Fit For Natalie

The neon green wasn't needed, I'm pretty sure. I think that's just how the current Hasbro thinks Megatron should BE. *looks it up* It seems the current California laws require toy guns to be either ENTIRELY orange or green, or transparent. So I'm not sure if they can sell Megatron in California anyways. I'd have to find the full text of the law and try to work it out from there. It might be that ANY transparency covers things, in which case the green is probably redundant. And I'm pleased with the current Hasbro. I'm sure Hasbro Transformers design didn't want a G1 Megatron inspired toy to have fairly bright colours unless they had to. After all they made Cybertron Galvatron in G1 Megs colours, so they know exactly what colours Megs is.I'm pretty sure the incredibly legal-conscious Hasbro researched all the US laws they'd have to comply with to release this toy within all states. I think the California laws are less strict than they seem, or Megatron is 'Fake Enough' to get away with partial neon green. After all, the Role Play Optimus Prime Blaster toy from Energon, a fake scifi looking rifle, mass-released, was mostly white and red. Not a neon colour on him. You think Hasbro would willingly release a toy that cannot be sold in a major state with a large potential customer base?

Who actually owns the rights in Japan? As I recall last year Takara announced buying a majority share in the studio (whose name escapes me) that animated Macross, Southern Cross, Mospeada ect...

Rodimus (mistransformed - spoiler rotates or flips up)

It stores in his trunk when not in use. In robot mode, as you can see, becomes a flight pack.And I am amused when people try to be bad ass or prove some point on the internet by declaring they'll throw something they paid money for into the bin

Previous pics were photoshopped photos of the hand-painted prototypes. These photos are of test shot samples close to production toys.Actual production toys are naturally unpainted (except for detailing and colour coordination).

Astrotrain Bumblebee

(copy and paste from my GI Joe board threads) Thanks to TFW2005, pics courtesy of Hasbro. Also Cyb Unicron, Cybertron repaints, Alternators Camshaft and Nemesis Prime pics HERE Megsy Starscream

Probably found the accurisamarising too hard and said 'ahh stuff it' and concentrated on other TF-ing things or went home. Yes.

LOOK Clear Masterpiece Starscream pics from Hobbylink Japan LOOK Factories in China. Test shots are usually shredded, but obviously people can sneak them out. Lately its slowed down alot, presumebly because Hasbro cracked down on theft.

Classics Rodimus auction Notice the flip-out saw blade on his left arm?

Classics Grimlock colour sheet. From the same guy who put up the Mystery Abrams Megs yesterday

G2 Megs is almost 16 inches long? Because that's how long the RC 1/24 Abrams is. The 1/24 Leopard they're selling on that site comes out to 16" as well. I don't have a Megs myself so i can't measure it to compare, but i don't remember him being more than a foot long or so the last time i saw one. 404434[/snapback] crap, sorry. For some reason I imagined G2 Megs was much larger than I thought, and when I said 1:24 tanks weren't that big, I must have been thinking of how they compare to my 1:18 Abrams and my Patriot Grizzly tank.

1:24 scale tanks aren't VERY big. I have a 1:24 Leopard 2A6 and its about the same size as G2 Megatron.

At least Starscream's hands aren't girly like the 1:48 valks

More likely than not, since they needed an articulated heel joint, they made the engine nozzles articulated anyway. Besides, unless they advertise it as 'REAL F-15 FOR FULL REALNESS FULFILLMENT YES!!', its not really an F-15 replica. More of an amalgamation of Unlicensed Jet Of Distinct But Not Legally Dubious Appearance with Robot. Just like 99% of Transformers, really.

Dunno why somebody photoshopped that Takara-Tomy logo there. Takara made the toys, but they haven't even acknowledged their existence, yet. Don Figueroa says the jetski and its trailer becomes a jetpack for Bumblebee. It fits inside his truck for storage when not in use.

Marketing-speak. Hasbro said last year that the then-unnamed line was to be 'Cybertron-playability with Alternators-detailing'. Apparently there is a tazer weapon that looks like that, but is black. The blocky front would be where the wires would be fired from.

I do prefer a new Galvatron figure. BTW JBO is that you ? 402625[/snapback] I think Energon Galvatron is more than adequate. Which is what they been doing for the past 13 years (counting from the first new Megatron, which was G2 tank Megs)This is the first time Megatron has been a gun since 1984. Gun G1 (1984) Classics (2006) Tank G2 (1992-93) G2 Combat Hero (1994) Armada (2002) Armada Galvatron repaint (2003) Plane or Space Ship G2 ATB Megatron (1995) cancelled Energon (2004) Energon Galvatron repaint (2004) Beast BW Megatron (1996) Crocodile BW Megatron (1996) T-Rex BW Transmetal Megatron (1998) Robotic T-Rex BW Transmetal 2 Megatron (1999) Dragon BM Megatron (2000) Dragon Multi-Changer RID Megatron (2001) 6 forms - Robot, dragon, jet, gargoyle, race car, and giant hand RID Galvatron retool (2001) 10 forms - Robot, dragon, jet, gargoyle, race car, giant hand, dinosaur thing, elephant, hydralisk... I can't remember. Cybetron Megatron (2005) 3 forms - Robot, car, jet Cybertron Galvatron repaint (2006) - Robot, car, jet Giant Head RID Megabolt Megatron (2003) Car G2 Gobot Megatron (1995)

Hasbro's official TF site has uploaded some of these pics (and some different posed ones) along with the first pics of MEGATRON! Remember, folks, he's in those colours so he's legal.

Yeah, its well documented that Aaron is possibly insane in his insistance that Wheeljack is a bad guy's name because it sounds like 'car jack'. Still, I credit alot of good stuff that's been happening in TF to his leadership. Plus, given he's a good friend of Don Figueroa, he's probably the one who champions Don's designs and gets them into the various lines.

I meant that because the japanese market sees Transformers as a foriegn series, Takara shouldn't try to make it a japanese series. Part of Transformers appeal in Japan is its western values and the fact its different form every other mecha or Super Robot series.I tend to agree about the deaths. Hasbro made a huge mistake in underestimating the popularity of the original core cast. But Prime went out fighting - a death befitting a leader. Actually Beast Machines (still engineered by Takara, except for the Beast Riders) was a relative sucess for Hasbro, just not up to the standards set by Beast Wars. 'Hasbro farts up just as much as Takara?' I beg to differ, given that in the same period (1996-2006) Hasbro has dealt more sucessfully with the Transformers than Takara, who have strugged with the series since Beast Wars the Second. I believe the problem is Takara Marketing - they just don't know what to do with this gaijin Transformer thing they partly own. Even Takara's own Transformers division, the people who developed Diaclone/Microman, and who have been making Transformers for 20 years; have expressed some frustration with their Marketing - during the initial development of the Superlink series, they were not invited to the meetings - the series was cooked up by Marketing and WE'VE. I don't think kids care, so long as they (sort of) look like the character's previous incarnation and act like the same character. They're not developing some kind of adult anime where every exacting detail needs to be explained with Star Trek-like complexity. But if you demand an answer, think of it this way - in Armada, after Smokescreen was shot by the Requiem Blaster, Red Alert managed to save his spark and put it into stasis while he built a new body. So you could say they simply had their sparks put into new, improved bodies during the non-fighting that seems to occur between each series. I used the japanese names of the US characters to explain it from the japanese market's point of view, which is those 'Convoys' are the most popular of the many Convoys they have I think you're getting unnecessarily aggressive. I don't participate in the Macross threads because I'm not knowledgable enough. Hell, I know more about Robotech.

Well, Amenbo, a major japanese online retailer also posted the MP Convoy with trailer reissue, too.

The Cybetronian Beast Wars exclusive Botcon set looks AWESOME. Classics look AWESOME! TRANSFORMERS ARE AWESOME! Actually, bad for Takara.History has proven that whenever Takara decides to assert individuality in Transformers story writing, it ends up being a DISASTER for them, in terms of how the japanese public and the japanese Transformers fandom enjoys the storyline, and how well the toys subsequently sell. Case in point - when Hasbro left Transformers cartoons in G1, Takara took over, bringing a different japanese anime flavour to it. Over the course of several series, sales went WAY down. When the US Beast Wars series debuted in Japan, it was a hit. But due to the complexities of Mainframe's CG animation, the production took too long for Takara's market requirements of 52 episodes per year, so they created Beast Wars the Second - a lighthearted slapstick anime. It bombed. Then they made Beast Wars Neo, an even more slapstick oriented series. It bombed even worse. Then they imported seasons 2 and 3 of US Beast Wars as Beast Wars Metals, EXCEPT marketing decided to drastically change the series to better fit the anime slapstick established in BW2 and Neo. As a consequence iy lost the darker, hard edge season 2 was famous for, the japanese TF fandom hated the series and it bombed. Car Robots was the last straw - it almost killed Transformers in Japan and damaged Takara's finances. The following year Takara prudently began working jointly with Hasbro once again on Transformers, beginning with Masterpiece Convoy and Armada. The fact that G1 Convoy and Beast Convoy, both US characters, are the most popular versions of the various Convoy says something about how much the japanese prefer US-led TF series, and how much apathy they have for japanese-oriented TF series. As for characters not looking much like their previous bodies - well, line refresh that keeps the line looking interesting and new to the market, despite being in the same continuity. Keep changing, or die a slow death like G1.

I can call it anyway I want to because it's MY opinion. Galaxy Force's story is tighter then Cybertrons because it doesn't have to try to force a connection to previous shows like Hasbro does. Hasbro's renaming of the planetary convoys to their english counterparts is understandable due to them needing to protect the names but I still think their choice of names are stupid. Some names changes were good such as Inch Up to Dirt Boss was a good change but Chromia to Thunderblast? WTF? Nitro Convoy suddenly becomes a female character because Hasbro didn't want the only female character to be evil is so PC it's retarded. And don't have me go off on Armada(Pokemon) and Energon(Super Sentai Convoy) because I think both shows were utter crap. Megalo Convoy/Metroplex = prisonbitch convoy/Metro so yeah I'd say that was a "loose" interpretation. 401848[/snapback] The whole damn Galaxy Force problem is the fact Takara Marketing and WE'VE decided take the story off in a new continuity, even though the foundation for the series was a follow up of Energon/Superlink. Even We've called it a continuation of Superlink early on.Hasbro is then left to try to put it together, and their writers have done a pretty good job of it. Some scenes benefitted from additional dialogue in contrast to the silence in Galaxy Force - for instance, when Primus finishes transforming, Vector Prime does an almost religious speech about Primus. Hasbro actually used Thunderblast twice in Cybertron. Whoops. Nitro Convoy turning into the female Override was a request from the Cartoon Network - they wanted a female character on the good guys side. Nitro's cartoon model was the most feminine of the Autobots so... I actually quite like Armada for all of its faults. I generally object to the Pokemon description, since they more or less abandoned that angle as the series progressed. Criticism of the kids are more than valid, of course Well, if you consider a robot sitting down as prisonbitch (his transformation doesn't actually have him on his hands as knees. If anything, his ass is on the ground).

G1 Metroplex similarly transforms into nothing. He either sat down with his arms and legs pointed out in front of him, or he sat down with his arms and legs at random angles. He's actually sitting down, with his waist rotated 180 degrees. This is Not G1. They can name a Unicron Trilogy character anything they please given its a different continuity.Why do you say its stupid? Considering the design and conceptualisation process begins at Hasbro, this toy was going to be designed as a Metroplex. Especially considering the design is a homage to Metroplex. I don't know why fans assume Hasbro 'renames' the Galaxy Force toys all because Hasbro releases them after Takara, due to the fact Hasbro maintained a mainline for 18 months Vs Takara's 12 months, and so they began later in the year. Did people complain when Takara renamed the Armada or Energon characters when Takara released Micron Densetsu and Superlink after Hasbro? Metro is a loose interpretation of a bucket-wheel excavator, a huge mining vehicle in the real world.