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Tag: Headmaster

  • Titans Return Brainstorm

    Titans Return Brainstorm

    Due to a very brief appearance on clearance, I was able to grab myself a new copy of Brainstorm from Walgreens.

    Brainstorm in package

    The Robot

    Brainstorm wears this mold well, the white, grey and teal are very striking. Like with Nautica, the shoulder mounted wings really help to break up the Blurr outline.

    Brainstorm robot mode

    The Titan Master

    Teslor is a simple repaint of the Blurr Titan Master with a new backpack.

    Teslor robot mode

    The Space Jet

    The most noticeable difference with this version compared to G1 or the Generations Voyager is the single tail-fin necessitated by sharing Blur’s transformation engineering. The second biggest difference is the fact that the robot arms lay flat along the sides of the jet instead of doubling up under the wings – this worked OK on the G1 version but was a bit awkward on the Voyager so I don’t mind the change.

    Brainstorm jet mode

    The Mold

    Blurr mold robot mode


    I’m quite fond of the Blurr mold and now have all four versions along with Nautica and Arcee. I’m even considering picking up the soon to be re-released Legends version of Blurr that I missed the first time around.

    Blurr mold vehicle mode

    As you can see from the photos Brainstorm and Arcee got the most remolding with new shields, spoilers and shoulders while Nautica simply got snap-on wings.

    Walgreens Exclusive?

    I still find it totally bizarre that Walgreens, of all places, has exclusive Transformers. The reason I caught this deal was that I’ve been watching the site closely hoping for this year’s Walgreens exclusive, the Clone two pack, to reappear online.

    Brainstorm was released in the US as an exclusive twice, also appearing in the Titan Force box set at SDCC and later Hasbro Toy Shop  in a lighter, more anime inspired, deco.

    Price Roller Coaster

    When originally released, Brainstorm was $17.99 on the Walgreens site. At the beginning of November, it was marked as “clearance” and the price on the listing dropped to $11.09 – unfortunately this price was not honored when adding it to the cart where it still came up at regular price. That was during the “good old days” when the Clones were still listed on their site.

    Brainstorm Clearance listing
    Brainstorm Clearance for real this time
    Brainstorm Clearance Take 3


    It didn’t take long for the clearance label to be dropped and, at the same time, the price went up to $19.99. Over Cyber Weekend, when I got this one, it went on clearance for real and the price dropped to $8.59.

    That didn’t last long either and the price went up to $14.99 where it remains as of this writing.

    Pricing Update

    The proverbial ink on this post was barely dry when I checked Walgreens site for the clones and found this:

    Brainstorm Clearance Take 4


    Back up to $19.99, and no clones.

  • LG-44 Sharkticon

    LG-44 Sharkticon

    Takara Legends

    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 - box

    Sharkticon

    The Sharkticon mold is a great little ball of terror!

    Sharkticon - beast

    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.

    Sharkticon - robot

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

    Gnaw

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

    Sharkticon & Gnaw - beast

    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.

    Sharkticon with Gnaw

    Sweeps

    Sweep Headmaster - robot

    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

    Sweep Headmaster - head

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

    Sweep with Scourge

    The Swarm

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

    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.

    Swarm - tails

    Conclusion

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

    Movie Scene