#titansreturn

I start this review off by saying that if you don’t know anything about these characters, go straight to the TFWiki right now and do your research.  Go ahead and click on all the links.  We’ll wait…

  OK, now that you are all caught up, let’s take a look at a neat set of Japanese exclusive updates to…Japanese exclusive Transformers from the early 90’s era of the franchise!

   Road Fire

Road Fire is a solid remold of one of my favorite childhood characters and Titans Return molds, Twin Twist.  Remolded parts include the kneecaps, chest piece, the entire cockpit mechanism, Titanmaster head and faceplate. 

  Road Fire Vehicle Mode

Road Fire is a Cybertronian tank.  While he may not have any “Master” launching mechanism like the G1 figure does, he is able to store a “Master” class figure in his turret, which features a nice cockpit for storage of the head in vehicle mode.  I love the aggressiveness of the vehicle mode and appreciate that they maintained the double cockpit look of the G1 figure, which makes it appear that this guy takes Cybertronian and Human pilots.  I personally prefer to flip the treads up to give the vehicle the appearance of a hover tank…which would make sense for Cybertron.  Another cool “feature” is that the turret can be rotated back on top of the tank body, giving it a squatter, more Terran look.  This is a great vehicle, no matter the style you prefer, but you do have choices.

  Road Fire Robot Mode

His colors nicely contrasting white, red, blue and black, with bits of orange highlights in a few spots like the knees and chest.  He balances and poses about the same as Twin Twist, unless you have him holding his “Burst cannon”, which tends to make him heavier in whatever direction it is placed.  One nice “feature” on his robot mode is the chest compartment that holds the connector for vehicle Big Powered mode.  Pressing on the Autobot symbol pops open the compartment, revealing what I will be imagining as his spark chamber.  In addition to having a great color scheme based on a mold I already loved, I have to say the best bonus is adding this guy to my “Jumpstarter” team, which you can see in these reviews: Topspin-|-Twin Twist.

  Sonic Bomber

Sonic Bomber is a heavy remold of Titans Return Crossfire.  So heavy, in fact, that it would be easier for me to tell you what is NOT remolded.  Parts that remain the same as the original are the thighs and hips, the inner hip piece that has the hip ball joint posts, the entire arm assemblies, and the Titanmaster thighs and torso plate.

  Sonic Bomber Vehicle Mode

Taking into consideration all the extra parts in this remold, especially in the robot feet which form the back/wing section of this figure, it is not a huge surprise that it looks so distinct from Misfire, very accurately approximating the bomber mode of the original toy.  As a jet it holds together well.  It maintains the “Titanmaster” cockpit, though it is molded in solid black plastic, so the smaller robot is hidden from view.  Overall, I like this mode, but I do have one minor complaint. The original Sonic Bomber sported a yellow rifle, which broke up all the black in jet mode a bit nicer than the black rifle the LG EX version has.  It’s not a major issue, but it would have been nice to get it in yellow, especially considering how close the rest of the jet mode gets to the G1 toy’s appearance.

  Sonic Bomber Robot Mode

Takara did a phenomenal job recreating an updated Sonic Bomber robot mode.  While some liberties were taken (mostly in the arms) this figure is a nice amalgamation of the G1 toy and animation model. Most importantly, the reds, whites, blues and yellows are pretty much in the right spots, with the exception of a few details on the legs.  The chest piece and robot head really top off a spot-on look.  The QC on my Sonic Bomber is great as well, apart from the hips being looser than the rest of his joints, and the ball joints for the feet being a little too tight.  Still, he looks really cool in robot mode, he poses well, and gives the Autobots some additional air support.  He gets an A in my book.

  Dai Atlus

Dai Atlus is another super heavy remold of a Titans Return figure, this time being Black, er… Sky Shadow.  Again, this figure has so many parts it will be faster to identify those which were not remolded.  Original mold parts include the feet, knee/tread section of the lower legs, thighs, hips, inner shoulder assemblies, and the entire Titanmaster, minus the head and faceplate.

  Dai Atlus Jet Mode

This figure is neat because it technically has two vehicle modes, “Drill Tank” and “Jet”.  Both modes are very similar and require a bit more suspension of disbelief than normal for Transformers, but they are neat and harken back nicely to the original figure.  Other than the weirdness of being a jet sitting on tank treads, I don’t have anything bad to say about these modes.  They are what they are, but at least they hold together nicely, which was one of my fears ever since I saw the promotional images.

  Dai Atlus Robot Mode

Robot mode is really where this figure should shine.  Before I bring up the issues, let’s look at what does work.  The original Dai Atlus figure was the definition of a G1 brick.  I’m not sure anything other than the arms was capable of movement.  This figure gives us a fully poseable, “anime” styled update with a few cues to the toy details as well.  He also has tons of articulation (even more than Sky Shadow), which should make for the perfect recreation of a G1 character…but the new parts mess that up.  This is where I am less happy with how the figure turned out.  The waist piece blocks the forward movement of the legs, limiting his poseability.  Additionally, while the new part connecting the lower and upper halves of the body in vehicle mode provides some waist articulation, it makes for a somewhat wobbly upper body that just does not feel as solid as it should.  Do not misunderstand me, I love this set, and I like this figure, and I am really glad we got it…but this is the one spot where it really falls short.

  Base Mode

All of these figures can form base modes.  I have never been a huge fan of base modes, but I never had any Transformers that had them when I was a child, so they don’t hit me in the nostalgia like they might hit you.  They do sit together nicely as a set of bases.  It’s a thing kids would love…if this was a set that was cheap enough to let kids play with it.  Hey HasbroPulse…

Big Powered Mode

Not only does Big Powered magically shoot rainbows from its backside like a Squatty Potty Unicorn, it is held together mostly by magic as well.  I mean, magic, and a few peg/ports.  2 peg ports.  It connects with two connectors.  Basically, you put each vehicle in its “Big Powered Mode” form, then clamp Road Fire on top of Dai Atlus via that clip in Road Fire’s chest, then you peg under Dai Atlus using the 5mm port on the just behind Sonic Bomber’s hidden Titanmaster cockpit.  Two connectors get you this rainbow spewing wonder.   It’s both a mess and an absolute beauty to behold.  I think I love it.

  Recommendation

Big Powered gets 8 Energon Z’s out of 10.  It gives us a nice update of a set of hard to acquire G1 bricks as a group of pretty decent figures.  It is faithful to many of the important details, but the molds have downsides, especially Dai Atlus.  Should the downsides stop you from getting this set?  Absolutely not!  It may not be perfect, but it is fun, and will definitely be a focal point for conversations when you have friends checking out your collection.  Get it now, while you still can!