The Energon Pub

Legacy United Armada Universe Tidal Wave (Titan Class)

In 2023, we celebrated Armada's 20th anniversary. As part of this celebration, the Legacy toyline introduced homages and remakes to several toys from the 2003-2006 Unicron Trilogy.

UT includes many original characters, some of which stayed on top of the TFandom's preferences for a Generations remake.

In 2024, a long awaited character makes its return:

Armada Tidal Wave
(Micron Densetsu Shockwave)

Upgraded from Gigacon class (Ultra, but stretched) to Titan class (shorter than you'd expect).

21 years later, how is Tidal Wave doing?

Packaging

Legacy United packaging for Titan class is windowless, as you'd expect.
Inside the box, Tidal is packaged in a way that pretends to be fully assembled, but it's not: be mindful of that.

Tidal Wave's thighs are transformed for alt mode, and the shoulders are disconnected as well.
There's something artistic about the torso on its own...


Dark Fleet Mode
Tidal Wave was also knows as the "Dark Fleet":
1) a futuristic battleship
2) a futuristic/aspirational aircraft carrier
3) a... a... I have no clue, some amphibious thing with wheel, wings and a small living room (true story)

As a matter of fact, Armada Tidal Wave came packaged in Dark Fleet mode, straight out of its Giga-con packaging.

The level of detail and the quality of plastic and joints are pretty good, no complaints whatsoever on the quality of materials or the engineering.

Yet, this 2024 Tidal Wave remake brings some faithful remakes with significance changes.

First, the battleship/torso now includes the robot mode's hips. This adds some much needed bulk, while depriving the Dark Fleet from a key gimmick, the possibility of going straight from combined alt mode to robot mode.

I believe this was a terrible design choice to make: Armada Tidal Wave managed to avoid partsforming in a spectacular yet simple and elegant way, and after 21 years we lost that.

I don't think this was unavoidable - thumbs down.

The aircraft carrier also gained bulk while losing something - in this case, its minicon functionality. The elevator is now a painted rectangle.
It was very much an ad hoc gimmick, but it was still awesome.

With all the extra bulk, and with the high price of this release, the loss of ALL original gimmicks is a bit baffling - and the partsforming is adding insult to injury.

The... third thing looks nicer, possibly, and it's got some solid presence; the picnic chairs were replaced by... nothing. The shins still open up, to reveal... extra parts for Legacy Evolution Armada Universe Megatron.

Extra parts

At Titan scale, Legacy United Tidal Wave loses another key gimmick: its combination with Legacy Evolution Armada Megatron.

While this combination never made sense - combining a tank with an aircraft carrier took scaling discussions to another level - it's got its fans, myself included.

So, how do you split a Titan class toy into accessories for an Ultra class robot?
HasTak's answer is thinking outside the box (which box, you can imagine): fake parts.

All three Dark Fleet components have a compartment or a detachable part to materialise a bonsai version scaled to Ultra class.

I think this new gimmick comments itself, and I'll leave it at that.
No, I won't.
This is a waste of plastic, and I would have preferred to see a Core Class Mini-con Ramjet instead. A sad choice.


Combined alt mode
As mentioned above, Legacy United Tidal Wave can no longer combiner in alt mode without partsforming.
It's a disappointing choice. The end result is massive, looks cool and seems to be relatively stable: robot mode connections are replaced with tabs.

Lost gimmicks include:
- no more missiles (shooting from the battleship)
- not mode minicon-activated rotation of the battleship guns (5mm ports, it's all detachable)
- no more aircraft elevator
- and of course no more mini-con Ramjet

Well... as a starship, I'd say it's much funnier than Autobot Ark, but that's a very low bar - the Ark was easily more boring than Beast Machines Cheetor.

Compared to the Nemesis, Tidal Wave brings a very different style. I would imagine many collectors preferring the Nemesis in alt mode, with the opposite for Tidal Wave.


Robot Mode

In robot mode, Tidal Wave is as awesome as you'd expect.
The one benefit from the loss of most gimmicks is that you no longer need to worry about accidentally triggering missile launchers from Tidal Wave's armpits.
This alone makes the remake a far superior version.

The bulk of this version means it can actually stand on one side, for no real usefulness.

Articulation includes
head: 360
shoulders: 360, up to the side, butterfly joint forward
elbow: 360, 90 degrees
wrist: none
fingers: block of four fingers and an opposable... smaller block. When you remove the fake parts for the combination with Megatron, the "thumb" rotates around to replace the missing fingers. So much wasted effort....
nipples: Tidal Wave has 4 sets of double nipples. All 8 nipples resemble cannons, with 360 rotation and a joint to lift... 45 degrees?
waist: the waist does rotate, but, just like Legacy Evolution Armada Optimus Prime, the front skirt is a single block, so it's a bit awkward.
hips: f/b and to the side, no downgrade from 2003.
ankles: to the side.
knees: and here we are, this is what everybody was waiting for. Yes, Legacy Tidal Wave has knees. So, what? It's meant to stand tall and look menacing, it's no John Travolta. Oh wait


Base Mode

The original Armada Tidal Wave had a popular fan mode, a sort of base/harbour. Personally, I always loved it.
According to HasTak's designers, this Titan Class remake comes with an official base mode "to have an alt mode which does not require partsforming".
I think it's bullshit.

The base mode itself is OK, I guess - without minicon, and with the Core class going away, I am not sure what is meant to populate all this real estate.

Here you'll find Super Link Shockwave (Japanese version of Energon Tidal Wave, a repaint) for size comparison.


Size matters

Armada Tidal Wave fans have been waiting for a remake for a very long time. Aaron Archer and his team can only be proud for this original character to have left such a solid impression on the TFandom.
This 2024 titan class remake loses a lot of what made the Dark Fleet memorable, including its mini-con functionality and the ability to combine without partsforming.

Some other choices, like the fake parts for Megatron, are a bit baffling, but make sense in context.
The engineering and materials are particularly solid, so no complaints about the execution.

I got this toy at 15% discount on MSRP from Comics and Cocktails. Even at £190, this is a very expensive toy. Is it worth the money? Is this better than a Commander class Magmatron and a Commander Class Jetfire together?

The Bottom Line
I would say, for Unicron Trilogy fans, this toy is an event by itself: even with its limitations, it's a must buy. If you were not already crazy about Armada Tidal Wave, and if you are not a huge fan of Titan class toys in general, you might want to think twice before committing: the playability here does not justify the price of admission. Still, I believe Tidal Wave brings more value than past titans like the Ark or Cybertron Metroplex.

All things considered, I give Legacy United Armada Universe Tidal Wave a 6/10, bumped to 8/10 for Unicron Trilogy fans.