Phil's
Operation Combination Flanker,
Micromaster Collection Flanker,
Micromaster Collection Berserker Flanker
and
Universe Fireflight
Review
Flanker is a pale blue Sukhoi Su-27, very similar to the F15 jet which is the vehicle mode of the original Decepticon jets. He shares this colour with Chain Gun's rotor, Falcon's head & chest and Missile Run's upper legs.
TF: Fold the nose of the jet back and the wings up. Pull forward and Unfold the front of the jet to form the legs. Stand on the front of the jet and raise the arms at the shoulders.
The robot mode comes with a black chest & grey arms and features some nice missile & gun barrel moulding either side of the head. Articulation consists of ball joints at the shoulders, elbows, hips & knees with a turning neck & waist. No, I'm kidding, it's the standard Micromaster fare of rotating shoulders with bending hips & knees that are joined together.
To form his combined mode - one of Sixwing's legs - Flanker has his nose cone folded back and his wings folded up before being pegged onto the feet piece - usually the right but he can use the left too - then being attached to the knees of the upper legs. When you've decided which leg he is, fold out the wing on the outside of the leg.
Flanker was sold in Japan in 1992 as part of Operation Combination's TF-02 Sixwing gift set.
Flanker was reissued in 2003 as part of the Micromaster Collection Sixwing series where he was packed with the right foot of the Sixwing robot and numbered five in that series of six. This time round his jet is recoloured mint green (as are the parts of the other toys mentioned above) and he becomes a Destron. OK the colour may not be a standard Destron one but it works.
Flanker's Micromaster Collection Chase version is moulded entirely in white plastic with purple painted Autobot symbols. He comes with the white version of the right foot for the combined Berserk SixWing robot. Berserk Flanker was packed at one every 3 cases (12 toys, 2 sets of six per case) of Sixwing parts replacing a normal Micromaster Collection Flanker in the boxes he appeared in.
Flanker gets recoloured red for his Universe release and as such gets the name Fireflight - the red Aerialbot. There's an F16 Aerialbot - Air Raid - but his name was used for the Missile Run repaint as black - his original colour - suits that mould. Fireflight comes with Superion's right foot.
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