Titans Return Octone

Prelude: First off, many thanks to my buddy Caked-Up who sent me Octone here as a gift. Of course he forgot to remove the price tag from the box, so I saw that he got him really, really cheaply, but it’s the thought that counts. ;)

Robot Mode: Let’s start with the resemblance to the original G1 Octane, which is very strong. The original toy already strongly resembled the cartoon character and the Titans Return version clearly depicts them both. A very good face sculpt nicely captures the character and the body design also ticks all the boxes. So very nicely done here.

As for the actual figure, it makes for a very nice robot mode. Articulation is fully okay, the only thing I would have included here are heel spurs, as the figure doesn’t have the most stable of stances. That’s just about the only bad thing about the robot mode, though.

Octone comes with two weapons, a rifle strongly resembling his G1 weapon, and a second double-barreled gun that can serve as a gunnery seat for his Titan Master partner (see below). Would have been nice if he could have used the tail fin on his back as a shield like the G1 figure could, but that’s just the nostalgic in me speaking.

Now in standard configuration Octone has those high shoulder pieces and his head is framed by those two struts on each side. Which looks good, mind you. If you want to shoot for an even closer resemblance to the G1 figure, though, you can flip down the shoulder pieces and push in those framing struts (see pictures 10 and 11). The flipped down shoulder pieces somewhat restrict his arm movement, but only a bit.

Bottom line: a very nice robot mode. Could have used better feet and heel spurs, but otherwise no complaints.

Alternate Modes: As a triple changer Octone has two alternate modes. The first one is an airplane. Not the usual fighter jet that most Decepticons seem to transform into, but rather a bigger airplane more resembling a passenger or cargo plane. The plane looks pretty good from the front, but when looking at it from the back you do see the halves of the truck front underneath the wings. Still a good-looking plane, but with visible extra parts. The cockpit for the Titan Master is near the rear of the plane here and the weapons can be plugged in on either side near the front.

Octone’s second alternate mode is a tanker truck and, to me, this is his superior alternate mode. There are no visible robot or airplane parts to be seen, everything folds together very nicely into a convincing truck mode. Okay, if you look at it from the back you can just see a bit of the folded-up tailfin of the airplane, but still, a very well-done mode. The weapons can plug in on the sides here, too, of course, and the cockpit is near the front this time. So bottom line: two nice vehicle modes, one a bit more convincing than the other.

Partner / Add-On: Like all Titans Return figures Deluxe-class and above Octone is a Headmaster, whose head transforms into a separate figure. Titan Master Musk is pretty much identical to all the other Titan Masters from the line and can sit in the cockpit of Octone’s vehicle modes or inside his double gun as a gunner. He will mostly stay a head, though.

Remarks: Octane, as he was originally called, debuted in the third season of the original Transformers cartoon and immediately went off with Trypticon, trying to take over leadership of the Decepticons with the help of the huge citybot. When that failed he defected to the Autobots, made friends with fellow triple-changer Sandstorm, encountered Starscream’s ghost and was involved in a failed plot to get rid of Galvatron. He was actually one of my favorite Decepticons, especially given that he was pretty much the only one who seemed to consider the primitive Trypticon to be more than a simple weapon.

Octane, who was called Tankor for quite some time due to trademark issues and is now called Octone, was never a Headmaster, but that doesn’t take anything away from this wonderful figure. While this mold was clearly created for him, it first saw release as Optimus Prime. Overall I must say I am far happier having this version here than yet another Optimus Prime figure. Octone is a very good triple changer figure and while he isn’t perfect, he is the best toy version of one of my favorite Decepticons. So bottom line: a clear recommendation for all fans of triple changers and Octane.

Rating: B+