I’d say that Trypticon needs no explanation, but then somebody who’s ostensibly well-versed in current affairs asked me if he was Grimlock. He’s a giant Decepticon dinosaur who transforms into a spaceship and a city, and is mostly Earth-based in the G1 series. However, recent versions have also had him be the secret identity of the Nemesis, the greatest Decepticon warship ever, although nobody has really ever named his city mode before. I suppose Kaon would be inappropriate, since Metroplex hardly transforms into Iacon.
Trypticon is the second largest Transformer in the Transformers: Titans Return line, being a Titan Class toy. He was the winner of a November 2015 Facebook fan poll by Hasbro (which reveals that the design cycle of a new toy may be about a year). He beat out Omega Supreme and Scorponok to become a reality, which is what you’re seeing here!
Trypticon comes with a Deluxe toy, Full-Tilt, and a Titan Master, Necro. Necro can fit on Full-Tilt or Trypticon, and Full-Tilt can fit on Trypticon.
Packaging
Um yeah so my box got a little dinged by the time I started taking pictures of him. I actually had Trypticon a while back, but I was making a short film so I didn’t have time to take a closer look at him. Now I do!
His artwork is pretty fantastic, showing him as this raging behemoth of destruction. I like how evocative it is, although it does feel a little out of proportion, since Trypticon’s tiny arms aren’t quite the size seen on the illustration. The box image also plugs Six Shot and Sky Shadow, who can connect to Trypticon in city mode, as the back of the box shows.
Overall, the box design is much, much better than the other Titans Return gift sets – Siege on Cybertron and Chaos on Velocitron. It gives the feeling of a premium toy, and is pretty heavy and hefty to boot. That’s because Trypticon himself is pretty hefty and heavy.
Trypticon also benefits from a much lengthier and engaging bio, but it’s hidden away on the side of the box along with its other translations. It gives a hint of how Trypticon may be slightly more unnatural than the other Decepticons or Titans, which is in line with his Dark Energon infused version in Transformers Prime.
Inside
Trypticon comes with both legs disassembled, which explains how he has managed to fit into such a small box (he’s larger than the box). It’s a fairly compact and ingenious way of laying it out, and if you’re afraid that you’ll misassemble the legs, don’t worry. The legs come off fairly easily, so you can rectify any misassembled mistakes you might have made.
The legs also come off if subject to too much stress from the wrong angles too.
The paper ties are not as tiring to remove as they were for Unicron (remember him?), but you will need a pair of scissors. The ties are not going to snap off, as this isn’t the usual thin plastic ties used in other Titans Return toys.
New Dinosaurer/Trypticon
Who’s New Dinosaurer? Well, in the Takaratomy version of Trypticon, he’s called Dinosauruer. He’s released as LG43 Dinosaurer and features a comic dedicated to him.
In that comic, he assumes another form, dubbed New Dinosaurer (since the Japanese name for Trypticon is Dinosaurer). Here’s how he looks.
The guys at TFormers also very kindly translated the comic too. As you can see at the top, New Dinosaurer/Trypticon is sort of Trypticon, but backwards.
Also, I’m going to call him New Trypticon from here onwards.
In all honesty, it’s a little difficult to simulate his New Trypticon mode properly. He looks okay from certain angles (ie, the one in the comic), but unidentifiable from other angles. Understandably, since this is not one of the official modes (and he was not designed to look this way), the end result isn’t as awesome as his other modes.
He was mistaken for a Dyson when I brought him over for a Christmas party, which is why I keep in dinosaur mode whenever I bring him out.
Admittedly, it is a fairly creative attempt by the comic artists to value add to their comic. However, it is a bit unwieldy and you’re not quite sure how he’s going to attack or eat things. I’d recommend just trying out the New Trypticon mode once, so you know what it’s like, but not keeping him in this mode.
So here’s Trypticon’s packaging and New Trypticon mode! I’ll look at Full-Tilt and Necro in my next post – we got them in lieu of electronics, which I think was a fantastic design decision… given that I sometimes wash my Transformers.
Image credit: TFormers
This is an original article on marcusgohmarcusgoh.com
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I’m a Singapore television scriptwriter who’s written for Lion Mums, Crimewatch, Police & Thief, and Incredible Tales. I’m also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. You can find me on social media as Optimarcus and on my site.
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