General Information:
Release Date: July 2017
Price Point: $149.99 (depending on retailer)
Retailer: General (Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart etc.)
Accessories: Full-Tilt vehicle/robot, Nicro Titan Master, Full-Tilt blaster
Official images and text in italics below are from Amazon.com:
This Transformers Generations Titans Return Titan Class Trypticon figure is the largest Titan Class Decepticon figure produced to date. Voted into the line by fans, the Triple Changer figure converts from T-Rex to spaceship to city. It comes with a Decepticon Full-Tilt figure that converts from robot to tank and a Titan Master Decepticon Necro figure that converts from robot to head.
This Titan Class Trypticon figure features three modes: dino, spaceship, and city. When the figure is in dino mode, it 'eats' Titan Master figures (each sold separately). Imagine Trypticon chows down to power up. Convert to City Mode and attach Titans Return Leader Class figures to form Nemesis Command, a Decepticon base that works with other Titans Return figures. Additional figures each sold separately. Subject to availability.
The towering Trypiticon[sic] figure comes with a Titan Master Decepticon Necro figure and a Deluxe Class Decepticon Full-Tilt figure. The Decepticon Necro figure becomes the head of the Decepticon Full-Tilt figure. It also works with Titans Return Deluxe, Voyager, and Leader Class figures (each sold separately).
The Decepticon Full-Tilt figure attaches to the Trypticon figure's chest. The Titan Master Decepticon Necro figure converts between robot and head in 1 step. The Decepticon Full-Tilt figure converts from robot to tank in 12 steps. Trypticon converts from spaceship to T-rex in 15 steps and from T-rex to city in 17.
Trypticon is built for conquest. With a spaceship mode that allows him to travel between planets and a battle station mode that establishes a stronghold when he arrives, the Decepticon Titan is capable of single-handedly wiping out any target in any location in the galaxy. His appetite for destruction is rivaled only by his appetite for Titan Masters, which he consumes like other bots devour refined Energon cubes. His own Titan Master servant, Decepticon Necro, hungers for something far more sinister. Decepticon Necro harvests the sparks of other bots, consuming the very thing that gives them life. Wherever these Decepticons travel, they bring doom and ultimate destruction.
In 2015, Transformers fans were given the chance to vote for the next Titan Class figure to be produced after Fortress Maximus. Among the choices were characters like Omega Supreme and Scorponok. Since fans had been wanting Trypticon since the release of Metroplex in 2013 so it was not a shock that he won the vote. For the sake of space, I have broken this review up into four parts. This part will focus on the Beast Mode.
Since Trypticon is gigantic and would never fit in my lightbox, I recruited the awesome Ben Trivett to photograph the figure in his studio. I did however photograph Full-Tilt and Necro myself.
Trypticon was a Generation One character introduced in 1986. He was the counterpoint to the Autobot City Metroplex, and the two fought a few times in the animated series. This Titan Class figure is heavily based on the original Trypticon toy. This figure was reissued back in 2015 and you can check out my review of that reissue here. The original review will give you a good reference point to see where a lot of this toy's design came from.
A heads up before I dive into this part of the review. Trypticon includes a sticker sheet that has over 100 stickers on it. Some are tiny! It took me about five to six hours altogether to get them all on. I recommend having a pair of tweezers, a sharp knife and a lot of patience on hand when applying the stickers. The end result looks great, but it takes a good amount of time!
Unlike his Autobot counterpart, Trypticon was not a bipedal humanoid robot. Instead he was a gigantic, robotic dinosaur! Trypticon's beast mode is based on a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but since he was made in the 1980's, his design reflects the scientific understanding of the T-Rex's posture at the time. That means unlike the modern day understanding of the T-Rex leaning forward in a horizontal posture, the 80's mostly portrayed the T-Rex as being upright. While you can move this figure so it adopts this posture, most of the official photos of the figure show it upright as Trypticon appeared in the 80's.
Trypticon's basic shape is directly inspired by his G1 counterpart's design. He has a head with a long snout. This leads to a bulky body that angles downward leading to a long, thick tail. His legs have huge discs at the base leading down to chunky, rectangular feet. His arms are small and have three claws on them. On either side of his "shoulders" are huge cannons that double as towers in his base mode. He also has plates on his back, a design reference to Godzilla who has similar plates on his back. Also like G1 Trypticon this version has a panel on the front of his torso that is designed to allow Full-Tilt to attach in vehicle mode (whether he is forming armor or just riding along is up to the eye of the beholder). For those wondering about size, Trypticon is not as tall as Metroplex since he is hunched over. He stands at about 16 inches (about 40.64 centimeters) but if you measure him from snout to tail, he is over 20 inches (about 50.8 centimeters). He's plenty big and an impressive sight to behold.
These larger details are not the only ones that carry over from the G1 figure. There are some smaller details as well. These include:
- The orange panel on the top of his snout lifts up to reveal his "Hypno-beam" weapon.
- The teeth inside Trypticon's mouth are rectangular in shape instead of being pointed cones.
- The back of Trypticon's head has two cylinders sticking out.
- There are a series of three lines running vertically on the sides of the head, similar to three lines found on G1 Trypticon's head.
- The sides of the head have circles where the jaw hinge would be located.
- The side of the head has a flat, square section with a Decepticon symbol on it. On G1 Trypticon there was a heat sensitive "rub symbol" in that same place.
- The "plates" on the back have wheels in them.
- There is a rectangular opening on the sides of the lower tail section that are callbacks to the slot where G1 Trypticon's switch was located. This switch would turn his walking feature on and off. Since Titan Class Trypticon does not have the walking feature, this is purely a homage.
- The sides of the legs have circular parts on them that have even smaller circles sculpted into the translucent orange plastic. These are direct references to sculpted details on G1 Trypticon's legs.
The list goes on, but I think you get the idea. The designers definitely spent a lot of time looking at the G1 Trypticon action figure while designing this version of the character. As an Old Skool fan, I really appreciate this fine attention to detail. The designers could have easily just said "Let's make a vaguely Dinosaur looking thing that becomes a base" but instead they chose to pay homage to the original properly. It also reminds me of some Japanese artwork of Trypticon from the 80's that showed him with tons of extra line detail that did not appear on the figure at the time.
The colors on this figure are direct callbacks to the Generation One figure. These colors include dark grey, light grey, teal, purple and translucent orange. The grey makes up most of the body, with light grey used on the neck area and the two blasters/towers on his back. Teal is mostly found on the back with some parts on the sides. Translucent orange is used for the circular parts on the top of his leg area and his eyes and "nose". There is not a lot of paint on this figure, but in all honesty G1 Trypticon wasn't full of painted details either. Perhaps the most important deco points are silver used on the blasters in his mouth and his feet. These call back to vacuum metallized silver parts on G1 Trypticon. He also has some yellow and purple paint on the legs. Grey is used on the sides of the "plates" on his back. The rest of his detailing comes from stickers that you will find all the way from the head to the tail. You could easily write five pages just about the stickers, but in general they are silver, foil backed stickers that are used to convey a sense of scale showing intricate machinery on Trypticon. Other stickers include Decepticon symbols on his head, calling back to the G1 Trypticon deco. Overall the deco looks awesome. I love how much it calls back to G1 Trypticon while looking even more intricate thanks to the stickers.
There are a stunning twenty six points of articulation on Trypticon. I say "stunning" because the original Trypticon only had a handful of articulation points partly in service to his walking gimmick. In contrast this figure features more articulation points than the average "Generations" figure. This articulation includes two on the head, six on each arm and four on each leg. The important thing about the articulation is that it allows you to both move parts like the arms and legs forward and back as well as out to the sides, allowing for more dynamic poses. His ankles also have articulation, allowing you to have his legs out and not just stuck to the sides of the body. Like his G1 counterpart Trypticon's claws can move, allowing him to grab other figures and/or accessories. While Trypticon is easily displayed in his "80's tail dragging T-Rex" position with the legs down and torso up, he is balanced enough to allow you to swing the hip joints forward and have him leaning forward. His tail can be repositioned too!
The one point which some fans had issues with early on involves the hip joint. When turning it the joint was tight enough that some fans wound up breaking their figures. This was addressed by Hasbro in later runs of the figure and if you are buying a figure that was manufactured recently you will likely not have this issue. If you are concerned about this issue, I recommend checking out this guide to fixing the issue on Seibertron.com.
As part of (and in addition to) his articulation, Trypticon has a few play features in this form. Like the G1 Trypticon, the translucent orange panel on his head can swing up to reveal his "Hypno-beam" (though his original tech specs say the Hypno-beams come from his eyes so take this with a grain of salt). He also has shoulder cannons which swing from the back to flank his head. The purple sections in the middle can be pulled out to form weapon barrels. Perhaps the most silly yet fun play feature is his ability to eat Titan Masters! Swing the head all the way back so he is looking up, then open the mouth and start chucking Titan Masters in head mode inside and they will all drop through his throat into the compartment in his torso. In the fiction this looks like he is "consuming" their power for himself. It is a fun feature and it works very well.
Speaking of interaction with Titan Master mini-figures, this mode has a few Titan Master pegs to allow them to stand on the Titan. One is located at the top of the tail section. Another can be found on the top of each leg. There are also two on each shoulder area (though unless you move the arms up the Titan Masters will be standing on him sideways). Necro (or any Titan Master really) can attach to the back of Trypticon's head in this form. If you have a couple Titan Master vehicle/weapons handy you can attach them via 5mm port to the sides of the forearms and tail to give him additional firepower. I really like the way Titan Masters can interact with Trypticon in this mode. It is a reminder that he is meant to be gigantic and that he can transform into a base!
There is a semi-official beast mode for Trypticon based on his appearance in the Japanese "Transformers Legends" comic. Swing the tail so it points forward. Collapse the arms in on the sides and have the towers on his shoulders act as skids in the back. Lift the tail and it seems to create a "mouth". It is a really weird looking form but it's a funny and obscure bonus.
Trypticon's beast mode is a fantastic homage and update of the original. It is also fun to play with and I appreciate the ability to interact with Titan Masters and their vehicle/weapons. I don't miss the "walking feature" of the G1 figure at all. If sacrificing that meant more articulation and having the Full-Tilt figure, then I am all for it. In the next portion of my review I will take a look at the Spaceship Mode.
