Transformers: Titans Return Hardhead

 

Hardhead was the second Deluxe class figure from the Titans Return line I picked up, largely as an impulse/”I haven’t bought a new toy in weeks” purchase. Initially, my feelings on the line were not too favorable, and I was only interested in a few figures. But after handling Skullcruncher and Galvatron, I warmed up to the entire series very fast. In the beginning, I was not at all planning on going in for the Autobot Headmasters, but Hardhead may be the figure that changed that.

Hardhead is the first entry in the grand Transformers tradition of the H-tank, a vehicle mode that has four separate sets of treads, two in the front half and two in the back half, rather than two large ones that run the length of the vehicle. There does not seem to be any real benefit to a design like this, other than it’s a different kind of tank. There have been many Tankformers over the years who have worn this design, so generally we’re familiar with it. This is the toy that made me realize some general things about the Titans Return line, at least enough to make some assumptions going forward.

Transforming Hardhead the first time, I decided to go at it without the instructions. Not that this is some kind of incredible accomplishment or anything, but I got him right on the very first try. Aside from a general and overly simplified statement on the simplicity of the transformation scheme, the success here is due to Hardhead having the same general transformation as his G1 version did. I don’t own a G1 Hardhead, but I have experienced it before, and if my memory holds, the same general action of conversion is present in both toys. The 2016 version obviously has some updates and improvements, much as Skullcruncher does, but it converts the same ol’ way. This is something that I came to realize more and more as my compliment of Titans Return figures began to grow, and something that I’m hoping to address specifically with Weirdwolf, coming soon.

Hardhead’s large cannon gets the Titanmaster battle station concept 100% correct. The robot weapons are designed in such a way that the Titanmaster can sit in them and operate them as turrets or gun emplacements, most likely to be attached to the larger Leader class figures’ base modes, or to Fortress Maximus. That’s cool, but I’ve got no interest in those figures or that play pattern, so a weapon like Hardheads’ does the thing the right way, as far as I’m concerned. The large tank cannon, which lays over the shoulder in robot mode, has a seat to hold a Titanmaster. The seat is covered by a moving panel that opens to reveal the seat, but then closes to preserve the profile of the cannon. Marvelous. This is far and away the best of the Deluxe class weapons, aside from things like individual blasters such as Skullcrunchers or others that are not at all intended to be seats for tiny guys. We’ll talk about them as they come up, but the weapons that incorporate Titanmaster seating are generally weak.

Anyway, the large cannon gets everything right. Hardhead is also equipped with a more regular weapon, although this one isn’t as successfully executed. The issues with the rifle are not major, and are largely just my own personal gripes, but the way it’s designed means that, while wielded in robot mode, it’s one of those weapons that sits completely on top of the hand. So rather than look like a robot is holding a blaster, it looks like a robot has its hand underneath the blaster, and the trigger and handle are visible on the top of the hand/forearm. This is totally, totally, totally a nitpick on my part, and aside from this the rifle is perfectly fine. Except, that it doesn’t store in vehicle mode well in the least. The standard method of storage is apparently to just plug its peg into the top of the large cannon, but I think this looks incredibly bad. There is no other place to store the rifle in vehicle mode, like a peg hole or anything along the side, and it’s sort of a letdown. This is also a minor issue, and isn’t anything that makes the figure bad or anything crazy like that. I’m not one of those people that believes a minor thing such as this ruins or devalues the overall toy, but it is something that I dislike. Not a deal breaker, I just put the rifle aside, but some integration would have been nice.

Transformation is real nice, intuitive and simple but it has its interesting moments. The robot body flattens out into the tank body, which is basically what you’d expect. Front arms fold up into front treads, and the legs swing underneath the vehicle to fold up a little into the rear treads. The lower legs swing slightly outward, a step found in some of the Combiner Wars figures like Rook and Breakdown, and then clip onto the sides to become the rear treads. Nothing terribly new or spectacular, but definitely a moment that made me interested in much the same way that said step on Rook and such did. The large tank cannon can pivot over the right shoulder, or lay against the back, pointing straight up. Both arrangements offer a different profile to the robot, which is cool as well, and both arrangements look complete. It’s not a case of things look good one way but half transformed the other. I usually keep the cannon positioned over the shoulder, ready for use, and it will reach a very fair way to a flat, pointing directly forward position, and it reminds the Battletech playing part of my robot combat mind of the Hollander. Only cool kids are going to know about that.

Furos is the Titanmaster partner, and he grants Hardhead regenerative healing powers. The face sculpt for Hardhead is nice and sharp. Overall I’m not too impressed with the Titanmaster figures, or at least, they aren’t offering me anything beyond being a head. Granted, it is sort of cool to have a driver for the vehicle mode, mainly because it’s nice to see something inside of the cockpit, but this is not at all a big factor for me, or a large influence on my feelings about the line. I think they work a lot better with the vehicle modes, because they fill the role of drivers. With the Decpticon animals, I suppose they are still ‘trainers’ as with G1. That’s cool for the toy based fiction, but not that cool with the actual toy. But a tank driver or a helicopter pilot? That’s toy cool. Hardhead’s G1 partner was named Duros, and I wonder why they had to change the name for Titans Return. A few of the Headmaster names are different, and I’m sure it’d more for trademark reasons than any effort to do anything different on Hasbro’s part. The Transformers brand has a pretty intense recent history of nameslapping, and I do find it unlikely that someone swooped in to get the name Duros for some other brand or character. Whatever, really, I don’t even acknowledge the Titanmasters as separate characters, so I don’t have a personal issue with this; I’m only curious. 

New and Universe repaint version.

It’s kind of nice to see such late G1 characters getting the updated treatment, as opposed to another round of Optimus and Megatron and some toss in Autobot. I have mentioned before my love of the “Classics” style figures, and figures like Hardhead here almost make it possible to think that we just might get “Classics” styled updates of everyone on the G1 roster. The existential question then becomes “what do we do with all of our G1 figures?” But in reality, late G1 had cool ideas, different ideas certainly, and now we can get figures that are perhaps closer to the concept than what the times and practices of G1 were capable of attaining. 

Whether or not you’re interested in Hardhead is probably dependent on whether or not you’ve got an interest in collecting the entire line, or are putting together the complete set of Autobot Headmasters or the Headmasters cast. This is a good figure, but, considering that at the time of my obtaining him, I was still not sold on the line, I almost feel weird recommending him. I do recommend him: he’s a good robot, and a cool tank, and has what will probably always be the best Titanmaster weapon integration pattern, but since I was kind of lukewarm on him from the beginning, it feels a bit, I guess, bandwagony to be singing his praises now. I’m actually saving that for another figure, who came rapidly out of the blue, nudge, in the future. This guy is a good, fun pick up, but may be one of the better Autobot Deluxes to buy if you’re not all in on the set yet.