TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Box Art:

Sir Auros' review of: Airraid and Wind Sheer

Name: Airraid and Wind Sheer
Allegiance: Autobot and Decepticon respectively
Function: Aerial Warriors
Sub-Group: Cyberjets

I love the Generation 2 Cyberjet molds and I think their creation was a pivotal moment in the design of Transformers. I'm fairly certain that the Cyberjets were the first US released Transformers to use nothing but ball-socket joints for the major points of articulation, and that was something we saw carried on in following lines. The news that the Cyberjet molds were being repainted and released under the Universe line was great news and the two-pack and Soundwave/Space Case set soon became my two most desired purchases in the Universe line. Unfortunately, it was only very recently that I was able to acquire this two-pack and there was only one on the shelf at the time (otherwise I might have bought more), but for all the build-up, the figures certainly didn't fail to deliver.

Vehicle Mode:
I didn't have the G2 Cyberjet Air Raid figure (which shared this mold as well as name), but I did have the Decepticon version of the mold, Skyjack. Since my Skyjack figure literally lost his head a few hours after taking him out of the package, I haven't had much experience with this mold apart from the alternate mode. Airraid's alternate mode is that of a stealth bomber, and aside from not being a fan of the aesthetics of that jet, there aren't many problems with this mode. Being a Cyberjet mold though, the vehicle mode doesn't do much to hide the robot mode if you bother to just flip the thing over, and the authenticity of the vehicle mode is hampered by the huge missile and launcher serving as part of the tail. Neither of those should be a big deal though and they certainly don't hurt the toy as it looks fine on display and is a fun little jet. The paintjob looks good and the red and blue seem to suit him as an Autobot. It's also nice to see the insignias on the characters this time as they were lacking in the G2 versions.

Wind Sheer shares a mold with G2 Hooligan and has the best alternate mode out of the three Cyberjet molds. I'm not really sure what type of fighter jet the figure is based on, but I want to say F-14 or F-15. A large improvement that I noticed immediate about the figure is that the two tail fins no longer detach like they did on the G2 versions of the mold. This was a good move since there really wasn't any point in the things detaching in the first place and I lost my Hooligan's fins not too long after I lost my Skyjack's head. The paintjob is also more subdued than Hooligan's and resembles the Jetfire version's coloration. I can't really say I'm a fan of the colors, because they're so bland and black and purple or other darker colors would have been much more appealing to me. Unlike Airraid, Wind Sheer cannot store missiles on his wings and has only a single missile that has to remain loaded in the launcher, but the trade-off is that Wind Sheer's wings are mobile, just like the jet he's based on. Out of the two, Wind Sheer's alternate mode is my favorite, but I like Airraid's colors better.

Robot Mode:
Airraid's robot mode is kind of a disappointment compared to the other Cyberjets. Some of the flaws in the mold are still there and the quality of plastic doesn't seem to have improved much to help compensate for those flaws. The main problem with this mode is that the neck/shoulders area uses a design that's prone to become very loose and feels fragile when the mechanism for Space Case looks like it could have been used just as easily. It's hard to explain without going into a lot of detail, but I'm referring to the parts that are used to rotate and flip down the nose of the jet for use as the torso of the robot. The whole thing feels like it could easily be broken and it definitely loosens with each transformation. Other flaws include the hips not connecting very well to the back (the notches on the hips don't match up very well with the pegs on the back) and the arms being articulate, but with less of a range of movement than the other two Cyberjets. Airraid's way better than any G1 Seeker (Starscream/Ramjet style jets), but out of the three Cyberjet molds, it's probably the worst.

The interesting thing about this two-pack is that they packaged the worst (but still good) Cyberjet mold in with the best. Wind Sheer's mold is within my top five favorite Transformer molds ever even if he only has one hand. The figure is so well articulated and can be put in so many great poses and is a hoot to play with as well. The wing folding action is great in this mode because you can have them folded down for land mode and unfold them so he can be some sort of robot-jet hybrid on the battlefield or something. Take the missile out of the launcher and you have a badass claw…or flamethrower, whatever. The repainting makes this mode look better, because even though I liked Hooligan's loudness, I like the fact that Wind Sheer has details even more. Now the figure's hands are painted to distinguish them from the rest of the plastic and there are a lot of other parts that are colored differently from the main color now and it looks good.

Transformation: 9 - Don't hide the robot modes so well, but they had innovative designs and use of ball-socket joints.
Durability: 9 - Airraid feels kind of flimsy, but Wind Sheer's pretty solid and has been improved. The joints used also make them much more durable than most other Transformers.
Fun: 10 - Reasonably sized jets with missiles, articulated robots with missiles. What's not fun?
Price: 10 - $10 for the pair, which is actually a really good price considering the molds debuted in 1995 for $5 a piece, so you're essentially paying the same price as you would have almost 10 years ago for slightly improved goods.
Summary: 10 - If you don't buy these, your life and collection will be incomplete.