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, Necro Titan Master, Full-Tilt blaster
Titan Class figures are large and complex figures. For the sake of space, I have broken this review up into four parts. This section will cover the Spaceship Mode.
Transformation to Spaceship Mode (from Beast Mode):
- Swing the head so it is looking straight up.
- Push the purple cannons in on the shoulder cannons.
- Rotate the light grey "neck" piece around.
- Swing the towers/cannons down.
- Fold the arms so they basically form a square shape and attach them to the panels on the side of the body. There is a tab on each forearm which slots into a corresponding groove.
- Swing the panels the arms are attached to up.
- On the area in front towards the top of the tail area there are two tail buttons. Press them and the sides of the beast mode will swing out to the sides.
- Each leg is attached to the sides via a teal panel with a black connector piece. Swing the teal panels (and thus the legs) up.
- Straighten out each leg. Push the purple pieces on the feet down and swing the toe pieces in.
- The heel section of each foot has a thick tab on it. This connects to a corresponding opening on the sides of the tail.
- Swing out the wings on either side.
- In the front, swing up the dual barreled cannon.
- In the middle of the central ramp, swing the grey pieces out to the sides and down.
- Attach Full-Tilt in vehicle mode to the central cannon.
In Generation One Trypticon was a triple changer. One of his modes was a battle station form (which you can see in my Platinum Edition G1 Trypticon reissue review. The artillery in this mode largely depended on various accessories you would attach to the battle station. The middle had a large cannon while the sides of the central ramp had weapon emplacements. There are no accessories included with Trypticon to form these parts, so the designers decided to dig back into some lore (specifically the "War for Cybertron" era) where Trypticon was turned into the Nemesis spaceship. While the official descriptions only use the term "spaceship" to refer to this form, it is clear the intent was to call back to the "War for Cybertron" era story. This freed up the need for this mode to be bristling with weapons since it wound up looking more streamlined.
Thanks to the transformation having some similarities with the G1 version of Trypticon, this mode's basic shape resembles the G1 Trypticon's battle station form. There is a central section that looks like one large, curved ramp. The shoulder cannons form two large cannons towards the back and there is a central cannon (though instead of being a large cannon accessory, this piece relies on Full-Tilt being attached to give it bulk). Each side has a platform with blasters pointing forward (the purple parts from the feet) and of course there is a dual barreled cannon in the front. It's great to see so many design elements from the original figure carrying over to this one even in this form.
With the addition of the wings on the side, Trypticon looks more like a flying battle platform than then Nemesis fans know from "Generation One" and "Beast Wars". The central ramp looks like a launching platform and the flat panels on the sides look like they could be launching pads or staging grounds where warriors can prepare for battle. There are a ton of gorgeous sculpted details in this form. The front section with the dual barreled cannon has tubes with flat panels that look like they could be some type of power conduit. The sides of the central ramp have details ranging from panel covers to cables to raised circles (that can be whatever you imagine). Each side also has a series of three beveled panels that look like they could be covers for interior machinery. The horizontal platforms on the sides have similar details as well as thin, rectangular lines sculpted into them representing road dividers. From a sculpting perspective I love the look of this figure.
The main new detail that appears in this form are the colors on the central ramp. Almost the entire thing is translucen blue lastic, allowing you to see suggestions of machinery underneath. The horizontal platforms are mostly grey with some purple parts. Like the beast mode, much of the detail comes from stickers. They include some fun details including stickers that say "Energon", others that say "Danger" and "D-63". For those wondering about the significance of "D-63", you need to go back to the Generation One toy line in Japan. In Japan the early Transformers figures each had a "code" assigned to them. Autobots (known as "Cybertrons" at the time) would have a "C" followed by a number roughly indicating their order of release. Decepticons (known as "Destrons) had a "D". "D-63" was Trypticon's G1 "code" from Japan and I love that the designers dug deep for this reference. Other stickers include hazard lines on various parts and a Decepticon symbol above the cannons in front.
While this mode is a Spaceship by description, it really is more of a preview of the functionality in City Mode. There is a lot going on with this mode. Here's a rundown:
- The Tower/Cannons in the back can move up and down and while the official transformation has the purple parts pushed in you can pull them out to look more elaborate.
- The central cannon is a callback to G1 Trypticon's partner "Brunt" whose cannon had a small barrel in the center. This piece can move up and down.
- The central ramp can fit a Deluxe Class figure in vehicle mode, though since the front of the ramp is not extended it's not recommended to push them down the ramp in this mode.
- The platforms on the sides are big enough to accomodate Deluxe (and some Voyager) Class figures in vehicle mode.
- The cannons from the feet can move up and down independent of one another.
- The cannons at the front of the ramp section can move up and down.
- Towards the middle of the ramp section there are two 5mm ports that allow you to attach weapons. For some Titan Master interaction, attach their vehicles/weapons in weapon mode to create manned gunnery stations. Right behind the ports are Titan Master pegs.
- Near the "gunnery station" area are Titan Master pegs on the teal parts of the ramp area.
- Each wing has two Titan Master pegs on it.
- Each beast mode arm in the back has two Titan Master pegs on it.
- The horizontal platforms on the sides each have four Titan Master pegs. They are divided equally between the purple and grey sections.
- The top of each foot/cannon section has one Titan Master peg.
- The top of the Tower/Cannons have two Titan Master pegs on them
- The front section has 5mm ports on either side, allowing you to attach extra weaponry.
As cool and fun as the beast mode is, this is the mode that begins to really open up (no pun intended) the play possibilities of this figure. I love how many Titan Masters you can attach. I love details like the lane stripes that give the set a sense of scale. The Titan Class size also allows figures larger than Legends Class to interact with the base while still being credible in terms of scale. Sure it's not perfect. I think most figures would have to be roughly Mini-Con size to really get close to the proper scale with Trypticon, but from a play value standpoint it works well.
Whether you call it a Battle Station or a Spaceship, this mode is a great callback to Trypticon's history. In the next section I will cover the City Mode.
