Airazor (BW)
| This article is about the Beast Wars Maximal. For the Armada Autobot, see Airazor (Armada). |
- Airazor is a Maximal from the Beast Era portion of the Generation 1 continuity.
Primarily used for recon and surveillance due to her falcon beast mode, Airazor's talents are a great asset to the Maximal cause. She's calm and confident, but also adventurous and brave, with a healthy supply of dry humor. Her aerial skill in either mode, incredibly sharp eyesight and steady aim make her a dangerous opponent.
She has a developing relationship with her fellow Maximal Tigatron. She also sees Rhinox as something of a father-figure.
(Note: In the Japanese dub of Beast Wars, Airazor was turned into a boy as a means to (hopefully) increase toy-sales. For the TV series, his relationship with Tigatron was played off somewhat differently to avoid complaints of homosexuality. Tigatron was presented as a samurai retainer with protective feelings towards his young ward; their closeness addressed in a "brotherly" sort of way. Despite that, there was still enough innuendo left-over for the gender-bending to become unsettling. The Japanese script's near-relentless "jokey" tone didn't help.)
Spanish name: Cuchilla
French name: Serres D'Acier
Italian name: Falcon Lady
Fiction
Animated continuity
Beast Wars cartoon
Voice Actor: Pauline Newstone (US), Tetsuya Iwanaga (Japan)
Her stasis pod damaged upon crashing to Earth, Airazor was able to come online due to the genius of Rhinox and the bravery of Cheetor. Rhinox deftly opperated the stasis pod's controls and Cheetor offered up his own components to repair it [Season 1 episode "The Spark"]. Her aerial beast mode made her the only Maximal other than Optimus who could fly prior to the destruction of the Planet Buster and the events that turned Cheetor into a Transmetal. She and Tigatron started to team up more frequently, leading to them going off together to find the rest of the missing stasis pods after the destruction of the Planet Buster.
While on their search, the two Maximals discovered another Vok site and were absorbed and shot into space by the giant plant that formed after the site was triggered [Season 2 ep. "Other Visits" part 1]. The two were kept in a form of stasis until the season 3 episode "Other Victories", when they were merged together in the powerful being Tigerhawk. Tigerhawk returned to Earth as the emissary of the Vok to stop the deteriation that the Beast Wars was causing to the timestream.
After Tarantulas removed the Vok's influence from Tigerhawk's frame (and absorbed it into himself), Airazor and Tigatron's sparks inhabited Tigerhawk's body. However, it seems that Tigatron's voice and personality were dominant.
Primeval Dawn
This story revealed that despite Tigerhawk's destruction, Airrazor and Tigatron's sparks were still extant. After the Axalon crew left, Airrazor's spark was sent to Earth by the Vok and found a downed stasis pod, and was reborn into a new Transmetal form.
Along with Primal Prime and a reborn Tigatron, the reborn Airazor battled a reborn Tarantulus and a reborn Ravage.
Beast Wars Metals Manga
(Note: while the Beast Wars Metals manga picks up halfway through the Beast Wars series, it is not in-continuity with the television series.)
In the Beast Wars Metals manga, Airazor was changed into a Transmetal rather than being captured by the Vok aliens. In this manga, Airazor is a girl, presumably because her transmetal toy has boobies.
Toward the end of the manga, Airazor's spark became seperated from her body, with her body becoming host to a malevolent force. The evil Airazor did battle with Tigatron, who did not want to fight the robot he loved. With no other option, Tigatron gave the evil Airazor one of his katana and knelt down. As the evil Airazor struck him with the sword, the real Airazor's spark entered Tigatron's body. In cyber space, the two embraced and vowed never to be apart again. As their sparks merged, they became Tigerhawk.
Toys
Beast Wars
- Airazor (Basic, 1997)
- Japanese ID number: C-10
- Part of the first wave of year-two Beast Wars product, Airazor transforms into a somewhat generic falcon (or some other bird of prey). Unlike first-year Basics, Airazor's transformation is entirely manual, rather than spring-loaded. Pulling on feathers near her tail acticavtes a spring-loaded wing-movement gimmick. Each wing also has a flip-out blade. Her tail hides a non-firing blaster.
- For her (his) Takara release, she (he) was
- Airazor (Video pack-in, 1997)
- The original Airazor toy was given a similar but darker redeco, and packaged with a VHS tape containing the episodes "Aftermath" and "Coming of the Fuzors, Part 1".
- Airazor (Deluxe Transmetal, 1998/1999)
- Japanese ID number: C-44
- Transmetal Airazor transforms into a mechanical falcon, with a third "seaplane" mold with fold-down pontoons. In robot mode, the chromed beast-mode backplate can fold around her for a "shield" mode.
- Airazor (Deluxe Transmetal, 2000)
- One of the final releases of the normal Beast Wars line, Airazor's Transmetal toy was given a tweaked deco and relased as part of the so-called "Fox Kids" assortment of Deluxe Transmetal redecos. Again, her redeco was not as drastic a change from the original as the others in the series.
Trivia
- Airazor's gender in the Hasbro line is due to Beast Wars story editors Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio's insistance. The original Airazor toy wasn't developed with a specific gender in mind, and Bob & Larry wanted a larger female presence in the show, and the Airazor toy seemed as good a choice as any. They requested the change early enough that the toy's packaging bio could have its pronouns changed to female.
External Links
