ToyHax | 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.

Brawns

Posted on May 15, 2017
/Under Renderform, Titans Return, ToyHax
/With 1 Comment

Titans Return Brawn arrived today so:

1984 Minibots

I went with preferred molds here rather than consistent scale. (If I can remember where my Botcon Huffer is I could complete the set.) Both Bumblebee and my custom Cliffjumper are sporting Renderform weapon upgrades (not that Bee’s is really visible in this shot).

Two Heads Are Better Than One

“And this is Spare-Head #1, we only let him out on weekends…”

Brawns

The modern Brawns – they get better every time. The Henkei version is decked out with a ToyHax upgrade set.

Another great addition to the Titans Return line.

Rewind’s Dewbot Cosplay

Posted on May 11, 2017
/Under Shapeways, Titans Return, ToyHax
/With 0 Comments

The 2007 Transformers movie introduced many things to the franchise including several AllSpark powered robots created from common appliances. One of the more persistent was a Mountain Dew vending machine called Dispensor, aka Dewbot. You’ll note that I prefer the name Dewbot and will obstinately use that for the remainder of this post.

When Titan Returns’ tablet-based Rewind figure was released it inspired several of the more creative members of the Transformers community to create their own Dewbot.

ToyHax’s Contribution

ToyHax, formerly known as Reprolabels, released a decal set to convert Rewind into Dewbot, or as they call it TR Spensor. Both modes get the full Mountain Dew treatment but the alt mode is where the set really shines.

The TR Spensor label set will allow you to convert Rewind without making any physical changes to the figure. However, if you don’t mind some minor alterations, there’s a solution for that too…

Prize Inside’s Contribution

Prize Inside by The Octavirate Forge on Shapways has created a new head and 6-pack shooter weapon (you can also get them both as a kit) to complete the transformation. Swapping out the head is simple; the original pulls out easily and the new one snaps right in.

If you look closely at the barrels of the weapon and the back of the head you’ll notice that they include a cool soda can top detail.

I ordered mine in Green Strong & Flexible Polished which came out a little grainy as you can see in the photos. I mainly display my Dewbot in vending machine mode so I haven’t gotten around to painting the 3D printed parts quite yet. Some silver detailing should really bring out some of the finer details.

Before and After

Some comparison shots of the fully-dewed Rewind compared to the standard version.