Allegiances: Autobot
Price: $50 (U.S.)
 

Aerobolt

Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Milky semi-metallic blue, light milky gray, and some moderately light blue and orangish "cheesy" yellow
Individual Rating: 3.6

    As with most Mini-Con Weaponizers, I'll start with Aerobolt's "robot" mode first, as so many of my comments about his alt mode tie into his robot mode. Although really, Aerobolt's robot mode is a beast mode-- he's a bird. Like with many birdformers, the legs are a little awkward-- it's like Hasbro doesn't know how to get bird legs correctly below a bird that still becomes a robot (though... this one doesn't become a robot, so that excuse is gone). The legs stick out at a bit of an awkward angle to the rest of the toy, and his feet in particular are a bit large proportionally, as well. The main bird body is pretty good overall, however. The wings may be a TAD small and flat, but those are pretty minor in comparison to the feet. His head is pretty well-sculpted, but straightforward-- it's a streamlined bird head, not much else to say about it. The mold detailing on the body is fairly basic, with the Weaponizer-usual gear around the allegiance symbol, along with some basic armor plating-like details. There's also little tailfeathers poking out the back end. The mold detailing in the wings is great, with fan details in the center and fairly intricate (for RID2015, anyway) blade-like feathers on the ends. The color scheme is pretty basic-- the main color is a milky blue, but it's a semi-metallic blue with a good amount of glitter in it. It's a pretty decent shade. Unfortunately, the only other major color-- used for the legs, tailfeathers, and back-- is that very blah light milky gray. Beyond that, the Autobot symbol has been painted red, the beak is a orangish yellow, and the eyes are somewhat light blue-- though I wish the eyes were lighter, as it's difficult to even tell they're painted under normal lighting. For articulation, Aerobolt can move his neck up-and-down, his feet back-and-forth at the point where they intersect with the body, and his wings can rotate around the shoulders where they connect to the body. It's all used for Aerobolt's transformation, but it still means that Aerobolt is a heck of a lot more articulated in this mode than the other Power Surge Mini-Cons.
    Aerobolt is the leader of the Weaponizer Mini-Cons in the show, but the toy... doesn't actually turn into a weapon. Instead, by just moving Aerobolt's points of articulation to the opposite end that they are in beast mode you get his... chest armor mode. Yeeaaah, this mode is pretty weak. It looks like he got run over on the street and is roadkill. The fans on the wings do work fairly well, as do the extra little bits of wings on the sides, but otherwise it's pretty obviously a flattened bird. And even with the fans, they're partially covered by the bird feet in front of them.
 

Optimus Prime

Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Dark milky blue, very light gray, milky semi-metallic red, transparent blue, light milky gray, and some white, black, metallic black, light electric blue, silver, and semi-metallic milky blue
Individual Rating: 4.0

    Optimus Prime's vehicle mode for this large "Power Surge" version is... well... is it really fair to call it a vehicle? I mean, there is the RID2015-usual cab section there in the front, sure. But it's far too short proportionally and the back 80-85% of this vehicle mode is VERY obviously just the robot mode parts folded up into a vaguely rectangular shape. Putting wheels on the bottom of the legs near the back doesn't really help this. I guess(?) the large wing bits are some lame attempt to try to cover this up, but they don't work, especially since they're above the arms they're supposed to cover a fair bit. Basically beyond the front cab section, you've got a fairly solid square-ish section, but that doesn't look like anything. Behind that there's some very obvious inside portions of clips with some unsightly rectangular holes in them, and some bits sticking out near the bottom that almost threaten to interfere with the rolling of the toy. Behind that, you've got the wing sections (deployed in robot mode) that sit on the top, about an inch or so above VERY obvious robot shoulders and arms that just sit there not even really trying to be hid, and on the bottom you've got the legs clearly there on the bottom, with the upper legs not fitting in very well with the surrounding areas and the feet just hanging off the back end, not even really trying to blend in with the rest of the mode beyond some minor unpainted taillight mold detailing on their bottoms. As a whole, the mold detailing for this mode is the RID2015-typical of being fairly minimal, beyond some stylized lines here and there. There's some nifty angular, ice chip-like details on the wings, the usual RID2015 trio of divots on the front hood, extremely small and warped side doors, and the usual angular front grill details. The wheels also have some small bolts molded onto them, which is nice. The rest of this mode is pretty much just ridges n' such "left over" from the robot mode. The vehicle mode has some classic bits of Optimus Prime in them, with dark blue mostly on the back end for the lower legs and arms, and some red on the front cab section and a bit at the front sides. The dark blue plastic is pretty typical, but that red is a pretty nifty shade, with some glittery swirls mixed in to make it semi-metallic in shade. The middle section is mostly a very light (almost white) shade of gray plastic that helps add some more "light" to the color scheme, and looks pretty decent if not amazing. Unfortunately there's also that very blah light milky shade of gray plastic used on Optimus' feet, fists, and upper legs as well. The wing pieces are a pretty cool translucent blue, along with much of the sword that is held in between his fists, essentially "slotted into" the middle of this mode (the hilt of the sword is more of that blah milky gray). There's also a bit of black plastic on the wheels and on an activation lever on the top. As for paint, there's not much aimed at just this mode; just a bit of metallic black on the windows and silver on the front grill. There's a port on the top of the front roof to plug in Aerobolt if you want, but it's a pretty weird place to plug him in, up there. None of the other holes in this mode that look like they could hold Aerobolt are deep enough, unfortunately. It should also be noted that the translucent pieces of the wings have VERY shallow clips that attach them to the off-white lower wings, and come off at the drop of a hat. It's EXTREMELY annoying, moreso because this is a toy that's supposed to aimed at a younger audience of Transfan.
    Optimus' transformation to robot mode is fairly straightforward, though not quite as straightforward as most of the smaller Power Surge toys. Rotate up the arms from the side and plug the shoulders in; rotate lower body around at the waist, separate the legs, and fold out the legs; and then flip back the cab section. Especially in comparison to the cab mode, this mode looks pretty darned good, except for the incredibly obvious cab section that doesn't even fold all the way down behind his back-- Hasbro really didn't allow for ANY intergration between the two modes on this toy, did they? The wings hang off behind the waist and legs in a fairly unsightly manner in this "unactivated" state. The proportions are quite good overall in this mode, looking like a slightly more beefed-up, wide-shouldered Optimus, though his lower legs are just a TAD flat when looked at from a side angle. He's got some pretty good articulation too-- he can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), elbows, wrist and waist rotation, and movement at the hips (at two points), knees (at two points), and tilts at the ankles. I mean, that's better than many Warrior toys, there. It should be noted, however, that Optimus' feet are quite floppy, particularly the back ends, and worst of all, the ratchets in his hips feel VERY weak and cheap. Heck, despite being careful, I broke one of them very shortly after transforming the toy. This is just absolutely inexcusable on a $50 toy aimed at young kids, who of course aren't going to handle the toy as carefully as I do. The color scheme is much better and more varied in this mode, with the dark blue and light milky gray breaking up most of the toy, with the off-white plasitc on his shoulders and side of his chest, with the chest itself looking really cool with white paint over translucent cool blue plastic. The mold detailing on the chest is pretty cool as well, with some linear vent details patched here and there amidst the faux headlight details on the sides. He's also got some pretty spiffy angular details on his shoulders, with some circular "power core"-like details near the center that are sprayed light blue. Like other Power Surge toys, Optimus has some light electric blue "electric circuitry" lines on his upper legs, though they don't contrast all that well against the light milky gray. There's some really eye-catching light blue paint apps on his small shoulder fins and on some details on his lower legs that are surrounded by white paint, really popping against their surroundings. The head has pretty good detailing of Optimus' maskless silver face with light blue eyes, and his side antennae on the head are impressively intricately detailed, especially for a RID2015 toy. A new plastic color has been added to this mode, as well-- a more medium shade of blue, used on his waist and on part of his upper back. It's honestly close enough to his dark blue I'm surprised that wasn't used, as overall it doesn't add much to the color scheme, though it DOES have some glittery swirls in it, making it look semi-metallic. Optimus' fists are molded with an extra tab that allows him to wield his sword quite firmly and solidly.
    Alright, onto the Power Surge noises and gimmicks. If you press in on the little piece in his waist with a hole in it, lights on the sides, center, and/or top of his chest will blink rapidly, and he'll say one of several things: "SURGIIING BLAST!", along with a firing sound; a transformation sound; a truck "powering down" sound with his center chest and top lights alternatively blinking; "Transform!" with a center light in his chest blinking; a quick blasting sound with his top chest lights blaring; "Roll out!" with his center and top chest lights alternatively blinking; "Let's settle this in the sky!" with his center and top chest lights blinking alternatively; and "Power Surge!" with his center chest and top chest lights lighting up while a "radiation" sound plays. After that, the toy will stay "on" until about 10 seconds of non-use, saying another sound clip or two, after which it will turn itself off without further use. Plug in Aerobolt into his chest and his wings will flip up, a facemask will slide up in front of his face (with some really cool light blue wing-like details on the forehead) and his chest cannons flip out from his shoulders (alternatively, you can press on a black slider on his upper back to do this manually, as often not everything works correctly automatically-- sigh). He'll also say one of several sound effects, often in a random combination-- a bird sound; "Thanks for the power upgrade!"; "Let's join forces!"; a sound of his wings opening up; and some other sounds from his non-powered up mode. (Most of the voiced sound effects come straight from Peter Cullen, but a few seem slightly "off". I don't know if I'm trying to pick apart the sounds too much or if they got a Peter Cullen fill-in for a few of the phrases.) Unfortunately, in a big departure from the other large electronic Power Surge toys, plugging in other Power Surge Mini-Cons does NOT change any of the effects, and some of them-- like Starscream's Lancelon-- don't even fit into the hole properly! Why would you have this line-wide gimmick and then not include it on the most expensive toy in the subline?!

    It's not that uncommon for me to be a bit disappointed in a Transformer, but it's VERY rare for a Transformer to actively make me ANGRY. This, unfortunately, is one of those toys. Look, you want to make an electronic, simpler Optimus Prime toy for the younger RID2015 audience that maybe makes some compromises here and there for a more fun, playable toy? Have at it. But having a toy where the vehicle mode is basically the truck front and then a bunch of robot parts making up the rear 7/8ths of the vehicle, thin wing pieces that fall off at the drop of a hat (and would ESPECIALLY annoy little kids), add cheap ratchets that can break even when you're handling him carefully, an auto-deploy gimmick that often doesn't fully work, and then include NO cross-compatibility with the other Power Surge Mini-Cons on a $50 toy? This toy is more likely to turn young kids OFF to Transformers than on to them, and that's why it makes me mad; very few things work properly. More effort (and more solid plastic) was definitely needed for this toy. He's got good proportions and articulation in robot mode but beyond that initial look in the box that's about it. Aerobolt is pretty... eh, but he's not really a big part of this toy. Not recommended except for the most hardcore Optimus completists.

Reviews by Beastbot

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