Titans Return Walgreens Exclusive Brainstorm Pictorial Review

This guy was so worth the wait, I got him the night he was seen in stores after work and was so hyped for him. I was begging for him to not have too many QC issues, and he did not disappoint. I'd go as far to say that out of the TR figures I own; he's the best, and my favorite by far (subject to change if I find Chromedome).

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:To me, the T30 version is still really awesome and probably the best of the Brainstorms

Eh, I don't know about that. While I don't have TR Brainstorm yet, I do have Blurr (I used to have a T30 Brainstorm, but I gave it to my cousin last month), and I find Blurr to be a lot better than T30 Brainstorm. To each his own, I guess.

Kurona wrote:The Thrilling 30 figure looks beautiful but for the life of me I'll never understand why they went Voyager.

At the time, Hasbro probably believed that they couldn't do the Headmaster concept (either correctly or at all) at the Deluxe scale with how small the average Deluxe class headsculpt was compared to the more manageable size the average Voyager class headsculpt is. Consider Voyager Brainstorm as the stepping stone experiment that led them to successfully pursuing and achieving a workable Headmaster-based concept given proper justice for the Deluxe class, as I would sincerely doubt that we'd have gotten this full Titans Return line if not for the Voyager Brainstorm figure re-opening the Headnaster concept for further exploration and experimentation.

The Snarkas Blog found some new in hand images of the upcoming wave 3 Deluxes from Titans Return. We have mirrored them below where you can get the best look yet at Titans Return Hot Rod, Triggerhappy, Breakaway (Getaway) and Twinferno (Doublecross). These give a good idea of how Hot Rod scales with his movie friends (and enemy) and they show how the handheld guns combine and how you can place the accessories on the alt modes. They also give us a look at the inner cockpits. Do any of these images change your thoughts on these figures? Will you be getting them all, none or some? Let us know!

Noideaforaname wrote:Twinferno would be perfect if he had wrist swivels. Still, he's an absolute must-buy as it is.

His crotch looks like a sad anime octopus...

I can't unsee this now!

Triggerhappy looks like he's shaping up to be my favorite of the bunch. The altmode is AMAZING.

Well I know what I'm getting

Gimme Triggerhappy and I'll be a happy Dude!

Autobot N wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:To me, the T30 version is still really awesome and probably the best of the Brainstorms

Eh, I don't know about that. While I don't have TR Brainstorm yet, I do have Blurr (I used to have a T30 Brainstorm, but I gave it to my cousin last month), and I find Blurr to be a lot better than T30 Brainstorm. To each his own, I guess.

TR Blurr is better than T30 Brainstorm but that doesnt mean that every toy should be a retool of it. Because we are ignoring the awesomeoness to have dedicated molds. By the logic presented, they could redeco MP Soundwave into Blaster colours, and release that as MP Blaster and because the original mold is better than the TR leader one that would automatically make it a better Blaster figure. But thats not how it works. TR Blurr is a phenominal figure when its Blurr. It has that super smart asymetric engineering in he legs to give you that single tail fin and it has these great wheels that roll super well and the accompnaying excellent transformation to hide that middle wheel way in robot mode. Its all genius... for Blurr.

For Brainstorm, they replicate that smart transforamtion but it falls on deaf ears. Brainstorm had 2 tail fins, like most aircraft do, but now its just one sicne its a retool of Blurr. And I am sure it can still roll quite well, but its an aircaft so what is needed is some reracatble landing gear instead. Thrilling 30 Bainstorm had that. Plus, it wasnt a parts former (Brainstorm never was) and the weapons at the end of the nosecons became his own weapons in robot mode.

That thrilling 30 brainstorm is still one of the best looking TF toys I have ever owned. I love how sleek and dynamic he looks in both modes, along with his great wingspan. Plus the cockpit fully closes and is located at the back of the spacecraft.

I am sure TR Brainstorm is a good toy, but for a representation of Brainstorm, there is none better than thrilling 30







Unless of course, nobody cares about what he looked like originally.

NovamusPrime3 wrote:Well I know what I'm getting

what are you getting?

This is going to be such an awesome wave

Is it just me, or are Hot Rod's arms really long...

Cobotron wrote:

Noideaforaname wrote:Twinferno would be perfect if he had wrist swivels. Still, he's an absolute must-buy as it is.

His crotch looks like a sad anime octopus...

I can't unsee this now!

Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! It's Chromia's Conehead knees all over again...

I really like Triggerhappy, but I'm mostly excited to see him redone into Misfire. It's also awesome to see that Hot Rod is slightly taller than most of the other deluxes in this line, which just goes to show that sometimes Hasbro does care about scale.

william-james88 wrote:Unless of course, nobody cares about what he looked like originally.

That's my mentality. Of course, it needs to resemble the original design (looking at you Movie Hot Rod) slightly. Here's my guidelines for buying a figure:
1. Does it resemble the original design? Yes for Brainstorm
2. Is the mold good (unlike CW Breakdown)? Yes for Brainstorm
3. Does the figure look good? Yes for Brainstorm

william-james88 wrote:I am sure TR Brainstorm is a good toy, but for a representation of Brainstorm, there is none better than thrilling 30

TR BS is a great figure because Blurr is a great figure. They did an outstanding job of making BS out of Blurr. Surely they could have put a tail fin that would have worked in each leg. I do like the faux fins on his upper arms.

The question that keeps coming up is: "which Brainstorm is better?" There really isn't a good way to answer that question. Each excels in ways and has it's own downfalls; one's a Voyager, one's a deluxe; one is IDW, one is G1.

Personally I'm very happy with both and will be displaying them on different shelves. I will say this; TR BS didn't get a spot on my Lost Light shelf because I feel the TR figure is a better representation of G1 BS.

all that bs is just for you Cobo

Love love love Brainstorm. One of my favorite bots of all time. Not for the shows or the comic, but for the G1 toy which was its own brand of awesomeness and easily the coolest headmaster mold (in my opinion). This version looks the most like the g1 toy to me and I can't wait to snag one. I love the thrilling 30 toy, but its just a little too IDW for my tastes. I already have the G1, thrilling 30 and SDCC versions, but I would probably buy any Brainstorm figure they release.

carytheone wrote:

william-james88 wrote:I am sure TR Brainstorm is a good toy, but for a representation of Brainstorm, there is none better than thrilling 30

TR BS is a great figure because Blurr is a great figure. They did an outstanding job of making BS out of Blurr. Surely they could have put a tail fin that would have worked in each leg. I do like the faux fins on his upper arms.

The question that keeps coming up is: "which Brainstorm is better?" There really isn't a good way to answer that question. Each excels in ways and has it's own downfalls; one's a Voyager, one's a deluxe; one is IDW, one is G1.

Personally I'm very happy with both and will be displaying them on different shelves. I will say this; TR BS didn't get a spot on my Lost Light shelf because I feel the TR figure is a better representation of G1 BS.

My mentality is that if I get one of the Autobot Headmasters, I gotta catch em all. TR BrSt is great to me because of his scale, and not necessarily his superiority over the T30 mold.

Here's hoping Takara will make versions of all of these and i will gladly buy them all.

DMSL wrote:Here's hoping Takara will make versions of all of these and i will gladly buy them all.

I wouldn't be so sure about a Takara version of Breakaway aka Lightfoot. As an excluisve perhaps?

DMSL wrote:Here's hoping Takara will make versions of all of these and i will gladly buy them all.

Me too in regards to Hot Rod.

Honestly, while Takara may do their regular awesome job, Trigger, Rod, and Twinsy are all really good to me and I consider them both looks wise to be great representations. Their Hasbro counterparts are a really good effort

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Honestly, while Takara may do their regular awesome job, Trigger, Rod, and Twinsy are all really good to me and I consider them both looks wise to be great representations. Their Hasbro counterparts are a really good effort

Agreed. In fact that's been the case with most of the Hasbro figures in this line besides Galvatron, Megatron, and PM OP's colors.

I found a BR Brainstorm too - filming the reviews even now

Love and hugs, Death

SillySpringer wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Honestly, while Takara may do their regular awesome job, Trigger, Rod, and Twinsy are all really good to me and I consider them both looks wise to be great representations. Their Hasbro counterparts are a really good effort

Agreed. In fact that's been the case with most of the Hasbro figures in this line besides Galvatron, Megatron, and PM OP's colors.

I much preffer Galvatron's dark purple in his Hasbro release. As for megatron, we have no clue what takara's will look like or if they will even release it and Hasbro's PM OP has perfectly fine colours. The grey plastic they use is cheap looking but Takara's grey plastic looks just as cheap. The one toy which I feel has the biggest difference is Blurr. I do not find him to be decelty painted compared to Takara.

william-james88 wrote:

SillySpringer wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Honestly, while Takara may do their regular awesome job, Trigger, Rod, and Twinsy are all really good to me and I consider them both looks wise to be great representations. Their Hasbro counterparts are a really good effort

Agreed. In fact that's been the case with most of the Hasbro figures in this line besides Galvatron, Megatron, and PM OP's colors.

I much preffer Galvatron's dark purple in his Hasbro release. As for megatron, we have no clue what takara's will look like or if they will even release it and Hasbro's PM OP has perfectly fine colours. The grey plastic they use is cheap looking but Takara's grey plastic looks just as cheap. The one toy which I feel has the biggest difference is Blurr. I do not find him to be decelty painted compared to Takara.

It looks more like a "Stealth Blurr" or something, which actually doesn't sound like that much of a horrible idea now that I think about it...

caryLeRon wrote:all that bs is just for you Cobo

Spewing a lot of BS there LeRon.

I agree though. One isn't necessarily better than the other. The are both great for different reasons. I guess if you could only have one, the choice would be up to the individual.

DeathReviews wrote:I found a BR Brainstorm too - filming the reviews even now

Love and hugs, Death

great death found it before i did

SillySpringer wrote:It looks more like a "Stealth Blurr" or something, which actually doesn't sound like that much of a horrible idea now that I think about it...

Maybe you could get Takara Blurr, put him in a running pose, buy two or three Hasbro Blurrs, and put them in the same pose behind the Takara one, using Hasbro's to represent speed afterimages?

Does anyone know what the release date is for these? I'm just wondering if they will hit the shelves before or after Christmas.

Cobotron wrote:

caryLeRon wrote:all that bs is just for you Cobo

Spewing a lot of BS there LeRon.

I agree though. One isn't necessarily better than the other. The are both great for different reasons. I guess if you could only have one, the choice would be up to the individual.

TR for me because scale with the other Headmasters. I wanna whole team! Highbrow is probably the one I want most because of his personality and lofty genius of his brain module spheres.

Autobot N wrote:That's my mentality. Of course, it needs to resemble the original design (looking at you Movie Hot Rod) slightly.

Hot Rod is not supposed to be a copy and paste of the G1 design (Which lets face it would be outdated for modern standards) he is actually supposed to have a original design.

Titan Prime wrote:Does anyone know what the release date is for these? I'm just wondering if they will hit the shelves before or after Christmas.

I would say somewhere right around Christmas. This wave is supposed to be wave 1 2017, but that wave usually comes just in time for Christmas, or has the past few years

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

Titan Prime wrote:Does anyone know what the release date is for these? I'm just wondering if they will hit the shelves before or after Christmas.

I would say somewhere right around Christmas. This wave is supposed to be wave 1 2017, but that wave usually comes just in time for Christmas, or has the past few years

Thanks!

Also there are different purposes for each Brainstorm.

Voyager is for a MTMTE/idw display and for a more IDW lanky look.

Deluxe is for a regular headmaster/g1 display and for a more stocky G1 look.


So William your quote about the Voyager representing him better only applies to those who care about the IDW version because there are quite a few people who like Brainstorm but not IDW.

Titan Prime wrote:Does anyone know what the release date is for these? I'm just wondering if they will hit the shelves before or after Christmas.

Those are 2 different things. The release date isnt equal to the time you will see it on shelves. For example, the release date of Wave 2 was around August 15th but they didnt appear on shelves until later. The release date for wave 3 online should be mid to late november. But that in no way predicts when they will show up on shelves.

If Wave 2 was released mid august and still hasnt hit TRU or Walmart yet (and I believe Soundwave has yet to be found at retail), then I highly doubt we will see wave 3 hit any of those stores before 2017.

DeathReviews wrote:I found a BR Brainstorm too - filming the reviews even now

Love and hugs, Death

Scouting out Pharmacies for a good reaping season again

Deadput wrote:Also there are different purposes for each Brainstorm.

Voyager is for a MTMTE/idw display and for a more IDW lanky look.

Deluxe is for a regular headmaster/g1 display and for a more stocky G1 look.


So William your quote about the Voyager representing him better only applies to those who care about the IDW version because there are quite a few people who like Brainstorm but not IDW.

...like me. I am not a MTMTE fan, and I never will be. I just don't like it. That's my opinion.

On a somewhat related note: One reason I love the Seibertron RP Game is because I can have characters, and build their personalities out myself. I can make them have my own touch. So if Hasbro comes out with a toy version of a character I own in that game (Misfire, Cliffjumper, Rosanna, and four other characters currently) I always jump for joy because I feel as if those characters have a special spot in my heard because I am making those characters come alive in a form of fiction, even if it's fan fiction.

SillySpringer wrote: Highbrow is probably the one I want most because of his personality and lofty genius of his brain module spheres.

why does everybody want highbrow

WHY DOES EVERYBODY WANT HIGHBROW!!

william-james88 wrote:Those are 2 different things. The release date isnt equal to the time you will see it on shelves. For example, the release date of Wave 2 was around August 15th but they didnt appear on shelves until later. The release date for wave 3 online should be mid to late november. But that in no way predicts when they will show up on shelves.

If Wave 2 was released mid august and still hasnt hit TRU or Walmart yet (and I believe Soundwave has yet to be found at retail), then I highly doubt we will see wave 3 hit any of those stores before 2017.

I saw a Soundwave and several wave two figures at my local walmart here in Lethbridge.


That was about a week or so ago and I'm sure all of them are gone now since I did not bother to pick any of them up.

Bumblebee21 wrote:

SillySpringer wrote: Highbrow is probably the one I want most because of his personality and lofty genius of his brain module spheres.

why does everybody want highbrow

WHY DOES EVERYBODY WANT HIGHBROW!!

Probably because he looks damn cool as heck.

Bumblebee21 wrote:WHY DOES EVERYBODY WANT HIGHBROW!!

I'm not collecting any TR deluxes (will probably spend the next year back collecting CW), but oddly enough Highbrow was the one standard Autobot Headmaster I had as a kid back in 1987. Thought it was cool in The Rebirth he turned out to be the "high class" one

Titan Prime wrote:Does anyone know what the release date is for these? I'm just wondering if they will hit the shelves before or after Christmas.

There is no hard and fast date. It depends on how well the stores stock what they have and how fast that stock moves. We know they still have a lot of Wave 1 deluxes in storage, but wave 2 is sold out from Hasbro. Some stores have indicated that they have no wave 2 in storage, so it's probably all at the distribution centers right now. Wave 2 may make its way to shelves for the Christmas rush, and depending on how well that clears out, we will probably see wave 3 around the new year. But there's a lot of unpredictable factors. Just keep your ear to the ground, maybe subscribe to your local sightings thread.

Deadput wrote:So William your quote about the Voyager representing him better only applies to those who care about the IDW version because there are quite a few people who like Brainstorm but not IDW.

Hold on there tiger. All my arguments applied to both the IDW look, the cartoon look and the g1 toy. The cartoon has the cockpit at the back of the ship and 2 tail fins, while the g1 toy had the nosecone folded in the back (so not parts forming), a tech reader that appeared when you plugged in the head and removeable guns from the alt mode for the robot to hold. The thrilling 30 Brainstorm has all of this while the new TR Brainstorm has none of this. The fact that it instead homages G1 Blurr's transformation (with the removeable shield) and not G1 Brainstorm's makes it very easy to see which toy this mold was concieved for initially.

I totally get that people like scale and the blocky nature of the TR toy which reminds them of the G1 toy.
But looking at the facts, the Gen 30 toy homages far more of every single statestide depiction of Brainstorm (g1 toy, IDW comic, G1 cartoon) than the TR one. And thats because unlike this new one, the Thrilling 30 toy was just used for Brainstorm with no other mold use in mind. Hence why any fan of Brainstorm in any of his depictions should also seek out the thrilling 30 toy. Especially in a world
where unique molds are a dieing breed.

Bumblebee21 wrote:

SillySpringer wrote: Highbrow is probably the one I want most because of his personality and lofty genius of his brain module spheres.

why does everybody want highbrow

WHY DOES EVERYBODY WANT HIGHBROW!!

Because his character. If it looked exactly the same but it was in Tomohawk colors or something, I couldn't care less. The toy isn't amazingly complicated, and some may say it's very bland and uninteresting for a TR figure. But as someone who loves Highbrow as a character, and someone who is applying for Highbrow currently in the Seibertron RPG, it's a must have for me! Even with all the other flashy figures, Highbrow is one of my favorite-looking ones because it's Highbrow.

Also, THAT GLORIOUS HEAD-SCULPT! THAT GLORIOUS TITAN MASTER!

Deadput wrote:

Bumblebee21 wrote:

SillySpringer wrote: Highbrow is probably the one I want most because of his personality and lofty genius of his brain module spheres.

why does everybody want highbrow

WHY DOES EVERYBODY WANT HIGHBROW!!

Probably because he looks damn cool as heck.

You're damn right. I only hope someone at Shapeways or somewhere will come out with a pair of 3-bladed propellers to replace the ones on the toy.

video review

Bumblebee21 wrote:

SillySpringer wrote: Highbrow is probably the one I want most because of his personality and lofty genius of his brain module spheres.

why does everybody want highbrow

WHY DOES EVERYBODY WANT HIGHBROW!!

because he's really fun. I like the bot a lot even if his head is loose. Its a cool alt mode and a cool bot mode, I dont know what is not to love.

Deadput wrote:I saw a Soundwave and several wave two figures at my local walmart here in Lethbridge.
That was about a week or so ago and I'm sure all of them are gone now since I did not bother to pick any of them up.

Thanks man, thats good, I guess he was reported then and it means all of wave 2 has been found in the US.

Deadput wrote:

Autobot N wrote:That's my mentality. Of course, it needs to resemble the original design (looking at you Movie Hot Rod) slightly.

Hot Rod is not supposed to be a copy and paste of the G1 design (Which lets face it would be outdated for modern standards) he is actually supposed to have a original design.

Don't care. It looks nothing like Hot Rod, so I wouldn't use it to represent Hot Rod in my collection.

I actually agree with Will on this one.

Thrilling 30 may look very IDW, but he does so much more that references other versions of the character, like the tech specs, the actual look of the alt mode, and the uniqueness of it. It is only Brainstorm and can only ever be Brainstorm.

To me, Thrilling 30 Brainstorm is the better one. That's not to say the Titans Return one is bad, it is a great looking figure. I feel though that Thrilling 30 nailed it a bit more on the head mold wise and homage wise

Autobot N wrote:Don't care. It looks nothing like Hot Rod, so I wouldn't use it to represent Hot Rod in my collection.

That Hot Rod is not supposed to be part of your G1 collection he is a movie figure hence he belongs to the movie collection.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:I actually agree with Will on this one.

Thrilling 30 may look very IDW, but he does so much more that references other versions of the character, like the tech specs, the actual look of the alt mode, and the uniqueness of it. It is only Brainstorm and can only ever be Brainstorm.

To me, Thrilling 30 Brainstorm is the better one. That's not to say the Titans Return one is bad, it is a great looking figure. I feel though that Thrilling 30 nailed it a bit more on the head mold wise and homage wise

But the T30 figure doesn't fit in with the Titans return headmasters unless you don't care about scale or him being with his 3 pals/partners.


My point is that the T30 figure is much better part of a IDW collection then a Titans return/G1 collection while the TR figure fits in with other Titans Return figures.