Here we have the Dark Fleet individually. They aren't given names while as separate vehicles, but the section that will become the torso is a Cybertronic double-bowed ship, what will become the legs is a troop carrier, and what will become the arms is obviously an aircraft carrier. The double-bowed ship is given a large amount of sculpted details to give it that layered look commonly seen in Unicron Trilogy toys. Between the panel-lines throughout the bows and the many cannons and turrets that are able to move independently on top of being removable (so don't forget to check the box before throwing it away), this feels like a grim enemy ship that you would want to avoid at all costs. I like seeing the deco represent the cartoon this time around, as the green, while not awful, was an unusual choice for Hasbro to go with because of them thinking there is too much purple for the Decepticons. As for the troop carrier, it's respectfully hefty thanks to the lower thighs being tucked inside with heavy-duty ratchet joints. This does mean there are no fold-out seats from within the compartments of said spaces, though. I do like the slight asymmetry with one side having a cockpit of sorts for anyone who'd pilot this vehicle compared to the other side not having the windows sculpted nor painted. One genuine complaint with this mode is the lack of stability, as it uses two clips that are a little too deep inside the halves of the ship, resulting in the ship frequently splitting in half. If there were a few 5mm ports or an extra clip, I think it'd work better than it currently does. Finally, the aircraft carrier is appropriately painted with lavender runway lines for any tiny jets you could have lying around, such as the Core Class Seekers we got since Kingdom. That being said, this is yet another instance of a Unicron Trilogy figure not coming with their Minicon partner, so Ramjet got shafted much like Swindle, Leader-1, and Sparkplug did. Jolt was lucky even if he was included with a repaint of Hot Shot. There is no elevating shaft for Ramjet, but we do have a tower for the aircraft carrier.
The three vehicles themselves look awesome as they are, but I like seeing them combined into a massive ship. It's almost similar to how it was originally done with the old toy, though you don't utilize the shoulder joints from the aircraft carrier, nor do you use the waist piece from the troop carrier given how it works differently this time around for the leg transformation. Still, the result is an undeniably impressive warship unlike any other. I bet it could lay damage on the Ark AND Nemesis in a single fight. Sometimes, you look at a few combined vehicle modes in past TF toys and wonder if it's thought out well. Like you have something that's underwhelming like the combined form of G1 Darkwing and Dreadwind as Dreadwing, while Beast Wars Neo had Magmatron's Magmasaur mode featuring the Land, Sky, and Seasaurs as a cool clusterfuck of a dino mode. Tidal Wave falls into the latter category (the lattegory), only being more refined given how this is all mechanical and not organic.
Tidal Wave's transformation no longer has him being able to go from said single vehicle mode into giant robot mode, but it's still just like how the old toy allowed you to combine the three vehicles into a single robot. Not much else is different beyond the leg transformation, and while that might be seen as somewhat unfaithful to the source material, it is a comparable difference I'd accept like with Armada Prime's base mode not being the same as in the show to make his super mode better. Tidal Wave's resulting robot mode has his boss theme playing in my head, showcasing just how massive he is like with all Titan Class figures, and the cartoon/Takara toy colors make him extra imposing this time around. Though his has his own proportional quirks like the forearms being shorter than the biceps/shoulders, he still looks like a badass design all around. He's unique from the typically blocky affairs of Metroplex or Fortress Maximus, especially when it comes to the alt mode choice(s) he has going for him. The shoulders are proportioned a little differently, but it's nothing to get upset about. And yes, that is a mini version of Tidal Wave that we'll talk about in a moment.
His head sculpt looks better than ever, feeling a whole lot more refined this time around than it previously was. I love the silver paint, the shadowy effect around the eyes to make them look like the Japanese robot trope, and the all-lavender traffic light mohawk on him compliments his silver pirate beard that'll make Thundertron go "shiver me timbers". His articulation gives him a neck swivel, a hinge for looking up, ratchets at the shoulders moving front and back as well as in and out, slight butterfly joints moving back, rotation above the elbows, ratcheted elbows, articulated fingers and thumbs, a waist rotation inhibited because of his skirt piece (which I feel could have been engineered better), ratchets at the legs moving front and back as well as in and out, ratchets for the thighs, knees, and ankles; this guy will feel quite stable thanks to how tough these joints feel, even if they might be a little annoying for the hips to move down during transformation.
That being said, we do have a bit of an unnecessary mode to cover. This is the base mode, where you take out miniature parts of what look like the Dark Fleet, rearrange the body to look like Fort Max's ship mode, and slap on the mini dark fleet pieces here and there after removing the larger cannons. Yeah, this isn't too hot-looking. I guess it's something they tried adding to make up for his lack of an ability to transform from robot mode into combined vehicle mode without separating his units, but it's about as effective as any base mode from a non-cityformer. Not the worst idea HasTak came up with, but nothing mindblowing.
Now for a little surprise for the uninitiated. Since Tidal Wave is far too big to combine with Megatron, allow me to showcase the Minifleet, showcasing miniature versions of the same vehicles we saw earlier. The troop carrier looks a little goofy with the larger wings and what will be Megatron's stabilizers, but it gets the job done for vehicle mode accuracy. Interestingly, the feet are shown to be articulated but there is no possible robot mode to be made.
The other two vehicle modes are the double-bowed battleship and the aircraft carrier. The former has the bows looking longer than they normally are, but two cannons are articulated. The latter, meanwhile, reminds me a bit of Micromaster Flattop, known best for being reviewed by Thew Adams.
They may not combine into Miniwave, nor can they become a combined ship, but Megatron is still prepped for a year-long wait of a combination.
Combining these parts onto Megatron is surprisingly not too difficult, and they at least stabilize the shoulder treads that flopped around originally. The panels that covered the gaps within said treads could use stronger tabs given the added weight of the arm attachments now being placed above them. It's not accurate, but Hasbro didn't add ratchets to Megatron's arms. The resulting Burning Megatron mode looks about as unwieldily badass as it did on the original toy, especially given how it's Megatron himself wearing THREE battleships! How awesome is that?! While Prime can combine with Jetfire and/or Overload in Armada, Megatron has him beat by getting his partner first!
His articulation is not hindered greatly, though the strength of the ratchet joints depends on the arm joints being tight enough to withhold it. The legs seem fine enough as they are, though, especially with the platform shoes to help keep him stable while having that added weight.
For some size comparisons, here we have Tidal Wave next to Cybertron Metroplex. And Megatron wearing Tidal Wave's mini bits next to Supermode Prime. While the latter comparison is fine enough, I am surprised at how tall Metroplex looks next to Tidal Wave, and that's jot even going down the price hike that Titans got. At least the WFC ones had proper playset value and transforming partners, while the Legacy ones don't, and even if a mini fleet is more valuable than tiny jets, he should have come with blast effect parts and/or Ramjet to make up for his height.
Before we close off, though, we need to talk about something that will need to be checked on. My copy has either discolored parts or a weird form of yellowing out of the box, a common issue Transformers toys got since the 2020s. And while I do recommend Tidal Wave, on top of this likely being a one-off QC issue, it doesn't excuse things given the price tag.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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