Transformers has been taking it’s cues big time from Star Wars lately. Attacktix, Star Wars Transformers, There’s some Unleashed statues on the way, and then there’s Titaniums. The Titaniums line consists of smaller 3” sized “figures” that have limited poseability and generally ugly sculpts, as well as a 6” like of actual Transformers.
The 6” line is what is most interesting. The figures use a combination of Die Cast metal parts and plastic. They are generally pretty well jointed and actually do transform into their alternate modes. The size is roughly the same as the normal $10 deluxe figures but due to the die cast and slightly more limited run on these they sell for slightly more at $15-$17 each. I believe there was a price increase recently by a few bucks.
Still, many of them are still worth the buying price. Hasbro has been using this line as an opportunity to give us molds and characters we wouldn’t normally see otherwise. Titaniums has no line affiliation going for it other than itself. The first wave consists of Optimus Prime as he appears in the popular War Within comic series and a Tank version of Megatron that is somewhat reminiscent of his G2 comic appearance. This review covers only War Within Optimus Prime as Megatron has been getting negative reviews all across the board so I didn’t bother picking one up.
War Within was a comic series pushed by Dreamwave when they were still in existence following the tales of the Transformers before they came to Earth. In fact, the story starts off with Optimus Prime becoming Optimus Prime. This story somewhat contradicts the previous origin for Prime involving Orion Pax and Alpha Trion but it still makes for some good reading. In this story, the young Optimus Prime had an alt mode more befitting his younger self. He still looks sort of like a truck but the design was closer to a hot rod truck built for speed and it was very Cybertronian in design. He also completely lacked a trailer.
Still his Transformation was vaguely familiar and the end result was definitely very much Prime in design. The toy captures all of this very well. It is a surprisingly perfect rendition of War Within Prime in toy form. Still there are some issues, most of these stem from the Titaniums’ “gimmick” of die cast parts.
First off, the initial wave of Titaniums features loose joints, especially in the hips area. This presents a problem when you’re talking about a figure with heavy metal legs, chest and arms. This metal is also prone to being scratched, which can ruin the look of a figure. This scratching issue actually it’s as much of a problem with War Within prime on a small scale since honestly, War Within is kind of “gritty” and a few scratches may actually help increase the character of the design.
Also, I mentioned earlier the price wasn’t too bad considering the quality but this figure actually feels a little small for 15 dollars. Of course what do we get if they release slightly larger plastic figures? Transformers Universe? Last I checked Universe doesn’t get new molds as nice as it would be.
I’ll just finish up here now by saying War Within Prime is a decent representation of a short lived character we’d have likely never gotten a figure of otherwise. I hear he’s being re-released with the joint issue fixed in later waves. Still, the die cast removes some of the play value of this figure since it’s kind of heavy and a bit floppy. There are also better suited Prime toys out there. If you’re a fan of War Within he’s worth picking up but otherwise you’ll probably be better of with Classics Prime.
