Titans Return discussion thread

Figures, collectables, customs and collecting.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Its the designs I like. And the characters. Even as a kid, I found the original HM toys a bit Playskool (although I loved Snapdragon, who I had) next to the earlier figures. I think its the characters you don't expect to be any good turning out to be great. Like Krok, who was a rubbish Action Master and wears the Skullcruncher mould better than Skullcruncher.

I don't miss the stat drums.
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

So now that the line has wrapped up, what did everyone think of it? Are you happy with how it turned out? Would you have changed anything about it?

I was really skeptical at first, seeing so many non-Headmasters in the line and seeing how tiny and unarticulated the Titan Masters were. If you went back to read what I wrote a year and a half ago, I probably expected this to be a total flop. So of course it turned out to be my favourite Generations subline of all, and one of my favourite TF lines full stop, up there with Beast Wars and the 2010/"Hunt for the Decepticons" line. I'm pretty sure I've bought more than 40 TR figures, and I'm not even done yet because I've still got a few Takara Legends versions on order.

The gimmick was way more fun than I expected. The character selection was fantastic, with a great mix of familiar faces and characters who hadn't been touched since their original toys were released in the 80s. The engineering of the figures was mostly pretty simple, but still quite creative and a huge step up from Combiner Wars where every Deluxe figure basically transformed the same way.

I know I bitched a lot about how a bunch of traditional Headmaster characters got skipped over in a line that seemed like it should have been tailor-made for them. And I still think that sucks! but the truth is that most of my favourite figures in the line were characters who aren't "supposed" to be Headmasters. Now that it's all said and done, would I go back and delete Topspin, Misfire, Triggerhappy, Quake, Krok, Takara's Blurr, Black Shadow, Overlord, Blitzwing and Blaster to make room for full-sized figures of Nightbeat, Squeezeplay and co.? Nah. I do hope Hasbro goes back and makes those guys in a future line, they way they've gone back to the combiner theme to make Terrorcons and Predacons in POTP, but I for now I'm quite happy with what we've got.

At the end of the day, I think the only thing I'd want to change is the stickers. I don't even mind stickers per se, but the ones Hasbro have been using are such poor quality that they really detract from the figure, and 90% of the time they'd look better with bare plastic. I don't know if they're being used for budget reasons (would printing, cutting and applying stickers really cost significantly less than a paint app?) or because the designers think they're a better way to replicate the G1 decals that they have (in some cases) replicated with tampos on other figures. But either way they're a really big minus in terms of quality for the bigger figures they're used on, and the sooner they go away the better.
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Clay
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Post by Clay »

It has, on the whole, been quite nice. I think they tried to make the voyager class figures do too much to really work (though Megatron/Blitzwing is excellent), but the bread-and-butter deluxe figures have been very enjoyable. Even the weaker ones like Skullcruncher have been fun.

I also really like that they mostly put out full subgroups. All seven basic headmasters, the three decepticon targetmasters, the three movie autobot targetmasters plus arcee, both jumpstarters, etc. I think only the monsterbots were left incomplete, but they at least made a little repugnus.
Warcry wrote:At the end of the day, I think the only thing I'd want to change is the stickers. I don't even mind stickers per se, but the ones Hasbro have been using are such poor quality that they really detract from the figure, and 90% of the time they'd look better with bare plastic. I don't know if they're being used for budget reasons (would printing, cutting and applying stickers really cost significantly less than a paint app?) or because the designers think they're a better way to replicate the G1 decals that they have (in some cases) replicated with tampos on other figures. But either way they're a really big minus in terms of quality for the bigger figures they're used on, and the sooner they go away the better.
I think it's the difference in application. From what I remember of that factory expose a few years ago, stuff that needs paint is taken to a different part of the factory, mounted into various stencils, dried, etc. and then returned for final assembly. Stickers would skip all that and probably streamline production time, even if the paint itself is strictly cheaper.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

It's been a really fantastic line and I've enjoyed it way more than I thought. I've really appreciated being able to pick up characters I didn't think I'd have a cat in hell's chance of picking up at a reasonable price; Sky Shadow, Getaway and Krok. Even weaker stuff like Astrotrain and Galvatron must have been doing something right, because every time I think about moving them on, I find I've been sat for an hour messing about with them! And, that is the measure of a good toy to me.

The criticisms are the same I expect many have, the Voyagers all being triple-changers hasn't been so great and the foil stickers where they covered large surfaces that require handling were a bad move. And putting such tiny, fiddly little stickers on the large City-formers was no fun.

I'm particularly pleased that Hasbro have made the POTP figures compatible with both TR and CW which makes this trilogy feel way more cohesive than Generations has been in the past, which means toys from different years don't look so out of place with each other.

Hasbro's 're-mixing' of Classic characters has been at its strongest in TR and I've been really impressed with the line.
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Hound
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Post by Hound »

I've enjoyed getting the new versions of the G1 Headmasters but beyond that I only picked up a handful of figures. What was best about this subset of the Generations line for me was that I didn't feel compelled to pick up much of it.

If I had to pick a favourite figure though I'd pick Trypticon. He's by far the most fun of the Titan Class figures to transform and play with.
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

Clay wrote:I think they tried to make the voyager class figures do too much to really work (though Megatron/Blitzwing is excellent)
This is a good point. The Voyagers were definitely the weakest size class, and I think that's something you can say about the Prime Wars stuff as a whole. You can still really see where the TR designs are suffering from being trying to cram in too much, with some design facets really suffering because of it. Though I actually think that the TR ones, even hampered as they are by trying to be triplechanging Headmasters with TM cockpits and pop-up cheekguards, were still generally much more fun than the combiner torsos from CW.
Clay wrote:but the bread-and-butter deluxe figures have been very enjoyable. Even the weaker ones like Skullcruncher have been fun.
I honestly can't think of a single TR Deluxe that I'd call bad. Some of them were hurt by QC issues (like Skullcruncher or Weirdwolf), some were maybe not the best fit for the character they were supposed to represent (Hot Rod, Getaway) and some were kinda plain (Doublecross, Perceptor, Hasbro Blurr). But every single one that I've bought has at least been fun to mess around with.
Clay wrote:I also really like that they mostly put out full subgroups. All seven basic headmasters, the three decepticon targetmasters, the three movie autobot targetmasters plus arcee, both jumpstarters, etc. I think only the monsterbots were left incomplete, but they at least made a little repugnus.
I know that a lot of people complained that they only did two waves' worth of cassette Legends, so we never got Ratbat or Steeljaw or Eject or Frenzy. I'm not really sure we need to be asking Hasbro for more mindless repaints, but I suppose I get where they're coming from.

They're at least trying to make sure that most figures have someone to hang out with, and that's a nice touch. The only figures that didn't fit in at all were Trumptinel Prime, Krok, Windblade and Alpha Trion, and two of those were straight repaints.
Clay wrote:I think it's the difference in application. From what I remember of that factory expose a few years ago, stuff that needs paint is taken to a different part of the factory, mounted into various stencils, dried, etc. and then returned for final assembly. Stickers would skip all that and probably streamline production time, even if the paint itself is strictly cheaper.
That makes sense. The stickers can be printed off and prepped ahead of time before production even begins, so all that they'd have to do while making the toys is apply them.
Skyquake87 wrote:I'm particularly pleased that Hasbro have made the POTP figures compatible with both TR and CW which makes this trilogy feel way more cohesive than Generations has been in the past, which means toys from different years don't look so out of place with each other.
This is a great touch that we haven't talked about much. I kind of wish that the Pretenders in POTP had functional head modes instead of being matrixes, but it's nice that they'll at least be able to ride along in Hardhead's turret or hang out in the TR Leaders' base modes. And reusing the combiner tech from CW was kind of surprising, since Hasbro had seen fit to reinvent the wheel every time they did a new combiner before that. I hope both systems stick around, and that if Hasbro decides to do more combiners or Headmasters five years from now they'll be compatible with these. It increases the play value not only of the new figures, but of the old ones too. It's definitely a better call than what we saw back in the Unicron Trilogy days, where each new gimmick line almost completely ignored the ones that came before it.
Hound wrote:I've enjoyed getting the new versions of the G1 Headmasters but beyond that I only picked up a handful of figures. What was best about this subset of the Generations line for me was that I didn't feel compelled to pick up much of it.
That was kinda how I felt about Combiner Wars, honestly. I grabbed a couple teams's worth of figures, but mostly I was happy to be able to ignore them since combiners weren't my favourite gimmick.

I guess that's the danger of building a line so totally around a gimmick?
Hound wrote:If I had to pick a favourite figure though I'd pick Trypticon. He's by far the most fun of the Titan Class figures to transform and play with.
I do wish I had the room to get myself a Trypticon. He looks fantastic.
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ganon578
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Post by ganon578 »

I've liked the TR line much better than I anticipated. I hadn't bought Transformers for quite some time before the late waves of CW brought me back into the fold, mostly because I could find them cheap at Ross or Marshalls. Having TR come right after that really got me back into collecting (which my wallet hates me for :lol: ). But I am happy that I did, else I would have missed out on the superb Sky Shadow, Triggerhappy, and Hardhead, and the under-rated Topspin (seriously, this guy is super fun the more I tinker with him), as well as many figures others have already mentioned on here. I'm torn on my favorite of the line, but I think Sky Shadow might clinch it.

I think simplicity and fun are the two major aspects I would associate the line with... and CW too, though I now think TR does this much better, since you don't need a team of figures to pull it off - I think Warcry and others have mentioned this in this and maybe another thread quite some time ago. The latter portion of this line has swayed me.
Clay wrote:It has, on the whole, been quite nice. I think they tried to make the voyager class figures do too much to really work (though Megatron/Blitzwing is excellent), but the bread-and-butter deluxe figures have been very enjoyable. Even the weaker ones like Skullcruncher have been fun.
Blitzwing is so nice, I have been tempted to get Megs too, but passed for now. Maybe on clearance though...
Clay wrote:the three decepticon targetmasters
And now that I have Slugslinger (from Christmas) to go with Triggerhappy, I feel compelled to hunt down Misfire. :)
Skyquake87 wrote:I'm particularly pleased that Hasbro have made the POTP figures compatible with both TR and CW which makes this trilogy feel way more cohesive than Generations has been in the past, which means toys from different years don't look so out of place with each other.
That's a definite plus. The aesthetics of each line are only subtly changed, so Shrapnel still looks just fine in a wave with Beachcomber, and they still fit well with the Deluxes and Voyagers. Compared to not-so-distant Generations figures like T30 Swerve, it's a huge difference. I suppose the closest design to some T30 figures would be Hot Rod.
Hound wrote:What was best about this subset of the Generations line for me was that I didn't feel compelled to pick up much of it.
I wouldn't say that I didn't feel compelled to pick up a minimal amount of figures, because I did, but it was nice to have the choice to leave it on the shelf. Unlike the CW figures where I felt like I would miss out by not having a full Combiner - like I do right now by only having some of the Dinobots. I don't feel like I totally missed out by not having Chromedome, Weirdwolf, or Mindwipe - all decent/good figures for sure, but they're not integral to my collection, and I don't feel bad about that. :up:
Warcry wrote:Though I actually think that the TR ones, even hampered as they are by trying to be triplechanging Headmasters with TM cockpits and pop-up cheekguards, were still generally much more fun than the combiner torsos from CW.
The only torso from CW I thoroughly enjoy over some TR figures is Cyclonus, but that's more personal preference than anything. For some odd reason, that figure just hits me (in a good way). Come to think of it, the only TR Voyager I have is Blitzwing.
Warcry wrote:I honestly can't think of a single TR Deluxe that I'd call bad. Some of them were hurt by QC issues (like Skullcruncher or Weirdwolf), some were maybe not the best fit for the character they were supposed to represent (Hot Rod, Getaway) and some were kinda plain (Doublecross, Perceptor, Hasbro Blurr). But every single one that I've bought has at least been fun to mess around with.
I second that. Even the lukewarm figures like Getaway are at least fun to play with... enough to get around the mediocrity. None of the 'meh' TR figures give you that 'buyers remorse' feeling, like some of the older Gen/Uni figures did.
Warcry wrote:I know that a lot of people complained that they only did two waves' worth of cassette Legends, so we never got Ratbat or Steeljaw or Eject or Frenzy. I'm not really sure we need to be asking Hasbro for more mindless repaints, but I suppose I get where they're coming from.
I, for one, would have liked to get a Frenzy to fill out my Soundwave set. Seems like an easy choice considering Rumble is already out there. Ratbat, at the least, would take some retooling.
Warcry wrote:Trumptinel Prime
This made me LOL.
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

ganon578 wrote:I think simplicity and fun are the two major aspects I would associate the line with... and CW too, though I now think TR does this much better, since you don't need a team of figures to pull it off - I think Warcry and others have mentioned this in this and maybe another thread quite some time ago. The latter portion of this line has swayed me.
Yeah, that sounds familiar. To get the most out of the CW (or PTOP) play pattern you need to spend about $100 to buy a complete combiner. For Titans Return, you could fully enjoy the gimmick even if all you had was, say, Hardhead and Nightbeat. The more you've got the more permutations there are, obviously, but it's a lot easier to get into TR on a budget.

The simplicity is really nice too. A lot of earlier figures, especially from Universe and the first run of Generations, really seem overengineered in retrospect. I find myself transforming my TR figures way, way more than I ever did the likes of Universe Sunstreaker or Generations Drift. I know there's a market for super complicated transformations, but they really turn me off.
ganon578 wrote:Blitzwing is so nice, I have been tempted to get Megs too, but passed for now. Maybe on clearance though...
Myself, I like Blitzwing so much that I'm eagerly waiting for the Legends G2 Megatron.
ganon578 wrote:The only torso from CW I thoroughly enjoy over some TR figures is Cyclonus, but that's more personal preference than anything. For some odd reason, that figure just hits me (in a good way). Come to think of it, the only TR Voyager I have is Blitzwing.
I honestly can't even remember the last time I picked up one of my CW Voyagers. Silverbolt and Onslaught basically haven't left torso mode since I got them, aside from a brief moment when I turned Silverbolt into a dragon to see what Hun-grrr was going to look like. And I'm not quite sure where Hot Spot even is. I think their designs were all pretty seriously compromised in order to make them solid combiner torsos, which they mostly succeed at, but as standalone figures they're all kinda boring.
ganon578 wrote:This made me LOL.
Make Cybertron Great Again!
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Wraith
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Post by Wraith »

Sorry to abruptly stick in my two penneth: longtime TF fan, but just wanted to share the love with fellow enthusiasts.

Titans Return has offered some really cool characters and designs. I was psyched to get Weirdwolf (I like him; what can I tell you?), but there are so many cool characters [and toys] across all the size classes.

Heck- I even got Wheelie. Loved the character in the IDW universe, and I really like the toy. But there are quite a few good ones.

Megatron is great; as are Hardhead, Weirdwolf and Wheelie. But it is a great spin on the old Headmaster/Powermaster gimmick that- as many people have pointed out- revives a number of near-forgotten G1 characters as well as popping out a few of the more popular ones.
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ZeldaTheSwordsman
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Post by ZeldaTheSwordsman »

Titans Return is what got me actively seriously collecting CHUG stuff. It all started with seeing TR Hot Rod at Target when I was looking for an Imaginext Red Ranger (as a way to get a new sword for my 5" one)
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