Allegiance: Autobot
Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation to Robot: Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Leg: Very Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Arm: Very Easy
Color Scheme: White, black, and some semi-metallic orange, dull metallic bronzish brown, light milky gray, and blue
Rating: 8.2

    Alpha Bravo is the new Aerialbot on the team, and his alt mode is a helicopter. An... oddly long helicopter, at that. I realize that a good part of this is so that he'll be the same length as other Combiner Wars deluxes in his limb modes, but in this mode he just looks off a bit because of that extra length. The robot arms are also painfully obvious on the sides-- the hands are partially covered up by three molded-in missiles on each side, but it doesn't do a good enough of a job. From the back end you can also see just a little of Alpha Bravo's head and upper chest, but that's a minor issue compared to the other two. These negatives aside, this mode otherwise looks great and is fairly well-proportioned. The mold detailing is quite well-done, with all the little lines and such across a helicopter that you'd expect, along with a few extra little details like the gear teeth-like details on the robot shoulders and the pistons on the rotors. Speaking of said rotors, they rotate pretty freely in this mode and there aren't any clearance issues, so no worries there. Alpha Bravo borrows his general color scheme heavily from the Aerialbot he's replacing (Slingshot/Quickslinger), and is mostly a rather simple color scheme of white and black in this mode. If that were all he'd be rather boring, but the blue stripes along the side really contribute quite well to the color scheme and make him more visually interesting, and the dull bronze-brown on the missiles adds a little extra color as well. The angular cockpit windows are also painted, which looks great against the white. I do wish his tail rotor had a bit of paint, but otherwise he's pretty well-covered in this mode, even if I wish his color scheme was a bit more original overall. He doesn't have landing gear, but you can stick the hand-foot-gun accessory that all CW deluxes have into a port on the underside to give him a "stand" of sorts. (This accessory has gatling guns on the toes/knuckles-- one of my favorite variations on this basic weapon design.) Alpha Bravo also has a more "normal" gun, which can fit into one of the 5mm ports on either side of this mode, near the top to the rear of the rotor.
    One important about Alpha Bravo's transformation-- when pulling the kneecap-tabs out from their slots on the top of the vehicle mode, be a bit careful. Doing it too fast can cause the tab section to break off, which is unfortunately what happened with mine (hence why I'm using someone else's pictures in this review). Alpha Bravo's robot mode is... certainly a "pre-tool" for Vortex! Alpha Bravo is generally quite well-proportioned in this mode, with decently thick arms and well-proportioned head and chest. His legs look alright, albeit with a few weaknesses-- they look too skinny from a strictly head-on view, and from the side on the interior, there's a bit of unsightly gap below where the halves of his lower legs peg together. Most of the helicopter bits get out of the way or-- even better-- make Alpha Bravo's silhouette more unique in this mode. I love how the rear fins and tail rotor fold back and sit behind his upper back without getting in the way of any articulation. (The end of the tail rotor can also rotate, if you want to have his tailfin pointing left or right.) The way the front section of the helicopter either folds up onto the sides of his lower legs or becomes his feet is also a nice use of those vehicle bits. The sole exception to this are the rotors, which fold up behind his back a bit, but don't peg in anywhere. Given how obviously loose the rotor is for spinning, this means it tends to get out of its set position very easily and swing around in an unsightly and slightly annoying manner. As for the detailing, Alpha Bravo's headsculpt is extremely well-done and crisp, with a nice blue visor, and the orange on the middle crest and faceplate look nice-- even if it is very very obviously Vortex's headsculpt, to be reused later down in the line. The sculpting on his chest looks decent enough as well, though given that so few parts are visible just in this mode, largely the helicopter detailing carries over to this mode. The colors that are added are a bit of light milky gray and a rather nice shade of semi-metallic orange. The latter contrasts very well with the black and complements the white well enough. The light milky gray I honestly could've done without-- having more black or white in its place-- as it doesn't really contribute anything to the scheme and is just a bleh color. For articulation, Alpha Bravo can move at the neck (including clearance for him to look skywards a fair amount), shoulders, elbows (at two points), waist, hips (at two points), and knees. I wish his knees had a slightly better range of movement, but otherwise he's quite poseable, considering that he's not back-heavy or anything. Of note is that Alpha Bravo's two "storage" 5mm ports for his weapons are still accessible in this mode, on his backpack behind his shoulders, if you don't want him to always be wielding them.

    Alpha Bravo's arm mode is basically his robot mode with the head folded in and the combiner port folded out, the knees pegged together, the arms pegged in at the sides, and the hand piece inserted into the port at the bottom of the feet. The lower part of this mode looks great-- the arm is slim but still pretty proportional, and the helicopter cockpit sections stay out of the way quite well. That said-- though the tail rotor section stays out of the way of movement and gives a nice shoulder silhouette-- the robot arms are really darned obvious on the sides of the shoulder, and block the elbow articulation some. Worse still, the section of the helicopter with the rotor on it doesn't really fold out of the way much and is a bit of an eyesore, made more annoying by the aforementioned fact that his rotors don't peg in anywhere. As is typical, the robot waist forms a sort of elbow joint, and he has the usual articulation of a CW deluxe arm mode-- two points of movement at the shoulder, elbow at two or three points depending upon which side of his lower arm is facing forward, wrist rotation, movement at the base of the thumb (at two points), and movement at the knuckle part of each of his four fingers (all as one piece).
    The leg mode for Alpha Bravo is more similar in its construction to the arm mode than you'd expect. The only real difference is that the robot legs aren't folded out and, of course, the front part of the helicopter has the hand/foot/gun accessory attached in foot mode. Alpha Bravo makes for a pretty sturdy-- if slightly slim-looking-- leg. The helicopter tail rotor piece "covers up" the knee combiner port decent well, particularly if you rotate it to the side. That said, just like in arm mode, the rotors don't lock in anywhere, and the robot mode arms are painfully obviously sticking out at the sides, though given the form of the leg this latter issue isn't as annoying here as it is in arm mode. He has the same articulation as pretty much any other CW deluxe in this mode-- that is, rotation at the foot/ankle and two points of movement at the knee.
    It's nice to have an Aerialbot limb who isn't another jet with the same old transformation, so I totally understand why Hasbro went with Alpha Bravo as the main-line release fourth Aerialbot limb, to vary up Superion a bit more. As for Alpha Bravo himself, he's fairly middle-of-the-road for a CW limb-- his robot mode is largely excellent, as is his pretty solid leg mode. On the flip side, though solid-looking his heliocopter mode is a bit too oddly long with obvious arms, and his arm mode is his weakest mode, having too much junk that get in the way around the shoulders. Mildly recommended, though I wish for a new character Hasbro had been a bit more original than "Vortex with Slingshot's color scheme". Also be sure to be mindful during transformation of the easy breakage points at the robot knee pegs.

Pre-mission psych-screening report by Rung, Autobot Psy-Ops Specialist:
The newest member of the Aerialbots and the only member that is not a jet plane. His assault helicopter mode gives the team a member with VTOL and hovering capabilities, which makes up for the fact that he cannot match his teammates' top speed. Being the "new guy" and the slowest flyer of the group makes him feel like he has something to prove. Carries six tracker missiles equipped with a "spark lock," making them nearly impossible for targets to outmaneuver. With fellow Aerialbots, forms Superion.
CONCLUSION: Cleared for mission.

HISTORY (extracted from compulsory biographical download):
The newest member of the team, Alpha Bravo was added to the squad to replace a fallen Aerialbot. His eagerness to prove himself may lead to him taking greater risks in combat and attempting to drive a gestalt formation to do the same. But his presence is critical to allow the team to form Superion, the combined form of the Aerialbots.

Review by Beastbot

(Pics from Bwtf.com)

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