Dave's Big Adventures Transformers Rant:

     Aerobot

     Got bored staying in the apartment all weekend (temperatures over 100 F
made me reluctant to go outside), and ended up doing a little shopping.  And
lo and behold, the local Wal-Mart had Aerobot on the shelf.  No price tag on
the toy or the shelf, but fortunately it was in the main computer system (but
not in the price check system).  Didn't really want a repeat of waiting ten
minutes at the checkout line for a price check like I did when I bought the
Deluxe Zoid Dark Horn action figure.

CAPSULE

     Aerobot: About as (un)poseable as the rest of the Big Adventures
Transformers, tolerable color scheme, simple transformation and nice looking
vehicle mode.  Sound gimmick not as good as on the Tonka TFs, but does have
some variety.  Recommended.  $13.84 at Wal-Mart.

RANT

AUTOBOT: Aerobot
Altmode: Jet
Quote: See below.  }->

He streaks through the universe, doing flips and dips as the sound of his jet
engine fills the air!  Even in robot mode, Aerobot has his head in the
clouds, with wings made for soaring through the sky and glowing eyes that
give him extra sight at night!

     And yes, kinda sad that the Playskool TFs have a techspec on the
package, and Armada doesn't.  

     Packaging: A big bubble card, about as wide as a Deluxe's but taller.
Packaged in robot mode with a hole in the bubble so you can press his chest
button and hear the speech gimmick.  Held into the tray with three
twist-ties. 

     Robot Mode: A blue, light blue, silver and orange robot, very chunky and
rounded.  Stands 7" (18cm) tall at the head, and has a wingspan of 11"
(28cm).  The cockpit on the chest is orange with a red "kiddie" Autobot
symbol.  Pressing this cockpit activates the voice gimmick, which cycles
between "Transformers" and "Aerobot" as the beginning, and either "Go!",
"Power!" or "To the rescue!" as the second half.  It's not random, and cycles
regularly so that after six presses you get all the combinations.  The eyes
light up whenever Aerobot speaks.  In fact, his entire head lights up to an
extent, and you can see where the thin spots are in the blue paint along the
top of his head.
     The shoulders can lift to the sides on ratcheting hinges.  The elbows
are permanently bent about 45 degrees, and there's an upper arm swivel.
There are no hands, instead the jet turbines tip the forearms.  These
turbines spin freely.  The hips are universal joints, a ratchet hinge and a
swivel, to give the legs a good range of motion.  No knee joints or neck
joint.
     The wings are supposed to be swept up a bit in robot mode, but don't
stay in position very strongly.  To keep them from sagging, you need to have
at least one arm clicked down against the side of the body (the wings are
gear-linked, so if one rises, both rise).  The undersides of the wings are
patterned with numerous weapons (two sets of paired cannons, two rockets),
but no loose weapons.  The wingtip fuel pods have pegs that look like they
might hold Mini-Cons, but unfortunately do not.  I suppose there's probably
one or more Mini-Cons that have some bit that will fasten onto these pseudo-
pegs, but they're not PowerLinx size.

     Transformation: Peg the legs together, fold the arms down, flip the
chest up.  1-2-3, yes?  Oh, and the arms peg onto the wings, and a nosewheel
flips down.  3.5.
     In the reverse transformation, once pressure comes off a button on the
robot collarbone area, the head lights up and after a couple seconds the toy
says either "Aerobot transformation complete!" or just a longer pause and
"Transformation complete!"  This one does seem to be random, or follows a
pattern longer than about ten tries.

     Vehicle Mode: A stubby "chibi" jet mostly in light blue and silver, with
a little bit of orange and medium blue visible.  The wings don't lock back in
position, unfortunately, and tend to flop forward.  Because of the
repositioning, the wingspan is a little over 11" (29cm) in this mode.  The
jet is just under 7" (17cm) long.  It rolls along very nicely over any flat
surface on the nosewheel and the wheels built into its robot shins.
     The only sound it makes in this mode is a jet engine sound effect.  I've
listened carefully, but can detect no variation between pressings of the
button. 
     The front of the jet is painted in such a way as to give the impression
of a face.  In fact, with the jet intakes where they are, it almost looks
like a reincarnation of Beast Machines Thrust.

     Overall: It's simple, it's chunky, what do you expect?  Really the only
fault I can find with it is that the wings don't have ratchet joints to keep
them in position in each mode.  It seems pretty durable (although I'm not
going to throw it out the window to test that theory), a good toy for the
intended age group.  And not bad for thouse wayyyyyy outside the intended age
group, like me.  And it can stand next to my RoboWheels Tranz-Blaster and
mock it for being less poseable.

     Dave Van Domelen, has the Air Defense Team standing on and around the
Tranz-Blaster, but they might be planning to graffiti it or something....