Review – KFC Airdancer Cassette Combiner

With the Airdancer cassettes we see KFC Toys tackle a reimagining of the 1988 Transformers Slamdance cassettes (see the TFWiki), updating that nearly-30 years old design for today’s collector. This toy is definitely an instance where the old saying “the whole greater than the sum of its parts” is a completely accurate statement.

Jetdancer

First up is the small blue jet known by KFC as Jetdancer. This homage to the 1988 Raindance (see the TFWiki) is a bit floppy in jet mode, with the two sections that form the rear of the jet not quite snapping together solidly. The plastic is a decent quality, but the jet’s inability to hold its shape is a real disappointment.

KFC did include a nice little stand with Jetdancer (shown in the pics), and the chromed weapons and parts of the design are cool and all, but generally I feel a bit underwhelmed and simply not all that impressed by Jetdancer in jet mode. Just the act of balancing the toy on the stand — it does not snap in place — is frustrating since the rear section keeps unfolding and trying to auto-transform into Airdancer’s lower half.

Slamtank

If we compare this homage to Grand Slam (see the TFWiki) to Jetdancer we suddenly escalate the little blue jet to an entire new level of greatness. Hey, it’s either that or Slamtank has found a completely new low, and I’d rather pretend to be positive and say Jetdancer isn’t nearly as bad as it first appeared when I was playing with the jet.

The single greatest problem with Slamtank is that the parts unfold from cassette mode to create a tank with a gaping hole right in the center of the design. At first I thought I must have transformed the tank wrong or something, but after looking at pics and other reviews online it turns out the problem is the tank. Hey, Slamtank, everything wrong is you and definitely not me.

Combined Mode

Before I go too far in detail on Airdancer’s combined mode I’d like to point out this video review by Bobby Skullface L where we get to watch as someone expresses complete disappointment with the toy. So no matter what I happen to think about the Jetdancer and Slamtank individual components I can state that there’s someone who thinks even less of these two than I do.

Standing 3.25-inches tall, Airdancer is far better in combined robot mode than as its two separate components. The two parts snap together and hold tight, and the articulation is quite decent for a cassette combiner robot. Those tank bits hanging from the wrists look really bad, but that’s my only one serious complaint with the look of Airdancer in robot mode.

Closing Thoughts

The cassette combiners were a great idea when they were first presented back in the late eighties, and seeing a third party Transformers manufacture tackle modernizing the characters is a great thing, but the Airdancer from KFC is weaker than I’d like to see and clearly there’s room for someone else to try this again.

I cannot recommend Airdancer to anyone. If you find the set on clearance — say for half price or so — and if you’re a collector of Transformers cassettes then you may want to pick it up. But only on clearance and only if you’re seriously into the cassettes. Otherwise enjoy this review and save yourself some disappointment.