Titan Class Transformers Star Convoy Coming in 2025 + More New Listings

Bumblevivisector wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Star Convoy as a Titan? I don't get it.

Someone who knows Japanese G1 better than I do will surely correct me on part of this, but it's the scale issues posed by the Micromaster Hot Rod that came with the original. Micromasters were explained as being smaller than normal TFs in most media, albeit for different reasons on opposite sides of the Pacific. But that Hot Rod toy begged the question of whether Rod downsized, or Op came back really big, and he, Sky Garry and Grandus were serving as bases/transports for normal sized TFs, which the Micromasters were now representing, but with all toys now being smaller scale.

IDK which theory Battlstars Return of Convoy backs up because I haven't read the Manga yet, but it seems HasTak might have gone with the smaller-scale theory because they're running out of ideas for Titans, and this next Titan allows for G1 Star Convoy's play pattern with the majority of Generations scale toys, without revisiting Micromasters again so soon after Earthrise.

Just my hunch. Sky Garry was depicted as being that big in the BotCon Wreckers story where Daniel and Wheelie died, so there's at least one precedent for it in U.S. fiction off the top of my head.

Sabrblade wrote:

Bumblevivisector wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Star Convoy as a Titan? I don't get it.

Someone who knows Japanese G1 better than I do will surely correct me on part of this, but it's the scale issues posed by the Micromaster Hot Rod that came with the original. Micromasters were explained as being smaller than normal TFs in most media, albeit for different reasons on opposite sides of the Pacific. But that Hot Rod toy begged the question of whether Rod downsized, or Op came back really big, and he, Sky Garry and Grandus were serving as bases/transports for normal sized TFs, which the Micromasters were now representing, but with all toys now being smaller scale.

IDK which theory Battlstars Return of Convoy backs up because I haven't read the Manga yet, but it seems HasTak might have gone with the smaller-scale theory because they're running out of ideas for Titans, and this next Titan allows for G1 Star Convoy's play pattern with the majority of Generations scale toys, without revisiting Micromasters again so soon after Earthrise.

Just my hunch. Sky Garry was depicted as being that big in the BotCon Wreckers story where Daniel and Wheelie died, so there's at least one precedent for it in U.S. fiction off the top of my head.

Star Convoy is indeed supposed to be a big guy, but more specifically he's supposed to be around Combiner size, not Cityformer size. The height of Siege Jetfire would have been perfect for him.

Micromasters are indeed smaller-than-average Transformers, in nearly all of their fictional appearances on both sides of the Pacific. In Japan, they're even called "Micro Transformers", emphasizing their small stature. Hot Rod did downsize when he became one, too.

My only hope for this Star Convoy is that it's less of an actual Titan and more of a "Titan class in name only", as in a Commander class-sized figure but made with the budget of a Titan.

Bumblevivisector wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Micromasters are indeed smaller-than-average Transformers, in nearly all of their fictional appearances on both sides of the Pacific. In Japan, they're even called "Micro Transformers", emphasizing their small stature. Hot Rod did downsize when he became one, too.

Was he the only one to do that in Japanese continuity? I meant to emphasize that they had different origins in J vs. U.S. fiction, since I thought the idea was they fled Cybertron the same time as the guys who ended up on Planet Master, but retained their original transformations instead of adapting to combine with transtectors, whereas Marvel Micromasters all downsized, then Dreamwave sort of homaged the difference by having just a handful being downsized after the Ark and Nemesis disappeared before subsequently serving as templates for the dozens of new Micromasters brought to life.

Bumblevivisector wrote:and their vehicle gestalt (Battlestar Attacker? Did it never have a name like Big Powered?)

Bumblevivisector wrote:I still like the idea of a titan-class Star Convoy that treats G1 bulks like Micromasters though. Sure there was no other way to do the Micromasters, but it always bugged the slag outta' me that they had Earth-vehicle alts despite being so small that it wasn't an effective disguise. Yes, they all mass-shifted to full-grown vehicles in vintage G1 fiction, but that obviously did NOT translate at all to any play pattern involving their toys.

Bumblevivisector wrote:Another possibility just dawned on me: maybe this listing's misleading and the "Titan" is SC + Sky Garry and Grandus, and their vehicle gestalt (Battlestar Attacker? Did it never have a name like Big Powered?) is Titan-size! That would be awesome, and possibly the only way the latter 2 ever get a proper update.

Emerje wrote:Yeah, I'm really baffled by the choice to make Star Convoy a Titan unless he comes with all of the missing Micromasters, too, including Sixliner. He shouldn't be any bigger than Commander Jetfire or Armada Prime or the completed Menasor. What's really confusing is if you go by the official art Sky Garry is about the same size as Optimus Prime and he's the smallest of the trio, but art shows them all as being pretty close in size.

Nemesis Primal wrote:If I remember right, the Hasbro design team said in a recent interview (don't remember if it was just at SDCC or something else, I'll have to double-check) that Takara is trying to get just Grandus by himself made a Titan Class release, which seems to imply that not only is Grandus NOT in play here, but that they consider all 3 of those characters Titan-size.

Razorbeast88 wrote:Is the retro inspired line not just G1 reissues with some new paint?
That's what I thought it was but I'm seeing comments about a new seaspray

Nemesis Primal wrote:

Razorbeast88 wrote:Is the retro inspired line not just G1 reissues with some new paint?
That's what I thought it was but I'm seeing comments about a new seaspray

The previous G1 reissue listings all just said "TRA Gen Retro [character name]" or "TRA 40th Retro [1/2]", the fact that these specify retro-inspired and include current class names implies a difference.

Looking backwards at when the 2025 exclusives we already knew leaked, these listings were also referred to by the leaker as a Retro-Inspired capsule and there were two more of them as well that we currently don't know the character for:
Tra Gen Retro Inspired 1
Product Number: G1093

Tra Gen Retro Inspired 2
Product Number: G1094

Tra Gen Retro Inspired 3 (Now identified as Deluxe Seaspray)
Product Number: G1382

Tra Gen Retro Inspired 4 (Now identified as Deluxe Brawn)
Product Number: G1384