The Decepticons have always been closely tied to air combat vehicles. From Starscream and his many, many, many, many clones, to flying guns, cassette recorders and cameras, to even the first Live Action movie where the first Transformer we see is an attack helicopter. It's always interesting to see what designs can come from a Decepticon flyer. The weird thing is though, there aren't many well known flying Decepticons that aren't some form of human vehicle. While yes you could include stylized interpretations and characters like the Triple changers as not being human vehicles, but in terms of genuine space planes and helicopters, there isn't much, and fewer still if you take away well-known characters who have had one as one of their incarnations. It's probably the reason why I have a fascination with the Decepticon Targetmaster, from those retrofitted into them like Cyclonus and Scourge, to the original characters like today's subject, Triggerhappy. I was excited to see Triggerhappy in Titans Return, and now that Blowpipe is out for international audiences, it's basically complete now, but how well does this hold up?
I'll start with Blowpipe, who while sharing the same engineering as Firedrive, the biggest change is flipping around the waist hinge and handle, feels worse then Firedrive to me. It doesn't look as refined as Firedrive, which is strange cause the gun mode looks more refined than his Autobot counterpart. The main culprit of this is the handle sticking out of the chest. The colours also feel very flat in comparison to Fire Drive, being grey and light blue of all things. The grey does allow for more paint details to shine through at least, so there's definitely more colour on this guy. Thanks to the extra plastic on the legs the gun mode looks more consistent, like an actual gun... aside from the obvious robot arms and the completely visible head underneath the barrel, another one of the reasons why I don't see the point of reversing the waist hinge.
Like with Titans Return Hot Rod, there is no vehicle storage for the Battlemaster in the Hasbro release, though the Takara release has one due to that release coming with its own version of Blowpipe. That being said, I still love this jet mode. It looks like something that belongs in Star Wars, yet feels so much more alive than most Star Wars ships (though that could be X Wing Fatigue talking). It's not perfect, there is a bit of underside kibble, and no effort is made to hide the robot mode thighs, but because this is meant to be a space jet, it doesn't really bother me, at least the undercarriage doesn't, the hips are harder to ignore. The sculpting work on the panel, something that's meant more for the sake of the transformation rather than being a genuine piece of the robot, makes it look like it's a hover engine, and an intentional part of the ship rather than genuine kibble. The main Titan Master integration is also seamless, something that I do think most of the Deluxe class figures did really well in the line. To jump the gun (pun not intended) a bit, the default gun that came with the release is better then Hot Rod's gun, to me at least, thanks to the fact that there isn't as big of a hole in the gun for the sake of the Titan Masters, and making them far nicer to dual wield as a result. But like with Hot Rods gun, there's no peg on the bottom to allow for the gun to be used as a turret.
One issue I had with the clones, Brawn and Outback, and others that I haven't reviewed yet has been the focus of G1 accuracy to almost a fault, and on a completely objective level, the same can be thrown at Triggerhappy. However, I find it very hard to call it a problem in this case, as this feels more like Titans Return Hot Rod, where it's clear where the inspiration is coming from, but it does enough to call itself a modern version of the character, rather than being a modern version of the G1 toy. There's a lot more life in this toy, more passion in it. There is a kibble problem, I won't deny that, but it rarely gets in the way for me, and the kibble on the arms makes him look more distinct, more than just a D list Decepticon flyboy. What helps the kibble, even more, is that you can make use of the many ports on his arms (both intentional and not intentional), and go for a full-on gunsplosion. Four intentional ports, two unintentional ports that are for the pins connecting the arms to the shoulders, combining those with the guns on the wings and the two giant guns on each hand (once you fold the hands away like you're going back into jet mode, and you get the reason why this guy is called Triggerhappy. There are even other things you can do like hiding heads and Prime Masters inside Triggerhappy's gut... you know, if that's your thing, no judging here... While Blowpipe doesn't colour match as well as Firedrive did with Hot Rod, it's a close enough match to blend in, while still being identifiable.
Ironically, when I think of Titans Return, a line all about new versions of the old Headmasters, the first characters to come to mind aren't the new versions of the old Headmasters. It's the toys like Triggerhappy that use the removable head gimmick to give some interesting transformations, intuitive transformations, and give modern looks for characters that no one really cares about. Did Triggerhappy need the gimmick? Objectively no, but the gimmick does compliment the engineering, and if my options are removing the head to go somewhere else, or turning it around and going "You can't see me anymore!" I'll take the removable head any day. I do very much enjoy Triggerhappy and the new Blowpipe. While Triggerhappy, to me at least, is far better than Hot Rod, Blowpipe's more of a mixed bag. Serviceable, but not flawless. Few things planned for the main site soon. Post themed around Pokemon Generation 8, and the video review of Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon. Up next for here though, I'm going to mix it up a bit with a new batch of heroes. Heroes that are smaller, lighter, iconic in at least one way, as a sign of respect for those who lost their jobs recently. Probably time I talked about something to do with Blizzard, isn't it?
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