Phil's
Armada Runway,
Micron Legend Jetter & Jack,
Energon Wreckage,
Superlink Pulse,
Micron Booster Beacon
and
Cybertron Sunstorm
Review


Runway

Original Air Defence team review "I'll come clean straight off - I can't build the star sabre. The peg on Jetstorm won't fit far enough into the hole on Sonar (James, yours any better ?) They all have a lot of clear parts, mainly on the robot form. All 3 have some nice intricate TFs, all worth it just for seeing how small they can build TFs... "

Runway is a member of the Air Defence team and forms the tip of the Star Saber. He's a jet but I have no idea what sort, with the jet body cast in clear plastic with a grey undercarriage and a fold down landing gear under the nose.

There are two minicon sockets on the undercarriage - like Jetstorm it doesn't require too much imagination to think of it as a blade when mounted on a larger toy's arm.

TF: Look at the underside of the plane with the nose pointing down. Fold the legs & the arms down. Fold the engines down to form the chest exposing the head which will then need folding into position.

Runways presents a lot more grey to the front in robot mode with most of the limbs being made of the grey plastic. The forearms bend at the elbows, the head leans forward & back, the waist bends back and the hips & knees bend. Red paint highlights the eyes, outside of the arms and top of the hips

Again, a decent jet and robot.

In Japan Runway was known as Jetter and was released as part of Micron Legend as pack MM-02 with the rest of the Air Defence Team. They also were available in giftbox MS-01 with the Japanese version of Hotshot..


Dimension-X Jetter

During Micron Legend limited edition repaints of the Minicon teams were released under the Dimension-X label but within the Micron Legend numbering system. MM-07 is the Dimension-X Air Defence Team. Grey plastic is now orange, blue plastic & paint is now red and the red paint is now yellow. The clear plastic remains the same which I feel is a mistake in this case - the red body parts look too bright and making the clear plastic clear red would have given a nice combined weapon too.

Air Assault Runway

Original Air Assault team review: "Recoloured Air defence team - in a mixture of greys, blacks and purples with gold highlighting. No clear plastic - everything that was clear before is grey. My Darksabre is a good fit, holds together well. The grey works better than I thought on the sword but a transparent purple would be yummy here."

The Air Defence Team were on of the first to be recoloured in the US and UK. Clear plastic becomes pale grey, grey plastic becomes black and blue becomes purple. Red paint ops become gold.

The loss of the clear plastic does affect the (admittedly poor performing) gimmick in combined mode but the individual robot & jet looks great in these new colours.


Jack

Jack is the Japanese version of Air Assault Jetstorm released as part of MM-17 or as part of MS-08 with Rampage (Wheeljack) This version take the Air Assault colours and swaps the pale grey for clear plastic, using a clear with a slightly lilac tint. Looks great in the plastic !

CD Jetter

Original Review: "By ear Never Ending Road is the outro to the Micron Legend TV series

Never Ending Road is packed with the Air Defence Team that form the Star Sabre

These are the first real CD singles I've ever owned - they're the smaller size ones.

CDJapan also threw in 2 posters advertising the CDs - cool !

Just built the Star Sabre - looks fabulous in blue.

The Star Sabre holds together the best of any of the ones I've got (about equal with Hotrod's ) Exchanging pieces reveals the problem is with the tab on Runway rather than the hole on Jetstorm - the rest of the Firesabre can slot OK into the Blue SS's Sonar, but the Blue SS fit's loosely in the Firesabre's Sonar - as does it's blade.

If it comes down to getting one, I'd go for the Blue Star Sabre & End Theme set. "

The Air Defence team were one of two minicon teams released with a CD single in Japan. Grey plastic becomes blue matching the existing blue plastic, and the clear colour becomes clear blue. The plane looks nice, but the robot is a little odd looking - very blue. However the combined form is really what you're buying this set for.


Micron Booster Jetter

The Air Defence team appear in Micron Booster v0. This set looks very similar to the originals but I'm told that there's some metallic flake added to the plastic. I've never been able to spot it in the pictures I've seen !

Change Micron Jetter

Original Review: "Parts 4-6 - Air Defence team. Start with the UK release and cast the clear plastic in a (slightly cheaper looking) white plastic. Looks better in the plastic than I though, Star Sabre holds together well and looks OK in white. "

Kabaya issued a series of Minicon toys with candy in Japan during 2003. The Air Defence team take the clear plastic of the originals and replace it with opaque bright white plastic. Effective repaint, though like the Air Assault Team the solid paint used in the recolour limits the combined mod.


Energon Wreckage

The Air Defence Team is remoulded & recoloured as the Energon Sabre in Transformers Energon. Grey becomes a more olive grey, blue becomes green and clear plastic becomes clear yellow. The paint ops are totally changed. The parts that are remoulded are all ones that were clear on the original Air Defence Team.

Wreckage gains a larger more rounded nose in jet mode which has a cerated edge along with the wings. The robot mode is very similar to before.

Yellow isn't the best colour for a clear repaint - looks too much like urine ! (see Shining Ultra Magnus)

The Japanese version of the Energon Sabre was numbered SC-08 and Wreckage was renamed Pulse


Micron Booster Beacon

The Energon Sabre then appears repainted in Micron Booster V1. The green plastic becomes blue and olive grey becomes grey - both similar to the original Air Defence colours. The clear plastic becomes clear blue like the great CD version of the Air Defence team. Great repaint, and even better when combined.

My notes say that the Energon Sabre seen in Micron Booster V1 is the first Energon toy to be repainted !


Cybertron Sunstorm

Runway becomes Sunstorm in this Cybertron minicon 2 pack where he's paired with Checkpoint - a Prowl (Emergency Team) repaint.

Sunstorm looks nice in jet mode with his near black body and yellow highlighting. Unfortunately the yellow all but vanishes from the front in robot mode - painting his tail fins and the red highlight on his arms yellow would have helped identify with the name. As it is the robot is all silver with black armour and looks very similar to the original Jetstorm colour wise.

I do have to ask why Sunstorm ? The other two members of the team are Ramjet & Thrust - surely Dirge (with appropriate colouring) would have been a better choice ?


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