Aerobolt

Aerobolt is an Autobot-allied Weaponizer Mini-Con from the Robots in Disguise portion of the Aligned continuity family.

The early bird gets the worm, but in this case gets THE PRIME!

Aerobolt is the leader of the Weaponizer Mini-Cons, whose admiration for Optimus Prime is what deems him worthy of protecting the Autobot leader's chest.

Fiction

2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon

I'm gonna call you, "Toriyama".

Voice actor: Steve Blum (English), Masato Obara (Japanese), Tamás Bognár (Hungarian), Massimiliano Lotti (Italian), Simon Duprez (French), Werner Böhnke (German), Víctor Hugo Aguilar (Latin-American Spanish), Przemysław Nikiel (Polish)

Aerobolt and his fellow Mini-Cons were captured by the Decepticons in their youth and experimented on. Given the ability to combine with their larger brethren, the Mini-Cons were stored in a laboratory in Darkmount until Starscream stumbled on them. They managed to escape Starscream and fell in with some scavengers so they could escape Cybertron, only to find their new hosts were heading for Earth. They set about trying to work out a way to abandon the scavengers and leave the planet. Mini-Con Madness

Bird's the word.

When Scatterspike returned from a mission empty-handed and blaming Sawtooth, Aerobolt took the Mini-Con aside for a personal report. Though Sawtooth thought they should trust the Autobots, Aerobolt thought otherwise. Strongarm's Big Score

The Mini-Cons accompanied the scavengers to an automated ship to find a relic, and Aerobolt pointedly refused to power up Clawtrap. After the scavengers managed to retrieve the Dark Star Saber, Aerobolt and his companions stole their sub-orbital craft. Detecting a power source capable of getting them offplanet, they invaded the scrapyard looking for it, only to be told it had already been destroyed. Mighty Big Trouble Their craft eventually ran out of fuel, but they ran into the Autobots again — Aerobolt recognized Optimus Prime and finally realized the Autobots could be trusted, though his attempt to link with Optimus was unsuccessful. During an ensuing fight with the scavengers, Aerobolt and his companions were snatched up by Starscream. Mini-Con Madness

Starscream attempted to merge with the Mini-Cons, only for it to fail because Tricerashot was missing. He was eventually able to obtain the last Mini-Con and merge with them all, however Fixit was able to activate a signal and separate Aerobolt. Aerobolt found Optimus and linked with him, providing the Autobot leader with a powerup that let him go up against the super-powered Starscream. Following the successful defeat of Starscream, Aerobolt and his fellow Mini-Cons left Earth on the sub-orbital craft, now modified by Fixit for space travel. Worthy

Games

Power Up for Battle

During a battle, Bumblebee dropped a stasis pod containing Arrowbolt [sic] for Optimus Prime to use as a weapon against Starscream. The Mini-Con provided the Autobot leader with the ability to hover for a short period of time. Power Up for Battle

Toys

Robots in Disguise (2015)

The Laserbeak we never got. Nevermind.
(Hasbro version pictured)

• Power Surge Optimus Prime & Aerobolt (Power Heroes, 2016)

• TakraraTomy ID Number: TAV50
• TakaraTomy release date: June 25, 2016

Released in the second year of the 2015 Robots is Disguise line under the Mini-Con Weaponizers banner, Aerobolt transforms from a bird-like robot into a shield that can be held by other figures.

(TakaraTomy version pictured)

He can also fold up into a set of chest armor for the large Leader-sized Power Surge Optimus Prime figure, who he came packaged with. Attaching Aerobolt also activates spring loaded robo-bird wings on Optimus's back.

Like all "Power Surge" Mini-Cons, Aerobolt lacks an actual scan badge, but has a fake badge sculpted onto his body.

The TakaraTomy Adventure version of Aerobolt, released in the sixteenth wave still packed in with Optimus, is colored in distincly Generation 1 Optimus Prime-inspired red-and-blue plastics.

• God Optimus Prime Micron Combination Set (Multi-pack, 2016)

• ID Number: TAV61
• Release date: November 26, 2016

Part of twenty-first (and final) wave of Adventure toys, "Super Aerobolt" swaps his red plastics for transparent blue. Whee!

He once again comes with a Power Surge Optimus Prime figure (now with a deco closer to his Hasbro and cartoon appearances save some transparent blue parts), but this set also comes with fellow Mini-Cons Tricerashot and Dragonblaster. The three Mini-Cons now attach to the new "God Sword" accessory, forming the God Micron Blaster sword-gun-thing, with Aerobolt serving as the hilt-guard.

Notes

• Optimus Prime and Aerobolt seem to have received an homage in the Power of the Primes line with Nemesis Prime and Giza.
• Transformers One production designer Jason Scheier showed off concept art of Aerobolt in the film, explaining that the team had explored including him at one point, though this didn't come to pass.^[1]

Foreign names

• Japanese: Aerobolt (エアロボルト Earoboruto)

References