DX9 Tyrant Review

DX9 had a good 2015, branching out from their associaton with Unique Toys, releasing some nifty little Legends figures (Hulkie still to land, ZOMG!) and making quite the name for themselves with Carry, their take on a Masterpiece scaled Rodimus Prime. It was a good toy, nay it was a great toy, and a very well received one to boot. Riding that wave of momentum comes their logical next release - Tyrant. Yes, Prime's nutzoid nemesis gets the pseudo MP treatment as DX9 draw first blood in the Third Party Galvatron Wars.

Now, I like Galvatron. Look at his G1 cartoon origins; As Megatron reborn, this initially cold and clinical beast develops God sized daddy issues, fails at taking on his chaos bringing stepdad and becomes a raving twinkle horned lunatic in the follow up episodes after a prolonged nap in molten lava at the hands of Rodimus Prime. Sometime afterwards the big fella doesn't take too well to the idea of forced therapy to help him through his trauma, so blows up the planet his treatment takes place on. Personally.

That's the kind of music that sings to me, so a high end toy of Galvatron has expectations to live up to. Is Tyrant worthy of your your hard earned cash? Well..

I don't usually prattle on about packaging but this is a midnight carnival of garish colour and noise, full of lawsuit baiting imagery and phrasing along with what may or may not be teases to future releases. They don't even spell his name right. It hurts my eyes, I enjoy its bravado and we're done.

Evil gets a makeover

Tyrant comes packaged in robot mode, and straight away you have a fix to do. Urgh. You have to swap out the hip panels. Which were popped on the wrong sides at assembly. It's easy, but something to be aware of. That out of the way, Tyrant is a sight to behold. There's no escaping the bang up job DX9 have done here. From the three pronged crown to Sir's choice of golden or sparkly particle cannon, this is Galvatron through and through and it's kind of brilliant. Initial impressions out of the box are heavy, solid and purdy.

Fixes?! KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!

'..I want the Matrix'

That initial feeling of high quality continues as you have a good mess about, with chunky ratchets and tight friction joints abound. There's a good range of motion available to you which means some dynamic poses are easily within your grasp and the cleverly die cast feet do a good job in keeping him well grounded if not looking a bit bizarre. Which makes it all the more infuriating to have such a daft outward hip ratchet. From neutral...

Enough crotch for you?

..to damn! I mean, why? Thankfully there's enough play between the ratchet detents to circumvent some of this but it's a frustrating design choice. As are the fingers, which look great and are full of articulation - ball jointed knuckles, hinged fingers - but they're so small and loose and worrying. They don't stay in a position well and most of the time I find myself balling his fists to avoid using them at all.

Still, these gripes are gripes you can work around, and I write this just realising he has an upper bicep swivel (it's tight!) which means I can now access the double jointed elbow and add valuable XP to my Tyrant's articulation level. Result.

Accessory wise, Tyrant comes with his particle cannons in both animation and toy flavours, a (huge) Matrix and a chain for him to wear it around his neck. My Matrix appears to have been er.. 'appropriated' by my nephew so you'll have to make do with him wearing MP-10's.. it fits better anyway. His cannon actually contains a blindingly bright purple LED torch. The neighbours hate it! Magnificent stuff.

As you take your eyes on a tour of the figure, you'll see so many things that are so spot on to the original cartoon character yet the designer was not totally beholden to the animation model, so his alt mode treads end up on his back to no detriment at all. It's a choice made to keep the robot mode clean and works, though you G1 purists might find this a bit jarring. Some have commented on the proportions, that his arms are bit weedy and short but in hand? Nah. Not at all. This is a fantastic representation of Galvatron and both FansToys and X-Transbots have some serious work ahead of them.

And special mention must go to the head sculpt which is in all honesty, one of the best out there today. It's not just nailed down, DX9 came round to your house with a framed photo of it and put it up in your front room and in my eyes is truly the defining aspect of the figure.

Except for maybe the transformation, and it was from here on in that my love affair with Tyrant started to lose its sparkle. Right, I enjoy a challenge. I do. But Tyrant's transformation just doesn't click with me. First time round I used the instructions. I could've hopped onto Youtube but I thought 'Screw that, Carry was a dream, let's go for it'. GO ON YOUTUBE.

Because it took me 90 minutes and some stressed pieces even though I was was warned about them before using the included booklet.

After finally figuring out how to fit his arms inside his chest I needed a cigarette break. Which seemed apt as come leg transformation time it appears that the writer of said booklet was also on theirs.

Maybe it's just me? I dunno. But for your own enjoyment of an involved and inventive transformation (there's some really nice stuff going on to fill out gaps and maintain solid shapes), don't rely on the instructions first time round because the fun quickly becomes undone. I will also say that in addition to the warnings about these pieces, there are also some wickedly tight tolerances when transforming the leg panels too so be careful full stop.

                              
Space Cannon? We'll go with that. It's great regardless, an imposingly chunky bit of starscreaming bloody murder with all the parts on Tyrant's robot mode that seemed a bit understated finding their own voice after conversion.

Working rubber treads, chrome, translucent and metallic red highlights and to finish it off the toy almost totally changes its base colour which is an awesome little visual trick. Everything pegs together tightly and you also feel like your hands have been put through an Insanity workout in getting here.

No messing about though, I love Tyrant's vehicle mode.

Sadly, going back to robot mode (which as always, is so much easier) I felt that some of the shine had come away from my immediate thoughts regarding the figure. I had damaged it, caused a chip on that chiselled face of his while getting it out of vehicle mode and once I had him back in his robot form left Tyrant well alone for a day. Hmm.

Picking him up to write this review though, well I won't be putting him down for a good while after. Though the days of us finishing each others sentences and staying up drinking into the dawn have long gone now that he's revealed a bit too much of himself that I don't like.

Tl:dr then. Both forms are superb. Getting to one feels like someone has their middle finger in my face all the way through. It's an almost win of a figure but carries some serious caveats to universally recommending it as there is potential for breakage and frustration. The press on this toy has been almost unanimously positive and I'm not going out of my way to piss in the punchbowl, I'm just telling you of my own experience with it. DX9 made one of my figures of 2015. And this one is very, very good. I like Tyrant, I just don't love Tyrant.

'..but I got your name in a tattoo and everything'

You can order Tyrant from Masterforce here and you can read more from Boatful Manfish here.

Masterforce's Transformers Titans Return overview

New York Comic Con has seen Hasbro unveil their new Titans Return line which is the second part of a trilogy that begun with Combiner Wars, now tackling Headmasters. All Master figures (Target, Head an Power) will now be known as Titan Masters. The heads will be interchangeable so the heads will all fit deluxe figures while the larger Voyager and Leader figures will have 'helmet' pieces to make the heads larger. Importantly, the heads will be mounted on a ball joint (a la Brainstorm) to allow more movement. Also returning will be tech specs!

This is definitely a continuation of Hasbro's move towards what fans want in an attempt to curtail the third party market. Hardhead has been released already by Toyworld, as has Skullcruncher but Fansproject's upcoming Hardhead is now likely to suffer as is their just released Crox, plus fans may stay away from preordering the rest of the Function X line in case Titans Return see the remaining characters released. Maketoys have only released one Headmaster but presumably Hasbro's announcement means we're less likely to see any more in the line.

With Galvatron in the mix, are fans likely to abandon the Masterpiece sized Tyrant from DX9 in favour of a smaller but infinitely cheaper Voyager release? Between these announements, the Combiner War figures and Takara's ramping up of the Masterpiece schedule ( including the Quakeblast and Quakewave killing reveal of an official Masterpiece Shockwave/Laserwave) the free ride of third party companies seems to be at an end with HasTak determined to make life difficult for them.

Here's what we've seen so far.

Legends figures
At the smallest end of the scale come Rewind and Stripes. Both convert from tablets to attack vehicles. Triple changers definitely seem to be a theme with this line.


Rewind
As a major character in More Than Meets the Eye, it's no surprise to see a Rewind figure as Hasbro attempts to tie the comics, games and toy universes together. Presumably an Eject repaint will appear too judging by the number of repaints we saw in Combiner Wars.

Stripes

Stripes was a character who appeared in a draft of the Transformers the Movie script where he would have been one of Blaster's cassettes. The character finally became a toy in 2012 when released as an E-Hobby exclusive repaint of Ravage...presumably everyone's favourite Decepticon cat can't be far behind. A very obscure choice intended to perhaps head off KFC who haven't yet released this character, but are releasing the equally obscure scorpion cassette who was also written out of the movie.

Deluxe Figures
The first two figures to be announced are Skullcruncher and Hardhead. Another two deluxes will round out the wave.

Skullcruncher will come with his Titan Master Grax. Skullcruncher debuted in this month's More Than Meets the Eye as a stand up comedian, does a toy release suggest we'll be seeing more of his ahem...comic representation?

Hardhead comes with his partner Duros

Voyagers
2 Voyagers have been announced so far - Sentinel Prime, which is almost guaranteed to be remade into Astrotrain and Galvatron.

Galvatron
Galvatron's Titan Master is none other than Megatron!

Sentinel Prime
Sentinel is also a triple changer with a train and space shuttle alt modes.










Leaders
2 Leaders will be initially released although only one has been confirmed - Blaster. Will the second Leader be Soundwave? Leader figures will also be triple changers.

Blaster
Blaster can store the legends class figures in their pad mode in his chest. His Titan Master is Twincast, a miniature version of himself.

Titan Masters
Additional Titan Master figures will be sold with small transforming vehicles, somewhat similar to the G1 Micromaster Transports. 4 have been announced so far - Crashbash, Loudmouth, Nightbeat and Terri-Bull. The vehicles can become weapons for the deluxe, voyager and leader class figures. You can find the 12 images here.

You will be able to order Titans Return figures at www.masterforce.co.uk

Combiner Wars Cyclonus Review

After seeing all of my favourite characters brutally killed, and brand new, less cool replacements taking their place, I emerged from the cinema in 1986 liking only one of the new characters from Transformers: The Movie.

It all centred on a single moment, when the Decepticons are pursuing the Autobot Shuttle through space (with Hot Rod being as annoying as ever), and Galvatron dispatches Cyclonus to finish them off.
He drops out of the Decepticon ship, transforms to jet mode then does this slow roll before jetting off leaving these awesome rocket trails following him.

Even now, with any jet toy I get I try to recreate that sequence, noises and all.

Ahem, anyway here we have Combiner Wars Cyclonus who is a very heavy remold of Silverbolt. Enough to earn your money?

Read on.

Hasbro have produced the best recreation of the G1 animation model jet. The top is as close as perfect as you are likely to get, and it looks really beautiful. Silverbolt has no presence here, everything appears to be brand new. I especially love the flat exhaust vents which have the tail fins mounted on top, they just yell "fast jet whizzing towards you!".

The bright vibrant Purple that makes up most of the jet, is broken up with Silver, Gold on the cockpit and some gorgeous darker Purple. 

A far better proportioned and less stubby nose than the Universe toy had, juts out of the front looks sleek as heck.

The telescoping antenna is nowhere to be found, but it does not hurt the look in the slightest. If you really need that in your life, you can mount Cyclonus' gun under the nose to produce a similar, if more ridiculous silhouette.

Curving edges give the jet mode an almost 1950's in places, as there is a very retro feel to it, mostly in the form of the cockpit and rounded body behind it. 

It calls to mind those rounded, vintage cars you see in old video footage of Hollywood during those times the talkies were making it big.

However sleek the top looks, once you take a peek at him from the side - you can see Cyclonus is a jet carrying a folded up robot.

You can clearly see his body hanging away under there but that does not bother me at all. The Universe toy looked great in robot mode, but suffered badly in jet mode and lost almost all of the sleekness you would associate with Cyclonus. Here we have a very sleek G1 Cyclonus, just carrying a box underneath.

I don't mind stuff like that, because the G1 cartoon trained me to think of it as having doors and ramps that people could enter through (Silverbolt, Skyfire). or just be rocket boosters.

At the end of the day it is a toy, and not designed to be a Masterpiece figure or an exact replica of a specific vehicle. 

It is not as if the looks of this mode are particularly compromised either. The robo pancake underneath fits quite well and does not especially look out of place. One thing that does look daft however, is that unlike Silverbolt, Cyclonus' head is not covered up in alt mode. So he looks a bit like he is piloting an Exo-Suit of his own body.

Hasbro's designers may have just gotten to this bit and given up, because that is certainly how it feels.

If you are are going to remold a figure that is fine, but at least make the effort to ensure make it look complete.

Though his face peering out there looks a bit like the Emperor from Return of the Jedi, or Zartan from GI:Joe.

Cyclonus' jet mode looks great, and feels like a toy. Not a collectors piece, but a thick, solid toy to be played with.

As with all Combiner Wars figures, making it fun to play with seems to be the prevailing idea and it is achieved handily.

You may not like the robot/jet backpack thing he has going on, but it does not hamper the figure in any meaningful way. In fact you soon stop noticing it.

The head not hiding though, is less easy to forgive. Somebody dropped the ball on that.

Transforming Cyclonus is almost exactly the same as transforming Silverbolt even if some the parts have been totally remolded and fit together slightly differently. His jet nose for example pegs into a large tab that stands where the tail fins on Silverbolt are placed.

The wings seem to snap into place over the pegs much better on Cyclonus too, where on Silverbolt the tabs seemed to be ever so slightly too big so would often force their way apart.

One difference, and it is only one is the tail fins. On Cyclonus they are separate pieces that slot into the underside of his hands, so when you transform him he ends up wielding them as knives. Vicious.

You can pop them out and slot them into any peg hole but the official way is on the sides of the arms. That is a cool look, but my personal preference is to attach them to the holes on his back as it makes him look like a frickin Dinosaur, and I am in full Jurassic Park mode at the moment with the new movie being out.

Spoiler - Things go badly for the humans, and it is awesome.

In a complete about face from his starkly G1 alt mode, Cyclonus robot mode appears to based on no particular version of the character - this guy is his own bot. Recently Hasbro have been on an IDW trip, so you may have expected a Cyclonus figure based on that version of the character, after all he is one of the most prominent characters in More than Meets the Eye. No, they decided to go all maverick on us and churn out something different...gut punchingly different.

Hasbro have completely remolded the upper chest, so major points for that, but also in a twist from the total remold of the alt mode, most of the pieces here carry over from Silverbolt. The legs, arms, stomach and waist are all just repainted parts of Silverbolt, but they don't look bad. It actually works fine.

What draws my eyes however and ire (old fashioned word that), is the shoulders.

Not giving him his traditional 80's power suit shoulder pads is a bitter pill I can swallow if someone gives me a matching shade of Purple to wash it down with.....but they didn't.

The shoulders are a much darker, sparkly type of Purple plastic and instantly it pulls your eyes to it and looks out of place. For some reason my brain cannot quite comprehend, it makes me think he is wearing a tank top.

It just breaks up the flow of what is otherwise a lovely looking robot, and it has taken me a long time to get over it.

Fanboy that I am.

Also following on from Silverbolt is his gun, but this time remolded in Grey plastic. I have just flung this to the side, because it does not fit in with Cyclonus in my opinion.

It is very obviously Silverbolts gun, and it is too huge to subtly match with Cyclonus. You can use Nightstick from Universe Cyclonus though, and it looks much better on this sized figure to be honest.

Cyclonus does not need a gun though, he has evil tail fin knives.

What I have not spoken about yet is the head, which is all new and clearly has had a lot of time spent on it.
The face is fantastic, and looks like he is pulling off a constant sneer, because he views you and everyone else with such disdain. Unless your name is Galvatron, then he turns his stomach into your head as an homage.

There is some excellent paint work with the Red eyes and they are outlined very cleanly in Black.

His head crest is larger than normal, and has a twisted feel that is much more creepy than usual. Then again, he is reborn from a dead robot....so he is naturally creepy.

It also looks even more like a demonic crown, which is cool because as a kid, I used to use my broken Cyclonus as a Star Wars Emperor kind of character and would call him King Purple as his secret villain name.

A ball joint holds the head in place, but due to the size of his noggin you don't get much extra movement out of it. Articulation for the rest of him is exactly the same as the previous use of the mold - nothing new to report sadly.

Despite reusing many of Silverbolts parts the Purple plastic hides it sneakily well. You don't feel like you are looking at just a Purple Silverbolt, which is handy.

Extra remolding has made a large difference, and despite the annoying shoulders I find that I like this figure even more than Silverbolt, and that was arguably my favourite toy of last year (so much so, I own it twice).

There is just something quite freeing about seeing a Cyclonus figure that is not beholden to trying to stick to slavishly to a G1 model, and struggle due to it being really tough to match the animators original ideas.

This is where it gets a little wonky folks, because as part of Combiner Wars Cyclonus can transform into a combiner torso. But instead of just leaving it as Superion but in eeeevil Purple, Hasbro went crazy and decided to remold it all and call it Galvatronus.

Yes, Cyclonus turns into a body of Galvatron out of fanatical devotion to the artist formerly known as Megatron. Actually, they should have called this mode Purple Rain, I'd totally be on board.

The bio says something about mind control, but really that does not matter and I doubt many people will ever bother with this mode. If you are buying the extra limbs though, it does give you somewhere to stick Alpha Bravo, Rook and Off Road, and create a bitter combiner out of all of the cast offs.

Nice to see them go to the extra effort to make him different from Superion, and the new molding is all really nice - but it is not for me. The Galvatronus head does not quite hit the mark as Galvatron, but is quite a cool, Kuato from Total Recall style bonus. If they had spent the extra resources on the individual robot mode of Cyclonus, I think it would have been a much wiser decision.

It is easy to dismiss Cyclonus as just a repaint but it is such a good toy in its own right. The jet mode is fantastic, bot mode is really cool and the combiner mode is...well...it is a thing that exists.

This is not the IDW Cyclonus we all want, but that does not mean it is not a good toy. If you are skipping it purely because it is a repaint then I believe you are missing out, as that was my plan too but once I got it in hand I became completely smitten.

All hail King Purple.

Combiner Wars Cyclonus is available to buy from Masterforce.co.uk

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