The Titan Masters. Tiny cybertronians that take the role of the G1 Masters of various types. These little guys are the focal point of the new line of Transformers, part two of the Prime Wars Trilogy. They are, essentially, updated Headmasters, however, they are designed specifically to work across ALL SCALES of the toy line, becoming heads for Deluxes, Voyagers and even Leaders, as well as interacting with Legends class figures in various ways (from riding inside cockpits to attaching via small pegs). What’s more, Hasbro has designed a handful of individual Titan Masters that are sold on their own (4 per wave), that include small vehicle/equipment accessories that they interact with in various fun and inventive ways!
Sizing them up, they’re quite small, even by Headmaster standards. Here I have G1 Spike, Generations Arcana and Titans Return Emissary for a comparison:
As you can see, they’re tiny. But they pack a lot of fun into those tiny little bodies!
Today, I’ll be going over the first four solo Titan Master in wave 1. Given how small they are, a video review seems unnecessary. So let’s dive right in with the first of the Titan Masters: Nightbeat!
Nightbeat’s head mode is designed to look more like his G1 version than the current IDW design. His tiny itty bitty head sculpt has a faceplate, which is an homage to his G1 Headmaster Muzzle.
He comes with a little Drill tank/Jet. In jet mode, you peg his legs into the two posts at the back of the ship so he rests like so:
But then, with all the solo Titan Masters, you can transform him into head mode, and attach him to the drill tank to fill in the vehicle! It’s a great way to incorporate the idea of transforming into something with these little dudes.
Now each vehicle has a “weapon mode” but for the most part, this is mostly just flipping out a 5mm peg. It’s not the most convincing, but you can get a little creative:
So that’s pretty neat.
Next up we have Loudmouth (Siren). Loudmouth looks really nice. His reds are very metallic and over all, I tend to like him more than Nightbeat in terms of design for his robot and vehicles.
However, mine has VERY loose legs. He’s the only one I’ve had this issue with, so it’s not a design flaw, just a QC issue, which happens. I’ll probably grab another in store.
Anyway, his vehicle is a car, which I really like the design of. The G1 toy was a car, so I like that he’s got that as an homage, and the tampograph symbol looks very nice.
His alt-mode is a armored carrier. Of some sorts. But it’s a neat way to get two land vehicles out of one toy!
Again, “weapon mode” is essentially the armored carrier with a fold out peg. I don’t think weapon mode is where it’s at with these guys, it’s just yet another way to incorporate them into a bigger toy if you so want.
So far it seems the waves are broken up into two Autobots and two Decepticons, so next up we have Terri-bull (Horri-bull). Renamed for trademark issues, Terri-bull transformers from his little robot, to a G1-inspired head, like all the others.
His vehicle is a little more convincing as it transforma from an anti-aircraft tank –
To a fighter jet.
He’s as fun as the others, however, I would have liked a new Horri-bull toy, though of the many beast Headmasters, Skullcruncher would be more wanted for me, so I’m happy how things worked out the way they did.
Finally, Crashbash (Squeezeplay) totally STEALS the show. Of the four Titan Masters, he’s by far the most inventive and fun. See, Squeezeplay is one of those G1 toys that many people have never even heard of. I even had to look him up at first. Crashbash though, is just a delight.
His head mode is very nice and will look good with any decepticon body (color clashes aside), but the best part is his “vehicle” is actually a tiny little dragon!
AND! AND! Even better, his alt-mode combines both Crashbash and his Dragon to form a little dino-monster – much like his G1 toy!
His robot arms become the little T-Rex arms and the legs become his lower jaw!
Even his gun mode is a bit more convincing.
When we get to wave 2, they even made a little Grimlock out of this mold, but we’ll get to that later (I’m totally going to pitch making an Overkill for Soundwave, lol).
So there we go – while some people may pass these dudes up, I think it’s a very unique and inventive way to bring additional play-factor into the line. While not as dynamic as the bigger scale toys, I think it’s great that Hasbro figured out a way to make these little guys fun on their own.
Stay Tuned for more!
Pax Cybertron 