Allegiances: Autobot (Generation 2)
Set Price: $100 (U.S.)

(NOTE: Because this set is composed of repaints, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the set and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original versions of these molds. For a review on the mass-release Air Raid, go here. For a review on the mass-release Firefly-- the mold used for both Firefly and Quickslinger-- go here. For a review on the mass-release Powerglide, go here. For a review on the mass-release Silverbolt, go here. For a review on the mass-release Skydive, go here.)
 

Air Raid (G2)

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, blue, silver, and some gray, black, and dark dull red
Individual Rating: 8.4

    Air Raid's G2 color scheme is pretty well-updated for this toy, with his most obvious color change being a swap-out of the original's black for a rather moderate shade of blue that looks quite good, even when used in large amounts like on the jet mode. Luckily, there's at least some paint apps to break up the blue, such as the silver cockpit windows and the rather nice and unique dull red "diamond" patterns on the main wings and on the vertical tailfins. Additionally, there's "2"s on his tailfins and one of his wings, with a G2 Autobot symbol on the other wing (and another, smaller, G2 Autobot symbol on the right shoulder in robot mode). It's definitely a very "90s"-style pattern in terms of TFs, and it looks fairly good, though making the red just a touch lighter would've popped a bit more, methinks. Air Raid's main weapon and hand/foot/gun accessory are also made of the same blue as most of his jet mode. In robot mode, the color scheme mostly changes, with the blue becoming more of a "framing" color scheme around what is largely a white and gray/silver robot mode. The white contrasts with the blue extremely well, to the point where I wish the two were "up against" each other more, instead of one of the colors dominating each mode. The silver paint apps on the missiles, chest, face, fists, knees, and feet help to add some contrast, although it doesn't add as much as the medium gray plastic on the elbows and middle of the chest/combiner port. Still, more colors were needed in this mode; beyond the blue "framing" of the jet mode, Air Raid looks a bit too monochrome here. Some red or a few blue paint apps would've helped-- as it is, I think this version has a slightly better-looking jet mode compared to the mass release, but his robot mode is a little bit duller-looking.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Air Raid.
 

Firefly (G2)

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, moderately light red, and some blue, silver, sky blue, black, and light pale yellow
Individual Rating: 8.5

    Firefly (Fireflight)'s G2 color scheme was rather similar to his G1 scheme, so out of all the toys in this boxset, Firefly is easily the least-changed from his mass release version. In fact, at a casual glance (particularly in robot mode), with the exception of the accessories (which are blue now, not black), one could easily be forgiven for thinking that nothing's changed. However, the most obvious change is with the wings and tailfin in vehicle mode, which have had the stripes replaced with a REALLY cool-looking "flames eating away at black lines" paint app on each, along with the number "3" on the right wing and sides of the tailfin. On his left wing, he has a G2 Autobot symbol (along with one on the left side of his robot chest). I really love these paint apps, as they're so unique and, of course, help emphasize the "fire" in Firefly. Another major-- yet, actually, minor-- thing is that Firefly's red plastic has been changed. It's actually slightly lighter than on the mass-release, but you'd only really notice if you put them next to each other. By and large, the trade-off for the awesome flame paint apps on the wings is a slightly less colorful robot mode. Firefly still has a bit of blue on the right side of his chest and in his eyes, but the blue paint apps on his chest and the black on his knees is gone, replaced by silver (along with some additional silver paint lining the chest). The bits of gray plastic on the mass-release are also gone, replaced with more white plastic. He also has some silver paint on his hands now and on his lower legs, so at least that's good. All in all however, this version is so close to the original I don't really prefer one version over the other.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Firefly.
 

Powerglide (G2)

Size: Legend
Difficulty of Transformation to Robot: Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Weapon: Easy
Color Scheme: Light milky gray, light red, and some black and sky blue
Individual Rating: 7.6

    Powerglide here is a great homage to... waitaminute, there never WAS a G2 Powerglide toy! To correct for this... "oversight", Hasbro more-or-less flipped Powerglide's normal colors and made his red a bit lighter to make it more "G2-ish". For the most part, the light gray takes the place of the original's red, and the red takes the place of the original CW toy's tan. The light red is a pretty nice color, being just a BIT bright and thus making the toy fit right in with a G2 color scheme even if it's not actually homaging an actual G2 toy. It's also used JUST enough that it doesn't make the toy overly bright, but also breaks up all the gray well enough. (That said, I think the choice of using the light red on Powerglide's face was a bit of an ugly call.) If the gray were a more metallic shade-- or especially if it were painted silver-- I'd love the color scheme overall, but as it is it's that bland milky shade I wish Hasbro would just get rid of on TFs altogether. This choice is the reason I think this version looks inferior to the original CW Powerglide toy. That said, there is some black here and there to give Powerglide a much-needed dark color-- namely, on the windows, gun, missile pack details, and a bit on the robot waist. There's also just a touch of sky blue for an accent color on the weapon mode targeting reticle, on the waist, and on Powerglide's eyes. It looks good against the black and contrasts well against the red, but it doesn't really contrast enough with the gray to do much with that. There's also a nice dull yellow-and-red G2 Autobot symbol on Powerglide's chest, which looks great and also helps break up the gray more in robot mode.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Powerglide.
 

Quickslinger (G2)

Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation to Robot: Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Leg: Very Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Arm: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Dull goldish brown, blue, silver, and some black, white, and light pale yellow
Individual Rating: 8.7

    The actual G2 Slingshot/Quickslinger toy, unfortunately, basically no longer exists-- it's a rather infamous victim of Gold Plastic Syndrome, and many have crumbled. That makes this updated version all the more appreciated, especially since (apparently) Hasbro has fixed GPS. In keeping with his doomed G2 toy, this version of Quickslinger is mostly a goldish brown-- I would have appreciated a bit more of a "metallic" shade to the plastic, but otherwise it's about as close as you can get to gold while not being paint. It's a pretty good color, and really makes Quickslinger contrast well against the other G2 Aerialbots. The black-- mostly visible in robot mode-- makes for a nice dark contrast color. The blue used for his weapons-- as well as on some paint apps, like his fists, knees, feet, head, and the left side of his chest-- contrasts especially well against the gold, and pops pretty well. There's also a good amount of silver-- not only on the cockpit windows, but also on nearly the entire main body, as well as the robot face-- and, of course, silver and gold always go well together. To give him some more of that "G2" vibe, Quickslinger has-- of all things-- tiger stripes on his wings and tailfin, with blue fading to white fading to pale yellow behind said stripes. It's pretty bizarre on a jet, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't look good against the gold. In keeping with the other Aerialbots, Quickslinger has a G2 Autobot symbol on his left wing and on his chest (on the left side), and "4"s on his right wing and on the sides of his tailfin, as well. Color-wise, Quickslinger is definitely my favorite Aerialbot in this boxset.
    Quickslinger has the same headsculpt his exclusive solo release version had, but no mold changes have been made specifically for this version of the character.
 

Silverbolt (G2)

Size: Voyager
Difficulty of Transformation to Robot: Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Torso: Medium
Color Scheme: Blue, red, and some black, silver, metallic gold, white, moderately dark dull red, light red, dark blue, and light metallic silvery blue
Individual Rating: 9.0

    Given that Silverbolt is the "nexus" of the G2 Aerialbots in combiner mode, it's only fitting that he has blue-- the most common color among them-- as his main color, along with a good amount of red plastic in robot mode to boot. The shade of red is just a tad on the light end, enough to look "G2" but not bright enough to look outright garish. The red paint is noticeably lighter than the red plastic, though, and there's a THIRD duller shade of plastic used for his shoulder ratchets for unknown reasons-- plastic sturdiness, I guess? It's a little disconcerting, but not a huge deal. Needless to say, the blue and red contrast against each other very well, though in vehicle mode much of the red is "hidden". To help Silverbolt still look interesting in vehicle mode, he's got a nice amount of light metallic silvery blue paint sprayed across the top of the nosecone and middle of the jet-- not only does this add a bit more contrast, but it helps justify the "silver" in Silverbolt's name, of course. He's also got some nice decals that help him fit in with the rest of his fellow Aerialbots, such as an angular checkered blue-and-white paint app along his long nosecone, unique angular designs on his wings, and "5"s on the sides of his tailfin, as well as on his right wing. (He has G2 Autobot symbols on his left wing, the right side of his combiner chest, and his robot chest.) He's also got a bit of black, mostly used for his weapon but also used for the Superion head, Silverbolt's fists and nosecone, and a few other minor pieces. In robot mode he has some more straightforward silver coloring on both his combiner and regular robot head. To help him fit in a bit thematically with Quickslinger he has some nice metallic gold paint on Superion's visor and antennae. On his robot head, the combination of the blue head, the slight smirk on his face, and his blazing red eyes make him look eeeevil, though. Kinda creepy.
    At first glance, Silverbolt doesn't appear to have any mold changes, but the lower midsection of the Superion torso mode-- which could break somewhat easily on the original version-- has been reinforced a bit for this release, fixing that QC issue.
 

Skydive (G2)

Size: Deluxe
Difficulty of Transformation to Robot: Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Leg: Very Easy
Difficulty of Transformation to Arm: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Light milky gray, blue, silver, and some gray, black, white, dark metallic blue, red, and metallic charcoal black
Individual Rating: 8.0

    "G2" Skydive here has a color scheme that is generally the reverse of "G2" Air Raid's, with light milky gray being the main color in his vehicle mode, while in robot mode blue-- the same shade as the weapons and accessories of the other Aerialbots-- becomes more apparent. Unfortunately, in vehicle mode the light milky gray plastic is quite prevalent and is that very boring shade of the color, but Skydive thankfully has some really cool faded "checkered" paint apps on the tops of his wings and his top tailfins-- on the wings these are bordered by a nice shade of dark metallic blue paint. It really helps to make "yet another jetformer" rather unique, and is definitely a little '90s. As with the rest of the deluxe Aerialbots, Skydive has G2 Autobot symbols on his left wing and on the left side of his chest (or shoulder, rather), along with "1"s on his right wing and on the sides of his tailfins. In robot mode, Skydive looks considerably better with his overall scheme, with his arms, middle of the chest and head, feet, and upper legs and waist all done up in that nice medium shade of blue that's so prevalent in this set. Most of the gray is on the jet parts and out of the way. The best part, though, is that what "gray" there is in this mode-- his lower legs, his chest, his shoulders, his fists, part of his face-- is all silver paint! It looks really snazzy particularly where it's used a lot, and just looks sooo much better than light gray plastic would've. A couple of small additional notes-- Skydive has some metallic glossy charcoal black paint on his cockpit, which looks great against the gray; and, to differentiate his weapon from Air Raid's, his dual-barreled blaster has been colored a medium gray.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Skydive.
 

Superion (G2) [Combined Form]

Individual Rating: 9.2

    Superion is actually one of the few G2 combiners that's colorful, but not so bright it'll leave stars in your vision. Most of the toy is pretty cohesive-- the red fits together Silverbolt, Firefly, and Powerglide thematically; the blue Air Raid, Skydive, and Silverbolt; and the gray Powerglide, Air Raid, and Skydive. The only "odd 'bot out" here is Quickslinger, who has all the gold on the entire gestalt except for Superion's head. All of this said, each individual component does still certainly have its own color scheme, and thus Superion is a bit more "disparate" than his mass-relase/G1 color scheme-- it's up to you if you think that's a positive or not. I'm rather neutral on the subject, myself. Since for this version the Firefly mold is used twice-- and the Skydive and Air Raid molds share a good number of parts-- you can also get a pretty good amount of symmetry going if you have one duo for the legs and one for the arms. My only complaint paint-wise with Superion is that the whole chest and waist area is a bit plain, not really having a good variety of paint apps.

    The "Generation 2" Combiner Wars giftset for Superion is a decent deal at $100 (roughly retail if you were to have bought them all separately), and he was overproduced so it's not uncommon to find him for a good bit cheaper than that. Personally I think, overall, that the color schemes pop a bit more on the individual 'bots, and thus I like these versions over the mass-release versions, in general. As for which version you should go after: If you want to pick up all the "traditional" Aerialbots in one fell swoop and like a diverse array of colors and some out-there paint apps, this is the set for you. If, however, you want the team to have a more unified color scheme or are really against having more than one of the same mold used for the team, I'd go with the mass-release Aerialbots.

Reviews by Beastbot

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