Transformers Legends: Fortress Maximus LG-31

Growing up in the 80's I was a huge fan of both the Transformers toys and the cartoon. While I was blessed to own several great G1 Transformers toys, my interested started to change and I drifted away from the line before the giant Headmaster Fortress Maximus toy was released. Needless to say I started to collect the toys from my childhood, Fort Max was one of many toys I had my eye on.

While I eventually would be able to pick up a loose G1 Fort Max body and begin to piece it together, I was equally excited to hear the mammoth figure would be returning in 2016. Then the pictures of the Hasbro version would hit the 'net and I lost a little bit of that excitement. The paint apps chosen just didn't float my boat and I began debating if I wanted to even bother with the giant figure. Then Takara Tomy came and saved the day.

Takara Tomy's Legends series of Transformers would sadly be the last line (as of today's date) where their releases would differ from what Hasbro was offering in the West and other parts of the world. No longer after this series would the Japanese releases feature a premium deco *sigh* or feature more of a cartoon accurate deco. However if this would be the last line to feature this premium "upgrade" of sorts I'm glad that Fortress Maximus was included in the line. The changes made by Takara Tomy were enough to re-ignite the excite enough to import this big guy.

Some of the larger releases in the Legends line featured windowless boxes, but this gave more room on the packaging to feature stunning artwork in both horizontal and vertical orientation. The packaging was one of my favorite aspects of the Legends line itself.

One side of the box offered a near 1:1 view of the figure itself, while the other side featured more artwork. When you line up the art side of the Legends boxes it makes a wonderful Transformers collage!

Fortress Maximus comes housed in a large cardboard tray, with Fortress, his Transtector unit and the Master Sword accessory in 3 parts. This is the same sword that was included with Hasbro's 2016 SDCC exclusive.

Speaking of the Master Sword it's a rather sweet accessory and really big! Here you can see the sword propped up behind Legends Chop Shop.

The Legends release of Fortress Maximus would see the smaller Headmaster retooled to resemble his Headmasters cartoon appearance. This was another reason I decided to take the plunge and import.

Fortress, the head of Fortress Maximus, is just a tad larger than his fellow Cybertron Headmaster (deluxe) figures. Just has the smaller Headmaster was changed to better resemble Fortress' appearance in the Headmaster television show, so has the rest of the figure. Gone are the darker shades of gray used in the Hasbro/SDCC version and replaced with lighter shades of gray. If you ever see these two figures side by the side the differences are very easy to spot and helps makes the figures look like the two different characters they are.

Japanese voice actor, Ikuya Sawaki, provided the voice of Fortress. When you press the head down one of several recorded phrases can be heard (in Japanese) such as "Head On!", "Transform!", "I am Cybertron Supreme Commander" and more. There is even a snippet of the very catchy Transformers Headmasters television theme song. I did my best to capture these phrases, including the song sample.

In head mode, Fortress' features a lighter grey deco (almost white) in the face area. The two side crests are also blue where as they are a dark gray on the other releases.

I thought it would be fun to compare and contrast Fortress and his Headmaster with their G1 counterparts. I didn't have a lot of room to work with a figure as large as Fort Max so these are the only comparison photos I have.

I don't usually photograph large toys the size of Fortress Maximus so I had to take a few shots outside of the light box. 

Fortress Maximus is a heavy re-tool of Generations Metroplex, so if you are familiar with that toy then you know what you're getting with this mammoth Headmaster. The figure is well articulated for it's size and the new Master Sword accessory is awesome. My favorite aspect of this figure however is it's G1 deco. I just couldn't get past the deco on the Hasbro/SDCC version, especially the red trim around the leg cannons. All of the colors blend so well together in this version of the character that there is no mistake who this is...well at least to Transformer fans.

Even with the G1 version of Fortress Maximus, I never cared too much for his alternate modes. The designer of this figure did a good job at re-purposing Metroplex and his city mode for Fortress' city and battle modes. While a toy's play pattern may not be as important to me, I'm glad that this figure does offer different styles of play if you so wish. For example, you can put the small Headmaster figure at the helm of a cannon here in base mode.

The battle mode (or whatever it's proper name is) is rather plain in my eyes, however kudos for the inclusion of the side mounted heli pad. I should point out if you haven't already noted that my Fortress Maximus is "naked" as I opted not to spend half my summer applying the stickers!

If you're so inclined to purchase this version of Fort Max be prepared to spend $150-$200 depending on where you shop. At the time of this post there have been a few of the Legends versions sale in this range on eBay. Of course if you want to purchase him new several of the larger TF e-tailers such as TFSource.

Transformers Legends: Arcee LG-10

When it was announced that Takara Tomy would be using the new Transformers Legends series in Japan to release some of the then current Generations figures from Hasbro, many were hoping that Arcee would be included in the series.

Takara Tomy has a knack of taking a good figure and making look great. Premium paint apps or just slight tweaks and collector's have that dilemma of whether to settle for the average Hasbro version or too import the better Japanese version.

 

If you aren't familiar, the Arcee on the left is what Hasbro gave the fans; while the version on the right is Takara Tomy's. How long have we been waiting for a proper non-motorcycle version of G1 Arcee? Forever. That's how long. When I first saw the mold I was really excited...except those black areas killed a lot of that excitement. To this day I can't figure out why someone at Hasbro thought the use of black was acceptable. Thankfully Takara Tomy came to our rescue.

This is my first Transformers Legends figure...that is until Nightbird and Blackarachnia are released later this year. I'm a sucker for packaging and I think that Takara Tomy did a great job here. On the right we have the classic G1 grid look while on the left you have the now widely used Transformers logo. The large window allows you to get a good feel for the figure before you even remove it from the box.

Throw in large vibrant images of the toy's vehicle and robot modes with some great anime style artwork in the back and you've got a very nice back to the packaging. It appears Arcee has a mini bio too, but since I can't read Japanese I'm just guessing.

     

The sides of the box give you a better look at the art work and the toy itself, even if it's only half of the figure!

When I first saw a similar image as above for Optimus Primal, the first figure released in the Legends line I thought for sure it was a trading card sized tech specs. After all, outside of Masterpiece releases not many of Takara Tomy's Transformers have come with cards lately. 

This wasn't the case however as this is really just the instruction booklet. However someone really needs to make a trading card using this design! It lends itself perfectly for a trading card set.

The back features a bio of the character along with their individual tech spec rankings. No artwork is included here, but when the figure looks this good who needs art?!

The inside of the instruction booklet also contains a comic. I recognize T-AI from Car Robots, but I really have no clue as to what is happening in this mini story.

Arcee comes with two pistols and a set of translucent blue weapons. I think they look like knives, but others seem to use them as guns as well. 

Whomever designed this toy needs some kind of medal or trophy. I haven't been buying many of the modern updates of G1 characters, but Arcee was a no brainer. I mean just look at the alt. mode here. It looks so close to the animation model of herself.

There are 5 mm peg holes on the side of the vehicle that allow her blue weapons to attach to the sides. Not my cup of tea, but I'm sure there are some that like this weaponized look.

I didn't have many Generations figures handy at the time for a scale comparison so I just grabbed Hoist. I know Hoist has one of the smaller alt modes, but I think you can see she fits in good with the rest of the Generations cast...or Classics...or whatever people are calling these series these days.

As much as I enjoy the alt mode of Arcee, I truly feel as if this is where this figure really shines. The figure's head sculpt captures her G1 animation model look and lends itself well to the feminine body sculpt. I know some people have an issue of a robot having a sex in the first place. I get it. It really doesn't make a whole lot of sense. However if you are going to have both male and female robots, the females should...well look like females. While in the past there have been a few decent attempts at female Transformers figures, I feel this mold nailed the overall femininity.

     

Arcee does have a little backpack kibble, but surprisingly the figure stands up well on her own without needing additional assistance. The view from the side or from the rear makes the backpack look rather large and unattractive, but when you look at her head on it doesn't look so bad.

I know Arcee is being portrayed in a whole different light in the current series of IDW comics, but I never pictured her as carrying much firepower, however with this figure you can easily equip her with all 4 of her included weapons.

You would expect a modern day Transformer to be articulated and Arcee doesn't disappoint. I'm not good at posing my figures so this is about the best you'll get out of me, but hopefully you can get the picture that one more creative than myself can really pull of some great poses with this figure.

Surprisingly she even has neck articulation. Arcee isn't the biggest of the Transformers so I guess it makes sense that she can look up as that is the direction she'll be looking when she is near Springer or Ultra Magnus.

Just a few comparison pictures with a few 3rd Party items I happened to have handy. I don't know about you, but I think Arcee is a tad undersized compared to ToyWorld's Orion figure.

Arcee is a great figure hands down. From the alt mode to the robot, you can't go wrong. They nailed her classic G1 look for once. Takara Tomy just took this figure a step further by painting the black areas and making the figure look more uniform. I can't afford to import many figures that end up being released by Hasbro, but sometimes there are some that deserve to be imported. Arcee is one of those cases where the extra dollars are justified.