Transformers: Titans Return Quake

 

 Quake was a figure that was greatly anticipated at the Coffin. A repaint of Wave 1’s Hardhead, Quake is a Decepticon tank. What’s not to love about that? The Titans Return line seems really light on Decepticons, so almost any such figures are welcome. Such is part of the motivation behind the scramble to find Misfire and Slugslinger, to not only complete the Targetmaster trio, but also to add some more bad guys to the roster of the line.

The figure itself has mostly been covered already, and so outside of paint and face differences there isn’t a whole lot to say. But much like wavemate Krok, Quake came along at a time (and a Walgreens) when new figures were fairly scarce, and since he was on the shopping list anyway, was an easy pickup to make.

Quake is a really attractive figure, wearing the new paintjob very well. A very strong burgundy is the primary color, with the fairly midshade grey highlighting on the treads and outer vehicle parts. The tank cockpit if a translucent blue which is the most eye catching color on the alt mode, and the best Titanmaster integration weapon in the entire line, the huge tank cannon, is very stunning in glossy black. All told, there is a lot that Quake does to catch the eye, which is a real contrast to Hardhead, who always looked a bit bland. There is more black visible in the robot mode, as well as a deep blue color located on the chest. The color placement and selection accurately mimics those of G1 Quake, so there is a real sense of this being an updated, “Classics”-style figure instead of just being another late line, rank bolstering repaint. The figure is decently posable, and almost regardless of position or stance bears the weight of the shoulder cannon very well. The shoulders display small lightning bolt designs with the Decepticon logo in the middle of them, and they look like team logos. Like Quake plays some professional sport. They are small but nice details, something that base mold Hardhead totally lacks, but helps the mold to pop as Quake.

Chasm is the Titanmaster partner, and is a really gorgeous Quake face. Some have called this the best face sculpt in the entire line, and while that may not be true, it is hard to think up another face that would rank above this one. Maybe Blitzwing or Astrotrain. Like those two, Quake has a full humanoid face, unencumbered by mouthplate or visor, and it is that visibly humanness that makes the sculpt so appealing.

In the lore, Quake was a Double Targetmaster, and so had two Nebulon partners who transformed into blasters. Titans Return Quake loses those accessories, but does come with two weapons: the shoulder mounted and excellent tank cannon and the far less excellent handheld rifle. The tank cannon is, again, an outstanding accessory, and still provides the best seating for a Titanmaster figure out of any other weapon part in the line. The rifle is still overly large, and doesn’t go anywhere in alt mode other than weakly peg on to a small peg on top of one of the front tank treads. Certainly, with a repaint this late in a line, it’s not always plausible to expect remolded weapons or accessories, and with there being required remolding on the face sculpt, it is believable that the remold budget for a figure like Quake went straight to that at the expense of a remolded or different weapon.

Like wavemate Krok, Quake may be a signal that the brand is moving more in the direction of post 1986 movie characters, and into lesser known fields. There comes a point in time where even super iconic characters like Optimus Prime need to step aside ever so slightly to let characters like Quake squeeze into view, and perhaps moreso, not everyone who is in to Transformers is in to the 1984 cast. The fandom often likes to forget that idea, but that doesn’t make it go away. At this point in time, the 1984-1986 characters have been done and done again so many times that there are dozens of figures to choose from. But the 1987 and on crowd, not so much. This is the second official Quake figure to be released. The second. It is possible that the name has been reused at some point, probably on a Minicon during Armada if at all, and there was a planned Universe repaint for Quake that never came to be. But in terms of actual representations of Quake, there are largely none. The later stages of the G1 universe are just as full of excellent and loveable characters as the early years are; people generally aren’t as aware of that because they have been granted a terrible lack of exposure over the years. While Quake may not be anyone’s favorite character, one has to wonder how much of that may be due to no one ever really knowing who Quake was as a character. Perhaps, had he and other Double Targetmaster mates Needlenose and Spinister even been prominent characters, to name just a few Cybertronians who have long toiled away in relative anonymity, there may be more fans who love these guys as much as people love Optimus and Megatron. Generally speaking, fans seem to have warm feelings for someone like Quake based on having owned the original figure as a child, or other reasons like preferring tank alt modes or whatever. If you came up in the fandom during any of the seemingly forgotten time periods of its history, you quite possibly have a favorite character that you know nothing about because there is nothing about them to know.  

Ultimately, if the brand is going to continue, it would be good to start the nostalgia train rolling down some different tracks. Things don’t always need to be the core ’84 cast anymore, not when there are so many other characters to explore and, in some cases, develop for the first time. That’s not to say that the brand is ever going to be in any real trouble if it does not move towards these characters, but it would always be nice to get new things. Why couldn’t there be an iteration of the fiction that has Quake as Megatron’s second in command? Surely some fans would be upset, but how much that matters is really up for debate. The brand has a slew of almost totally unknown characters to play with, and doing so would cut down on the redundancy of figures or characters. Maybe the argument can be made for always trotting out Optimus and Megatron, but the franchise does not always need Starscream and Bumblebee. Some will argue that the live action movies cemented those characters at least, and maybe Ironhide and Ratchet, as the robots people expect to see, but we all know that’s not true because the live action movies barely acknowledged them as characters, let alone giving them any development or reason for people to care or invest.

Even looks good from the back.

Quake ends up being the character that is penciled in to the background of a panel in a comic book and people get excited about because at least he was given some recognition. One must wonder how much a person is a fan of a character that they would be enthusiastically satisfied with a background appearance while Ultra Magnus and Prowl yet again discuss what Optimus told them about Megatron. But as a late inclusion in the Titans Return line, Quake makes a great addition to the small Decepticon force. Late repaints like this often are overlooked or undervalued, and Quake is one that unfortunately many collectors will overlook and miss out on.