Review: #882
Name: Tidal Wave
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Generations - Legacy: United
Year of Release: 2024
Size Class: Titan
Mold Status: new
PACKAGING:
The 2024's flagship Titan class figure was Armada Tidal Wave, which is an interesting choice given that he is not the most popular or in demand character to get such a large figure.
Nevertheless, this is what we get and he is in the usual impressively large box with a fantastic piece of artwork at the front.
DARK FLEET:
Tidal Wave was always an interesting figure, as he has various alternate modes, being the Dark Fleet, a combined ship mode, a robot mode, armor parts for Megatron, and in this release, a base mode as well.
In Dark Fleet mode, he splits into three smaller individual ships. The first is a double bowed battleship.
The dark purple used is very nice, and despite having some obvious robot parts around him (those hip ratchets in particular...) this is a relatively decent mode.
"Smaller" is a relative term, because he is still massive. It's so much bigger than a Voyager or Leader, he's approaching Commander class levels of size.
Thankfully, despite the large size and shrinking budgets, he still has some decent paint applications. The windows are painted, and there are some nicer neon purple highlights.
Interestingly, the guns are all on 5mm pegs, which you would have had to attach yourself when you first opened the figure anyway.
As a result, all those guns can swivel and raise up and down.
This is still a very big and blocky alternate mode, but it works okay as an aquatic vehicle.
The double bowed was always weird, but it manages to pull it off in person.
Next in the Dark Fleet is an aircraft carrier.
This is an easier alt mode to deal with since you just need a block with a flat top, which is what we have here.
It's not quite as big as the double-bowed battleship but still decently sized.
Once again, there are some nice sculpted details, such as the control tower on the side (which is sadly an unpainted block of purple plastic), and all the markings at the landing strip.
The front also has dual cannons, these are his hands in robot mode.
One thing to mention is that all of the Dark Fleet has small plastic wheels underneath that allows them to roll on flat surfaces, which is a nice touch.
While maybe a bit too squared off and blocky, again, it manages to pull it off in person.
The third and last component of the Dark Fleet is a troop landing craft.
Thanks to the wings, it looks more like a flying spaceship instead.
This is also one big vehicle, dwarfing Voyager class figures.
Given that this component forms the legs, it needed to be mostly symmetrical but only one side has details for the bridge.
There are sculpted thrusters as the back.
This mode doesn't quite like to stay attached with its two halves, the clips are not long enough, given how big and heavy each halves are.
An okay mode, no better and no worse than the others.
TRANSFORMATION (TO COMBINED SHIP MODE):
Split the troop carrier craft into two, and then attach each half to the battleship. Fold each of the bow of the battleship back to create a gap for the aircraft carrier to attach. It's not an involved transformation at all.
COMBINED SHIP MODE:
While this is supposed to be the big ultimate alternate mode, it's always been kind of an afterthought.
Even more so when viewed from behind and there being a big gap at the back, which is even more pronounced in this version.
Given each of the Dark Fleet was already big, the combined ship mode is absolutely massively and befitting of the Titan class.
That said, it's long rather than tall, as it is relatively low in height.
Most of the individual gimmicks remain... which is basically just rolling wheels, and the swivelling guns.
Given it doesn't compromise the figure at all, this is a neat alternate mode, and one that is impressive for its size alone.
TRANSFORMATION (TO BASE MODE):
Unless you're coming from robot mode, you'll need to partsform into this form. It's easier to rattle of the robot pieces placement, which are that his legs from the front (troop carrier), the torso the middle (battleship), and the arms at the back (aircraft carrier). The mini-Dark Fleet (which we'll cover later) are also taken out and attached to various places, to give some sort of asymmetry to the design.
BASE MODE:
This is a new addition to the figure and... it goes as well as the base modes of other Titan class figures, which are that it is mostly an afterthought.
It's too sparse, "skinny", and way too much like a spread out robot to actually pass off as a proper city or base.
Naturally, this mode is huge, and it's scaled more for figures even smaller than Core and Legends, maybe Mini-Cons would work (although they'll still be too big for the command modules).
It's more of a mode that's supposed to stay on the ground, given the weight distribution isn't geared towards picking him up.
It's as good a mode as you'd expect, and given that it's not the main focus and he has other better alternate modes, it's easy to forgive and forget about this one.
TRANSFORMATION (TO ROBOT MODE):
You cannot go from the combined ship mode to robot mode without partsforming, but you can go from base mode to robot mode without partsforming. Nevertheless, each of the Dark Fleet forms a different component: the battleship forms the torso (the head folds out when you fold both bows over to form the shoulders), the aircraft carrier the arms (split it into two and extend the arms), and the troop landing craft forms the legs (split it in half and fold out the thighs). Attach all the pieces together to them form the robot mode. It's a simple one, but it cannot be too complicated given the size.
ROBOT MODE:
As with all Titan class figure, robot mode is where it is at, and Tidal Wave doesn't disappoint here.
He looks really good, and is a nice update to the original. He's become a lot more athletic looking too.
The head sculpt is brilliant, and the silver paint used really highlights the detailing.
Obviously, he is massive in this mode, easily towering over Leaders and Voyagers.
However, he is not quite as tall as previous Titans. Shrinkflation continues to strike. Above are comparisons with Legacy Metroplex and Earthrise Scorponok.
Articulation is great, he has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, hands, waist, hips, knees and ankles.
Whether he can use that articulation is another story, given that he is very big and heavy, he's liable to just keel over from the weight.
Another issue with the figure are his knees. There is a defect present in nearly all samples, where the springs for the ratchets are too strong, and will just destroy the ratchet over time thanks to the pressure alone.
And given that most of his joints are ratchets, it can be scary when they require a lot more force than you'd expect just to utilize them. Other than that, this is an impressive looking robot mode.
WEAPON MODE:
And finally, given that Tidal Wave is too big to combine with Legacy Evolution Megatron as is, there are various smaller pieces stored within Tidal Wave that forms a miniature Dark Fleet, and these are used to combine with Megatron.
There are seven pieces in total stored around his body. The battleship is stored behind his chest.
The aircraft carrier is stored underneath his arms, and this includes taking out part of his hands.
Despite that, you can rotate what was Tidal Wave's thumb around, to give him a smaller hand so that at least he's not handless.
And finally, the main part of the troop landing craft is stored on the sides of his lower legs.
While the two smaller pieces that attach on top of the craft are stored within his shins.
And once you get all the pieces out, you can form the Dark Fleet. Sadly, you cannot form a mini Tidal wave, though that would have required just a little bit more sculpting and engineering as the pieces are already 80% of the way there (given how simple a transformation Tidal Wave has). It feels like a massive missed opportunity.
Interestingly, while each piece is much smaller than Tidal Wave himself, they are actually around Deluxe size!!
That's the ironic thing, previous Titan classes managed to add in a Deluxe-ish figure that transforms, this would have been perfect to create a mini Tidal Wave as an equilavent.
However, it's better than nothing, as being able to combine with Megatron was one of the features that was utilized a fair bit in the cartoon.
The battleship and aircraft carrier attaches on both arms. Megatron's tank turret moves to the front, so that the troop landing craft can attach as a jetpack.
And finally Megatron gets some leg extensions with the footpads attached to the bottom.
It's not a bad looking mode, but it is still basically just pieces of Tidal Wave randomly attached to Megatron's arms (you can barely see the jetpack from most angles). What's worse is that they're attached to his upper arms, and not his lower arms, so it looks weird when you bend the arms to pose him.
OVERALL:
Despite his flaws, Tidal Wave is a fun Titan class that packs a lot of play value. In fact, he probably packs in the most play value out of all the Titans so far, as the Dark Fleet alone gives him a lot of flexibility. The miniature Dark Fleet is clever in the way it stores on the main body, but you could tell that it sucked up a lot the budget. While he may not be as big or impressive as previous Titans, he's still well worth getting.
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