"Generations" Titan Class San Diego Comic-Con 2013 Metroplex Toy Review

10/17/20

General Information:
Release Date: July 18, 2013
Price Point: $149.99 (average after-market price: $250)
Retailer: San Diego Comic-Con 2013
Accessories: Black shoulder cannons x 2, Red cannons/blasters x 2, Missiles x 2, Scamper figure, Scamper weapon, 12 PVC figures

Official Hasbro Information (from San Diego 2013 Press Release):
TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS TITAN CLASS METROPLEX SDCC EDITION
(Approximate Retail Price: $149.99; Ages 5 & up; Available through HasbroToyShop.com, Booth #3329 at Comic-Con International in San Diego)
The TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS TITAN CLASS METROPLEX is the largest converting TRANSFORMERS toy at over two feet tall, and San Diego Comic-Con will be the fans’ first opportunity to feast their optics on him! METROPLEX converts from robot mode to rolling battle platform mode, and also converts into an AUTOBOT city! This special edition version of METROPLEX features two giant blasters, metallic coated armor, chrome foil stickers, as well as 12 miniature AUTOBOT and DECEPTICONS figures to inhabit his AUTOBOT city mode! TITAN CLASS METROPLEX SDCC Edition is the official figure #1 in the TRANSFORMERS Thrilling 30 line of toys celebrating TRANSFORMERS 30th Anniversary.

Introduction
Every year at San Diego Comic-Con, Hasbro releases impressive exclusives. Last year they released a "gift set" of the "Fall of Cybertron" Bruticus for instance. This year it seems they wanted to top themselves, taking their largest action figure release of the year and putting it out months ahead of its mass retail release. This wasn't just an early shipment of Metroplex, no. It featured several exclusive features and items:

The packaging for the figure is a gigantic box exclusive to this release. The outer artwork features Metroplex on the battlefield with his fellow Autobots in a dramatic presentation that catches the eye instantly! Slide the cover off to reveal Metroplex inside a cardboard frame and bubble that looks like he's coming out of some gigantic gateway. It's a very dramatic presentation and looks fantastic.
Metroplex himself features several parts coated in vacuum metallized silver, like his G1 counterpart.
The stickers (all 90+ of them!) are printed on a foil backing, giving them an extra metallic appearance.
This release features an additional red gun/cannon whereas the mass North American release only comes with one.
Twelve PVC figures are included featuring four Autobots and two Decepticons, with one PVC figure dedicated to each mode.

Lineage
Metroplex was a character introduced (sort of) in the 1986 animated "Transformers: The Movie" film. He never transformed to robot mode, but instead was referred to as the "Autobot City" that could transform into a battle station mode. As shown in the movie, one section of the city was based on "Slammer", the tank/tower character included with the G1 Metroplex toy. When the television show followed up with "Five Faces of Darkness", Metroplex did appear in robot form to battle with his nemesis, Trypticon!

The original Metroplex action figure was a figure that would be roughly equivalent to today's "Leader" or "Ultra" class figures, so he wasn't the biggest Transformer around necesarily, but he was bigger than most. He was able to transform into a robot, battle station and city. Included with Metroplex were three characters: Six-Gun (literally made up of six weapons), Scamper (a car/robot) and Slammer (a tank). He was designed to interact with smaller figures from the line such as Mini-Bots. Metroplex would later go on to be given a new deco as "Metrotitan", a Decepticon. Over the years, he appeared in other forms including PVC figures and model kits in Japan. In 2008 Metroplex was reissued as part of the "Encore" line in Japan. While Hasbro would later go on to release a larger city known as Fortress Maximus, Metroplex was the beginning of the idea of a "Cityformer" in the toy line and TV show.

As part of the "Thrilling 30" line of "Transformers" figures celebrating 30 years of "Transformers", SDCC 2013 Metroplex was released as #1 of the thirty "Thrilling 30" items in July of 2013. Apart from his mass releases in North America, Europe and Japan, he also had a secondary exclusive release at Hong Kong ACG-Con 2013. This release was a variant of the SDCC release, with significant differences being the PVC figures being cast in gold and silver and the sticker sheet having regular "glossy" stickers instead of foil.

PVC Figures

One of the biggest problems (no pun intended) with "Cityformer" figures is that of scale. You can claim a figure is huge, but compared to what? Part of the amusement factor of the original Metroplx is that he was a city but other "smaller" characters stood almost at the same height in robot mode. With this Metroplex, he is indeed the largest figure, but still some Transformers look terribly out of proportion with him such as Voyager Class figures. To help sell the illusion of Metroplex being a gigantic city (comapred to other Transformers), several small PVC figures were included with the set. They represented the following characters:

Orion Pax
Bumblebee
Trailcutter
Hoist
Megatron
Thundercracker

Each of these figures has a PVC figure representing their vehicle and robot modes. The forms are all based on their 2013 "Generations" releases, which is why I list the Seeker as Thundercracker and not Starscream. Arguably this can be any Seeker, but Thundercracker is more likely since the others are all characters with toy releases in 2013. Each of the figures is posed in a very dynamic way with guns held up, waists turned etc. All the robot forms look ready for action. The sculpts are nicely detailed matching the toys they're based on very well down to the weapons each character is holding. These figures are small, generally reaching only about two inches in height (about 5 centimeters). This of course varies since some characters are standing with legs bent and so on. The largest of the vehicles (Megatron's plane mode) is about 3.5 inches across (about 8.8 centimeters). At these sizes, they really do work nicely with Metroplex, adding to the grandiose "feel" of the Titan Class figure.

The Autobot figures are all cast in red plastic, the Decepticons are purple. There are no paint decos on these figures. To me this isn't a particularly huge deal. To me, these figures are the modern day descendents of what were known as "Decoys" in Generation One. These rubbery figures were meant to represent characters from G1 and came packaged with carded figures. The Autobots were red and the Decepticons were purple. Those were somewhat stylized however whereas these are meant to represent the characters as they currently appear in the toy line and IDW comic book series. I think they're a fun addition and make Metroplex "ready to play" as a base right out of the package!

Scamper

As mentioned above, the original Metroplex figure came with three "partners". This Metroplex figure only comes with one: Scamper. This little guy transformed from a sleek black car to a robot. This 2013 version of the character can do the same, but has an updated design.

Vehicle Mode:
Scamper's G1 form was a sleek, black car with six wheels. It always reminded me a bit of The 1980's version of KITT from "Knight Rider". This version however has additional design embelishements that were not present on the original. First, he has huge exhaust pipes coming out the sides where the doors would be. Also, the sides of the vehicle stick out a bit further than on the original, and there are cannons sculpted into the top of the rear wheel well. This may be a design homage to the original Scamper, whose arms became cannons on top of the vehicle. The back of the vehicle has engine parts sticking out in the back, further giving it the appearance of a vehicle with some serious power.

Like his G1 counterpart, Scamper is mostly cast in black. The exhaust pipe sections on the sides are gunmetal grey. His weapon, a dual barreled blaster is cast in red plastic. Unlike his G1 counterpart, this Scamper has some paint detail. This includes metallic blue on the windows and silver on the back engine piece. A sticker provides an Autobot symbol on the center of his hood. The decos are simple, but they look great. I especially like the blue on the windows.

Scamper has three points of connection for his weapon. One on top of the cabin section and one on the side of each wheel well. These are 5mm peg holes, so you can take weapons from larger figures and connect them there for additional firepower!

Transformation to Robot Mode:

Detach the weapon if connected and set it aside for now.
Swing out the sides of the vehicle.
Swing the back of the vehicle out.
Pull down the waist and upper legs.
Swing the front section of the car down.
Rotate the lower arms around.
Attach the weapon to one of the fists.

Robot Mode:
Generation One Scamper's transformation was similar to this one in that the front of the car became the chest, the legs formed from the back of the car etc. However, since his arms are connected to the figure constantly (instead of detaching and reattaching) he has slightly more bulk thanks to his arms. The head sculpt uses the G1 version and mixes it up with the animated version, creating exaggerated "crest" details with visor eyes but a mouth (instead of a mouthplate like the G1 version had). It's a cool looking head sculpt and I like the way it pays homage to two incarnations of the character.

Newly revealed parts include the waist, thighs, arm details and the head. The head is cast in red with metallic blue eyes. The waist and thighs are gunmetal grey. It really looks great as there's plenty of colors to break up the potential monotony of the black.

Scamper has nine points of articulation. This includes ball joints on the shoulder, elbows, hips and knees. One point of articulation is a bit difficult to use: the head. Since he has a piece behind it you have to carefully move it with your fingers or better, tweezers, but it does turn. Both of his fists can hold a 5mm peg weapon and the hole from the top of the cabin section winds up on his back.

From a size perspective, Scamper is somewhere between a Legion Class figure and a Scout Class, standing at about 3.5 inches tall (about 8.8 centimeters). It's the perfect size to be a small companion to Metroplex and is not too far off from the size of his G1 counterpart.

Final Thoughts on Scamper:
Scamper is an excellent little figure. If he had been packaged separately I would have totally bought it. I'm really glad he's part of this set.

Metroplex Review

Before reviewing Metroplex himself, I'm going to do a bit of discussion about the accessories. They're huge and worth the attention. Then I'll start the figure review since he's packaged in that form. I'll then move to the city form and then the battle station.

Accessories:
Metroplex comes with four main weapons made up of two distinct designs. The first is a shoulder cannon. This has a round base connected to a barrel that has a round tube like section in the back with a rectangular barrel and and scope on top. This is a thicker and larger version of the shoulder cannon included with G1 Metroplex. That cannon had a round base with a thinner and rounded barrel section. This new version of that weapon likes much more powerful and has some nice bulk to it.

Like its G1 inspiration, the shoulder cannons are mostly cast in black. The bottom section is gunmetal grey. The weapon actually gets a sticker on the top of the scope which shows a gradation of color from gold to orange, looking almost like a indicator of a charge level for the weapon.

There is a 5mm peg on the bottom of the round section, allowing you to attach this to Metroplex's shoulders. And yes, since the peg is 5mm, technically it fits in Scamper's hands, which makes for a comical image! The bottom, gunmetal grey section of this weapon can swing out. This creates a grip, allowing Metroplex to hold the weapon in his hands. The grip is designed to look like details from a city including support columns and girders. Even better? There's a peg on the back of the handle that allows it to connect more tightly with the hand.

Metroplex's other weapon is his hand held cannon (or rifle, blaster - choose your preferred term). This is partly inspired by G1 Metroplex's red missile launchers, but the design is much more complex. There are two main sections to this weapon. One is the outer section that leads to the back. The other section is inside the red sections in the barrel. This inner section is cast in black plastic. The trigger for the missile firing mechanism is gunmetal grey, as is the missile. The ends of the cannon barrel are painted orange, most likely since this weapon is so large it has to conform to safety laws.

I really love the design of this weapon. By itself it actually resembles a ship. The front looks almost like a naval ship and it leads to a back section with a tower in the center. Surrounding that tower? Several small cannons. The sections on the sides look like girders connected to a section with vents and fins. In terms of scale it really helps solidify Metroplex's position as a gigantic behemoth if he can use a naval ship as a weapon!

This weapon has five points to connect weapons with 5mm pegs. Two are found on the sections flanking the "tower" towards the back on top, and two are on the bottom. Towards the middle of the weapon is a circular section that allows you to attach an additional weapon.

The weapon is designed to fire a missile that is sized similarly to one you'd find on a Voyager Class figure. The handle can swing back, revealing a 5mm peg. This should theoretically allow you to attach it to his shoulder but it doesn't really work very well. Instead it seems this is to flatten the handle out so it can attach in other forms (more on that later in this review).

Robot Mode:
The original Metroplex was very much a boxy Transformer with lots of rectangles and other hard angle shapes kind of stacked on top of each other. The new Metroplex takes inspiration from the original, but updates the form into one that's more sleek looking but still bulky enough to represent a powerful force on the battlefield with a ton of additional detail added on. Let's go through some of the key parts:

Head
The head sculpt is heavily based on the G1 Metroplex toy. He has a helmet section with a central crest and then two smaller crests on top. There are tubes on either side of the head which can represent anything from antennae to cannons (or both). The face is mostly based on the G1 toy, with an angled face that gives him an "aged" look. In a nice nod to his G1 animated counterpart and the toy, Metroplex has "optional" eyes. The default eyes are "visor eyes" that cover up "regular" eyes. Theoretically you can swing the visor eyes up using a tab in the back of the neck to alternate between the eyes, but I have not been able to get the visor eyes to stay up. It's a nice idea for sure but on my copy of the figure it's not well executed. This is the only flaw in an otherwise well done head design.

The "helmet" section of the head is cast in black. The antennae are red. The face is vacuum metallized silver and the eyes (both sets) are translucent red. Each of the "crest" sections have gold to orange detailing.

Chest
G1 Metroplex had an asymmetrical design on his chest. The right side was a section that forms a ramp coming "out of" his city form. The middle was a thin section leading to the left side that was partially formed from a missile rack. On the top of his left chest section was a dual barreled cannon that rotated out from the top half. I am very happy to report that for the most part, all these features are present on this version of Metroplex. There are some differences. The "ramp cover" on the right side of the chest is angled in the middle with two tabs sticking out in the bottom. The center section has small windows right under the head and a large circle in the middle (inspired by a similar detail on G1 Metroplex). The left side has a missile rack on the bottom and the top section swings out to reveal dual barreled cannon.

The detail level on these sections is fantastic. Each section has layer upon layer of detail. Perhaps my favorite sculpted details involve the dual barreled cannon. Swing it out and not only is there weaponry revealed, but also a control seat with handles! The seat has lots of details including control panels, "cushions" and line details on the floor. This seat is designed to accomodate a figure the size of Scamper. You could also use a Commander Class or Legends size figure. Right behind the seat are two holes for 5mm peg weapons, giving Metroplex even more firepower! If you want to configure Metroplex's weapons a bit differently, you can attach his red blaster to the right side of the chest by attaching the peg on the handle to a hole on the back of the chest's right side. You can then angle the weapon barrel up and down.

Most of the chest is cast in white, but there is translucent red plastic on the circle in the center and the covers of the ramp and missile rack are cast in black.

There are black and metallic red stickers on the top sections of the chest. On both halves of the chest there are black and gold stickers with Cybertronic glyphs on them. The "ramp cover" on the right side has a gigantic Autobot symbol on it, very similar to to G1 Metroplex. Perhaps the most awesome of the stickers in this section are found in the middle, where the three "windows" are. One has Bumblebee on it, the center one shows Optimus Prime with Ultra Magnus while the left side sticker has Arcee. All are based on their G1 designs and look great.

The back of the chest has six circles on it, each with an orange sticker in it that looks like energy is coming out of them. I imagine these to be thrusters of some sort. Go down a bit and you'll see a small sticker with an Autobot symbol and Cybertronian glyphs.

Metroplex's chest is the center of his electronic features. Press the panel on his chest with the windows, and the eyes and translucent red circle on his chest light up. At the same time, one of several phrases or sound effects play. These include:

"Metroplex heeds the call of the last Prime!"
"Decepticon deactivation commencing."
A sound effect that sounds like his leg moving and foot stomping on the ground.
"Target syncrhonizing initiated."
A short sound of movement followed by what sounds like a punch impact.
"Target obliterated."
A series of clanging mechanical noises.
"These Decepticons scatter like cowards."
"Till all are one."
Sound effects that sound like parts of Metroplex shifting and locking in place.
Metroplex's transformation noise (similar to the noise used in the live action movies).
"Foolish Decepticons."

The sounds don't play in a specific order. I tried running through the cycle and different sounds popped up at different times.

Arms
G1 Metroplex's arms were very blocky without a ton of detail (this was typical for the time). The designers went in almost a completely different direction for this figure. Each section has layers of detailing and they're not all set at right angles either. Near the wrists are two angled details sweeping forward. The sides have beveled sections that rise up and angle forward. The shoulder section has a big grid overlaid by additional details. The sides of each shoulder have what appear to be missile pods. The shoulder sections have cannons that can be pulled up, similar to the antennae that came out (or attached to) G1 Metroplex's shoulders. These don't look like communication towers however, the ends look more like energy cannons.

The shoulder and forearm pieces are cast in white. The shoulder cannon and fist are black plastic while the elbow hinge is cast in gunmetal grey. The grid on the front of the shoulder is painted gunmetal grey, but the back is painted black with a yellow "H", representing a helipad. The end of the weapon barrel has an orange/gold sticker that looks like energy building up for a blast.

Each arm has nine points of articulation. This includes two points in the shoulder, two at the elbow and five in each hand. The joints on the shoulder and elbows are ratchet joints, allowing him to hold his weapons and still keep his arms in position. The forearms each have two 5mm holes on the top and bottom, allowing you to attach additional weapons. I tried Energon weapons, Microns and even Scamper's gun and they all fit fine. I really dig this type of interactivity between accessories from elsewhere in the toy line.

Legs
The leg design on Metroplex draws direct design inspiration from his G1 counterpart in every section. The thighs have two raised, horizontal sections where they connect to the hip. This leads to a (relatively) smaller/thinner thigh piece which then connects to the much thicker and larger legs. Like the G1 version, the legs are thick and bulky looking, apporpriate for a Transformer city. Each leg has knee armor situated right where the thighs meet the lower legs. This piece is directly inspired by knee armor accessories from the G1 Metroplex. His feet have vertical walls (I'll call them that given he's a city) at the ends. However, all these sections have embelishments that G1 Metroplex does not. These include a series of girders running form the knee armor down the middle of the leg and ending at the feet. His feet each have tabs sticking out at the ends, looking like the teeth on a shovel. Each foot has two dual barreled cannons sculpted in to the top. On either side of each foot are more rocket/missile pods (or at least that's how I choose to interpret the circles with lines through them). Overall, the sense of scale the designers were going for is reflected in the design of the legs. It's cool to see consistency throughout.

The thighs are covered in a vacuum metallized silver, inspired by the deco from G1 Metroplex. The lower legs are cast with a combination of black, white and red plastic. The black makes up most of the lower legs. White is used for the knee armor and feet. The knee armor is connected to the lower legs by red connector pieces. The knee joint is cast in gunmetal grey. All these plastic colors align with G1 Metroplex's colors nicely. The sides of each leg near the knees are painted white. Gunmetal, silver and black are used to paint details along the lower legs. Black stickers are used for detailing on the knees and feet. On the back of the legs you'll find six circles with orange stickers inside, each one resembling the same details on his back. The idea that he could use thrusters of some sort to augment his kicks is kind of awesome (and wacky at the same time).

Each leg has four points of articulation. At the hip connection the leg can swing forward and back or out to the sides. The knee can bend and the legs can turn in and out. On each foot there are attachment points for extra weaponry. Five of the holes are 3mm, allowing you to attach Cyberverse weaponry. On top of each dual barreled cannon are 5mm holes for regular sized weapons. The base of each foot sort of looks like an entrance, so I dig the idea that there is weaponry protecting anyone trying to get inside Metroplex.

The articulation points are great but because of the sheer weight of his parts you're not going to really be able to make Metroplex do head stands. I am glad however than he can aim his weapons and crouch slightly.

Overall, Metroplex's robot mode is an awesome piece of work. It takes the spirit of the "Generations" toy line, updating figures into a more modern aesthetic while offering lots of play value and cool deco. He really is the "tallest" of the Transformers, standing at two feet tall, making him slightly taller than the previous record holder, Fortress Maximus! I'm really happy with how the robot mode came out.

Transformation to City Mode:

Detach all accessories and set them aside for now.
Straighten out both arms.
Swing the right arm up so it is pointing forward.
Rotate the forearm around so the palm faces down.
Wrap the fingers/thumb so the hand is a fist.
Swing out the panel on the side of the forarm to reveal a cannon and seating area.
Rotate the waist around.
Swing the legs up.
On the left arm, swing up the palm and fingers so they wrap around the edge of the forearm.
Swing the left arm back and raise the antennae/cannon from his shoulder.
On each leg, swing the panels with the knee armor out.
Swing out the panels with the wheels on them on each leg.
On each foot, swing down the bottom panel and then swing up the knee armor, this creates a "road".
Swing the legs out at angles.
Pull the ramp panel out from the right side of the chest and have it sit against the right leg's newly revealed openings.
Swing out the top half of the left side of the chest.
On the part you just swung out, raise the two red bars.
Swing the helmet section of the head down, then flip the panel on the back up to form a gunnery station.
Attach one of the red weapons to the back of the chest on the right side, make sure it's pointed up.
Each leg can be slide out slightly at the knee joint.

City Mode:
When I was a kid the idea of a Transformer that could become a base or a city was mind blowing. Sure I was used to Transformers that became vehicles and weapons, but a city was a whole other level of robot in disguise in my book. To this day I have a huge fondness for any Transformer that can also become a base.

Metroplex's city mode is largely based on his G1 counterpart. A lot matches up here including the ramp from the right chest, the heli-pad on the left, the legs forming repair bays and ramps along with towers on the back of the figure. To a degree it's very successful, including the heli-pad, the towers in the back and the repair bays and ramps extending out to the front. The only portion of the city that doesn't work for me is the right arm pointing forward. I think it's fantastic that they worked a gunnery station into it. Add in the ability of the arm to swing out to the side and it's even better. However, it still looks out of place to me. It's like Metroplex mostly transformed and forgot to finish. My personal preference is to swing the arm up to form another tower, even if that's not the official transformation.

While this is the more "peaceful" city form, that doesn't mean you can't attach additional weaponry. The gunnery station on the right arm has a hole to attach a 5mm weapon. The heli-pad also has holes for weapons and the parts that formed the top of the feet allow you to attach weapons as well.

The other part that isn't 100% successful is one of Metroplex's primary features: the ramp. On G1 Metroplex, this ramp extended down to the floor, giving you the ability to "launch" a vehicle out, rolling into actin. Here there is no real launching mechanism, which isn't a huge deal. What is very odd to me is that the ramp doesn't quite reach the ground. The designers were aware of this and set up the transformation instructions so the ramp would lead down to the "road" on the right side of the city. It's a cheat, but an efficient one. Still, it feels like it wouldn't have been that hard to use a bit of extra plastic and have the ramp extend out a bit. For those curious, the slot in Metroplex's chest that leads to the ramp can accomodate a figure from the Legion/Legends Class to the Scout/Commander Class.

Like the robot mode, the city mode excels with its attention to detail. Each of the ramps and roads formed from the legs have a ton of details including wires, tubes and control panels. I like the way each of the ramps have tracks for tires to align to. Another fantastic section is the gunnery station formed form the head. Behind the targeting screen and cannon is a control panel and area for a Legion/Legends class figure to stand on. I also love the heli-pad, which adds a layer of play factor to the toy. The other additional details from the arms, the center of the chest and towers add to the visual of a city with plenty of complex inner workings.

A lot of the newly revealed details are black plastic. This includes the repair bay and "roads" extending out to the sides. The ends of the road are gunmetal grey. Some red plastic appears here and there for connecting pieces including the ones that hold up the knee armor. The repair bays and various newly revealed sections have some really nice stickers representing displays on screens. There are also "display" stickers on the gunnery station's control panel. There's also a large "H" in a circle in yellow on the heli-pad, a detail similar to one found on G1 Metroplex.

The city mode is probably Metroplex's least successful form, but I'm not damning the form at all. It has its weaknesses, but overall there's still a lot of aesthetic appeal and amazing detail work.

Transformation to Vehicle Mode (from Robot Mode):

Detach all weapons and set them aside for now.
Push the robot legs together (each one will slide in towards the middle).
Rotate each forearm around (so the elbow joint is pointing outward) and fold the hands up against the wrists.
Swing each arm back so the forearms are pointing back.
Pull out each of the black cannons/towers.
Swing each leg forward (so it's like Metroplex is sitting down).
Swing the front panel of the legs out.
Swing the knee armor underneath the leg.
Pull the ramp down.
Swing up the crane arm on the left side.
Attach the black weapons to the sides of each cannon in the shoulder.
Attach a red cannon to the right side on the back, and swing the weapon down so it points forward.
Swing down the helmet section of the head to form the gunnery station.
Swing the cannons on the left side of the chest out.

*Note: While the instructions don't mention it, there are a couple items you can shift around for the transformation that make sense for this form. First, the original Metroplex had the ramp closed in this form, and it seems to make more sense for a battle form. Also you can open up the same cannon station that is used in city mode for some defense in the back. Also I would open up the panel on the left side of the chest to reveal the missiles (again, this is a battle mode right? So more firepower is warranted.).

There is also a semi-officially recognized transformation where you take both cannons and slide them into a slot towards the back of the "runways" on the vehicle. This is a partial homage to G1 Metroplex, whose weapons attached to the front of the "runways". Of course, this works best if you have two of the red weapons. The SDCC version comes with two, but the mass release North American version only has one. However, the Japanese mass release does have two, so it shows this transform variation on the packaging.

Vehicle Mode:
In the G1 series, Metroplex's "vehicle mode" was described as a "Battle Station". Both terms work since this is the mode where most of his weaponry is deployed and he is mobile at the same time. Like the G1 version, his legs extend out to form the front of the vehicle while most of his weaponry is concentrated on the robot's upper body, now forming the back of the vehicle.

Most of the details and functionality in this mode carries over direclty from the city form. The most dramatic differences revolve around the robot arms and the runways formed in the front. The runways are lined with stickers, the primary ones being gold arrows that indicate which way vehicles should be traveling. The others include detail lines and glyphs. At the end of the left side is a crane arm which adds another layer of play value. On the right shoulder, you can fit a Legends Class figure in a small slot with a control panel. There is an attachment point for a 5mm peg weapon to the left of the control panel. The cannon sticking out in front has another attachment point for a weapon. On the left side is a small heli-pad with two attachment points for 5mm weapons and three for 3mm weapons. Like the other side, the cannon in the front has a 5mm peg attachment point. On both forearms you can also use the attachment points for other weapons (the same ones from the robot mode).

Like the city mode, you can use the gunnery station formed from the head and the one to its left. The figure rolls on four wheels on either side and a fifth, larger wheel located under the waist section. It's really a striking form and I love the idea of the legs being runways. They're long enough to line up several Legends Class figures or if you really don't care about scale, some Commander Class or even Scout Class figures. Truth be told, Micromasters and Mini-Cons are the ideal size class if you want to make Metroplex look gigantic (the other option are the "World's Smallest Transformers" but they're almost too small).

Final Thoughts:
In an era where Transformers are getting more expensive but also shrinking in certain size classes, a piece like Titan Class Metroplex is pretty darn amazing to see. He's the complete package: a base, a robot and a vehicle along with tons of play value. While this review is for the San Diego Comic-Con version, much of what I've said in this review can apply to the mass release version as well (deco aside). If you are a serious collector (with considerable extra funds), I would argue this version is worth seeking out as it has many extras and amazing packaging. Highly recommended!

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