Toy Review - Titans Return Fortress Maximus

[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.

[Sutton]

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.

Sorry, I meant, pretty obvious once you've actually got it together! It didn't occur to me to do it straight away until I realised the Spike/Galen/Emissary could sit in the gun turret neatly, and I wanted to see if the leg gun could pop off because I've always thought the Fort Max leg turret looked lame.

But yep, once it's together it's like 'yeah, that's definitely a half-baked abandoned feature for sure'.

[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.

[Mythirax]

You have him in some awesome positions Sutton. Think I'll have to pick mine up this week now

[GoktimusPrime]

NB: I've yet to test any of the electronic gimmicks at the time of writing this post.^I've tested the electronics now. See pics and comments below.

Pros

• Cerebros is very nice. I love the Western media-accurate head sculpt and it seems to be a neat idea giving it an electronic gimmick since, being a head unit, it's already has a blocky core. Waist articulation is sacrificed, but that's fine. Cerebros is ultimately an accessory for Fort Max and as such it's actually really well done. The gun emplacement which becomes Cerebros' gun looks silly (oversized) in his hand, but it's an acceptable weapon. The thrusters on the underside of the "backpack" is a really lovely touch and finally answers the question of exactly how the hell Cerebros manages to reach Fort Max's shoulders in order to become his head! I always imagined it as a super leap, but this Cerebros has jump jets!

• Emissary^Spike is tiny! (as I anticipated given the tiny cavity in TR Wheelie's vehicle mode); the basic design is much like Generations Arcana but at a smaller scale, so Cerebros now has head articulation

• Fortress Maximus carries over many of the qualities of Metroplex, such as the impressive size and poseability

• The retooling really helps to make this toy look like Fortress Maximus; it reduces to "Metroplexness" of the overall mould. This toy also has a far more happening colour scheme than Metroplex, further accentuated by a buttload of stickers!

• The battleship mode is basically the robot lying down. It's dull, but G1 accurately so! They've made better use of Cerebros who forms the top of the tower. Cerebros always felt more superfluous on the G1 mould

• The toy has several spots for Titan Masters to sit in or stand on (pegs for holes under their feet), as well as connection points for Leader Class figures like Blaster, PM Optimus Prime etc.

Cons

• The city mode, in its official configuration, isn't much of a city. There's only one ramp that touches the ground that leads to a car port (not even a garage!). The folded up legs on G1 Fort Max formed the bulk of the city component of that toy, but as this toy cannot do this, we don't get that "metropolis" feel to this mode at all. The so-called city mode is really just an attack base mode, similar to Powermaster Optimus Prime's combat deck or Countdown's rocket base etc.

• While the retooling is quite extensive with numerous additional bits, there are also a notable number of subtracted parts as well.

• Maybe it's just my figure, but I find that the feet on my Fort Max don't lock solidly into place in alt mode(s). Also the rear blue leg 'braces' is made of fairly flimsy plastic. I removed it to make it easier for me to apply the thruster stickers and on the right leg brace I created a stress mark on the tab that holds it into place. Putting the tab back into was difficult. The left leg brace also doesn't lock firmly in.

• Emissary Spike doesn't lock into place when sitting in the gun emplacement, whereas G1 Spike does lock into place when riding Gasket... kinda disappointing to see the same gimmick being done better on a toy that's 29 years older than this one

• Arms... Cerebros' arms don't seem to have any way of locking into place in alt mode. Also, Spike's arms can pop off if they get in the way when disconnecting Cerebros from Fortress Maximus. Thankfully they are on ball/socket joints which can easily pop back on, but exercise caution.

Electronic gimmick

• Meh. Pushing on Cerebros' head activates a variety of scifi noises and a really uninspiring emotionless robot voice that goes: "Cerebros." Transforming Cerebros to robot mode activates the G1 transformation noise. When binary bonded to Fortress Maximus, you can press the button on his chest to make more generic scifi noises plus a total of 3 lines:
  * "Autobot"
  * "Decepticon"
  * "Fortress Maximus"
  ...yep, just names. Not even any complete sentences like, "These Decepticons scatter like cowards," or "Metroplex heeds the call of the last Prime." And this is either an electronically generated voice, or they must've used a really amateur voice actor, cos it just sounds so generic. A far cry from the booming cadence in Fred Tatasciore's Metroplex voice. The electronic gimmick doesn't add much to the toy. I would've preferred for the eyes to be solidly coloured in and with the whole gimmick just skipped in favour of improving other aspects of the toy.

PICTURES

Cerebros (pre-sticker app)


You can see Fort Max's eyes peeking at you from that little slot. Very Ned Kelly.




Jets


He can fly!


Fortress Maximus; robot mode






Battleship Maximus mode


Allegedly-a-city mode


Spike in gun emplacement... cos that's totally what emissaries do.


Car port




Cerebros


Spike riding Wheelie


Comparison w/ G1 Fort Max


Comparison w/ G1 Cerebros


Comparison w/ G1 Spike


Comparing Cog (Gasket/Grommet) w/ Gun emplacement


Comparison w/ Generations Metroplex


Electronic lights




Overall

• When I weigh up all the pluses and minuses on this toy, I find that it's more or less on par with Metroplex, and as such it's harder to justify the increased price point. IMO this toy would be worth getting at around the $200 mark.
  Titans Return Fortress Maximus poll; I voted for "Only if (relatively) cheap"

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

That's pretty disappointing about the voice clips. I don't get why they like toys yelling their names all the time. "I am Optimus Prime", "Fortress Maximus" etc etc I tell ya, if I were Fortress Maximus, I'd just assume that everyone knows my name. Y'know, coz I am bloody Fortress Maximus!!

Cerebros nipple LEDS for the win though. Do the leds pulse and glow, or just flick on and off?

Final comment for now, I think it's clever the way they used the same body, but made Maximus a bit taller by increasing the size of his shoulder pieces!

[UltraMarginal]

Nice review Goki, thanks for the detailed thoughts.

That's pretty disappointing about the voice clips. I don't get why they like toys yelling their names all the time. "I am Optimus Prime", "Fortress Maximus" etc etc I tell ya, if I were Fortress Maximus, I'd just assume that everyone knows my name. Y'know, coz I am bloody Fortress Maximus!!

I couldn't agree more, the same goes for calling out a weapon/attack before firing it. talk about a tell.