The Energon Pub

News Credits: 12 · Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:22 am

Went into local CVS to pick up a Rx yesterday. I always check the toy aisle just to see if they have anything.

They had a bunch of DOTM deluxes, including Air Raid! I haven't seen Air Raid at ANY other stores. But I still didn't buy it because it looks like crap. If not for the packaging, I would have thought it was a cheap knock-off "Converter" toy or something. Do you think this figure was designed by an intern or something? Maybe a kid got to design a figure as a Wake-A-Wish Foundation thing? Did Hasbro recognize how awful this figure was only AFTER they had manufactured them, and maybe that's why they didn't distribute them to retailers?

Just to clarify, I'm talking about the retarded green Hasbro DOTM Air Raid, not the awesome Takara DOTM Air Raid.

News Credits: 2 · Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:30 am

I personally saw it once at Target, but like you, never interested in picking him up. I think he should be canceled, not HA and deluxe Soundwaves.

News Credits: 1235 · Fri Mar 02, 2012 11:46 am

The only bad thing about the figure is the flail arm and even that can be fun at times. He has an interesting transformation and excellent alt mode. Highly under rated.

Fri Mar 02, 2012 3:44 pm

picked him up a while ago and have to agree between the color and bot mode he is rather underwhelming not to mention that sad excuse for a radar dish/weapon.
then again thats what i get for making an impulse buy. >:oP

News Credits: 7 · Fri Mar 02, 2012 4:39 pm

Air Raid = Awesome

News Credits: 15 · Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:48 pm

I always wanted Air Raid, but whenever I saw a Wave 5 figure it was either Darksteel or Armor Topspin....

Damn repaints

Sat Mar 03, 2012 12:11 am

I personally love this figure. Picked it up back in October of 2011 using a half of coupon. For $5 he's awesome. For full price he's still a great figure. Saw on more last week at the target got my first air raid at. In package it looks like crap, but once it's out of the box he's a sturdy plane with a pretty cool robot mode.

Sat Mar 03, 2012 2:19 am

STINGRAY749 wrote:I personally love this figure. Picked it up back in October of 2011 using a half of coupon. For $5 he's awesome. For full price he's still a great figure. Saw on more last week at the target got my first air raid at. In package it looks like crap, but once it's out of the box he's a sturdy plane with a pretty cool robot mode.

Taken entirely on it's own merits, it's not an awful mold. It's a plane that turns into a slightly retro-looking robot with a gladiator vibe. I think most of what this figure's missing is a rationale for its existence. That is, why do we have a retro robot with a gladiator vibe in the DOTM line? What's the story there? It seems like there ought to be one. (And I bet if there had been a good one, this figure would be commanding premium prices on the secondary market.)

It doesn't help that this figure occupies a distribution slot that could have been had by Soundwave or Que. That makes it kind of a kick in the nads to DOTM collectors (in North America, at least).

News Credits: 10 · Sat Mar 03, 2012 9:06 am

Gyrotron wrote:I always wanted Air Raid, but whenever I saw a Wave 5 figure it was either Darksteel or Armor Topspin....

Damn repaints

Darksteel's awesome actually. Its like sideswipe on steroids. :lol:

News Credits: 9 · Sat Mar 03, 2012 11:22 am

I liked my Air Raid, thought it was an interesting mold

Sat Mar 03, 2012 11:54 am

I like him also. He really has a Swoop vibe to him imo. The thin build, head crest and shoulder wings all scream Swoop.

News Credits: 9 · Sat Mar 03, 2012 12:29 pm

interesting
maybe do a Divebomb repaint

News Credits: 273 · Sat Mar 03, 2012 2:50 pm

gavinfuzzy wrote:
Gyrotron wrote:I always wanted Air Raid, but whenever I saw a Wave 5 figure it was either Darksteel or Armor Topspin....

Damn repaints

Darksteel's awesome actually. Its like sideswipe on steroids.

I only saw the figure once, at a Target in December. They were having a huge sale on deluxes so i snagged one for my wife. She loves Transformers with unusual colors.

News Credits: 33 · Sat Mar 03, 2012 3:15 pm

I think air raid is good there was so much hate for him when he first came out but once i had him in hand the negativity droped

hes actually not a bad bot even the mace hand isnt a problem for me.

News Credits: 1 · Sat Mar 03, 2012 6:03 pm

I like him, but leaning more towards displaying him with my cyberverse / legends as he would be bigger then a lot of the other TF's realistically.

News Credits: 2 · Sat Mar 03, 2012 6:54 pm

Okay so based on all the good things posted so far I just saw a video review a second time around and I still think this figure is lame. C'mon just one hand and that crappy gimmick for the other?? But this type of situation always happens when a figure comes along and is shot down by most and favored by few. Example...DOTM HA Reverb I think is a really cool figure and a awesome looking head. He's got a really neat transformation and unlike most who don't like the alt mode, I really dig it. ;)^

Sat Mar 03, 2012 11:18 pm

I think Reverb is really cool also, although his alt mode is kinda meh.

I think what draws me to Air Raid is that he looks very G1. Compare him to most of your movie toys and he looks skinny and not all that impressive. Put him next to some G1 toys though and he sorta fits. He's got goofy proportions and a big weird weapon thing going on. He's very gee-wunny. Well, to me anyway.

I agree. I would not have made the design choice to fuse his flail to his hand, but it doesn't ruin the figure for me

News Credits: 7 · Sat Mar 03, 2012 11:41 pm

If Shockwave can get away with having a gun for a hand, I think it's unfair to attack Air Raid for his flail (which can fold up into an approximate hand, anyways).

Air Raid has a certain Prime look to him, though I group him with Springer and the Sky Shadow-themed Powerglide (mostly because they're all green Autobot aircraft and roughly in-scale with each other):

Fun Fact: In real scale Springer and Powerglide would both be around 45 feet tall, while Air Raid would be around 95.

Hope we get more "themed" bots. Love guys gladiator Air Raid, samurai Bludgeon, WWII aviator Highbrow, etc..

Sun Mar 04, 2012 12:51 am

I thought the same thing too, after only having seen him shelfwarming and a few pictures on the wiki. But I subscribe to Peaugh and lo and behold one day he did a review of the weird green gladiator fellow. Now I'm inclined to pick him up if I ever see him again.

News Credits: 2 · Sun Mar 04, 2012 11:43 am

Noideaforaname wrote:If Shockwave can get away with having a gun for a hand, I think it's unfair to attack Air Raid for his flail (which can fold up into an approximate hand, anyways).

Yeah but c'mon SW's cannon looks way better than this! Which makes perfect sense considering that's what most of his past alt modes represent. This poor figure suffered in the engineering process for that gimmick! I really don't know why Takomy chose this but even the Japanese version of Air Raid which is just another repaint (with a cool gatling gun mounted) is waaaay better looking than this Air Raid. I just feel Hasbro could'a done better but it's always a hit and miss with them. :VEHI:

News Credits: 9 · Sun Mar 04, 2012 11:50 am

Nemesis Destron wrote:Okay so based on all the good things posted so far I just saw a video review a second time around and I still think this figure is lame. C'mon just one hand and that crappy gimmick for the other?? But this type of situation always happens when a figure comes along and is shot down by most and favored by few. Example...DOTM HA Reverb I think is a really cool figure and a awesome looking head. He's got a really neat transformation and unlike most who don't like the alt mode, I really dig it.

agreed, I have universe 2.0 Blades holding him in his weapon mode
looks sweet