Titans Return Roadburn In-Hand Images

payres

Mine arrived today and the instructions say Roadburn, matching the packaging, rather than chase like they do above

Must be a running change.
Back when I got mine about a month ago it said Chase.

This guy's out already?

Focksbot

This looks a lot like it was originally meant to be Searchlight. The package artwork shows him using his eyes as a light beam, and the head sculpt is much closer to Searchlight\'s original figure than Chase\'s – although these two have had their heads routinely swapped around, and were swapped even in their Transformers universe profiles. But toy-wise, and in their most recent IDW appearance, Searchlight was the one with a sort of cyber-goatee. Chase\'s toy had a mouthplate, and his (original) character model had a regular face with visor – a little like Jazz.

Not sold on the mold, but I\'d really like a new Throttlebot crew. I\'d like to see them come back in the comics too.

Oh yeah, never noticed that before. Would have rather had a toy accurate head in this case, but maybe there's a searchlight coming and the possibility of a head swap. Hope Freeway (if coming) has a cartoon head though.

Autobot Burnout

That's actually Generations Skrapnel with a new head, not a Combiner Wars original mold.

yeah, that's what i meant by "pretty good for a head swap"  

CW had several legends from the prior series with new heads.
Titans Return less so because they are applying the Titanmaster integration.

artiepants

back when TFW2005 posted this i was shocked (!!!) at how small the Deluxe Insecticons were ~ never had them as a kid and always felt like the seemed bigger.

they did a pretty amazing job on the Combiner Wars for a simple head swap: only major change i'd have wanted was a darker brown and a color swap on the Feet/Thighs and Shins.

Thanks, that's a great picture to illustrate what I was trying to say.

I honestly find it weird how seemingly derivitive the Dorvack Insecticons are compared to the Diaclone-based ones. The three that share an alternate mode with the diaclone ones have pretty much the same general transformation.

Autobot Burnout

Were the deluxe Insecticons actually Deluxe size? I've never seen any of the seven bugs but online pictures suggest that the Deluxe insects are a bit bigger and taller than the original trio. To that end, I know Energon Barrage is an outright homage to the Deluxe bug of the same name, as a stand-in it might be worth seeing how he sizes up to the modern Legends class.

This is a common misconception (presumably because "Deluxe" is in their name)
But from what I can gather, the Deluxe insecticons were only about a head larger than the more famous trio, and the G1 insecticons are about the same size as their modern legends counterparts, which puts the Deluxe insecticons at below the normal diaclone figure height, meaning that, unlike the deluxe vehicles, they weren't actually large. They were smaller or on par with the average mid-size figures of the time.

You know who else could share a mold with a Throttlebot?

Backstreet

He has the same roof-chest/headlight-feet transformation, and is the only Triggerbot to not get some sort of modern figure. I'd personally love to see a shared mold for Cliffjumper and Searchlight (with remolded light bar) and a shared mold for Freeway and Backstreet.

Windsweeper II

I prefer the Deluxe Insecticons get Deluxe class toys like the G1 toys but i'd easily buy anything Barrage, Chop Shop, Ransack and Venom.

Were the deluxe Insecticons actually Deluxe size? I've never seen any of the seven bugs but online pictures suggest that the Deluxe insects are a bit bigger and taller than the original trio. To that end, I know Energon Barrage is an outright homage to the Deluxe bug of the same name, as a stand-in it might be worth seeing how he sizes up to the modern Legends class.

Bob Schoonover

I would imagine, if we are (as rumored) actually getting a new mold legend Cliffjumper, that Searchlight would be a straight headswap – more color variety than Hubcap.

A proper Searchlight would require more retooling – he's basically got more headlights than a rally car.

Freeway as a third Bumblebee mold would be a little boring – maybe another option there?

Short of a new Tailgate or other muscle car-esque mold, that's all we got. And I'd rather not get another Blackjack retool.

Wideload is problematic, but we get plenty of single-use molds in the generations line.

While I suspect that number is lower than it would seem, I do admit you have a point. Hasbro's been really smart about how they reuse molds though so it could still be something completely unexpected.

shadowfall1976

That's kind of the thing that bugs me, not so much the seat, which is awesome by the way, but the fact that all tree Hasbro releases will be inconsistent with each other in terms of design and deco. Shrapnel has a lighter yellow chest, Bombshell a darker Purple and darker yellow and Kickback has a transparent yellow chest…the Vintage ones were basically the same shades and all had transparent chests.

And Kickback now has transparent wings when IMO they should have been silver.

Looking at Generations Legends Skrapnel and CW Bombshell, the problem with those two is their chests aren't actually thick enough for transparent plastic nor is there a place for a hinge for the panel to open or otherwise be attached to the figure (short of gluing it on, but that would look cheap and eventually break off). Kickback gets away with it because he was designed for the TR Legends gimmick of having a Titanmaster sit inside him, but the cockpit hatch is hinged at the waist and thus prevented the inclusion of a waist swivel, which the other two Legends Insecticons have by default.

G1Prowl

If only the Diaclone Insecticons would be done in a boxed set like that. Not even sure Takara would touch that one. I'm also wondering how long it'll take for some more Deluxe Insecticon remolds, and a faint hope of some Beetras repaints.

Well, of the seven Takatoku Toys robot moldings licensed to Hasbro and thus not released in Japan under Takara, the Deluxe Insecticons are the only four remaining. The other three were Roadbuster, Whirl, and Jetfire, and the first two did get fairly G1-ish Voyagers a few years back while the latter got a *very* nice Leader (excluding the hollow limbs issue) following a judge dismissing Harmony Gold's lawsuit so hard that they can't ever sue Hasbro over that bullshit again (meaning the Leader is a metaphorical middle finger on Hasbro's part right in HG's faces).

No idea what Takara's angle on this will be, but Hasbro's pulling out some super obscure characters for TR offerings – still can't get over the fact freakin' Lione got a dedicated TM single pack release so early on – and Chop Shop got a CW release by means of a head retooled Gen. Skrapnel recolor. I don't doubt that eventually some true Deluxe Insecticons will come out given how well Generations is doing with these mini-sublines.

shadowfall1976

What I was commenting on the lack of consistency on the colors between the 3 figures because they were not from the same line but spread out amongst 3, not about not being G1.

And since you asked…yes, yes it does…  

I think that actually may be the hardest sell when it comes to the Insecticons – they're normally too uniform. Alt. modes aside, most of what makes them more individual from each other is entirely character fiction, and the transparent chests were vestigial leftovers from the original releases under Diaclone. They don't really have redeco potential outside of the limited number of other insects that are beetles or grasshoppers and even their names have been a point of change in recent years.

Personally, the way I see it, the fact the original trio aren't entirely uniform but are still clearly meant to have a similar color scheme helps differentiate the individuals while retaining a clear intention of being a part of the same group. Each of them has a different gimmick (Skrapnel has a camera gun, Bombshell is a gun…sorta, Kickback has a TM-compatible chest cockpit), but since technically Gen. 30, CW, and TR are all just theme variations of Generations as a whole, they're meant to be grouped as the intended trio without looking out of place.

Bob Schoonover

Vaguely on topic of what else could be done w/the legends class, what about the Sparkabots and Firecons? We have a few mini-bots left (all rumored, I believe, except Hubcap and Outback, but both are easy remolds of other rumored figures), the Throttlebots (half of whom are rumored), the deluxe insecticons and Reflector left through the '87 toyline.

There was DOTM Cyberverse Commander Guzzle who aside from a bit of superdetailing actually fits well in a Classics/Generations lineup as a stand-in because he's shorter than G1 Powerglide (ignoring the tank barrel on his back being twice that height, of course). Otherwise, the sparker gimmick groups I don't see having high priority (aside from a new Guzzle due to LSoTW).

Throttlebots would be simple – Goldbug is to Bumblebee like Nemesis Prime is to Optimus in terms of secondary obvious repaints (vs. Cliffjumper repaints to Ultra Magnus repaints), we're getting Roadburn (since Chase is already being used by the Rescue Bot cop), Rollbar tends to be a generic 'safe' name but could be a Brawn retool (plus way back when he got a freakin' Alternators release as a Swindle repaint), Searchlight is a bit of a hard sell if you're trying to add the hilariously ridiculous headlight array as a retool (the name was used as recently as PCC though), Freeway would probably share a mold with Roadburn or Searchlight because he's so generic looking as a car, which leaves only Wideload as the problem child because he's a dump truck and thus low repaint potential as tying to do a Long Haul out of him would be pathetic in the wake of Titan Devestator.

Ironically, you're so on the nose about the mini-bots that the only ones still needing a modern update…are the Bumblebee repaints! Tap-Out and Glitch, namely, though I would not be opposed to more Go-Bots homage repaints (Bug Bite), and maybe even a new 'G2' Nightracer.

Reflector I actually see being a Deluxe release, in the vein of Generations Centurion who was effectively a three mini-con pack with the core gimmick of combining into one deluxe figure. That way we get the original trio of the individual bots as well as the camera.

artiepants

There is also the Triggercons/bots and quite a few undone tapes (frenzy, Rewind, the Dino's, the combiners, ratbat), hopefully the come up with a better form factor and redo a good portion of them, none of the TR ones are satisfactory IMHO.

Technically there is a Dogfight, though a Takara exclusive repaint of CW Powerglide and he has one of those obnoxious circle stickers as well.

For the tapes, though, I find the Rewind/Rumble mold good enough, it's just the animals that are shit. To the point the only thing shittier in comparison across the board is the stickers because goddamn they are horrible quality with how they disintegrate as soon as the first transformation attempts.

tigatron2002

Didn't Takara do the battlechargers from cw blackjack?

CW Blackjack was evidently supposed to be Runamuck but was renamed and replanned in the paint department late in the process for unknown reasons.