I hope whatever series comes next provides at least an Animated level shake up of the formula. How about a show with someone else as leader (not saying Rodimus now, but I wouldn't object strenuously), with Optimus being like TF:A Ultra Magnus: Mythical in stature, removed from the ongoing events. What if Megatron were a Lex Luthor type, with a charismatic and benevolent outward persona?
What I would like to see is a Transformers show well after Prime. Decades in the future, with Smokescreen as the new Prime. As you said pull Optimus back and make him more of an Alpha Trion type as opposed to leader.
Just don't change his character. What I hated about Animated more than the funky style was that they completely changed Optimus into...well, Hot Rod.
You can bet there will be more, that will be a given, especially if they sell which is likely due to how many love Beast Wars.
Also want to say to Mike M that was a cool post of the toys you did, as anyone can tell not a fan of Beast Machines but I did like how you covered what you owned. Do applaud you on that.
Does anyone else reading RID feel that Rodimus is kinda a sucky if not selfish ego centered leader? I can't help but think his crew would be better off with someone more mature and thought about his crew a bit more than himself.
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Main_Page Should be added to the OP as well, ever wanted to read about a TF character? Doesn't matter what continuity it's there. Every show, every toy, every TF thing you can basically think of. It's there. You'll lose hours looking things up and some of the entries can be quite humorous....need an example? Sky Lynx, the most glorious talented Autobot of them all!
Does anyone else reading RID feel that Rodimus is kinda a sucky if not selfish ego centered leader? I can't help but think his crew would be better off with someone more mature and thought about his crew a bit more than himself.
Absolutely. That's kind of the point. The whole ship is full of rejects, outcasts and losers trying to find their way, which is much of the appeal of the characters and how they interact with one another. Rodimus being an ineffectual leader is an essential part of the formula.
The way TF Prime ended actually does set them up for doing an adaptation of the IDW RiD story, if they want to. I have my doubts that Hasbro wants to go that dark or complex with their animated product, though.
Cracked open my Beast Wars storage tote for a trip down memory lane. Not anywhere near complete, but pretty eclectic. I've got LioConvoy and Big Convoy, somehow I wound up with two BW2 Galvatrons (1 still MISB?!), the Mutants, the 15th anniversary figures...
Mostly Transmetal and Transmetal 2, however. Even though I grew to love the BW TV series and the characters, most of those per TM era figures just don't do much for me.
Mostly Transmetal and Transmetal 2, however. Even though I grew to love the BW TV series and the characters, most of those per TM era figures just don't do much for me.
Ultra Megs and Primal were pretty cool, but otherwise, yeah it took a while to find their groove.
Would have loved to have seen some Transmetal Fuzors besides Tigerhawk. Some of the combinations they came up with were awesome, would have loved to have seen them rendered as straight robotic...
A little bit of everything from Beast Wars to present is stashed in these boxes. I really need to dust them off, organize and display them one of these days...
Even when I was single and had a second bedroom in my apartment to act as an entertainment room, I'd never have space for them all. The closet in there was jaaaam packed.
You definitely don't see commercials like you use too.
Do you know if they want to include those old commercials as extras on a DVD that they need to track down the children that were in them and pay? It's why you didn't see too many though they were asked for. The Transformers movie (G1) actually had a few of them.
Commercials back then were so weird. Kids were always smashing toys through transparent plastic blocks, or seemingly playing in some sort of desert terrain with Sam Waters.
Commercials back then were so weird. Kids were always smashing toys through transparent plastic blocks, or seemingly playing in some sort of desert terrain with Sam Waters.
So, what are everyone's favorite owned figures? We can't have a TF thread without talking about our favorite toys. I haven't been collecting TFs for some time so my stuff might be outdated, but here are some of my fav' bots and cons.
I just love Bludgeon and Skullgrin's design. Wish Bludgeon had a more classic face and that Skullgrin got a new weapon instead of Straxus' pickaxe, it's too iconic to be reused.
Would have loved to have seen some Transmetal Fuzors besides Tigerhawk. Some of the combinations they came up with were awesome, would have loved to have seen them rendered as straight robotic...
A little bit of everything from Beast Wars to present is stashed in these boxes. I really need to dust them off, organize and display them one of these days...
The joys of moving. They were all gently placed in the boxes if that helps. Unpacking and displaying everything is just such an arduous task that I keep putting off. Doesn't stop me from buying new toys though...
I don't have many toys. Most of mine are from Cybertron.
IIRC, I own:
Cybertron Menasor (I somehow broke one of the battery lids when I was messing with it :/)
Cybertron Landmine
Cybertron Override
Cybertron Dirt Boss (one of the pegs got broken)
Cybertron Longrack (one of Dirt Boss' pegs is stuck in one of its holes)
Cybertron Ransack
Cybertron Scrapmetal
Energon Snowcat
Reveal the Shield Mindset
Power Core Combiners Crankcase
My favourite are Scrapmetal and Crankcase (not the Destrons because PCC sucks).
So, what are everyone's favorite owned figures? We can't have a TF thread without talking about our favorite toys. I haven't been collecting TFs for some time so my stuff might be outdated, but here are some of my fav' bots and cons.
So i'm trying to give Transformers Animated another shot. I'm really finding it difficult - why is it supposed to be so great? From the episode or two I have watched it seems like it has a ton of G1 callbacks so i'm assuming that's it.
So i'm trying to give Transformers Animated another shot. I'm really finding it difficult - why is it supposed to be so great? From the episode or two I have watched it seems like it has a ton of G1 callbacks so i'm assuming that's it.
That's exactly it. The fandom's massive love of TFA generally comes from the fact that it constantly throws out references to G1 stuff that never really goes beyond "Hey, remember that thing?!" most of the time. It's the Family Guy of TF shows. I like some of the characters, and it gave the franchise Bulkhead, but it's really not very engaging unless you just want one-note in-jokes and a rudimentary story arc. All the same, I hope Hasbro puts out Season 3 on DVD at some point.
The G1 references in TFA were fine, they never were any worse than Primal's quip about die cast metal construction being a lost art in BW. They were usually in addition to another joke entirely that would still work without the reference (I.e. the running gag of the Autobots inadvertently ruining Spike's life), and was just shit thrown in to be Easter eggs for older audiences. I can't speak for anyone else, but they were an inconsequential part of the show's appeal.
Fresh scenario. Optimus as a disgraced Prime leading a garbage scow crew against human antagonists and accidents of science. Decepticons were (to start) somewhat rare and formidable enough that individual members could beat the Autobots senseless. Autobots operated in public, super hero celebrities in a world that's accustomed to robots.
Well developed characters. Just about all of the primary cast (and hell, a lot of the secondary cast. Basically any TF that wasn't made on Earth) had fairly extensive, fleshed out histories that were referenced and expanded upon frequently.
Greater consistency. The show's humor actually works with the show, instead of sticking out like a sore thumb like that slapstick Looney Toons cartoon violence shit in BW that was borderline unwatchable. It never reaches the heights of Code of Hero, but neither does it have an episode revolving around Megatron's diabolical plan to make Rhinox fart the Maximals to death.
The story arc isn't as sophisticated as Beast Wars, it's true, but there's less filler and what filler there is is more tolerable in my view. It takes a lot more than two episodes to get up to speed though.
See I think TFA is almost 100% filler. So many episodes are just one-sentence jokes stretched to 22 minutes, like the Soundwave one or the interminable Constructicon episodes. Even Wreck Gar was like "Haha, get it, he's a garbage truck! And he's voiced by Weird Al! Haha...ha...shit this has 20 minutes left, huh? Okay, everyone tapdance for a while..."
Yeah, Beast Wars had some cringe-y humor at times, but the story was there. The characters were consistent, and even the one-shot characters like Transmutate had heft to them. Plus, Beast Wars' G1 references were often very heavily woven into the storyline, and the closest approximation to TFA's "Hey fans, look at this G1 character!" stunts is probably Ravage, who is actually an incredibly clever extrapolation of the character into the Beast Era.
I don't think TFA was bad, and, like you said, it did give us a bunch of new setting/background concepts for the first time in, what, almost ten years? But it's insanely overrated by fans who are, not without reason, disappointed in TFP's "business as usual" format. Maybe if they'd given it a couple more years to really grow into itself it would have become something really special, but I don't know if we'll ever see a TF show go past the magic number of 65 again.
One of the cool things Animated did was give Megatron the saying "Transform and rise up" which played into a lot of the back ground for various Megatrons these days of starting the Decepticons to rebel against the ruling party that treated everyone like crap.
Mind you if that was true of the background for Animated or not I got no idea but I really liked the saying.
One of the cool things Animated did was give Megatron the saying "Transform and rise up" which played into a lot of the back ground for various Megatrons these days of starting the Decepticons to rebel against the ruling party that treated everyone like crap.
Mind you if that was true of the background for Animated or not I got no idea but I really liked the saying.
It's a nice angle to approach Megatron from. He's obviously power hungry like there's no tomorrow but he's usually been portrayed as being genuinely indignant when it comes to being told what to do and restricted.
There was a really nice story in the G1 comic where Megatron meets a human he can respect.
A guy who uses Megatron's gun mode to get revenge on the mob. And when Megatron threatens to smite him for using the mighty Megatron as a tool, the reply is: go ahead and kill me. I got justice and nobody can take that away from me. Megatron lowers his weapon and is impressed.
The head is Springer's only issue. Mine just baaaaarely doesn't fit through the chest, and no amount of wiggling and adjusting will help. Like both pieces were on opposite ends of the acceptable variance spectrum. Everything else about him is phenomenal.
Blitzwing has his own issues with his head (Face changing gimmick feels like I'm going to break it every time, the jet nose can be kind of hard to get into place), but his real problem is his janky-ass shoulders. Supposedly there's a fix, but I haven't done it yet as it's relatively involved.
I wouldn't say he's bad, but I may just have Stockholm Syndrome as I'm pretty accustomed to figures having problems by this point.
Originally I was intent on tracking down a Henkei Dinobot figure but after seeing the prices, I'd rather get the universe version and paint over it for show accuracy. As someone who has never tried painting over his figures, care to share any tips for a newbie?
Exciting news for fans of Transformers Animated and the Unicron Trilogy! Shout Factory has announced that they have entered into a new partnership with Hasbro Studios to distribute certain Hasbro series. Included in the press release is Transformers Animated, and Armada, Energon and Cybertron. No word on if this means the Third Season of Animated will finally see a home video release, but hope springs eternal.
Originally I was intent on tracking down a Henkei Dinobot figure but after seeing the prices, I'd rather get the universe version and paint over it for show accuracy. As someone who has never tried painting over his figures, care to share any tips for a newbie?
So I was at my parents house few days ago and was going through some old boxes filled with all my old stuff like toys etc and found this guy!
I unfortunately don't have my phone at the moment so I couldn't take a pic, I'll be taking some shots of my smallish collection sometime soon but yeah, I still remember when I got this guy back in the early 90's
His name is Boss apparently, which is appropriate because he fucking looks like one. I'm missing the missile though but that's okay his batmobile mode still rocks.
Wait, so the Dinobots are confirmed for Transformers 4? Holy shit balls...
I actually kind of liked the first and third movies...
Anyways, yesterday I randomly remembered that Transtech used to be a thing. The sequel to Beast Machines was canned before it got too far into production, but it at least got as far as producing two prototype toys. I still remember the fan outrage as people who saw this concept art related... less than accurate descriptions of them to the fan community at large. "Cheetor is a car with fur! Optimus Primal is a truck with a gorilla head instead of a cab!"
Then the line was canceled, we got Robots in Disguise while they redirected their energies towards developing Armada, and look at the shitstorm THAT caused...
I was looking through that gallery though, and I found it interesting how much of the stuff done for Transtech managed to live on in one form or another. Even the plot seeming to revolve around BW era figures existing alongside G1 characters was revisited in Universe and Animated.
The head studies in particular seem heavily reminiscent of what we got got in the movie franchise, and the robot modes aren't a far cry from that aesthetic either (albeit they all turn into cybertronian stuff instead of earth vehicles).
I can't find the pictures I need to demonstrate it, but Starscream and Immorticon's concept art was totally redrawn to become the concept art of (one of) the Transformers Crossovers Ironman and Hulk figures.
The final toys were far from a 1:1 transition, so there's not much to show for it, but trust me, they were literally just traced over the Transtech stuff.
Now here's an interesting one, Transtech Starscream's prototype design (Bigger pictures here) is clearly modeled after Machine Wars Starscream. He looks like a pretty cool figure overall, I'd have liked to have seen him make it into production too.
Transtech was a great lost opportunity. I'm sure they wouldn't have translated particularly well into early 2000s toy technology, but those designs were badass. I always liked how they incorporated Shockwave's gun mode elements into a dragster.
This is interesting, that prototype Supreme Optimus Primal's sculpting is like... Completely different on every piece from the final product. The general shape and appearance is the same, but all the details have been changed significantly.
This is interesting, that prototype Supreme Optimus Primal's sculpting is like... Completely different on every piece from the final product. The general shape and appearance is the same, but all the details have been changed significantly.
Transtech, ah I remember that, seeing the stuff that was leaked and what was put out. The overall opinion of it at that time was pretty mixed as so much of what went into Beast Machines and those who made that were suppose to be on it as well. Or so were the rumors and you got to remember this...people HATED Beast Machines with a passion by the time it ended, it only had minor support by the time it was done. People took a look at the designs for Transtech and while they loved that it was vehicles and all they did not like the overall designs, the Beast Machines had pushed them too hard in one direction and many of the toys were disappointing as well.
People feared what would be with Transtech due to the designs and after Beast Machines they were vocal and they were angry and they were ready to rage even more if they felt the franchise was being pissed down the drain. That helped to make Hasbro back off and bring over the Japanese Transformers RID which was so so at best but helped to placate the fanbase for a time.
Beast Machines wouldn't engender half the hate it receives if not for it being the canonical end of the G1 continuity leaving Cheetor in charge of a Cybertron turned into a technorganic turnip.
That must have been an awkward conversation...
Cheetor: "Maximals! As your new leader, I welcome you!"
Everyone: "Who died and made you Prime?"
Cheetor: "Optimus Primal, actually."
Everyone: "Who?"
Cheetor: "He was captain of a small science vessel out in the ass end of the universe..."
Everyone: "And he gets to make you leader why now?"
Cheetor: "Well, the Oracle--"
Everyone: "The what now?"
Man, I could keep going.
Oh, and Botanica. What the fucking fuck, a plant monster that transforms into a different-looking plant monster? Probably the single worst concept to befall the entire franchise.
Don't forget Nightscream and his techno-organic emo hair. God what a trainwreck that show was.
I recall the fan reaction to the Transtech designs being almost universally positive, at least on USENET. What skepticism there was came from the question of whether such lanky designs could be effectively replicated in toy form, especially after the underwhelming designs that populated the Beast Machines line.
Don't forget Nightscream and his techno-organic emo hair. God what a trainwreck that show was.
I recall the fan reaction to the Transtech designs being almost universally positive, at least on USENET. What skepticism there was came from the question of whether such lanky designs could be effectively replicated in toy form, especially after the underwhelming designs that populated the Beast Machines line.
The timeline of events plays a part here. Transtech was known about somewhere around the end of Beast Machines/before Robots on Disguise from listings of upcoming figures in retailers' computers. The original line up consisted of BW and G1 character names, which was enough for people to put that much of the plot together.
The only other thing anyone had to go on was a game of telephone of other people's descriptions of other people's descriptions of the concept art, which is how people got the notion of furred cars and gorilla head truck cabs. This version of Transtech in everyone's collective head and the widespread dissatisfaction with the direction BM took the franchise was what people were hating on.
By the time the artwork made it online, we were well into the Armada line. I too remember the artwork being generally well received, and people found that stuff like the gorilla-head truck can was nothing like anyone had been imagining. Of course this was during Armada, who can say what the reception would have been if they had come to light during a more warmly received line. Kinda like the Zelda cycle where every Zelda goes from worst ever to best ever in two installations. Heh.
