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".