The name or term "Air Raid" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Air Raid (disambiguation).
The name or term "Fireflight" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Fireflight (disambiguation).
This article is about the Autobot jet fighter from the Fall of Cybertron game franchise. For the other Autobot jet fighter of the same name from the preceding game, see Air Raid (WFC).
That Autobot sigil on his chest seemed like a good idea at the time, but he forgot to check how it'd look in jet mode.
Air Raid's fascination with the natural beauty of his surroundings causes him to be distracted enough to severely impair his gunnery skills. He makes up for this with copious amounts of flak, hoping that will prevent the enemy from advancing.
Part of the third wave of 2012Generations Deluxe Class toys, Fall of Cybertron Air Raid is a redeco and retool of Fall of CybertronShockwave, with a new head, chest, and weapons. Transforming into a "Cybertronian mobile artillery" mode, he comes with a small hand-held sword that's based on the one used by Megatron in Fall of Cybertron, which can be mounted onto a 5mm post on top of the jet in vehicle mode. The sword has a 5mm handle, as well as a peg-hole on the hollow side of the hilt.
Additionally, the front center fuselage of the vehicle actually splits into two weapons, with the front "cannon" piece turning into a large sword, and with said weapon being attached to a double-barreled gun. The gun is a retool of Shockwave's triple-barreled gun, replacing the third barrel with a set of slots and grooves that allow the larger sword to be attached as a sort of bayonet. The instructions tell you to mount gun onto the 5mm peg-hole on his back, but it can still be mounted into one of his forearms when either hand is flipped in, giving the appearance of integrated weaponry. Both weapons use 5mm posts, and the large sword features a peg-hole on top.
As a feature that was called out in the packaging, yet not documented in the instructions, both swords can also combine into a "triple blade" sword, with the smaller sword splitting at the blade, and the hilt being pegged into the larger sword's post. While the stock photography depicts all three weapons as being part of this combination, with the smaller sword being pegged into the gun's post, a small tab beside the hilt's peg-hole actually prevents the gun's post from pegging in securely, thus suggesting that this is not the intended configuration. Since the packaging call-out specifically mentions that the swords combine to form this weapon, the photos given only depict the combined form of the swords.
The TakaraTomy version of Air Raid features a different color layout, being primarily black with the red and gold details placed in different areas.
Notes
Air Raid's colors, personality, and pre-production name indicate that he is intended to be an homage to Generation 1 Fireflight, yet the name was revealed at San Diego Comic-Con 2012 to have been changed to Air Raid. Given that the KreonMicro-Changer figure of Fireflight has also been renamed, this time to "Firestrike," trademark issues are likely to blame.
