Sharing releases between both Siege and Earthrise (supposedly, I hear reports of him coming out in Siege but based on Australia's releases, the only two leaders were Magnus and Shockwave*), to make up for the Titans Return Astrotrain being more sci-fi themed, we get a modern recreation of G1 Astrotrain... in the toy line that wanted to be more sci-fi themed but didn't want to commit to it... On top of that, Astrotrain has a similar issue to what Siege Shockwave had and came out smaller than the Titans Return Tripple changers that people actually like, and it felt like Siege AT was brushed aside too early. Of course, me and my dumb decisions decided to pick up this one first and not the Leader Optimus, thinking that AT would be the harder of the two to find now we can at least see if the pre-release hate was justified.
Starting in Train mode, and for better or worse, this is an updated version of the G1 toy, something that I don't think works as an advantage, but as a disadvantage. To achieve the Triple Changer ability in the '80s, a lot of Transformers like Astrotrain had parts of alt modes basically bolted onto them to make modes pass off as something more than a brick with vehicle parts. This is a brick with vehicle parts. While it looks nice with all the paint and sculpt details, and I love the fact that most of the purple is not going to be seen in the shuttle mode, things like the main train wheels still look like they're bolted on, and when looking at the new Tinder accessory that he comes with, it just comes off as Astrotrain having no idea what he's supposed to be travelling on. Does he need train tracks? how do those work when the wheels can't be on the same set of tracks? Why does the tinder have tank treads along with regular wheels? It just comes off as a mess of design styles that encapsulates my issues with the War for Cybertron Aesthetic conflicts. At least the Tinder acts as a great way to store all the weapons in this mode?
While the space shuttle mode does suffer in the looks department due to the other modes, I find it to be the more enduring mode. It's a loveable awkwardness that the train mode has to an extent, but it feels like they were trying to make it as close as possible to a real train that the issues are more blatant. Details like the "clearly not the front train wheel slabs" looking more like canons work better, and honestly could have been great if they had effects parts plugs on them, the brick that the nosecone peaks out of, it's funny to me. One thing that I'll admit is a issue is the section that houses the tailfin when it's not needed for the other modes. It looks ugly, gappy, and overall unpleasant to look at with no real way to hide it (not without a 3D Printer at least). The Tinder's integration in this mode does work really nicely as well, becoming a launch platform for the space shuttle that can also connect to other bases. However...
Minor tangent for the Adaptable Interconnection Retrofitter Lock System, or A.I.R Lock System. While I love the idea of these interconnecting to form layouts for the Micromasters to drive on, it does sting that they can't connect to the connection points used in Titans Return, seeing as they're not against bringing back older gimmicks for the toyline, such as the Titans Return integration for Jetfire, Apeface and the upcoming Snapdragon. Apparently, Omega Supreme can connect to both the old system and the new system, though I can't confirm that. It still would have been nice if at least some of the Battlemasters could act as a bridge between the Titans Return connectors and the new system.
To the robot mode, while yes I would have liked it to be taller, it's still a great looking robot mode. The animation colour scheme, along with the WFC articulation easily make it the better toy when compared to the Titans Return release. It's effortless to pose him, and a lot of fun to mess with, especially as he joins Generations Roadbuster and Age of Extinction Hound (among others) in the "Overcompensating in the gear department", with his usual gun, two rifles, a machine gun and a rocket launcher, all of which can be used to tool him up with C.O.M.B.A.T ports, or be stuck together to form a massive Frag you cannon. Even the cyber mud battle damage looks great here because it doesn't ruin the look of the toy, and it works nicely in the space shuttle mode. Unfortunately, the Tinder is dead weight in this mode, as all you can do with it is give Astrotrain slightly taller shoes, and an ugly backpack which ruins the look from the back. It would have been great if it could have been a shield, maybe bigger shoes to put him in line with his Titans Return companions, but as is, you're better off treating it like Earthrise Optimus' trailer, left to the side.
Though I've listed a lot of issues with this toy, in truth, I really enjoy it. The issues I have with it, subjectively, are relatively minor to me. Though I wish it wasn't so faithful to G1 that it could have taken some liberties to keep in the spirit of the character, that's kind of what the Titans Return one was, so it's hard to blame them for making a more faithful one for those wanting a faithful toy. If you can justify the cost right now, he's worth picking up. As I mentioned at the start of this review, things are going to be rough for a while, and if you want to support what I do, please consider supporting it on Patreon, or just sharing it around.
*This is an attempt at satire mocking the state of Hasbro's Australia distribution.
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