Dinobots (Beast Machines) Airraptor
You can probably still find this guy in KB as, around here at least, they've gotten boxes
full of him, deluxe Jetstorm, deluxe Primal and Triceradon. Just another way KB is trying
to satisfy their customers. With old pre and early Beast Machine toys. I only paid $5 for him
after my employee discount though, so I guess it's okay.
In case you were left out in the cold, the Dinobots line, which was released between the end
of Beast Wars (after them TM2 line) and the beginning of Beast Machines, consisted completely of
repaints, most of them exclusive to Japan before this line. It was also released with the not
very popular Mutant Beast line, though this line bore the BM packaging while the Mutant Beasts were
in Beast Wars style packaging. I'm not sure if I already mentioned this before, but if I don't
remember, you probably don't either.
Anywho, Airraptor is a repaint of Archadis, a Destron (Predacon) from the Beast Wars Neo line. I haven't seen
too many pictures of Archadis, but from what I've heard this is nearly an exact replica of him,
with the colors not being changed too much (I believe the green is lighter and swapped with the
blue on Archadis). So, beast mode is that of an archaeopteryx, which, amazingly, is in my
text editors spell check. Pretty neat. Anywho, I like this mode, though it's not without its
flaws. First off it's neat because you can actually fold up his wings, though not as much as
TM2 Prowl, it's still nice to have another bird who doesn't have to sit there with its wings
extended. *cough*Silverbolt and Airazor*cough*
However, there's a pretty good amount of undercarriage garbage, ala the original Dinobot. His
robot legs kinda just sit under his body, against his beast chest, which is not all that attractive
looking. Airraptor can smell his own feet! Also under his tail is his arm and gun. Not as bad
as the leg thing, so I'll overlook it I guess.
His gimmick is fairly creative in this mode. Push down on a button on either wing and it'll extend
out like an inch and a feather bomb will fall from it. Well, it looks like a fat pot leaf with
only three leaves, but it's blue so I guess it can pass for feathers. That or Airraptor's eyes
are red for a reason. Also once his wing has been extended he has guns on the ends. Well, more
like black tubes. Maybe those are what he uses for a bong. Hrm. This review seems to be going
south, so I'll stop talking about Airraptor being a stoner now I guess.
Transformation is fairly simple, though I don't remember if I needed the directions the
first time. I've had this thing for a few months now. Anyway, the only interesting part is how
his wings actually don't end up behind him or on his shoulders. Rather, they both end up at his right
side and fold over his back and chest for a pretty neat cloaked look.
However, his robot legs are arched a skinny and need to support a lot of weight. They do it
pretty well, but even as I type this he is wobbling a bit. Also, as is the trend with a lot
of dinosaur beast Transformers (even though, technically, the archaeopteryx isn't a dinosaur),
his beast head is one of his hands, though it ends up upside down. He also has a pretty neat
gear thingy on his non-head arm which allows for a machine gun of sorts flip out from behind
his tail (which resides as kibble on his arm). Pretty neat. I find it looks better (and allows
you to keep the gun attached more in beast mode) if you flip the mechanism around so the gun is
deployed when the end of his tail is over his hand. He also has a extra elbow joint to compensate
for his limited ball joint elbow which only allows for an open palm up when bent (making his gun look
kind of stupid). Very nice.
Overall Airraptor suffers from some balance problems in both modes and some problems with
his robot legs in beast mode (you'd think the designers would've learned after the Dinobot mold), but he's
well worth the $5 I paid and more. If you see him in the store, grab him. Unless you end up
paying over $10, you're getting a good deal.
