Toy Review - Titans Return Broadside

[GoktimusPrime]

BROADSIDE
Series - Generations
Sub-line - Titans Return
Size/class - Voyager
New/remould/redeco - New
Released here - February, 2017
Approximate Retail Price – $50
Approximate Size - 17cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-modes - aircraft carrier, jet
Main Colours - Dark grey, light grey, red
Main Accessories - gun, "Blunderbuss" Titan Master component

Robot Mode







A pretty decent figure. The robot mode is now a suitably imposing looking hulking mass, as one would expect a robot to be if it transformed into a freakin' aircraft carrier! It looks a lot more gargantuan than the basic block of a figure that the G1 toy is. I like how just 1/3 of the cockpit forms the chest. It's a lot less goofy looking than the G1 figure and also helps to sell the titanic look of the robot overall.
Points of articulation: 15

Jet Mode





The cockpit and mid-section look quite nice and the arms look alright resting along the side, but the legs are an awkward mess. Being mediocre at best, this would have to be this toy's weakest mode. Not terrible but nothing to really write home about. The cockpit window is also really tight on mine and hard to open. Although I must admit that having Blunderbuss sitting in the cockpit as a pilot does looks pretty cool and helps to make the jet look not gargantuan (if you imagine Blunderbuss as being human sized).

Aircraft Carrier Mode







I quite like this mode! Okay, it's pretty much just a lump of a table, but honestly, that's all an aircraft carrier needs to be. I have a soft spot for aircraft carrier TFs cos they're just so much darn fun - starting with Flattop in 1989, then Tidal Wave in 2003 (although I got Micron Legend Shockwave) - I just like the idea of these mobile fortresses. Broadside has taken this to a whole new level. The Voyager size figure dwarfs both Flattop and Shockwave's carrier components, but another dimension to this toy's play pattern comes in the form of the Combiner Wars Aerialbot figurines included with the toy! These Aerialbots are tiny and are more or less in scale with Broadside as an aircraft carrier (whereas the Flattop Micromaster and Armada Ramjet Mini-Con are oversized). This again helps to make Broadside look massive - as it should, because aircraft carriers are effing huuuge! These tiny Aerialbots also remind me of the little Valkyries that came with this 1980s Macross SDF toy. Okay, there are a lot of seams on the deck, but I can easily forgive it since the robot mode isn't a blocky lump like the G1 toy. The antenna array on top of the control tower is a nice touch. This mode is simple but it works. On the underside is a flip-out keel with the jet's stabilisers and flip out struts acting as supports, allowing the boat to remain upright for display purposes. Okay, the underside doesn't look as nice as say Flattop's or Tidal Wave's, but remember that this is a Triple Changer.

Overall

On the whole this toy isn't as good as Generations Springer or Sandstorm, but on the other had it's much better than Blitzwing. I suggest only using Blunderbuss as a pilot for the jet mode (he just looks like he's on the toilet taking a massive dump on the carrier mode ) and the Aerialbots for the carrier (they look like parasites when attached to the jet mode) as it helps to sell Broadside's "mass shifting" between the modes as also explicitly stated in the toy's tech specs bio.
WRECK AND RULE!