Toy Review - Titans Return Fortress Maximus

[drifand]

So opened him up today, and got to say he's a bit disappointing, and not just in the ways that you can see in the pictures.

The build quality doesn't seem as high as Metroplex for starters. Getting Cerebros into his 'tower slot' for the alt modes is a bit frustrating, and both alt modes look quite incomplete without him in there, meaning opportunity to have Cerebros himself out on display is a bit limited.

The feet/toes are difficult to lock in place in alt mode, and don't sit flush with the floor - that means they spend a lot of time not properly locked into place hanging at an odd angle. For that reason alone, the fan-made G1 Fortress Mode is actually more secure once you set it up nicely.

There's also no denying that both alt modes are a robot lying down, or a robot lying down doing the splits. The shared engineering between Metroplex and Fort is also a little odd - the legs retain the ability to splay open like on Metroplex, but for no purpose whatsoever (except for the marginally more satisfying fan mode). Also, the right arm still has the ratched hinge for it to become the tower behind Metro's helicopter pad. It has no function here at all (can't even fan mode it!). Seems like a waste of materials that could have been better used to have the legs transform more.

Another annoying thing is that Fort's hands are pinned this time. Some might see that as an improvement, but it was quite useful being able to easily remove Metro's hands and therefore improve the look of City mode. At least Fort's are coloured the same as the arms and blend better.

As it is, I can only recommend Fort Max for completist CHUG fans. I wouldn't recommend it as a fun toy for kids either, which Metroplex was. Here's hoping that Hasbro does a better job on Trypticon!

I am so glad I skipped this piece. Your review verified my thoughts.

[Sutton]

I am so glad I skipped this piece. Your review verified my thoughts.

So, I'm still glad I've got him - it's still an impressive, imposing piece overall - but just think that for all the retooling it's a bit of a let down. And think about it further, one of the things I liked about Metro's alt mode was it's sprawl - in city mode, he takes up a whole bunch of the man-cave, whereas Fort Max is very tight and compact. You're not feeling the same sense of awe.

[Sutton]

Now, I'm not going to claim this as an ingenious fan mode by any stretch, but I do think this is a much cooler looking fortress mode than the standard config, and goes some way to eliminate the look of a headless fallen robot. It has the look of a very strong impenatrable fortress/maximum security prison, which works.

[Sutton]

Just another couple of little shots of some things:

First up is the tank mode not mentioned in the instructions. It seems pretty obvious that this is meant to be a thing...



...except for these little annoying fins left over from the previous mold. They prevent it from sitting nice and flat and leave it on a tilt. You could cut them off of course, but it's probably why they left it out of the instructions.



It's been shown elsewhere, but just again, the leg cannons can absolutely pop out and turn into dual pistols, which Fort Max looks pretty cool using John Woo style. They're quite hard to pull out the first few times, but the handles are unmistakedly intentional. Again, not mentioned in the instructions. The only catch with this is...



...it leaves a bit of a hole in one of the legs, where Metroplex's service repair arm used to be. IMHO, it actually looks kind of cool, like a little trench for small dudes to hide in. But would it have been so hard to just leave the service repair arm in? Especially considering the next photo...



Mystery ratchet joint FTW! There's a lot of material (and sturdiness!) built into this joint from Metro's old left arm, used to produce the tower behind the helipad. It serves no real purpose here at all, and due to the remolding doesn't sit flush or straight at all, so no good for fan modes either really. I suppose it could be used in this case as a really steep launching runway for jets, but that's a stretch.

[Sutton]

One last shot: by pulling the handles off of the cannons and flipping them the other way around, you get options to make the fortress mode have less static defenses and increase it's badassery:

[Krayt]

You could also rotate the arm with the red hatch to be another door in the front...

And the little tank.... Emissary sits perfectly in the "hole" at the back if you have it red side up

[reillyd]

These may have seemed pretty obvious to you Sutton, but I totally didn't realise that could make a tank, or that the guns were removable. It looks much better in the base mode with the cannons mounted, and it's nice to have a weapon in robot mode (until his third party sword arrives).

Thanks for putting up the photos.

[5FDP]

He does look very impressive but I just wish he had more play value, especially for the asking price. I think I'll be sticking with my G1 Fort Max.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

...except for these little annoying fins left over from the previous mold. They prevent it from sitting nice and flat and leave it on a tilt. You could cut them off of course, but it's probably why they left it out of the instructions.

What's it remolded from? Genuine question.
I've been looking at pics of Metroplex and I can't see anything like it there.

[Krayt]

What's it remolded from? Genuine question.
I've been looking at pics of Metroplex and I can't see anything like it there.

Shoulder flip over gun emplacement... Well the red piece... The blue is new