October | 2017 | JunkionHQ

LG-44 Sharkticon

Posted on October 29, 2017
/Under Legends, Titans Return, ToyHax
/With 1 Comment

Recent releases from both Hasbro and TakaraTomy have been a celebration of the original animated movie, the latest example of this is LG-44 Sharkticon & Sweeps.

Sharkticon

The Sharkticon mold is a great little ball of terror!

To transform; remove the mace and fold the fin back. Disconnect the top half of the beast mode, split it apart and fold it back to make the robot legs. Fold the beast head halves back to become the robot heels. Move the beast hip joints up until they snap into place to become the robot solders. Spin the beast feet around to become the robot forearms. Fold the beast lower jaw down to become the robot chest then rotate the robot head up out of the torso. Spin the head to face forward then fold up the fin against the robot back.

There’s something almost lovable about this rotund little bot.

Gnaw

This mold was originally released in the US as Titans Return Gnaw.

Takara’s version is mostly grey with purple and blue accents. The fin, beast arms, upper legs and mace are all molded in the same grey as the lower-half of the beast mode. The fists and robot thighs are now in purple to match the beast mode’s mouth.

Sweeps

I skipped LG-26 Scourge the first time around but picked one up specifically to go with Sharkticon’s Sweeps Head Master. There are no differences between the two Head Masters

Sweeps Head Master mustache goes upwards over his cheeks instead of down like Scourge’s.

The Swarm

I’m not usually a troop builder but something about this figure made me want a swarm.

I might have managed with just the one if not for ToyHax and their label upgrade set. The set includes enough labels to customize three figures in their own color scheme. After seeing this, I immediately pictured Gnaw with three squad leaders each backed up with half a dozen color coordinated drones. Sadly, reality and budgetary limitations forced me to scale this back a bit. Now, with the Legends version, my swarm is a quintet – rather appropriate for servants of the Quintessons, I think.

QC Punishment

After greedily ordering three additional Gnaws Karma decided to punish me a bit. Although my first Gnaw is perfect, none of the others can keep their tails in place in beast mode. It was so bad that I even labeled each tail/mace to make sure it gets back to the figure it originally came with.

Conclusion

Despite a few loose tails I’ve really enjoyed these figures and wanted to end with a scene inspired by the movie.

Poor Thundercracker

Posted on October 28, 2017
/Under Cybertron, Galaxy Force
/With 0 Comments

I recently skimmed a thread about the RID toy-line ending where Imperator was talking about still wanting Thundercracker and it got me thinking. Poor Thundercracker has often gotten shafted – most famously; the last original Seeker released in Masterpiece format and a Botcon exclusive during the Classics era. But what kept bubbling up in my mind is my collection of Legends Seekers from Cybertron/Galaxy Force.

As you may notice in the photo above there is a distinct lack of blue and an abundance of grey. This mold was released ten times, five of those were Starscream and even Sunstorm got a retail release but no TC. I’m still half expecting a release as Acidstorm just to rub salt in the wound.

Skywarp was the only other bot of the original Trio released in this mold.

I’ve utilized a seasonally appropriate stand-in for the missing TC here. At least, I think it’s appropriate, we were “booed” and this Wizard (I think) was part of the package.

All three coneheads were released and, due to the transformation, they can even have pseudo-coneheads.

As you may have guessed by now, I love this mold. It’s small and fun and, for me, gives us the best Cybertronian Seeker that has been released by any company. I’ve had these displayed in my (extremely dusty) shadow-box on the wall behind the computer monitors in my home office for years.

Another benefit to this mold is the fact that, unlike the deluxe version, it does not require a Cyber Key to deploy the weapons.

The transformation is very similar to the Deluxe and just as effective.

The Deluxe version of this mold was only re-released once as a Thrust-colored version of Starscream and the Ultra version was never repainted as a different character.

To close, my favorite Seeker Thrust, the only one I actually had back in the 80s.

Fans Toys FT-27 Spindrift

Posted on October 5, 2017
/Under Fans Toys
/With 0 Comments

The Seaspray inspired masterpiece-style Spindrift from Fans Toys has arrived at Junkion HQ.

The Box

The first surprise with Spindrift is that it comes in a very small box for a masterpiece-class figure.

Along with the styrafoam insert Spindrift comes with full-color instructions, trading card, three weapons and a spare head with a more boxy design.

The Robot

One thing that is immediately obvious is that this is a post-diet version of the character. Spindrift is very thin, especially when viewed beside TR Seaspray.

Spindrift includes a pistol in the G1 cartoon generic handgun style as well as two small blasters that can mount on the forearms.

The Hovercraft

A word of warning, the white side pieces lock into the arms very tightly making it difficult to disconnect them when transforming back to robot mode.

The two blasters can be mounted on the hovercraft deck with the pistol between them for a “fully armed and operational” hovercraft.

The Comparisons

As mentioned earlier, Spindrift has a much flatter chest than the G1 inspiration.

The hovercraft mode is shaped much like G1 Seaspray with a pointed bow.

The Conclusion

Although I like the figure, the proportions seem a bit off, with the very thin chest and the trademark oversized feet it looks extremely bottom heavy.

It’s just a bot without a Badge

NYCC 2017 Reveals

Posted on October 5, 2017
/Under Power of the Primes
/With 0 Comments

Thanks to OAFEnet’s Twitter Feed we now have photos of Power of the Prime releases including Volcanus, the Terrorcons, Rodimus Unicronus, Prime Masters and Cliffjumper! Add this to this today’s surprise release of Grotusque which sold out quickly at Hasbro Toy Shop but, according to the announcement, will be available later at retail similar to the Arcee exclusive.

UPDATE: Even more photos on TFW2005!

I have to say, Cliffjumper looks better each time I see it. And, by the purple Autobot symbol and goatee, it looks like Rodimus Unicronus is also Shattered Glass Rodimus Prime. The decoy shells for the two Prime Masters on display; Vector Prime with Metalhawk and Alchemist Prime with Submarauder both look great.

They also have several photos of the prototype Divebomb wings from the Titan-class Predaking. The details look good but it’s hard to really judge without seeing the rest of the figure.

Box Set Refugees

Posted on October 5, 2017
/Under Titans Return
/With 0 Comments

At New York Comic Con 2017 today Hasbro announced the immediate availability of Grotusque with the final die-cast Titan Master Scorponok!

Grotusque is a remold of Titans Return Twinferno (aka Doublecross) with an all new beast head and arms.

I doubt it will be long before Botcon’s Headmaster Scorponok starts showing up with this new die-cast head attached.

Grotusque and Scorponok will be packaged just like Arcee (now available from TRU) in a special black box.

I’m glad to see that we’re getting another refugee from the two cancelled box sets and hope that we see more!

Bringing the Unexpected: Part Five – Jumpstarter Targetmasters!

Posted on October 2, 2017
/Under Legends
/With 0 Comments

According to Planet Iacon Takara will be releasing both Jumpstarters as Targetmasters!

You can read more on TFW2005 and Seibertron.

I was already debating the Takara versions before this announcement but now I’m eagerly awaiting the preorders!

Bringing the Unexpected: Part Four – Twin Twist

Posted on October 1, 2017
/Under Titans Return
/With 0 Comments

Twin Twist has finally arrived at Junkion HQ and the Jumpstarters are finally complete!

In photos Twin Twist’s tank treads can look very thin and Topspin’s wings do not lock in place so I had been a little concerned about how the treads would work. But with the actual toy in hand I’m happy to say that they stay in place very well in both modes. There’s no real lock but they are tighter than Topspin’s wings.

Like his mold-mate, Twin Twist has a great transformation that compacts everything into the vehicle mode for a very solid feel. Not only is it a great update of the original, but the cockpit is very well integrated and feels like it should always have been there.

Also like his mold-mate, Twin Twist’s biggest difference from the original is the height difference. There is no question that these are the same ‘bot. You may notice that my G1 Twin Twist is not exactly pristine – it is my original toy and features a catalog Autobot symbol that I glued on after the sticker wore off.

After seeing a solid color parts swap of Twin Twist and Topspin on TFW2005 and realizing how much I loved Topspin I decided to double-dip. After much debate I finally settled on donating these bodies to Clobber and Ptero. I thought that he blue for Ptero would evoke the Diaclone figure while the white Clobber would have a Beast Wars feel.

Swoop was another figure that I owned “back in the day” and I was very excited when Ptero was announced, especially after seeing how great Clobber’s beast mode turned out. Unfortunately I was underwhelmed by Ptero’s mini-vehicle and am much happier with him in his new form (at least until we receive the true Swoop next year).