Fortress Maximus is Hasbro’s Titan Class Transformers figure offering this year and he will come in two versions: a San Diego Comic-Con 2016 exclusive reviewed here, and a regular retail standard version currently available at some brick & mortar stores, Entertainment Earth and other online retailers.
Thank you to Hasbro for providing their San Diego Comic-Con 2016 Exclusive Transformers Titans Return Titan Class Fortress Maximus for review.
Official Product Description:
TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS: TITANS RETURN TITAN CLASS FORTRESS MAXIMUS Convention Edition
(Ages 8 years & up/Approx. Retail Price: $179.99/ Available at HasbroToyShop on August 9)
Harness the power! The TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS TITANS RETURN TITAN CLASS FORTRESS MAXIMUS Convention Edition brings the TRANSFORMERS battle into uncharted territory when the Titans Return. Fans can up their battle power by combining two additional pieces to the special FORTRESS MAXIMUS figure – the TITAN MASTER EMISSARY and CEREBROS figures. The Triple Changer FORTRESS MAXIMUS figure features robot, battle station and Autobot city modes which allows the figure to unite with TITANS RETURN LEADER CLASS figures (sold separately) to form a Cybertron City. The Convention Edition figure features collectible packaging and comes with a special edition poster, three accessories and a mighty sword for players to use in playtime battle.
Availability: July 20th-24th San Diego Comic-Con 2016; HasbroToyShop August 9th
Fortress Maximus is one of the most iconic and remembered Transformers toys of the 1980’s. This new version is the first time that Hasbro have offered him since his debut in 1987, and is re-imagined by Hasbro’s Transformers brand team to fit into their Titans Return collection currently available.
In robot mode, Fortress Maximus stands roughly 23″ tall and has the ability to transform in battle station, and an Autobot City just like the vintage toy from 1987. In robot mode, Fortress Maximus kept his sword, and knee cannons, an extra cannon on his left knee, but lost every other cannon that the vintage toy had, including the blaster that he held in his hand. However, he has an added cannon hidden behind the blue translucent plastic on his left shoulder, but does not stay up on its own to shoot straight in this mode. His sword is his only accessory that he can hold in his hands, but we could not find a way to securely hold it. So it feels loose and may fall from time to time.
In Battle Station Mode, his legs become the front and is able to fire his knee cannons, and also has less storage to hold smaller Transformers compared to the Autobot City mode. The Transformation is pretty straight forward as shown in the instructions, and you don’t need to be an expert to convert him in any of the three modes. In this mode, the head is stored at the center tower and becomes something like a command station. You do have the option to transform Cerebros and have him stand somewhere on the station, but the center of the tower looks like it’s missing a key component without the head there.
In the Autobot City mode, Fortress Maximus is able to hold many Transformers figures including a ton of Titan Masters figures as Hasbro had shown at press events including New York ToyFair and San Diego Comic-Con (above image is from our NYTF coverage showing many Transformers standing on and around Fortress Maximus in City mode). The city features a ramp at the center for smaller cars, but unlike the 1987 figure, the ramps on his arms stay put. In this mode, he also has the ability to combine with Blaster and Powermaster Optimus Prime in their battle station modes to create an even larger Autobot City as shown in the instructions below.
The head can transform to become Cerebros, just like the vintage figure had offered, as well as a smaller Transformer figure of Titan Master Emissary. Both Transformers are capable of being placed anywhere on the Battle Station and City modes. Cerebros does not include any accessories.
The San Diego Comic-Con 2016 exclusive has some different paint applications compared to the retail version including added white and red details to his chest and shoulders, more of a cream color with red detailing on his thighs, grey rectangles on his sides to break up the blue, some orange stripes on his chest window, and some other minor silver and black detailing to help bring things to life.
Overall:
Fortress Maximus is an incredible figure that can transform into three modes, with the head becoming Cerebros and Emissary. The sculpt, paint applications, and detail on Fortress Maximus, Cerebros, and Emissary are very nicely done. This character is long overdue for an update and you simply need this for your collection. Next year, Hasbro will be offering Trypticon, and we were told at San Diego Comic-Con that he looks amazing (we don’t have pictures to share with you).
Highly Recommended.
Purchase:
The gallery is of the San Diego Comic-Con 2016 Exclusive Fortress Maximus figure, and not to be confused with the retail figure.
