HEROIC MAXIMAL DEPLOYER
    RAV
    Raven
Function: Aerial Recon

A crafty and agile winged warrior who usually keeps to himself. When in battle, the small airborne spy packs a big-time punch! He converts into an energon crossbow, whose power was given to him by an ancient female Autobot resistance leader for courage in battle. Rav can "fry" the main circuitry of an enemy's data bank with a blast of arrows while in energon crossbow mode. When he's not scouring Cybertron for Vehicons, Rav enjoys "talking" with Nightscream via a complex series of musical tones.
Toy Photos
(linked to larger images)
Beast Mode Weapon Mode
Box Art
STRENGTH             RANK
3.2                   2.3
INTELLIGENCE      COURAGE
5.0                   8.5
SPEED           FIREPOWER
7.4                   6.7
ENDURANCE           SKILL
2.3                   7.8
Toy Condition Loose, Complete, Mint Condition, With Full Card (bubble removed)
Instructions From My Collection
Tech Spec Image From My Collection
Toy Review 
Color Scheme:
Rav is a keen combination of dark navy blue, royal blue, and translucent navy blue with silver painted accents and red eyes. One of the coolest color schemes in the line, this toy is actually a recolor of the original Rav toy, which was brown and orange with black and silver accents. Definitely an improvement. ;-)
Beast Mode:
A very well done raven style bird in a perched position. His wings don't spread or anything, but his feet have some play, allowing him to be more or less upright. These limitations are acceptable to me, if only because he looks so cool, and his gimmick works fairly well, too.
Alternate Mode:
A double-arrow crossbow launcher. As a gimmick toy, this does well. It looks like a crossbow with a bird body below it, and launches two arrows.
Transformation:
Trip a trigger at the end of his tail, and he flips into action. the crossbow launcher pops out from within his body, which his wings are hiding. His wings are spring-loaded and go back into place once the crossbow is out. The best head automatically tucks itself into the bird body (wings), and all you have to do is fold out the crossbow arms (the "bow" so to speak) and you're done. Alas, that's what I don't like about it. Most of the toy is spring loaded, but they couldn't put springs in the crossbow arms? What's up with that? It's a no-brainer to me to put spring on those things to make them pop out just like the rest of him works, but no. I have to forego shooting the arrows until I unfold the crossbow (well, if I want it to look cool, anyway ;-). This toy would have been 100% good if the crossbow popped open on its own. The real kicker is how much of a pain it is to get back into beast mode. I hope you're ambidexterous!
Gimmicks:
Auto-transforms, and fires two arrows from the launcher when in alternate mode. Beast mode, all it does is look good, but that's ok by me.
Pros/Cons:
Awesome beast mode and color scheme. Well done launcher mode, but no springs to open the crossbow arms is kind of annoying. Also can be tricky to transform back to beast mode.
Notes: Back story:
"After their apparent victory in the Beast Wars, the heroic Maximals have returned to Cybertron to find their home planet overrun by hoards of Vehicons controlled by the tyrannical Megatron.
In the deepest recesses of Cybertron, Nightscream discovers a band of automated mechanical beasts. Forged from ancient Transformer technology, these task drones were protected from the ravages of time. Though small in stature and lacking sparks of their own, the Deployers use their firepower and rapid transformation abilities to combat the despotic rule of Megatron.
The struggle for the salvation of Cybertron continues...

Visitor Reviews

Added by: christopher B. on August 30, 2003
Rated it:
Comments: My favorite deplorer.

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