Call me a curmudgeon, but I honestly haven’t been very impressed by most of the recent wave of TFs, maybe around since the CHUG era. I guess I’m a stodgy old coot and cranky codger when it comes to anything post-G1 (besides Masterpiece). For me, most of the figures are just too cheap looking, the bots too awkwardly proportioned, or the alt modes ridiculously unrealistic for me to want to pick them up. The G1 and Diaclone homage designs are always fun to see, but I try not to get anything new these days unless it really calls out to me and makes me feel like it deserves to go into the collection. This figure here is no exception either, with a super toy-ish alt mode that looks like it could have been released in the late 80’s, but that’s what made me want to get this guy. Yeah, the bot mode is fantastic on its own, but it’s the whole package, including the silly plane and targetmasters, that gives it the charm factor I’m looking for in a G1 redesign.

Legacy Evolution Needlenose is a great pickup because it’s a fun, inexpensive toy that’s satisfyingly easy to transform and pays proper homage to the original G1 Targetmaster, while updating the design with the articulation and aesthetic of a modern release. It’s a nice refresh of the era of a new style of design that was unique to Hasbro TF, once all the cars and Diaclones had already been released, and after the TV show and comic would forever cement the star cast of G1 characters into our minds. It’s unadulterated, unabashedly late 80’s style.

Love the “Needlenose” callsign decal by Toyhax. They really make this look more like an actual plane than just some cheap toy you’d fine at the bottom of some kid’s toybin. Another big motivator for me to pick up a modern releases occasionally is the work that Toyhax has been doing for the TF collector community for a while now, and their recent round of decals has been just top notch work, so much to the point that I almost won’t consider a Legacy or other modern release without the Toyhax upgrades.

The plane mode is a bit of a lazy alt design, but it’s sort of bad-good for me and serves as a throwback to the late 80s and early 90s, when Hasbro / Takara made all kinds of cool colorful mashups between real existing jets and futuristic spaceships. I didn’t have the G1 Needlenose, but the top of the jet mode looks really close to the original. The bottom underside, however, is pretty ridiculous as it’s clearly just Needlenose with his legs up over his head like a contortionist.

The targetmasters are super hollow and cheap, with thick glossy paint and the worst part is you have to assemble them yourself. I’ve heard that for some people theirs were already pre-assembled, but that wasn’t the case for mine. The paint is so thick that I nearly broke the gun off of one of them as I was jamming it into place. They really cheaped out on these guys in terms of transformation, plastic quality, and overall design. Even though I’d rather have them than not, I’m pretty disappointed by most of the recent targetmasters themselves. It’s hard to beat the old G1’s in build quality, but you’d think they’d have improved the designs of the little figures by now. But clearly the budget went to Needlenose.

I like stacking the Targetmasters like they’re circus performers. At least with the Toyhax additions, really just the shoulders, there’s a little more detail that gives these guys a bit more flavor. The Toyhax embellishments aptly fit their names too – Sunbeam gets a red sunburst effect on his shoulders that reminds me the Japanese rising sun motif, very samurai-esque. And Zigzag gets, well, you guessed – the zigzag lines on his shoulders. Comparing these guys to their original designs, however, shows you how little effort they put into the redesign. They’re almost identical to their 80s design, if not a wee bit more detailed and more hollow.

Now, as far as Needlenose the bot goes, I think this is one of my favorite G1 reboots yet. He’s got all the essence of his original G1 design (thanks to Toyhax even more so) with the modern updates in articulation, proportion, and highly detailed sculpting. Enough to the point where I don’t need the Targetmasters at all, and wish he had a “regular” rifle. I always felt that even the G1 Targetmasters weren’t complete with their own rifle, especially the releases where they replaced a gun entirely with a Targetmaster. Hey, if you’re going to add a gimmick to get our attention and make us buy G1 toys we already have, don’t skimp out and at least include their original gun! Ahem… Jazz / Stepper, Kup, Inferno / Artfire, Hot Rod, Cyclonus, Scourge?!

Ahhh, now that’s a good lookin bot. The proportions are great, the colors are straight up late 80s, and I can excuse some of the hollowness since it’s a requirement for transformation and if it bothers me too much, I can always rely on the lethora of 3D-printed gap fillers available on the Net these days. Love aftermarket ingenuity. And with these super detailed decals with their brilliant metallic shimmer, dude is looking hella badass in all his glory.

Now as far as G1 accurate transformation goes, I’m not a big fan of the official “plane-dong” look, hanging all out. So I “tuck it up” haha. It looks good from the back, but having a plane for a backpack is just super awkward and a lazy design. But man, dude is packing…!

Ahem… ‘scuse me. I’m still an 10 yr old, at least mentally. But, I do really prefer this look below, with the weapon on his forearm like a spike. I like that there are plenty of ports to plug in and combine with other figs. It’s always nice to have options for your imagination to run wild and explore with armorizing / fusionizing and what not. I’ll leave that to the techxperts on IG. (Here’s the best guy I’ve seen out there at it: https://www.instagram.com/botbender_orinj/)

How can you not like a good old knight-inspired head sculpt like this? With Toyhax, I feel that some of these newer releases can look good enough and well worth adding to the semi-permanent collection. The plastic is still super cheap and there’s no premium feel to any modern main line figure, or anything outside of Masterpiece IMO, but it makes me covet these things less and just play with them as what they are – toys.