Legends Sonicbomber

Prelude: You’re reusing Titans Return figures for your set and need a jet Transformer? Well, there’s really just one choice: the awesome Triggerhappy mold (or the Misfire remold, to be exact). Enter Sonicbomber, who is basically Air Raid in terms of colors and personality, only much, much more Japanese. Let’s see whether the second member of the Legends EX Big Powered team can measure up to his original mold.

Robot Mode: Sonicbomber is quite an extensive retool of Misfire in robot mode, especially when it comes to the legs. Much like the original G1 figure, Sonicbomber uses the wings of his jet mode as his shins and feet, which basically gives him Iron Sheik boots. As a result he’s got no wings on his back, just the cockpit of his jet mode. It’s a very interesting design, though it does make the legs look a bit strange when looked at from the side. Also, Sonicbomber doesn’t quite have the same solid stance as the other versions of this mold due to the strange feet.

Apart from that, though, Sonicbomber is the same excellent figure that his predecessors were. Nicely articulate, nicely detailed, and the color combination works very well, too. He comes with a simple black gun, no sign of the dreaded bathtub guns, either. The new face design looks pretty good as well and there isn’t anything else to complain about here. A very nice robot mode, though I have to say that of all the various versions he might come in last. Which still puts him ahead of many, many other figures, mind you.

Alternate Mode: Sonicbomber transforms into a dart-style black jet, based very, very vaguely on the SR-71 Blackbird. He has a landing gear out front and you can mount his black gun either on top or underneath the nose. He has a cockpit for his Titan Master (see below), too. Overall the jet is okay, though the wings seem a bit small for my taste (they’d be even bigger feet otherwise, though). Again, a good jet mode, but not as good as the other variants of this mold.

What Sonicbomber has that his mold mates don’t, is, of course, the base mode. All the original G1 Powered Masters had base modes, so this Deluxe figure here – which was never designed with a base mode in mind – has to have one, too. One has to admit, though, that the designers did a surprisingly great job here. The base mode reminds me of that of Overlord with the jet nose becoming a central tower, the arms becoming side towers, and the legs becoming outriggers out front. Open up the cockpit and you even get a place for the Titan Master to stand. So bottom line here: quite possibly the best base mode ever in a Deluxe class figure not originally designed to have one.

Partner: Given the mold used, it’s no surprise that Sonicbomber is a Headmaster, of course. His Titan Master doesn’t have a name of his own, seeing as in Japan the smaller robots were the actual characters while the bigger bodies were just lifeless upgrades. He can sit in Sonicbomber’s jet mode cockpit and... yeah, that’s pretty much it.

Combination Mode: Sonicbomber can combine with his two team mates Dai Atlas and Roadfire in vehicle mode, forming the Big Powered vehicle. I’ll review Big Powered my Dai Atlas review.

Remarks: Sonicbomber was your basic happy-go-lucky, brash and cocky youngster. He served as second in command to Dai Atlas (and occasionally as his surf board, too) and is famous for taking out the massive Trypticon (or rather his much weaker and smaller reincarnated demon general version) with a head butt. Yeah, I have no idea how that could possibly have worked on the original Trypticon, either.

As mentioned above, the Triggerhappy/Misfire mold was a natural choice for Sonicbomber and the result is good. Sonicbomber is a pretty unique design (as much as he can be, given that he’s a remold) with his big feet and the fact that he has a pretty good base mode is in itself a feat. Still, of all the various versions of the mold he is my least favorite and among the Big Powered team, too, he comes third for me. Which doesn’t really matter as he was part of a set, not a stand-alone figure, but I wanted to put that out there. A good figure, but only recommended as part of the Big Powered team.

Rating: B-