Toy Review - Titans Return Voyager Alpha Trion

Series – Titans Return
Size/class - Voyager
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - 2
Released here – August 2016


Growing up I was fascinated with Alpha Trion, for a simple reason: I was damn curious about what he actually transforms into, (and same goes to all the Cybertron-based bots really) and I liked the Gandolf-ish design. So since he was revealed I've been looking forward to getting him in hand.

LION MODE:

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psywrkjeba.jpg

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...pslmenqmn5.jpg

His unicorn lion mode is imposing and has a little techno-organic feel to it. I love the color scheme: it's a very nice magenta, and the painted silver looks really nice too, with the translucent orange canopy and tail to break it up.

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psxwglw9g1.jpg
The lion head sculpt is fantastic, with almost a regal feel. The robot fists make up the lion jaw, which doesn't look as bad in person as some the early photos made it look. He's by no means lacking in paint, but I really wish the eyes were not painted the same purple as the eye brows.

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps7dfgbu4h.jpg
Everything tabs together very securely. The back of the canopy assembly has two tabs that fit in the groin cloth to lock the waist in place (in robot mode the waist doesn't lock into the bottom of the purple double hinge, so you can get a little bit of ab crunch out of that.)

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...pskjl4pkz2.jpg
The articulation in this mode is actually not as bad as I thought it'd be. The front legs actually have dedicated "bicep" swivel. The robot feet on the hinbd legs however are tabbed in place which prevents getting the full bend out of those robot knee joints. And the sculpt on the lion feet limits the forward movement.. This photo is about the best I can get him in a feline walking pose.

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...pst6dmyfmi.jpg
The claw gun has slots that tab in on top of the canopy. It is a nice feature but the view of the pilot gets completely blocked, so I don't like putting is there in cruiser mode:D There's 5mm holes conveniently located to get him properly armed up, G1 Predacon style.

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psbxvf6b4g.jpg
He's decently sized Voyager which makes for some great action poses with Wheelie the jungle boy.


SPACE CRUISER MODE:

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psev1hipzx.jpg

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...pshaxkwdql.jpg
I don't think we've ever had such a contrast between a triple changer's two alt modes, and it actually kind of works. Although this mode is basically just the robot lying face down, it manages to hide most of the organic lion details and hard mechanical edges become prominent. The lion head splitting apart and flipping inside out is quite a simple yet effective step to accomplish that. I have to say the Takara designers have been absolutely brilliant at coming up with simple and effective engineering.

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psxslts8qn.jpg
There's a PVC stabilizer/landing gear that flips out to support the front half the ship

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psr8d1yisk.jpg
It looks like it's meant to be a carrier of some sort.

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps66keswpi.jpg

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps0kljsvd2.jpg
The gun can peg right in front of the canopy. Where it pegs in becomes the robot's butt and you can leave it there in robot mode so Alpha Trion has a butt flap. The sword can only peg on the left side of the ship due to a tab exsting on the right side, preventing the sword from pegging all the way in.

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...pskr6nt33p.jpg
There's four pegs on the deck area for the head dudes and two 5mm holes on either side of the ship.

TRANSFORMATION:
Again, simple and effective. Transforming to lion mode is more involved whereas as mentioned before cruiser mode is really simple. The transformation to cruiser is really similar to Sentinel/Astrotrain which basically involves tabbing the legs together and flipping some panels. I think with TR Voyagers the designers have found a good balance between complexity and playability. The alt modes are distinct from each other enough, and the processes are not frustrating.

TITAN MASTER
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...pspynzi5wu.jpg
His head dude is based on Vector Prime's mini-con. Although lacking paint, he has three plastic colors that manage to make him not look bland

ROBOT MODE
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...pslkipokue.jpg
The robot mode has a very unique design. Instead of the the aged mage that was G1 Alpha Tron, he now is a heavily armored Viking bruiser. I understand a lot people won't like this look, but I just think of him as a younger Alpha Trion, when he could kick some serious a$$.

I believe Hasbo/TakTom were designing the triple-changing voyagers in this line with at least two characters in mind, and I'm not talking about the good ol' "designing a new head in the same mold after everything is done to milk some re-deco potential out of it" approach. Take Sentinel Prime/Astrotrain for example, although everyone thinks the mold is first and foremost Astrotrain, I believe the designer had the two characters in mind from the very beginning. The heavily armed train mode fits better with Sentinel; the shuttle mode has an Autobot vibe to it, and the head dude is clearly based on IDW Sentinel and then given a new Astrotrain face. With that in mind, I'm still not 100% sure if Alpha Trion was one of the characters that this mold was designed to be. The two alt modes make absolute sense for Alpha Trion, but the robot mode which he was always in in all of the media, doesn't scream Alpha Trion to me. My theory is this mold was designed as Vector Prime (prominent robot mode features, cruiser mode, mini-con homage) and Lio Convoy (lion head on shoulder, a double homage to Big Convoy with the horns in bot mode). But if we don't see a Lio Convoy further down the line, AT may well have been one of the intended uses of this mold.

In contrast to say Sentinel, the bot mode features copious paint to pick out the majority of the molded details. It's just a beautiful deco to look at. Although designed within the same budget structure, some figures do get more love than others.

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps7ioieind.jpg
The head sculpt is fantastic. He looks to be aged in between "War Dawn" A3 and "The key to Vector Sigma" Alpha Trion. Still in his prime, not be messed with. The eyes are molded in a translucent piece which have some light piping effect.

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psphluu6bq.jpg
The very Vector Prime-ish circle on the chest is the trigger for the spring loaded horns, which are on a rotating assembly . Mine is very touchy and the horns don't lock properly so they pop right out easily. I'd have to take it part to have a closer look, but for now rotating the assembly to one side makes them stay down.

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psdx0tlcbv.jpg
The sword is pretty impressive and is one of best Transformer swords I've seen in a while. Too bad there's no good place to store it in bot mode.

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psz5tcyvxw.jpg
http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psga1lhn7v.jpg
Articulation is okay. The head is a bit wider than average so when the horns are up, there's no wiggle room for the head, so you get only about 45 degrees rotation out of the rotating disc. He does have ball jointed wrists, which is always good for a sword welding character, but due to the bulky torso he can't hold the sword with both hands. The knee bend is only 90 degrees which prevents a convincing keeling pose. I'm not a big fan of those platform shoes but they make him pretty stable.

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psiebwpdko.jpg
The lateral joints on the hips have molded ratchets but for some reason they don't click at all, so that's something to look out for. On the other hand, the front/back rotation on mine is incredibly stiff.

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...pswi0brtzz.jpg
He's a good half head shorter than Sentinel, but more stocky.

I think this mold will make a decent Lio Convoy.

OVERALL:
The alt modes are both decent, with lion being the stronger one. Kudos to the designer for pulling off the two alt modes that couldn't be more different from each other. He may not be the intended use of the mold, but he's pretty much the only character that can justify having a lion and a space ship mode.

I like the robot mode design but can see how it may put people off. Very good color scheme and paint apps. I'm happy with the first retail Alpha Trion.

Eh... neither alt mode looks impressive to me, and the robot mode's aesthetics reminds me of the Beast Machines Maximals (whether you think that's good or bad is probably dependent on how you feel about the BM Maxies :o). I think I'll stick with my BotCon Alpha Trion, but I'd be interested to see if they retool/repaint this mould as Lio Convoy and/or Big Convoy.

I think his cruiser mode is meant to be a reference to how he explored cybertron with metroplex, there was one scene in the comic that came with the generations orion pax figure, with him standing on metroplex's deck while he was in a similar carrier mode and you can do the same thing with the headmaster as their are pegs to secure them towards the end of the ship. Only issues I have with the figure is that there's no good place to store the sword in cruiser mode in terms of symmetry and no good place for the gun in uni-lion mode without it making the bottom of the lion look a bit chunky.

This guy looks bad. Crap looking lion mode, crap looking spaceship mode and fat, badly proportioned robot mode. It strikes me that a lot has been sacrificed for the gimmicky spring loaded head enlargers. Wow, perhaps a common theme with the TR?

The Alpha Trion face sculpt does look incredibly nice though and I like the way the lion-corn (unilion?) has been given AT's glasses, but there's much more I dislike to the look of this guy than I like.

How does his shoulder spikes go with not-alpha heads?

The botcon Alphas look better than this by miles... I was contemplating selling my Botcon Alpha Trion... I might keep it now ;)

An enjoyable and well made toy that does not seem to have the qc issues of Sentinel or the deluxes.

I get that this figure is not everyone's ideal Alpha Trion, but the toy itself is well made with plenty of details. Looks good in all modes and the transformation is fairly easy and intuitive, you'll most likely not even need the instructions. Colour choices offer something different than most figures and is a bit of a throw back to the colours we had back in the 80's.

A highly enjoyable figure but not everyone's cup of Raman noodles, might be better waiting for a Lio Convoy repainted or something.

Looking at these pics I'm more inclined to get this than I was from the official pics. The spaceship mode is still a bit of a stretch but the robot/beast modes look good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by i_amtrunks

An enjoyable and well made toy that does not seem to have the qc issues of Sentinel or the deluxes.

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OT: What QC issues have you had with sentinel? I got mine last week and haven't noticed anything.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy

How does his shoulder spikes go with not-alpha heads?

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Brawn may not be the best example as he has a smaller face but there you go:

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/a...psqz2qxpcz.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by doublespy

Brawn may not be the best example as he has a smaller face but there you go:

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That's wonderful and it'll do nicely. I love the head-swap option with these guys and find it inetesting how they look betwen bits. For example, Galvatron seems to have a big head on a deluxe, but his head is the same size, he just has more face surface area than others.

Deluxe and Voyager Titan Masters aren't cross compatible.
i.e. a Deluxe Titan Master can't binary bond with a Voyager 'Transtector' and vice versa.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

Deluxe and Voyager Titan Masters aren't cross compatible.
i.e. a Deluxe Titan Master can't binary bond with a Voyager 'Transtector' and vice versa.

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They can, just won't fit as snugly with any helmets/masks etc

This mold is one of the line's biggest disappointments for me. The robot mode looks pretty good, but in hand it's a fiddly mess that I feel has no place next to the amazing molds that make up most of TR.

The alt modes are just not nice. The lion head is either brilliant or garbage depending on how much you like that he's sucking his own hands and the non-animal mode is just nothing.

The ear-horns on mine will stay locked in place flawlessly if you can get them down to begin with. But with mine they stay down about 2% of the time. They do look great in robot mode though -- Sovereign makes for a brilliant head.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by prjkt

They can, just won't fit as snugly with any helmets/masks etc

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I tried binary bonding Nucleon with Hardhead and it wouldn't fit. Maybe it's just Nucleon who's not compatible w/ other TR Transtectors.

Hasbro Nucleon's head is a very tight fit compared to all the others I have (W1+2 of the Titan Masters, Leg Hardhead, TR Brainstorm)

Only Skullcruncher/Grax are tighter (Grax's head pops off fairly often, so I reverse the direction before putting him on, not as secure but still quite tight, though in this case I think it's the port that's too tight, not the mini head

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

Deluxe and Voyager Titan Masters aren't cross compatible.
i.e. a Deluxe Titan Master can't binary bond with a Voyager 'Transtector' and vice versa.

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It's an advertised play feature of the product line that they are compatible.

I tried swapping Sentinel Prime's Infinitus with Scourge's Fracas last night - Infinitus was a pretty tight fit while Fracas was really loose. It held in place, but if I held Sentinel Prime upside down and shook him then Fracas would've probably fallen out. :eek: Whereas I had to exert some force to remove Infinitus from Scourge's shoulders.

Yeah the headmaster ports could've been handled better imo. It relies solely on the flex in one piece of molded plastic. And I can see with this particular type of flexible pvc, mold tolerance is not its strong suit. So you get a big variance across size class, and individual figures.

Then again, for a universal feature that works across all price points, it needed to be a cheap and simple design, because otherwise there's bound to be more compromises somewhere else on the smaller Deluxe figures, since they have a smaller budget. The combiner port system in CW was a great design, but the Deluxes, who needed a fair percentage of material dedicated to the combiner ports, were arguably simpler and mostly use recycled engineering.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy

For example, Galvatron seems to have a big head on a deluxe, but his head is the same size, he just has more face surface area than others.

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Indeed. The geometry of the TMs are the same across the board, not only for the sake of fitting in between shoulder pauldrons/horns,or inside masks, but also in the all the cockpits and seats. The faces do vary slightly in size, which is what makes it extra interesting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by doublespy

Then again, for a universal feature that works across all price points, it needed to be a cheap and simple design, because otherwise there's bound to be more compromises somewhere else on the smaller Deluxe figures, since they have a smaller budget. The combiner port system in CW was a great design, but the Deluxes, who needed a fair percentage of material dedicated to the combiner ports, were arguably simpler and mostly use recycled engineering.

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So just enforce a universal head-port size. That doesn't cost any extra money. It's something that HasTak have done since 1984 5mm post. The large 1987 Targetmasters can actually swap weapons with the small 1988 Targetmasters as well as 5mm post weapons from any other Transformers line!

I can now tell you that there at least 2 different moulds for the Headmaster Units as I ripped of Darkmoon's arms to put them on Nucleon so Galvatron would have a fuller crown but Nucleons ball joints were too big. So I tried Terribull's & they fitted fine. Doesn't look as good with Terribull though, wrong colour.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

So just enforce a universal head-port size. That doesn't cost any extra money. It's something that HasTak have done since 1984 5mm post. The large 1987 Targetmasters can actually swap weapons with the small 1988 Targetmasters as well as 5mm post weapons from any other Transformers line!

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It is the same size. Tight or loose fit is a tolerance issue

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ozgardian

I can now tell you that there at least 2 different moulds for the Headmaster Units as I ripped of Darkmoon's arms to put them on Nucleon so Galvatron would have a fuller crown but Nucleons ball joints were too big. So I tried Terribull's & they fitted fine. Doesn't look as good with Terribull though, wrong colour.

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Sure there could be more than one mold, so long as the dimensions are the same

I only have Voyagers and Titanmasters, so I can't comment on deluxes, but so far I haven't had any difficult swapping heads between characters. One thing i have noticed is that occasionally it's necessary to attach the head backwards and then spin it around so that if you transformed the Titanmaster, its head would be on back to front. That's only really been with Sentinel Prime and it's hardly an issue. But as I said, I don't know about deluxes.

I know I'll be in the minority when I say that I find the space cruiser mode his best mode.
The lion mode I find OK. It's because the lion mode benchmark for me is the Leobreaker/Nemesis Breaker from the Cybertron series and Alpha Trion just can't cut it with those ones.
The robot mode has got to be the weakest due to the cube-shaped torso looking excessive in ratio to the limbs but not as bad as Optimus from the Energon series.

I'm not really a fan of this guy. Mainly because of the points that shockNwave made, but also because I find the colours don't suit the mould.

I may order Leo Convoy though.

Anyone else think the Lion mode looks more like a Mandrill?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Megatran

Anyone else think the Lion mode looks more like a Mandrill?

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It does actually.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Megatran

Anyone else think the Lion mode looks more like a Mandrill?

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Nope. Body shape*, face※, limbs☆, tail★ and pretty much everything all looks wrong for a mandrill. A mandrill Transformer would look more like this:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...psdhaoksdl.jpg

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*Not even remotely primate/monkey-like
※Looks distinctively feline, similar to Hundred Beast King O-Lion (Lion Voltron). Mandrills also do not have manes.
☆Clawed feet don't look like monkey hands/feet (also lacking thumbs) and proportionate length of limbs is wrong. Except for humans, primates have distinctively longer arms and shorter legs.
★One distinctive feature with mandrills are their tiny tails. Alpha Trion's striking sword-tail is absolutely nothing like what you'll ever see on a mandrill.

I managed to snag Alpha Trion not long ago (last one in the store, too!) and he's easily one of my favourite all-time toys.

The lion mode is kind of blocky, which when combined with the curves of the head give it a sort of Megazord-ish feel to me. His abdomen is a bit too hollow for my liking, and the lion's headsculpt isn't amazing (dat mane, tho), and don't even get me started on the awful tail... but it's decent enough.

Spaceship mode is just okay. Nothing to report there. The thing is though, I don't display my Transformers in their alt-modes, unless that alt-mode is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I display them in robot mode, and man oh man, this robot mode. I bloody love it.
THIS is what I call a Prime.

Yes, he's not an old wizard any more, but it honestly doesn't bother me that much.

I quite like his robot mode. As said in the initial post, looks like a Viking bruiser.

Lion mode - not keen on the lower jaw but the blocky body is kinda reminiscent of Razorclaw. Plus it makes me giggle to stick his sword in :p

Space cruiser - like Sentinel Prime in desperate need of some paint apps - looks way too plain

A Takara Alpha Trion would have been wonderful with some great paint apps but they went with Lio Convoy instead (which still looks amazing).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deonasis

A Takara Alpha Trion would have been wonderful with some great paint apps but they went with Lio Convoy instead (which still looks amazing).

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Actually, I knew about Lio Convoy but didn't realise that meant no Tak/Tom version of Alpha. Actually makes me feel better about my purchase as I had kept looking at the spaceship mode lamenting how plain it is and thinking I should have gotten a JP version with more paint detail

I finally took the plunge and purchased Alpha Trion from Myer at $40. Initially the whole TR line didn't interest me because of the whole headmaster gimmick however Alpha's look was something that I was taken to at first sight and it just grew on me.

Objectively none of his modes are great however to me other aspects can completely make up it for me. In this case Alpha's robot mode look is just that good and it has just enough articulation that it sells it for me. Definitely happy with the purchase and now I'm tossing up whether to get Lio Convoy.