SDCC 2017: Gallery Update with Transformers Titans Return Clone Sets #HasbroSDCC

This is very odd. Wave 6 having nothing new but Slugslinger especially in the holiday period, the remaining Clones being released as their own little set, Warden saying they had two other boxsets planned but they fell through somehow, and then those Titan Master listings that were found on Hasbro Germany's Amazon page... everything about this hints something went terribly wrong. Some plans somewhere had to have fallen through; something was shafted so something else could live.

Sabrblade wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:There's always Power of the Primes for Apex Bomber.

Warden said "no plans for Godbomber in the U.S.", not strictly for Titans Return.

Ah. Still, that might change. I mean, we've had bigger changes of mind before (Thrilling 30 Arcee, for example).

Inspired by recent posts to yammer about my Titans Return collection more:

Titan Master:
So far, I just have Brawn and Overboard. One Autobot, one Decepticon.
* Brawn: I like the gun mode, and the weird treaded Jeep/Landcruiser mode. The hoverbike mode is just kinda there, though it might be improved when I detail-paint the vehicle. The Titan Master himself is decent looking, though he too would benefit a good bit from detail paint. Currently the vehicle is mounted in gun mode to PMOP, while Brawn himself mans the turret.
* Overboard: I like how the Titan Master is integrated into the vehicle's dino mode. The rideable dragon is okay, I like it better than I like the hoverbike mode of Brawn's vehicle. The gun mode is serviceable thanks to the barrel detailing (though paint there would help. The Titan Master himself is interesting, how the detail from the Crashbash mold originally being designed as something else just so happens to make the body resemble Lokos (making him stand out amongst the other small Titan Masters. Spent a long stint as a Sweep's head, but after some customizing to that Sweep's "Fracas" figure I stuck him back in his vehicle (which said Sweep had been wielding in gun mode) and gave it to Universe Cyclonus since mine lacks a gun to call his own at the moment.

Legends:
Only have one so far.
* Wheelie: I like him. A good size for a Minibot among CHUG figures and a nice update of the original Wheelie to be more screen accurate. Has the vehicle mode without it giving the robot mode that big sun visor. He's a bit fiddly due to complexity, but I don't find him annoying to transform. I do need to paint him and make a slingshot, though.

Deluxe:
Here's where I have the most:
* Hot Rod: The toy that started my Titans Return collection. I saw him on the peg at Target and I couldn't pass him up. A beautiful update of the original Hot Rod in both modes, a face that actually looks like Hot Rod's (instead of Rodimus Prime's face on Hot Rod's body *glares at the 2006 toy*), hits the right notes for me on detail.. He was kinda a godsend to me. My G1 Hot Rod is in a bad way after a hamhanded attempt to kitbash him for more leg articulation, and now here's a new Hot Rod toy that I find vastly superior to the 2006 Hot Rod and I can get it at the store for the retail price of a Deluxe instead of the inflated prices Classics Roddy in his various releases goes for. And I don't regret it. Firedrive could benefit from more paint, but still. Also, Firedrive's gray body combined with Hot Rod's face.. It cleverly calls back to the original Hot Rod toy's head that was half-head half-engine block. My only gripes are that the engine block doesn't hide in robot mode, and the way the combined weapons attach to the engine block. Instead of a peghole and the photon lasers each having half a 5mm post that makes a complete post when they combine, they connect to it via tabs. That's fine for Hot Rod's own weapons, but it precludes putting a Titan Master vehicle weapon there. And because he's so low to the ground, the 5mm ports on his sides don't have clearance for Titan Master vehicle weapons either. Definitely want to kitbash that engine block, but otherwise I love him. Currently he's sitting on to of PMOP's trailer, using the height boost to mount PMOP's own guns such that they're actually in a position to attack.
* Kup: Overall okay. The way the nose of the pickup tucks into the chest is clever, he's got a good range of articulation, and despite what someone whined about the plastic is fine. A nice update, quite welcome. Drawbacks are: Grumpy face, original toy/Marvel Comics color scheme, blocky shoulders and forearms instead of rounded, guns not based on the old toy's Musket Laser, and cockpit not designed too well as far as holding Titan Masters. Still, he actually can mount Titan Master vehicle weapons on his altmode and is overall enjoyable. But I definitely want to break out the paintbrush and make some mods.
* Blurr: A definitely wonderful figure. His gorgeous and sleek car mode has been captured very well, and is even better looking than on the original toy. The way the gun mounts to the underside of the front end is very nice, gives him a vehicle attack mode. His robot mode is also very well done, it looks very screen-accurate in sculpt despite the added leg kibble. His head is very well done, looks highly show-accurate in shape in detail - even the ridge on the back of Hyperfire's legs helps here, since it matches a ridge on the back of Blurr's cartoon head. The shield can be stored on his back, which is nice. Nicer still is the fact that it can mount on his arm so that he can properly use it as a shield, unlike the awkwardness of the original toy holding it in his hand. The shield becoming a sled for Titan Masters? A lovely bonus. The one let-down is that, like Kup, he has the original toy/Marvel Comics colors instead of the cartoon colors. But he's still gorgeous. Mine is currently sitting inside PMOP's trailer while Hyperfire (who is nicely painted) mans the other turret gun. Blurr's own gun is plugged into Optimus' right-hand side.
* Scourge: Needs more detail paint (which I'm working on), but who doesn't? Oveerall a fun figure and a decent update. The front end of his hovercraft mode is hurt a bit by the designed-for-spread-leg-stances feet, but that doesn't ruin it for me. Plenty of possibilities for mounting Titan Master vehicle weapons - including on top of Scourge's own gun, which looks wonderfully ridiculous. The way the legs are constructed isn't 100% elegant, but the underside cannons for the vehicle mode are a nice touch and it does help elevate said mode when setting it on a surface. I do think, though, that painting the abs and the facial "hair" would have been a better use of paint than replicating the original toy's chest and calf stickers.
* Sweep: Bought a second Scourge to be a Sweep. Used Overboard as his head for a while, but I recently customized his stock face based on the Takara "Sweep" HM and put it back into service, with Overboard and his vehicle arming Cyclonus instead. Still want another 3 Scourges minimum for a minimum total of 4 Sweeps.
* Perceptor: Decent little figure, retains a good bit from the original toy (which I've been meaning to get but haven't yet) despite the downsizing - even still has some microscope functionality. A bit odd that he doesn't have a true cockpit, but still nice. I want to get the original toy's weapons to go with him.

Voyager:
Another where I currently only have one figure.
* Galvatron: I quite enjoy him, despite the issues with the face mask (for those who don't know, while the mask is shaped correctly for Galvatron's cartoon helmet it's not shaped quite right on the back to sit flush against his face, and the width of the pin housing blocks it his head from 360 degree rotation when the mask is deployed). He's overall a good, better-sized update. I like the cannon mode, it can angle unlike the original (and in fact is at an angle as per the movie if transformed strictly to the instructions). The jet mode is okay. And for those questioning/whining about him being a triple-changer: The original Galvatron was a triple-changer too. He turned into both a self-propelled gun and a handgun (one that, since it blatantly was something that could not fire projectiles, was less likely to get kids shot by cops and was thus more palatable to US retailers). But unlike Sixshot's gun mode it doesn't quite lend itself to being turned upside-down and called a submarine. My one complaint other than the mask issues is that he needs 5mm ports in his forearms to better situate the arm cannon

Leader:
Here I have two so far:
* Sixshot: Overall a decent upgrade, snapped him up since hey - upgraded Sixshot complete with weapons, for about what it would cost to buy guns for my G1 Sixshot. I like what was done with the chest wings, making them able to tuck into the torso like that instead of having to fold them across each other to give his arms clearance. Alternately, if you like having them out, thanks to his actually having elbow joints that doesn't stop him from aiming his guns! The wolf head is a vast improvement - much better defined shape, mouth that actually opens... Very nice. And the combined rifles make for a much better wolf tail than the original toy's gun trigger. Ambivalent about the kibble-shuffling done to give him those open seats in car mode, and the resulting change to his tank mode guns, but it's not horrible, doesn't ruin him. Ditto for his back not being purple. What does bug me is that instead of the wingtips with 5mm postholes the original toy had, the wings just have tabs the guns slip onto. That messes up the "Wingwolf" mode. But oh well, he's still decent. And has plenty of 5mm ports for mounting Titan Master weapons.
* Powermaster Optimus Prime: Probably the weakest Leader-class in the line. He's not horrible, but he's an afterthought retool of a toy not originally designed for Titans Return and its gimmicks - and it shows. The truck mode is alright, though it retains CW Ultra Magnus' problem of overly-large wheels for its size. There are 5mm ports on the rear section of the roof that can hold his rifles (as the original Powermaster Prime's rifles mounted to his trailer's roof), though they don't have clearance to fire forward. You can kinda stand the shorter one in one of the slots in the forward section of the roof, but with the other gun the protruding magazine gets in the way. Magnus' missile launchers have been replaced with turret guns based on those of the original PMOP toy, downsized and adapted for Titan Masters. The splashers over the trailer wheels have 5mm ports, allowing the mounting of 2 additional 5mm-post weapons such as Titan Master vehicle weapons in this mode (sadly, this is the only instance of such attention). The cab is silly. The tiny slit windshield and the huge grill.. It looks goofy and toylike, the oversize wheels not helping. And what looks like it should be the front bumper ends up fusing with the wheel arches. The windows are opaque, meaning you can't see into the cockpit, which is a shame. But there is a bit of attention to detail in the form of molded tail lights.
The base mode is where it really suffers. The official base mode isn't even the best one possible with the mold - the ramps are positioned going under the "towers" formed by the arms, which gives poor clearance for driving things up and down them and for linking to other base modes. Fortunately it is possible to configure the toy such that the ramps point forward instead, but the base mode is still lacking. It doesn't have the hitch-cannon that the original toy did, and one must take the questionably-stable option of unfolding the trailer roof panels to have 5mm ports available that aren't tied up by Prime's weapons. If only the forearms had 5mm ports and the toy had reversible knees so that the ramps could be pointed sideways...
The robot mode is fairly cool. PMOP's large robot head is well-rendered here, and has rotational articulation. Ultra Magnus' chest plate has been turned into a piece to substitute for Hi-Q's engine block mode, which is a clever touch. The legs end up different due to him having Ultra Magnus' transformation engineering, but they still capture the PMOP kneecap design and some of his other detail. The arms are much better proportioned than the original PMOP, but they're also where this mode hits a snag. The trailer roof panels on the arms make holding his rifles a tight fit, and outright block him from being able to hold the hammer his guns can combine into. If only they'd been mounted to the legs, or could detach to form a handheld shield (I plan to kitbash him to enable that, as well as have a separate cab robot)...
Hi-Q AKA Apex is alright, decently sculpted to match the original except he's a head and not an engine. The head part makes me think of the Orion Pax redeco of Kup.
PMOP is the weakest, but I still like him.

So I just read the Warden interview and I gotta say I'm super disappointed. Usually I try to not post negative things and I tend to look on the more optimistic side but I just can't this time. Slugslinger is the only new figure in the final wave? Are you kidding me? So no Apeface or Snapdragon (in a line filled with triple changing headmaster voyagers no less!), No rumored Optimus Primal or Toraizer Titan master? No new legends or Autobot targetmasters? Way to let the most exciting line in years just fizzle out into nothing.

And they have things planned out until 2021, is that supposed to make us feel better? That we have to wait up to 4 more years just to complete teams like the headmaster juniors and most likely the monsterbots with the way things are going? And I guess we can kiss Scorponok and Omega goodbye for the time being too.

I don't know. They keep saying that they listen to what the fans say but then they keep proving that they don't. They must only read the posts of people praising the stuff they put out and not the negative or criticizing ones. And I hate to say it but all this stuff is just pushing me closer and closer to giving up on Hasbro all together and just going full Takara. Not in a "Oh I'll show them" way but more out of apathy. I'm not mad, I'm just really disappointed that they can't stick with something and actually see it through to the end. That's what I think most fans want. Consistency.

Sorry about the rant everyone, just really had to get that out.

steals_your_goats wrote:And I guess we can kiss Scorponok and Omega goodbye for the time being too

Eh? won't they still release those under Power Of The Primes?(well....we're still getting a Scorponok TM anyway )

Va'al wrote:Fellow Seibertronian Etseterrestrial has sent our way some new sightings from store in Hong Kong, featuring Titans Return Twin Twist, Misfire, Siege on Cybertron, but no Windblade for some reason! The visited Toys'R'Us store is the one in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, and you can check out images below!

If you come across any new figures near you, please be sure to let us know in the Sightings Database and regional forums!

Why don't they have Windblades? Just because she's not from G1?

Lunatic Prime wrote:

Va'al wrote:Fellow Seibertronian Etseterrestrial has sent our way some new sightings from store in Hong Kong, featuring Titans Return Twin Twist, Misfire, Siege on Cybertron, but no Windblade for some reason! The visited Toys'R'Us store is the one in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, and you can check out images below!

If you come across any new figures near you, please be sure to let us know in the Sightings Database and regional forums!

Why don't they have Windblades? Just because she's not from G1?

No. Because windblade was so popular in Asia she sold out the first 15 minutes!

Cant wait to see her next figure in power of the primes and maybe she will make the bumblebee movie too!

steals_your_goats wrote:And they have things planned out until 2021, is that supposed to make us feel better? That we have to wait up to 4 more years just to complete teams like the headmaster juniors and most likely the monsterbots with the way things are going? And I guess we can kiss Scorponok and Omega goodbye for the time being too.

I don't know. They keep saying that they listen to what the fans say but then they keep proving that they don't. They must only read the posts of people praising the stuff they put out and not the negative or criticizing ones. And I hate to say it but all this stuff is just pushing me closer and closer to giving up on Hasbro all together and just going full Takara.

While I understand and share your frustration, I dont see how going Takara would change your situation. It took them even more time to get the insecticons and they still didnt colour match them, plus we were stuck with some TAV stickers on em. Just one example, of course, but I dont feel you will be better off.
And yes, you would have to wait 4 more years from hasbro to get the stuff that we are missing, but didnt it take us 3 years to get all the insecticons? Its not like waiting around is something new to do. Its been 11 years since CHUG began and we still dont have a decent Ironhide toy from Hasbro.

Stuartmaximus wrote:

steals_your_goats wrote:And I guess we can kiss Scorponok and Omega goodbye for the time being too

Eh? won't they still release those under Power Of The Primes?(well....we're still getting a Scorponok TM anyway )

All that Hasbro said is that they are on the line's roadmap from now to 2021. They could come at anytime within that period.

Lunatic Prime wrote:Why don't they have Windblades? Just because she's not from G1?

I think the wording may be confusing, the user just meant that he didnt find windblade, meaning she was already sold out.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:There's no precedent for regular retail releases being repurposed as convention items.

Untrue, CW Reflector was a regular retail release that was repurposed as a convention item. Hence why his headsculpt looks more like something that comes from hasbro rather than fun pub. He was the intended second use of the Shockwave mold.

Deadput wrote:What happens after POTP is done and over with and the Prime wars trilogy is over, is generations done with because what else can they actually do besides remake characters who don't have updates yet?

Hasbro confirmed that there are currently plans for the generations line to continue until at least 2021.

You know what, for those unaware, I will just put the interview here, we got some juicy info:

Can you tell us about the other two Titans Return box sets which we have not seen yet?

Sure, as fans have noticed, the sets are centered around the four different powers/tech specs and only two of those powers are getting the boxset treatment. We will not be releasing the other remaining powers as box sets of the same kinds but there will be unique offerings that will allow fans to have a representation of the two remaining powers. It will be exciting news shared later so stay tuned (Editor's note: this is probably what the recent Arcee and Ultra Magnus leaks are about and would explain why they are a different format than what we have previously seen since the remaining powers would not be done in the same way as the boxsets)


Will there be other toys in the Slugslinger wave?

Yes but they will all be repackaged characters. I do not remember which characters are repackaged however Slugslinger is the only new character in that wave and the final new toy from the Titans Return line (Editor’s note: this might be a response to the frequent practice of retailers not ordering/stocking the final waves of figures as was the case with Combiner Wars)


Why not wait for this Prime evolution gimmick to release Power Master Prime?

That's an excellent question. The idea we have in Power of the Primes line is that they evolve up so he would have been a good fit. But in the year Titans Return we wanted to make sure we had a big version of Optimus Prime and there's only so many big cool versions of the character so as we were looking at the Titans Return ecosystem we weren't even thinking of that evolution system yet which only came to real form a year ago and by that time Power Master Prime was already finished.

Any plans for God bomber in the US?

God Bomber, there are no plans for God Bomber to come to the US at this time. All that is planned is that Magnus Prime in the Seige of Cybertron set.

Anything with Omega Supreme or Scorponok which were also into fan vote since you know we like those guys?

Well the fan polls are really awesome for us because they let us engage with the fans and see what they're excited about. When we look to 2021 and all the possibilities we now have with the technology, absolutely. Characters like Omega Supreme and Scorponok are some of the most memorable characters in The Transformers universe and in the spirit of imagining things that are cool and giving them a new light they are totally on the table.

I'm glad we got the latest wave to hunt down in stores! I'll see if I get lucky at Target.....
I have one incarnation of Windblade, but I need that TR version. For DAT IDW FACE.

I wish we could see a shelf stocked like that, here in the States! Last time I was in Asia, I didn't have any time to hunt

william-james88 wrote:I have terrible news guys. John Warden has just confirmed that Slugslinger is the only new toy in his wave, everything else is a repack. He is the final TR toy to be released at mass retail (and yes, that means that retailer exclusives like Orion Pax can still come out). But nothing else in the mainline.

Y'know, I'm honestly not too upset about this. While it sure is disappointing that TR is ending, it just gives me some time to save up money for POTP.

Wolfwire very likely won't be re-issued in Wave 6, as he just got re-issued in Wave 5.

I'm hoping that we might see more T30 re-issues. Then again, if we were, I get the feeling that would have been announced or at least Warden would have remembered and mentioned it. Or maybe that's our last 'surprise'.