TITANIUM ADVENTURE

My latest TF purchase (aside from the awesome Swoop) comes in the form of War Within Grimlock, the last of the Titanium line with Prowl and a Toys R Us Exclusive. I have to say, I was never in love with the Titanium line, but this guy is actually pretty damn cool. I wasn't expecting much, but he surprised me. But first, a little history of the six inch Titanium line and me:

When this was announced, I thought it was pretty cool but wasn't terribly interested in it. Sure, it seemed like a great idea as a side line for collectors, but none of the first wave grabbed me. I'd have to wait and see...

First wave: WW Optimus Prime and GIJOE Megatron. Prime was actually pretty cool looking, and I liked that Hasbro was branching into comic figures. Still...he didn't catch my attention long enough for me to spend twenty bucks on, especially since I was knee deep into being a completest for Cybertron (A line that I really, really liked.) So, unfortunately, Prime had to pass for Scott to save a little dough. And the Megatron? Ugh. What a boring robot mode, boring tank mode, and a transformation that I could work out just by looking at the vehicle mode. I mean, I know that the Titaniums had simple transformations, but this was ridiculous. I mean, you could see his crotch on the front of the tank. PASS. Things were not boding well. But then, a ray of light appeared....

Second wave: WW Jetfire and WW Thundercracker. Now we're talking. WW done right. Prime's coolness, but with more interesting designs and different characters. Thundercracker BEFORE Starscream? Sign me up! TC became the first purchase from this line. He's pretty cool, shoulders are a bit weak, but other wise a great figure. It really showed me what this line could do. Jetfire was nice too, but a little too skinny, and like I said earlier, my cash was almost all in Cybertron.

Third wave: Optimal Optimus and Scourge. The awesomeness continued with this wave. I'm not a huge G1 booster and I especially hate the movie designs. So Scourge was a definate pass for me, but even I could admit it was pretty nice. But Optimal Optimus? From Beast Wars, one of my favorite TF eras? I was actually excited for this toy. Not to mention that the actual Optimal Optimus figure was getting some weak joints due to all the excessive play from my youth. So I was eager for a new one. And it was great, the figure was a perfect scaled down model, and had metal in all the right places. Complete with show accurate chest guns! He's my favorite of this line to this day.

Fourth Wave: Rodimus and Soundwave. What went wrong here? Rodimus? Rodimus sucks. He sucked in the cartoon, his original toy sucked, why would we want another of him? Granted, this toy was the best he ever looked, but my hatred for all things Hot Rod and Rodimus drove me away from him, which I was A-Ok with. I did buy Soundwave though. I may not love G1 more then other Transformers series (don't get me wrong, I like the series, just not as much the movie-verse, animated-verse, and others) but it's impossible to not love Soundwave. He's awesome, pure and simple. And as I never had any Soundwave toy, and Classics Soundwave was not on the horizon yet, I bought him. And truthfully, he's not terrible, but the low crotch is definitely weird and my Soundwave is the definition of floppy. So he was good, posable for a Titanium, but not great, because he couldn't stand.

Fifth Wave: WW Starscream and RID Optimus Prime. Ah, the first repaint. Seeing as I like Thundercracker better then Screamer and I already owned the mold, I passed. And as for Prime, it was cool that they brought his trailer into the transformation, but the mold didn't look cool enough to take my money. Especially after Floppywave.

But then...Titaniums went away. They completely dried up. No new releases. Once they sold, they were nary to be found. Until some weird shipping schedule shipped out wave six and wave EIGHT into stores. A lot, actually.

Wave Six: Cheetor and The Fallen. New molds! Hurrah! Actually, for all the bad press surrounding Beast Machines, I actually kinda liked parts of it. Sure, a bunch a Cheetors were churned out, but hey, why not one more? It's not as good as Night Slash Cheetor but the figure was actually nice. The Fallen was an awesome choice, and even though the vehicle mode was a little weak, the robot mode had a lot of great details. Both of these interested me enough to buy.

Wave Eight: WW Sunstorm and WW Magnus. Sunstorm and not Skywarp? Um, ok, whatever. Not a bad looking repaint but the seeker mold was not good enough to warrant a second purchase having already passed on Screamer. As for Magnus, I'm actually in the minority of people that LOVE the white Optimus repaint. I have the Ultra Magnus from Universe, Classics, and OTFCC statue. So, since I passed on Prime I didn't have this mold, and bought him. A little floppy, but kinda cool. It was bittersweet, the end of Titaniums being a repaint of the first toy. And it was pretty cool...

Whats that you say? Wave Seven? Ah yes. WW Megatron was never seen on his own but plenty seen packed with Prime at Toys R Us. The toy didn't possess any of the power of WW Megs, looked dumb and had a really half assed vehicle mode. The Holy Grail of Titaniums G1 Ultra Magnus, complete with armor. I don't know why this is so popular. Are people that desperate for armor? He had an entire cab sticking out of his back and huge shoulders!

Oh, and let's not forget the comic con exclusives. I hate Rodimus but I'm a sucker for black repaints so Menasaur made his way into my collection. Yeah, the molds not that great, but at least the color scheme was cool. Looked much better at Botcon though. As for Skywarp, I was going to buy him...but unfortunately my budget kicked in so thats out of my reach. Oh well, I have one of the mold.

So that's it, including these two exclusives, twenty releases in all. In my collection, I gots eight. A cool line but hampered by simple transformations, simple alternate modes, and floppy joints that means they can barely stand. But Grimlock is truly the last of this piece of TF history. How does he stack up?

His vehicle mode is a little too simple. Legs stick out a bit too much. But that being said, it still looks pretty good. Much Better then WW Megs. It's fairly detailed, and looks pretty accurate to the comics. His weapon storage is not accurate but it's simply nice he has it. Transformation is, of course, very easy. But I don't really find that to be a detriment for these figures, I mean, they do have to deal with all that weight. Joints, now that's another story. How is his robot mode? Actually, great, almost perfect. No one is more fitting to be cast from metal then one of my favorites, Big Grim. The legs are fairly posable, although his shoulders lack and his arms suffer due to their design. Which brings me to Grimlock's only problem. His arms. The design is great and the mold looks cool except for his incredibly SMALL and puny arms. They just look so wrong. Not to mention they sort of stick out of his shoulders and limit any posablity. However, other then that big quip, he's my second favorite Titanium after Primal and a great TF on his own right. Fairly posable, bulky and detailed, he just looks pretty badass. And he comes with two different accessories, not just one or two of the same. It's great. So, ok posabilty, ok vehicle mode, and cool robot mode make Grimlock a cool figure on his own right. Certainly cooler now that he's an exclusive. Perhaps that's what this line should've been from the beginning.

So, in conclusion, Grimlock is recommended, I know there is a lot of Universe and Animated stuff out right now (BELIEVE me I know) But he's certainly worth a look. Can't speak for Prowl though.

Since I like making lists and in case anyone cares what I think, here is how I rate the eight molds that I own. I was going to add them all in but I guess it's only fair since the line gets beat on enough, so I won't judge those that I don't have.

1. Optimal Optimus
2. Grimlock
3. Ultra Magnus
4. Fallen
5. Cheetor
6. Thundercracker
7. Menasaur
8. Soundwave

Hopes everyone enjoyed my rambling trip through this line. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts! So drop a comment, or email, or whatever! See you guys next time!