Airazor being one of the main Maximals to show up in Rise of the Beasts may seem unusual at first, since she was only prominent in Season 1 and was killed twice, but I don't mind Hasbro and Paramount wanting to add at least one female character per faction. And it does give us a flying good guy since the last time we had that was Jetfire more than a decade ago. But there were two Airazors that caught people's attention: one that looked lankier and unique in design, and another that is a Bayverse-styled Kingdom Deluxe. The latter is our Studio Series entry, so let's cover her today!
Here is Airazor in her beast mode. As it turned out, the Maximals are set to be more techno-organic (but not technorganic) than most animalistic Transformers. It's the same proportions as the beast mode from the Kingdom line, but it's much does appear to be a little bigger given the size increase of the figure. Its sculptwork is good, even if it may be a little inaccurate to the movie given the outdated concept art, but for the most part, it looks good. I do wish there was some patina-style coloring to make the figure stand out a little more beyond the beige-ish plastic, even if the silver paint apps help it stand out somewhat. I also have to comment the color mismatch between different pieces, but I'll touch up on that. Interestinglyy, there is a bit of green for what are meant to represent the feathers.
Her articulation is largely the same as the Kingdom's figure, with a few differences here and there, as the wings can articulate while the feet are ball-jointed and can move back. Her head can turn, hinge, and the beak can open, too.
Perched next to her Kingdom self, it's pretty clear that Hasbro went for the direction to borrow the engineering of the previously made toy, which I'm a bit surprised that they went with that route but do find it a bit mixed of a decision. On one hand, I like the Kingdom Airazor figure as well as the engineering it had to make an impressive birdformer, yet I do wish it had some new tricks added onto it as it would have worked well to make it more interesting beyond it being a reskin of an existing toy.
Transformation is the same as the Kingdom figure, which has me split on that part: it's a good transformation with the old toy and was used here, though I wish it was altered to make her a little more different since the Studio Series line tends to be a little more complex than the regular Generations line. In fact, it appears we loose a bit of functionality, with the original figure having shoulder pads that can raise up and shoulders that are on swivels and hinges, but the shoulders on this figure are ball joints. Thankfully, the hip joints are not altered, and the robot mode we have her continues the theme of Airazor being a spikier version of her BW self. The bird's head on the chest, the wings on the back, and even the weapons she comes also plug into her forearms, which is fine, I guess. I do appreciate that the figure doesn't reuse any parts, and I like the addition of green highlights for the wings, but yeah, I can't say much if this figure does what the original did, but spiker. I will say that if you compare the part holding the head along with the beast mode head itself, the colors do not match as well. The olive green on the waist is fine, but the beige plastics could be a little more consistent. And her backpack sticks out a little more than on the Kingdom toy.
Head sculpt is pretty cool, capturing the design traits of the original form while also adding a bit of an Aztec influence to her face with a mask in front. It is a design choice that I like as it adds to the ancient warrior influence. Her articulation is almost the same as the Kingdom figure, with a ball-jointed neck. shoulders that are on ball joints rather than front to back swivels and in and out hinges, bicep swivels, elbow bends, no waist swivel (there is one but the beak gets in the way), hips that move front and back as well as in and out, thigh swivels, very knee bends, and the ankles are on ball joints.
Another version of Airazor is much more original in engineering, with the legs actually becoming the wings. While this does come off as more like a younger iteration of Airazor, or rather, a version of her that has toy elements and is also Prime-esque if you ask me. It fits well for the more outdated concept art and is set to be released for the Buzzworthy Bumblebee 3-pack included with Bumblebee and Mirage.
For a size comparison, here she is along with her Kingdom self, being taller, spikier, and losing some small part functionality like the waist panel and shoulder pads not being on individual hinges. She is taller than her Beast Wars self, which is surprising since you'd think they'd be the same height. While Kingdom Airazor is a peak Deluxe figure for the Kingdom line, I can't say this figure would win as much in the Studio Series line since it has the same engineering and is basically a spikier version of her BW self. At least Beewun Prime and the Cybertronian characters tried new transformation schemes.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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