articulation and are fun to pose - Alpha Bravo is no different.
The rockets on his arms don't come off or anything, but they help make his poses look more exciting and "fighty" (couldn't think of another word!).
Due to his large feet, he is very well balanced too, which aids greatly in having him do Kung Fu moves.
If having missiles on his arms didn't give you the impression that Alpha Bravo is seriously into his weapons - then his rifle really should.
You get the idea that he is the Aerialbot who buys gun magazines, and will one day blow himself up like Freddy the Frog from Only Fools and Horses.
The gun has large bullets molded onto the back to give the effect of a chain, so this would make short work of...well...anything.
Converting him into arm or leg mode is really easy as arm mode is essentially his robot mode with the head tucked away, and leg mode is vehicle mode with the front flipped up.
What is nice, is the foot piece is molded to match the curve of Alpha Bravos cockpit in foot mode, making it feel that bit more cohesive.
For me, I believe he works best as an arm though, because the rotors are not so much of a visible issue in that way. The tend to flop about, and look a bit rubbish when viewed front on in leg mode,
When he was announced, Alpha Bravo raised a lot of ire from fans because he was not Slingshot, but in his own right he is a really good figure and I am chuffed Hasbro have given us a cool new figure and character to go with it.
He is not my favourite of the wave, I am hopelessly attracted to jets especially the one who used to be Gladiators...but he may have stood a better chance if his rotors fared better in robot mode.
At this point, I am fairly confident that this mold will come back again as Protectobot Blades, and any future Vortex, and I am not disappointed with that.
I recommend buying him, mostly because we all love humming the Jurassic Park theme tune.
Please like our page on Facebook where you can get updates and the like here
You can also follow this blog on Twitter @ToyboxSoapbox . Or press the +1 button on this page to follow it on Google Plus.
You can find my own rambles, mostly about football here
No comments:
Post a Comment