Titans Return Toyline: Rumors, Speculation, Ideas etc

[Paulbot]

Just saw that Krok will be a headmaster using the Skullcruncher mould. Got me thinking, what else can be done? I know a few folk here have discussed turning Topspin into Misfire. What about turning Weirdwolf into Carnivac? Thoughts anyone?

Well, I have a few...

Topspin has everything in place to be Misfire as I mentioned elsewhere. Others say Slugslinger and it could work too. And not forgetting retooling him as Twin Twist too.

Weirdwolf as Carnivac would make sense... maybe even Catilla too? Or reversed back to Cybertron Snarl! Beast Wars Wolfang? Or something else from 1987: Pounce

Remold it greatly to make a Wingspan? Or make Wingspan from Mindwipe? Not sure who else Mindwipe would be retooled as. Ratbat? Wingthing? BW Sonar? BM Nightscream?!

Blurr and Brainstorm as Fastlane and Cloudraker are calling out to happen. And once Blurr's got those wheels, make him Sureshot too.

Highbrow as Pretender Sky High? Action Master Overrun? Pretender Crossblades? Wouldn't mind seeing him in Micromaster Blazemaster's colours!

Kup looks set to be Crosshairs. We know Megatron's going to be Blitzwing (and maybe Flywheels?!) and G2 Prime's going to be Octane. Broadside could do with a Tidalwave colour scheme.

After I got Twinferno I realised he could be remade into Grotusque and Fangry. And from there to Cutthroat and Pretender Monster Wildfly. And without the wings he could be made a few other stand-up monsters like Blot, Rippersnapper, Skalor, and Overbite!

[GoktimusPrime]

Just saw that Krok will be a headmaster using the Skullcruncher mould. Got me thinking, what else can be done?

That makes little sense considering that G1 Krok's faux-kibble suggested that he would transform into some sort of aircraft or spaceship, and indeed the Club Exclusive redeco of Generations Megatron has him transforming into a stealth bomber, which looks pretty good (too bad it's not a mass retail release figure). Gatoraider, Krok's AM partner, transforms into a crocodilian robot... but that's not Krok. It'd be like say having a CHUGUR Grimlock that transforms into an anti-tank battery just because his AM partner did. Or a Jazz who transforms into a rocket-powered skateboard. The most obvious redeco would be Megalligator.

I know a few folk here have discussed turning Topspin into Misfire. What about turning Weirdwolf into Carnivac? Thoughts anyone?

It would look nothing like Carnivac though. I'd get it for the same reason that I got CHUGUR Huffer and Pipes, because they're the only CHUGUR versions of those characters... but still feels force. The wolf head would need to be retooled because that visor-eye on it is quite distinctive. The shape of the robot mode would be completely different though. Speaking of which, good luck with that.

[Deonasis]

I do want Misfire (as you may know) but I hope he is massively different from Topspin. I think I'd like the Triggerhappy legs on him better.

[GoktimusPrime]

Topspin should be retoolable as Twin Twist. And I think that they should be able to develop a shared base mould for Misfire and Snapdragon.

[FatalityPitt]

Just saw that Krok will be a headmaster using the Skullcruncher mould. Got me thinking, what else can be done? I know a few folk here have discussed turning Topspin into Misfire. What about turning Weirdwolf into Carnivac? Thoughts anyone?

I think it'd be a bit of a waste not to re-use the Wolfwire mold. I don't know anyone else in G1 who turns into a wolf (besides Carnivac, Fangry and some Beast Wars characters). If they do Carnivac, it might not look or transform like his original self, but then G1 Quake didn't look like Hardhead either, so I think there still hope for a Carnivac.

I've been thinking about the new Perceptor. They'll eventually have to re-use that mold for something, like how they did with Hardhead to make Quake. But no one else turns into a Microscope (besides Magnificus - who's the most obscure of the obscure). There have however been instances (namely Botcon 2010) when Hasbro announced they'll do a Reflector using the RTS Perceptor mold (but didn't). I think the new Perceptor could be redeco-ed into Reflector.

It's about time. Reflector has existed since 1984, and he's still not gotten his own general retail release figure (I don't count the one that came with Shrapnel). If Characters like Alpha Trion and Sentinel Prime can get a Titans Return toy; there's hope for Reflector too

[SuspectimusPrime]

I've been thinking about the new Perceptor. They'll eventually have to re-use that mold for something, like how they did with Hardhead to make Quake.

Considering how well they have been able to re-purpose moulds, bringing out an IDW Mainframe from Perceptor would be good.

[CHILENO20]

Considering how well they have been able to re-purpose moulds, bringing out an IDW Mainframe from Perceptor would be good.

Don't forget Magnificus either

[GoktimusPrime]

I think it'd be a bit of a waste not to re-use the Wolfwire mold. I don't know anyone else in G1 who turns into a wolf (besides Carnivac, Fangry and some Beast Wars characters). If they do Carnivac, it might not look or transform like his original self, but then G1 Quake didn't look like Hardhead either, so I think there still hope for a Carnivac.

TR Hardhead's robot mode looks pretty similar to Quake's G1 robot mode, whereas Wolfwire's robot mode looks quite different.

As you can see Hasbro didn't even need to do any retooling on Hardhead's body to make it look like Quake because the similarities already existed. I think the best you might be able to do with Wolfwire is retool it to look similar to Carnivac's G1 comic model. It would require retooling on the arms and legs to remove the "Weirdwolf-esque" elements and replace it with "Carnivac-esque" bits, which would be doable without affecting the core toy or its transformation. As for the robot feet, simply state in the instructions that the feet are flipped around so that Wolfwire's heel spurs become Carnivac's feet. Trying to make a toy-accurate or IDW-accurate Carnivac from the Wolfwire mould would be too difficult and you might as well make a new mould from scratch. But as far as retooling Wolfwire goes, I think that the Marvel Comic model would be the nearest match.

Btw, another G1 TF who transforms into a wolf is Sixshot, but he obviously already has his own toy.

Don't forget Magnificus either

He did mention Magnificus. I think that Magnificus might work. They've done far more obscure redecoes such as Universe Acid Storm and the G2 Stunticons. Magnificus' Titan Master would also allow fans to give Perceptor a toy-accurate head too.

I've been thinking about the new Perceptor. They'll eventually have to re-use that mold for something, like how they did with Hardhead to make Quake. But no one else turns into a Microscope (besides Magnificus - who's the most obscure of the obscure)

The general consensus on an Obscure Transformer is one that has only ever appeared in one medium. As Magnificus has appeared in at least 3* media, this technically disqualifies as him as being truly 'obscure.' As more lesser known characters appear in newer canonical sources the number of properly Obscure Transformers dwindles. Which I think is good. I'd rather see writers include more formerly Obscure Transformers rather than making new ones up (e.g. Ironfist in LSotW etc.).

It's about time. Reflector has existed since 1984, and he's still not gotten his own general retail release figure (I don't count the one that came with Shrapnel).

The G1 Reflector toy didn't even come out until 1986, and even then only as a mailaway exclusive! (as you know, but for the youngins readin' this )

I suppose the real challenge with Reflector is the sheer oddity of the figure. 3 robots who combine into a camera. The original toy transformed into a microfilm camera, but I wouldn't mind seeing a new one transform into a modern digital camera (similar to say a Canon DSLR or something). But of course, this would require HasTak to invest time and money to R&D the moulds that they really can't redeco into any other character. Unless say they did a toy-accurate version first, then released a show-accurate redeco later. Sure, some nerds would complain about the initial release and get enraged that Hasbro didn't release a show-accurate version... but a lot of people would buy the initial toy-accurate version. Then they'd release the show-accurate version and it'd sell like hot cakes. We've seen the same thing happen with CW Alpha Bravo/Quickslinger, Off-Road/Brake-Neck, and Rook/Groove. Some geeks may whinge about the initial releases, but it would work for Hasbro. They wouldn't do it the other way around otherwise the less popular versions would pegwarm.

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*3 media:
(i) eHobby toy continuity; I'm counting both the original and Generations figures (and pack in comic) as part of this same continuity
(ii) Dreamwave's G1 continuity; although really as a background prop, and as TFwiki explains, since this appearance predates the first Magnificus toy, it's technically not Magnificus
(iii) Wings Universe

[FatalityPitt]

The G1 Reflector toy didn't even come out until 1986, and even then only as a mailaway exclusive! (as you know, but for the youngins readin' this )

I suppose the real challenge with Reflector is the sheer oddity of the figure. 3 robots who combine into a camera. The original toy transformed into a microfilm camera, but I wouldn't mind seeing a new one transform into a modern digital camera (similar to say a Canon DSLR or something). But of course, this would require HasTak to invest time and money to R&D the moulds that they really can't redeco into any other character. Unless say they did a toy-accurate version first, then released a show-accurate redeco later. Sure, some nerds would complain about the initial release and get enraged that Hasbro didn't release a show-accurate version... but a lot of people would buy the initial toy-accurate version. Then they'd release the show-accurate version and it'd sell like hot cakes. We've seen the same thing happen with CW Alpha Bravo/Quickslinger, Off-Road/Brake-Neck, and Rook/Groove. Some geeks may whinge about the initial releases, but it would work for Hasbro. They wouldn't do it the other way around otherwise the less popular versions would pegwarm.

I wouldn't know how else HasTak could manage Reflector in a way that's economical for them. I only thought of the TR Perceptor as a potential "mold candidate" for him/them because Hasbro once considered another Perceptor toy (RTS) as a potential Reflector-redeco; and words like "Reflector", "Camera", and "Microscope" all relate to optics and lenses. So in some sense, there is some commonality between Perceptor and Reflector, but it's weak.

Reflector is weird because I can't think of many (or any) other Transformers that become cameras, let alone 3 robots that become the camera. I wouldn't mind seeing them do a specific mold for Reflector that's faithful to the original concept (both cartoon and toy versions) as you described. But it's somewhat questionable whether it'd sell well enough for the investment to be profitable. Young fans these days are unlikely to know who Reflector is/are (unless he/they appears in the RiD cartoon), and are cameras still "cool" these days?? TR Blaster turned into a boombox, and he shelf-warmed like a mutha. It seems like the safest choice of alt-modes (from a marketing perspective) are still cars, planes and tanks.

Then again, Titan Return have heaps of lesser-known characters in its line-up and it's selling like crazy, so who knows?

EDIT: I'd love finally see a Reflector released on mass retail, but I understand if HasTak are only able to deliver it as a redeco of another toy.

[GoktimusPrime]

At the end of the day, this is CHUGUR, not MP. Reflector doesn't have to transform into a camera just as TR Rewind isn't a cassette tape and Soundwave isn't a Walkman.