Dave's Transformers Generations Rant: Titan Masters Wave 1 Nightbeat (Drill Tank/Jet) Terri-Bull (Aerospace Transport/Anti-Aircraft Tank) Crashbash (Dinosaur/Wyvern) Loudmouth (APC/Hovercar) Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Gen/Master1 Finally, after years of lacking one, a $5 price class that isn't a gimmick brick (seriously, Titan Masters alone have more articulation than PRiD Mini-Cons or Rescue Bots Mini-Cons, and Legion class hasn't been $5 for ages). Hasbro released an online version of the Armada-style minicomics at the end of July, which provides bio notes and techspecs for a bunch of characters, including the Titan Masters in this wave that don't get trading cards. I'll be taking the stuff from that comic for this review where possible. The comic doesn't really explain why Nightbeat or Horri-Bull are suddenly Titan Masters (who are otherwise supposed to have been around as long as the Titans), but my headcanon is that some of the existing Autobots and Decepticons figure out how to become Titan Masters (or are involuntarily used in experiments to replicate the ability). Until they get around to providing an official explanation, that'll do. Finally, the not-actually-pack-in comic just treats Sentinel Prime as a generic good guy, ignoring his IDW-verse role as Autobot Hitler. [Later note: the original design art for this wave had them all as completely new characters, who later got the backpack faces retooled to be G1 homages. So that's why Nightbeat's robot mode doesn't really look like anyone in particular, for instance.] CAPSULES $5 price point. Nightbeat: Maybe not the vehicles I associate with the character, but pretty good. Recommended. Terri-Bull: Adorable tank, decent dropship. Recommended. Crashbash: Easily the most ambitious of the four designs, and it does suffer from being a little too clever for its own good, keeping it from being strongly recommended. But still recommended. Loudmouth: The weakest of the four, but still worth getting at $5. Mildly recommended. RANTS Packaging: They're all on blister cards 6.75" (17cm) tall and 4.25" (11cm) wide, with identical card front art: a disapproving-looking Fortress Maximus head flying over a generic energy spray. The card insert in the blister shows the head mode, but no picture of the alternate vehicle mode. The card back has a generic "1 step" transformation instruction for the head (although it uses Cerebros as the example, oddly) and then a graphic showing the heads are compatible with Deluxe, Voyager, and Leader Class bodies. The bottom half is legalese. Inside the blister, there's a little tray-let to support the Titan Master in robot mode, and the vehicle is just held in by the blister itself. The instructions are loose in the bottom, little folded-up sheets mostly devoted to transforming the vehicle. Oddly, not all of the instructions start with the mode that the toy is packaged in. General Design Elements: So, each of these is a head on its own. The vehicle they come with has two modes, one meant to be ridden by the robot with the help of two 2mm pegs, the other one meant to have the Titan Master integrated into it (usually using the head connection peg feature to snap it in place, in addition to sometimes having other elements). Some of the integrated modes can be ridden as well. They also have an official weapon mode, either for use as a hand weapon or for attachment to a base mode as an extra turret. Trademark Problems: These were actually all meant to be updates of the second year (Masterforce) Headmasters, but Nightbeat was the only name they could get in the clear. Horri-Bull became Terri-Bull (although the comic has him as Rot-Gut), Squeezeplay became Crashbash, and Siren became Loudmouth. Makes me wonder why they didn't use Lokos and Quig for the last two, can't see those names having been lost. Then again, hard to see anyone wanting to keep them, either. AUTOBOT: NIGHTBEAT Assortment: B4698 Integrated Vehicle: Drill Tank Ride-On Vehicle: Jet Vehicle Transformation Difficulty: 9 steps Previous Name Use: G1, Arm, Gen Previous Mold Use: None Function: Titan Master Power Boost: Tracking Nightbeat is a relentless detective who is not afraid to chase clues wherever they lead, even if it means facing enemies much bigger than him. When Nightbeat units with another bot, he gives them exceptional tracking ability. STR +2 SPD +3 INT +4 FRB +3 Packaging: Vehicle is in drill tank mode, but the instructions start with jet mode. Robot Mode: Mold-wise, this doesn't really look like Muzzle or like Nightbeat, oddly. The colors are pretty close to Nightbeat's (lack of a helmet seat means that there has to be blue on the Master to get blue on the head), but the mold has a faceplate rather than a face, and detailing unlike either component of the G1 toy. The torso front and thighs are bright yellow plastic, the rest of the bits are a metalflake bright blue plastic. The only robot-specific paint is bright yellow on the faceplate. Head Mode: The mold is definitely based on the original toy, with allowances for the differences in basic design. For instance, the antennae are very much reduced and molded onto the robot arms, and some of the angularity of the G1 comic design has been worked in. Color-wise, though, it doesn't really match outside of the face itself (painted a bit splotchily yellow-orange with red eyes). There's no yellow on the boundary around the face, but there is yellow on the top of the head (robot thighs). Integrated Vehicle Mode: A drill tank. I had an easier time getting Nightbeat's head mode into its designated location when I turned the tiny head around 180 degrees. The head mode face is hidden, and the folded up body forms what is apparently meant to be a control cabin for the drill tank. There's no wheels in the treads, they don't seem to be going with that feature for any of these vehicles. 3.5" (9cm) long counting the 5mm peg sticking out the back, a mix of blue, bright yellow, and silver. A bit of red from jet mode is visible. The treads are parallelogram-shaped, and the drill bit is conical with grinder bolts studding it. The core rear sections where the head plugs in are bright yellow plastic, as is the 5mm peg sticking out the back, and the rest of the toy is the same metalflake blue as made up most of Nightbeat. The drillbit and the armor panels on the sides of the treads are painted silver. The right side armor panel has a small red Autobot symbol printed on it. If you bend the knees backwards, you can get the robot to sit in the back and make this an alternate ride-on mode. Transformation: The piece where the head clips folds down, the drill bit piece rotates 180 degrees to hide the drill and bring out the jet cockpit, and the armor panels on the sides of the treads fold out as wings. Then flip the whole thing upside down. You can angle the 5mm peg up to sort of evoke a tail. Ride-On Vehicle Mode: A jet with treads, well at least they tried. There's twin 2mm pegs at the rear so that a Titan Master in robot mode can ride it as if it were a rocket sled. The winglets have weapons molded onto them, either rockets or cannons, not really enough detail to be sure what was intended. About as long as drill tank mode, now with a 2.25" (5.5cm) wingspan. Most of the silver paint is hidden or on the underside. The cockpit window is painted garnet red, but one wonders what would be small enough to fit inside, unless the Titan Masters are supposed to be 5-8 meters tall. Weapon Mode: Simple as one can get, just fold the 5mm peg down when in drill tank mode. Now it's a drill pistol or something. Overall: Okay, neither vehicle mode really says "Nightbeat" to me, although I suppose the drill tank is good for digging for the truth. And while the jet mode is pretty G1-fakey, it manages to work that aesthetic. DECEPTICON: TERRI-BULL Assortment: B4699 Integrated Vehicle: Jet Ride-On Vehicle: Tank Vehicle Transformation Difficulty: 8 steps Previous Name Use: None (homage to Horri-Bull) Previous Mold Use: None Function: Titan Master Power Boost: Toxic Rust Cloud Rot-Gut oozes evil...literally. His systems leak foul smelling fluids. He's also a terrible, horrible bully who happily destroys anything that stands in his way. When Rot-Gut unites with another bot, he gives them the ability to unleash a cloud of toxic rust. [Note: the comic calls him Rot-Gut, but it's clearly Terri-Bull, albeit colored slightly differently. Horri-Bull has the basic toxic personality and powers listed above, and the "horrible, terrible" line is clearly meant to reference Horri-Bull.] STR +4 SPD +2 INT +3 FRB +3 Note, Skytread from wave 2 uses a redeco of Terri-Bull's vehicle. (Skytread appears to be a Flywheels homage, oddly.) Packaging: Vehicle is in tank mode, and the instructions start with tank mode. Robot Mode: The head seems to be based on the comics design for Horri-Bull's main face, rather than Kreb, with a bright yellow face. Even allowing for the darker blue, though, the color balance on Terri-Bull doesn't match Horri-Bull or Kreb. The arms, thighs, head, and backpack face are a dark blue plastic, while the torso and boots are very light gray. The only paint in this mode is bright yellow on the face...which is odd, since there's no bright yellow elsewhere on any part of this toy. Head Mode: Pretty close to a "gotta fit in the standard shape" remodel of G1 Horri-Bull's head, with a light tan face and faceplate (emulating the bronze of G1) and sloppily painted red eyes. Otherwise, the front part is dark blue, the back part light gray. Integrated Vehicle Mode: A jet with treads, something of a theme here. The Titan Master in robot mode lies down in a slot on the back, and once again I found it worked better with the head turned around 180 degrees. It rests on the turret and has a more generally chunky look than Nightbeat's jet, more of an aerospace dropship sort of thing a la Battletech or Starship Troopers. The robot's shin detailing makes for acceptable tail surfaces. 2.75" (7cm) long with a 2.25" (5.5cm) wingspan. Almost all of the vehicle mode is dark blue plastic, with the non-blue bits of the vehicle on the underside, but Terri-Bull's chest and boots provide some contrast. The cockpit windows are painted metalflake black, with a purple on silver Decepticon symbol on the top of the rearward of the two canopies. It's not stable, but you can sit the robot up in the gap on the back of the fuselage to ride the jet. Transformation: The wings fold up, the cockpit swings into the body, and then turn the thing over. Note, when going from tank to jet mode, it's easily to accidentally pop off the wings. Ride-On Vehicle Mode: A quad-barreled anti-aircraft tank. There's twin 2mm pegs inside the turret so that a Titan Master's feet can be secured inside while he rides around in the tank. This is totally Adora-Bull, by the way. 2" (5cm) long in dark blue and tan with light gray barrels. The barrels and the 5mm peg at the back are light gray plastic, the rest of the toy is the same dark blue as seen on Terri-Bull. The turret part is painted the same light tan as Terri-Bull's head mode faceplate. The barrels are in two two-barrel pieces and just sort of snapped on, they can elevate independently of each other from horizontal to about 45 degrees up. Higher is possible, but starts to pop the piece off. Weapon Mode: Halfway between modes. It's basically the tank with the jet cockpit flipped out, then turned upside down with the 5mm peg unfolded. Officially, Terri-Bull is integrated with it, but he can also sort of sit in it to operate it when emplaced on a base mode. Overall: I like this vehicle enough I've already bought Skytread, so there's that. It does help that these are impulse buy level for me, of course. A nice solid example of what this line is capable of, in any case. DECEPTICON: CRASHBASH Assortment: B4700 Integrated Beast: Robo-Dinosaur Ride-On Beast: Robo-Chicken Thing (well, Wyvern, but Sentinel Prime called a Robo-Chicken thing in the "pack-in" comic) Vehicle Transformation Difficulty: 8 steps Previous Name Use: None Previous Mold Use: None Function: Titan Master Power Boost: Berserker Rage Blasters? Overrated. This one-bot wrecking crew smashes Autobots with thundering brute force. When Crashbash unites with another bot, he gives them the ability to harness unstoppable berserker rage. STR +4 SPD +2 INT +2 FRB +3 Note, Crashbash's beast ride is redeco'ed for wave 2's Clobber, who himself appears to be a Grimlock head predeco and has been indicated by Hasbro reps to BE Grimlock operating under an alias. Packaging: Beast is in, um, neither mode. Closer to ride-on, I suppose, but needs some transforming to get into it. Instructions start with the integrated beast. Robot Mode: As seems to be the usual case here, the mold doesn't really look like Lokos or like Squeezeplay, although I suppose the face could have been a result of misinterpreting Lokos's faceplate and making it a recess instead. The torso front is very light gray, the rest of the toy is a reddish purple plastic. The entire face, including a sort of masquerade-like mask, is painted silver. Head Mode: Very close to the G1 Squeezeplay head, but with the lines made more angular and sinister. Only a little bit of gray is visible on top. The face is painted silver with garnet red eyes. Integrated Vehicle Mode: Definitely the most integrated of the modes in this wave. Where Nightbeat and Loudmouth pretty much just jam the head into a socket, and Terri-Bull lies down along the back of the plane, Crashbash's legs become the lower jaw of this mode and his arms become the tiny T.rex arms. The 2mm peg holes in the bottoms of the feet look like jaw guns, and there's triangular teeth molded onto the sides of the boots. The figure is supposed to be posed in a more old-fashioned "tail dragger" position, although it can just barely stay standing with a more horizontal torso. The tail is pretty obviously the head and neck of the robo-chicken mode. The 5mm peg for weapon mode looks kind of like a back-mounted cannon. While the Crashbash Master is meant to be Squeezeplay, this purple dinosaur makes me think it was meant in part as an homage to Snapdragon, especially considering that Apeface is in wave 2. 3.5" (8.5cm) from snout to tail tip. The upper heads, butt, and tail are the same warm purple as the Titan Master's limbs, while the rest of the torso shell and the legs are the same very light gray. The dino eyes are painted bright yellow-green, and there's a purple on silver Decepticon symbol printed on the forehead. There's also paint on the tail, but since that's the other mode's head, I'll describe it under that mode. The hips are limited ball joints, the arms have the same articulation as Master mode arms, although the range is a little blocked. The mouth can open in principle, but the hinges are in the wrong places and the result looks more like the 2016 Godzilla or a snake unhinging its jaw. The tail is on a hinge. Transformation: Rotate the legs 180 degrees, crack open the chest and rotate the pieces to become wings, remove Crashbash's head from its slot, fiddle with angles until it looks right. Ride-On Vehicle Mode: More seriously, it's a wyvern sort of draconian, the sort where there's wings and rear legs, but no forelimbs. The upper dino jaw sort of looks like a stinger, which is another element sometimes seen in medieval wyverns. There's dual 2mm pegs at the root of the tail for a Titan Master to stand on. 3.5" (8.5cm) from snout to tail tip, same color balance as the dino mode. The wyvern head has bright yellow-green eyes and a silver-painted neck. Same hind leg articulation as dino mode. The wings are on restricted ball joints, the neck is hinged up and down at the base, and the tail has a couple of hinges it can use as well. Weapon Mode: Start from dinosaur mode, fold the tail up 180 degrees to reveal a square barrel buttblaster, then peg the legs up against the sides for foot blasters. He may not think much of ranged attacks, but he certainly turns into an impressive gun. Overall: Both beast modes have some minor stability issues caused by being a little too clever for their own budgets, and when your own pack-in comic mocks one of the modes it's not a great sign. But that's okay, the dino mode on its own is worth picking this up for. AUTOBOT: LOUDMOUTH Assortment: B4701 Integrated Vehicle: Combat Car Ride-On Vehicle: APC Vehicle Transformation Difficulty: 8 steps Previous Name Use: None Previous Mold Use: None Function: Titan Master Power Boost: Loudmouth is not in the first comic, so I have no bio note or other info on him. I'm guessing he gives some sort of sound amplification boost and a lot of FRB, I'll backfill this if the info becomes available. STR +X SPD +X INT +X FRB +X Packaging: Vehicle is in combat car mode, and the instructions start with that mode. Robot Mode: Given that both Siren and Quig have a lot of blue and Loudmouth doesn't, there's no real color match here. As with Nightbeat, they don't have the seat/helmet to work with, so the dominant color of this toy is the helmet's color, leaving it to a bit of paint in head mode to get across the blue. Color aside, the mold is at least sort of like Quig's, and as in the case of the new Nightbeat, the antenna guns are instead molded onto the Titan Master's arms. Torso front and boots are a slightly metalflake bright red, the rest of the toy is light gray (a little darker than Crashbash's). The visor is painted garnet red. Head Mode: They left the face unpainted gray, put garnet red on the optics and metallic blue on the cheek armor bits. The back half of the head is mostly red, due to the boots. Integrated Vehicle Mode: A sort of armored personnel carrier that can carry another robot mode Titan Master in back. The "treads" on the sides are more like hoverskirts or something, with rocket boosters near the rear for assisted jumps, and rocket pods at the front. The front end of the vehicle looks like it's supposed to be a landing craft ramp, although it doesn't actually open up. Theres a dual blaster above the ramp door. The head mode just plugs in as a chunk behind the main guns at the front, leaving room in back as mentioned. But if you don't like that look, you can fold the legs down and stick them inside so that the torso and thighs form a sort of roof. This also helps keep the cannons from flopping around, which they are prone to do. A little over 2.5" long (6cm) in a mix of light gray and bright red, with the only paint being dark gunmetal on some vents at the rear. The cannon, the hovertreads, and the 5mm peg at the back are bright red plastic (faintly metalflake), the main hull is light gray plastic. Instead of attaching the figure by its head, you can also use the hovercar's attachment pegs and place the robot hands into slots on the back of the cannon, for an alternate ride-on mode. This also makes for a slightly better turret mode. Transformation: Fold the hovertreads up 180 degrees, flip the cannon unit forward and disengage the Titan Master. Then flip the toy over and swap front for back. Ride-On Vehicle Mode: A hovercar of some sort. A flying bathtub, almost. It's very difficult getting the Titan Master's feet onto the pegs inside the driver's compartment, but once they're attached it's a very solid connection. It looks good, if not very flashy. 2.25" (6cm) long, red on the sides and gray down the center. There's a red on silver Autobot symbol printed on the hood, and those gunmetal painted bits are now intake vents. The 5mm peg can be flipped out to point forward as a cannon. It'd have been nice if they'd painted the windshield the same blue as the Titan Master uses in head mode. Weapon Mode: From APC, flip up the hovertread units to be horizontal, and fold down the 5mm peg. It's not very impressive as a hand weapon, but with the modification mentioned earlier it's a credible turret. Overall: Nice little hovercar, but the other mode is pretty meh no matter what I do to it. Not a bad toy, but definitely the least good of the first wave. Dave Van Domelen, ordered the second wave from HTS and should have them in a few days.