Transformers - AIRAZOR!

Transformers: War For Cybertron - Kingdom Deluxe - Airazor - Hasbro 2021

I still have yet to watch any of the Beast Wars cartoons, but after reading about Airazor for this review, I'm legitimately excited to start. For those unaware, Beast Wars takes place in the future when the Maximals (Autobots) and Predacons (Decepticons) crash on Earth in the midst of their ongoing war. As they entered the atmosphere, the Maximals has to jettison many stasis pods (essentially embryonic Transformers) into the upper atmosphere for their protection. Over the course of the series, these orbiting stasis pods would fall out of orbit and both sides would race to retrieve them and imprint a new soldier for their side. Airazor was in one such pod and fell to Earth deep in Predacon territory. But luckily the Maximals found her first and she imprinted on a nearby Peregrine Falcon for her beast form. She became one of the only flying good guys. I've always been aware of this characters, but her design never read as "female" to me so I never hunted down any toys. But this new Kingdom figure proved hard to resist.

In my mind, this figure could be tweaked in a few subtle ways to make her look more female. But, I suppose since this figure will also be marketed in Japan (where she was later re-dubbed as a male character). So at least this androgynous design she looks both cartoon accurate and will appeal to all audiences. Also, it should be noted that Beast Wars was made in Canada and aired in English-speaking countries first before being dubbed for Eastern audiences. Quite a change from other iterations of Transformers.

I want to take a minute to acknowledge that I am now very aware that 90% of the robot mode pics on this page have Airazor's feet backwards. She's meant to have the talons facing backwards and her little human-sized feet forward. I personally like her better with the talons facing forward, but I realize it's technically incorrect. The next two pics are the only ones with the feet in the correct position.

Airazor's wings are highly articulated and can be folded-up or spread-out is a variety of poses.

Airazor also comes with two blaster guns. These are primarily shown as being attached to her forearms, but I prefer her holding them like pistols so her arms and torso don't look so bulky..

Her beast mode is pretty amazing. The wings can also be folded up neatly at her sides like a perched falcon (not shown). My only wish is that it actually looked like a Peregrine falcon as opposed to a generic bird of prey.

The next two images are the basis of my recent obsession with Airazor. In September I finally got ahold of a copy of Synergy #1, a prestige-format one-shot from IDW comics spotlighting the female comic talent and characters in the Hasbro shared universe. There are original short story comics from G.I.Joe, Jem, My Little Pony, and Transformers. One of the short stories is all about Airazor and it made me really appreciate the character for the first time.

Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!

Here is Kingdom Airazor with the 2016 Botcon Airazor (a repaint of Slipstream).

And here she is with the other Kingdom Beast Wars lady, Blackarachnia.

Cheers!