TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Box Art:

Dedicon's review of: Galaxy Force Sonic Bomber

Name: Sonic Bomber
Function: Annual Convoy add-on
Allegiance: Cybertron
Planet: Seibertron

Sonic Bomber (SB for the rest of the review) continues the tradition of Autobots combining with the 'chosen' Convoy. This time, it’s Galaxy Convoy... and though Liger Jack can combine with Galaxy Convoy as well, GC needs his shiny armor. And shiny it is! Read on to find out if this plane is worthy of your collection.

Alternate Mode:
The alt mode is a plane of indeterminate type, with slightly off-kilter wings... instead of being straight, the design leans upwards a bit like a fighter, but from his size he looks more like a carrier. With a lot of weapons.

The main color here is white, with red and black as secondary and a bit of chrome. The chrome is nice, but I don’t know how long it will last... hopefully better than Skybyte’s or RID Prime. He also has the Vanguard team symbol, though he has no connection to them on the show.

The detailing is very nice, as is the the use of colors, and the plane decals are a nice touch. I especially like the wings next to the Vanguard logo.

There are some bad points though: you can see the legs clearly on this mode, and the connection of the legs/small wings on the back is very poorly done. Instead of giving us a peg, the back wings are connected to the center small piece via a rail of sorts. This is the first time I've seen this kind of thing on a mainstream Transformers line, and hopefully the last (Alternator Grimlock has one to connect his chest piece to the body, but it's much more stable than this piece.)

In robot mode his chest piece is very noticeable, unless you look at the plane from above. Fortunately, you can move this piece to the back to make SB more disguised. The front wheel is more than an ornament... if not used, SC will topple over.

Other things of note are that the plane has a arsenal of weaponry, with eight (none-firing) missiles and one spring-loaded on either side. The miniguns form the fists in robot mode, whilst two more big machine guns can be found under the front piece of the plane. Basically, he can battle just fine!

Overall it's a nice mode, but those leg connections are really a shame. With a bit more thought, there could’ve been a better solution. The rest is more or less forgivable.

Robot Mode:
Now this is a lot nicer! SC looks like a Cybertron hero in this mode. With all that chrome in the middle, including a chromed Cybertron logo, and 2 chromed swords that can connect via 2 holes and a couple of sword handles. The articulation is superb, though some of it is blocked by the wings. The feet have the back wings I mentioned as feet, so SC looks like he has skis. On the plus side, they keep him balanced in many poses. His eyes are horribly painted. The green passes the visor a bit, making the visor look smaller than it should. From the pictures I've seen, this isn’t a one-off manufacturer's error.

The small machine guns are now his hands, and you can move one of the guns in and one half in, so it will look like he has 5 fingers with one being smaller to emulate a thumb or a pinkie. I like that the white is mostly on the back and he is mostly black and red now, but the yellow stuff is unnecessary -- especially the two hip joints. It's not noticeable in pictures, but it could’ve been kept more simply plain black or white.

ou can detach the 2 missile launchers (the ones that fire) and attach them instead of the sword handles. In my opinion, the swords look cooler.

Overall, the robot mode is nicer, but also not without problems. But Sonic Bomber has one more trick to pull off his sleeve..

Sonic Convoy:
At first, all I heard was bad things about this combination. The point that everyone had most difficulty arguing is that Galaxy Convoy’s super mode looks good as it is. They're right, and I was HAPPY, plus I have no room for another trailer on my shelves. But me and my stupid curiosity, I had to try it out for myself. And I loved it.

The torso looks great, though a tad oversized. The white wings clash with the red/blue/grey color wise, but manage to do their job. The mini guns on the shoulders look great. And the two swords really look like they were made for this mode. So Sonic Convoy still looks like a guy you don’t want to mess with, only now he is armed for some melee combat as well!

Force chip / Gimmicks:
The non-ignition gimmick SC has is a lights and sounds one. (Note that batteries aren’t included.) Press the button right next to his cockpit and a machine gun firing sound will be made, along with a blinking red LED that will light the white and red nosecone a bit.
Insert the chip in to ignite SC, and the nosecone will split in half, revealing more detail, a better view of the big machine guns and the LED. To use this same ignition in robot mode, you have to get the nosecone part above the head, which makes SC look very silly. The same thing needs to be done to ignite Sonic Convoy, but it looks way cooler on Sonic Convoy.

The force chip itself is the usual Seibertron one, with the usual Cybertron logo in the center.

Transformation: 7- Not hard, but troublesome. To take the guns out for the Sonic Convoy transformation, you are likely to snap a wing part off. It snaps back on, but again, troublesome. Also that leg transformation to plane mode… worst idea ever!
Durability: 7- Well, you got the Seibertron chip, that is known for the paint on the logo wearing off, you got chrome that looks good, but like all chrome is prone to chipping, and you got that gun in combined mode mentioned in the transformation paragraph. Other than that, he is a survivor.
Fun: 10- Transformation to Galaxy Convoy boosts this to 10. Without it he is 7.5, cool plane mode, and a nice robot mode.
Price: 7- 35 to 40 dollars, like all of Galaxy force ultras. I’d say wait for the Cybertron version, but I don’t know if they will release him with all this chrome, and that shining really makes a difference.
Overall: 8- Just for protocol: If it wasn’t the combination between him and Galaxy Convoy, he would’ve gotten a 6.8. Sonic Bomber is mediocre as a stand alone, but Sonic Convoy is a very nice gestalt.