Titans Return Wolfwire Concepts by Emiliano Santalucia

Qwan wrote:From the Facebook page of Emiliano Santalucia, the toy concept designer and artist behind the designs for Titans Return Skullsmasher, we have a look at some of the earlier designs for Titans Return Wolfwire! While not as different from the final product as his crocodilian compatriot, there are still a few noticeable changes - such as a different, shorter cockpit design and an overall bulkier look to the toy. Take a look below, and let us know if there are any details you prefer in this concept artwork

If only the hind legs on the actual figure didn't have so much getting in the way of their articulation....

Emerje wrote:

Relic0037 wrote:

Emerje wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:If anything, I think overall the leader class was the most successful class in this line

I agree, or at least I do when compared to Combiner Wars in the sense that it's the most improved class. In CW the only Leader I found worth buying was Ultra Magnus, the three jets and two Megatrons just weren't doing it for me at all. Then comes Titans Return and I want them all. Only two Leaders I'm missing from Titans Return is PM Optimus Prime (I want one, but they barely showed up in my area and the online prices are getting crazy) and Overlord (getting the Japanese version instead). I don't have SDCC Primitive Prime either if you count him. My buying habits for the other classes haven't changed at all between the two lines, I either buy everything I can get or buy the Takara Tomy version instead, but my Leader class buys have been a huge step up and that trend looks to be holding up in Power of the Primes, I want all of those Leaders, too.

Emerje

Something the Titans Return Leaders had going for them that the Combiner Wars Leaders didn't was that they were integrated into the series gimmick. You could swap their heads with Titan masters of any other class, whereas in CW, the Leaders were kind of off to an island onto themselves. TR also featured some Leader figures of characters we hadn't gotten in years (like Sixshot) or ever in the States (Overlord). CW had bots like Starscream & Skywarp who regularly get new figures every few years. These are some of the reasons (IMO) the TR Leader Class was better than the one in the previous series.

It is nice that they made them feel more a part of the series, but in all honesty I'm not a big fan of swapping heads around and it doesn't really matter to me if they're Titan Master compatible or not, I would have bought these figures anyway. This is especially true since most (all?) of the Leaders don't require the Titan Master to be removed to transform them. They're just such good figures and in great scale.

Emerje

I agree with many of these points. TR made the leader class interesting again, provided some great characters that don't get toys that much, and very few of them needed the titan master removed, so they worked with the gimmick while being somewhat independent.

Talking of Leaders, Sixshot's on Amazon for 35 dollars right now.
https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Gen?tag=seibertron07-20& ... 7ddc7a1c6d

Kurona wrote:Talking of Leaders, Sixshot's on Amazon for 35 dollars right now.
https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Gen?tag=seibertron07-20& ... 7ddc7a1c6d

I bought him at $37.79 a week ago. The price keeps going down.

I have now seen all Titans Returns figures/box sets in retail stores except for Overlord. Just came across 3 Slugslingers at the local walmart. Bought one to replace mine that had broken tabs.

o.supreme wrote:I know many fans purchase the toys based on their personal preferences, but for me, integration has a large part in it for me. In CW I purchased zero leaders, although I heard great things about Ultra Magnus as a toy itself. In TR practically everything had cross pattern play, but I had to draw the line somewhere, so I purchased BOTH Titans, All Leaders (for base Modes), all the Legends class tablets (for integration with Blaster & Soundwave) and all the Titan Masters. I know many of the deluxes and Voyagers got praise, but like I said, I had to draw the line somewhere,

For PotP, I see a similar pattern as I'll probably get all the combining Voyagers and Deluxes (and Predaking of course), as well as all the Prime Masters. I'll skip on the Legends. Leaders, although they look cool, I'll probably skip, unless they have some as yet unrevealed cross play pattern with the combiners.

I'm really only looking forward to the Prime Masters and the Legends class figures. The Prime Master shells are essentially the new Targetmasters to me. And the Legends figures can directly interact with Titan and Prime Masters.

I actually have Combiner Wars Ultra Magnus but he stays in a box with my Ultra Magnus collection (all-time favorite character). Fiction be damned but Ultra Magnus would have worked better with the Titan Master play pattern versus the one-off tiny Minimus Ambus (and Alpha Trion) pilot in my opinion.

It looks like Deluxe and up will have pegs for Titan and Prime Masters to stand on but I don't see any actual piloting going on.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Relic0037 wrote:

Emerje wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:If anything, I think overall the leader class was the most successful class in this line

I agree, or at least I do when compared to Combiner Wars in the sense that it's the most improved class. In CW the only Leader I found worth buying was Ultra Magnus, the three jets and two Megatrons just weren't doing it for me at all. Then comes Titans Return and I want them all. Only two Leaders I'm missing from Titans Return is PM Optimus Prime (I want one, but they barely showed up in my area and the online prices are getting crazy) and Overlord (getting the Japanese version instead). I don't have SDCC Primitive Prime either if you count him. My buying habits for the other classes haven't changed at all between the two lines, I either buy everything I can get or buy the Takara Tomy version instead, but my Leader class buys have been a huge step up and that trend looks to be holding up in Power of the Primes, I want all of those Leaders, too.

Emerje

Something the Titans Return Leaders had going for them that the Combiner Wars Leaders didn't was that they were integrated into the series gimmick. You could swap their heads with Titan masters of any other class, whereas in CW, the Leaders were kind of off to an island onto themselves. TR also featured some Leader figures of characters we hadn't gotten in years (like Sixshot) or ever in the States (Overlord). CW had bots like Starscream & Skywarp who regularly get new figures every few years. These are some of the reasons (IMO) the TR Leader Class was better than the one in the previous series.

It is nice that they made them feel more a part of the series, but in all honesty I'm not a big fan of swapping heads around and it doesn't really matter to me if they're Titan Master compatible or not, I would have bought these figures anyway. This is especially true since most (all?) of the Leaders don't require the Titan Master to be removed to transform them. They're just such good figures and in great scale.

Emerje

I agree with many of these points. TR made the leader class interesting again, provided some great characters that don't get toys that much, and very few of them needed the titan master removed, so they worked with the gimmick while being somewhat independent.

Totally agreed when it comes to Titans Return Leaders > Combiner Wars Leaders.

Insurgent wrote:Also, so much agree with the comment about how easy TR makes it to customise figures.

Any third-party and/or Shapeways folks making guns that can seat Titan (and Prime) Masters? I ordered the LG-EX headmaster set and some of the LG legion-sized figures that come with an extra headmaster and I'm just looking for places to put them when they're not piloting a vehicle mode or being used as a head. Basically, I'm looking for a way to get say 10 copies of the Chromedome gun in various colors.

TF-fan kev777 wrote: Maybe not the best Megatron (but certainly a decent one), but possibly the best tank-former design to date. They gave us working treads plus a full 360 turning ability on the tank turret. Also, being a solid enough Megatron allowed me to turn TR Megatron into TR Nitro Zues using the head the Thunderwing displaced from the TLK voyager.

A good tank, sure, but to be a good tank-former, you need to have a decent robot mode as well.

This is what I had come up with: https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... oys/32291/

He is definitely on the list, but not on top, to me.

I must be in the minority but the TR leaders have all been lack luster to me in various ways (I don't have Skyshadow yet and waiting on takara overlord though I will more than likely pick up the hasbro overlord if it is ever in stores here as I prefer the colors).

Soundwave and blaster didn't even come with a transforming 'not' cassette included, then with Blaster being a repaint it still had an attachment for soundwaves shoulder cannon -laaaazy. Soundwaves usually a must for me and pretty much awesome in every toy form (apart from the Banus satellite) so I could easily have skipped on him, blaster was a sale purchase and a decent stand in for MP scale. Base modes feel kind of throw away on both, to me, neat for kids but kind of a poormans micromaster base. Might have been a neat touch for blasters insides being arc orange and soundwaves being all purple?

Powermaster Optimus also a sale purchase...his weird chest thing and no ginrai mode made him subpar compared to the G1, plus trying to lock his trailer parts in place, poorly holds his hand guns- and with the encore version being around £80 on release with godbomber compared to the £50 mark TR powermaster.

Sixshot...the gun transformer that doesnt have a gun mode...and even if using the 'submarine' as a gun the wings are way too flimsy for that purpose. Once again another toy that fails to be an improvement over the G1 though a great feature of figures being able to drive the vehicle mode, then totally derped by the figures look when connected as a 'base'. The wing connectors generally making the figure look like it's missing something from it's wings. Full price purchase, all his true modes look nice.

The TR Voyagers, Deluxes and legends (normally I'd avoid legends class figures) Have all been great (besides hasbro bee) and although I thought I was downsizing what I collect, they have been too hard to resist and truly one of the best toy lines so far. I have sold most of my other lines off tho if they can do other series figure updates as good as these, then my downsizing is obliterated for sure -I'm just about holding off on the beastwars TR legends characters in favor of only getting the BW MPs.

I love that Metalhawk from the Siege of Cybertron set. However, it seem to be made out of bronze/gold plastics. It really worry me. Will it crumble to dust in a couple of years or is GPS a thing of the past?

Skritz wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:I love that Metalhawk from the Siege of Cybertron set. However, it seem to be made out of bronze/gold plastics. It really worry me. Will it crumble to dust in a couple of years or is GPS a thing of the past?

Apparently GPS has been fixed since 2007.

Besides, Metalhawk's gold-colored plastic looks matte, no metal flake that I can see.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Skritz wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:I love that Metalhawk from the Siege of Cybertron set. However, it seem to be made out of bronze/gold plastics. It really worry me. Will it crumble to dust in a couple of years or is GPS a thing of the past?

Apparently GPS has been fixed since 2007.

Besides, Metalhawk's gold-colored plastic looks matte, no metal flake that I can see.

Indeed, yellow/orange/gold/amber/brown plastic subject to GPS generally has a flaky or 'swirly' look to it. If the color and texture is mostly uniform, it is far less likely to be the type of plastic that will shatter into dust clouds.