The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[mikeszekely]

When I reviewed Siege Sideswipe my only real complaint was that the black and red accessories didn't really give you a proper shoulder cannon/gun combo for him.  So I wanted to follow that up by saying that I picked up the "TF WFC Siege Sideswipe Weapons" by SledgeHammer's Smithery on Shapeways.

I went with white processed versatile plastic.  It's still a little rough and the details a little soft, which I suppose is to be expected (it's my first 3D-printed Transformers accessories), but the jump to the premium plastic or the smooth fine detail plastic was a bit too pricey, IMHO (for the record, there's also a white natural versatile plastic that's a little cheaper).  A bigger complaint that the soft details and slightly rough texture is that the white doesn't match the old bone color Hasbro used.  Again, this is expected, though.  Not sure if I can easily find a matching paint for the shoulder cannon, but I may just paint the rifle silver.

I don't mean to sound to negative, because I'm honestly pretty satisfied.  They feel plenty sturdy, and the barrels of both accessories actually have openings, although they don't seem designed to work with the Battle Master fire effects (that said, the tip of the shoulder cannon is small enough that I was able to get one on, but the rifle is too big).  The peg on the rifle fits perfectly in Sideswipe's hands and other 5mm ports- snug enough not to move or fall out, but not so tight you feel like you're forcing anything.  And the rifle has four 5mm peg holes (one on top, one on each side, and one on the underside) for attaching other Siege accessories, although when I plugged the accessories Sideswipe original came with into the rifle that fit seemed a little tight.  The shoulder cannon has a tab for fitting into the slots on his shoulders.  Unlike the original accessories, the tab is angled so that the cannon is angled up a little.  And if you want to store both new accessories on the car mode the tab on it can fit loosely into a 5mm peg hole.  Alternatively, there are a pair of small peg-like bumps on the back of the shoulder cannon, the large of which sort of fits into the rifle's barrel.  I don't know if it's intentional; I think the designer was just trying to copy the cartoon or the MP, but it works for me.

The parts themselves were $12.99, and my total after shipping and processing was just about $20.  For some $20 on two little accessories for a $20 figure might be a bit much, but I'm pretty happy with them, honestly.  They really put the finishing touches on one of the best Siege figures so far.

In other Siege news, given Hasbro's propensity for repaints it was just a matter of time before they took the white Optimus in Leader Ultra Magnus and repainted in him actual Optimus colors.  I was pretty cynical on this; I loved that the white Optimus at the core of Ultra Magnus was a unique figure instead of a repainting the Voyager and calling it a day.  But I was also very aware that the core white Optimus figure wasn't nearly as good as the Voyager, and I wondered just what kind of armor they could cook up for it that would be Optimus and not Optimus dressed as Delta Magnus.

Well, we're getting our first looks at the new Leader Prime, and surprise, it's Cybertron Optimus/Galaxy Force Convoy!  Color me more interested now.

Haven't see how the vehicle mode is going to work, but the robot's looking pretty good considering it's an Ultra Magnus retool.

[Hikaru Ichijo SL]

Yeah, I love Galaxy Convoy one of my favorite Convoy toys ever.  I just hope Sonic Bomber makes an appearance.  I do not care so much for Ligerjack.

[sh9000]

Ordered a sealed KO G1 Optimus Prime with trailer for $33 shipped.

Edited January 19, 2019 by sh9000

[mikeszekely]

Against my better judgement, I picked up another Siege Micromaster set, the Air Strike Patrol

I know I had a lot of Micromasters as a kid, but the Race Car Patrol and the Air Strike Patrol were definitely my two favorite sets.  I have really fond memories of pretending that Tailwind was the Sea Duck from Tailspin, and if I looked at my parents house I might even still have some of them they way I still had my original Roadhandler and Swindler.  But I digress.

Whisper, now named Visper, looks like a pretty good homage of the original.  His color scheme is still black and purple, although the original had purple thighs, he's still got the shoulder protrusions with the circles, and his torso still has the same basic shape.  He's even got a molded hexagon where the original had a screw hole.  The only big changes are a lack of wheels on his arms and some new silver and red accents.

Storm Cloud got the short end of the stick.  He lost his tapered legs with the canards on his ankles.  His shoulders and biceps are black now instead of purple.  And his hands are completely gone, replaced with some silver nubbins.

Size-wise, they are a little thicker but similar in height to the Race Car Patrol, as well as the G1 Micromasters.

Visper's articulation is roughly what you'd expect from a Micromaster.  Due to his transformation his head can actually look up and down a little.  His shoulders are ball joints that can extend 90 degrees as well as rotate.  He's got no bicep, elbow, wrist, or waist articulation.  His hips are ball joints that can go forward 90 degrees, laterally 90 degrees, and backward just a little.  His thighs can swivel a very small amount on the ball joint as well.  His knees can bend a little over 90 degrees, and due to transformation his toes can bend down.

Due to his transformation, Storm Cloud has pretty good articulation for a Micromaster.  No head articulation.  His shoulders can rotate and extend 90 degrees laterally on ball joints.  He actually has elbows, too, that bend 90 degrees.  No bicep or waist swivels.  His hips are ball joints that work identically to Visper's.  His knees bend just under 90 degrees.  No foot articulation.

Note that while these guys have backpacks that they have decent heel spurs, so they're not as prone to falling over as the Race Car Patrol.

These guys don't come with any accessories, but if you have fire effect parts from someone like Firedrive you can plug them onto Storm Cloud's wrist nubbins.

Unlike the race car patrol, transforming these guys is actually pretty different than transforming their G1 counterparts.  Visper is probably the more similar of the two, as the biggest difference is that the cockpit double hinges up onto his back instead of rolling back onto his heels.  His alt mode is also pretty close to the original, with harder angles and some extra red trim but the same basic design.  Storm Cloud also folds his cockpit up onto his back, but instead of keeping his legs straight and his arms against his body his legs curl up and around his torso, and his arms reach up and bend backward at the elbow to form engine nacelles.  He's still a delta-winged jet with canards, but not really recognizable as a Rafale anymore.  Instead, he's a squat sort of jet with a large, visible block of robot kibble underneath.

The fire effect parts from the Battle Masters come in handy again for the jet modes, as Visper has one spot and Storm Cloud actually has five places that you can stick them so that they look like exhaust jets.  The tips of the molded guns on the edges of Storm Cloud's wings are too small for them, though.

Just like the Race Car Patrol, the Air Strike Patrol does have a combining gimmick that makes a weapon mode... only this time they actually kind of pull it off.  For one, the combined mode looks less like some weird robot coitus and something that reminds me more of Darkwing and Dreadwind combine into Dreadwing.  That would have been decently cool enough, but folding up Storm Cloud's canopy reveals a 5mm peg.  The combined duo are actually meant to be a sword.  It's not the prettiest sword, sure, but it's more convincing than Roadhandler and Swindler's "gun" mode.  It actually reminds me a lot of the Star Saber from Transformers Armada.

So there you have it folks.  It terms of overall fun and utility with other Siege figures the Air Strike Patrol is definitely a step up from the Race Car Patrol (although, like the Race Car Patrol, I wish we weren't missing half the team).  That said, I still don't feel like two Micromasters are worth $10.  If you just have to have at least once set of Micromasters to try out then these would be the guys to grab, but you're still probably better off leaving them on the shelf.

[mikeszekely]

Target, both by my house and the one a little further away, are still sold out of Siege Deluxes.  But I was able to find some at Walmart, both near me and near my friend's house.  This means I can finally look at a Weaponizer!  This is the one from the first wave, Deluxe-class Cog.

I'll be honest, I wasn't sure who Cog was at first, but (spoiler) the Weaponizer in Wave 2 is going to be Sixgun, who remember was a guy made from all the guns that came with Metroplex (who I had as a kid).  So I did a check to see if he came with another city bot, and yep, Cog was a little dude who came with Fortress Maximus (whom I didn't have).  And once I knew who I was looking at I can totally see it.  He's got the basic shape, with the mouthplate and visor, two peg holes on his pecs (pec-holes?) where the original had them, molded detail that looks like a car stereo on his chest where the original had a sticker, big collar pylons with wheels hanging off of them, and shoulders with guns growing out of the top.  Colors are mostly there, too, with silver subbing for gray, although he's sporting some black and red that the original toy didn't have.  The black doesn't really bother me, since most of it is either on a gun barrel, wheels that were originally blue, and tank treads that were originally stickers.  Not sure how I feel about the red, though.  On the one hand, yes, it does help break up all the silver and blue, but on the other hand it looks wrong.  Maybe if they'd used silver for the red on his legs and black for the shoulder guns it'd still have that breakup, but more less in-you-face and more in keeping with the G1 toy.  The G1 toy also had a gray head and his torso was entirely gray above the waist.  I think I'm ok with a blue head that lets his silver visor pop, but I do wish they'd painted the blue tummy silver.  I just have to do that myself.  The only other minor departure from the G1 toy is the additional armor sporting more guns at his wrist and near his elbows, but I'm not going to say no to more guns.

He comes with a pair of these guns.  These look very similar to guns that came with the original Fortress Maximus and may or may not have been intended as Cog's.

Considering how little articulation the original toy had, and considering Siege Cog's gimmicks (more on that in a bit), his articulation is fairly good for a Habsro Deluxe.  His head is on a swivel.  You can kind of cheat a little upward tilt by starting his transformation.  His shoulders can rotate.  A hinge inside the shoulder allows it to extend laterally, and another hinge near his wrist lets the armor swing out away from the elbow, giving you enough clearance to extend his shoulders 90 degrees.  His biceps swivel, and his elbows are single hinges that get over 90 degrees of bend.  Nothing at the wrist, but he does have a waist swivel that I wouldn't have expected.  His hips are universals that can kick just a little backward due to butt kibble but over 90 degrees forward or laterally.  His thighs swivel.  His knees bend nearly 180 degrees, and although his feet don't tilt up or down he's got hinges for up to 90 degrees of ankle pivot.

To do the usual Siege thing, he got one 5mm peg on each pec, two on the small of his back, one on the outside of each forearm, one on the inside of each forearm, one on the outside bottom of each shin, and one on the bottom of each foot.  He's got one 5mm peg on each knee, one on the outside of each leg on his tank treads, a fold out peg on his tummy, and a fold out peg on his back, plus the molded wrist guns double as 5mm pegs.

One complaint here is that the tolerances on all these peg holes are slightly different.  As an example, one rifle sits snug in one of the peg holes on his back, fit ok on his forearm, shin, or left hand, but be pretty loose in his right hand.

His transformation is pretty simple, only slightly more involved than the G1 toy.  Although he's got several peg holes, the instruction suggest that the rifles sit in the peg holes on his shins.  I have him as one vehicle because he has a tab and slot just for that, but G1 Cog was actually meant to split into two vehicles...

...called Grommet (left) and Gasket (right).  Again, both are pretty similar to their G1 counterparts.  As with the G1 toy, Cog's arms are physically removed from his sides and pegged into his pecs for Gasket.  The big difference here is that Cog's head folds under the vehicle, so there's no seat for Spike or any other Headmaster/Titan Master/Prime Master.  Gasket can roll on his wheels, the arm guns can swivel in their peg holes, and the forearm armor is hinged so the extra guns can be aimed upward.  As for Grommet, Cog's legs rotate up 180 degrees and lock into place, hiding the thighs and providing some molded detail that could be two cockpit windows.  He's still got big robot feet and the gap between his lower legs, so it's still pretty obvious that they're robot legs, but it's better than having his lower half simply lie down.  The wheels on Cog's thighs roll, and there are small wheels under the tank treads so Grommet can roll.  And if you put the rifles on him somewhere they can swivel in their peg holes.

By now you might be getting that his top half separates from his lower half and his arms come off for transformation... but why stop there?  His legs can also come off at the thigh, and the designer engineered extra ways the legs and the upper torso can fold up.  And this is where the Weaponizer gimmick kicks in.  All those pegs and peg holes, not just on Cog but across the Siege line...

...allow you to take a Weaponizer apart and use recombine his parts with other Siege figures to power them up.  You can take it a little further by adding other weapons, Battle Masters, or Micromasters.  The configurations I'm showing with Sideswipe and Hound are suggested in Cog's instructions.  However, you're really only limited by the placement of the pegs and holes and your imagination.

Speaking of imagination, I had more fun trying to come up with different ways of putting Cog's parts together than putting Cog on other Siege figures.  I'm strongly inclined to get Sixgun and Brunt (the Weaponizer from Wave 3, based on a tank that came with Trypticon) just to see what kind of crazy concoctions I can come up with when I have more parts.

Being based on a personality-less drone that came with Fortress Maximus, Cog is probably lacking that, "oh yeah, I loved that guy, I'm definitely going to get the new one" factor that the other Siege figures probably have, and his default alt mode(s) probably aren't doing him any favors.  Cog is still a decent figure on his own, though, and the Weaponizer gimmick is pretty fun.  He loses some of his value if he's your only Siege figure, but as long as you're collecting other figures in the line I'd recommend him.  Plus, if I'm being totally honest, I kind of dig the super simple, borderline throwaway drones that came with citybots getting their moment in the spotlight.  I know Generations Metroplex and Titans Return Trypticon came with Scamper and Full Tilt, and now Siege is giving us Cog, Sixgun, and Brunt... I kind of hope we get Fasttrack in Siege, too.

[mikeszekely]

I know I said I wasn't going to do it, but with all the other Deluxe, Voyager, and Leaders in hand and the Autobots badly outnumbering the Decepticons (a problem that looks like it'll plague this line for awhile) I caved and picked up Deluxe-class Skytread, aka Flywheels.

It should be noted here that I have zero attachment to the Duocons.  Didn't have them as a kid, don't recall them in the US G1 cartoon.  But after a quick look at his appearance in The Headmasters, in the IDW More Than Meets the Eye series, and of course the G1 toy, Skytread is definitely hitting the right notes.  He's got oversized tank feet, although not as ridiculously bad as the G1 toy, with simple brown legs and brown arms.  His torso is maroon with the jet cockpit prominently visible, and the rest of the jet is folded onto his back.  I dig the molded guns on the back of his hands, but there's really not much else I can say about his appearance except that his robot mode is very much in line with the other Siege Deluxes.

He comes with two guns, a longer one and a shorter one.  Both are fairly "meh" sculpts with the usual Hasbro hollow spaces, but they do have some paint.

The G1 toy had basically zero articulation, but that's not the case here.  He's actually got average articulation for a Siege figure, which puts him slightly ahead of pretty much the last 13 years of CHUG.  His head is on a swivel; no tilt.  His shoulders can rotate and extend laterally a bit over 90 degrees.  He has bicep swivels, and his elbows bend over 90 degrees.  His hands can bend inward due to his transformation, but he doesn't have a wrist swivel.  He does have a waist swivel, which is surprising given his gimmick, but it's pretty easy for the waist to get caught up on his hips, and even if it doesn't the tail of the plane can't get around the the hips.  Speaking of hips, his can go 90 degrees forward, 90 degrees backward as long as you move them around the plane tail, and something like 120 degrees laterally.  His thighs can swivel and his knees can bend 90 degrees.  His fit can tilt up a tiny bit, down about 45 degrees, and pivot 45 degrees.

In addition to his fists, Skytread has one 5mm peg on his spine, one on the underside of each wing on his back, one on the outside of each shoulder, one on the outside of each forearm, one on the outside of each lower leg, one on the bottom of each foot, and one on the inside edge of his left foot.  His guns can plug into any of those holes.  The smaller gun can also plug into the back of the larger one to form an even bigger gun, and he's even got enough articulation to actually hold it in two hands.

Being a Duocon, Skytread splits in half and each half has an alt mode.  The top becomes a jet, and the bottom becomes a tank.  Due to only being half a robot, these alt modes are significantly smaller than a Siege Deluxe, falling more in line with a Legends-class figure.  Of the two alt modes the tank is the weaker one, requiring the larger gun to serve as a cannon barrel and panels unfolding from his legs to halfheartedly cover his hips in a fairly unconvincing turret.  On my copy the panels don't stay tabbed closed very well, the turret doesn't rotate, and the cannon barrel doesn't move up or down.  The instructions tell you to put the other gun into one of the other two peg holes on top of the tank.  It looks pretty asymetrical to me, but I guess that's how the G1 toy worked, too.  You also have a peg hole on either side of the tank.

One other thing I'm told is a common issue with this mold is that the ridges on top of the waist connection are a little too long, so the gun that forms the tanks cannon doesn't sit quite right and is constantly pointing downward.

The jet looks a little better, similar to the G1 toy's somewhat stylized F-4.  At least, it does from the top.  Unlike the G1 toy, though, the robot arms are part of the plane, not the tank, and they sit as an unmistakeable kibble chunk on the underside.  It's worse than Universe Silverbolt, because you're essentially hiding Deluxe-sized parts on a Legends-sized vehicle.  It's a shame, though, because aside from the arm kibble this half has more interesting engineering that fits and works better than the other half.

Although you kind of need to give the tank half at least one gun, you have 5mm peg holes on the spine of the plane, one under each wing, two on the bottom where his robot shoulders are, and one under the nose.

I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with Skytread.  He's a perfectly reasonable modern Flywheels toy, and decently articulated for a Deluxe class.  His alt modes are a little weak, but they're fairly accurate and not horrible.  Arguably better than Cog's, anyway.  And yet, excluding Micromasters and Battle Masters, he's probably my least favorite figure of the entire Siege line.  Personally, I wouldn't recommend him, but YMMV.

[JB0]

As someone who always thought the Duocons looked like an awesome idea when I saw them in the catalog... I'll buy these.

[Dangard Ace]

For those who are going to pick up SkyTread make sure you open and test the left hip.  My first one had too much glue and would not move so I swapped it and the second was fine.

[mikeszekely]

6 minutes ago, Dangard Ace said:

For those who are going to pick up SkyTread make sure you open and test the left hip.  My first one had too much glue and would not move so I swapped it and the second was fine.

No issues with mine.

But I've been hearing about random QC issues all across the Siege line.  Remember, my first Optimus came with two left hands.  Fortunately I was able to get a replacement.

44 minutes ago, JB0 said:

As someone who always thought the Duocons looked like an awesome idea when I saw them in the catalog... I'll buy these.

Is now a good time to mention that I picked up some clearanced and discounted Power of the Primes stuff, and that Skytread won't be the only Duocon I review? 

[JB0]

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Is now a good time to mention that I picked up some clearanced and discounted Power of the Primes stuff, and that Skytread won't be the only Duocon I review? 

I've got Battletrap. That he was two small toys forced to be triple-changers made for an unenjoyable transformation full of small fiddly bits.

It doesn't make me any less pleased to own him, just... unlikely to ever decombine him.

[M'Kyuun]

I feel just the opposite, well other than the somewhat fiddly bit. I think it's a brilliant little set of figures, and I'm glad they gave both individual bot modes as well as the combined mode. I wish they'd done the same for Skytread, as he feels incomplete to me after Battletrap. 

[mikeszekely]

[JB0]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

I feel just the opposite, well other than the somewhat fiddly bit. I think it's a brilliant little set of figures, and I'm glad they gave both individual bot modes as well as the combined mode. I wish they'd done the same for Skytread, as he feels incomplete to me after Battletrap. 

I didn't mind the two parts having robot modes, I just felt they were too small for the concept. Ideally they would've been larger toys, but at the size I'd've preferred two modes.

[mikeszekely]

Well, there's something that's just wrong about a solo Duocon, so I went ahead and picked me up a Power of the Primes Battletrap.

There's something a bit off about Battletrap.  I mean, he's white on top, blue on the bottom.  His head is blue with silver goggles, and his feet have the proper yellow headlights and red windshield.  His chest is decorated with the helicopter cockpit.  All that checks out.  So... maybe it's the blue hands?  The blue helicopter canopy?  The extra details on the legs?  No, I think my big issues is his proportions.  He's got long, thin arms.  His torso tapers in to a too-narrow waist.  And you can't quite tell where his thighs end and his shins begin.  Although he's of similar height as Skytread you can see that Skytread's proportions are much more natural.

As JB0 and M'Kyuun were alluding to, this is because Battletrap isn't sold as a single Deluxe-class figure like Skytread.  He's actually sold as a pair of smaller Legends guys.  The white upper half is Battleslash, and the blue lower part is Roadtrap.

Now, I kind of dig Battleslash from the waist up.  The chest kind of reminds me of Leader-1, and the rotor on his arm could conceivably be used as a weapon.  His hips, though, are ridiculously wide for his body.  They're wider than Skytread's, despite being a smaller size class.  Roadtrap pulls it off a little bit better, I think.  He's more proportional, and the colors sort of remind me of RiD Rumble.

Battleslash's head can swivel, and his shoulders are on ball joints.  Unlike pretty much every other figure with ball joints for shoulders, though, the peg is actually comes out of his back, not the sides of his torso.  So, he can raise his arm only about 90 degrees in front of him and can't really swing his arm behind him, but he can extend his arm laterally over 180 degrees.  A ball joint doubles as a bicep swivel and a 90 degree elbow bend.  No wrist or waist articulation.  Hips are ball joints that can go 90 degrees forward, 90 degrees backward if you work around his kibble, and about 90 degrees laterally, plus he's got a little thigh swivel around the balls. His knees are also ball joints for an extra swivel plus 90 degrees of bend.  No foot articulation.

Roadtrap's head is also a swivel.  His shoulders are more traditional ball joints, though hindered a bit by clearance issues.  He can't really swing his arm back, but he can at least go 180 degrees forward with it, and slightly over 90 degrees laterally.  A ball joint at the elbow gives him a little over 90 degrees of bend and acts as his bicep swivel.  No wrist or waist articulation.  Hips are ball joints that can go a little over 90 degrees in any direction and provide a little swivel.  Ball joints at the knee can also swivel, plus give him 90 degrees of bend.  Due to his transformation he can also tilt his feet up a little and down 90 degrees.  He doesn't have an ankle pivot, but you can bow his legs out a bit at the knee.

Neither figure comes with any accessories.  And they both have issues when viewed from behind.  Battleslash has visible hands on his heels and a large chunk of kibble hanging off his butt, and Roadtrap's back is open, revealing Battletrap's combined pelvis and thighs inside.

Combined, Battletrap's head can swivel.  His shoulders are ball joints that can rotate 360 degrees and extend laterally 90 degrees.  His elbows can bend 90 degrees and do double duty as his bicep swivels.  No wrist articulation, but he does have a waist swivel.  His hips are ball joints that can go just over 90 degrees forward and backward and 90 degrees laterally.  He's got mushroom thigh swivels.  His knees are ball joints that can bend a little under 90 degrees before things start to come untabbed.  The ball joints that made Roadtrap's knees are Battletrap's ankles.  He's got a slight pivot there, plus the ball joint at his own knee can bend.  Since it's doing so behind the shin the balls work together for something like 30 degrees of ankle pivot.  Plus he can still use the transformation hinge to bend his feet down.

Something I'd like to note is that the joint tolerances, which are honestly pretty much what you'd expect from a pre-Siege Hasbro Legends-class toy, are kind of loose.  Since he doesn't have any accessories I thought I'd pose him with Battle Master Blowpipe and the Micromaster Air Strike Patrol in sword mode.  The sword was too heavy for him to hold up, and the helicopter kibble around his hands kept Blowpipe from being able to peg in.

When you're a Duocon it doesn't matter if you're one Deluxe robot or two Legends dudes that combine into one Deluxe robot, you've still got two Legends-class alt modes.  Battleslash becomes a white helicopter, and Roadtrap a blue truck.  I think Roadtrap is pretty close to the G1 toy.  They've both got the yellow headlights, the red windows, and the molded winch on the front.  The most obvious difference is that instead of a neat bed cover you've got a mess of robot torso on the back.

Battleslash again gets the worst of it.  The basic shape is sort of there, but his tail boom is far too thick due to being both arms and legs.  The black joints stand out on the sides, and don't really try to blend or hide or pretend to be anything besides joints.  There are unsightly gaps, and the nose is a big empty space where the connection joint is.

And while Roadtrap was kind of pulling things off, minus the bed cover, the illusion totally falls apart when viewed from behind.  The entire rear of the truck is robot leg and pelvis kibble.

I know I gave Skytread a hard time for being a character I don't care about and for having just passable alt modes.  Thing is, Skytread is leaps and bounds better than Battletrap, and that's because he doesn't try to be anything but an improved version of the G1 toy.  The decision to sell Battletrap as two Legends figures instead of one Deluxe mean shoehorning in extra robot modes for each half.  It's a cool idea in theory, but one that ultimately compromises their robot modes, their alt modes, and the combined robot mode.  Plus he comes with zero accessories, so he doesn't have his G1 shoulder gun (or a place to put it).  The only reason to get PotP Battletrap is because you have or are planning to get Skytread and want both Duocons, even if one of them isn't very good.  And if you're not planning on picking up Skytread then Battletrap is just a waste of money.

[mikeszekely]

I told you guys, I'm loving the updates of the little pack-in guys that came with G1 city bots.  I love them so much I started tracking down more!  This is Titans Return Full-Tilt, aka the purple car on Trypticon's chest.

This is such a good update aesthetically, you guys.  What detail the G1 toy had is mostly carried over... raised bumps on the knees, wheels on the shoulders and legs, the face with a visor and mouth plate, the molded vents in the chest.  He's even got a circular bump where the G1 toy had a screw hole.  A lot of the differences he has from the G1 toy have to do with color, since the TR version uses red on the visor and silver on the vents and head crest to break up all the purple.  And the rest of the differences are down to actually having some details, like molded forearm detail, actual hands, and actual thighs.  His head is also a distinct piece instead of simply being a face molded onto a block.

Speaking of heads, coming as he did during Titans Return, Full-Tilt is a Head Titan Master.  So his head comes off and turns into this little fellow, whom they decided to call Necro.  Necro is your typical Titan Master, with molded detail and little to no paint.  He's able to rotate at the shoulders, bend at the hips, and bend at the knees (although the lower legs are one solid piece).  His tiny neck is also a ball joint, for rotation and limited up/down/sideways tilt.  Smaller than a Fansproject Function X or a G1 Headmaster.  The unpainted purple works fine for a guy who is basically a mini Full-Tilt, but I'd have liked the visor painted, and I'm not sure why they went with black for his head instead of purple.

Full-Tilt's neck is actually Necro's, so he too can swivel and enjoy some up/down/sideways tilt.  His shoulders are on ball pegs for rotation and a little bit of forward/backward butterfly.  The other end of the ball peg is hinged in his torso and allows for 90 degrees of lateral movement.  He has a bicep swivel, and his elbows can bend 90 degrees.  No wrist swivel, and (sadly) no waist swivel.  His hips are universal joints and he can move them 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally.  His thighs can swivel.  His knees can bend a little under 90 degrees.  And he has no feet, let alone foot articulation.

Full-Tilt doesn't actually come with accessories... he is one.  But there is a black gun meant for him.  Aside from being black instead of silver it's very close to his G1 weapon.  Although, instead of pegging onto the outside of his forearm he can actually hold it in his hands.

And like the rest of the Titans Return line, Full-Tilt is compatible with other Titan Masters, or Necro can be stuck on other character's bodies.

Like I said at the beginning, G1 Full-Tilt turns into the purple car on Trypticon's chest, and TR Full Tilt turns into a very similar purple car.  He's still got the two-pronged front end with the raised bits for lights.  He's still got the armored dome look, with the line going up the middle and the golf-tee shapes on the sides.  He's still got the molded engine at the rear.  He's just got some extra molded vents and panels, some of them in place of stickers on the G1 toy.  I've got not complaints here.

The rear half of the dome opens, revealing more molded detail and a place for Necro to sit inside.  And like the G1 toy, you can peg the gun onto the roof.  The plastic tires roll fine.

Given how basic the original Full-Tilt was, the TR version is a huge and welcome upgrade for me.  He's still not perfect, though.  On my copy the joints in the shoulders and bicep swivels are kind of loose.  Plus, especially after enjoying so many Siege figures lately, the lack of a waist swivel and ankle pivots is a definite bummer.  Despite his flaws, I love him to death.  If it were possible to buy Full-Tilt as a stand-alone Deluxe with Necro and his little gun I would totally recommend him.  But, like I said, he comes with another figure, and owning Full-Tilt or not likely comes down to weather or not you want his partner...

[tekering]

8 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I've got not complaints here.

So the total absence of any visible paint applications whatsoever doesn't bother you?

Looks like an unpainted model kit to me.

[JB0]

I'm of two minds about that.  On the one hand, yeah, it could use some paint. On the other... it IS canon.

Also, he wasn't sold standalone. He's an accessory bundled with Trypticon.

[sh9000]

I love that oversized G1 looking Trypticon.

[mikeszekely]

9 hours ago, tekering said:

So the total absence of any visible paint applications whatsoever doesn't bother you?

Looks like an unpainted model kit to me.

On a character who is honestly a pack-in accessory, based on a G1 toy that was entirely purple save for the wheels? Not particularly.

Now, if I were a billionaire and could hire out a Chinese factory to build me an MP Full-Tilt I might be a little pickier. Paint the whole outside of the vehicle, parts of his chest, and his mouth plate with that metal fleck paint FT used in their Bombshell or Galvatron, use a slightly lighter purple plastic for most of the rest of him (and a color-matched paint for his diecast thighs). Give him rubber tires with dark gunmetal rims. Then maybe do some accents with paint under translucent plastic for lights on the front and rear of the vehicle mode, and maybe pick out some of the engine details on the rear with silver or that dark gunmetal. It's important not to go overboard, though since he's still Trypticon's purple chest.

(And as far as getting some of those details on this Full-Tilt goes I went ahead and ordered the Reprolabels for him.)

[mikeszekely]

Well, considering that G1 Full-Tilt came with Trypticon, I guess it's no surprise that Titans Return Full-Tilt comes with Titans Return Titan-Class Trypticon.

While I didn't get a lot of Season 1 and 2 Transformers as a kid, my dad started a new job and we could afford more toys from the movie on.  So for my birthday in... probably 1987, I'd guess, I got Trypticon.  And he instantly became one of my favorite toys... seriously, I dragged that thing around the way other kids carried stuffed animals.  So, about a week out from my 2019 birthday, I'm kind of jazzed to get another Trypticon.  And he's a big one!  Depending on how you position him he can be almost twice as tall as the original.  Some of the nostalgia might very well be because this Trypticon is the same size relative to adult me as the original one was to seven-year-old me.

Hasbro really didn't mess as much with Trypticon as it looks like they did with their other Titan citybots.  He's got a lot more molded detail, silver paint instead of chrome, and some of the teal on him is translucent plastic, but for the most part everything is as it should be.  He's even got the purple bits on the inside of his feet.  

If I have one complaint, it might be that he looks a little bland compared to my memory of the G1 toy.  But, I probably put the stickers on my G1 toy.  And guess what?

TR Trypticon comes with stickers!  There's over 150 of the little buggers.  Although I didn't sticker him before taking the photos, I finished stickering him before sitting to write this, and it took hours.  Two complaints I have about the stickers: first, the instructions are terrible at indicating where they actually go, and second, they're kind of cheap.  They're a light foil material, prone to tearing where they weren't cut well on the sheet.  They do give me those G1 nostalgic feels, though.

Aside from stickers, he just comes with Full-Tilt, Necro, and Full-Tilt's guns.  You don't get any of the little buildings you could use to make Brunt, although I'm not really mad at that since Brunt is coming in Siege, and you don't get the little radar dishes or weapon emplacements that came with G1 Trypticon.

One thing TR Trypticon does much better than the G1 toy is articulation.  His head has a 90 degree range of tilt, from parallel with his body to perpendicular.  He can swivel it, too, but you have to raise the cannons on his back as the entire assembly turns.  His mouth can open and close, although his mouth is always slightly open.  His shoulders can rotate 360 degrees, and a hinge inside lets him move his shoulders laterally nearly 90 degrees.  His elbows have just under 90 degrees of bend.  Although there's no bicep or wrist swivels, his wrists can bend 90 degrees up and nearly 90 degrees down.  His upper claws are molded as one piece, and they're hinged to open.  His thumb is a separate piece, also hinged.  His hips are ratcheted for rotation, and another ratchet lets him move his hips laterally about 30 degrees.  His knees are ratcheted and can bend forward a little as well as a little under 90 degrees backward.  No waist or thigh swivels.  His feet don't tilt up or down, although the silver toes can bend 90 degrees down, but he does have a ratchet for 45 degrees of ankle pivot.

There's also a sliding joint in his tail, so the whole thing can be bent up and down.  This allows you to have his tail dragging whether you decide to pose him with his legs and posture straight or with his knees bend and his body leaning forward.  Alas, he doesn't have wheels on his tail, which is a bummer.

Full-Tilt can, of course, attach to his chest.  The cannons on his back can still be flipped around over his shoulders.  And he still has a double-barreled gun in his mouth for a tongue.  They did away with the G1 toy's motorized walking gimmick.  I don't know if that'll disappoint some of you.  Personally I think it's a fair trade for better articulation and not having his arms physically connected to his hips.

Now, Trypticon was released under the Titans Return banner.  And you'd think making Full-Tilt and Headmaster would be enough to cover that.  But, Hasbro actually made a spot for Necro to plug into Trypticon's head, between the purple bits at the back.  Plugging Necro in will cause the translucent bit on top of Trypticon's head to pop open and reveal his forehead gun.  Thing is, you don't need Necro to do it.  The attachment point is basically a button your can press yourself.  You can also manually open the translucent bit.  I gotta say, I like this.  It helps Necro feel more integral, especially when Full Tilt is on Trypticon's chest, but at the same time it doesn't feel like this extra bit of inclusion is shoehorned in or otherwise detrimental to the experience.

One other Titan Master gimmick Hasbro included that, again, doesn't detract from the experience, is that they put a hole in the back of Trypticon's throat.  The hole is big enough so that he can "eat" Titan Masters.  To retrieve them you just open the translucent panel behind Full Tilt's connection point to reveal a hollow space within.  Weirdly, the hollow space has two shelves.  It looks to me that Titan Masters should only land on the top shelf.  I guess you could store others on the lower shelf.  You can also use it as a space for storing Full-Tilt's gun if you don't like how it looks on Trypticon's chest (although, I think the cartoon drew him with the gun attached, but silver... maybe I'll paint this one).

Trypticon's city mode pretty darn close to the G1 version.  His back cannons still make a pair of towers at the back, and Full-Tilt's connection point swings up to almost make up for Brunt's absence.  He's missing the other buildings made from Brunt, although his pelvis swings open and makes a pair of platforms where two of them would be.  Those platforms even have peg holes on them; too bad there's no radar dishes for them.  He's still got flip out purple panels where the G1 toy had helipads, and his legs still split in half and can be splayed out however you like.  The instructions kind of have you line up his feet with the purple panels, though.  He's still got fold out ramps, and Full-Tilt can still drive down the main one (although there's no launching gimmick anymore).  The small purple flaps at the ends of his dino hips allow you to connect a Leader-class base mode, like Soundwave or Overlord's, the way G1 Trypticon could connect to G1 Motormaster or Onslaught.

The hollow spaces inside his dinosaur toes are pretty unfortunate, though.

I have him pictured with Full-Tilt and Legends-class Blackjack.  I gotta say, I think this Trypticon would work amazingly well with a Legends collection, so there's that.

G1 Trypticon's base mode wasn't the best... it was just something halfway between dinosaur and city modes.  And you can totally recreate that look if you want by doing exactly that.  However, the designers opted to make his official third mode a spaceship.  Flaps move his arms behind him, and a double hinge moves his legs up and tucks the bulk of them under his sides.  The ramps fold in, save for the panels that were helipads on the G1 toy- they're little wings now.  I have to say, the result isn't aerodynamic.  It still looks like a lot of dinosaur kibble.  But, I honestly think it works better than the G1 base mode.  I dig it.  He's got wheels on the underside so he can roll.  What's more, due to much of the volume in his torso and tail being empty space, he's light enough that you can pick him up and swoosh him around.  I don't know if that's a plus (playability!) or a minus (dude's pretty light for his size), though.

In both city and spaceship mode Trypticon's arms are simply chilling on the back, curled up on panels.  His head is also super obvious, although they molded some bits onto his collar to try to hide his eyes.  I don't think it's a problem for city mode since it's facing away from you, and it's certainly no worse than the G1 toy.  For spaceship mode, though, it's a little harder to ignore.  I guess pretending his head is an engine is a bit of a stretch.

I do dig that the front end of the ship kind of looks like a second head, though.  He's even got translucent bits (let's call them windows) that look like eyes.

And the "mouth" can open!  As I alluded to, the space inside is pretty much empty.  It's a little small for a Deluxe; I tried with Full-Tilt and Siege Sideswipe both in alt mode, and they were both a little too long to close inside.  Again, though, he works great with Legends-class toys.

Titans Return Trypticon is ultimately still a Hasbro figure.  I could see someone like Maketoys (if they ever go back to their Citybot line) making a Trypticon that might be better than this one.  But, the thing is, they haven't.  And while TR Trypticon lacks that premium heft and paint you might get from an MP or 3P figure, he's still a huge, largely G1-accurate figure with better articulation to boot.  He improves on the G1 toy without straying too far from the G1 design.  And while you're unlikely to walk into Ollie's and find him for $49, he's still relatively easy to find (in the US) for $70-$80, which still feels like a steal.  Plus you get Full-Tilt!  If you've got the space for him, I highly recommend him.

[mikeszekely]

MPM-8 is Megatron (from the 2007 film), and MPM-9 is Jazz.  Jazz will apparently split at the waist and have a robo-spine accessory for recreating that moment where Megatron rips him in half.

[anime52k8]

That's morbid.

[Dangard Ace]

G1 Jazz is a fav character of mine and in the first live action film they jack him up?  Hard pass.   

[JB0]

24 minutes ago, Dangard Ace said:

G1 Jazz is a fav character of mine and in the first live action film they jack him up?  Hard pass.   

Had like two lines before he was murdered, too.

My dog would later re-enact the scene, using a "Reveal the Shield"* Jazz that was apparently on display too low.

 

*Why can't I just call it Classics Jazz like I want to?

[tekering]

13 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

 

I gotta say, I think this Trypticon would work amazingly well with a Legends collection, so there's that.

Works even better with TomyTec N-gauge train accessories!  

This otherwise unremarkable town has a dark secret...

...an ominous new addition to the skyline has just been completed.

Their quiet little city is about to be transformed...  

[M'Kyuun]

Pretty impressive little city layout. Trypticon oddly fits in like he's a bit of modern architecture with an artistic flare, something like the  Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle.

[mikeszekely]

Working through my backlog of clearanced Power of the Primes stuff, here's Deluxe-class Darkwing Blackwing and Dreadwind.

It's kind of disappointing that, as much as they milked the Combiner Wars molds during the actual Combiner Wars line, what we're seeing here are basically remolds of Combiner Wars Skydive and Air Raid.  All four figures have the same hips, thighs, and shins.  Dreadwind has the same biceps as the Aerialbots, and his forearms are nearly the same as Skydive's.  Darkwing at least gets new biceps, but he's got Air Raid's forearms with no modifications.

From behind you can see that the cockpit and nose on Dreadwind is the same as Skydive's.  The back of his legs are the same, just with and additional hinged piece for the wings.  The actually wings on those hinges are the same as Skydive's, as well as his back.  Darkwing fairs a little better.  He's got the same back of the legs and wings as Air Raid, but that seems to be all.

Due to being retooled Aerialbots Dreadwind really gets the short end of the stick.  His wings are on his legs instead of his back; ironically, they'd have been more accurate if they'd just copied Skydive instead of putting them on the hinges.  But the most obvious difference is that the cockpit is on his back instead of his chest.  His new shoulders are at least pretty accurate, he's got a strong head sculpt, and at least the colors are accurate... assuming you're cool with Dreadwind and didn't actually want Buster.

Things work better for Darkwing, perhaps due to the fact that Darkwing is supposed to have the cockpit on his back.  The silver trapezoid with his Decepticon emblem was on the original toy, and the big Aerialbot knee pads are more easily passed off as G1 sticker details.  He's just missing the engines peaking from behind his head and a better way to fold up his wings.

Dreadwind comes with a gun, similar to his G1 toy except solo instead of paired and teal instead of gray.  Darkwing's actually got two gray guns, but they're proportionally smaller.  Both figures come with with the ridiculous "Prime Armor" combiner hands.  Aside from mentioning that both figures have flip-down spots on their chests to reveal a peg for them, I'm not going to waste any more time talking about the Prime Armors.  I think we all know how they work now.

If you've got any CW Aerialbots you should know exactly what to expect from these guys in terms of articulation.  If you need a refresher, though, ball-jointed heads with minimal tilt (except Darkwing is really good at looking up due to his transformation), ball-jointed shoulders on Darkwing that can swivel and move laterally over 90 degrees, universal shoulders on Dreadwind that swivel and extend laterally 90 degrees, mushroom bicep swivels, elbows that bend 90 degrees, no wrist articulation, waist swivels a little below their actual waists, ball-jointed hips that can go 90 degrees forward and backward and only 60 degrees laterally, mushroom thigh swivels, knees that bend 90 degrees, and nothing at the feet and ankles.

They can, of course, hold their guns just fine.  They also both have 5mm peg holes on the outside of their forearms.

In jet mode, we can see again just how much they borrowed from the Combiner Wars molds.  Dreadwind is entirely Skydive, just with extra swing-hinged parts between the fuselage and the wings, different colors, and different robot kibble on the underside.  Darkwing has the same wings and tail as Air Raid, but he at least gets a new fuselage, cockpit, nose, and wing roots.

Both jets have a peg hole on top, ostensibly for the Prime armor although I like to use Dreadwind's for his gun to maintain symmetry.  They both also have the holes on their robot arms accessible, which works best for storing Darkwing's guns.  Dreadwind has the same 5mm peg holes under his wings that Skydive had, but the bottom of Darkwing's wings have been remolded from Air Raids, and he lost his wing holes in the process.

In an homage to the original toys, the jets can combine to form Dreadwing.  It's actually not that far off, either.  Darkwing's nose folds back the same way, although his wings flip over to get close enough to Dreadwind's and in doing so hide the details that were on top.  As for Dreadwind, instead of his tail folding up on to his back his wings hinge backward to meet with Darkwing's, that way the same peg hole you'd use for combiner hands and feet can be used as the connection point for Darkwing.  Personally, this mode didn't do anything for me in G1, so it's not really doing anything for me now.  It doesn't help that the connection is pretty loose between them.  But it's still a thing you can do with them that you could do in G1, so I guess they had to include it.

Given that they're remolded Aerialbots, and given PotP's proclivity for bringing back the combiner gimmick from Combiner Wars, Darkwing and Dreadwind can be used as combiner limbs.  Dreadwind works pretty much just like Skydive, they just had to come up with something slightly different to do with his slightly different wings. and a slightly different way for his arms to sit in arm mode.  Things aren't quite as good for Darkwing, but his problems seem to be caused by following the official instructions.  I mean, for arm mode they want his wings flipped at the ball joint from robot mode, but still angled so they're pointed up, then the arms pegged onto the wings and the nose folded down on the back.  It's awkward because it makes him much wider as a shoulder from front to back than pretty much any other combiner limb.  You can instead arrange him as I did at the far left, and slots on his forearms that are actually a relic of Air Raid's can still lock onto tabs on his engine intakes.  Meanwhile, the official transformation for leg mode has his wings sticking pretty far off the gestalt shin.  This is easily remedied, though, by rotating the wings at the ball joints so the painted sides face toward each other instead of away.  In this position they can fold in more tightly against shin.

All of that assumes, of course, that you actually plan to use them as combiner limbs, but I don't really recommend that.  Honestly, I don't really recommend them at all.  They're floppy in the way Hasbro Transformers were before Siege, they've got the plastic-saving hollow spaces, the Dreadwing mode is too loose and as dumb now as it was in 1988, the reuse of Skydive's mold doesn't work particularly well for Dreadwind, and even though it works better for Darkwing there's still the fact that Hasbro was still milking Combiner Wars molds in the first place.  It doesn't really help that I don't have a strong attachment to the characters, knowing them better as Buster and Hydra (where they had red instead of teal).  They're examples of all the stuff Hasbro was doing that the fandom hated.

[JB0]

There's one important detail you missed. The prime armor module that came with them is molded to resemble their powermaster engines, and can plug into the hole on top of the jet using the wrist/ankle peg.

 

Other than that, I'm kinda glad I skipped the CW aerialbots since it made the blatant mold reuse far less obvious. I kinda like the two, for no really good reason.

[mikeszekely]

3 hours ago, JB0 said:

There's one important detail you missed. The prime armor module that came with them is molded to resemble their powermaster engines, and can plug into the hole on top of the jet using the wrist/ankle peg.

I kind of glossed over the Prime Armor in general, because I'd covered it when I reviewed the Dinobots and Terrorcons.  I kind of thought it was understood that you could plug them in to one of the available 5mm peg holes on their alt modes.  I missed the homage to their Powermaster engines, though.  I kind of wrote the Prime Armor off as the less spikey but otherwise the same as the ones we'd got with the Dinobots and Terrorcons.

[JB0]

4 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

I kind of glossed over the Prime Armor in general, because I'd covered it when I reviewed the Dinobots and Terrorcons.  I kind of thought it was understood that you could plug them in to one of the available 5mm peg holes on their alt modes.  I missed the homage to their Powermaster engines, though.  I kind of wrote the Prime Armor off as the less spikey but otherwise the same as the ones we'd got with the Dinobots and Terrorcons.

Well, it can plug into any hole, but the hole on top is actually located such that the "armor" rests in roughly the same place as the powermaster engine would insert on the original toys in jet mode, though it is clearly the wrong size.

It really is the only reason to mention the armor at all, but it is also one of the very few times* in the line I thought the armor was more than an annoyance to be ignored and forgotten.

 

*The other two instances were Moonracer's vehicle mode, where the armor module actually looks like an integral part, and Counter/Punch, who in my world wears a fist-shaped jetpack on his back/spare chest to complete the disguise.  And I guess Jazz, who was just so abysmal that the footfist was the best part of the package.

Edited January 29, 2019 by JB0

[mikeszekely]

Still technically working through my PotP clearance, but we're going to try something a little different, and we're going to do this in two parts (with part 2 coming maybe tomorrow in the 3P thread).  Instead of reviewing one figure, we're going to look at three times Hot Rod has appeared in the Classics/Generations line, and I'm going to tell you which one I think is the best.

So here are our candidates, in the order of their release, with G1 Hot Rod and MP-28 for the sake of comparison.  We've got Classics Rodimus (Deluxe, 2006), Titans Return Hot Rod (Deluxe, 2016) and Power of the Primes Evolution Rodimus Prime (Leader, 2017).

Out of the gate, any of the figures is instantly recognizable as Hot Rod.  Based on looks alone, though, PotP Hot Rod comes out swinging with a strong mix of cartoon and toy visuals.  The shape of the chest is great, better than MP-28's.  His shins and boots are black like the cartoon, but he's got stickers on his shins and shoulders that are very in keeping with the G1 toy.  And, because it matters, his spoiler is the most visible behind his shoulders.  Classics Hot Rod gets an A for effort, but there's something about him that's kind of off, in that  "we're like G1 but not G1" way the old Classics were.  And Titans Return Hot Rod is just a weird beast, with a bright red instead of the usual maroon, silver accents, and a strange cut out for his abs.  It's like it's trying to walk a line that's kind of G1, but kind of IDW since More than Meets the Eye was very popular at the time TR Hot Rod was released.  Both Classics and TR lose points for the engine on the chest.  Only PotP gave Hot Rod is popped collar.  Do note, though, that the Takara Legends version of TR Hot Rod was colored more traditionally maroon with black shins and feet, and the chest was remolded so that engine flipped away, he has the popped collar, and he doesn't have the ab cut.

Appearance is important, but with Studio Series and Siege kind of establishing that the mainline stuff can exist in relative scale then size could be a factor as well.  Classics Rodimus is pretty short, really.  Titans Return Hot Rod is just a little taller than Siege Sideswipe, and that feels like a good height for Hot Rod.  PotP Hot Rod is pretty tall, maybe half a head shorter than Optimus and much taller than Sideswipe.  If scale matters, PotP Hot Rod might be a better stand in as Rodimus Prime than Hot Rod.  TR Hot Rod is probably your best bet, but there's always a good chance we'll get a new Siege version of him.

We must also consider engineering, articulation, and accessories.  It's here that Classics Rodimus is really starting to show his age.  No waist swivel, no bicep swivel, no ankle tilts, less than 90 degrees of knee bend, hips hindered by his back kibble, miniscule lateral movement at the shoulders, and a gun that looks like a hair dryer.  Due to his gimmicks, PotP Hot Rod Isn't exactly pulling his weight, either.  He's got more lateral shoulder movement, and a ball joint doubles as a bicep swivel and elbow joint.  A second transformation joint effectively gives him a double-jointed elbow, too.  But he doesn't have a waist swivel, his hips are nearly as restricted by back kibble as Classics Hot Rod, his hips can only go about 45 degrees forward even with the hinge to move the entire front of his pelvis up, his knees can only bend 60 degrees, and he still doesn't have ankle pivots.  His guns look ok, if a little big for him.  TR Hot Rod is the winner here, though.  Hinges in his shoulders let him get nearly 90 degrees of lateral movement.  His elbows bend 90 degrees, and he's the only one of the three with a waist swivel.  His ball jointed hips are a little looser than I'd prefer, but he can 90 degrees forward, backward, or laterally, and he's got a cut thigh swivel.  His knees can normally bend about 90 degrees, but if you open the back you get access to another hinge if you want to push it farther.  He, too, lacks ankle pivots, but his feet are slightly angled to give him a natural A stance.  Of the three, he's also the most stable.  His guns look pretty good, aside from the cutouts for the Titan Master to sit in.

When it comes to alt modes, Classics Rodimus is again doing the Classics thing of being similar to G1, but definitely not G1.  In fact, it's been reported that Classics Rodimus is actually based on the real Dome Zero car.  And while it works as Hot Rod, it's definitely the least Hot Rod.  PotP Hot Rod initially looked pretty strong, as it's the only one with the cartoon-style spoiler.  The angles are quite a bit harder, though.  The exhaust pipes on the sides don't really travel the length of the car, and leave an unsightly red hinge on the sides of the car.  And of all the Hot Rods, it's the only one without the exposed engine.

Personally, I think that TR Hot Rod looks pretty great, though.  The spoiler is between G1 and Classics.  Of the three, it's got the most G1-style exhaust pipes.  The proportions are somewhat exaggerated, with the sides of the car being a little wider and curvier, but the overall shape is fairly G1 as well.

Even if the makes a kind of stupid-looking gun, I do love how it becomes the exhaust in car mode.  TR Hot Rod can't hide his guns, but they can peg onto the sides behind the front wheels.  And while TR Hot Rod isn't a Targetmaster, he is a Titan Master.  That means that he's the only one out of the three who's cockpit can open, and the head robot can ride inside.  Alternatively, if you want something a little closer to Targetmaster good times, the two guns can fit together to create one double-barreled gun that uses a pair of tabs to fit into the engine.  There's space in the gun for the Titan Master to ride there, manning the gun instead of driving the car.  As for PotP Hot Rod, he doesn't really do much of anything in car mode.  I couldn't find a place to store his guns.

So, based on the facts, I think Titans Return Hot Rod is the way to go.  Honestly, I don't remember Classics Hot Rod as being one of the better Classics figures at the time, and he really hasn't aged gracefully.  PotP Hot Rod looks the best in robot mode, but the engineering is a bit clunky, the car mode isn't the best, and he's a little too tall.  Titans Return Hot Rod has the best articulation and the best car mode, and he's the best size for CHUG-style Hot Rod.  His robot aesthetic is a little off, but you can get around that by picking up the Takara Legends version instead.  While I do enjoy the figure, though, he's definitely a product of the old Prime Wars-style engineering.  If you're like me and kind of got away from CHUG and are only really getting back into the mainline stuff because of Siege, well, you might as well just wait for a Siege Hot Rod.

But what if it's not Hot Rod you're after?  What if you're craving a Rodimus Prime?  We're going to explore that, too, so be on the lookout for part 2 over in the 3P thread.

 

[JB0]

Classics Hot Rod's batmobile exhaust is the awesomest thing, especially with the flame effect "missile" plugged in. It is even cooler than the filp-out buzzsaw in his wrist.

I do wish my Classics Hot Rod hadn't been a victim of a factory error. There's some notable damage on his pelvis from where they tried to jam the pin in at the wrong place.

 

1 hour ago, mikeszekely said:

Classics Hot Rod gets an A for effort, but there's something about him that's kind of off, in that  "we're like G1 but not G1" way the old Classics were. 

Which is something Classics gets a lot of grief for, but I always enjoyed. They were an interesting variation on the original characters.

Even Classics Megatron was an interesting concept, though the execution certainly left something to be desired.
 

[M'Kyuun]

19 hours ago, JB0 said:

Classics Hot Rod's batmobile exhaust is the awesomest thing, especially with the flame effect "missile" plugged in. It is even cooler than the filp-out buzzsaw in his wrist.

I do wish my Classics Hot Rod hadn't been a victim of a factory error. There's some notable damage on his pelvis from where they tried to jam the pin in at the wrong place.

 

Which is something Classics gets a lot of grief for, but I always enjoyed. They were an interesting variation on the original characters.

Even Classics Megatron was an interesting concept, though the execution certainly left something to be desired.
 

I always liked the Batmobile-esque quality of Classics Hot Rod, too, although bot mode was quite weak in the articulation dept. Even back in '07, I think I would have preferred that Classics be more faithful to a toon/toy mix, more in keeping with the earlier MP line. However, I also came around to appreciating the 'close but not slavish design' approach. Classics Hound and Mirage are still two of my all-time favorite figures from any line, and are certainly standouts among the rather large and growing CHUG pantheon. Classics Hound is still the superior figure between Classics and Siege, IMHO. (Alex Kubalsky is a really talented designer, and I continue to bemoan his leaving Takara.)  I totally agree with your comment concerning Classics Megatron- interesting approach to keep his gun mode, but execution just went south. I think he'd have been a far better figure if they could've found a way to lose the wings and just use his body parts like the G1 toy. Alas, it's TF history now. 

[JB0]

27 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Even back in '07, I think I would have preferred that Classics be more faithful to a toon/toy mix, more in keeping with the earlier MP line.

MP line in 07 was the admittedly awe-inspiring first Prime mold, the much-maligned first seeker mold(which was admittedly still better than the abysmal Classics seeker mold), and the first Megatron with the skeleton legs.

 

35 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I totally agree with your comment concerning Classics Megatron- interesting approach to keep his gun mode, but execution just went south. I think he'd have been a far better figure if they could've found a way to lose the wings and just use his body parts like the G1 toy.

 I'd've probably gone for a few hinges in the wings and try to make a cape or something out of them.  I guess that would be a Transformers 3 reference now, but we'd yet to have the scourge of Bayformers visited upon us back then.

Alternatively, fold them out into skeletal wings. Which isn't very Megatron,  but IS super-cool.

I feel either of those could've been done without much of a cost increase, but I do know the designer was already pushing the limits of what Hasbro expected to be a sellable toy(Prime had already been through at least two rounds of cost-reduction before he shipped).

...

Of course, once the wings are made of hinged panels, why NOT just fold them into a backpack?

[sh9000]

I want the Walmart Vintage G1 Soundwave, Ravage & Rumble, Frenzy & Laserbeak, Warpath, and Gears when they start showing up.  Damn I wish there was a Walmart close by to frequently check.