Tag Archives: titanium

Apr 17 2013

Tiny Titanium Transformers! by Hasbro

Work this week has been a bitch and I’ve been compensating by drinking even more than usual. That’s no small feat for me. The result is, I’m really washed out and was tempted to take a pass today. But the show must go on, so I’ve rustled up something quick and easy. Tiny Titanium Transformers! Alliteration… it’s fun!

Back around 2006, Hasbro was going totally apeshit with a line they called Titaniums. It was a nod back to the old days when certain people would have you believe that just the idea of adding diecast metal to a toy made it instantly great. I think the Titaniums originated with a line of Star Wars ships, a fitting use of the concept, but before you could say “cash-grab” Hasbro was spinning the idea out into all sorts of franchises and forms. You got big Star Wars ships, little Star Wars ships, shitty Transformers that actually transformed, statues of Star Wars and Marvel characters, Battlestar Galactica ships… eventually even Indiana Jones got in on the act.

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Yep, that’s a f’cking Mutt Williams Titanium. It was a crazy time in the toy industry… a time when cocaine was obviously as plentiful as snow in winter. And before you denounce me as an insane monster, keep in mind, I don’t own the thing, I cribbed that picture off of Ebay.

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Today we’re just looking at a handful of the little Transformers statues. I have no idea what the purpose of these were, but I bought a bunch of them so… bravo, Hasbro. You obviously won this round. On the other hand, I have no recollection of actually going into a store and buying them, nor can I imagine any scenario in which I would. I do remember what pissed me off about this line so much was the lack of cohesive source material. If they were all G1 guys, I would have probably bought them all, but instead what we got was a crazy selection of characters that meandered all over the Transformers franchise from Beast Wars to G1 to Energon and Cybertron. Keep in mind that these guys came with little Autobot and Decepticon insignia bases, which I have in a baggie… in a tote… somewhere.

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Let’s kick it off with Bumblebee and Jazz. These guys are cool, but you can already see how this line is all over the place. Jazz is obviously G1 Jazz with a very animated feel, but Bumblebee looks like he’s patterned more off the original G1 minibot toy with a Sunbow head sculpt. Don’t get me wrong, Bumblebee is probably my favorite figure in this bunch for that very reason, but it’s still weird. There is actually some articulation in these figures. Bumblebee can move his arms at the shoulders and his wrists swivel. Jazz can also move his arms at the shoulders and his legs swivel below the knee. I should also point out that only the torsos and feet on these guys are made of diecast, everything else is rubbery plastic. Still, this is a nice pair of tiny figures with some impressive paintwork.

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Next up is Sideswipe and Smokescreen. But wait, these are actually based off of the Alternator versions? THE ALTERNATOR VERSIONS??? That’s crazy! What could possibly possess Hasbro to do homages to the Alternators, when I could have had little G1 style Sideswipe and Smokescreen to go with my Jazz and Bumblebee? I just don’t get it. Oh yeah, I realize it looks like Smokescreen is urinating, but he’s supposed to be holding a gun and I can’t find it. Why Hasbro bothered to make the guns removable on these little figures is beyond me. The only value it adds is the ability to lose them, and that’s no value at all.

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Last up is Starscream. I really like this one mainly because of the base sculpted to look like exhaust and out of all the figures, he’s the one that reminds me of a little statue. He’s a little chunky, but it’s impressive how Hasbro managed to capture all his douchebaggery in such a tiny guy. I know he was repainted as Thundercracker, but by the time I saw that one I came to my senses and stopped collecting this line. I can’t remember ever seeing a Skywarp.

I also have at least one Optimus Prime from this line somewhere, but if I took the time to find him then this wouldn’t be a quick and easy feature. I seem to recall these things being around $6 or $7 a piece, which once again begs the question, “Why the hell did I buy these?” And then I remind myself that once upon a time my Transformers addiction was so bad that I drove to a Walmart at two in the morning so I could spend $35 on a repaint of Armada Optimus Prime. Obviously, I was out of control. Even as cool as a couple of these little figures are, they still serve no purpose in my collection. In fact, I had to dig them out of my junk drawer where they sat in a heap of rubber bands, dead AA batteries and used up pens.

Aug 5 2010

Transformers Titaniums: The War Within Optimus Prime by Hasbro

While I have yet to find him at retail, Hasbro’s new Generations Optimus Prime is finally starting to show up across the country and at various e-tailers. Obviously, I’m anxious to get my hands on this figure as its one of the few depictions of Optimus Prime in his Cybertron form. But until I do, I thought I’d give a look at one of those other pre-Earth versions of Prime. In this case, its the Titanium series War Within Optimus Prime.

For those of you who missed out on this short lived series, these Titaniums (not to be confused with the much smaller diecast statues) were roughly deluxe-sized transformable figures that were made of both diecast metal and plastic. They didn’t really follow any set series, as what few figures were released were inspired by every corner of the Transformers Universe. They were, however, a nice nod and wink back to the older fans who remember their Transformers having diecast parts, but the lack of continuity and some serious durability issues made this series a flash in the pan. The first assortment gave us figures inspired by the popular and canon-bending War Within comics, which gave us Megatron, Optimus Prime and Jetfire in their native Cybertronian forms.

In vehicle form, War Within prime is a vaguely familiar looking red, blue and silver truck. Its not a terrible looking vehicle, and I actually like certain elements of the design, but the simple transformation on thid figure makes it easy to recognize most of Prime’s robot kibble in his truck mode, particularly his arms, which are just hanging off the back of what would be the cab.

Prime’s robot mode is a nice recreation of the design from the comic, but the diecast used on this figure causes some cosmetic issues. The sculpting in the diecast looks somewhat primitive when compared to Prime’s plastic parts. The paint job on the diecast is also really questionable. You can see the swirls in his bodyworks and the paint will chip at the drop of a hat. There are places where this figure looks more like a custom fan project then a licensed, professionally made toy.

The biggest issue with these figures in general, and Prime specifically, is the weight displacement. The heavy diecast metal parts are at constant odds with the lighter and flimsier plastic. As a result, the figures don’t want to hold their forms very well and just trying to get Prime here into some different poses usually results in a half-transformed mess. His shoulders flop around and he’s way too top heavy for his own good.

WW Prime comes with two accessories: His blaster rifle and a personalized display stand. The same stand came with all of the Titanium figures, with a separate front piece that featured the robot’s faction symbol and name. It was a really nice extra and accentuated the fact that these figures probably should be considered more as collectibles than actual toys.

At one point I owned almost all of these Titanium figures, but my overall disatisfaction with this line led me to sell them off until I was down to just Prime, and the only reason I really kept him is because I try to collect most of the Optimus Prime toys released, even those that I’m not all that crazy about. These figures were an interesting experiment on Hasbro’s behalf, but ultimately an unsuccessful one, and the only one I really regret unloading was Soundwave, as it was easily the best G1 homage of the character Hasbro has done since. Otherwise, its hard for me to recommend these.