"Generations" Titans Return Six Shot Toy Review

Robot Mode:
As the years have gone along the "Generations" line has generally reinterpreted G1 characters in new forms that call back to their G1 designs but take them in a new direction. Every now and then however they basically just try to recreate the G1 form with modern day articulation and detailing and that is exactly what has been done with Six Shot. Here is a rundown of some of the major features he shares with his G1 counterpart:

• The head design is the same as his animated counterpart down to the crest on top, the large brow piece and the raised pieces in the back.
• His shoulders have wheels from his vehicle modes on the outside.
• The chest features two wing-shaped panels that stick ouer over the shoulders.
• The torso features two angled lines on either side of the chest.
• Under the angled lines on the torso are two circles with lines in the middle.
• The pelvic area features a cockpit section used in other modes.
• His arms have tread details sculpted into them.
• The knee joints have three raised rectangles with a trapezoid under them. These sculpted details are inspired by stickers with similar designs on G1 Sixshot's knees.
• His legs are blocky with the lower part of the lower legs extending out leading to feet that have a paw-like design (used for his beast mode).
• The wings from his alt modes stick up in the back behind his head.

There are some fans who find this design philosophy somewhat lazy and I get that. Some fans want an all new design that features some elements of the character's original appearance (the first "Generations" Blurr is one example of this). Personally I like what has been done here. I think it is cool to have a retro design updated with a bit more detail and articulation and that is what Six Shot has.

Six Shot is cast in green (or teal if you prefer), light grey, purple, black and translucent grey plastic. All these colors are based on G1 Sixshot's colors. The green makes up most of the upper body while the light grey appears on his head and arms. The purple is concentrated on his lower legs and black is distributed throughout the body making up parts like his fists, thighs and feet. The translucent grey plastic is found on his pelvic area and chest. Paint applications are done in silver, light grey and red. Silver is probably the most heavily used color. You'll find it on the wings on his back and several parts of his lower legs. A bit of black paint is used around the waist area to help break up the green between the upper torso and hip area. Rounding out his detailing are stickers which you wil find on his chest. Both have silver backgrounds with purple designs on them. The one on the right side has a Decepticon symbol. The use of stickers is an interesting choice as it is not done very often nowadays and it adds to the retro feel of this figure. Overall the deco on this figure looks good and calls back to G1 Sixshot nicely.

There are nineteen points of articulation on this figure. This includes four on each arm and five on each leg. To give him stability the legs connect to the hips via ratchet joints. My only issue with his articulation are the knees. While they are solid enough for him to stand and pose (see my photos above) they do not feel as tight as I would expect from a sculpt being released for the first time. Each fist has a 5mm port that allows Six Shot to hold his weapons.

Transformation to Beast Mode (starting in robot mode):

1. Detach Revolver 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 Revolver into the slot on the beast mode neck. Six Shot'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 the tail.

Beast Mode:
Six Shot's beast mode is a wolf with wings (not to be confused with his "secret" seventh mode which is actually called the Winged Wolf, more on that later). The general design of this mode mirrors that of his G1 predecessor. This includes the robot arms becoming the front leg and the robot legs becoming the rear legs. He also has wings on his back and while he has many animal-like details, he is clearly a fully mechanical beast. However, this design has taken the original and improved on it in many ways:

• The head is now attached to a neck piece that extends out instead of having the beast mode head look like it is tucked into the main body of the beast.
• The front legs now have distinct paws that swing out instead of small claw designs at the edge of the forearms.
• Having the blasters form the tail adds a nice design element to the figure.
• There are several small details all over this figure that are absent from the G1 figure including mechanical greebles on the wings and some segmented lines on the neck.

This mode's "newly revealed" parts are focused on the beast mode neck and head as well as his front paws. The front paws are black while the neck/head section is light grey. We also get some more focus on the wings which reveal some green details at the base. The beast mode eyes are painted red, matching Six Shot's robot mode eyes.

Whereas G1 Sixshot's beast mode was basically just that, a beast mode, this new incarnation of the character has a bit more functionality. First off this mode has twenty four points of articulation if you include the wings. This also includes the ability of his mouth to open and the neck moving up and down. In addition to being posable, Six Shot also has two Titan Master pegs in this form. One is at the base of the neck. The other is near the tail. Both allow you to attach a Titan Master to charge into battle with him! I only have one concern about this mode and it is a minor one. The lower jaw of the beast mode head does not have any kind of tab or grip to open it, so you can pull at it but my fingers kept slipping from the smooth plastic. I wound up having to get a butter knife to gently open the mouth, something I prefer not to have to do with any figure.

Transformation to Jet Mode (starting in robot mode):

1. Detach Revolver and convert him 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 Six Shot 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 Sixshot's "Jet Mode" has always struck me as more of a spaceship of some sort. Instead of having a traditional nosecone and thruster design, the entire vehicle (except for the wings) is pretty bulky from front to back. The same can be said for this new incarnation of the character as it stays very true to the design of the original. Here are some of the features they share:

• A front end that angles downward and back.
• The cockpit/cabin section of the land vehicle modes show up prominently on the underside of the vehicle.
• The center of the vehicle has a small cockpit on it, complete with a small wheel on top.
• The shoulder armor pieces angle inward towards the center of the jet mode's body.
• The wing-panels on the robot chest form vertical stabilizers.
• The wings stick out to the sides with the long barrels of the weapons at the end.
• The sides of the vehicle feature the robot arms, complete with wheels and thread details showing.

Most of the newly revealed detail in this mode is focused on the front of the vehicle. There you will see plenty of black and purple plastic. A good amount of black paint is used on the top of the front half and silver is used to fill in detailing. The sides feature some yellow, a call back to stickers on G1 Sixshot. The cockpit is translucent grey plastic with light grey paint on it. This mode also shows off red paint on the arm/tread sections towards the back. The red is a call back to stickers found on that same area on G1 Sixshot. In an interesting additional touch (meaning, not one directly from G1 Sixshot) there are silver and purple stickers on the wings with Decepticon symbols in the middle. The front of the wings have small, rectangular patches painted in green. I appreciated the extra bit of deco on the wings which are unique to this figure.

Functionally this mode goes beyond just swooshing it through the air and making "pew pew" noises. Each of the arms have Titan Master pegs on them, allowing you to attach Titan Masters to ride along. The back panel lifts up to allow you to seat a Titan Master inside the chest compartment (no, the small cockpit piece in the center does not open). On the bottom of the figure there is a small skid that swings out on the front end to serve as landing gear. Overall there's quite a bit of fun to be had with this mode, though for me it still is more of a "space ship" mode than a "jet mode".

Transformation to Submarine Mode (starting in robot mode):

1. Detach Revolver and convert him 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:
If there was ever a case of a Transformer having an alt-mode that fell into the category of "It is that because we say so.", this is it. The "submarine" mode basically looks like the truck mode extended and the wings folded up to form the tower of the submarine. If you are thinking to yourself "Hey, that's really a stretch." that's because it is. This mode is, in fact, an upside down version of G1 Sixshot's weapon mode. However, releasing toys that become weapons of any kind is a bit of a tricky thing to do nowadays (something Hasbro knows a lot about thanks to its Nerf line of toys) so it was decided to call this a "submarine" and flip the weapon mode upside down to make it work. Don't get me wrong, if you use your imagination I could see this mode being some weird type of Cybertronian sub, but you do have to stretch the imagination a bit

Just taking this mode as a submarine for a moment, there is some fun to be had. Since the front end is essentially the truck mode with the weapons put together, you can seat three Titan Masters in the front. Towards the middle is another spot with a Titan Master peg to have a fourth Titan Master standing. Now, don't ask me why a bunch of Titan Masters would be standing around submerged in water, but I am happy to see the option available at all.

If you choose to use this as the weapon mode instead, you can actually achieve a more "G1" appearance for the mode by separating the weapons and attaching them to the sides of the front end. I am not 100% sure this was intentional, but there is a small tab sticking out on the sides. The blasters have small grooves on them that slide right into these tabs. They do not hold tightly, but it is good enough for display and brings him closer to his G1 counterpart's weapon mode appearance. Basically it looks like Six Shot is hiding his head and lying down with his arms up. Okay, I'll admit it, even this mode requires using your imagination a bit, but it works a bit better than being a submarine in my book.

Transformation to Tank Mode (starting in robot mode):

1. Detach Revolver and convert him 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. Revolver can sit in the cockpit.

Tank Mode:
When it comes to Transformers "tanks", the definition is pretty loose. Most people would picture a vehicle rolling on treads with some type of weapon sitting on top, usually a turret that turns. However Transformers tanks range from vehicles like Terri-Bull's to the very alien looking "Dark of the Moon" Shockwave to the more traditional looking "Classics" Megatron. Six Shot falls into the more fanciful looking kind of vehicle, and as a kid I always presumed he was some type of Cybertronian tank, hence his lack of resemblance to a human built tank. He has a lot of the requisite elements of a tank including a thick looking body, treads and weaponry on the top of the vehicle. However instead of a turret, the weaponry is mounted on a hinged piece (the robot knees) over the body of the vehicle. Instead of a turret section with ports that open up this vehicle has a more jet like cockpit section in the center. The wings help add a splash of dynamic design and the wheels that are pointing downward in the front look almost like hover fans. It's a neat design and I like it quite a bit. I just want to be sure to set expectations properly on just what this mode is.

For the most part the design of this mode is very similar to G1 Sixshot's tank mode. They share the same basic layout including the tank treads on the sides, the wings on the top of the vehicle and all the weaponry in a section that is situated above the cockpit section. There are some notable differences however. One involves the wings. On G1 Sixshot the wings extend pretty far back. Here they do extend over the back of the vehicle, but not quite as much as the G1 version. Also the dual blasters formed from the heel pieces are set horizontally as opposed to the ones on G1 Sixshot which are set vertically. From a functional standpoint the base of the wings have Titan Master pegs and 5mm ports to allow for extra play value. The area above the front half of the treads also have Titan Master pegs. Of course, the cockpit opens to allow a Titan Master to sit inside, adding to the play value.

This mode largely features the color details on the top of the tank including silver and green on the wings and light grey on the translucent plastic that forms the cockpit. This mode also gives you a look at the red details from the forearms on the sides. Thanks to the way the parts wind up being arranged, there is no monotony in the way the colors are laid out. The colors constantly alternate such as the base which mixes the light grey, green and silver nicely. The top section with the weapons mixes purple, black, silver and light grey and it looks great. I am impressed that there aren't a ton of tampographs or tiny paint details yet the vehicle looks great.

Transformation to Truck Mode (starting in robot mode):

1. Detach Revolver and convert him 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 theupper 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:
When it comes to describing Six Shot's modes, there is a bit of reliance on imagination. This mode is officially called the "truck mode", but in G1 I always saw this as Sixshot's "car mode". The vehicle is pretty flat (it's basically a rectangle on wheels) but at the same time the front end has a cabin section that extends up giving the front end the appearance of a longnose truck so I can see how you could consider it either a truck or a car.

The design of this vehicle is very similar to the original, but there are some significant differences as well. It is similar in that it has the "longnose like" front end, wings on top and two blasters mounted on either side. It also rolls on four large wheels like the original. However there are some differences. The front end has sections to accommodate Titan Masters, something the original of course did not have. Also, the front end design is different. Here the front is flat and looks like it has a grille. On the original there were parts that stuck out a bit in the front, looking more like exaggerated headlights. The original figure also had the wheels set pretty far back, with the front end extending forward quite a bit. In this case I think there is a much better balance between the two sections. Overall I think this version has a much "cleaner" look for this mode.

This mode shows off all of the major colors including black, silver, light grey, green and purple. The feature details are the silver windshield towards the front and thin stickers on the hood that flank the air intake vent in the middle. Each of these is metallic yellow with a tiny Decepticon symbol on top. This is the only real "new" detail featured in this mode. The one missed opportunity with this figure involves the sides of the wheels. On G1 Sixshot the wheels had silver on the sides. Here, they are unpainted. Given what you are paying and the class of figure, such a detail would have been nice to see.

From a functional standpoint there is a lot going on here. First, the wheels are tall enough that he has enough clearance to roll around on them. He has two seats in the front for Titan Masters. Behind those seats is a single seat that can fit a Titan Master. If you want even more warriors to ride along, you can reposition the weapons and attach Titan Masters on the wings and at the base of the wings. There are additional pegs for Titan Masters on the arms. I personally love loading up figures with the Titan Masters so for me this was a delight. As if this weren't enough, this mode has the wings in the right position to connect them to other bases! You may have to extend the wings out a little, but it does work out nicely.

Transformation to Wing Wolf Mode: (Starting in Robot Mode)

1. Detach Revolver and convert him 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 wing panels on the chest back.
9. Swing the robot head/helmet section down into the chest.
10. Push the chest panel back into place.
11. Swing the arms out to the sides for now.
12. Rotate the legs out to the sides so the feet face outward.
13. Swing each lower leg up over the thighs and then connect them together.
14. Swing the heel pieces in.
15. Swing the tank treads on the upper arms over.
16. Rotate the forearms around so the treads line up with those on the upper arm.
17. Swing the wing sections out to the sides and snap them into place, then swing the wings out.
18. Swing the beast mode head section forward.
19. Attach the weapons to the ends of the wings.
20. Insert Revolver into the beast mode neck area in head mode.

Wing Wolf:
I know some fans may be thinking "Wait, isn't this guy SIX Shot? Why is there a seventh mode?" and you would be correct. Technically this figure only has six official modes. However, when he was featured in the Japanese "Headmasters" series, he revealed a "hidden" seventh mode: The Wing Wolf! This mode had all the powers of his other forms combined, and it was key to him defeating Ultra Magnus in battle. Now, it is not a huge surprise that this figure can achieve this mode. It is essentially a mash up of several other modes, and given that the G1 Sixshot figure could form the Wing Wolf, it makes sense this figure can too since it follows the original in design so closely.

The Wing Wolf looks like an aerial vehicle with a wolf head and neck attached so there is not anything really "new" revealed here, but it is a fun nod to the Japanese Headmasters series. Indeed, this mode is pretty much a nice wrap up of the entire figure which pays homage more to its Japanese roots than G1 Sixshot's (brief) appearances in animation outside the "Headmasters" series.

Thanks in part to being a mash up of different modes, the Wing Wolf can accommodate six Titan Masters in this mode. One can sit on top of his neck, two more on the wings, one in the center and two in the cockpit sections in the back. If you sweep the wings back just right, you can fit two more Titan Masters on the arms! That is a whole lot of space for the little guys and I love this play pattern so for me this is awesome!

Final Thoughts:
Six Shot is a real exemplar of the Generation One love that has gone into "Titans Return". This figure is the G1 figure reborn with more articulation and play value. Even shoehorning the "Submarine Mode" is an act of G1 love since it preserved the weapon mode for fans in the know. Six Shot looks great, he's fun to play with and a fantastic homage figure. Highly recommended!

Pros:

• Sculpt is very close in design to the G1 design.
• All 7 of G1 Sixshot's modes are represented in this figure.
• In some cases the G1 modes have been improved upon.
• Fun (and kind of dark) callback with Revolver's design.
• Plenty of places for Titan Master figures to interact.
• Can connect with other bases.

Cons:

• Some fans may have wanted a reinterpretation of Sixshot, and this is definitely not that.
• I am afraid in the long term the paint on the head may chip due to the way you disconnect it from the body, but several transformations so far have not led to this issue happening.