Review: #434
Name: Octane
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Legends
Year of Release: 2017
Size Class: Voyager
Mold Status: repaint of Generations Titans Return Octone
PACKAGING AND CONTENTS:
Like the rest of the Legends line, Octane comes in a window box, in jet mode no less. Curiously, you see that there are two pieces of artwork on the front.
Octane comes with a second Headmaster, being Ghost Starscream, as a throwback to one episode of the G1 cartoon.
The instructions booklet has the full artwork.
As well as a comic that's pretty crazy and out there.
HEADMASTERS:
Let's get the Headmasters out of the way first. The obvious one is Octane himself and he has purple highlights as well as a silver face.
Articulation is limited to balljointed head and shoulders, although the shoulders are heavily restricted.
The second "bonus" Headmaster is Ghost Starscream and he is cast in both transparent plastic and normal plastic.
The face is transparent though and being clear plastic, the details are hard to make out.
JET MODE:
Octane comes packaged in jet mode and the jet mode on the whole is okay, but there are some pretty heavy flaws. The most obvious of which are the halves of the truck cab underneath each wing.
The back is also fairly messy since there's huge blocky undercarriage kibble which suddenly ends and the tailfins and thruster sticking out from that.
Octane is a Voyager classed toy and above is a comparison against Classics Prime. Octane feels hefty in your hands and is a good size.
Octane is actually a remold of Generations Titan Returns Optimus and one of the better things about Octane is that the wings are longer, thus hiding the truck cabs much better.
The jet mode lacks proper landing gear but cleverly reuses all eight of the truck wheels to roll on a flat surface.
There is an area near the back of the jet which opens up to allow a Headmaster to sit in.
You can also combine the weapons to form an artillery emplacement of sorts.
Lastly, you can attach a weapon on each side for storage in this mode, but looks pretty bad.
A good jet mode with an excellent color scheme, and usage of the tanker as fuselage is clever.
TRANSFORMATION (TO TRUCK MODE):
The most interesting thing about this figure is how simple the transformation is despite being a triple changer. To get into truck mode, you fold in the wings and the front of the jet into the tanker, then combine the two halves of the cab into one and you're done.
TRUCK MODE:
The truck mode is the stronger alternate mode because there are no jet elements at all, which is impressive.
The back falls apart a tiny big since there isn't any sculpting at all to even try and mimic the details you would typically expect.
Size-wise, the truck mode is a lot longer than your average Voyager toy, but is also a lot thinner.
A comparison with Titans Return Optimus, the advantage of the Legends line is that TakaraTomy doesn't use stickers for the detailing, which is infinitely better. There are no molding differences in truck mode between the two characters.
Truck mode uses the same spot to store a Headmaster.
Viewing from the side, there is a noticeable gap in the middle. Note that all ten wheels roll.
Finally, they bothered to paint all three sections of the smokestacks! Unlike Black Convoy where they only painted the middle section.
The weapons peg into the exact same slots as in jet mode, but looks a bit more plausible here.
A strong vehicle mode that looks convincing as a truck and doesn't have many clues to suggest that it is a triple-changer.
TRANSFORMATION (TO ROBOT MODE):
Once again, transforming to robot mode is simple. The arms form from the cabs, and you then open up the tanker to unfold the legs and reveal the torso.
ROBOT MODE:
Octane's robot mode is fantastic and leaps and bounds better than the Universe version of the character.
He has a fair bit of kibble on his back and outside his legs. The wings don't actually secure into place but friction is enough to not let it dislodge that easily when handling the figure.
The headsculpt is excellent and the purple paint really helps make it pop.
Octane is pretty big as you can see that he's taller and seemingly bulkier than Classics Prime.
A comparison against the original usage of this mold and you can see that they remolded the chest, head and as you'll soon see, his shoulder pylons.
Officially as per the instructions, you are supposed to leave the shoulder pylons down and the pylons on either side of his head down (which remain unchanged looking like Optimus' helmet). This is due to personal preference as you can unfold them if you wish.
Articulation is excellent but he lacks a waist joint in order to incorporate the springloaded head pylon gimmick.
His large feet allows him to stand securely in a huge variety of poses.
He has two weapons, the double-barreled gun reused from the Optimus Prime version, and a new purple gun.
He can hold the gun in his hands but there's no other storage when not in use.
The white plastic used is slightly off-white. Despite appearances, the figure does have a decent amount of paint applications.
A Headmaster can sit in the double-barreled gun. Note that due to how the forearms are shaped, the elbow joint is a bit awkward in its range.
A fantastic robot mode that looks great and handles well.
ROBOT MODE (GHOST STARSCREAM):
Officially, the shoulder pylons and head pylons are reserved for when Ghost Starscream takes over Octane's body.
The head is classic Starscream but since it is clear black plastic with painted red eyes, it can be hard to make out the sculpted details.
Surprisingly, it looks quite good and adds in quite a bit of play value with the additional Headmaster.
OVERALL:
The mold Octane uses is solid and feels like it is designed for this character first rather than Optimus Prime. The Legends version edges ahead with a superior color scheme and not using cheap stickers which will peel off. While it is pricier, it is worthwhile.
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