Titans Return Twinferno a.k.a. Doublecross
... and I shall call him Doublecross, cos that's who he is!!! Hahahaha.... Cost approximately SGD 18.25, and does not come with instruction sheet nor card, but will not need them anyway... The Doublecross character has a special place in my heart, as my very first authentic Transformer is the G1 Doublecross, which I got as a present from an aunt when I was very very young. So when this Titan Master figure was announced, I immediately thought of buying it... and very glad that I got it, as this TF is very very well designed in terms of aesthetics (really resemble the G1's body build, retaining the organic dragon arms and organic dragon lower legs, little circular saw) and transformation methods (e.g. forming the feet, cavity for storing dragon arms)... A bit of nitpick will be the robot mode's elbow joints are not metal pinned but little plastic nubs only... Luckily, the elbow joints are still tight enough to hold the weight of the *hand* and 1x gun... Oh wait, something I don;t really like... The crotch piece is 1 single molded piece and hence the whole piece has to be flipped up in when moving any 1 leg up... Bad design...
Close up look on the face of Doublecross... Closely resembling the G1 version... nice...
And the Titan Master is called Daburu, which I guess is referenced from the Japanese pronunciation of the word "double", and his name in Japan is called ダブルクロス Daburukurosu... However, the figure looks like a homage to the Beastformer leader called White Leo... Thumbs up to Hasbro! As usual, Daburu can be stored inside the bigger TF, this time, in the stomach of Doublecross... what???!!!!... hahahaha....
... and the double-headed dragon mode... To nitpick again, the front of the dragon torso seemed too flat, making the dragon mode not as good-looking as the G1 counterpart... but overall the articulation is better than the G1 version... Should I paint the horns grey? Hmmm....
The black guns can be combined and stored on the dragon back, either barrel up or barrel down, though I personally prefer the barrel down configuration...
Oh, special mention to the translucent wings, very nice...
Here's a comparison of the 2 molds of Doublecrosses in both robot mode and dragon mode...
Edit: Quick clip to show the transformation...
Titans Return Hot Rod
And why did I buy this figure???!! I don't know!!! Hahahahahaha.... Maybe I felt this incarnation of Hot Rod (deluxe scale) is the closest to the G1 design, hence bought this figure... maybe... Cost approximately SGD 18.25, gotten it as loose too, same as Doublecross... anyway, it looks quite good too!! Here's the robot mode...
... and a closer look at Hot Rod's face... quite G1-esque ...
... and the Titan Master Firedrive, which could be reference from the G1 counterpart's Targetmaster Firebolt... I don't know... Not very outstanding as he is in one singular colour only... Will I paint him? ... Hmmm... Maybe not... And Firedrive can sit inside to drive Hot Rod in the vehicle mode...
Hot Rod's car mode... and other than the smaller windscreen and not-so-V-shaped spoiler, the car mode shows many of the G1 car's features, e.g. long exhaust pipes, "pop-up" engine, etc... Very nice car mode...
As far as I know, the loose version of TR Hot Rods are likely to have this issue: Wrong pins (pins with caps) are used for the kneecap-to-lower-legs joints, causing the legs not able to close the gap completely in car mode and the engine exhaust seemingly break into 2 halves... Or if the pin is inserted from on the opposite side (i.e. cap at the other side), this could also have been avoided... I tried to knock out the pin but failed... I tried to sand down the cap, and also failed (the plastic will be inevitably also be sanded when the file goes slightly slanted) ... So I have to let it be.. let it be... let it be... let it be...
Edit: If the front part of the car is not folded in, the robot mode looks closer to the G1 counterpart...
Edit: Quick clip to show the transformation...
Jinbao Oversized KO Feral Rex Add-On Claws
And the last item is the set of Jinbao Oversized KO Feral Rex add-on claws, which look very much like a set of fingernails for the Jinbao Oversized KO Feral Rex... hahahahaha....
Not sure if I am going to keep the nails on him, as they seem to look a teeeeeeeeny weeny bit too long for aesthetics...
