Takara Transformers Legeneds: Misfire and Slugslinger

The last few weeks of the year were a bit of nightmare for me.  My Mom passed away.  I’m trying to get back on schedule with things so for the first of the year, we’ll start with a double-review: Takara’s offering for the other two Decepticon Targetmasters – Misfire and Slugslinger!

The timing here was so odd seems I literally just opened up my Hasbro Slugslinger just a day or two before Takara’s came in.   It’s nice to have the full team together right away.  But first and foremost, let’s look at Misfire seems he’s next in line after Triggerhappy.

This is an instance where the animation colors and the toy colors are similar enough that the real differences between Hasbro’s and Takara’s versions are pretty subtle.

I’ll be perfectly honest here, aside from Aimless, I absolutely prefer Hasbro’s version.  The tampograph details just make it a bit more interesting to me.  I get that Takara is going for screen accuracy, and its not that I don’t like Takara’s version, I really do, I just like the detailing on Hasbro’s.  The Titanmaster/Headmaster goes to Takara though.  I like that his arms have more detail and the red visor pops more than the blue.

 

Aimless is just about perfect.  Like Blowpipe before him, he’s retooled and painted perfectly.  He utilizes clear plastics as well which is a nice touch.  I only wish you could attach them on the forearm like in the The Headmasters, but that’s a pretty minor complaint.

 

Jet mode looks great on either release.  The Targetmaster attachment is goofy but screen accurate, so it works fine.  It’s amazing how the retooling works so incredibly well with this mold.

 

Slugslinger is a pretty even match between the two releases.  I somewhat lean toward Hasbro’s version just because I like the shade of the toy’s teal more than the cobalt blue of the cartoon, but Takara’s gold on the chest cylinders helps break up the look a bit more.

 

Again Takara’s Headmaster wins over the Titanmaster just due to detailing.

Caliburst complete’s the three Targetmasters and sports the same cartoon-accuracy as his brothers.  These guys are really why the Takara versions are going to win out here.

I love Slugslinger’s jet mode.  It’s so unique and this mold works so well for it.  Hasbro’s wins out for me here just because of the tampographs, but either way, it’s still a really cool space-jet.

Bottom Line:

This all comes down to the Targetmasters.  I genuinely feel that Hasbro’s are actually the stronger looking toys for the most part, due to the added tamporaph detailing and the fact that Takara kept their’s so screen accurate that most of the added paint is pretty subtle.  Having the Targetmaster partner’s makes these guys worth the import though, just for completion-sake.  However, given we never got the Autobot counterparts (or at least not yet *fingers crossed*), you could make an argument for not having them as well.