Transformers Titans Return Trypticon review

Trypticon may not have much of a personality in most franchises he's been in, but at least he makes up for it with his character design. If you ask me, turning into a Mechagodzilla-looking robot instead of a humanoid robot is a whole lot more appealing than we give credit. He was best known for getting his T-Cog swapped with Metroplex's in the G1 cartoon (with less than needed results), damaging the Autobots before fighting the Dinobots in the G1 comics, falling off a tiny bridge in The Headmasters against fucking Wheelie and Daniel, and having a less than stellar fight against Metroplex in the Prime Wars Trilogy. Thankfully, he had a pretty solid Aligned incarnation that eventually became the Nemesis, while his Cyberverse counterpart was the mafia boss of the Mercenaries (utilized better in that series than in the WFC trilogy). After failing to get the AOTP version at Ross, I at least got the Titans Return version from my longtime friend Ernie Krause, and it shall now be reviewed today!

Here we have Trypticon in his city form, which is more of a battle platform more than anything, really. It spreads out, it has ramps, and in the center is Full-Tilt's alt mode. We'll get to him in a moment, but as far as being a battle platform is concerned, it's at least able to resemble a station whereas something like Star Convoy looks like a dead robot whose legs are replaced with some base. Trypticon could use a few extra guns beyond the ones that point upwards, but I find he could use something to cover the holes in his toes. Those purple clips near what will be the robot hips are clips meant to connect him with Leader Class figures from Titans Return as well as fellow TR figure Fortress Maximus and Siege Omega Supreme. All in all, it's bigger than the G1 toy and does a good job at giving off a huge playset-like scale. 

Transforming him in his mobile station mostly means keeping what will be the legs compact and pointing the cannons forward. It rolls decently well with some wheels at the bottom, though Hasbro labeled this as a spaceship or the Nemesis. That wouldn't be a reach if it weren't for the shape not matching the actual Nemesis (aka the figure we got in Legacy Evolution), the lore making sense only for the Aligned continuity, and this not really resembling much of a space ship beyond the winglets. That and there is a hole that goes through the middle section, but the more I look at the clear green plastic, the more I wonder if this spaceship thing was meant to go further as something Brunt could pilot like a Titan Master would ride its transtector. 

Takara made a bonus mode where the tail opened up to form a new beast head while the dino.legs become the front legs and the cannons become.rhe hind legs. While modes like these usually come off like the toy designers trying to come up with any extra modes they possibly could to make their product seemingly do more than necessary (looking at you, Japanese G1 Transformers and early Sentai mecha), there is at least some credence to those being intended; the tail has no other reason to open beyond potentially hunting at being another beast head with the "eyes" and how close it is to the robot legs. 

And then we get to the proper dino mode, which means bending the tail so he can stand upright, hinging the head forward before rotating the base where it hinges, uncurling the arms, and bringing the cannons back. The resulting robot mode is not only massive as all Titans should be, but the sculpt work is outright impressive. In the current era we're in where figures lose greebling, the rich detailing makes this figure almost makes the stickers feel redundant, though they are at least used better than on later some Titans Return/Power of the Primes figures where they either clash badly with the chrome foil on certain spaces (cough POTP Elita-1's wings) or tend to be poorly applied in the factory. In fact, this continues the tradition of separate sticker sheets being used for the Titans before Siege Omega Supreme retired the practice, and it's arguably more satisfying doing this on a bigger toy than what the factory workers dealt with. As for the articulation, his head can look up and down as well as open somewhat, shoulders rotate, move in and out, bend at the elbow, hinge at the wrists, and open at two points for the claws. The hips, which on my copy had the spring issue resolved given earlier copies suffered from breakage issues, can move front and back as well as in amd out, bend at the knees, ane pivot at the ankles. Using Titan Master Necro lets us re-enact a neat feature for this toy: eating the small robots!

His stomach can be opened up after removing Full-Tilt and his base, allowing you to access the Titan Masters after they were swallowed by the giant Transformer.

Because it would make no sense for Trypticon's entire head to use any sort of compatibility with the line, Necro instead serves as a more accessible button after attaching him behind his head...

...which reveals a cannon hidden underneath the orange (horn). You can still access it without the smaller robot, but it's easier the intended way.

Before we wrap things up, let's take a look at Full-Tilt's vehicle mode. It's solid purple with black in the gun and wheels, and there is very little to break up the former, but at least the shape of this cruiser is not as frumpy as the old toy. The snap-on wheels on a toy released with an expensive set sucks, but you have some nubs for the Titan Masters to stand on.

As usual, Necro can sit comfortably inside and blend in too much with all that purple. Seriously, plenty of Titan Masters were severely limited in color break-up that the ones we got since Earthrise are thankfully painted somewhat.

For a comparison with the partner we got 2 years later, here he is with Siege Brunt. The shades of purple are not the same between the two, and they are obviously differently functional toys, but on the bright side, Full-Tilt was always a Transformer and was actually playable in the PS2 Japanese G1 game as mid as it was.

Transformation is pretty standard, with the legs flipping down and the arms shifting in place before the back panel flips back so the Titan Master can go in place. The resulting robot mode is slightly less purple due to the chest and head adding an extra bit of color, and I guess the same goes for the midriff. The bot mode feels closer to a mass-produced, military drone version of Beachcomber with all of the personality sucked out, though with the tires on the arms and legs, he at least isn't entirely just a purple guy. Honestly, I'm hating on a guy who is mostly just a bonus from the whole set rather than the main focus, so Full-Tilt does what he needs to do at the end of the day.

Head sculpt is the standard visor & mouthplate combo we've seen numerous times in G1, only in purple. At least it's visually sharper than his old toy wished it could be. Articulation consists of ball joints at the shoulders and neck, swivels at the biceps and thighs, and hinges at the elbows and knees.

For a size comparison with Brunt, we can see a bit of duality for Trypticon's small partners. One is a normal Transformer yet is pretty generic-looking and overall insignificant beyond who he's partnered with, and the other is more unique in terms of design yet uses a robot mode clearly taken from the Centurion Drones. Either way, I have Brunt reunited with Full-Tilt before I could even get my hands on T30 Metroplex despite having Siege Six-Gun and Kingdom Slammer.

The best part is that you can technically make Brunt compatible with Full-Tilt as a Weaponizer, even with there being fewer 5mm ports than on the average WFC Trilogy figure. It's not perfect, but it is at least possible.

The sole repaint we have is a more cartoon-accurate version of Trypticon, meaning the grey is closer to black, the green that's either opaque or clear is now a vibrant teal, and the purple is closer to a pinkish shade. I've seen some fans repurpose him as Gigastorm from Beast Wars II with the aid of an add-on piece representing the horn. If my Ross stores had this, I would have gotten him and reviewed him instead of the TR version.

For anyone wanting to pair him with Omega Supreme in honor of the War for Cybertron game, here you go. I know they both got third party versions that are actually based on the game, but I doubt Hasbro would ever make their own with how shite Gamer Edition was. I would easily prefer they focus on the other AOE Dinobots after Grimlock. But as for Trypticon, I love him the most out of any Titan we got before and after him. Sure, it's easy to be biased when you're into kaiju, but he not only manages to look awesome in general, but he also represents a one-of-a-kind aspect we don't get with the other titans where his robot mode is the beast, and I wish I could see that more often beyond the cassettes and RID15 Underbite. Whether you get the TR or AOTP version, he is the real epitome of dino-might. If you can get one Titan, make it this one, even if you don't plan to pair him with anyone else.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

S.H. Figuarts Vegeta (Old Style Battle Clothes & DB Super) review

Vegeta should be no stranger to anyone who's been either a fan of anime or at least read my reviews; from stern and aggressive Saiyan prince to eventual husband of Bulma and son of Trunks, he represents one of the many characters to experience redemption or general 180 in their character development when they join Goku's friend group. When it comes to how representation on my review site, he's been in the usual battle armor, at least twice without the shoulder pads, and representing his early evil appearance, the Super Saiyan powers he unlocked later in Z, and his Daima version (the grown up version). Now we have a chance to look at another pair of Vegeta figures like we have in the past, at least to add some synergy with the history of there being two Goku reviews with a pair of figures each sharing the spotlight. This time, we're going with the Old Style Battle Clothes and the Super Hero movie version of the character.

Here we have Battle Clothes Vegeta in-hand, essentially a darker color version of the same armor design we've usually seen on the character. While the darker blue might have been a choice I could live with, the stock photos seemingly made his clothes appear almost black or less blue than they appear in my review station.  The anime even couldn't decide what it's supposed to be if we consider the master quality between different releases. Regardless, I always think this works well if we ignore the inconsistencies between screencaps and the stock photos. Plus, to the proportions generally remain consistent with what we previously got in the line, though we do have a small bit of gappage between the pecs and the stomach. Not the worst example, but could be tweaked better. All around, I want to say that this Vegeta manages to generally work well enough as it stands, though the colors for the spandex-like part of his battle clothes may not be consistent with the Frieza Saga.

His head sculpt is slightly different from the version we got from the Scouter version, with a haircut not as over the top while also being somewhat more proportionate for a body that lacks the shoulder pads. The print work for the face is always top notch, but wait till we go over the alternate faces. Speaking of, he has 4 of those as well as 3 pairs of hands, a set of crossed arms, and a trio of alternate torso pieces to represent his Saiyan armor getting damaged.

His articulation is standard for all of the versions of Vegeta we covered before, so why don't we talk about the accessories? I like that we get some unique facial expressions representing him in pain with small tears shed or in pure rage, all fitting for the character. As for getting the battle damaged plates on there, it's a neat idea on paper yet the execution is tedious. You not only have to find the right spots to pry them off, but it can be a little annoying to keep them in place if they're not tabbed in right. Also, swapping the arms with the crossed set is more annoying here than with prior versions of the characters we had in the past.due to the updated shoulder joints.

The faces are nice to have and are honestly better than the goofier ones from Power Level 27000, but the battle clothes parts are somewhat tedious at times. As for the price, where I got mine from Premium Bandai, I believe it was $80, twice the amount I would pay for the usual Figuarts at my local Target or Walmart. Granted, this is a less prominent look for the dude, but I doubt it's really worth making that high of a price for him when the accessory count is only slightly higher than what we normally get. Maybe if he had an extra faceplate or an additional set of hands, I could stomach it more. At the very least, he makes me want to get Gohan and Krillin in the same armor.

As for Super Hero Vegeta, this is closer to a more casual outfit that the dude would wear, though it is a bit of a midway point to the battle clothes that he's usually associated with when you look at the gloves and boots. Thankfully, the boots have some paint in the toe region, though I will have to comment on the shirt not matching the pants in regards to its finish (shiny vs matte), while the areas that are painted on the arms don't match the molded areas that are flesh tone, a common problem seen with Hasbro Marvel Legends. It's noticeable on the neck region than on the arms, but while not as bad as the example I mentioned, it still sucks given this is an import, and a fairly expensive one by $10 when it came out versus the 2021/2 Legends price. Still, it works fine for a base Vegeta, though the slight aesthetic issues do hurt it. Some have also commented on the side profile for the head not being quite right to what Vegeta looks like though it could be easy to blame how Super's animation quality looked. 

With the articulation being the same, I want to instead focus on the range for some of these joints. The butterfly joints looks uglier here on Super Hero Vegeta than on the Battle Clothes version, likely resulting in the torso not being as broad as it should be, and the hips have worse range. On the plus side, his thumbs up hand and smirking face imply I recommend him if you see him at a cheaper price. I got him for $28, which is lower than what the MSRP price is, but it's easier to stomach this than $80 in spite of the worse joint range or aesthetics not being as good as on Battle Clothes Vegeta. 

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (for both but for different reasons)

Transformers Age of the Primes Quickstrike review

After an entire year without any Beast Wars rep whatsoever in the Age of the Primes Year 1, we get another character who appeared in the series. Quickstrike probably is best known for his Fuzor aspect more than anything else; while Silverbolt was a huge fan favorite thanks to his campy personality and overall chemistry with Blackarachnia (even their increasingly growing romance making her switch back to a Maximal over time), Quickstrike doesn't really stand out that much compared to the remaining characters introduced in Season 1 as well as fellow Season 2 Predacon Rampage. Sure, he had the trigger-happy redneck personality, him controlling Optimal Optimus with an exo suit was cool, and I liked his interactions with Inferno and Waspinator he and the fire ant were killed; however, he was easy to manipulate given his dim ass nature, with the phrase "two heads are better than one" not necessarily meaning he has two brains. However, I will always be happy to get a new figure of him, especially with how fragile the otherwise great original version is. Let's see if it's worth getting this dude as we slowly complete Season 2!

Here we have Quickstrike in his beast mode, which is a stylized scorpion with a cobra instead of a stinger tail. While we already have a scorpion Transformer literally in the form of Season 1's Scorponok, I will always appreciate Hasbro designers for making this design unique beyond the Fuzor aspect. The color scheme is appropriately Egyptian-esque with the goldenrod and teal, in addition to the few bits of black and charcoal here and there. The legs are more orangey than normal, but they at least fit the deco. This toy is super faithful to the cartoon model, arguably moreso than any of the Kingdom figures for the BW cast (though it's due to the CG model being super accurate to the toy). While we don't have clear plastic anymore, this at least fixed the fragility issues we once had in the 90s. We even get as much articulation in the claws and tail, though the water squirting gimmick is replaced with an opening jaw with blast effect compatibility.

For a comparison with fellow Fuzor, here he is with Silverbolt from the Legacy United line. I find it funny how Bolty at least tries to add not just the wings of an eagle but also the feet at the front and the tail at the back. I guess Quickstrike could have had extra cobra heads instead of pincers, but he will make up for his basic Fuzor philosophy...

...because the transformation is not only close to the original, but it's arguably more creative than what the average Scorponok toy could offer. Instead of the robot arms being made from pincers, that job goes to the robot legs. Likewise, the arms for the robot mode are composed of the tail and the beast legs, meaning we don't have the tail over the head or the legs sticking out from the back of the robot legs. Even the transformation of the torso means the back of the beast mode is where the robot head lies instead of the beast mode head being partially used for the robot mode. The resulting robot mode is once again accurate to the cartoon, which, as mentioned earlier, comes from the CG model being one of the few to be directly toy-accurate. I always loved the asymmetrical nature of Quickstrike's arms; sure, he may not be able to hold a thing, but with a personality like his in the show, who cares? I guess I could wish the gold for the legs and parts of the arms were gold, and for the beast legs to be slightly less neon, but the rest of the color scheme still works well. It's not like the inexplicable color change on Kingdom Rhinox looking worse than it should be. One minor thing I wish the toy would have is a secure slot for the beast head to tab into, but it's not like it's a floppy mess back there.

His head sculpt looks pretty accurate to the show model, though I always find it funny how that piece at the bottom expands slightly everytime he talks, almost like how the mouthplates on G1 Optimus and Soundwave bulge to indicate they're talking. The articulation is standard for the ball jointed neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation and hinged elbow on the left arm, waist rotation, universal hips, thigh swivels, hinged knees, and ankle pivots. What is unique, however, is the right arm utilizing SIX ball joints for all the needed flexibility of the cobra tail. The left arm has the scorpion legs as a claw-like contraption, but that beats the tired dual claw method seen on other scorpion Transformers.

Here we have our two Fuzors together in robot mode. I love that we have some Season 2 rep, even if it began with the online-exclusive Transmutate and Ravage before we nearly waited 3 years for Silverbolt and then 2 years for this year's Quickstrike. We just need Rampage and any character who turned into a Transmetal for the show before rounding things out with Depth Charge as well as the final forms of Blackarachnia and Cheetor. While I hate the price hike affecting the line as a whole, at least Quickstrike manages to not only prove "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" with his engineering and design, but the new version technically fixed what usually broke on the old toy when it comes to durability. I also love that they didn't cheapen out on the ball joints as he manages to have as much crazy range as what we had before. I recommend you get him no matter what.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Super7 Ultimates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003 set review

Of all of the versions we had throughout the years, the 2003 version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remains my favorite to this day. While there is an obvious obsession over the 80s versions from the nostalgia crowd, or the 2012 version being surprisingly good despite concerns from the Viacom purchase of Mirage Studios, and I guess there is some appeal from the Rise series for the "animation = cinema" crowd, but 2003 was the perfect balance between action, humor, and great story-telling that hasn't been compared to since its ending. Sure, some will say that Fast Forward and Back to the Sewers were downgrades, but the overall series remains the best we've ever had in the franchise history. Ironically, as much as a phrase like "I love being a turtle" gets repeated in my mind from the theme song, the franchise as a whole gets yearly review rep since I got the MMPR crossover figures back in 2022. While I reviewed the reissues of the 2003 figures, we're now about to see if some long-awaited collector friendly options from Super7. Yes indeed, the same company that makes all those ReAction figures with barely any value like a Funko Pop, you probably remembered that I reviewed their Unicron from that same line because it's the cheapest option I could get for now based on that old toy. The Ultimates subline seems to be a way better approach to making action figures compared to these wannabe Kenner things, but are they each worth $55 plus the tariff tax if you buy from their site?

Here we have Leonardo in-hand, with his katanas in the sheaths. Since I never really messed with any other Super7 figures, I can't tell you if they have any similarities or differences from the prior waves. What I can say is the figures are generally accurate to the artstyle used for the show. I wish the arms could go down a bit further, and the shoulders to be bigger, but the sculpts looks pretty close to what we saw on TV. While paint apps are somewhat minimal, they are at least used for the shell, mask, and the weapon handles. The front of the shell as well as the straps, belt, and elbow/knee pads are made of a PVC material to allow for more flexibility in the articulation, which makes sense than something like the ENTIRE torso for Maximum Hulk. I wish the browns were darker, though, because the current shade makes the toy look somewhat cheap. The ball-shaped hips are more noticeable in some angles, but I have a hunch this was the best they could do given how the Turtles' proportions usually work. So for the most part, the figure looks good, with some slight tweaks needed here and there.

His head sculpt is mostly the same-ish when it comes to his brothers, but I do like that we have a bit of line work for the eyes as well as the eyebrows to add an extra bit of personality to these masked characters. His articulation includes a double ball neck with a decent amount of range, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, double jointed elbows, rotation within the elbow joints, wrist rotation, inward/outward or lateral wrist hinges depending on what hands are used, a diaphragm joint that thankfully isn't hindered by the shell, ball-shaped hips that move front and back as well as in and out, thigh rotation, double jointed knees and ankles that hinge as well as pivot. His katanas are a decent length for him, though I wish the blades are painted silver to make the budget slightly easier to stomach. Thankfully, they aren't too rubbery, and the grey plastic isn't entirely cheap-looking. Alternate parts on him include a head with a smirky sneer, fisted hands, open hands, and a communicator that he can't really hold in the gripping hand. Maybe extra hands or slightly wider circumferences to the hands can fix that. On the plus side, all of the heads have articulated bandana straps in the backs, and they are swappable.

Here we have Leo in-between two standard 1:12/1:10 scale examples from McFarlane and Hasbro. While Batman and Iron Man's heights should probably be swapped, we should keep in mind that the 2003 Turtles are usually 5'2" while Keaton Batman is 5'9" and Iron Man in the comic armor is 6'6". In that case, Leo may be taller than normal next to Iron Man and pretty undersized next to this version of Batman. Maybe some better examples from both lines could help showcase a proper canon scale.

And here we have Leonardo with his 1987 Classics counterpart and his original 2003 figure, both from Playmates. I was hoping to do a Turtles Forever display, but for that to work, I would have to get those subpar Loyal Subjects versions that better match the earlier seasons of the 87 cartoon. 

Naturally, since they all share the same body and articulation, let's go over the rest of the brothers. Donatello naturally comes with a bo staff as well as both a smiling head and a sneering head with one eye bugged out. The former is currently wearing the goggles, but the eyes are a slightly different shape from Leo's neutral head.

Up next is Raphael, who comes with his twin said as well as both a snarling head and one with a berserker yell that fits nobody else but him. Interesting how he doesn't have a neutral head but if anyone is going to be angry, make it Raph.

And finally, Michelangelo comes with an open smiling expression and the most positive neutral face (shown in the bottom pic). His nunchucks are genuinely fun with how to can remove most of the pieces and give him these mid-motion twirling parts. 

He also comes with the regular nunchucks with diecast chains, though what sucks is that the pegs being painted means they not only don't go all the way in, but the sockets are seemingly starting to crack. Be very careful with your copies. That and the inevitable paint rub on the weapon handles. One thing I wish these came with is the preorder bonus set featuring four extra heads. Leo gets a slightly different smile, Raph gets a different snarling expression, Mikey gets a winking expression and Donatello does his own sneering expression. The worst part is how expensive the set became in the aftermarket; the lowest it went for was $80 while the highest it usually reaches is around $200. 

Overall, as a huge fan of the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, I REALLY want to recommend these figures entirely; the problem stems from how the price betrays the value they each have inside their boxes. Judging by the prices of earlier waves, they used to cost $45 each, and with later waves fluctuating with the accessory count and the MSRP creeping up over the years since they began making the Ultimates, there is no excuse for that supposed tariff fee (especially for purchases made after the set was made in stock versus preorders which made some sense). If they came with the bonus preorder heads, extra hands meat for the communicators, thumbs up hands, and/or the accessories their old toys came with, then the price would be easier to justify. Even then my copy of Mikey seems to have some minor yet problematic QC issues. If you can get them for around $40 or less like they had for some sales on Amazon or their site during the holiday season, then I recommend doing that. I went with that approach for my Turtles, and I look to do the same when Shredder, Splinter, the Foot Soldier, and Casey Jones pop up. I'll also see if I'd even bother with April O'Neil and Hun for the wave after them.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (for all 4 at their MSRP)