I loved that movie, and it engendered in me a lifelong love of Greek mythology. One of my earliest clear memories is going to see Clash of the Titans at the drive in. I was 8….don’t remember much except the speakers were cool. Putting him in a lineup with Chromedome and Hardhead (and soon Brainstorm) does give you that satisfaction of completing a team, so for that purpose I would hesitantly recommend him.I saw Star Wars in 77 at the dtive-in. Highbrow at least has merit by being one of the original Headmasters, which does count for something. I’d still consider him a step up from Scourge in that he’s not a solid sea of ugly blue, but now he’s just bland grey and blue. I was hoping Highbrow would feel like a much more polished and solid version of Scourge, and sadly that is not the case. His twin guns can attach together so that Xort can, uh, stand in them, but it’s a very tight connection and honestly isn’t worth doing. The lack of a waist joint is irritating, as I feel like there should be room for one. It’s not all doom and gloom, however, as Highbrow does have good articulation! His head (when it’s not bobbing around everywhere) is ball-jointed, his shoulders have both ball-joints and swivels in the torso, his hips are universal, his elbows and knees hinged, and he has bicep and thigh swivels.
These problems in addition to the overall flimsy feel make Highbrow come off as rather sub-par. Also, the wrists on mine are very loose, and his left fist is a tad too large for his gun, which can only loosely rest in his hand. The problem seems to be that the plastic clip part is just too flimsy to keep any tension, resulting in an extremely loose neck. The Headmaster port is extremely wobbly, something that plagued Scourge and seems to be universal for all Highbrows. Unfortunately, my copy of Highbrow does have some QC issues. It’s a neat idea, but in execution it feels a little unfinished, as it doesn’t really lock in fully, just sort of softly stays in one place. There’s a strange grey bit that flips out a little to protrude from his chest, apparently to just give his torso more depth.
I think the sculpted detail is actually a bit of detriment here, seeming to only make him look more unpainted (though he does feature some nice paint apps). That aside, he does look good, if a little bit bland. This isn’t something that can easily be described in a text review you’d just have to feel the toy for yourself. He looks different enough, but the feel is the same lightweight, rickety, hollow yuck that put me off of Scourge. While the vehicle mode did a good job of making itself look unique, the transformation scheme provides the first hint of mold reuse, and Highbrow’s robot mode really just reeks of Scourge. Unfortunately, my copy of Xort has crazy-loose joints, which is more of an issue in head mode than anything else. Hooray! Also, the fact that these Titan Masters are so small makes it really hard to notice when they’re actually reused molds: Xort is straight-up Fracas, just with slightly different colors and someone else’s face stuck to his back.
Oh, and one thing I’ve forgotten to mention in previous TR reviews is that, unlike Combiner Wars, the line has been very consistent about having 3mm holes in each mode to interact with stands (like Tamashii stands), which is less useful for folks like Hardhead or Skullcruncher, but fantastic for flying guys like Highbrow.īucking the trend in a very small way, Xort (seriously what kind of name is that) actually gets away with having a single paint app: a silver visor. And check out that gorgeous translucent red cockpit, too! The grey plastic, despite coming off a bit bland, is at least good at highlighting the detail on the engine/wing sections. To its credit, though, Highbrow’s altmode features a ton of very nice sculpted detail, and even sports some gunmetal paint applications to show it off. How does it achieve forward thrust? Does it just fly up high enough and glide the rest of the way? How can those small propellers actually lift the large vehicle? So many questions! I have to give it credit for at least looking sort of cool, even if it makes no sense. True to form, Highbrow is a nonsensical futuristic helicopter-plane fusion vehicle with two rotors and wings.
I also figured that since the basic skeleton of the Scourge would be reused for the much nicer-looking Highbrow, I could get away with just reviewing him, a toy that I thought I would enjoy much more than Scourge. The explanation is simple: I really don’t like Titans Return Scourge, so much so that I have very little positive to say about him and have absolutely no desire to write a review for him. As I’m moving into wave 2 of Titans Return, you may be wondering why I didn’t put up a review of Scourge, despite showing him in my Galvatron review.
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