Ah, the trio is finally complete.

I know people bristle at the thought of remolds and repaints and overuses of this and that, but I'll say that Hasbro and Takara Tomy went out of their way to reuse as little as possible on these figures, in this case, the legs.

From the waist up, however, all new. And it's pretty good, actually.

Striking blue against a bone white, with a smug face that reminds me of a Conehead like Thrust or Ramjet.
A good range of motion with a nice style.

Pros:
Titan Master Caliburst's face is PAINTED!
Tampos, not stickers!
Transformation is fluid and smooth.
Face sculpt is great.

Cons:
Slugslinger's shoulders do NOT lock in. (They're a tab/slot situation, but there are no locking nubs, it's just friction based. Not a big fan of that.)
Hands do not lock in and the swivel is loose, so the hands tend to flop a bit.
Instructions completely omit an important weapon step.

There are two weapons included with Slugslinger, much like the previous releases in the line and there are a few official ways to use the weapon system, and there's one that's clearly designed to be used and they for whatever reason didn't include it, much like Perceptor's tank mode.

1.) Dual blasters. (Shown.)
2.) Shoulder mounted dual blasters. (Shown.)
3.) A weapon for the Titan Master to pilot, in which the guns mount one on top of each other. (White on top, blue on bottom). (Shown.)
4.) A weapon for Slugslinger to use with the blue on top and the white on the bottom. (Not shown. There's a recessed 5mm peg hole that is used specifically for this purpose and it's not mentioned in any of the literature or images pertaining to the figure. And yes, it's designed and molded to be used in such a fashion.)

So, is Slugslinger worth buying? Is the final retail Titans Return figure a good one?
Yes and yes. (I know Arcee is coming, but she's an exclusive. Slugslinger is indeed the last mass retail release of the new molds.)

He's good as a standalone figure, he has a snarkiness to him with that face sculpt that makes him a winner, but he's not perfect as stated above. If you have Triggerhappy and Misfire, he's a must. The trio looks so good together.

 

nice review. Looks really cool to me.

 

Great review!

I'll probably pick up this figure when I see it.

 

Awesomeness

 

Thank you! He's quite stylish.

Thank you! He's worth it.

He is. TR is ending on a good note.

 

So, with him in hand, with his shade of blue and "bone", any Titan Master jump out as good color matches for head swaps?

 

God he looks good

 

Looks great. Can't wait til I get all the Legends versions of these guys!

 

Good question. I'll have to do some digging and check.

 

I don't even have Misfire yet but god damn this guy is really looking good. I hope to find him with Cogman once he hits here.

 

Thanks. Also they don't have to be exact matches as long as it looks good. Or even those that don't color match, but look good anyway. Fangry on Mindwipe, or Clobber on Hardhead, for example, may not be color matches, but look like it could be the proper "owner" to the body, for examples.

Ptero, Clobber, Daburu, Thunderwing, Takara or Hasbro Scourge, etc.

 

I wish he had a 1987 toy accurate head.

 

I never liked the original head so I can live with it.

 

Just got mine in the mail... love the paint apps, apparently he got all of the Voyagers deco budget. Plus, weapons that look good as weapons!

 

I had an original Slugslinger toy and his cartoon redesign never grew on me due to his lack of appearances.

Besides, he should really have been almost black like in Rebirth.

 

Ah,I can't wait to put T30 Caliburst on him LOL.

 

I was hoping Brainstorm and Optimus would be my last TR purchases, but damn, I might have to get this guy now too. He looks so good with Misfire and Triggerhappy

 

Is the shoulder design on Slugslinger the same as Misfires? The description of the shoulders not locking into place in bot mode despite having a tab/slot set up sounds just like Misfire's.

I'm super excited to get a Slugslinger of my own. The Deluxe Targetmaster Titans Return Decepticons are so fun to play around with and look great on display.

 

Question, Are Triggerhappy, Misfire and Slugslinger some kind of team or something?

 

The Decepticon Targetmasters.