While I'm sure many will agree that the War for Cybertron series on Netflix ended with a whimper, some standout moments stood out for the better, while others stood out for the worse. One of those was Airazor, the Maximal scout that looked to borrow a bit from Tony Stark when it came to her robot mode flight. A fan favourite from the Beast Wars show, it was inevitable that she'd be in Kingdom, but after being away for so long, how does the first female Transformer on toy store shelves (with a toy that was actually designed to be female) hold up after being absent for 24 years?
One comparison to immediately draw when looking at Airazor is the wave one femme fatal, Blackarachnia, as many of the problems that Blackarachnia has in her beast mode, Airazor also has. However, like Blackarachnia, that's not an issue. Unlike female Autobots like Arcee and Chromia, the problems aren't limited to female Maximals and Predacons; very few Maximals and Predacons have beast modes that aren't compromised. Making robots out of realistic (to a certain extent) animals isn't easy compared to vehicles. Because of that, some are going to look like a crumpled up robot hiding under an animal. Airazor does not fit in her falcon mode; many exposed robot parts can easily be seen regardless of the angle you look at her. But as with Blackarachnia, I struggle to care because the features of the beast mode that are a Falcon are beautiful. I love the wingspread and all the feather detailing along with her wings and back. The falcon head looks fantastic, and even with the (albeit clunky in execution) neck movement, it doesn't take much to get it into beautiful flying positions. With all the joints in the wings, it's possible to get a somewhat convincing grounded pose out of the bird mode; however, doing this will expose the robot chest and back of the head. It's unfortunate, but there aren't many alternatives, especially as the robot mode needed the priority.
Another comparison to make to Blackarachnia is that representation of her robot mode from the show has been sparse. While Blackarachnia has had toys since Beast Wars that have been closer to her onscreen model (which in itself was heavily modified from the original toy), Airazor hasn't had that privilege. Outside of convention exclusive repaints trying to give her a vehicle alternate mode, Airazor has not been seen on shelves since 2000, which in itself was a tweaked version of her Transmetal toy. There hasn't been a toy of her look in the show due to it being drastically changed from the original toy, due to the original toy initially being a male character. This toy had something to prove, and if the robot mode were done well, many people would readily accept the beast mode compromises. This toy does not do the robot mode well; it does the robot mode almost perfectly. With one sole exception on my specific copy of the toy, I cannot find any fault in the robot mode design. It's lean. It's nimble, it's kibble free as the only parts that could be considered beast mode junk, the talons and the wings, actually improve her look, making her look even more dynamic. The head sculpts beautiful, with the only blemish on this toy being a slight quality control error misplacing one of the paint applications on her eyes. It doesn't look good when facing forward but makes for a very natural head turn position and making her look even more dynamic. The robot mode alone has put her in as one of the best figures in the Kingdom toyline so far for many people, and like Blackarachnia, she puts the recent Fembot toys to shame. Some might call this cheating, as unlike other female transformers, there's nothing inherently feminine about her design, save for potentially the face. I wouldn't be surprised if this is partly because Airazor in Japan is still a male character, which makes him one of the first openly gay Transformers characters. It's like what happened in Sailor Moon, only without turning a gay relationship into an incest relationship.
When it comes to recent female Transformers, Beasts 2, Bots 0, they're just killing it when it comes to female characters as toys. The Falcon mode is not great, requiring minimal effort to break the illusion of being a falcon. But for every issue the Falcon mode has, the robot mode makes up for and then some. I'm glad this toy is getting a second release as a Beast Wars Skywarp, though I do hope we'll get a Generations Magnaboss at some point; I miss three bot combiners. On the subject of three bot combiners (technically), I'll be reviewing Fossilizer mould number 2: Ractonite (and, if lockdown permits me, Tricranicus)
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