"Generations" Titans Return Quickswitch Toy Review

Robot Mode:
In Generation One Quickswitch was a six-changer, but he was a completely different sculpt than Sixshot (he was also smaller). However his new incarnation is a retool/redeco of Six Shot, so a lot of his distinctive G1 design is absent from this figure. Since the body of this figure is mostly based on G1 Sixshot's design, that is what you get with Quickswitch too. This includes distinct elements like the wings on his back or the stabilizer fins that go over his shoulders. Where this figure calls back to Quickswitch are the colors.

To their credit, the Hasbro designers behind this set managed to work out how to make the colors on this figure roughly match up to G1 Quickswitch. This includes the following deco points:

• The helmet section of the head is painted red. With the yellow face in the middle, this looks a lot like G1 Quickswitch's head.
• The upper arms are mostly cast in teal plastic, with some black on the wheels and the treads. The forearms are cast in light grey. This combination of colors do a nice job of calling back to G1 Quickswitch's arms.
• The torso on this figure is dark grey. The center, translucent pattern is blue. The waist area has teal plastic panels on the sides with a section painted light grey in the middle. All of this matches up nicely with the color layout on G1 Quickswitch. The big difference are the stabilizer fins that fold out. However you can tuck them into the chest to get them out of the way.
• The thighs on this figure are red, just like G1 Quickswitch.
• The lower legs are teal with a chunk of light grey that lead to red feet. The light grey on teal is a color combination that calls right back to G1 Quickswitch.

From a functional standpoint, my only issue is the helmet section and the knee joints. The top of the helmet swings down over the head, however if you push it down all the way it actually covers part of the eyes too, so you need to lift it slightly otherwise it will look odd. While most of the joints on this figure are just as tight as the ones on my copy of Six Shot, the knees are not. They are loose enough that if I pick the figure up and move it back and forth the lower legs do kick back and forth a bit. It's not super loose, meaning he can still stand and be posed, but it is disappointing given this is only the second use of the tooling.

Transformation to Beast Mode (starting in robot mode):

1. Detach the Titan Master but keep him in head mode.
2. Detach the weapons and set them aside for now.
3. Straighten out the arms and legs.
4. Swing the fists into the forearms.
5. Swing the chest panel out.
6. Swing the "helmet" into the chest and swing the wing panels up.
7. Push the chest panel back in place, taking care to make sure the wing panels fit into the vertical grooves on the chest.
8. Swing the arms up and swing out the paws on each forearm.
9. Swing the lower legs forward to form the rear legs.
10. Swing the wings back and angle them out to the sides.
11. Swing the beast mode head and neck forward.
12. Slide the Titan Master into the slot on the beast mode neck. Quickswitch's face should face the same direction as the beast mode head.
13. Connect the two weapons together and attach them to the pegs in the back to form

Beast Mode:
G1 Quickswitch did have a beast mode: a puma. However this new version of Quickswitch becomes a winged wolf in beast mode, just like Six Shot. It is a bit of a shame since all it would have taken would have been retooling the beast mode head to flatten down the ears. The eyes and snout could have been left alone and it would have looked more like the G1 beast mode. He does retain a couple similarities to the G1 version however. Both figures have very chunky and blocky legs and both use the blasters as the "tail".

Interestingly, from a deco perspective a lot of Quickswitch's deco points in this mode line up with the G1 version despite them not being based on the same design. The head and parts of the rear legs are red. The main body is dark grey while the tail is red. The top part of the front legs are teal, as are the lower legs on the rear (though there is some light grey there). Overall, the deco is a nice approximation of G1 Quickswitch's puma form. The colors are also nice and bright and there are very nice contrasts shown off in this form so it looks great.

The joints are mostly tight in this mode (knee joints in the back aside). The head's jaw joint is tight enough that I actually had to put a thin razor in his mouth to push it open. All the connection points for Titan Masters still work nicely.

Transformation to Jet Mode (starting in robot mode):

1. Detach the Titan Master and convert it into robot mode.
2. Detach the weapons and set them aside for now.
3. Straighten out the arms and legs.
4. Swing the fists into the forearms.
5. Rotate the arms so Quickswitch looks like he is holding something over his head.
6. Rotate the shoulder pieces so the wheels face inward.
7. Rotate the forearms so the tread pieces face up.
8. Angle each of the fins on the chest panel.
9. Swing each wing out to the sides.
10. Swing each arm down on the hinge that connects it to the torso.
11. Swing the heel pieces down.
12. Rotate each lower leg so the feet point out to the sides.
13. Push each foot up into the lower legs.
14. Swing each lower leg up so it overlaps the thighs.
15. Push the two lower leg pieces together.
16. Push the heel pieces up.
17. Swing the sections on the sides of the lower legs forward, rotate the ends and then connect them together to form the front of the jet mode.
18. Attach the weapons to the tabs at the ends of the wings.

*Note: When swinging the wing sections up, there is a groove for the tab at the base of the wings to connect to. Unfortunately unless you move the tread piece on the arm up, there is not enough clearance to do that. The instructions do not note this, and really, you don't have to do it. However I think it makes the mode a bit more solid and tidy to do so.

Jet Mode:
G1 Quickswitch did have a jet/space ship like mode so this mode fits him nicely. Thanks to the way the various parts are compressed in this form, this looks a lot more like a jet or spaceship than G1 Quickswitch did in his jet mode. That form had a bit too many blocky parts sticking out on the sides. This form is much more sleek.

From a color perspective this mode shows off a lot of teal, dark grey and light grey. Since this mode lays out a lot of parts flat, we get to see a some nice deco. There are Autobot symbols in the middle of the back section and on the wings. The front section has grey parts overlapping the teal. At the front is teal paint on the light grey part. The weapons at the ends of the wings are red. In many ways this color layout matches up nicely with the G1 figure with its own distinct color pattern.

Transformation to Submarine Mode (starting in robot mode):

1. Detach the Titan Master and convert it into robot mode.
2. Detach the weapons and set them aside for now.
3. Straighten out the arms and legs.
4. Swing the fists into the forearms.
5. Swing the feet up into the lower legs.
6. Swing the heel pieces down.
7. Swing the chest panel open.
8. Swing the robot head/helmet section down into the chest.
9. Push the chest panel back into place.
10. Swing the beast mode head/neck section.
11. Swing the wings in and down. Line them up with the beast mode head/neck piece so the tabs on the sides of the beast head connect to the corresponding grooves on the wings.
12. Rotate the shoulder pieces with the wheels on them around.
13. Rotate the arms so the forearms point back.
14. Swing the tread pieces on the upper arms so they are on the sides.
15. Swing the arms forward.
16. Rotate the lower legs so the feet are facing outward, then connect the two lower legs together.
17. Connect the two weapons together, then attach them to the front of the submarine.

Submarine Mode:
I already wrote my commentary about his mode in Six Shot's review regarding how it is not "really" a submarine and more of a "cheat" as a weapon. Flip it upside down and it is a blaster. Even better, if you want you can attach weapons to the sides, though they don't hold very tightly that way. Partly by coincidence there are some similarities to the G1 weapon mode. This includes the weapons being situated in the front and a cabin/cockpit section showing on top (though on this figure it is in the front as opposed to the back). The handles are even made from the wings! Overall it is a fun weapon mode.

This mode has a fantastic contrast of colors. The front end uses light grey as its backdrop with teal, yellow and red on top. The back is a nice mixture of teal, black and dark grey. You'll also see tampographs based on stickers from G1 Quickswitch's arms. I really like how bright and in some ways, retro, this color scheme looks. It calls back to a different time when such colors were more common than they are now.

Transformation to Tank Mode (starting in robot mode):

1. Detach the Titan Master and convert it into robot mode.
2. Detach the weapons and set them aside for now.
3. Straighten out the arms and legs.
4. Swing the fists into the forearms.
5. Swing the feet up into the lower legs.
6. Swing the heel pieces down.
7. Swing the chest panel open.
8. Swing the robot head/helmet section down into the chest.
9. Push the chest panel back into place.
10. Rotate the shoulder pieces with the wheels on them so the wheels face front.
11. Push the wing sections down, snapping them into place.
12. Swing the lower legs back and forward so the heel pieces point forward as weapons.
13. Swing the wings back.
14. Attach the weapons to the sides of the lower legs using the tabs on the lower legs and corresponding grooves on the weapons.
15. The Titan Master can sit in the cockpit.

Tank Mode:
G1 Quickswitch had a ground vehicle mode, but instead of a "tank" like Six Shot's, his was a drill tank. Of course, without extensive retooling this mold is not going to be a drill tank any time soon. Instead this form is more of an artillery based tank with six barrels of weaponry mounted on top and treads on the sides. I like this mode quite a bit. It's aggressive and scifi looking all at the same time.

This mode focuses a lot of the red color on top with the weaponry while the lower half is mostly teal with some light grey and translucent blue. The weapons on top are connected to a light grey and teal base. The colors are really vibrant in this form and I like the way the red colors are together on top.

This mode allows a Titan Master to ride in the cockpit in the center and has Titan Master sized pegs on the top and sides. This is also one of the modes where it is easy to attach the wings to other Titans Return bases. That said, my preference is using the truck mode (see below) for a "base" mode.

Transformation to Truck Mode (starting in robot mode):

1. Detach the Titan Master and convert it into robot mode.
2. Detach the weapons and set them aside for now.
3. Straighten out the arms and legs.
4. Swing the feet up into the lower legs.
5. Swing the heel pieces down.
6. Swing the chest panel open.
7. Swing the wing panels on the chest back.
8. Swing the robot head/helmet section down into the chest.
9. Push the chest panel back into place.
10. Swing the arms out to the sides for now.
11. Rotate the legs out to the sides so the feet face outward.
12. Swing each lower leg up over the thighs and then connect them together.
13. Swing the heel pieces in.
14. On each arm, make sure the wheels are pointing down.
15. Pull the forearms down, then swing the arms down and connect the tabs on the forearms to the sides of the lower legs.
16. On each of the upper arm sections, swing the tread pieces up so they face out to the sides.
17. Swing the wings on the top of the vehicle forward.
18. Swing the base of the wings out to the sides and snap them into place.
19. Open the lower jaw of the beast mode (which is in the center of the vehicle).
20. Attach the weapons to the base of the wings using the 5mm ports.

Truck Mode:
Whether you call it a car or a truck, this is Quickswitch's less aggressive and well armed ground vehicle form. There is no equivalent to this mode with the original Quickswitch, so this is unique to this version of the character.

This mode focuses most of the light grey color in the front and teal in the back. There are some nice red and silver line tampographs on the hood section which call back to similar looking stickers on G1 Quickswitch. The windshield is painted yellow (another G1 Quickswitch callback) and the sides of the wheels are painted red. Some teal paint is used on the hood section and the seating section in the middle.

This mode is one of my favorites because you can attach several Titan Masters to it at one time. Two sit in the seats in front, another can stand behind them. Meanwhile there are pegs on the top and sides for more to connect. This is also the mode that I recommend using as part of a base set up since the top is fairly flat and the wing/connection sections are easily accessible.

Final Thoughts:
Quickswitch was the natural choice when reusing the Six Shot sculpt again. However, I wish the designers had done more with it. The helmet should have been given a proper retooling with a different forehead design. Other simple changes include a new beast mode head (or retool the existing one) and giving him different weapons that look closer to G1 Quickswitch's weapons. Still, I cannot deny that this is a fun toy and it is cool to even see Quickswitch acknowledged! Now that this figure has been done, I am hoping for a significant retool by either Takara Tomy or Hasbro as Greatshot!

Pros:

• Fun toy with engaging transformations.
• Deco is bright and different than most in the line.
• Retooled head plate is a nice callback to the original Quickswitch's head design.

Cons:

• Helmet comes down too far over the head, obscuring part of the eyes.
• Could have used more retooling such as the helmet section and beast mode head.