Transformers Titans Return Alpha Trion review

While we have had more toys of Alpha Trion than we did in the past, Titans Return was the first time the character got a mainline, properly transforming figure made in-house by the HasTak crew. Before then, all we mostly got were nontransforming figures from third party licensee, Kreons, or canceled repaints of other figures. And it almost seemed like we would get a new toy of this character within the decade since the TR Voyager came out. He would later get a Prime Master release, a Cyberverse Ultra, a Voyager released in Legacy and a second addition for Age of the Primes, and a few TFOne tie-ins to go with Laurence Fishburne being one of the few good parts of that flick. As for the Titans Return version, he may be seen as an anomaly for today's collectors, be it people who mostly prefer the super duper Sunbow accuracy in recent toys or casuals who probably got into the Skybound toys...and also want the super duper Sunbow accuracy with those comic touches. That being said, I'm sure there is still some value to it than just being a "temporary" gap filler for CHUG displays. Let's see how well this holds up.

Here we have Alpha Trion in his horned lion mode. It's a pretty good take on what kind of beast mode would be associated with AT, especially with a mythical twist given how old he is in-universe. The face using the purple to represent his helmet in robot mode while his mane is silver fucking rocks. The rest of the body varies from appearing organic in shape like a Transmetal to the back looking more like a blocky G1 Predacon. However, what sucks is that the articulation is about as effective as the one G1 Predacons, or the original Cheetor: very little leg articulation, and no jaw-ticulation so to speak! On the flip side, the tail sword is a common trope done here again.

Here he is with the TFOne version of himself, just to show how much smaller the layer figure is in addition of being even more pitiful in comparison. It hangs its head in shame and waits for the Titans Return version to kill it. We just need for the TR version to not be only poseable at the forelegs.

The transformation into spaceship mode is almost like a brutal yoga pose, mostly because you're compacting the hind legs and splitting the beast head in half. As for how it turned out, you can see the seeds of an inevitably heavy Broadside retool in the works with how much it resembles an aircraft carrier. It's meant to resemble the spaceship mode he later got in other G1 media but it doesn't look that great.

For a vehicle mode comparison, it doesn't compare to the altmode he once had as a younger bot from Age of the Primes, nor is it as good as even the Scourge recolor. But hey, triple changer.

Transformation is pretty easy to follow, mostly because everything goes where you would need it to for a design like this: shoulders formed from the lion head halves, shins made from the hind legs, front paws forming torso armor, and Sovereign turns into the robot head. The resulting robot mode is much more barbaric than we're used to seeing with Alpha Trion, but it kind of fits if we remember his history as an ancient Prime and not just being a father figure of some kind to Optimus. I love this reimagining of him, and even if you were to make him more greebly and desaturated, he would look good as a Movieverse take on the character. I will say that the shoulder halves being made from the lion head looks good from the front, because most other angles reveal how flat they are from the back on top of the screws and other unsightly stuff like with AOE Voyager Grimlock. Maybe a larger toy or ditching the spaceship mode can help. Regardless, this design looks awesome, even with the colors he has; makes me wish we got another series with an Alpha Trion like this. I bet Cyberworld would put him in there and have him be a bootleg Master Roshi (or whatever the quirky chungus writers think Roshi is like).

The head sculpt by itself pretty good making a more badass take on the archivist bot with an angular style that contrasts his older faces from G1. Even the horns compliment it better than other gimmicks with the spring loaded "head-add ons"! Articulation consists of a ball jointed neck by itself with only a slight bit of rotation at the base, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, hinged elbows, ball jointed wrists, swivel hips that are a little too tight from the painted waist piece, outward leg movement, thigh swivels, hinged knees, and slight ankle hinges due to transformation but no pivots. Also, he has a sword and gun, with the latter serving as a seat for Titan Masters.

For a more direct reuse, this is Legends Lion convoy, who looks majestic kike the lion from the Manticore Megazord. The head is repainted from Sentinel Prime, and it represents one of the characters forms in that wild ass storyline associated with Takara's takes on some early Prime Wars toys.

The figure was heavily retooled into Broadside, and while I always hated this character, at least the Titans Return figure is decent in bot mode. The aircraft carrier mode scale is wild with the included Combiner Wars Aerialbots and the jet mode is as bad as the original.

Broadside's Japanese release is cartoon accurate, including painting over the wings, and he comes with the Repugnus accessory as did many Voyagers in the line. The Legends manga has the Titan Master actually change size, too! 

For a genuine surprise of a retool, this is Tidal Wave, included with the Siege on Cybertron set. I wish I got this because that may be the version of the mold I would get. That stems from Tidal Wave being way cooler than Broadside, anyhow. I bet you can come up with some fan modes to make him more Armada accurate in jet mode.

Here he is with his fellow Alpha Trions from years since this came out. The other two certainly look more scholarly, yet the Titans Return version can represent either a different continuity or an era where he was a warrior before retiring his mantle. However you see him fit in your version of G1.

Overall, this version of Alpha Trion may not be the figure many would want now that we got the more recent versions, but I am always happy to keep him in my collection purely from how unique he is. We get a nod to his Beast Machines/Wreckers era look, he turns into a version of a ship mode he might have had if he transformed, and the design of the bot mode is very underrated. Lio Convoy is the better version of this tooling, but I am happy with owning this as someone who kind of likes this mentor for Optimus. And he beats the shitty TFOne figure once again. Now then, where can I get a cape like in the promo art?

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