Review: #327
Name: Astrotrain
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Generations - Titans Return
Year of Release: 2016
Size Class: Voyager (Wave 2)
Mold Status: retool of Titans Return Sentinel Prime
DARKMOON:
Let's focus on the Titan Master first (aka Headmaster). He is known as Darkmoon, and thankfully the grey torso breaks up the purple somewhat.
The back shows off Astrotrain's face in full glory. It's a bit unfortunate that these figures are too small for some sort of mask to cover the obvious robot faces.
The headsculpt is the same as Sentinel Prime's Titan Master, so it actually looks a bit heroic. The face plate works well though and there are a lot of sculpted detail, just that they're all masked by no paint.
Poseability is very limited being only the shoulders and head, not that you can do much at this size anyway.
SHUTTLE MODE:
Let's focus on the "astro" part of the name first, that is, Astrotrain's first alt mode of being a shuttle. This is a futuristic/alien shuttle which still works quite well.
Considering that this is a triple-changer, the designer did an amazing job of hiding all the other pieces of kibble. The back looks clean and even the arms underneath the wings isn't too bad as they have gun turrets.
There are a lot of sculpted details and it is unfortunately that there is not enough paint to highlight them all. Astrotrain may at first glance not have a proper cockpit but you can actually see it molded in.
In terms of size, Astrotrain is a bit flat but otherwise, he is fairly substantial. Above is him compared with Generations Voyager Blitzwing.
With Darkmoon for comparison, you can see how small the Titan Master is. He has flip down landing gear, although they're more like sleds.
The first piece of interactivity is that in the rear section between the tailfins, there is a cockpit/seat that can flip up for you to put the Titan Master into.
The other bit of interactivity involves one of the guns, which has enough space for a Titan Master to sit and man it.
Furthermore, you can combine the other gun into the seat for some extra firepower. Neat but impractical.
This is a solid shuttle mode and looks fantastic. The flatness and apparent lack of traditional cockpits windows may throw the look off at first glance but there are no flaws here.
TRANSFORMATION (TO TRAIN MODE):
The thing that will shock you is that Astrotrain's transformation is simple, considering the three very unique modes. Understandably, Astrotrain is also heavily reliant on panels, requiring you to flip more than a few panels to uncover or hide details for one mode or the other. To get Astrotrain into train mode, you just split the shuttle in half, flip out the front of the train and rotate the wing assembly to form the bottom. Easy and fun.
TRAIN MODE:
Now for the "train" part of the name. Astrotrain transforms into a battle train, so it looks more like a mobile battle fortress than your typical public transport.
Astrotrain is actually fairly symmetrical in this mode, since the rear of the train also has the exact same train engine sculpting, and the same type of gun turrets (in reality, each half is formed by the robot arms and legs, so this only makes sense).
Thankfully, in a much needed improvement from the Sentinel Prime use of the mold, there is more paint to highlight the different details. The most needed of which was the purple paint used to distinguish the cockpit of the train where the driver would be, and the cow catcher in front.
There are some other fantastic details here which gives Astrotrain a unique alternate mode, such as the gun turrets. Note that there are some wheels underneath to allow him to roll.
Other sculpted detailing include the train wheels. While more paint to highlight the details would have been nice, you can't ask for much more in this day and age...
The only part where this mode falls down is the junk in the middle, where you can tell that they're obviously shuttle wings. It is also a bit gappy towards the middle.
In terms of size, Astrotrain is absurdly long and thin in this mode, which makes sense considering what he is.
You can attach the gun in a number of positions although for some reason, on my figure, the pegholes are too big so the guns don't stay attached, it's really weird.
The only bit of interactivity here is the same place as shuttle mode, the cockpit on top. It's a bit awkward though.
A decent effort and at lease this looks recognisable as a train with minimal kibble.
TRANSFORMATION (TO ROBOT MODE):
Going into robot is very simple, it's basically the shuttle mode with the legs and arms split apart. The Titan Master of course forms the head. It's not really involved and is a clever piece of engineering.
ROBOT MODE:
Now comes the best mode out of them all, the robot mode. This is instantly recognisable as Astrotrain thanks to the color scheme and headsculpt.
Surprisingly, there's minimal kibble in this mode as well which makes it all that much more impressive.
Astrotrain comes with a collector card showcasing the artwork (and of course, the Headmaster gimmick).
The headsculpt is fantastic and since this is a Voyager, it has these springloaded pylons on either side of the head to bulk it up. Cleverly enough, these pylons are also on a panel which can rotate so his head articulation isn't hampered at all. This also means his torso is somewhat hollow and they could have easily engineered him to not be a Headmaster at all.
You can retract the pylons and Astrotrain still looks okay, he doesn't have the small head syndrome as much as you would have thought.
Astrotrain looks bulky although he doesn't feel that hefty in your hands. For some reason, my figure has loose joints which is quite annoying. You can see all the panelling on the sides of his legs which unfolds for shuttle mode.
Articulation is excellent, Astrotrain can strike a lot of poses for you. He is only lacking waist articulation.
If you really wanted to, you can rotate the legs to give him the train engines as feet but this makes him extremely unstable. The pointy feet isn't as bad in real life as photos had initially depicted.
He has a pair of guns, one is hollowed up while the other is more traditionally sculpted.
Needless to say, he can hold a gun in each gun. There isn't really any other slots to place the guns though.
The lack of kibble means nothing is hampering his range of articulation. The shuttle wings on his back can also be moved around a bit depending on your preference.
If you wanted, you can get another Titan Master to sit in the hollowed out gun. Why this is a good idea during battle I don't know but the option is there and looks somewhat cool.
A great robot mode that captures the essence of the character and also makes for a fun figure.
OVERALL:
Astrotrain is a good toy, there is no denying this. The triple-changing gimmick coupled with the Headmaster gimmick did not hamper the engineering at all, which makes it all the more impressive. Being a Voyager classed figure helps and Astrotrain is highly recommended. We're long overdue for an updated Astrotrain figure after the Classics version (which was a good effort but had too many flaws).
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