Transformers Purchased in January 2017
Welcome to 2017! The year continues where 2016 left off, with more figures from Titans Return and Robots in Disguise.
- Robots in Disguise Stormshot, Toys R Us, $16.99
- Titans Return Breakaway, gift
- Titans Return Fangry, Target, $4.99
- Titans Return Fortress Maximus and Cerebros, entertainmentearth.com, $75
First let’s take a look at Stormshot. I know nothing about this character, and I know next to nothing about Robots in Disguise. So why did I buy this figure? He evokes heavy 80s nostalgia of a time when transforming robots were fun and simple. I took one took of his overall motif, and I’m immediately reminded of Transformers (Diaclones) and GoBots (Machine Robo) in their early days. Stormshot’s mechanical design borrows heavily from G1 Aerialbots, and perhaps even some GoBot figures, like Fitor.
While looking through Transformers Wiki one night, I stumbled upon Armada Red Alert. I know nothing about Transformers Armada or this Red Alert, since they came around during my TF hiatus. But take a look at Armada Red Alert, and you can bet your boron compressor that Stormshot’s design aesthetics is based on this Red Alert. This can’t be a coincidence. The head design and overall color scheme is near identical.
In both mechanics and design, Stormshot is a throwback to the Transformers of yore. And he transforms exactly like you would expect, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The legs extend out Combiner Wars style. Arms simply rest on the sides in alt mode. Feet and hands flip out from where they usually are like so many TFs before. The only original mechanics here is how the nose cone and wings form the back. They go through many folds, then collapses on itself. A very simple transformation overall. And that’s good for playability. Stormshot comes with two weapons, a handgun and a medium size rifle. The two can be combined into a super rifle. All in all, I like Stormshot. I recommend this figure for kids due to the ease of play, and I highly recommend this to collectors that grew up playing with transforming robots in the 80s.
Fangry is another Titan Master that I consider more of an accessory than a full-fledged figure. I only got him because he’s a direct homage to G1 Fangry. I never had G1 Fangry. He’s a winged wolf kind of creature. His name is a mash up of fang and angry, and I’ll give Hasbro credit for coming up with something so clever. The Titan Master figure here is kind of a fail. This thing is advertised as transforming, but it’s really just some pieces rotating back and forth.
The only value to these Titan Master figures is they can become the head of the character they’re supposed to be, and you can use them on any Titans Return figure. Here I have Fangry on the body of Misfire. This combination kind of works. See for yourself.
Breakaway is a Christmas gift from my buddy Gemini. This character means something to me, as I had G1 Getaway. The G1 toy was excellent for its time. It’s a shame that Hasbro had to rename this character, and it’s more of a shame that Titans Return Breakaway is a Headmaster and not a Powermaster. To make matters even worse, TR Breakaway is an exact repaint of TR Chromedome. I compared the two side by side and there no mold differences whatsoever between the two base figures. For the Titan Master, the face plate in head mode is different, but the rest of the figure is identical. Even the accessories are exactly the same. And to add insult to injury on top of all this, Breakaway was a pain in the butt to find during the 2016 Holidays. Breakaway is in the same wave as Hot Rod, Triggerhappy, and Twinferno. But Hasbro’s weird distribution issues rears its ugly head again, and Breakaway didn’t come distributed with the other 3 for whatever reason. Even the 3rd party online TF retailers (you know who they are) were price gouging for sets that included Breakaway. Luckily Gemini was able to find one for me. As of this writing, Breakaway is no longer hard to find. But that should not have been an issue to begin with.
Anyways, Breakaway is exactly the same as Chromedome, so I won’t go in depth. Check out some pics below.
Now, for the big enchilada of the month: Titans Return Fortress Maximus! Yes my fellow TransFans. To see Fort Max reproduced in the modern era is a dream come true. As a kid growing up in the 80s, owning something like Fortress Maximus is entirely out of reach. G1 Fort Max is the biggest G1 figure produced, and for a long time it was the most expensive Transformer ever made. It was re-issued some years ago. I considered buying it, but deep down I wanted something made to be up to par with today’s toy standards. Metroplex was made in 2013, so we all knew Fort Max couldn’t be far behind. And it really happened. TR Fort Max was produced in 2016. It is indeed a rework off of the Metroplex mold. TR Fort Max retails for $149.99. Expensive TFs will usually go on sale after some time. And sure enough, at the end of 2016, in that week between Christmas and New Years, entertainmentearth.com had a sale of this figure at half price! I was able to pick up this city-sized Headmaster at $75! Merry Christmas!
The pic above has all the decals applied. And believe me, he looks so much better after putting on all the decals. It took me about 1 hour and 30 min to put them all on, but it’s worth it.
Fort Max is a Headmaster, which is one big difference from Metroplex. For a city sized robot, the head needs to be a regular deluxe sized Transformer. That’s where Cerebros comes in. He forms the head of Fort Max. I think it’s a shame that Cerebros does not have an alt mode of his own. Cerebros himself is a Headmaster. His Titan Master is Emissary (though all hardcore G1ers know that in Season 4, it was Spike). Emissary is sitting in the gun pod on Fort Max’s left shoulder in the pic above. Below is a pic of Cerebros.
That does it for January of 2017. This month would have been all Autobots, if it wasn’t for Fangry. And I usually don’t even buy Titan Masters individually. Decepticons represent – barely!
Transform and Roll Out.
Sixshot is unique in the TF universe for being the first TF with 6 modes (I think the only other one is Quickswitch). Truly a one-robot army, he came way too late in the US G1 cartoons to fully make an impact. In the Japanese continuation, however, he has a much bigger role. Sixshot lets all his transformations do the talking for him. It should be noted that his wolf mode does have a mouth, but that’s probably just there to bite all his enemies to shreds. I think my cousin had this toy when we were kids. I believe he was re-issued this decade in Japan, I should hunt one down. Better yet, I like to see a Classic update of this character. To accommodate 6 modes, he’s gotta be Voyager class or bigger. With the toy technology they have today, he would be so awesome. Oh man I’m getting excited just thinking about it.
I have always loved the Powermasters. The idea that a Nebulan partner transforms into the engine, which then unlocks the Transforming mechanism of the TF, is… well… pretty stupid actually. If I was a TF, and I needed a partner to unlock what I could’ve done any time I pleased, I might as well shoot myself. However, the toys themselves were cool. Getaway made this list mainly because I had his toy as a kid (and I still do, complete, intact, and in good shape with tight joints), and I’m always partial to TFs that I own. But more importantly, the G1 Powermaster figures all had pretty good molds, with cool designs and robust construction. Getaway in my opinion was the best of the Autobot car Powermasters. His alt mode is supposedly a Mazda RX-7, and the robot mode looks nicely balanced. His profile is also unique for being the masterful escape artist, something not shared by any other TF to my knowledge. In the Movie line of toys, he appeared as Breakaway (repaint of Cybertron Excellion), a Walmart exclusive. Getaway did not appear at all in the US G1 cartoons. However, he appeared many times in the US Marvel Comics continuity, and has a significant role in Vol 3 of the War Within series (which is unfortunately unfinished).
I have always too loved the Insecticons. Transforming into insects is just too freakin’ cool. I also went into why Bombshell is special for me in a 
The Constructicons are one of my favorite sub-groups of all time in the TF universe. They were the first Combiner group introduced, and Devastator gave the Autobots all they can handle. Not only powerful, the Constructicons are also master builders and engineers. It’s hard to say who is the most famous Constructicon, but Scrapper definitely deserves consideration. As the Constructicon leader, he’s always supervising the Decepticon’s latest construction project, whether it be a new weapon, space cruiser, command outpost, or whatever. He seems to take an evil delight in all his creative pursuits, and I love the way he orders the team to unite when the Autobots are about to kick their butt.
The resident “mad scientist” of the Autobots, Wheeljack is always working on something when he’s not too busy helping Ratchet repairing their wounded comrades. Wheeljack is famous for being the first TF we see on screen in the G1 cartoons and for creating the Dinobots. He does not have a mouth at all. When he speaks, the two pieces to the sides of his head lights up, indicating he has communicated. This is actually how I anticipate TFs to talk. Rumor has it that Wheeljack is getting an update in the next wave of Classic figures, something I highly anticipate.
Of all the Combiner teams, the Combaticons are my favorite. I remember back in grade school, my classmates and I would argue over which is the best Combiner team. Many voted for the Stunticons, some liked the Aerialbots. They were both good choices, but my vote goes to the Combaticons. Let me explain why. For the Stunticons and Aerialbots, the figures that form the limbs are not at all diverse. All the Aerialbot jets transform the same way, and so does the Stunticon cars (though to a lesser degree). Once you bought one, it’s like you bought them all. The Construction toys were old and outdated by the time the newer Combiners rolled around. And the Protectobots, well, they were a bunch of wussies in the cartoon so I don’t think anyone liked them. Not counting the later seasons, this only leaves the Combaticons. They were powerful in the cartoon, many times beating the other combiner teams. And as for the toy, each limb component were truly unique from each other, in both transformation and alt mode. And they all transform into combat vehicles! I don’t think it’s any surprise that Hasbro re-released this figure set 6 times after G1! That in itself should prove this is the most popular combiner set. My first Combaticon was Blastoff, and I slowly collected the rest as time went. Finding Vortex back then was a real challenge, I think he’s the rarest one out of the five. I still have my G1 set, all complete, the pride and joy of my G1 collection (though Onslaught is getting quite loose). I think all the Decepticon combined forms has the same personality (strong and dumb), but Bruticus comes from my favorite team so I had to put him on here. And when I was compiling this list, it dawned on me that all the Combaticons except for Swindle have mouthpieces, but for the sake of variety I just let Bruticus represent all of them.
If I was re-born as a Transformer, this is how I want to look like, because no one would know what I was thinking or feeling. Nevermind not having a mouth, Shockwave is completely devoid of all facial features, except for his iconic cyclops eye. When he talks, the eye starts flashing in sync with his words. So is he talking through his eye? Does the round object on his face function as both eye and mouth? We may never know, but that quality of being extremely efficient matches well with Shockwave’s personality. In the G1 cartoons he is simply the guy waiting on Cybertron (for 4 million years!), but in the comics he is given a much bigger role, often taking command of the Decepticons and conducting unorthodox experiments, such as Triple Changing and Combining technology.
“Me Grimlock not kisser, me Grimlock no need mouth!” The bad-ass that is Grimlock represents some of the very best that the Autobots have to offer. Grimlock is one of the Autobot’s most powerful warriors regardless of which TF continuity you follow, but in the US Marvel Comics continuity (and extended in the comic prequel War Within), we see that he is also a very capable leader, even taking on role as Autobot Leader form time to time when Optimus is missing or deactivated. In the cartoons, and especially in the G1 movie, he is often portrayed as the comedy relief despite being very powerful. However, no one forgets that he was the first TF character to have a T-Rex as an alt mode, and that in itself is just too damn cool. Grimlock seems to enjoy his Dino mode a lot more so than his robot mode (in the cartoon anyway), perhaps because as a T-Rex, he’s got a much bigger mouth to chomp his enemies into itty bitty pieces.
Ask any true TF fan to name his top 5 favorite Decepticons, and Soundwave is bound to be on that list. The Decepticon communications officer earned his place in TF legend not by being the most powerful warrior, but through his exploits in stealth and cunning, his monotone way of speaking, his non-personality, and last but not least, his numerous henchmen that he can eject as cassettes from his tape deck. As far as G1 toys go, Soundwave is perhaps the most accurate to the G1 cartoon. Let’s face it, the cartoons made most characters look much better than their toy representations (I’m looking at you, Ratchet and Ironhide). Soundwave is the lone exception. If you looked at him in the cartoons and imagine in your mind how his toy would look, well, that’ how it looks. His G1 mold still holds up well today. In fact it’s so good that I don’t think a Masterpiece version can really improve on it, other than making him bigger and perhaps a little more detail.
Like I would put anyone other than Optimus Prime in the top spot. Optimus Prime is perhaps the most iconic Transfomer of all time. His dedication to the freedom and welfare of all living beings is unrivaled. Optimus has got it all, being both a powerful warrior and capable commander. He (along with Megatron) has appeared in every Transformer continuity and spin-off. The earlier renditions of Optimus all has him appear with the mouthpiece, but later versions of the character tend to give him the lips with the mouthpiece serving as some kind of lower face shield when he’s in battle (such as Beast Wars, the Michael Bay movies, and the Animated Series). I don’t know what is the reason for this evolution, but the G1 purist in me will probably never get used to seeing Prime with moving lips. And I think not seeing the lips gives a character more authority in appearance. This is the design I prefer for Prime. There are many Optimus figures where you can pose him with the mouth shield on or off. Guess how I pose mine?