Originally written March 2019.
For the next part of my look at the first series of Transformers: Siege, I’ll talk about the smallest, simplest figures in the line, Battlemasters. These are basically reworked Targetmasters, an idea from the fourth year of the original Generation One line, in 1987. The idea was that Targetmasters were microfigures that changed into guns, packed with larger figures.
Siege has redone them, with a few caveats to make them more interesting: They’re now packed on their own, without a larger figure, they don’t all change into guns, they aren’t all humanoid robots, and they come with “effect parts,” bits of plastic meant to represent energy blasts, sword swooshes, or explosions.
It’s all part of two of Siege’s overall linewide gimmicks: One is releasing weapon expansion to arm up the larger figures in the line. The other is filling the gaps in previous lines, as a number of these Battle Masters are meant to go with the larger Targetmaster characters from previous lines that didn’t come with their actual partners. Notably, they already did this in Japan, as several characters from Titans Return and other lines recieved new Targetmaster figures when they were released as part of Takara’s Transformers: Legends line, forcing western fans to decide if they wanted to import those figures to have “complete” characters. These battle masters offer a cheaper solution, and one that comes with extra features. Let’s have a look at the first series of the line. Most of the photos here were provided by Venomously Addicted Photography, who you can follow on Facebook and Instagram.
Firedrive
This Battle Master is based on Firebolt, Hot Rod’s Targetmaster companion. I actually own the 2017 Legends version of Hot Rod that came with Takara’s take on Firebolt (Classics Hot Rod, all the way back from 2006, is used in these pictures, though), and I can confirm that this isn’t a re-release of same mold, like some suspected when we first saw pictures. It’s a similar design, but Firedrive is bigger, lighter, hollower, and softer than Firebolt. He also lacks the knees of the other figure, just moving at the hips and shoulders. As one would expect for a minifigure, Firedrive has minimal paint, with a black torso, grey limbs, and some red on the face and chest. He makes up for it with his extra features, though. He’s got a couple of tiny holes on his arms, and you can pop off his gunbarrels from his backpack, and peg them into them onto his arm, giving him a weapon of his own for this mode.
His transformation to gun mode is actually different from Firebolt, and much better. Firebolt didn’t have anything lock down in his gun mode, but everything on Firedrive is secure and snaps in nicely.
His gun mode is meaner-looking, too, thanks to having extra molded missiles on the bottom of his feet.
His effect parts are a pair of rubbery pink fireblasts that fit onto the end of the gun, simulating laser fire, or on other things, simulating laser hits.
I wish he had more paint and poseability (compared to the Legends one), but he’s fun for what he is, makes a good gun, and comes with nifty fireblast parts. If you have a Hot Rod without one, it’s a good little upgrade.
Blowpipe
Blowpipe was the Targetmaster companion of Triggerhappy, whom I don’t own to compare with (though Venomously Addicted Photography does). He sports some very 1980s colors, with powdery blue limbs, a grey torso, and a green face and visor. Sadly he’s also got a giant, awkward-looking peg in the middle of his chest, which Firedrive doesn’t. Like Firedrive, he can also unclip his gunbarrel and mount it on his arm, which also looks nice.
Once again, he quickly flips into a solid gun mode, albeit one with an odd-looking barrel.
His effect part is an elaborate yellow splash of energy, made out of three pieces that are pegged together, and can unclip to create additional effects.
It’s quite impressive, and can make other figures look like they took a hit.
While Firedrive’s got the better robot mode, this guy’s got the better effect part, in my opinion, so I rank the two of them about the same.
Lionizer
The original Lionizer wasn’t a Targermaster at all, but was originally a transforming animal companion character for an Action Master named Rad (long story). As his name implies, he’s a lion, in black and silver, with red eyes. He looks nice, even if he does have a hilariously gigantic tail and no mane. All four of his limbs are on ball joints, giving his legs decent poseability. One advantage of that giant tail of his is that he can flip it forward for an attack mode, drawing attention to the fact that it’s sculpted to look like an electric railgun.
To transform him, his head folds back and his limbs fit together, to make a blade with a nice, big handle. Here’s he’s pictured with third-party transforming robot Buster, from Mega Steel.
It’s cool-looking, if a bit cumbersome, and the slash is nice. His effect part is one of the neater ones, a transparent blue sword swoosh, which you can apply to his tail to make it look like it’s swinging.
In a really nifty bit of cross-compatibility, it’s specifically molded to also be able to attach it to the Micromaster Air Strike Team’s sword mode, too.
Overall, he’s the most inventive of the three, by virtue of not just being another humanoid robot that makes a gun.
Overall
These guys feel cheap at first, especially with their lack of paint, but they’re really well-designed for their size, snap together into cool weapons, and come with effect parts that can really spruce up your collection. If you have the change to spare, I’d say it’s worth picking up a couple of them to give your Siege figures extra weapons, and there’s definitely more inventive weapons on the horizon aside from guns, including hammers and axes.
(2022 thoughts: Battlemasters continued to be released throughout Siege and Earthrise, but ended before Kingdom. It’s a bit of a shame, but on the other hand, they were always kind of a tough purchase to make as a solo proposition, unless we were talking about Rung, reviewed here, who turned out to be the best figure of the size class. None of them were bad, and effect parts were always nice, but they always felt a little undercooked. That being said, plenty of multipacks throughout the War for Cybertron Trilogy (even stretching into Kingdom) included them as pack-ins, and they always made for a nice extra when included with a larger figure. Basically, I’d broadly recommend picking up a couple of them to give to your figures, because they’re nifty for what they are, but maybe not the single-packed ones, unless you can get a deal. )
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