Zob's Thoughts on Titans Return Krok, Kup, Perceptor, Quake, and Topspin

[Zobovor]

Got a case of wave four Deluxes at work yesterday.  Bought all five new toys on sight.  Case assortment was as previously reported, with two each of Perceptor and Kup and Topspin, and one of Krok and Quake, for a case of eight.  Also, Walmart's computer didn't actually recognize Krok or Quake or Topspin, but when I punched them into the system, they popped up as retailing for $9.88 instead of $14.97.  So, I'm fine with that.

I found wave three way back in December, so I don't think I've ever waited so long for a new assortment before.  I was especially excited about this wave, too, as I wanted every single toy from this batch.


GATORFACE
& DECEPTICON KROK

Krok was originally introduced as one of the new Decepticon characters in the Action Masters assortment from 1990.  At the time, he was a fairly unremarkable toy, coming with a transformable partner called Gatoraider who turned into a gun.  He wasn't quite as cool-looking as Treadshot or Axer, and he wasn't one of the toys that I bought back in the day with my lawnmowing money.  About a year later, he rose in prominence as one of the only Action Masters featured in Marvel Comics, acting as the second-in-command for Decepticon leader Bludgeon in the comic's final days.  (By then, of course, the G1 toy line had been cancelled, and Krok was no longer in stores.)  The entire compliment of active Decepticons from that era was carried over to TRANSFORMERS: GENERATION 2, minus Krok... which suggests to me that writer Simon Furman only included the Action Masters at the request of Hasbro, and didn't like the character enough to retain him.

When Hasbro was looking at the Titans Return toys and trying to figure out which ones had redeco potential, it's surprising that they picked Skullsmasher.  Actually, though, doing a version of him as Krok was absolutely inspired.  I love the Action Master characters and it delights me when they're revisited.  And, c'mon.  The guy's name is Krok.  Surely he wasn't named after his alligator partner!  (Like all the new-character Action Masters, the design for the original Krok contained a few hints as to what he could have theoretically transformed into before Nucleon took away his ability to change.  He's got pink windows on his chest, what looks like a cockpit on his pelvis, and a folded-up jet nose on his butt.  I'm thinking he turned into some sort of aerial vehicle.  Still, I can't argue with the Titans Return toy.)

So, where Skullsmasher was magenta with green and off-white, Titans Return Krok follows the color mapping of the Action Masters toy pretty closely, predominantly off-black with some purple and fluorescent yellow-green.  I dug out the Action Master toy (I only just barely got him off eBay a couple of years ago) and the colors are a really good match.  I think they must have had an actual copy of the toy on-hand, and weren't just trying to do a color match from blurry Internet pictures.  He's got a lot of paint deco that's an attempt to match his G1 look: his abdomen is pink; his kneecaps and toes are painted purple; his eyes are pink, too.  

Rather annoyingly, he's adored with the movie Decepticon symbol on his chest, not the G1 version.  The movie symbol has trapezoid-shaped eyes instead of triangular ones.  Really, Hasbro, you should know this stuff!

In crocodile mode, Krok kind of has an Insecticon vibe to him, as Gustavo mentioned.  I think it's the yellow translucent cockpit that really sells it.  He got some different paint applications than Skullsmasher; for example, Skullsmasher's rear alligator legs are entirely green, while Krok has purple haunches with black feet and yellow claws.  The color scheme still reads as Krok, and it's wacky enough that it really looks like it could have fit in the G1 toy line somewhere.  The opening cockpit and teeth are made of rubbery plastic, like they were on Skullsmasher.  

Krok comes with Gatorface, which might have been Hasbro's trademark-friendly workaround for Gatoraider.  Obviously, it's just a Grax redeco, with a purple mini-figure body and upper legs, and yellow arms, boots, and head.  No paint applications for Gatorface's face.  

When I first opened the toy, I marveled at the head sculpt for Krok and how closely it resembled the character.  Then I compared it to the Action Master and I realized just how wrong it actually was.  The details are right, but they squished his face.  I get that every character who becomes a Titans Return toy needs to have his head squared off, to a point, but Krok really lost something in the translation.  The proportions of the face on the 1990 toy are so much more aesthetically pleasing.

The hip joints on my toy are loose, just like they were on Skullsmasher.  I had read somewhere that this was a corrected issue, so it's unfortunate that it's not universal.  (I am hesitant to make modifications to the toys in The Collection with a capital "C," but in this case I may have to.)

It's not often that I get this excited about buying a redeco of a toy that I already own.  Really, he's just Hasbro's way of getting me to buy the same toy over again.  I did it gladly, though.  And, for the record, I would love more Action Master tributes!


FLINTLOCK
& SERGEANT KUP

Every once in a while, Hasbro gives us a sort of "What If?" version of a character.  Kup was always portrayed as a Cybertronic vehicle (his name is short for pickup truck), but the last version of the character we got in 2011 was a reimagined version of the character with an Earth vehicle mode.  I really dislike that toy, though, especially the panels that just hang off his forearms and those stupid wheel struts that poke out.  I've wanted Hasbro to make another attempt at Kup for a long time, and this one is reasonably in synch with the very, very good versions of Blurr and Hot Rod that we've gotten for Titans Return.

So, the new Kup is arguably one of the blessed few Transformes with zero vehicle-mode kibble.  He's got wheels on the sides of his legs, sure, but they're well-integrated into his design and don't poke out.  Seriously, he doesn't even have a Throttlebot backpack, which I would usually expect to see.  His boots are a bit on the large side, but it's necessary because of the way he transforms.  He's ver rectangular, in a way that you generally expect from Transformers, but it doesn't quite look right on Kup.  

Almost as much as a character's color scheme, the geometry of a character is really important and helps to identify him.  A toy of Optimus Prime wouldn't look right if he had cylinders for arms and legs.  We expect them to be squared-off.  Kup is the opposite way.  In the cartoon, he has rounded arms and legs, so the fact that the toy is designed with square arms makes him look a little off.  

Also, rather than going with a more Sunbow-inspired approach, Hasbro produced this toy in the same colors as the 1986 toy (which was based on an early, rejected color scheme for the character).  He's a very vibrant teal and sea green, not the muted grey used in animation for The Transformers: the Movie and subsequent episodes.

He comes with two guns that can connect together.  They really do look like two halves of a whole, like G1 Seacon guns, with obvious connector joints on either side.  You can also plug them into his back for storage.

His head sculpt is really good.  He's wearing a slight sneer that really fits the character well.  Also, it's nice that he has an actual head, because the G1 toy just had half a head, like G1 Bumblebee.)  His Titan Master partner is named Flintlock, which was actually the name of one of Targetmaster Landfill's partners; in 1987, Targetmaster Kup came with Recoil.  As with a lot of trademarks that Hasbro has lost the rights to, they still managed to allude to it in his packaging bio:  "Decepticons recoil when they see FLINTLOCK and SERGEANT KUP."  Yeah, I see what you did there, Hasbro.

Transformation:  I've always used G1 Kup as my go-to example of a toy that you can't possibly get wrong.  He's very simple and very intuitive and all you really have to do to transform him is stuff his arms into his chest and lay him down.  Titans Return Kup is... a little more complex.  Obviously, one of the design parameters was that he had an opening, working cockpit to seat a Titan Master mini-figure, so clearly his arms couldn't just tuck inside his chest.  So, his arms fold up into a little box shape and become part of the vehicle exterior.  Both the front and back wheels are hidden inside the robot legs, which explode into a crazy Masterpiece-style mess of panels.  They actually wrap around the sides of the cabin to form the front fenders.  It's positively nuts.

So, his truck mode really isn't too bad.  It's the correct shape and profile, as seen in The Transformers: the Movie (I wonder if Floro Dery is getting royalties for these toys?), and it even fixes a problem of the G1 toy (namely, that the entire front of the truck is hollow) by adding a closed-in panel with some rows of round, yellow headlights.  G1 Kup had no headlights of any kind as far as I know, so I guess some would argue this was a much-needed fix.  His lines aren't as sleek as his animation design, but he's pretty close.  His cockpit is clear with a slightly bluish tint, and it's super roomy; at first I thought he could accommodate TWO Titan Master mini-figures (he cannot).  

You can attach his guns to either side of the truck mode, and there are also peg-holes in his truck bed.  There are six mini-pegs in the truck bed, too, for Flintlock to stand on and man the guns.    

This is much closer to the Kup toy that I've been waiting for.  It's not perfect, but it pleases me in a way that the 2011 toy totally failed to.  Naturally, Takara recently unveiled a "fixed" version that is a) the animation-correct grey colors and b) has remolded arms that are nice n' round, and a new head sculpt to boot, AND a Targetmaster figure that turns into a gun.  Just like with Blurr, the Takara version of Kup is so clearly and visibly superior.  Oh, well.  Maybe one day.


CONVEX
& PERCEPTOR

Unlike the Diaclone toy line, which consisted of scale-model vehicles, the conceit of the Microman toy line was that it supposedly consisted of real-life objects that could turn into robots.  So, toys like Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, for example, were supposed to be tiny Penny Racers.  Soundwave was a life-sized microcassette player with authentic-sized microcassettes.  When Hasbro was reviewing the Microman toys to import them as Transformers, there were a lot of toys they skipped over.  There were robot toys that turned into binoculars, a combination lock, a flashlight, etc.  I imagine Perceptor was one of the toys they might have considered skipping.  A microscope just isn't very exciting.

Perhaps for this reason, the last Perceptor toy we got in 2011 wasn't a microscope at all, but rather a half-track vehicle that was ostensibly a mobile laboratory on wheels.  Also, you could kind of achieve something approximating a microscope if you horribly mistransformed the toy.  I think it's pretty astounding that Hasbro has finally allowed Perceptor to return to his roots and produced a toy with a microscope transformation that's his official alternate mode, not just some random misalignment of parts.  

Robot mode!  It's proportioned so perfectly.  The G1 toy was a dark red and a turquoise, while Perceptor was bright red and light blue in animation.  Hasbro made this toy bright red and turquoise, a good compromise.  He's got his cartoon face, and it's a really good one this time, unlike the weirdly elongated nose on the Reveal the Shield toy.  Yellow eyes, regrettably, but what can you do.  He comes with the usual gun that doubles as a car seat.  His gun is a bit different in that it comes equipped with a tripod stand, so you can just prop the gun on the ground.  It's a really long rifle, not quite suitable for the character, but then he needs to be able to destroy Devastator with a single shot, so...

His shoulder cannon is detachable so you don't ever have to worry about it breaking like it did on the G1 toy.  It's got a peg grip, a peg-hole on the bottom, another peg-hole on the top... tons of ways you can combine his rifle and his cannon.  Much options.  Many weapon.

Weirdly, I think somebody accidentally double-dipped on the paint deco.  It looks to me like the recessed rectangles on the sides of his upper arms got painted blue, but then they got painted yellow afterwards, so they're this weird green color.  If green really was the intended color, it looks really out of place.

Comically, his instruction booklet refers to him as "Preceptor."

His transformation isn't too much different from his G1 toy, really.  The head pops off instead of retracting into the body, of course, but the robot arms and legs do about what you'd expect them to do.  He's got lots of little locking tabs and things, which is kind of nice, because while my G1 Perceptor reissue is still nice and tight, my oldskool 1985 edition is loose and floppy and never stays in microscope mode.  As with the G1 toy, the robot chest flips open and unfolds to become the stage.

As reported, the microscope lens actually works, and the silver knob is used to focus the lenses.  (Hasbro reportedly used the exact same engineering as the G1 lens component.)  I was able to get a really close inspection of Perceptor's face, and noticed a tiny paint imperfection that I hadn't noticed with the naked eye.  There's a tiny silver piece that flips down that you can position underneath the stage, like the G1 toy, but there's no reflective mirror surface to reflect light into the lens.  Still, it works reasonably well.  

Also, the toy is designed to achieve the infamous "tank mode" (Hasbro actually called it a mobile laboratory back in the G1 days), but it's entirely undocumented.  He does have dedicated parts for this mode (working wheels, non-working treads, and tabs to lock his legs in place for this alternate configuration) so it was definitely intended as part of the toy's design.  There's even a little piece of Perceptor's chest that flips up, which I imagine best serves as a pilot's chair for Convex when he's in this mode.

Convex, by the way, is modeled to look like a little tiny Perceptor.  He's got the mask of the G1 toy rather than the Sunbow cartoon face.  

I really, really like this toy.  It's better than it has any right to be.  I had begrudgingly accepted the halftrack version of Perceptor as a more-or-less acceptable modern-era update for the character (as long as I never transformed him to vehicle mode), but this totally blows the old one out of the water.  


CHASM
& DECEPTICON QUAKE

 Quake was originally one of the smaller double Targetmasters produced in 1988.  He was notable in that one of his Targetmaster partners (either Tiptop or Heater) actually became integrated as part of his vehicle design instead of merely being tacked on, as one or the other could form the turret gun for the tank mode.  He was introduced too late to appear in the Sunbow cartoon, but he appeared a few times in Marvel Comics (he survived the Unicron attack from issue #75, so that's saying something).

Hardhead has a fairly unique vehicle design as tank Transformes go.  He's not a contemporary tank design with a central turret at all, but rather a tank with an off-center cockpit and an off-center main cannon.  Really, there are no other Transformers designed like this.  So, to repurpose him as Quake, who was a more conventional Earth-style tank (he looks like a Russian T-72 to me), is a little weird.

Quake was pretty simple by G1 standards.  His turret split in half to form his arms, and the rear of the tank separated in two, and each piece swung all the way around to the other end to form the legs.  The entire front of his robot mode was a dark blue plate.  He was a little awkward-looking.  He definitely wasn't the prettiest girl at the Harvest Moon Ball.

Titans Return Quake has much better robot-mode proportions, and he does still mostly evoke his old self.  This is mostly thanks to a really good head sculpt and a color scheme that evokes the G1 toy (maroon, grey, and dark blue).  I almost feel like Quake should exclusively use his guns as handheld weapons rather than using the larger one as a shoulder cannon.  He just looks too much like Hardhead otherwise.  Maybe these guns are replacements he got after Tiptop and Heater retired.  (After all, you've got to figure that they joined him almost 30 years ago.)  Perhaps not surprisingly, Chasm is just a redeco of Furos in dark blue and grey.

Quake transforms into Machine Wars Soundwave.  I know Gustavo already remarked upon the resemblance, and it really is quite striking.  If you had showed me a picture of this toy in vehicle mode and told me it was a Machine Wars Soundwave tribute, I would have believed you.  Hasbro did a pretty good job of matching Quake's color layout in robot mode, but because of the different way he transforms, he doesn't read as Quake at all in tank mode.  They included a couple of cute paint details, like the authentic lightning bolts with Decepticon symbols over top of them (movie symbols again, grr), but he's still just not very Quake-like.  This is the Breakaway of this wave, it seems.  

I can accept that Quake didn't always have an Earth tank mode, so maybe his Cybertronic configuration looked like this.  Who's to say.  It's funny, though, how amazingly successful Krok is as a tribute but how badly Quake manages to fail.  They're both random, unrelated toys being repurposed in inappropriate ways.  One just works so much better than the other.


FREEZEOUT
& AUTOBOT TOPSPIN

Wow, are the Deluxe toys actually getting bigger?  Topspin seems a bit larger than normal.  

The original Jumpstarters had pull-back motors and were designed to spring automatically into robot mode.  They didn't work reliably, and it was perhaps for this reason that they were among the worst shelfwarmers of the G1 toy line.  They were notably the focus of a lawsuit against Sparkle Toys, who blatantly copied the Jumpstarter toy design, reasoning that since none of the Transformers toys had Hasbro copyright stamps affixed, it gave them free reign to manufacture their own bootlegs.  For all we know, maybe this was the reason that Jumpstarters never appeared in the Sunbow cartoon, despite having animation models all ready to go—because they were tied up in litigation.

Every once in a while, Hasbro will do an update for a character who never appeared in the cartoon or U.S. comic book in any meaningful capacity, like Roadbuster and Whirl (who were also major G1 shelfwarmers), and it always kind of surprises me a bit.  I owned both Jumpstarters as a kid, so the toys are definitely part of my childhood experience, but they never became media characters (I think Twin Twist appears in, like, one background panel in Marvel Comics) so they're not as meaningful to me.  My brain tends to file them into the same category as a lot of the Tonka GoBots; i.e., Robot Toys I Owned In The 1980's.  I wonder, could we get new versions of the Omnibots one day?  The Powerdashers?  We're seriously at a point where they've covered pretty much all the 1984-85 toys except for the mail-order toys and a few Deluxe Insecticons.  

His robot mode is really attractive.  The sky blue and light grey colors are, I believe, very close to the G1 toy (I haven't dug mine out to check), and a lot of his paint applications are meant to evoke the consumer-applied stickers of the 1985 version.  Weirdly, his knee panels are on a hinge and can swing open, even though this isn't necessary for the transformation.  He comes with the usual two halves of a gun that can connect together, this time to form a weird V-shaped gun.  I wonder if the Seacons ever filed a patent for this.

The dual pontoons on Topspin's back are partially tucked away inside his vehicle cockpit, but it's not a clean solution and the cockpit can't close all the way.  This bothers me a little.

The original Topspin turned into a vehicle by folding the robot in half at the waist, with a locking clip (which was fragile and often broke) holding the spring-loaded legs in place until the pull-back motor was deployed.  Titans Return Topspin has a traditional transformation that you actually (gasp!) have to do yourself.  He's got some Triggerhappy elements in which entire body parts rotate on an axis, which is kind of cool.  Also, in addition to having fists that fold into his forearms, his shoulders and forearms also compress into each other.  It's executed with hinges, not sliding parts, but it's still a rarity these days.  

They kept the same basic idea for his vehicle mode (futuristic thing with wings and dual pontoons) but it doesn't look like a folded-up robot (the robot fists are actually tucked away and the rear of the craft doesn't look like a pair of legs).  The original Jumpstarters didn't have cockpits (there were seats on the top for Diaclone figures, one on each leg, but they would have been thrown into the air as soon as he sprang into robot mode).  The new toy has a central cockpit to fit the Titan Master mini-figure.  The vehicle has a non-working nose gear that swings down, but only a couple of struts to serve as additional landing gears.  His guns can attach under his wings, or to either side of the craft.

Topspin has a good head sculpt that looks a lot like the G1 toy (no adjustable bar on the back of his head, sadly).  Since his head is already blue, they colored his eyes a much darker blue... it's not really a standard color for Autobot eyes (only the Dinobots had deep blue eyes), but at least they had the right idea.  Tenth Avenue Freezeout is, I think, a new mini-figure, not a reused design, though I don't recognize what he's supposed to be homaging, if anything.  

The toy is, of course, already on the slab for a remold as Twin Twist.  This would necessitate swapping out the pontoons for drills and giving him different arms (or at least switching the wings for tank treads).  Renders I've seen of the Twin Twist version seem to support this idea.

Overall, I would say four of these toys are quite excellent, and then there's also Quake.  Still, four out of five ain't bad.


Zob (so when does wave five come out again...?)

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 10:01:52 AM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> Got a case of wave four Deluxes at work yesterday.  Bought all five new toys on sight.  Case assortment was as previously reported, with two each of Perceptor and Kup and Topspin, and one of Krok and Quake, for a case of eight.  Also, Walmart's computer didn't actually recognize Krok or Quake or Topspin, but when I punched them into the system, they popped up as retailing for $9.88 instead of $14.97.  So, I'm fine with that.

I bought some Froyo from the company cafeteria today, and before I even put it in the scale, the scale registered $0.17. So, I cancelled, and tried again, and the same thing happened, so I decided that I would rather defraud the company of $Froyo - 0.17 than pay an extra seventeen cents.

Huh. 17 cents.

One time, at the same company the first time I worked there, my boss was having problems with the team, and he called each one of us into a conference room, one by one, to discuss our attitude problems. When he got to me, I sat there, insolently listening, and when he was done with his lament, he said "I hope you got some value out of this."

I replied "Yes, I found 17 cents on the floor."

Why the hell am I back there?

> GATORFACE
> & DECEPTICON KROK

> When Hasbro was looking at the Titans Return toys and trying to figure out which ones had redeco potential, it's surprising that they picked Skullsmasher.  Actually, though, doing a version of him as Krok was absolutely inspired.  I love the Action Master characters and it delights me when they're revisited.  And, c'mon.  The guy's name is Krok.  Surely he wasn't named after his alligator partner!  (Like all the new-character Action Masters, the design for the original Krok contained a few hints as to what he could have theoretically transformed into before Nucleon took away his ability to change.  He's got pink windows on his chest, what looks like a cockpit on his pelvis, and a folded-up jet nose on his butt.  I'm thinking he turned into some sort of aerial vehicle.  Still, I can't argue with the Titans Return toy.)

I think we have the lifecycle of Krok in toy form. There was a Subscription Service Krok from the Generations Megatron/Dreadwing bomber mold, then he became an Action Master with his friendly crocodile friend, and then his body atrophied while Gator-Raider grew, and he became a headmaster.

Yes, I am convinced Krok is the head, and Gator-Raider is the body. It makes more sense. Krok was a plane thing.

> Rather annoyingly, he's adored with the movie Decepticon symbol on his chest, not the G1 version.  The movie symbol has trapezoid-shaped eyes instead of triangular ones.  Really, Hasbro, you should know this stuff!

> Krok comes with Gatorface, which might have been Hasbro's trademark-friendly workaround for Gatoraider.  Obviously, it's just a Grax redeco, with a purple mini-figure body and upper legs, and yellow arms, boots, and head.  No paint applications for Gatorface's face.  

You have them backwards. Do you really believe his is going to adopt his partner's alt-mode, and make his partner become a head? That's just stupid...

> The hip joints on my toy are loose, just like they were on Skullsmasher.  I had read somewhere that this was a corrected issue, so it's unfortunate that it's not universal.  (I am hesitant to make modifications to the toys in The Collection with a capital "C," but in this case I may have to.)

The hips on mine are loose, but not as loose as Skully's. It's possible that my Skullsmasher is just really, really bad.

> It's not often that I get this excited about buying a redeco of a toy that I already own.  Really, he's just Hasbro's way of getting me to buy the same toy over again.  I did it gladly, though.  And, for the record, I would love more Action Master tributes!

He is awesome. I really wish my Skullcruncher held together.

> FLINTLOCK
> & SERGEANT KUP
>
> Every once in a while, Hasbro gives us a sort of "What If?" version of a character.  Kup was always portrayed as a Cybertronic vehicle (his name is short for pickup truck), but the last version of the character we got in 2011 was a reimagined version of the character with an Earth vehicle mode.  I really dislike that toy, though, especially the panels that just hang off his forearms and those stupid wheel struts that poke out.  I've wanted Hasbro to make another attempt at Kup for a long time, and this one is reasonably in synch with the very, very good versions of Blurr and Hot Rod that we've gotten for Titans Return.

And I've wanted Earth modes for Hot Rod and Arcee...

> Almost as much as a character's color scheme, the geometry of a character is really important and helps to identify him.  A toy of Optimus Prime wouldn't look right if he had cylinders for arms and legs.  We expect them to be squared-off.  Kup is the opposite way.  In the cartoon, he has rounded arms and legs, so the fact that the toy is designed with square arms makes him look a little off.  

Lots of things look off. I'm not sure this is it though.

> Also, rather than going with a more Sunbow-inspired approach, Hasbro produced this toy in the same colors as the 1986 toy (which was based on an early, rejected color scheme for the character).  He's a very vibrant teal and sea green, not the muted grey used in animation for The Transformers: the Movie and subsequent episodes.

The Takara version has better colors. And a Targetmaster.

> His head sculpt is really good.  He's wearing a slight sneer that really fits the character well.  

The face looks young to me. I don't know what I expect, or what would make the difference. But the young face and the weird naked arm look, it's just not right.

> This is much closer to the Kup toy that I've been waiting for.  It's not perfect, but it pleases me in a way that the 2011 toy totally failed to.  Naturally, Takara recently unveiled a "fixed" version that is a) the animation-correct grey colors and b) has remolded arms that are nice n' round, and a new head sculpt to boot, AND a Targetmaster figure that turns into a gun.  Just like with Blurr, the Takara version of Kup is so clearly and visibly superior.  Oh, well.  Maybe one day.

Splurge on Blurr. Really.

> CONVEX
> & PERCEPTOR
>
> Unlike the Diaclone toy line, which consisted of scale-model vehicles, the conceit of the Microman toy line was that it supposedly consisted of real-life objects that could turn into robots.  So, toys like Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, for example, were supposed to be tiny Penny Racers.  Soundwave was a life-sized microcassette player with authentic-sized microcassettes.  When Hasbro was reviewing the Microman toys to import them as Transformers, there were a lot of toys they skipped over.  There were robot toys that turned into binoculars, a combination lock, a flashlight, etc.  I imagine Perceptor was one of the toys they might have considered skipping.  A microscope just isn't very exciting.

Now I wish Movie Lockdown was a lock...

> His transformation isn't too much different from his G1 toy, really.  The head pops off instead of retracting into the body, of course, but the robot arms and legs do about what you'd expect them to do.  He's got lots of little locking tabs and things, which is kind of nice, because while my G1 Perceptor reissue is still nice and tight, my oldskool 1985 edition is loose and floppy and never stays in microscope mode.  As with the G1 toy, the robot chest flips open and unfolds to become the stage.

> I really, really like this toy.  It's better than it has any right to be.  I had begrudgingly accepted the halftrack version of Perceptor as a more-or-less acceptable modern-era update for the character (as long as I never transformed him to vehicle mode), but this totally blows the old one out of the water.  

Sure, he's better than the previous Generations toy, but how does he compare to the G1 toy?

> CHASM
> & DECEPTICON QUAKE

>
>
> Hardhead has a fairly unique vehicle design as tank Transformes go.  He's not a contemporary tank design with a central turret at all, but rather a tank with an off-center cockpit and an off-center main cannon.  Really, there are no other Transformers designed like this.  So, to repurpose him as Quake, who was a more conventional Earth-style tank (he looks like a Russian T-72 to me), is a little weird.

Also, he has the separate front and back treads, which is odd. But, we've gotten a bunch of those over the years.

> Quake transforms into Machine Wars Soundwave.  I know Gustavo already remarked upon the resemblance, and it really is quite striking.  If you had showed me a picture of this toy in vehicle mode and told me it was a Machine Wars Soundwave tribute, I would have believed you.

What's weird is the colors are backwards, but still he really looks like Soundwave.

> I can accept that Quake didn't always have an Earth tank mode, so maybe his Cybertronic configuration looked like this.  Who's to say.  It's funny, though, how amazingly successful Krok is as a tribute but how badly Quake manages to fail.  They're both random, unrelated toys being repurposed in inappropriate ways.  One just works so much better than the other.

He is still a pretty good toy, using one of the best molds, but he is no Quake. I would have greatly preferred Stalker, and a little Predator love.

> FREEZEOUT
> & AUTOBOT TOPSPIN
>
> Wow, are the Deluxe toys actually getting bigger?  Topspin seems a bit larger than normal.  

He seems huge. Like what a Deluxe used to be. Very stocky toy.

> Every once in a while, Hasbro will do an update for a character who never appeared in the cartoon or U.S. comic book in any meaningful capacity, like Roadbuster and Whirl (who were also major G1 shelfwarmers), and it always kind of surprises me a bit.  I owned both Jumpstarters as a kid, so the toys are definitely part of my childhood experience, but they never became media characters (I think Twin Twist appears in, like, one background panel in Marvel Comics) so they're not as meaningful to me.  My brain tends to file them into the same category as a lot of the Tonka GoBots; i.e., Robot Toys I Owned In The 1980's.  I wonder, could we get new versions of the Omnibots one day?  The Powerdashers?  We're seriously at a point where they've covered pretty much all the 1984-85 toys except for the mail-order toys and a few Deluxe Insecticons.  

I don't know Topspin at all, and I love this toy. He really nails the mid 1980's design elements.

> His robot mode is really attractive.  The sky blue and light grey colors are, I believe, very close to the G1 toy (I haven't dug mine out to check), and a lot of his paint applications are meant to evoke the consumer-applied stickers of the 1985 version.  

This might be one of those toys that when you see the original, you notice all the differences and wonder why he looks the same.

> The dual pontoons on Topspin's back are partially tucked away inside his vehicle cockpit, but it's not a clean solution and the cockpit can't close all the way.  This bothers me a little.

The cockpit closes on mine. I think. He's sitting on my desk at work, so I can't check.

> Also, in addition to having fists that fold into his forearms, his shoulders and forearms also compress into each other.  It's executed with hinges, not sliding parts, but it's still a rarity these days.  

Do you have any idea of who has that same design of forearms? It's driving me crazy.

> Overall, I would say four of these toys are quite excellent, and then there's also Quake.  Still, four out of five ain't bad.

Quake is a great toy. Just a lousy representation of Quake.

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

On Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 11:36:29 PM UTC-5, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> On Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 10:01:52 AM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
>

> > GATORFACE
> > & DECEPTICON KROK

>
> I think we have the lifecycle of Krok in toy form. There was a Subscription Service Krok from the Generations Megatron/Dreadwing bomber mold, then he became an Action Master with his friendly crocodile friend, and then his body atrophied while Gator-Raider grew, and he became a headmaster.
>
> Yes, I am convinced Krok is the head, and Gator-Raider is the body. It makes more sense. Krok was a plane thing.
>

Maybe the great downsizing from BW, but Gator-raider accidentally got robo-steroids instead.

> > It's not often that I get this excited about buying a redeco of a toy that I already own.  Really, he's just Hasbro's way of getting me to buy the same toy over again.  I did it gladly, though.  And, for the record, I would love more Action Master tributes!
>
> He is awesome. I really wish my Skullcruncher held together.
>
> > FLINTLOCK
> > & SERGEANT KUP
> >
> > Every once in a while, Hasbro gives us a sort of "What If?" version of a character.  Kup was always portrayed as a Cybertronic vehicle (his name is short for pickup truck), but the last version of the character we got in 2011 was a reimagined version of the character with an Earth vehicle mode.  I really dislike that toy, though, especially the panels that just hang off his forearms and those stupid wheel struts that poke out.  I've wanted Hasbro to make another attempt at Kup for a long time, and this one is reasonably in synch with the very, very good versions of Blurr and Hot Rod that we've gotten for Titans Return.
>
> And I've wanted Earth modes for Hot Rod and Arcee...
>

I like the last version of Kup, I didn't at first, but I really like it now. They picked a great earth mode for him.

> > Also, rather than going with a more Sunbow-inspired approach, Hasbro produced this toy in the same colors as the 1986 toy (which was based on an early, rejected color scheme for the character).  He's a very vibrant teal and sea green, not the muted grey used in animation for The Transformers: the Movie and subsequent episodes.
>
> The Takara version has better colors. And a Targetmaster.
>
> > His head sculpt is really good.  He's wearing a slight sneer that really fits the character well.  
>
> The face looks young to me. I don't know what I expect, or what would make the difference. But the young face and the weird naked arm look, it's just not right.
>
> > This is much closer to the Kup toy that I've been waiting for.  It's not perfect, but it pleases me in a way that the 2011 toy totally failed to.  Naturally, Takara recently unveiled a "fixed" version that is a) the animation-correct grey colors and b) has remolded arms that are nice n' round, and a new head sculpt to boot, AND a Targetmaster figure that turns into a gun.  Just like with Blurr, the Takara version of Kup is so clearly and visibly superior.  Oh, well.  Maybe one day.
>
> Splurge on Blurr. Really.
>

I love the Blurr toy colors. You all keep whining, but the Blurr colors look really good to me. No it's not exact, but Hasbro has done way worse.

> > CONVEX
> > & PERCEPTOR
> >
> > Unlike the Diaclone toy line, which consisted of scale-model vehicles, the conceit of the Microman toy line was that it supposedly consisted of real-life objects that could turn into robots.  So, toys like Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, for example, were supposed to be tiny Penny Racers.  Soundwave was a life-sized microcassette player with authentic-sized microcassettes.  When Hasbro was reviewing the Microman toys to import them as Transformers, there were a lot of toys they skipped over.  There were robot toys that turned into binoculars, a combination lock, a flashlight, etc.  I imagine Perceptor was one of the toys they might have considered skipping.  A microscope just isn't very exciting.
>
> Now I wish Movie Lockdown was a lock...

Sop trying to improve the movieverse using unassailable logic.

>
> > I really, really like this toy.  It's better than it has any right to be.  I had begrudgingly accepted the halftrack version of Perceptor as a more-or-less acceptable modern-era update for the character (as long as I never transformed him to vehicle mode), but this totally blows the old one out of the water.  
>
> Sure, he's better than the previous Generations toy, but how does he compare to the G1 toy?
>

Again the halftrack gets a bad rap. He'd be a perfectly good toy if he weren't suposed to be Perceptor. Heck, we need more halftracks.

> > CHASM
> > & DECEPTICON QUAKE
> >
> >
> > Hardhead has a fairly unique vehicle design as tank Transformes go.  He's not a contemporary tank design with a central turret at all, but rather a tank with an off-center cockpit and an off-center main cannon.  Really, there are no other Transformers designed like this.  So, to repurpose him as Quake, who was a more conventional Earth-style tank (he looks like a Russian T-72 to me), is a little weird.
>
> Also, he has the separate front and back treads, which is odd. But, we've gotten a bunch of those over the years.
>

Yeah, I think the H tanks have run their course. It was acceptable with hardhead because his G1 self was an H tank.

> > Quake transforms into Machine Wars Soundwave.  I know Gustavo already remarked upon the resemblance, and it really is quite striking.  If you had showed me a picture of this toy in vehicle mode and told me it was a Machine Wars Soundwave tribute, I would have believed you.
>
> What's weird is the colors are backwards, but still he really looks like Soundwave.
>

They should have just made it TR Soundwave....oh wait...

> > I can accept that Quake didn't always have an Earth tank mode, so maybe his Cybertronic configuration looked like this.  Who's to say.  It's funny, though, how amazingly successful Krok is as a tribute but how badly Quake manages to fail.  They're both random, unrelated toys being repurposed in inappropriate ways.  One just works so much better than the other.
>

One has an established vehicle mode while the other does not, Quake had a pre-established minimum standard where Krok does not. Krok doesn't have to look like any previous version of anything, but Quake does, since G1 Quake had two modes he has to attempt to look like, but Krok has one mode where you allow more variances for the purpose of adding an extra mode.

>
> > FREEZEOUT
> > & AUTOBOT TOPSPIN
> >
> > Wow, are the Deluxe toys actually getting bigger?  Topspin seems a bit larger than normal.  
>
> He seems huge. Like what a Deluxe used to be. Very stocky toy.
>
> > Every once in a while, Hasbro will do an update for a character who never appeared in the cartoon or U.S. comic book in any meaningful capacity, like Roadbuster and Whirl (who were also major G1 shelfwarmers), and it always kind of surprises me a bit.  I owned both Jumpstarters as a kid, so the toys are definitely part of my childhood experience, but they never became media characters (I think Twin Twist appears in, like, one background panel in Marvel Comics) so they're not as meaningful to me.  My brain tends to file them into the same category as a lot of the Tonka GoBots; i.e., Robot Toys I Owned In The 1980's.  I wonder, could we get new versions of the Omnibots one day?  The Powerdashers?  We're seriously at a point where they've covered pretty much all the 1984-85 toys except for the mail-order toys and a few Deluxe Insecticons.  
>
> I don't know Topspin at all, and I love this toy. He really nails the mid 1980's design elements.
>
> > His robot mode is really attractive.  The sky blue and light grey colors are, I believe, very close to the G1 toy (I haven't dug mine out to check), and a lot of his paint applications are meant to evoke the consumer-applied stickers of the 1985 version.  
>
> This might be one of those toys that when you see the original, you notice all the differences and wonder why he looks the same.
>
> > The dual pontoons on Topspin's back are partially tucked away inside his vehicle cockpit, but it's not a clean solution and the cockpit can't close all the way.  This bothers me a little.
>
> The cockpit closes on mine. I think. He's sitting on my desk at work, so I can't check.
>
> > Also, in addition to having fists that fold into his forearms, his shoulders and forearms also compress into each other.  It's executed with hinges, not sliding parts, but it's still a rarity these days.  
>
> Do you have any idea of who has that same design of forearms? It's driving me crazy.
>

He'll have to be really good for me to get, as I just don't care about Topspin or Twin Twist. It's a little interesting they are headmasters now, but there aren't any reasons for them to be headmasters. Their original terrible gimmick is gone, and headmaster is definitely a better gimmick, but I still don't know why they are headmasters.

> > Overall, I would say four of these toys are quite excellent, and then there's also Quake.  Still, four out of five ain't bad.
>
> Quake is a great toy. Just a lousy representation of Quake.

Again, Krok only works because he's never had either mode really defined at all. If in ten years they make a Krok toy that transforms into an Owl, I highly doubt people will reference this toy and complain, they'll go back to his actionmaster and say "well the colors look the same"

[Zobovor]

On Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 7:44:18 AM UTC-6, Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People. wrote:

> I love the Blurr toy colors. You all keep whining, but the Blurr colors look
> really good to me.

Well, you can't accuse his colors of clashing, anyway. Because he would need to have more than one color to clash! Zing!

> He'll have to be really good for me to get, as I just don't care about
> Topspin or Twin Twist.

He actually is good. I can't say I care about the character much, but he really is a really cool toy.

> Again, Krok only works because he's never had either mode really defined at

> all. If in ten years they make a Krok toy that transforms into an owl, I

> highly doubt people will reference this toy and complain, they'll go back to
> his actionmaster and say "well the colors look the same"

You're so argumentative sometimes!

Obviously, when it comes to the Action Masters, there's no previous transformed-mode for them to try to match. But, c'mon, the GUY'S NAME IS KROK. There is literally nothing else he could transform into that would make sense. No, the Action Master didn't have any trace of a crocodile alternate mode anywhere on his body, but Action Master Grimlock didn't look like he could turn into a T. rex, Snarl didn't look like he could turn into a stegosaurus, etc. I think that a theoretical pre-Nucleon version of Krok would probably have had more kibble on his body. Crocodile tail halves on his legs and such.

There are some redeco toys where I'm incapable of seeing it as anything except the original character, in the wrong colors, with a different head. Breakaway still looks like a Chromedome toy to me. When I look at Titans Return Krok, I don't see a miscolored Skullsmasher. I actually see Krok. It's all very arbitrary, I admit, but I consider this an acceptable update for Krok. There are some attempts at revisiting characters that I wholly reject, but not this one.


Zob (will buy any Action Master homage toys they produce, probably)

[Zobovor]

On Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 10:36:29 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> Yes, I am convinced Krok is the head, and Gator-Raider is the body. It makes
> more sense. Krok was a plane thing.

Well, there's a precedent for some Titans Return characters not having a separate personality, or identity, for their Titan Masters (Nautica and friends from the gift packs). So, maybe Krok is just Krok. Maybe Gatorface is just an affectionate nickname that Treadshot and Axer call him by.

> The hips on mine are loose, but not as loose as Skully's. It's possible that
> my Skullsmasher is just really, really bad.

Mine's bad, too. I almost bought a second one when I heard that they fixed the problem. Now, I'm not sure if they even fixed it at all.

> And I've wanted Earth modes for Hot Rod and Arcee...

Technically, Classics Rodimus from 2006 had an Earth mode. A prototype concept car, anyway.

> The Takara version has better colors. And a Targetmaster.

I know. I feel so decadent buying toys I already have, though. There are so many other things to spend money on...

> The face looks young to me. I don't know what I expect, or what would make
> the difference.

He needs bags under his eyes, I think.

> Sure, he's better than the previous Generations toy, but how does he compare
> to the G1 toy?

The G1 version was excellent for its day. It had a lot more articulation than you'd expect, and it had one of the best-proportioned robot modes ever. This toy has the cartoon face, though, and it's not super fragile. This is the definitive modern-era update for Perceptor. They won't ever need to do another one now. And if they do, it will be inferior to this one.

> This might be one of those toys that when you see the original, you notice
> all the differences and wonder why he looks the same.

Hmm. I might have to dig out my box of 1985 toys. (Most of the time, I can grab one of my reissues off the shelf, but the Jumpstarters have never been reissued...)

> The cockpit closes on mine.

Really? Even in robot mode? With the twin pontoons stuffed into it?

> Do you have any idea of who has that same design of forearms? It's driving me
> crazy.

Have we gotten a toy where the fist folds up into the forearm, and the bicep tucks into the forearm as well? If we have, I can't think of it.


Zob (now it's driving me crazy, too)

[Zobovor]

On Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 5:37:36 PM UTC-6, Zobovor wrote:

> Hmm. I might have to dig out my box of 1985 toys.

Okay. My G1 Topspin is a greener shade of blue, but I'm pretty sure he got some direct sunlight back in the day (he used to go on display in front of my Choose Your Own Adventure books).

You know how I complained about his dark blue eyes? Years ago, I colored the eyes of my G1 toy with a blue permanent marker, so both toys actually have the exact same color eyes. Hasbro was copying something I did to my toy as a kid, without even realizing it.

The new Topspin has a little vestigial spot on his right breast panel that I think is supposed to represent the hook that locked his upper body to his lower body. He's also got rectantular holes in the fronts of his legs, and they don't do anything during transformation, and you can't attach his weapons to them as far as I can tell, so I think they're supposed to be the slot where the hook attaches. So, now he's at least 14% more awesome.


Zob (doesn't have a G1 Quake, but maybe that's for the best)

[Gustavo Wombat]

Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> On Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 10:36:29 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the
> Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
>> Yes, I am convinced Krok is the head, and Gator-Raider is the body. It makes
>> more sense. Krok was a plane thing.
>
> Well, there's a precedent for some Titans Return characters not having a
> separate personality, or identity, for their Titan Masters (Nautica and
> friends from the gift packs). So, maybe Krok is just Krok. Maybe
> Gatorface is just an affectionate nickname that Treadshot and Axer call him by.

I think the gift pack might just have not bothered to tell you who you
bought. Perhaps Nautica's Titan Master is a racist or something, so they
just left the bios off.

>> The hips on mine are loose, but not as loose as Skully's. It's possible that
>> my Skullsmasher is just really, really bad.
>
> Mine's bad, too. I almost bought a second one when I heard that they
> fixed the problem. Now, I'm not sure if they even fixed it at all.

So, I did just buy a second Skullcruncher yesterday, and the hips are fine.
Doesn't fall apart during transformation. Not noticeably loose at all.

Not sure what got my hopes up, but it was correct.

It also made me take a longer look at the toy -- he has Titan Master dots
on his feet, at weird angles, so little Titan Master guys can be jostled as
Skullcruncher or Krok walks. It would have been nice to get a spot or two
for Titan Masters to ride on his back in beast mode (maybe with a 5mm hole
in front, so he could man a gun?)

Also, the fold out handle on the tail is hollow, and you can use it to
mount an Armada-era Minicon.

And there are 5mm holes on his shoulder. I was hoping the tail shield/gun
could be mounted on it nicely with the inner peg, but the shoulder is too
big to fit.



--
I wish I was a mole in the ground.

[Zobovor]

On Sunday, May 21, 2017 at 11:44:32 AM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> So, I did just buy a second Skullcruncher yesterday, and the hips are fine.
> Doesn't fall apart during transformation. Not noticeably loose at all.

Damn it, Gustavo. It's bad enough that I need to replace my Weirdwolf. Are you telling me I need to replace my Skullcruncher, too?

So what does that mean? That they produced Krok first, then went back and retooled Skullcruncher? Does that mean there are tight, non-floppy Kroks out there, too? Or does it just mean the Universe is random and nonsensical and that there is no rhyme or reason to this existence?


Zob (and now I find out that Noomi Rapace isn't even in the new Aliens movie... what the hell is this world coming to?)

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Sunday, May 21, 2017 at 6:16:22 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> On Sunday, May 21, 2017 at 11:44:32 AM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
> > So, I did just buy a second Skullcruncher yesterday, and the hips are fine.
> > Doesn't fall apart during transformation. Not noticeably loose at all.
>
> Damn it, Gustavo. It's bad enough that I need to replace my Weirdwolf. Are you telling me I need to replace my Skullcruncher, too?

Weirdwolf just has a shitty design that encourages people to fold that panel down at the wrong time and damage it. I've caught myself thinking "Oh, he just needs a little pressure", before remembering the toy's reputation, and then making sure I've got everything in the right spot.

> So what does that mean? That they produced Krok first, then went back and retooled Skullcruncher? Does that mean there are tight, non-floppy Kroks out there, too? Or does it just mean the Universe is random and nonsensical and that there is no rhyme or reason to this existence?

I don't think there is any retooling. And, this looked like a case of Wave 1 had just been put out -- there was Chromedome and Hardhead there too.

I simply figured that my Skullcruncher was worse than average (he really cannot be transformed without parts popping off, and that's not the common complaint). And that I didn't want to try fixing mine without a backup -- but the backup was fine.

I don't know what to tell you. The white gun seems a little loose in the pink tail, but otherwise, everything seems fine. And that little loose is one of those "barely worth mentioning, inside the tolerances we expect" bits of looseness.

Also, the pink alligator pants make Skullcruncher's butt look big.

[Travoltron]

On 5/17/2017 10:01 AM, Zobovor wrote:
> GATORFACE
> & DECEPTICON KROK

I was planning on skipping the recolors, but you convinced me to pick up
Krok. He is indeed a great tribute.

[Zobovor]

On Wednesday, June 14, 2017 at 8:23:33 AM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:

> I was planning on skipping the recolors, but you convinced me to pick up
> Krok. He is indeed a great tribute.

I think he works really well. Of course, I'm heavily biased in favor of Action Masters. I don't think Irrellius likes him as much as I do.


Zob (used to be that Fun Publications would give us all the Action Masters love. Now that they're done, and it's up to Hasbro to carry the flame, I hope they keep the dream alive...)

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

My point was that he's only a crocodile now because of his name. Nowhere was it that he's supposed to be a crocodile. His actionmaster self has a jet cockpit on the chest, and they previously made a jet of him which looks like his Actionmaster self.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:Timelinestoy-Krok.jpg

You love the crocodile now because there is no crocodile standard to live up to. Quake is a failure because he has an established tank mode that he fails to meet. Krok has no alt mode to fail at, so he succeeds by default, despite that they had to change the robot mode to get the look, but changing the robot, the actual established part of him, doesn't seem to matter.

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

I'm sticking to my belief that Krok is the headmaster, and that he used to be the actionmaster. Gatorface, however, is an upgraded form of Gatoraider, and has no face in robot mode (only a gator face).

It makes more sense than that he lost his head, got a transformation to his gator friends alt-mode, and then made his gator friend a tiny robot that transforms into his head.

[Travoltron]

On 6/14/2017 2:28 PM, Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People. wrote:
> His actionmaster self has a jet cockpit on the chest

Yeah, the G1 toy looked like it was supposed to be a stealth bomber.

But... the guy's name is Krok.

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

Because everything he says is a Krok of Shit?