Quick thoughts on Titans Return Black Shadow

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

Surprisingly nice toy, although he would have benefited from a bit of extra engineering to give him a combined vehicle mode -- his plane can attach to the top of the tank, but that's just silly. Armada/Energon Tidal Wave had a combined vehicle mode that didn't really resemble anything, and this guy could have too.

Both tank and plane are slightly chibified. It's possible that as our own abilities to miniaturize components increases, our real tanks and planes will look a little chibified as well, so this isn't a deal breaker.

The tank turret cannot swivel. Sad.

There are a small number of the shitty stickers. They seem less shitty on this toy, since they are so few.

Base mode is actually pretty nice. I'm generally not a fan of the arbitrary thing lying down as a base, but this one works. I do transform it slightly incorrectly, with the forearms sticking up next to the spire, to give him a more rectangular base mode.

The unified color scheme may really help the base. And the fact that there are tiny figures to do stuff at the base. I do wish the gun could rotate -- having a base that is defendable from only one exact path seems wrong. Also, there is no Headmaster stand dot behind the gun. Sad.

Some additional 5mm holes for attaching guns would be really nice.

I'm not sure what purpose there is to being a base. Is he a communications tower?

I do wish that the leader toys just had larger Headmasters though. The helmet stuff is silly and makes them just transform into faces, which is really close to transforming into feces.

Overlord appears to have some different joints that creates a modestly different base mode, by the way.

This should have been Flywheels. Even a wildly off-model Flywheels would have appealed to the Flywheels Fans. As it is, it looks like the Generations Black Shadow toy, and makes a very nice Black Shadow, but how often do we have the chance at a Duocon update?

Loose joints:
- Left upper arm swivel, bad enough it flops around if you are playing with the toy, but it can hold a pose.
- Right shoulder outwards pivot, just a little loose.
- The peg on his shield/sled holds better into a 5mm hole that attaching to the sled. Not sure why it needed to swivel at all (it would make a terrible sword). The peg now lives in his arm, and the sled can be attached to that.

[Zobovor]

On Sunday, April 16, 2017 at 2:41:54 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> Surprisingly nice toy, although he would have benefited from a bit of extra
> engineering to give him a combined vehicle mode -- his plane can attach to
> the top of the tank, but that's just silly.

I have no attachment to this character, and have no desire to own the toy. He's the first Titans Return toy I absolutely will not be buying. (Really, Orange Creamsicle Astrotrain should have been the first, but my wife likes to buy me things, so who am I to argue.)

When I look at pictures of this toy, I see a Thunderwing redeco waiting to happen. The shoulder guns, the vents on the top of the jet mode, it all seems so obvious. I'll buy the toy when and if it gets released as Thunderwing, but not before.

> This should have been Flywheels. Even a wildly off-model Flywheels would have
> appealed to the Flywheels Fans. As it is, it looks like the Generations Black
> Shadow toy, and makes a very nice Black Shadow, but how often do we have the
> chance at a Duocon update?

I've read that there's a Flywheels toy in the works who isn't the single-pack Skytread toy, so maybe that's why they didn't go in that direction.

With that said... the tank forms the lower half of the robot mode and the jet forms the top half, right? So, yeah, that could work as Flywheels. If they'd planned it as Flywheels from the start, then they could have given him some dedicated molding to make him look more like himself. Of course, then people would be asking why we didn't get a Battletrap to go with him...


Zob (really loves the Duocons... in all seriousness, they're some of my favorite Transformers toys of all time)

[banzait...@gmail.com]

Don't you mean Sky Shadow?

[Gustavo Wombat]

Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> On Sunday, April 16, 2017 at 2:41:54 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the
> Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
>> Surprisingly nice toy, although he would have benefited from a bit of extra
>> engineering to give him a combined vehicle mode -- his plane can attach to
>> the top of the tank, but that's just silly.
>
> I have no attachment to this character, and have no desire to own the
> toy. He's the first Titans Return toy I absolutely will not be buying.
> (Really, Orange Creamsicle Astrotrain should have been the first, but my
> wife likes to buy me things, so who am I to argue.)

But he's in the Space Mafia! The historical enemies of the Space Yakuza!

> When I look at pictures of this toy, I see a Thunderwing redeco waiting
> to happen. The shoulder guns, the vents on the top of the jet mode, it
> all seems so obvious. I'll buy the toy when and if it gets released as
> Thunderwing, but not before.

Would you settle for Overlord?

>> This should have been Flywheels. Even a wildly off-model Flywheels would have
>> appealed to the Flywheels Fans. As it is, it looks like the Generations Black
>> Shadow toy, and makes a very nice Black Shadow, but how often do we have the
>> chance at a Duocon update?
>
> I've read that there's a Flywheels toy in the works who isn't the
> single-pack Skytread toy, so maybe that's why they didn't go in that direction.
>
> With that said... the tank forms the lower half of the robot mode and the
> jet forms the top half, right? So, yeah, that could work as Flywheels.
> If they'd planned it as Flywheels from the start, then they could have
> given him some dedicated molding to make him look more like himself. Of
> course, then people would be asking why we didn't get a Battletrap to go with him...
>
>
> Zob (really loves the Duocons... in all seriousness, they're some of my
> favorite Transformers toys of all time)

I'm really surprised we didn't get a tank, helicopter, APC and plane among
the Energon Autobots, so they could be redecoed as the Duocons later. And
mixed. In any order. Flybattle. Trapwheels. Flytrap. Trapbattle. Etc.



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

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Sunday, April 16, 2017 at 8:00:34 PM UTC-7, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:
> Don't you mean Sky Shadow?

Sky Shadow is a Beast Wars character.

[banzait...@gmail.com]

Lay off the drugs man:

http://www.tfu.info/2011/Decepticon/SkyShadow/skyshadow.htm

[Zobovor]

On Monday, April 17, 2017 at 6:58:59 PM UTC-6, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:

> Lay off the drugs man:
>
> http://www.tfu.info/2011/Decepticon/SkyShadow/skyshadow.htm

Two can play at that game!

http://www.tfu.info/1989/Destron/BlackShadow/blackshadow.htm


Zob (trademark issues notwithstanding, we all know it's "really" Black Shadow)

[banzait...@gmail.com]

Yeah yeah. I'd probably lose this one in the court of law. While I am aware of the Japanese version of thunderwing, I largely ignore the Japanese toys. They are just not attainable. Even if you want to spend a grand on a authentic black shadow, good luck finding one that has a single accessory. Not to mention, these toys have zero connection to me since they didn't "exist" when I grew up, and only learned of their existence when al gore invented the Internet. They are merely a curiosity.
To be completely honest, when I saw the TR Sky Shadow toy announced (let's not forget that IS his name) I immediately thought of the toy I linked. Of course, he reminds me of him because, alas, he was a repaint of thunderwing... so both of your points are well taken. For the record, I still maintain that everyone on ATT should lay off the drugs.

-Banzaitron

[Zobovor]

On Monday, April 17, 2017 at 9:21:46 PM UTC-6, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:

> While I am aware of the Japanese version of thunderwing, I largely ignore the
> Japanese toys. They are just not attainable. Even if you want to spend a
> grand on a authentic black shadow, good luck finding one that has a single
> accessory. Not to mention, these toys have zero connection to me since they
> didn't "exist" when I grew up, and only learned of their existence when al
> gore invented the Internet. They are merely a curiosity.

Oh, I'm right there with you. I agree completely. It's extremely rare that I'll buy a toy that represents one of those Japanese characters (I've got the Stepper reissue, which I tend to think of as a cool-looking Jazz toy).

> To be completely honest, when I saw the TR Sky Shadow toy announced (let's
> not forget that IS his name) I immediately thought of the toy I linked.

I do own the 2011 Sky Shadow toy. It was new and shiny, and I didn't own it yet, and it was like ten bucks. There's no way I'm shelling out $40 for the new version, though.

> For the record, I still maintain that everyone on ATT should lay off the
> drugs.

What about Advil PM? Is that okay?


Zob (has trouble sleeping sometimes)

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Monday, April 17, 2017 at 8:21:46 PM UTC-7, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:
> Yeah yeah. I'd probably lose this one in the court of law. While I am aware of the Japanese version of thunderwing, I largely ignore the Japanese toys. They are just not attainable.

There are lots of Japanese toys these days -- from Masterpiece toys to such oddities as Ga'mede and Magnificus. The recent ones are entirely attainable, even if a little pricey.

> Not to mention, these toys have zero connection to me since they didn't "exist" when I grew up, and only learned of their existence when al gore invented the Internet. They are merely a curiosity.

They are more than just a curiosity to me -- especially when they start being brought into the American toylines and media. They expand the G1 universe we know and love, and keep it from being a stale museum piece.

I'm not going to say that G1 is incomplete without Skyshadow, Glyph, Road Rage or Nemesis Prime, but they add some missing character archetypes, and hint at a much larger universe of possibilities than we were exposed to.

> To be completely honest, when I saw the TR Sky Shadow toy announced (let's not forget that IS his name) I immediately thought of the toy I linked.

I quite like Generations Deluxe Black Shadow... and BW Sky Shadow, and even Cybertron Jetfire cosplaying as a Decepticon Sky Shadow. The Energon Sky Shadow, and the Generations Mini-Con Sky Shadow are pretty forgettable though.

His name is Black Shadow. Just as Octane is not going to be called Octone, and Shockwave is not Shockblast, and Hellbat is not Fellbat, and Jazz is not Autobot Jazz(TM).

If there weren't other toys with the name Sky Shadow, I might be inclined to call him that, but why rename a character to someone else's name when he already has a perfectly good english name?

> Of course, he reminds me of him because, alas, he was a repaint of thunderwing... so both of your points are well taken.

> For the record, I still maintain that everyone on ATT should lay off the drugs.

I do not take any drugs that are not sold in state sanctioned stores.

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

On Monday, April 17, 2017 at 11:02:03 PM UTC-5, Zobovor wrote:
> On Monday, April 17, 2017 at 9:21:46 PM UTC-6, banzait...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > While I am aware of the Japanese version of thunderwing, I largely ignore the
> > Japanese toys. They are just not attainable. Even if you want to spend a
> > grand on a authentic black shadow, good luck finding one that has a single
> > accessory. Not to mention, these toys have zero connection to me since they
> > didn't "exist" when I grew up, and only learned of their existence when al
> > gore invented the Internet. They are merely a curiosity.
>
> Oh, I'm right there with you. I agree completely. It's extremely rare that I'll buy a toy that represents one of those Japanese characters (I've got the Stepper reissue, which I tend to think of as a cool-looking Jazz toy).
>

A shop near me got a huge collection of old Transformers, and called me in to ID everything. They had a complete boxed Overlord and asked what it was worth. It sold within a few hours of me identifying it for $800+ MISB G1 Megatron, which sold then a few days later for $450, for a combined total of $1250. I find the JP TFs every so often, but actually justifying the price (He offered it to me for $750) is still crazy.

> > To be completely honest, when I saw the TR Sky Shadow toy announced (let's
> > not forget that IS his name) I immediately thought of the toy I linked.
>
> I do own the 2011 Sky Shadow toy. It was new and shiny, and I didn't own it yet, and it was like ten bucks. There's no way I'm shelling out $40 for the new version, though.
>

I didn't care about Sky/Black/Dark/Hazy/Ebony/Obsidian Shadow in Generations, I had Thunderwing, who is a character with some personality, and all this had was an uglier head. I never got G1 Thunderwing (though a complete G1 Thunderwing was also a part of the earlier mentioned collection) and the Generations one was a good representation of the character. I don't feel the need to own the same mold twice, or the earlier version of the character when the new version is really good. If only the nose-drone had a Minicon robot mode.

> > For the record, I still maintain that everyone on ATT should lay off the
> > drugs.
>
> What about Advil PM? Is that okay?
>
>
> Zob (has trouble sleeping sometimes)

I'm high on life, and sometimes Zyrtec.

[Travoltron]

On 4/16/2017 6:25 PM, Zobovor wrote:
> He's the first Titans Return toy I absolutely will not be buying.

I order my Transformers online, but a lot of these "pre-mold"/"re-mold"
characters I've put in the "maybe I'll buy it if I see it at retail"
category.
Black Shadow is one of those. So is Chase/Roadburn.

[Zobovor]

On Tuesday, April 18, 2017 at 12:25:35 PM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:

> I order my Transformers online, but a lot of these "pre-mold"/"re-mold"
> characters I've put in the "maybe I'll buy it if I see it at retail"
> category.

Doesn't shipping add up when you collect them this way? Or do you make purchases in bulk to take advantage of free shipping on large orders?


Zob (I still get a tiny thrill when I find something new in a store)

[Gustavo Wombat]

I can't speak for Travoltron, but I mostly buy from Amazon and get free
shipping -- a lot of it is third party sellers, fulfilled by Amazon. The
prices are all over the place, but my local Target has been very aggressive
with prices, with $17.99 deluxes, so some are cheaper and some more
expensive.

It does add up, but there are also a lot of toys I have never seen in the
stores.

There's also a very clear time vs. money tradeoff. I could go on toy runs,
and seek out things, and it is occasionally fun to do so, but mostly, I'd
rather just throw money at the problem, since I have more money than time.
Getting the time vs. money balance in life right is hard.

(Also, every time I am oncall I have to bribe myself by having toys arrive
at the office, so I don't quit in a fit of rage when paged at 2:45am for
some stupid service that we cannot shut down misbehaving -- I can't quit,
there will be a package in the mailroom in two days... the toys pay for
themselves I tell you!)

[banzait...@gmail.com]

Amazon? This surprises the hell out of me. I buy a ton of stuff on Amazon, am a card carrying prime member, and even shareholder. I love Amazon. However, I can NEVER find decent prices on Amazon for transformers. On very rare occasion, they will actually have a toy that is being sold by them, and not a scalper. When that happens, the price is the same as brick and mortar. Unfortunately, this is extremely rare. Their third party prices are typically 30% or more higher than b&m.
I buy 95% of my transformers from bbts. As soon as they email me about a preorder, I buy it. (This is key or they may sellout). I virtually never have to hunt for a toy anymore. There are rare exceptions, such as the recent Choas on Velicitron set. I do sometimes miss the thrill of the chase though...

-Banzaitron

[Travoltron]

I buy almost all Transformers from Japan. Hobbylink Japan has an option
where they will hold on to your purchases until you're ready to ship
them all together. It saves some money, but yes, it is very expensive.

Another thing I have to deal with is, "Will this toy come out in Japan?"
TakaraTomy seems to not release some of the pre-mold/re-molds. So
something like Black Shadow, despite being a Japanese character, may
never come out there because he's just a cheap remold of Overlord. I
picked up Getaway/Throttle at Target because he's a rather cheap and
inaccurate remold of Chromedome. I can totally see them passing on him.

Occasionally, TakaraTomy does really dumb things like their screwed-up
versions of the Titan Masters. Then I will buy the Hasbro versions on
Big Bad Toy Store. They also have an option to hold all your items until
you want to ship them. However, I don't believe it saves you any money.