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Cyberkeys are a good gimmick but some of them tend to have bad springs.

Cybertron Defense Scattershot: The long cannon on mine has a tendency to not lock properly causing it to unfold without a key.

Also the small missiles in Shortround and Cybertron Smokescreen missiles have a tendency to unfold without permission.

cruizerdave wrote:Titans Return was pretty great. The only one hurt by it's gimmick was Galvatron. He would have been an awesome toy, except for the pop up mask gimmick. Had they used one like what was on Blaster, and possibly allowed for a side arm mount for his weapon, he would have been perfect.

Instead he was another "almost there" figure.

Pretty much everything else in the line was great.

The really sad thing about TR Galvatron is he didn't need to be a Titanmaster. there was plenty of room inside his chest for an entire head to fit in there. Instead we got that goofy-looking mask that sits in front of his head.

I feel like MechTech was very good

Stryker P28 wrote:I feel like MechTech was very good

A lot of those weapons were oversized for deluxes. Such as deluxe dark of the moon ratchet big buzzsaw/rifle.

I wouldn't be surprised if mectech figures with small feet had a hard time standing up.

william-james88 wrote:

Rysquad wrote:Totally happy with Titans Masters being number one. A little nostalgic because it's the first big-kid line my young son got into. The fact that from Titan Master class through Titan class, the Titan Master gimmick was playable throughout makes it better than Combiner Wars. The fact that the gimmick spread to other lines - Movie/Studio Series line also using the gimmick with Cogman, Nitro, Thundercracker, and KSI Boss and the WFC Siege line also using the gimmick with Apeface/Spasm and Jetfire - solidifies Titans Return number one for me.

Thanks man! Those are my thoughts exactly, it's really cool how it truly is line wide.

And lives on with Earthrise Scorponok!

While it wasn't overly good, I still want to mention the Energon Powerlinx gimmick. Inferno and Prowl make a great pair and are fantastic fun together

The #2 entry needs an asterisk because of the Leader Class figures

Also, I'm sorry, but Cyber Keys should be above Mini-Cons. Why? Because Cyber Key gimmicks are easier to trigger in the absence of the intended accessory than Mini-Con gimmicks, and because with the exception of the Demolishor and Bendy Prime redecoes (which use modified keys with Powerlinx ports rather than being retooled to accept normal keys), the triggering mechanism - the big fat tab of the keys - is decidedly more robust than Mini-Cons' slender triggering pegs.

blackeyedprime wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:The #2 entry needs an asterisk because of the Leader Class figures

Also, I'm sorry, but Cyber Keys should be above Mini-Cons. Why? Because Cyber Key gimmicks are easier to trigger in the absence of the intended accessory than Mini-Con gimmicks, and because with the exception of the Demolishor and Bendy Prime redecoes (which use modified keys with Powerlinx ports rather than being retooled to accept normal keys), the triggering mechanism - the big fat tab of the keys - is decidedly more robust than Mini-Cons' slender triggering pegs.

and the CW legends figures (unless becoming hand held weapons can be considered combining, chest option figures aside) but no way does the cyberkey beat minicons, they were more versatile and actually displayable/interact with the toys in more ways than an accessory to go in a drawer along with the cyber key port only having 1 use and taking up more room on a figure. Minicon lumps could be considered unsightly as Siege holes but hey.

As far as gimmick-triggering devices go, I still say that Cyber Keys trump Mini-Cons because of durability and ease of use. Go ahead, try and activate a Mini-Con gimmick without a Mini-Con. Especially one where you have to slide the Mini-Con. As for durability... I have seen Mini-Cons' little pegs broken a few too many times

I specifically cite gimmick-triggering because that's what sets Mini-Cons as a line-wide gimmick in Armada apart from Mini-Cons as a gimmick for the entire Unicron Trilogy.

mentre83 wrote:Nice list.

Titan Masters were great, although those sold separately from a "true" body (like Brawn, Nightbeat or Skytread from that line) were a really missed opportunity: imagine selling new characters whose body had a striking resemblance to a well-known one, and then during the following wave release a Titan Master of the latter - one could get it and recreate a classic, beloved Transformer, OR keep the new character, whose name could also be reused in later lines.

I have dreams of retooling the Combiner Wars Ultra Magnus or Titans Return Powermaster Optimus Prime into an Ultra Magnus or Delta Magnus where the chest piece is also a jet that Titan Masters can ride. It would also could me with a Powered Buggy that Titan Masters could also ride. Diaclond all over again.

Kinda wish Earthrise Optimus came with a Roller that Titan Masters could ride in. I'd update the Combat Deck so a Titan Master could control the repair arm.

Wait... That's all just Dialclone pilots.

I would put Titan Masters at the bottom.

Great list, but I would have switched the positions of #1 and #2. Titan Masters were fun (and the Titans Return line was one of the best in recent memory), but I think combiners are the clear winner here. If you look at all the fan customizations out there, it seems to be the most popular, and 5 years on we're still getting them due to demand (Takara Seacons). There was even a continuation of the line, of sorts, with Power of the Primes.

My only complaint about it, really, is that I wanted more. POTP was a chance to really finish combiners in style, and in my opinion it was wasted. Yes, I loved the Terrorcons, but we needed more Decepticon limb options. We could have had Runamuck, Runabout, Crankcase and Barricade out of existing molds, just to name a few. A few more Voyagers would have been nice, too. How about a Nemesis Prime out of the first CW Voyager Optimus? Nemesis Maximus, anyone?

And while I understand the economics of doing the Dinobots as Deluxes with Grimlock as a Voyager, we really should have had a Volcanicus that was Titan class out of a complete Voyager Dinobot set to rival Predaking. I mean... c'mon, right?

OK, I'm going to stop going down the path of wishful thinking here... Otherwise, this post would just go on and on!

Reflector2000 wrote:Great list, but I would have switched the positions of #1 and #2. Titan Masters were fun (and the Titans Return line was one of the best in recent memory), but I think combiners are the clear winner here. If you look at all the fan customizations out there, it seems to be the most popular, and 5 years on we're still getting them due to demand (Takara Seacons). There was even a continuation of the line, of sorts, with Power of the Primes.

My only complaint about it, really, is that I wanted more. POTP was a chance to really finish combiners in style, and in my opinion it was wasted. Yes, I loved the Terrorcons, but we needed more Decepticon limb options. We could have had Runamuck, Runabout, Crankcase and Barricade out of existing molds, just to name a few. A few more Voyagers would have been nice, too. How about a Nemesis Prime out of the first CW Voyager Optimus? Nemesis Maximus, anyone?

And while I understand the economics of doing the Dinobots as Deluxes with Grimlock as a Voyager, we really should have had a Volcanicus that was Titan class out of a complete Voyager Dinobot set to rival Predaking. I mean... c'mon, right?

OK, I'm going to stop going down the path of wishful thinking here... Otherwise, this post would just go on and on!

Oh man, Dinobots combining to Rival Predaking AND Devastator would be incredible. Especially since they were also nemeses to Devastator.

And speaking fo combienrs vs Titans masters, the reason I went with that specific order is that even though combining is cooler, it wasn't as line wide as the titan master gimick which had interaction across all size classes. That to me gave it a serious edge against Combiner Wars as a line.

Oh man, Dinobots combining to Rival Predaking AND Devastator would be incredible. Especially since they were also nemeses to Devastator.

Right? And I know other third party companies have done it, but I haven't really thought the price points or end results were worth it (not to mention the problem of scaling with the existing Titans - I think to their credit, Hasbro/Takara have done that well). I thought what they did with Predaking in POTP was fantastic. And some re-tooling to do the Dinobots was doable, I think...

And speaking of combiners vs Titans masters, the reason I went with that specific order is that even though combining is cooler, it wasn't as line wide as the titan master gimmick which had interaction across all size classes. That to me gave it a serious edge against Combiner Wars as a line.

Very good point - Titans Return made it a line-wide thing, even for the Leaders and Legends, which was something CW didn't do. Also, to be fair, I didn't think TR was going to be as good as it was, but the molds are some of the most impressive ever, gimmicks aside. And to get obscure characters like Twin Twist and Topspin done in the way they were - just awesome. Even the Monsterbots! Although I was sort of hoping they would be combiner limbs... Imagine Sky Lynx and the Monsterbots (maybe with an obscure fourth Autobot beast, like Chainclaw, thrown in) as Sky Reign? THAT would have been great...

Reflector2000 wrote:My only complaint about it, really, is that I wanted more. POTP was a chance to really finish combiners in style, and in my opinion it was wasted. Yes, I loved the Terrorcons, but we needed more Decepticon limb options. We could have had Runamuck, Runabout, Crankcase and Barricade out of existing molds, just to name a few. A few more Voyagers would have been nice, too. How about a Nemesis Prime out of the first CW Voyager Optimus? Nemesis Maximus, anyone?

I wouldn't have minded if we got more Decepticon Seekers are combiner limbs.

Reflector2000 wrote:And while I understand the economics of doing the Dinobots as Deluxes with Grimlock as a Voyager, we really should have had a Volcanicus that was Titan class out of a complete Voyager Dinobot set to rival Predaking. I mean... c'mon, right?

For better availability, I would have preferred it the other way around with Devastator and Predaking not being Titan Class.


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Also that would have been nice to see a tease during Combiner Wars where molds like the Dragstrip mold could have Titan Master seats and other random Combiner War molds would have Titan Master pegs that could have left folks guessing.