Combiner Wars Alpha Bravo

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So there's a new member of the Aerialbots, the guy pictured above.  He was introduced a few months ago in the pages of IDW's Transformers: Robots in Disguise as a potential replacement member for any of the damaged Aerialbots.  Well, we know that there is in fact a beyond repair Aerialbot - Slingshot.  There's some sort of trademark issue there, so goodbye Slingshot, hello Alpha Bravo!

Alpha Bravo is a Deluxe sized figure.  His legs are highly reminiscent of Classics Astrotrain, so much so that I originally thought that they were just ripped from him.  That is until I had to transform him into helicopter mode.  His head sculpt is very accurate to his one comic appearance.  What I like the most about this guy are the missiles on his arms.  Nothing like added weaponry.

Aside from arm mounted missiles that aren't removable, Alpha Bravo comes with a rifle.  Just exactly what kind of rifle, I have no clue since tech specs seem to be a thing of the past now.  Seriously, there's like a sentence on the back of his package that tells you what you need to know about Alpha Bravo.  Even the card that comes with Alpha Bravo is, while admittedly awesome, just a picture on the front and a giant Autobot logo on the back.  It's a bit odd.  I like the card, as it reminds me of the Takara tech spec cards, but there should be something on the back.

There is much more articulation on Alpha Bravo than I anticipated.  Maybe it's because I'm really only accustomed to the G1 Scramble City style fusilateral quintrocombiners, or it could be that the last Deluxe figures I got had reduced points.  He can twist at the waste, bend at the knees and his head turns and looks up and down.  Alpha Bravo also comes with a large cannon.  The large cannon can transform into either a fist or a foot, which is an ingenious little marvel and upgrade over the old foot/fist deal of the original Scramble City parts.

Alpha Bravo transforms into an attack helicopter.  This will of course be re-purposed as Vortex and possibly Blades later on down the line.  If this is used for Blades, I will be highly disappointed.  For what it's worth, I highly enjoy this mode.

Featuring the best use of the foot/fist thing of all the Aerialbots so far, Alpha Bravo's can be attached to the bottom of the helicopter.  This makes for a nice pedestal. 

Being inspired by Scramble City, each Deluxe figure has the option of being any limb.  Here we have Alpha Bravo as Superion's left arm, which is here I plan on using him, since he is Slingshot's replacement.  I absolutely love the fact that this mode has articulation, meaning I will be able to do some nice poses once Superion is complete.

Finally, here is Alpha Bravo's leg mode.  This is how he's shown on the schematics for Combiner Wars Superion.  It's a foot.  I still prefer him as an arm.