Dave's Titans Return Rant: Deluxe Slugslinger

[Dave Van Domelen]

Dave's Transformers Titans Return Rant: Deluxe Wave 6

Slugslinger with Caliburst (Triggerhappy extensive retool)

Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/DeluxeR6

Yeah, that's it for new stuff in the wave. Ships with Hot Rod, Kup, and
Hardhead. Since there's still leftovers of Hot Rod and Kup on shelves and
Slugslinger's color blends in with a bunch of other TR toys, Hardhead is the
quickest tell for this wave.

https://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/DeluxeR3 - Triggerhappy review

It's apropos that all three of the non-retool 1987 Decepticon
Targetmasters share some mold elements and transformation schemes in common.
They're not as close as the Seekers, but they are all from a common group
(the other two Decepticon Targetmasters were Scourge, who we got at the start
of Titans Return, and Cyclonus, who I guess was a too-recent Combiner Wars
figure to bring back so soon). However, there's enough differences among the
"Galaga Trio" that I'll review this as a new mold, just noting the common
elements.


CAPSULE

$15-20 price point.

Slugslinger with Caliburst: Solid base design, good alterations to fit
the new character. Recommended.


RANT

Packaging: same as previous Deluxes. The bio note continues the second
year bio note line about the Decepticons rising up, I'll omit that from the
bit below.
The instructions are modified, with the background made darker and the
foreground higher in contrast. It's still a bit hard to read in places, but
nowhere near as bad as most of the TR instructions.


DECEPTICON: SLUGSLINGER
Assortment: C3250
Titan Master: Caliburst
Altmode: Dual-cockpit jet
Transformation Difficulty: 9 steps
Previous Name Use: G1 (both), Energon (Slugslinger only)
Previous Mold Use: Gen (a little)
Titan Master Ability: Ultra-High-Speed Fireblast
Weapon: Autocannon
Function: Air Defense
Motto: "No applause, just throw Autobot pieces."

CALIBURST gives SLUGSLINGER an ultra-high-speed fireblast. The less
time SLUGSLINGER spends taking out targets, the more time he has to brag
about it.

B: STR 6 SPD 8 INT 8 FRB 8
T: STR +2 SPD +4 INT +3 FRB +5

Slugslinger's techspecs same as in G1.

Packaging: 9 ties on the robot, 1 on the combined weapon.
Cosells are Ramhorn, Misfire (heh, irony), Blitzwing, and Overlord.

Common Mold Elements: The legs are entirely the same mold as
Triggerhappy and Slugslinger, as are the bits of the upper arms that have the
elbow hinges. The fists are the same. The Titan Master, other than the
faceplate, is the same mold. If you want to get picky, the shoulder struts
are the same on all three. The rear half of the pelvis is the same as on
Misfire, which is different from Triggerhappy. Slugslunger's forearms have
the same sort of transformation securing tabs as on Misfire, but are new
molds otherwise. The torso side bits that the shoulder struts attach to are
the same as on Misfire, different from Triggerhappy. The struts holding the
backpack/nose end are the same as on Misfile. Other than the legs, though,
these are all details that are non-obvious in robot mode, and all three look
quite different from the pelvis up, even ignoring the color differences.

Robot Mode: While the colors are accurate to the G1 toy, the faceplate
is based on the animated look from Rebirth (and yes, Prize Inside has a toy-
accurate faceplate available). The backpack gets a bit out of hand in this
version, with the wings forming a cloak that can only be gotten somewhat out
of the way, and the twin cockpits partly to blame for that. They also
introduce a new kind of gun combo, with the two rifles merging to resemble
the original Caliburst's gun mode. I guess they were getting tired of the
mirror image rifles plugging together side to side?
5.5" (14 cm) tall at the head, 6" (15cm) at the top of the backpack.
Almost entirely very light gray and a slightly teal-ish bright blue with a
smattering of decal colors. The particular shade of blue is so very 80s, I
have vague memories of a lot of cheap plastic crap using it back when I was
in junior high and high school. Not to mention, it almost exactly the same
as on G1 Ultra Magnus. The blue plastic is used for the faceplate, the
torso, the torso side hinges for the shoulders, the pelvis, the boots, the
shoulders, the forearms, the seat gun, struts holding the cockpit on as a
backpack, and the engines glued onto the wings. Very light gray for the
other gun, the biceps, the fists (which pop out a little too easily), thighs,
feet, wings, and cockpits-backpack. The cockpit windows are clear blue
plastic, and hidden under the backpack is a Titan Master driver compartment
lid in clear blue.
Light gray paint with a decent match to the plastic is used on the face
and abdomen. The eyes are purple, and there's a purple Decepticon symbol
printed on the abdomen. Printed details emulating the G1 stickers mix light
gray, light purple, black and red for details on the shoulder fronts, tops of
the chest sides, and the shins. The round things on his chest are unpainted,
which is G1 toy accurate but leaves out the yellow detailing in the package
art of the old toy. Very common customization is to paint them yellow, which
can be tricky because it's hard to find yellow paint that looks good in under
a half dozen coats.
Standard Titan Master neck, and the waist swivels. Swivel shoulders on
up-and-down hinged struts, bicep swivels, hinge elbows. The wrists bend
inward for transformation, but aren't pinned so the fists tend to come out
with the gun when trying to remove the guns. Ball joint hips, upper thigh
swivels, hinge knees, long feet with hinged ankles. The wings are on hinges
to fold back, but the cockpit backpack keeps them from going very far.
The fists can hold 5mm pegs, and there are 5mm peg holes on the outer
faces of the shoulders and on the forward facing (underside) part of the
wings. No 2mm pegs in any useful places in this mode. Same 3mm peg hole on
the underside of the pelvis as on Misfire, and it ends up at the very back of
the vehicle mode.
The blue gun has dual square barrels and on its own is reminiscent of
some of the combiner kibble guns from Combiner Wars. It has a single 5mm peg
grip, a seat with two 2mm pegs behind a hexagonal 5mm peg hole. On its own
it is 2.5" (6cm) long. The gray gun has a single barrel and looks vaguely
like a motor with a gun barrel. It has a single longe 5mm peg for holding,
and a short recessed 5mm peg that goes into the hole on the blue gun. About
2" (5cm) long on its own. The combined gun lets all three barrels fire, and
is 3.5" (8.5cm) long. The Titan Master seat is more of a "sit on" than a
"sit in" situation. The blue gun's hexagonal hole goes all the way through,
so a third gun could potentially be attached on the underside. The gray
gun's main grip extends far enough that a more flexible figure could hold the
combined weapon by both pegs, but Slugslinger isn't quite able to manage it
without dislocating the shoulders.

Transformation: Very similar to Misfire's, including how the front end
starts as a backpack and swings up on struts, while the arms slump down and
hook into the boots.

Vehicle Mode: A sci-fi fighter craft with roughly delta-shaped wings and
twin cockpits. The scale is wrong for those cockpits to open up for Titan
Masters, though. It's nice and solid once everything is pegged together, and
while it has no landing gear there's sufficient ridges on the underside to
let it rest stably. The guns can be mounted on the underside of the wings,
or on the robot shoulders, there's enough room to do it either way.
6.25" (16cm) long, with a wingspan of 5.5" (13.5cm), the balance is
shifted more towards gray. The engine cowlings on the wings have vent
openings to let the gray inside show through. Ahead of the vents are printed
red and black faux decals, and there's purple Decepticon symbols printed
farther out on the wings.
The fists are stowed, but the other four 5mm peg holes are accessible.
The 2mm pegs on the thrusters (just above the robot ankles) can be used in
this mode. There's a divot that initially looks like a 3mm peg hole just
ahead of the Titan Master compartment, but it is just decorative and shaped
incorrectly for anything to peg into it. Getting the Titan Master
compartment open is very difficult without strong fingernails or a knife.
There's a tab on top to grip, but unless you have a lot of friction on your
side, it's hard to overcome the stiffness of the hinge. The space is very
tight for fitting the figure inside and closing the door. Any oddball
faceplate shapes will definitely not fit.

Titan Master: Caliburst has the same mold as Blowpipe, with light gray
torso and thighs, blue for the rest. Notable for having a painted face,
light gray with purple visor (sloppy paint makes it almost look like the
purple is supposed to be clear).

Overall: Not thrilled with the pop-out fists, but otherwise it's a
pretty good toy. Maybe not the most impressive way to round out the line,
but neither does it feel like a whimper.

[New and Improved Zobovor]

On Saturday, October 14, 2017 at 4:14:16 PM UTC-6, Dave Van Domelen wrote:

> The round things on his chest are unpainted, which is G1 toy accurate

No, they were vacuum metalized on the G1 toy. It's common for the metal coating to wear off, though.


Zob (anybody got a spare Grotusque for sale/trade?)

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

Mine has no hint of chrome at all. I was pretty sure the only vac metal from 87 was the Dino cassette weapons and Scorpinok's leg accessories, the latter of which might still be silver paint.

[New and Improved Zobovor]

On Saturday, October 14, 2017 at 10:13:46 PM UTC-6, Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People. wrote:

> Mine has no hint of chrome at all. I was pretty sure the only vac metal
> from 87 was the Dino cassette weapons and Scorpinok's leg accessories

Mine doesn't either, but it used to have it. I remember being really disappointed when it started to wear off, and I tried to restore it with a silver paint pen without much success.

Here's an image of the toy with the vac-metal intact:

http://tinyurl.com/slugslinger-chrome

Here's one with the chrome wearing off:

http://tinyurl.com/slugslinger-some-chrome

This is, I imagine, what most loose G1 specimens today look like:

http://tinyurl.com/slugslinger-no-chrome


Zob (Sixshot had chrome hubcaps, too, by the way)

[banzait...@gmail.com]

I can confirm that the toy had gold vac metal paint. It definitely was prone to wearing off, but mine still has some on it.

-Banzaitron