Transformers: Titans Return Scourge & Fracas are Something That Exists

 

Let's do something a bit different today, and talk about obsolescence. Some toys just get made redundant by later releases. Sometimes you just need a do-over, and if a character has been off the shelves of five years, they're probably fair game. The problems occur when Hasbro chases the stupidest of stupid design goals, and cycles too quickly. Case in point, we probably didn't need another set of seekers this soon. Today's subject matter is one such obsolete toy, Scourge, from the highly-regarded Titans Return line.

 

Appearing in the 1986 movie, Scourge was a bearded and seemingly self-replicating villain, its complicated and I can’t be arsed to discuss that now, with a something of a vampire vibe. As such, he's had numerous toys, although it wouldn't be until 2020's Studio Series release that we got a version considered to be definitive by most. I've not got that one, but I've got no reason to think they did a bad job with it. It's probably the best the character will ever get at mass retail unless Hasbro wants to go extra hard for an anniversary or something. This Titans Return version was an earlier attempt, coming after a largely superior TF2010 release, although that one wasn't trying for cartoon accuracy. TR Scourge was, for many people, the first serious attempt at doing a G1 version, because nobody likes to count the Titanium version. However, baked in at conception, was a conflict. In Titans Return, almost everyone had the same my-head-is-also-a-little-guy-that-drives-my-alt-mode play pattern. And Scourge never was a Headmaster, but he was sometimes a Targetmaster though, with his little gunbuddy Fracas now forming his head. So geewunners were a bit split on that and similar choices. The toys from Titans Return that have aged best either didn't have that concern, or were generally so well made it just didn't matter. Scourge unfortunately isn't in either category.

 

This toy is actually a useful case study for the weaknesses and teething troubles of Titans Return wave 1, not for it being terrible so much as embodying those problems all in one place. The key gimmick suffers from two angles, a flawed neck clip and an oddly proportioned faceplate that seeks to retain that characteristic headpiece/gun. As result, he looks weird, like he's either wearing techno earmuffs or his face doesn't fit his skull, and nothing is especially secure so he rattles like a bobblehead. He also has that early TR tendency towards obnoxious block colours, manifesting here in a very blue robot mode with equally blue weapons. Aggressively blue, almost, but at least they painted the face on Fracas. You might be asking if TakaraTomy fixed any of this, they as often went out of their way back then to make these toys as G1 anime as possible? Doing retools, adding targetmasters, and reshuffling accessories and such? Well, they fixed the colour issue, but not the design issues. It's also worth mentioning that, even with those cosmetic improvements, Scourge doesn't rate as that good a deluxe by the standards of both Titans Return or modern Generations. This guy predates things like ankle tilts as standard, omits a waist joint due to the transformation, and he certainly isn't a Triggerhappy or a Topspin.

So, this lad kinda sucks. Yes, the altmode seems OK, but that's only because you can't see the underside. Or the backend. Its largely a matter of laying his beheaded body flat, and wrapping it with his cape. He was carried by G1 nostalgia and that stopped with the Studio Series version. It just doesn't seem to have been a huge priority for the design team, and given the extent to which his engineering was reused were in later releases, the lasting contribution of this toy was as spare parts. By all accounts, it shelfwarmed to buggery. And still does, if my Toy-Fu experiences are anything to go by. But is it totally without merit? No. You've got two guns, these combine if that's your thing, two usable modes, and the wonderful Titans Return play pattern. The shoulders are pretty good, if you want faint praise to damn it with. So, it's mainly just something that exists, but at least its consistent in it's mediocrity.

WH40K: Thoughts on that new Cadian Recon Squad

OK, here's a few words on these guys. I'd actually forgotten about them until their 40k rules materialised, because A) it's very busy for 40k stuff just now, and B) in no way is anything from Cadia gonna be outshining Armageddon just now, when C) 11th edition is impending. But, I do think there's something worthwhile to talk about. 

 

The obvious thing to say about the Cadian Recon Squad, other that point out their Kill Team name of “Spectre Squad” is much sexier,  is that are Infiltrators. This means they do things like board control and mission objectives well, although the specifics of how 11th ed missions are still uncertain at time of writing. Making judgments about how good they are just now is unwise, so I'm not gonna, but there is obviously competition with Ratlings and Gaunt's Ghosts. The Recon Squad compares most favourably with the hobbits, due to being typical guardsmen profiles, but with more of them for a modest surcharge. It's not a 1:1 comparison in form or function however, as while Ratlings are better snipers and more agile, they just can't get a meltagun. The Ghosts are obviously more capable with that uppy/downy thing and named character energy, but you can only ever have one of those, and it costs more. More generally, the Recon Squad sets somewhere to the side of Kasrkin, being generally less elite, but still having decent weapon options due to this unit being designed for Kill Team first. The Recon Squad also brings a USP with it's Order shenanigans; only needing to be ordered once a game, and offering a servoskull for a bit of WiFi hotspot action. So, nothing overly amazing here, but probably a unit you could work with. What made me want to talk about these guys were the weapon options though. There's a lot of Kill Team bitiness going on. There is a Sargent, but he has no sword or fancy pistol. The lasguns all have the Assault keyword, an interesting choice but not unwelcome in this context; these chaps will want to run. There's a medic on the sprue whom goes ignored. Oh, and there's a guy with a sawn-off heavy stubber. But what is most interesting? There's a heavy weapon team in there!

 

 

I thought such things were prohibited since the 10th ed codex! Are we getting more stuff like this? Might some hypothetical future battleline unit do this also?! It's not executed as two guys to a base either, it's two distinct models, thus bypassing some rules faff! Yes, I know it's only a missile launcher, and those are mid to the point of being a cucumber sandwich in weapon form, but it's still a step up from lasguns, right? Right? Well, to talk about weapon balance again, I do think there's actually a choice to be made here, and without a screamingly-obvious musthave. A unit such as this probably isn't holding a gun line. It's off doing mission stuff instead, moving about, maybe getting close. So do you actually need the missile launcher, and the pistol armed loader, with these guys? The alternative being a lasgun and sniper rifle? It's a question worth asking, certainly. If lethal hits are a thing, I can see the case for leaving the missiles at home, instead advancing a lot, focusing on similar light infantry, and maybe the occasional assassination. Then again, you can also do the old school generalist loadout of Plasmagun and Missile Launcher.  Plus the machine gun and sniper set. That might make the unit a bit passive, but there are worse units to punch up with. Much is unknown about 11th edition, but I think they got the balance right with this one.


Although, maybe its a shame that most people won’t notice...

Plamo: The 30 Minutes Missions Iglight 02

You know, it's been a hot minute since I last checked in with 30MM, I wonder what they're up to?

The Iglight 02, I didn't see the 01, is one of the newer 30 Minutes kits to materialise at my local nerd shop. Something of a soft reboot, it goes back to basics with three concise and briskly organised runners, putting me in mind of the original Alto and Portanova kits. It is however something of a clean sheet design, drawing on the five-ish years of experience. Polycaps aren't present, and it's clip joints all the way. The Roy Roy partner drone thing is still present, although these seem to have gone a bit targetmaster this time, with a pair pulling double-duty as weapons. Another innovation this kit brings is that parts are designed to be removed from a sprue without the use of tools. This isn't super new or anything, Blokees does the same thing, but I made a point of doing so here, as part of the whole 30 minutes thing. No tools? So faster and easier, right? I can report that it works pretty well, as I was cleaning with just my thumbnail in many places, but the light green likes it better than the dark green. The 01 version probably doesn't have that problem with it's white and purple, but that's got more of a Gundam protagonist look TBH.

Once assembled, the Iglight is a very skinny, very-very skinny, but just as posable, grunt. The overall vibe is similar to that military Spinatio I did a while back, while the moustache and shoulders are similar to early Alto parts. While already skeletal, there's notable hollowness in areas like the knee joints and ankles. This is the only area where I felt I felt the price-point biting. Well, that and the Roy Roy drone that doubles as a shield. That needed a sensor or something. This was a notably cheap kit by local standards at £13, and while I've paid a lot more to get less, I feel it's worth a mention. Things I do like include the rotating arm mounts, the way the blaster can become a sentry gun, and the head. In a clever bit of design, possibly unintentional given the paperwork, the translucent visor pegs into the head so as to suggest eyes behind the glass. The other translucent bits in shoulders just kinda get lost though. Meanwhile, there's an adjustable, ECOAS style sensor pack to cover all that for the Splinter Cell look. It's all very characterful, in a pleasant distraction kinda way. Its not complex, but it is elegant, and in a style I like. Whereas the Gelgoog was a revelation with fictional baggage, this is a simple meal done well. 

I did a basic weathering job on this, picked out some details and put some leftover mud paint on the feet. It worked pretty well. Would buy another as a palette cleanser.

Not-Transformers: Dr Wu DW-E57B Giant Claw is Something That Exists

 

Something I find difficult when talking about the so-called third party Transformers scene is finding a fresh angle. It is necessary to acknowledge their dubious legal status, which tends to make any subsequent article an exercise in self-justification. But omit that, and you aren't being honest are you? And then, any discussion about the actual merits of an item runs into one sided comparison with actual Hasbro products. Third party tends to be better than Hasbro stuff, but of course it is. It's not subject to child safety considerations and typically costs loads more. Even with 2026 being 2026. You don't compete by being both worse and more expensive. This having been acknowledged, I find myself dabbling more in third party or non-transformers of late. I think it's just a side effect of Hasbro being Hasbro, and Age of the Primes generally being meh. I do wonder this represents a change in taste, or possibly an ethical decay on my part. But then, Hasbro wants to give J. K. Rowling money these days, so I suppose, fuck it, two wrongs make a right. As a result, Dr Wu's output has become my default "stupid convention purchase". If am at a robot convention, I want a robot. And would like to be something novel and/or awesome, that I wouldn't otherwise be easily able to get. I am just like that. Giant Claw is my latest such indulgence, a slightly chibi version of the Japanese exclusive character Black Zarak, a citiformer in miniature, whom now also turns into a box. I'm gonna talk merit, before talking about the issues. And hopefully find that fresh angle in the process.

The obvious question to ask here is, is it any good? And the short answer is, yes it is. Components here are overtly too small for a child, but it's got a lot to recommend for the size conscious collector. All the luxury touches you'd probably want are there. It's is notably still a headmaster, and the partner robot in gold is there. Both are, just to stress the point, tiny, but they are there. Its robot mode has a pleasing likeness, this colour scheme always looks great, well, except when I photograph it, with nice articulation, and a buttload of accessories. The tail assembly does limit the waist rotating, a modest downer, but there's transformation joints to use there. The fingers are articulated too, as are the gun turrets, which pivot up.  The base mode does the job well, although perhaps a touch better than the scorpion mode. Said scorpion does benefit from unexpected joints in the neck and horns, but the bug legs are too small. The box mode is merely adequate, not the best one, but an entirely acceptable as a bonus mode. There’s a certain degree of faff to it, as you tab the accessories in, but it works. So, most things are good. These seem to go for about voyager money plus a tenner, I don’t think you’ll question the value proposition here, if the style appeals. I just kept on having pleasant little surprises when writing this review, its that sort of good.

A lot of my issues here come down to nitpicks. It's just consistently well-presented and engineered, with imperfections usually justified by either the original source, or the cutesy vibe. Problems are often one of contrast, rather than cut corners or bad implementation. To talk about Giant Claw's actual weaknesses properly though, I'm gonna tangent and talk about another toy entirely, Iron Fortress. I picked this up a while back, and while I started a write-up, but it didn't quite come together. See the first paragraph. Iron Fortress was Dr Wu's take on Metroplex, mine being in Metrotitan colours, and was a very impressive piece with three partner robots. But impressive as it was, it was also undermined by it's own complexity and it's eyestrain inducing instruction sheet. The box mode wasn't worth the effort either, which is a bit weird for a guy made of boxes, but if you just wanted a tiny Metroplex, you're golden. Giant Claw is much closer in vibe and hand feels to my first Dr Wu purchase, Evil Dragon, but issues with the paperwork and an occasional fiddly bit do occur. The instructions assume that the toy comes in box mode, which it does not, and figuring that out in reverse isn't ideal. Said instructions also presume the regular release which has a different head design and also doesn't acknowledge the spear accessory for some reason. I figured that out too, but it's not ideal either. TBH, I'm not a huge fan of rifle and spear anyway, because you're having to work with and around those big claws, but I'm not seeing an obvious better way of doing it at this scale. There's also a certain amount of partsforming kibble which is inherited from its source material, and these are quite small parts. I could have lived without those gold panels. As a result, what should be a fairly simple process, shifting between modes, is not as elegant as it could be, but your mileage may vary on that one. Like I said, nitpicks.

 

All in all, Giant Claw is pretty good. Only failed by the instruction sheet, and the occasional 6/10 design choice. But as it so good, any flaws have a painfully sharp contrast. If they nailed the instructions, maybe going double-sided, Dr Wu would be unstoppable. Dunno if I found a fresh angle there, but hopefully this of use to someone. And yes. If Hasbro did something similar to this, I'd buy it.