Transformers Legacy toyline

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Up until the release of Legacy Cybertron Metroplex, the best Titans had been the ones with no five-fingered hands.
 

lastmaximal

Administrator
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
It's not dawned on me until recently that they just reused Core class Soundwave's altmode box art for Legacy. Pointing-out-of-tape-deck feet and all.
 

LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
I think "Titan Masters" tried to cover the same ground that hypothetical "Masterforce" would. Or could be made to do, if they fleshed it out more (as it was, the line had one Titan, and we didn't really get much about the Titan Masters being the key to that or whatever). The word "Titan" instead of the other prefixes was at least less specific, sort of. Kind of like how Battle Masters were both guns and melee weapons.

But yeah, calling them something other than Head- or Target- etc created an umbrella with room to just throw them all in there. I guess keeping to a single element of the play pattern just made it that much clearer/simpler and easier to market.

I know Fortress Maximus wasn't the best Titan we ever got, but no need for such erasure. XD

But in all seriousness: The reason I went with "Masterforce" instead is on account of how the different interactions work. Unless, say, Trypticon and Fort Max get slots for engines to plug into, I don't see how that type would be able to master any Titans.

Doubly so for the ones who just turn into guns that the big guys hold.

Speak of the devil, apparently they're reissuing Scorponok.


Nah, that's a different Zarak...
 

lastmaximal

Administrator
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
I am very hazy on what little lore we have from the time. Why WERE they called Titan Masters? Were "bulks"/main Autobot/Decepticon partners the titans being mastered by becoming their heads? Or were the heads themselves titans and masters? Or something.
 

lastmaximal

Administrator
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
Ah, okay, they did essentially crew the Titans, thanks! Interesting, that, and does nominally leave room for other types of Masters. Just have them also be crew in-story and happen to lend power in different ways

(But yeah, better to have "Masterforce" as a cluster with subtypes, rather than them all being Titan Masters), ; if nothing else,
Tlthe toy-lore matching might be a bit tricky because then you'd have, say, 3 engine bots and 3 bulks who aren't Headmasters but conveniently do have cavities for engines.
 

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
The Titanmasters were all Headmasters in practice. The marketing material, comics, and (ugh) show all made vague allusions to various Titan-related powers (as well as giving contradictory takes about whether they were going with American or Japanese-style Headmasters), but every Titanmaster shown was a Headmaster of some kind.

PotP gave us Primemasters, which was also kinda confusing. The marketing material made it out to be that these were mini versions of the Thirteen Primes themselves but they were functionally Powermasters being little blocks you could insert into the body (or body armour) of a larger figure.

Thing is the Primemasters used the same infrastructure as Titanmasters, being the same size and using the same base shape and ports. So if "Titanmasters" was meant to be a new catch-all term then they gave up on the idea after one line. Don't get me wrong, I think standardizing Headmasters and Powermasters around the same compatible play pattern is smart. It leads to fun interconnectivity.
I just don't think the naming has been very consistent.
 

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
I just like the idea of lil' dudes interacting with bigger dudes. Call 'em what you will, but the concept is cool and the play patterns are fun.
Cosigned

I've honestly lost sight of what I was originally saying, but I don't think I disagree with any of that.
I'm just saying I don't think "Titanmasters" was ever meant to be a catch-all for the various "Master" type robots, since they only ever used the term for what were Headmasters. Powermasters got rebranded "Primemasters" even though they were reworked to be compatible with Titanmasters.

Targetmasters are still vibin'
 

Superomegaprime

Wondering bot
Citizen
I am very hazy on what little lore we have from the time. Why WERE they called Titan Masters? Were "bulks"/main Autobot/Decepticon partners the titans being mastered by becoming their heads? Or were the heads themselves titans and masters? Or something.

There is no real differences between Headmasters & Titan Masters as they are pretty much the same thing at the end of the day, robots that transform into heads and combine with larger bodies, with Fort Max & Scorponok being bots who pretty much double up on the basic idea to become even larger bots, so any confusion you have, is just down to the marketing and the gap of some twenty plus years between them!
 

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
There is no real differences between Headmasters & Titan Masters
To be fair there kinda is.
IDW established that each of the Thirteen had a Titanmaster in their "court" who could control Titans. And Hasbro's own marketing material made reference to Titanmasters maintaining and/or powering Titans in some way. I'm sure the Machinema show had something in it but I didn't watch it on account of the Combiner Wars show being trash.

Both toy marketing material and fiction seemed to alternate on whether or not they were American style (main body and head being separate characters) or Japanese style (head is the character body is a lifeless mech) Headmasters but there was at least a token effort to work in some connection to Titans.
 


Top Bottom