Titans seem to be more popular than they were when Grand Max was announced, and current Titans are better made as well, so I could see a Black Zarak being made down the road easily.

 

I could see them being maybe future HasLab projects but I figure if we haven't gotten a Metrotitan yet, then a Black Zarak might be a long shot as well. Especially since TT's Generations Grand Max didn't sell too well. Too be completely honest, after Kingdom's Ark-Titan, I actually hope they take a break from the Titan Class for a bit. It would definitely be much easier on the old wallet.

 

How about a different question?

 

It's times like these we need TTemploy back.

 

OK, I didn't get Fort Max or Metroplex, but it seems to me they have always "offloaded" partners.

Metroplex: Came with Scamper, not Slammer or Sixgun.
Fort Max: Came with Cerebros and "Emissary" but not Cog/Gasket/Grommet
Trypticon: Has Full-Tilt, but not Brunt
Scorponok: Has Zarak(s), but not Full Tilt
Omega Supreme is the outlier here, coming with Countdown where the original didn't have a partner.

As for play features, the original Metroplex didn't have much, and I could do without the motorized features of Trypticon and Omega Supreme. That leaves Fort Max and Scorponok, both of whom lost a lot of their play features, released four years apart. I don't see a pattern there.

 

- Metroplex didn't have slammer or Sixgun. In the US, it came with one gun. The ramp from his chest was short and rationalized by rotating his body so it ended on his leg. He didn't have the pieces that make him look more like a tower, and instead compensated with strange transformations of his hands. He was very hollow and not solidly built. No ankle tilts. Only basic finger articulation. Chrome was limited to Takara and SDCC releases (like the 2nd gun).


-Fortress Maximus was a heavy retool of Metroplex and only exists because of him. Most of the legs are reuses (with minor mods) of Metroplex. Arms are mostly reuses. THis makes him unable to transform into classic City Mode properly. No Cog/Gasket/Grommit. Both guns omitted. Torso cannons omitted. Ramps are recycled from Metroplex and are half as long.

-Trypticon saw handful of parts missing, but mostly hit all the crucial notes. The "compromise" was in size. As the first post-Metroplex based non-combiner Titan, the "opportunity cost" of the bulk needed to make the dinosaur shape and build him more solidly than Metroplex/Fort Max was to make him more compact. He has about same amount of plastic as Fortress Maximus, just in a body that is significantly shorter than Metroplex. He "should be" about the same size rather than somewhat more compact, but this likely would have seen the MSRP hit $200.

-Omega Supreme does his robot mode better than the character has ever been done. His base mode certainly echoes the original G1 design, but does a budget-friedly new configuration that makes the fewer in number ramps look good. The Tank body is a bit big for it. By adding additional ramps (Nonnef) you can make the original base design and the tank looks a lot better on it. I think the character is suited for the more compact design compared to the other Titans, but the place they "skimped" was the ramps. Basically, as I see it, in a perfect world the Nonnef Ramps would have been included, even if they had no Robot mode function. But this would have added to the cost.

- Scorponok is awesome, but also somewhat compromised. From the original is missing almost every part that is orange (gun grabber claws, elevator, ramps). He is missing two shoulder cannons. His shield is a half hearted mini-shield thats too small for him. Missing other city-mode sensors and mini towers. He is rather ingeniously built to be big and solid, but his ankle design is a consequence of cost limiations it seems, and size wise he looks at Fortress Maximus chest.

To be clear, I don't think there was any kind of plan here. I think Hasbro made Metroplex as a one off and sold it as "the biggest TF EVER!", and to hit the price point they wanted while doing that, they made him hollow. I think they decided they wanted to start doing Titans seriously with Fortress Maximus and opportunistically reused Metroplex parts where they could to keep costs down, while charging more for the substantially greater plastic, parts (headmasters) and paint he required. I think we really get to Trypticon before Hasbro has decided how "big" an robot mode Titan is. And we saw them stay along that standard with Omega Supreme and Scorponok. I think with the Ark/Teletran 1, he'll make a pretty big vehicle mode playset fit for those new Core class figures... probably the size of one of the Millenium falcon's we've got over the years. But in Robot mode, I'm willing to be he's no bigger than Omega Supreme. And I'm willing to bet if they do Metroplex and Fortress Maximus again, they'll scale them off Tryticon and Scorponok respectively.

All these compromised and squareing-of-the-circle make sense if getting a Titan class figure on the shelf for $130-$180 is the objective. But if you're doing all this, and then Target's get 1-2 cases in August and 1-2 cases in November, then it's really a figure in wide distribution in name only. Hell in my case, I fortuitously came across the guys at Target taking Scorponok and Skylynx out of their cases (and a lot of other toys) on a Sunday in August. I just asked them if they could open the cases (they were working on other toys) and grabbed one of each. So effectively half of that specific Target's entire inventory for Scorponok and Skylynx for the month of August never even touched the shelf.

If that's what Titan distribution is gonna be like, just do Haslab IMO. And if you're gonna do Haslab, go all the way. There is absolutely nothing sacred about having big toys on the shelves like that anymore.

 

Blackzarak is smaller than Scorpinok - both Grand Maximus and Blackzarak used smaller Transtectors than their moldmates in Zone. You could probably scale down the 2020 toy a bit, retool for a new head and a little chest cubbyhole for Zarak himself, call it a commander.

@Pixelmaster - how likely is it Legends Black Rorochi gets GPS? We keep getting told the problem is sorted but iirc swirled plastic keeps breaking as late as Unite Warriors toys.

 

Assuming Takara will be the one to tackle Black Zarak, I don’t think that’s going to happen before the next trilogy. All their Gen Selects releases are based on prior trilogy. Now we don’t know whether this is just Takara working through their backlog of old Prime Wars molds - so we might still see them shift to using more recent molds once that’s done - but I am willing to believe it’s the MO of their GS line. So my guess: 2022, if we’re lucky.

 

Haslab titans? First lets make Pulse and Haslab available worldwide, THEN we can talk.

 

Designers really didn't seem to put much thought into ramps for Omega. The ramps on the main base unit can't possibly be connected to the Modulators, however those were release the year after Omega.

Scorponok does have his shoulder cannons. He is also taller than you make it seem. He is slightly shorter than Fort Max, but Scorponok's eyes are level with Fort Max's chin. It is a shame pretty much all the play feature for the base from the original were omitted.

 

I think how they designed the ramps looks actually really good! If you're going to do a 6-segment (4 on back 2 on leg) riff on Omega's original design, it was a pretty inspired take. But it's one totally born of necessity. Nonnef's entire track pack costs $40. Let's say with economies of scale and simplified parts, Hasbro could have done it for $25-$30, it's still adding considerable cost to the toy for slabs of plastic only useful in one mode. So I *get* the exclusion. But they I consider that Omega was online only in the US. No major retailer carried him in store. And his distribution was so limited. that only stocks sold out rather quickly ( though if you ordered when he was availible, he was easy to get). Hasbro calibrated production probably a bit under demand, so they just did a second run of him and Jetfire.

It's just like... there's a contradiction here. You cut titans parts count short to have them hit a price target that major retailers are comfortable stocking and you think parents will buy (all perfectly sensible), but then you pair it with extremely limited distribution... either online only or let's say no more than 4 cases per store (8 figures), and more likely just 2 cases, in the 5 month release window. It's makes no sense.

If I were King of Hasbro, i'd just do this.

$50 leader.
$65 supreme class
$80 commander

And that would be the line. Titans, I'd do for $250-$350 on Pulse, as essentially Made to order (not unlike what NECA is doing).

And just for completeness sake that $65 supreme is so you can do "leader class" figures without being constrained by the $50 price point. Kind of like how they're doing the Studio Series 86 Hot Rod figure at $30 with Voyager level parts count, even though he's a deluxe. At $65 you could do your G1 Optimus with a non-compromised trailer, our a legit Power Master Optimus prime, or things of that naure.

 

Since we're getting the Ark, how about an Astrotrain that turns into the Nemesis?

Since a lot of Titans come with helpers, how about a deluxe fembot retooled as Auntie? The now sentient Ark can be called Teletran.

 

I’m gonna call it right now and say Black Zarak will be a Black Friday Hasbro pulse exclusive.

 

Oh snap I'd be down for a titan Nemesis to go along with titan Ark.

 

I saw mentioned in another thread that Kingdom was initially supposed to be UT and not BW (was it @Pixelmaster ? Don't remember exactly), so assuming it wasn't cancelled but only shifted one year, we could very well get the rumored titan class Tidal Wave next after the Ark.

 

Commander is made only to phase out Titan

 

So post kingdom there are no titan figures planned and the largest size class will be commander. On that note before kingdom was conceived was it supposed to be strictly Armada or all eras of the UT?

 

No more titans in the future, then? Can we at least expect two commander figures instead of only one each year?

 

That is a shame as I'd have liked a better Fortress Maximus and Metroplex but I can understand that price point not being viable anymore. Hopefully haslabs in the future.
If commander class is the future of larger figures tidal wave seems appropriate, I hope Omega Supreme gets a re do at size, felt it was far more appropriate for him, Overlord too would be most fitting.

 

Well shite..... I guess we have our definite titan list now... Plus side, I can finally settled rivalries with the titans I own/will own.

Omega Supreme v. Devastator.
The Ark v. Trypticon.