Siege Crosshairs

Prelude: Repaints are a given in any Transformers series nowadays, but sometimes the choice of character for a repaint surprises you. The G1 Autobot Targetmaster Crosshairs hasn’t been seen in toy form since 1987 (though the name has been recycled a few times), but now he’s back as a repaint of the excellent Siege Deluxe figure Ironhide. Let’s see if he is worth getting the mold once more.

As Crosshairs is “only” a repaint of Ironhide, this review will focus mainly on the differences.

Robot Mode: In robot mode Crosshairs adapts the red and blue paintjob of his G1 predecessor and looks very good doing it. The figure itself remains unchanged when compared to Ironhide, only the head is a new sculpt. The head adapts Crosshair’s G1 cartoon appearance, which is actually based on early design concepts of the G1 toy, rather than the head of the actual G1 toy itself. This is the only actual change to the figure, which naturally retains the cool look and excellent articulation of Ironhide. Only the panels on the legs seem to hold a bit firmer here, they don’t come off as easily as they did with Ironhide.

Sadly Crosshairs comes with the same weapon as Ironhide, a hammer that converts into a rifle, rather than his Targetmaster Pinpointer or – like with Siege Spinister – a non-transforming gun resembling his Targetmaster. It’s not a big thing, as you can use Legends Pinpointer, the upcoming Netflix Pinpointer, or even G1 Pinpointer as his weapon (see the pictures), but still.

Bottom line for the robot mode: a very nice repaint, easily capturing the look of the G1 character. No complaints except for the weapon.

Alternate Mode: Naturally Crosshairs transforms into the same futuristic van as Ironhide, no surprises here. While the colors and overall shape accomplish some resemblance to the vehicle mode of G1 Crosshairs, the vehicle is definitely missing the original’s huge tires. I’ve seen someone modify this figure with larger tires and it certainly looks much better. So bottom line for the vehicle mode: still nice, but not as close a match to the original as the robot mode.

Remarks: Crosshairs and his fellow 1987 Targetmasters were little more than crowd-fillers in the G1 cartoon finale “Rebirth”. They played a somewhat larger role in the Japanese Headmaster series and have several comic appearances under their belts, but none of them are what one would call prolific characters. Crosshairs biggest claim to fame is probably that his name was recycled for the Movie character appearing in Age of Extinction and Last Knight.

Crosshairs was the only 1987 Targetmaster I had as a kid and I do remember thinking that I was going to drive a car like that one day. Well, that didn’t happen, but I am glad to see him return in the Siege line. He is a nice repaint, but little more than that. I wish they’d gone the extra mile here with bigger tires in vehicle mode and/or a gun resembling his original Targetmaster. Anyway, Crosshairs certainly isn’t a must-have, but he is a repaint of a very nice mold and I am nostalgic for the G1 original, so I got him.

Rating: B

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