Zob's Thoughts on Titans Return Misfire and Twin Twist (Plus The Revenge of Weirdwolf)

[New and Improved Zobovor]

Finally, finally found the latest batch of Deluxe-class Titans Return toys. (They're labeled on the shipping case as wave three for 2017, but people online are calling this wave five. Shrug.) I skipped Windblade for now. I have been buying her various toys so far (I think I have three of them now) but to be honest I don't really know why. I think a Headmaster version of her would be pretty cool, but I also had to replace my broken Weirdwolf, so that took priority. Maybe later.

The case assortment was evenly distributed amongst the four characters (Twin Twist x2, Misfire x2, Windblade x2, and Wolfwire x2).

AIMLESS &
MISFIRE

Misfire was originally introduced as one of the three new Decepticon Targetmaster characters in 1987. All the original Targetmasters had names that had something to do with weaponry (Sureshot, Crosshairs, etc.) but the Decepticons tended to have poor and unpleasant attributes (Triggerhappy) while the Autobots got heroic ones. So, Misfire's personality was largely determined by his name: an incredibly poor shot who was, appropriately, paired with a Nebulan called Aimless. Misfire was technically present in the fourth-season "The Rebirth" (he was voiced by Stan Jones, who also performed Scourge) but didn't do much to distinguish himself, aside from a few moments of arguing with Aimless. He toggled between Autobot-blue eyes and Decepticon-red eyes throughout the mini-series.

His original toy was a futuristic Cybertronic jet, with a pair of distinctive curved prongs serving as the nose of the jet and a rather obvious pair of robot jets on top of the fuselage. Due to the way his transformation was designed, he had some decent articulation for the day (he had hinges at the hips, knees, feet, elbows, and wrists) but I can't seem to find any pictures with his arms raised, so I suspect he didn't have working shoulder joints.

The Titans Return toy is only slightly smaller than the G1 toy, and is significantly less red and more pink, probably an attempt to more closely match his animation colors. He's a very pink Decepticon. He should be Nautica's boyfriend. There are very few other colors in play (light grey, black) and they're used quite sparingly. It's true to the look of the character, though. He's got painted detailing on the fronts of his shins that are based on the consumer-applied stickers of the G1 toy.

His articulation is superior even to the G1 toy: ball-joint hips, swivels at mid-thigh, hinged knees and feet, ball joint shoulders that also pivot out, and hinges at the elbows and wrists. He's also got a swiveling waist and the usual Titans Return head articulation. His shoulders sometimes tend to come unlocked, which is part of the transformation, but it's not as bad as, say, the shoulders on Generations Blitzwing.

His head design in the cartoon was a vastly oversimplified version of his toy's head. In fact, his head was drawn a lot like Highbrow's. They could have probably recycled Highbrow's head for this toy and it would not have been wholly inauthentic. Instead, though, he got a new face sculpt that actually looks a lot like Hardhead as he appears in the cartoon. There's something cosmically unjust that Misfire gets a more Hardheadey head than Hardhead did. He's got blue eyes, which is technically accurate to at least half his scenes in "The Rebirth" (the G1 toy had blue eyes, too). Unlike some of the early Hasbro test shots (which showed a pink head) or their stock renders (which show a grey head), the head is in fact its proper black color.

His dual guns can be wielded separately, of course (or attached to his shoulder if you want him to do a Starscream impression), but when you snap them together to form a single weapon, it's styled to resemble the Targetmaster gun that came with the original Misfire, complete with little faux Aimless arms on either side. His gun is much beefier than Titans Return Triggerhappy's.

The Titan Master mini-figure isn't colored like the original Aimless (who was blue and grey) but he is sculpted with the same details. He's also one of the best-painted Titan Masters ever, with paint applications for both his face (light purple) and his eyes (blue). It's amazing how much a couple of tiny spots of paint can improve a mini-figure. I wish they'd been doing this with greater frequency, because so many mini-figures in this toy line are missing paint applications that they really need.

Shared parts with Triggerhappy: Upper legs, lower legs, feet, and elbow connectors. That's it as far as I can tell. It's really not intrusive at all (the stabilizer fins on the legs are arguably meant more for Misfire and Slugslinger than for Triggerhappy) and it's a reasonable way of reusing some assets without seriously compromising either toy. I expect Slugslinger will be much the same way.

To transform him, he doesn't quite have the fancy spinning and rotating that Triggerhappy's got. He's pretty true to the G1 toy, in that he lays down and tucks his knees in. There are lots of little locking tabs to help him hold everything together as a jet, and his legs are more successfully integrated into the fuselage than with the G1 toy. His only major flaw is his complete lack of landing struts in this form (the G1 toy had three rolling wheels).

The Takara version of this toy has red eyes and comes with a transformable Targetmaster figure in addition to his Headmaster component.

Unlike Triggerhappy (who I technically owned for about three minutes once), I've never had a Misfire toy and it pleases me that I finally have the character in some form. Indeed, the advent of the Generations-era toys has largely quelled my desire to hunt down the G1 incarnations of a lot of these characters. The Titans Return toys really are superior, most of the time.

FLAMEOUT &
TWIN TWIST

Now it's time to jump back in time a couple more years to 1985. Twin Twist and his Jumpstarter brother Topspin were the first spring-loaded Transformers toys, capable of transforming automatically after you wound up their pull-back motors. It was a fun idea in theory, but I think part of the initial appeal of the Transformers toy line was the puzzle factor, and a puzzle that solves itself for you isn't very appealing.

Sunbow did have animation models ready for the characters, but neither of them ever appeared in animation (not even in their own toy commercial, oddly enough). Twin Twist is notable as making a background appearance in Marvel Comics (you can see him in the group of Autobots in issue #36), making him one of those technically-canon characters like Sandstorm and Broadside. A lot of the characters who were never prominently featured in the U.S. stories (Topspin, Twin Twist, Roadbuster, Whirl, etc.) enjoyed a career of greater significance in the UK comics as part of the "Wreckers" team.

So, the original Topspin and Twin Twist shared the same type of relationship as Bumblebee and Cliffjumper; i.e., toys that shared a transformation and internal engineering, but were not redeco versions because they exhibited unique molds and styling. (They were also likely gang-molded; Topspin was blue where Twin Twist was grey, and vice versa.) The new Twin Twist is basically a redeco of Topspin; they share identical body designs, legs, and weapons (both pairs are silver; Topspin's have grey handles while Twin Twist has blue). Only the robot faces and the upper arms have changed, with Topspin's wings and pontoons being swapped out for treads and drill bits.

So, Twin Twist's vehicle mode is a little different than the G1 toy, which had two open-canopy Diaclone seats, one on each robot leg. This version has the central canopy glass, but it's still clearly recognizable as the character in either form. I'm at a loss to decide which one I like better; Topspin's jet mode is super cool, but I like the drill tank as well, and it's a sorely underused vehicle choice in the Transformers mythos. Twin Twist actually has rolling undercrarriage wheels, on his legs and treads, which beats out Topspin's single non-functional landing gear. The rounded thrusters on Topspin have also been switched out for more rectangular ones on Twin Twist; I wish they'd spent some of that remolding budget on the robot chest, rather than inconsequential details of the vehicle designs.

Like Topspin, his guns can connect in a couple of different ways. In Topspin's case, they can either plug into the upper section of the vehicle (the robot legs) or to the treads (the instructions say to attach them to the treads).

The Titan Master mini-figure (Flameout; the other one was named Freezeout) is entirely grey with blue painted eyes. He's exceptionally plain-looking. The blue of Freezeout makes him disappear when he's inside the blue-tinted cockpit, though, so I wonder if this is why they made Flameout entirely grey... so you can see him inside the cockpit.

Since the Jumpstarters never appeared in the cartoon, they've never really had any media depiction that was meaningful to me. They're more a pair of toys than a pair of characters, and in some ways it's important to have both of them to really appreciate them. They're among the unsung toys of the G1 line, infamous mostly for being shelfwarmers and for being the focus of the Hasbro lawsuit against Sparkle Toys. Still, it pleases me that they've gotten updates. They were still part of the G1 toy experience. Bring on the mail-order Omnibots and the Powerdashers, I say!

MONXO &
WOLFWIRE

Wolfwire (or Weirdwolf, as normal people call him) was an early release but suffered from a design flaw in the form of an exceptionally fragile cockpit hinge. Mine broke only after casually handling the toy a handful of times. I was excited to learn that he was eventually getting filtered back into the Deluxe assortment, and I was certain the true reason for this was so Hasbro could address the design problems and issue the toy again with an updated, stronger cockpit hinge.

Weirdly, it looks like they haven't changed him at all. I've been comparing my new, unbroken one to my old, damaged one and I don't detect any mold changes at all. The plastic colors and paint applications all appear to be identical as well. I don't precisely recall what it is that I did to my old Weirdwolfwire to make it break, so I guess I'll just have to be extra careful with the new one.

Even more weirdly, his packaging shows the older cross-sells of toys that aren't even shipping any longer (Skytread, Mindwipe, Astrotrain, Soundwave). I'm beginning to think that the real reason Hasbro stuffed him into this wave was to counter the expense of Windblade, who likely won't get the normal redeco toy to help amortize development costs. Hasbro sells cases of toys to retailers, not individual toys, so this may have been the only way of coming in under budget. Oh, well.


Zob (the least they could have done was start shipping him with the Takara head sculpt or something)

[MWG]

On Monday, September 18, 2017 at 9:05:15 PM UTC-5, New and Improved Zobovor wrote:
> Finally, finally found the latest batch of Deluxe-class Titans Return toys. (They're labeled on the shipping case as wave three for 2017, but people online are calling this wave five. Shrug.) I skipped Windblade for now. I have been buying her various toys so far (I think I have three of them now) but to be honest I don't really know why. I think a Headmaster version of her would be pretty cool, but I also had to replace my broken Weirdwolf, so that took priority. Maybe later.
>
> The case assortment was evenly distributed amongst the four characters (Twin Twist x2, Misfire x2, Windblade x2, and Wolfwire x2).
>

So, which retailer did you pick them up from? From browsing your posts I get the impression you work at Walmart and may have got them from your local store? And what state are you in, just curious if it might be close to mine (south central Oklahoma here) and the stores here might start getting this case at some point in the next few weeks. Walmarts here seem to be getting Sixshots, seen a couple places here with 3-4 of him on the shelf. I'm yearning more to find Overlord at this moment in time, but Sixshot is probably the better toy to be plentiful on the shelves now. Oddly, Blitzwing and Octone are getting somewhat common now also, popping up at Walmarts and Amazon (Blitzwing seems to stick around a lot longer at online shops nowdays).

> AIMLESS &
> MISFIRE
>
<snip>

>
> The Titans Return toy is only slightly smaller than the G1 toy, and is significantly less red and more pink, probably an attempt to more closely match his animation colors. He's a very pink Decepticon. He should be Nautica's boyfriend. There are very few other colors in play (light grey, black) and they're used quite sparingly. It's true to the look of the character, though. He's got painted detailing on the fronts of his shins that are based on the consumer-applied stickers of the G1 toy.
>

I suspect the pink color may be more so that he doesn't infringe on Windblade, who is also very red in most incarnations and seems to be somewhat more important to Hasbro to get the "push" treatment. I think they could've released Slugslinger in this wave instead and not encountered this conflict. I'm a lot more into Slugslinger anyhow, but I'll get Misfire when I see it.

> The Takara version of this toy has red eyes and comes with a transformable Targetmaster figure in addition to his Headmaster component.
>

I wish Hasbro had been able to wait on Takara to finish the remolds that allow these jets to properly mount Targetmaster partners before releasing them to us. The Targetmaster partners are a nice bonus, but not vital. The option to mount them properly in vehicle mode (if I should happen to have some sitting around that work) would be nice. Takara is making a huge mistake if they cut out TR Slugslinger's weapons though, the ones Hasbro is including are beautiful and actually look like the G1 toy's weapons.

> Unlike Triggerhappy (who I technically owned for about three minutes once), I've never had a Misfire toy and it pleases me that I finally have the character in some form. Indeed, the advent of the Generations-era toys has largely quelled my desire to hunt down the G1 incarnations of a lot of these characters. The Titans Return toys really are superior, most of the time.
>
> FLAMEOUT &
> TWIN TWIST
>
> Now it's time to jump back in time a couple more years to 1985. Twin Twist and his Jumpstarter brother Topspin were the first spring-loaded Transformers toys, capable of transforming automatically after you wound up their pull-back motors. It was a fun idea in theory, but I think part of the initial appeal of the Transformers toy line was the puzzle factor, and a puzzle that solves itself for you isn't very appealing.
>
> Sunbow did have animation models ready for the characters, but neither of them ever appeared in animation (not even in their own toy commercial, oddly enough). Twin Twist is notable as making a background appearance in Marvel Comics (you can see him in the group of Autobots in issue #36), making him one of those technically-canon characters like Sandstorm and Broadside. A lot of the characters who were never prominently featured in the U.S. stories (Topspin, Twin Twist, Roadbuster, Whirl, etc.) enjoyed a career of greater significance in the UK comics as part of the "Wreckers" team.
>
> So, the original Topspin and Twin Twist shared the same type of relationship as Bumblebee and Cliffjumper; i.e., toys that shared a transformation and internal engineering, but were not redeco versions because they exhibited unique molds and styling. (They were also likely gang-molded; Topspin was blue where Twin Twist was grey, and vice versa.) The new Twin Twist is basically a redeco of Topspin; they share identical body designs, legs, and weapons (both pairs are silver; Topspin's have grey handles while Twin Twist has blue). Only the robot faces and the upper arms have changed, with Topspin's wings and pontoons being swapped out for treads and drill bits.
>
> So, Twin Twist's vehicle mode is a little different than the G1 toy, which had two open-canopy Diaclone seats, one on each robot leg. This version has the central canopy glass, but it's still clearly recognizable as the character in either form. I'm at a loss to decide which one I like better; Topspin's jet mode is super cool, but I like the drill tank as well, and it's a sorely underused vehicle choice in the Transformers mythos. Twin Twist actually has rolling undercrarriage wheels, on his legs and treads, which beats out Topspin's single non-functional landing gear. The rounded thrusters on Topspin have also been switched out for more rectangular ones on Twin Twist; I wish they'd spent some of that remolding budget on the robot chest, rather than inconsequential details of the vehicle designs.
>
> Like Topspin, his guns can connect in a couple of different ways. In Topspin's case, they can either plug into the upper section of the vehicle (the robot legs) or to the treads (the instructions say to attach them to the treads).
>
> The Titan Master mini-figure (Flameout; the other one was named Freezeout) is entirely grey with blue painted eyes. He's exceptionally plain-looking. The blue of Freezeout makes him disappear when he's inside the blue-tinted cockpit, though, so I wonder if this is why they made Flameout entirely grey... so you can see him inside the cockpit.
>
> Since the Jumpstarters never appeared in the cartoon, they've never really had any media depiction that was meaningful to me. They're more a pair of toys than a pair of characters, and in some ways it's important to have both of them to really appreciate them. They're among the unsung toys of the G1 line, infamous mostly for being shelfwarmers and for being the focus of the Hasbro lawsuit against Sparkle Toys. Still, it pleases me that they've gotten updates. They were still part of the G1 toy experience. Bring on the mail-order Omnibots and the Powerdashers, I say!
>

I had G1 Topspin, but not Twin Twist. I do wish TR Twin Twist had received different weapons, but otherwise the amount of remolding between the two is sufficient for me. Curious to see if Takara keeps the colors on these two similar to the Hasbro version, or goes for some of those weird "Salt-Man/Robot-Man" colors (they should be able to just toss the "USA Edition" label on the Hasbro toys and import if they want to keep Hasbro colors, since Hasbro got the G1 toy colors pretty good on these two.

> MONXO &
> WOLFWIRE
>
> Wolfwire (or Weirdwolf, as normal people call him) was an early release but suffered from a design flaw in the form of an exceptionally fragile cockpit hinge. Mine broke only after casually handling the toy a handful of times. I was excited to learn that he was eventually getting filtered back into the Deluxe assortment, and I was certain the true reason for this was so Hasbro could address the design problems and issue the toy again with an updated, stronger cockpit hinge.
>
> Weirdly, it looks like they haven't changed him at all. I've been comparing my new, unbroken one to my old, damaged one and I don't detect any mold changes at all. The plastic colors and paint applications all appear to be identical as well. I don't precisely recall what it is that I did to my old Weirdwolfwire to make it break, so I guess I'll just have to be extra careful with the new one.
>

I have read that the breakage problem is caused by the tab that secures the cockpit cover in beast mode. And it may be avoidable by sanding or cutting off that tab. Personally I was lucky to find this wave when Walmart had deluxes for $10 and had heard of this issue then, so I have one that stays in wolf mode and one that stays in beast mode.

>
> Zob (the least they could have done was start shipping him with the Takara head sculpt or something)

There were rumors that some Hasbro Chromedomes shipped with the Takara head, but I think that was a hoax. I wish Hasbro had made a box set with all the Takara versions of the heads (and their exclusives like "Sweep") in colors that matched the Hasbro versions. Takara did import the Hasbro versions, and the extras would be nice to fill out various positions without depriving regular toys of parts they need to be "complete".

[New and Improved Zobovor]

On Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at 5:09:07 PM UTC-6, MWG wrote:

> So, which retailer did you pick them up from? From browsing your posts I get
> the impression you work at Walmart and may have got them from your local
> store?

Oh, sorry. Walmart in northern Utah. I've been ordering cases of Deluxe toys for weeks so the store has enough for a big display, so maybe I finally exhausted the warehouse's supply of old stock.

> Walmarts here seem to be getting Sixshots, seen a couple places here with 3-4
> of him on the shelf.

Lucky! My store doesn't even carry the Leader-class Titans Return toys any longer.

> Oddly, Blitzwing and Octone are getting somewhat common now also, popping up
> at Walmarts and Amazon (Blitzwing seems to stick around a lot longer at
> online shops nowdays).

Yes, my store did finally get a case of Octone/Blotzwong recently. The toys sold out within days.

Something interesting is that about two months ago, Walmart switched their shipping labels. It used to be that you could peel off a perforated bar code (and there was wax paper underneath it to make it easy to peel from the shipping box) and we could use that label to identify the box. With newer cases of freight, the wax paper is gone and the labels are no longer perforated.

The reason I bring this up is because my store is finally getting shipments of Cosmos/Seaspray, but they have the old perforated warehouse labels. This actually means the warehouse has been sitting on this stock for over two months, but for some reason I've never been able to get the toys in stock until now.

> I suspect the pink color may be more so that he doesn't infringe on
> Windblade, who is also very red in most incarnations

Yeah, that's true. I've noticed that Hasbro isn't absolutely terrified to release two or more toys at once with similar colors (Laserbeak and Ravage and Rumble; Blurr and Scourge) like they used to be. Misfire really doesn't look bad in pink.

> I'm a lot more into Slugslinger anyhow, but I'll get Misfire when I see it.

Slugslinger was the Decepticon Targetmaster I actually owned as a kid, so he's very special to me. I'm really looking forward to him.

> I wish Hasbro had been able to wait on Takara to finish the remolds that
> allow these jets to properly mount Targetmaster partners before releasing
> them to us.

It seems like Hasbro and Takara end up making these mutual decisions to go in different directions with the toys, probably for cost-related reasons. And I'm fine with that. At the same time, though, I'm sad that Titans Return didn't include Targetmasters in any real capacity. We've gotten Cyclonus and Scoop and that's it.

> Curious to see if Takara keeps the colors on these two similar to the Hasbro
> version, or goes for some of those weird "Salt-Man/Robot-Man" colors

You know that somebody will produce those color schemes at some point. Maybe for HasCon 2018.

> I have read that the breakage problem is caused by the tab that secures the
> cockpit cover in beast mode.

It's possible. I don't really want to sand mine down because that will prevent the cockpit from locking securely.

> There were rumors that some Hasbro Chromedomes shipped with the Takara head,
> but I think that was a hoax.

Yeah, I think somebody was pulling our collective legs on that one.

> I wish Hasbro had made a box set with all the Takara versions of the heads
> (and their exclusives like "Sweep") in colors that matched the Hasbro
> versions.

I think the problem with selling just a set full of heads is that you can't really do anything with them by themselves. You require a different, separate purchase in order to experience the play pattern. I think that's why Hasbro included tiny vehicles with the single-pack Titan Masters... just to give them something to interact with.

Also, when I buy a head with no body, it kind of makes me sad because I want a full-sized, fully-functional version of that character. Like, I've got heads for Squeezeplay, Grimlock, Flywheels, etc. but no dedicated bodies for them.


Zob (and that's terrible)

[MWG]

On Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at 7:00:05 PM UTC-5, New and Improved Zobovor wrote:
> On Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at 5:09:07 PM UTC-6, MWG wrote:
>
> > So, which retailer did you pick them up from? From browsing your posts I get
> > the impression you work at Walmart and may have got them from your local
> > store?
>
> Oh, sorry. Walmart in northern Utah. I've been ordering cases of Deluxe toys for weeks so the store has enough for a big display, so maybe I finally exhausted the warehouse's supply of old stock.
>

It would be nice to think Walmart might be planning to push this wave and the Slugslinger wave heavily. But these past few months local Walmarts were in love with that wave 2 (deluxe) revision with the occasional case of wave 3. But they seem to sell through them, and there are usually only a couple deluxes on any given peg.

> > Walmarts here seem to be getting Sixshots, seen a couple places here with 3-4
> > of him on the shelf.
>
> Lucky! My store doesn't even carry the Leader-class Titans Return toys any longer.
>

It is kinda weird, since they no longer put Generations on the botttom shelf, so I have to really watch price tags for familiar prices. Earlier they seemed to get a case of one Sixshot and one Sky Shadow, Sixshot sold quickly and Shadow sat for about a week. But Sixshot was at least known in Amercian G1 media in the 80s, so that helps him (he SHOULD have been findable during the May-August timeframe IMO).

> > Oddly, Blitzwing and Octone are getting somewhat common now also, popping up
> > at Walmarts and Amazon (Blitzwing seems to stick around a lot longer at
> > online shops nowdays).
>
> Yes, my store did finally get a case of Octone/Blotzwong recently. The toys sold out within days.
>
> Something interesting is that about two months ago, Walmart switched their shipping labels. It used to be that you could peel off a perforated bar code (and there was wax paper underneath it to make it easy to peel from the shipping box) and we could use that label to identify the box. With newer cases of freight, the wax paper is gone and the labels are no longer perforated.
>
> The reason I bring this up is because my store is finally getting shipments of Cosmos/Seaspray, but they have the old perforated warehouse labels. This actually means the warehouse has been sitting on this stock for over two months, but for some reason I've never been able to get the toys in stock until now.
>

I remember seeing Seaspray/Cosmos at one Walmart in late August (basically a week before they reset the department and killed the legends & titanmaster assortments). Targets were stocking this wave by early June so it makes sense Walmarts might've been sitting on it for two months. Target was 2-3 months ahead of Walmart on Blitz & Octane also and sometimes had Sky Shadow and the Perceptor wave of deluxes over the summer, while Walmart was happy to have empty pegs/shelves sometimes covered with whatever they had (Power Rangers stuff or RiD figures...).

> > I suspect the pink color may be more so that he doesn't infringe on
> > Windblade, who is also very red in most incarnations
>
> Yeah, that's true. I've noticed that Hasbro isn't absolutely terrified to release two or more toys at once with similar colors (Laserbeak and Ravage and Rumble; Blurr and Scourge) like they used to be. Misfire really doesn't look bad in pink.
>

That second legends wave was what I call the "monochrome" wave since every toy was black and red with some silver or gold sprinkled in. One more reason I'm irritated that they didn't make Rumble blue then (even if they can't get the Frenzy name, make both blue and red Rumbles).

>
> > I wish Hasbro had made a box set with all the Takara versions of the heads
> > (and their exclusives like "Sweep") in colors that matched the Hasbro
> > versions.
>
> I think the problem with selling just a set full of heads is that you can't really do anything with them by themselves. You require a different, separate purchase in order to experience the play pattern. I think that's why Hasbro included tiny vehicles with the single-pack Titan Masters... just to give them something to interact with.
>
> Also, when I buy a head with no body, it kind of makes me sad because I want a full-sized, fully-functional version of that character. Like, I've got heads for Squeezeplay, Grimlock, Flywheels, etc. but no dedicated bodies for them.
>
>
> Zob (and that's terrible)

Like I said, I mainly want the extras to fill unmanned slots like PM Optimus' double barrel guns or Hardhead's cannon, or whichever one of Sky Shadow's cockpits is empty when he is in vehicle mode, or Sixshot's two seats.... Most of my titanmasters don't get separated from the toy they came with so this is frustrating. I was kinda irritated at Nightbeat (especially that horrible face), Siren, Crashbash, and Terri-Bull getting such awful representations in this line and not having proper headmaster updates. Maybe they will get around to them later though.

[David Connell]

On Wednesday, September 20, 2017 at 6:43:20 PM UTC-4, MWG wrote:

> That second legends wave was what I call the "monochrome" wave since every toy was black and red with some silver or gold sprinkled in. One more reason I'm irritated that they didn't make Rumble blue then (even if they can't get the Frenzy name, make both blue and red Rumbles).
>

But there's never been a blue G1 Rumble, apart from the persistent Sunbow animation error. Seriously. Look at every toy for G1 Rumble that's ever made it to market - red.

Sure, the occasional bit of merchandise might have followed Sunbow's mistake, but the actual toys are all red.

[New and Improved Zobovor]

On Wednesday, September 20, 2017 at 4:43:20 PM UTC-6, MWG wrote:

> It would be nice to think Walmart might be planning to push this wave and the
> Slugslinger wave heavily. But these past few months local Walmarts were in
> love with that wave 2 (deluxe) revision with the occasional case of wave 3.

It's completely out of Walmart's hands what wave they end up receiving in stores. It's pretty much all based on how much older stock the stores are sitting on, coupled with how much older stock the warehouses have in reserve. The only way we could see the Misfire or Slugslinger wave out in force is if the stores sold through their current inventory and the warehouses weren't still holding onto tons of older product. Fingers crossed!

> I was kinda irritated at Nightbeat (especially that horrible face), Siren,
> Crashbash, and Terri-Bull getting such awful representations in this line and
> not having proper headmaster updates. Maybe they will get around to them
> later though.

As early as last November, there were rumors floating around about a bunch of upcoming toys that have, so far, turned out to be true. Some characters from that list who we haven't seen yet, though, include a Deluxe version of Nighbeat. Brawn already got a redo, so it's at least theoretically possible Nightbeat could get one as well. (We're also still missing the promised Crosshairs, Needlenose, Huffer, Hubcap, Freeway, Searchlight, and Apeface and Snapdragon.)


Zob (nothing is impossible at this point)

[Steve L.K. Macrocranios]

New and Improved Zobovor wrote:

> I can't seem to find any pictures with his arms raised, so I suspect
> he didn't have working shoulder joints.

Original Misfire's shoulders do swivel but after 90 degrees their top edges collide with the wings, restricting further movement. So the best he can do is get his biceps parallel to the ground and no higher.

> his legs are more successfully integrated into the fuselage than with the
> G1 toy.

I really dislike the look of this toy. I loved the original's proportions. I don't understand why their modernization of the design has to look like somebody squashed the original with a flyswatter. The placement of the wings relative to the fuselage looks totally wrong-they rest way too high up and remind me more of a Klingon Bird of Prey than the original Misfire. TR Topspin's cockpit relative to its wings is more in line with the dimensions of the original Misfire and I wish they would have remolded Topspin into this instead. I loved the original Misfire as a kid and I really dislike their reinterpretation of the design here. (Well I do like the big missiles under the wings.)

[New and Improved Zobovor]

On Monday, September 25, 2017 at 11:49:11 AM UTC-6, Steve L.K. Macrocranios wrote:

> I really dislike the look of this toy. I loved the original's proportions.

> The placement of the wings relative to the fuselage looks totally wrong-they
> rest way too high up and remind me more of a Klingon Bird of Prey than the
> original Misfire.

That's a valid criticism. I have virtually no familiarity with the original Misfire toy so I'm less likely to be picky about a new version of him. I do have G1 Slugslinger, though, so I may be more particular about them getting him right. I guess we'll see.

> TR Topspin's cockpit relative to its wings is more in line with the
> dimensions of the original Misfire and I wish they would have remolded
> Topspin into this instead.

I've actually seen a digibash of this somewhere. Here it is:

http://www.collecticon.org/collecticon_wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/titans-return-misfire_digibash_by_air_hammer.png

It's not absolutely terrible, though the front pontoons are missing the curvature that I feel like is pretty distinctive for Misfire. The proportions seems too cutesified, somehow. Like this was a Throttlebot version of Misfire or something.

You know, I just checked the Titans Return toy against his illustration in TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE and it's just about a dead match to the vehicle mode. I'm much more familiar with Marvel Comics Misfire than I am with Hasbro Misfire, so maybe that's why he seems like such a successful update to me. The new toy matches the proportions of his cartoon/comics look.


Zob (still incredibly unhappy with Generations Hoist, though)

[Steve L.K. Macrocranios]

New and Improved Zobovor wrote:

> I've actually seen a digibash of this somewhere. Here it is:
>
> http://www.collecticon.org/collecticon_wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/titans-return-misfire_digibash_by_air_hammer.png

Well now that I see it I think it wasn't as close as I imagined it would be. I knew the pontoons would have to be remolded but the canopy isn't as well proportioned relative to the rest of the fuselage as I thought. Yeah I guess I was kind of wrong on that one. I just wish those wings on TR Misfire were set lower.

I can appreciate that the jet mode's forward quarter integrates a lot smoother and stylishly into the backside of the TR figure (and that the pilot fits in there). It bothered me to no end that so much of the plane ended up on the original Misfire's back and there was no cockpit hatch for Aimless to jump into, even though it looked like there was ample room for a small figure to fit in there.

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

I found the whole set at Target today, so it seems to be shipping out (finally)

But I haven't opened any of them, I got Function X Sigma L today for $15 too, and it's just too completely awesome not to play with.