Transformers Super Thread 5

[David Hingtgen]

Nothing is exclusive the moment even a tiny bitty change occurs. Look at Hasbro's (or Master Replica's) history of Star Wars---tons of exclusives and rare variants, which are 99% identical to the "standard" release. Why not the same with TF's?

"Classics Thundercracker---with red knees instead of silver!" Then it's not the Botcon exclusive silver-knee version. Etc.

[Guest sh002]

I think Classics Thundercracker, Thrust, and Dirge sold individually in stores can happen. I've read bologna in this thread about how it wouldn't be possible and that the Classics line was just filler. With the Classics line continuing, why not?

[baronv]

At botcon, hasbro said that the cancelled titaniums might make it into the classics/universe line. Cosmos was originally designed for Classics, then booted to Titaniums, and now may end up again in Classics.

Hope that's true, would also like to see transferred from the Titanium line Arcee and WW Bumblebee.

[Fit For Natalie]

Nothing is exclusive the moment even a tiny bitty change occurs. Look at Hasbro's (or Master Replica's) history of Star Wars---tons of exclusives and rare variants, which are 99% identical to the "standard" release. Why not the same with TF's?

"Classics Thundercracker---with red knees instead of silver!" Then it's not the Botcon exclusive silver-knee version. Etc.

I think they have some sort of weird agreement in place with convention exclusives. For instance, even though Hasbro owns the brand and characters, the convention organisers own any unique toolings or colorschemes made for their exclusives (even if the colour schemes are based upon ones Hasbro came up with in the first place for an older toy). Usually the tooling is destroyed after Hasbro finishes its run for the Botcon.

3H would probably own that OFTCC 2005 Defensor prototype (which is now at Hasbro HQ) if not for the fact they probably didn't pay for it.

[Eazy D]

I'd guess shockwave, cosmos and arcee are the most likely to end up in classics 2.0 purely because they look G1. All I want is classics 'streaker and 'swipe and a voyager class Galvatron to keep in scale with classics voyager magnus. PLEASE PLEASE hasbro do galvatron in proper anime colours.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

I'd guess shockwave, cosmos and arcee are the most likely to end up in classics 2.0 purely because they look G1. All I want is classics 'streaker and 'swipe and a voyager class Galvatron to keep in scale with classics voyager magnus. PLEASE PLEASE hasbro do galvatron in proper anime colours.

Galvatron may end up as an Ultra, Hasbro is trying to replace the voyager class in Classics with an Ultra class.

[Limbo]

So what happened to that leader movie Starscream thing? Too good to be true?

[areaseven]

Check out this custom Movie Deluxe Bumblebee. The guy made it closer to the real car by adding more scratches, paint fade effects, rust spots and lots of grease marks. He even sawed off the right side mirror.

Movie Deluxe Bumblebee WIP

[ShadowerV2]

I'm just happy that SideSwipe and Sunstreaker get remade as Lamborginis in the classics line.

[JB0]

I'd guess shockwave, cosmos and arcee are the most likely to end up in classics 2.0 purely because they look G1. All I want is classics 'streaker and 'swipe and a voyager class Galvatron to keep in scale with classics voyager magnus. PLEASE PLEASE hasbro do galvatron in proper anime colours.

SHOCKWAVE! SHOCKWAVE! SHOCKWAVE!

...

And a f'ing mass-market Thrust...

[VF-19]

Picked up Starscream last night. I've been wavering, but now I really like it. It's a very "flat" figure, and it can pull off some pretty nice poses. Of course fighter mode looks flat (best F-22ish Starscream I've seen is the energon version), but it's not too bad.

[Hoptimus]

Picked up Starscream last night. I've been wavering, but now I really like it. It's a very "flat" figure, and it can pull off some pretty nice poses. Of course fighter mode looks flat (best F-22ish Starscream I've seen is the energon version), but it's not too bad.

After watching the movie a few times I needed a Starscream. I like the toy in bot mode. Jet he is still very fat. Fun toy though. I wouldnt mind if they made a bigger more movie accurate version myself.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Picked up Starscream last night. I've been wavering, but now I really like it. It's a very "flat" figure, and it can pull off some pretty nice poses. Of course fighter mode looks flat (best F-22ish Starscream I've seen is the energon version), but it's not too bad.

I originally thought energon Starscream had the better F-22 alt mode, but I now think the movie version does. It looks more like an F-22 from above even though its got a fat underside.

[Radd]

I hope they do make a Leader Class Star Scream that manages a better F-22 mode. I'd certainly be interested in that.

[David Hingtgen]

I want a Barricade, Starscream, and Blackout toy---but I want a bigger version of them. I'm not buying any until/unless we get better toys of them. Why did BRAWL get a second toy? He's on screen like 30 secs (and usually zoomed way out). (Well, the same could be said of SS, but he's such a huge fan-fave)

Would also like a 2009 BB that's better than the $10, but not $90. Such a huge toy, could have had perfect transformation---but has his chest packed full of gimmick. Sad that the $10 one has a more accurate chest.

[Fit For Natalie]

Hasbro probably liked Brawl's design enough to do justice to it at Leader class (which should have really been renamed Super or something for the movie line now that Brawl is in it). According to Bay, they didn't like Starscream's design so I doubt they'll visit it again.

I'm fine with the car guys, because most of the Deluxe cars, Voyagers Ironhide & Ratchet and Leader class Prime are in rough scale with one another (very rare in Transformers), and Barricade is reasonably accurate to his movie design (except they did his arms upsidedown).

Just get the Deluxe 09 Bumblebee, its the best Deluxe class toy in the line. Overall, he's more accurate than Ultimate BB, which I personally call 'Poor (rich) man's Robosapien'.

A question for you aircraft guys - how accurate is Incinerator, the Osprey Decepticon they revealed at Botcon? Hasbro said they based him off the Ospreys Lennox's unit travelled on at the start of the movie.

[T.V.]

That one actually looks pretty good, as far as I can tell based on low res pictures.

However, the prototype has the engine nacelles mounted wrongly..

The left engine is on the right and vice versa.

Also, it looks a bit less boxy than the actual V-22, closer to the XV-15 prototype.

Especially the empenage.

[Fit For Natalie]

Ahh, that's why I thought it looked abit sleeker.

Incorrectly-mounted engines - Yikes. That's the hand-painted prototype from Takara, too. I hope the production toy sorts that out, then again, with all the assembly errors and QC problems lately, probably not.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Hasbro probably liked Brawl's design enough to do justice to it at Leader class (which should have really been renamed Super or something for the movie line now that Brawl is in it). According to Bay, they didn't like Starscream's design so I doubt they'll visit it again.

I'm fine with the car guys, because most of the Deluxe cars, Voyagers Ironhide & Ratchet and Leader class Prime are in rough scale with one another (very rare in Transformers), and Barricade is reasonably accurate to his movie design (except they did his arms upsidedown).

Just get the Deluxe 09 Bumblebee, its the best Deluxe class toy in the line. Overall, he's more accurate than Ultimate BB, which I personally call 'Poor (rich) man's Robosapien'.

A question for you aircraft guys - how accurate is Incinerator, the Osprey Decepticon they revealed at Botcon? Hasbro said they based him off the Ospreys Lennox's unit travelled on at the start of the movie.

Bay said Hasbro raised hell and had a problem with Starscream but what the exact problem was, was never stated. For all we know there may have been an older design in rought draft form that may have even be worse, and the design used in the movie was was after revisions and hasbro's final approval. It seemed like hasbro was mad because Bay hadn't come up with something for Starscream yet at the time, and hasbro needed something to start working on to meet schedule.

Starscream had more relevant parts than Brawl in the movie, as well as being one of the most popular characters. There is a reason why he had a protoform figure after all, and was also chosen as one of the two sneak preview figures. Not to mention if he uses the same alt mode and looks the same in the sequel, hasbro can carry the leader version over to the next movie. I think they will visit it again. Not to mention, airplanes sell. Also, Starscream seems to be one of the harder figures to find now(the F-22), so I take it sales are good and people want him. He sells well enough to say so.

Brawl on the other hand, is a shelfwarmer.(I am waiting for a leader version, but nonetheless, I still want a leader starscream too)

[Fit For Natalie]

Well, being named wrong in the movie doesn't help

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Well, being named wrong in the movie doesn't help

Thats true. Hehe I really wonder how that one slipped? It seemed like it would be one of the easiest things to fix, it was just a subtitle...

One more thing to consider, is that with Brawl, being that he is a big tank, he might be a lot easier to engineer given the $40 size class he will come in. Being a tank, a lot of components can be hidden between the threads, underneath the body of the tank in alt mode. With Starscream, its more complicated. That is why Brawl was probably given the go ahead, and Hasbro is in talks with Takara this week to see what other movie figures to design.

I really hope a voyager Bonecrusher and Leader Starscream are considered and reach fruition. A leader class Starscream could give us a reasonably accurate, sleek, unkibbled killer F-22 alt mode and a more slender accurate robot mode that looks menacing.

Plus, as is Bonecrusher is too small. The arm articulation looks weird to me, so I didn't pick it up(along with its size).

[Dobber]

I've been wondering about SS too, both design wise and Leader possibilities. I'd like to know what was up with Hasbro and Bay regarding SS. The toy does have those wonky gatling gun arms that we saw a LONG time ago but when the final CG render was released he had normal arms and hands. I wonder if that was the problem, like what Shin said.

Chris

[Dobber]

When looking at the Voyager SS, I think it would be possible to make a good looking Larger toy. The proportions are just a little off in the Voyager one. With a Leader class toy, there would be more room to collapse and fold parts. I too hope they make a Leader SS that would look much better.

Chris

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

I've been wondering about SS too, both design wise and Leader possibilities. I'd like to know what was up with Hasbro and Bay regarding SS. The toy does have those wonky gatling gun arms that we saw a LONG time ago but when the final CG render was released he had normal arms and hands. I wonder if that was the problem, like what Shin said.

Chris

The missle launchers/gatling guns were briefly used in the movie. They were probably used when he attacked the F-22, but I did see the missles/claw/gun arm when he fired at Sam in the city. I think his hands and arms can morph or switch out weapons in the movie. One scene had normal looking hands with claws. The other had a combination of what is seen on the toy only less bulky.

Some of the concepts in the early renders did not make it. Ironhide's battlemask wasn't shown, niether was his combined cannon(both his arm cannons into one huge cannon). I am not sure if Bumblebee had an armblade but it does show up on the toy for the concept camaro(his gun barrel splits in 1/2, then reveals a blue blade).

Also an explanation was that Hasbro started developing the toys in 2005. The movie itself, with adjustments to the special effects, renders and CGI was not finished until a few weeks ago, less then a day before the Australian premiere. It takes at least a year to get a toy from concept to final product. So what we have on the shelves now is what was started in 2005. With the movie alterations were made up until last month, but the toys had to be finished much much earlier than that in order to be out 1 month before the movie hit. Had the toys been delayed to match ILM's changing renders, the toys would have been delayed possibly until far after the movie hit. They would be movie accurate, but it might be too late. For example, Hasbro did not even know that ILM was going to add a sword onto Prime, by the time they saw that, they may have already been done designing the Prime figure. If the CGI models stay the same for the next movie, undoubtedly the sequel's toys will be much more accurate and better. Why? Because hasbro will have a lot more time to work on the toys and will not have to play catch up with ILM, because the designs for the characters are already done and good to go. Next time around won't really be about beating the clock.

[T.V.]

I've been wondering about SS too, both design wise and Leader possibilities. I'd like to know what was up with Hasbro and Bay regarding SS. The toy does have those wonky gatling gun arms that we saw a LONG time ago but when the final CG render was released he had normal arms and hands. I wonder if that was the problem, like what Shin said.

Chris

It's a design compromise. They used the weapon gimmick in favour of 'normal' hands, while LAM Starscream has transformable forearms revealing the weaponry, much like any other movie TF.

LAM Starscream uses the forearm mounted missle launcher, as seen in the toy, in the movie to destroy the powergenerators of the Hoover Dam.

[VF-19]

Just like to point out that Takara/Hasbro has made a fairly sleek "F-22" of Starscream. And he's smaller than movie Starscream. Now granted, pulling that off for the movie figure design will probably never happen.

But I'm looking forward to the leader class Brawl, just because he's loaded for Bear.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Just like to point out that Takara/Hasbro has made a fairly sleek "F-22" of Starscream. And he's smaller than movie Starscream. Now granted, pulling that off for the movie figure design will probably never happen.

But I'm looking forward to the leader class Brawl, just because he's loaded for Bear.

Are you referring to the Energon version or the Machine Wars F-22? Either one had flaws. The Energon one had tiny vertical stabilizers, and horizontal stabilizers that were mounted too low. Plus the vertical stabilizers were too close together. Nowhere near as sleak as the toy it was based on(g2 Smokejumper, which was much much sleeker).

The Machine Wars version had kibble too. Transformation was simplistic and its alt mode was a YF-22. Despite the fact that it was YF-22 based and had considerably less kibble, it does not have the level of detail that the movie version does.

Pulling off the movie version is highly possible given a larger size class/pricepoint. It also helps that the character is very popular. He had more screentime and relevance than Brawl did in the movie, and the name is instantly recognizable by most fans.

[Fit For Natalie]

Energon gets away with his inaccuracies because he's a Cybertronic sort-of F-22 knockoff design Alpha Quintesson gave him.

Some of the concepts in the early renders did not make it. Ironhide's battlemask wasn't shown, niether was his combined cannon(both his arm cannons into one huge cannon). I am not sure if Bumblebee had an armblade but it does show up on the toy for the concept camaro(his gun barrel splits in 1/2, then reveals a blue blade).

Was Ironhide's combined canon actually a movie concept or just something made for the toy?

[VF-19]

Are you referring to the Energon version or the Machine Wars F-22? Either one had flaws. The Energon one had tiny vertical stabilizers, and horizontal stabilizers that were mounted too low. Plus the vertical stabilizers were too close together. Nowhere near as sleak as the toy it was based on(g2 Smokejumper, which was much much sleeker).

The Machine Wars version had kibble too. Transformation was simplistic and its alt mode was a YF-22. Despite the fact that it was YF-22 based and had considerably less kibble, it does not have the level of detail that the movie version does.

Pulling off the movie version is highly possible given a larger size class/pricepoint. It also helps that the character is very popular. He had more screentime and relevance than Brawl did in the movie, and the name is instantly recognizable by most fans.

Still, if you scale the energon toy (I don't have the G2 Smokejumper) to the size of the movie Starscream, it'll still be sleeker. Besides the energon toy isn't supposed to be 100% faithful to the real jet.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Energon gets away with his inaccuracies because he's a Cybertronic sort-of F-22 knockoff design Alpha Quintesson gave him.

Was Ironhide's combined canon actually a movie concept or just something made for the toy?

Looked like a movie concept, it was on the concept art.

[areaseven]

Transformers Get Blended

[T.V.]

Transformers Get Blended

Soundwave superior.

Bumblebee and Swindle inferior.

Frequenters of DM.net and other TF sites around '05 - '06 will probably get the joke.

[RichterX]

Bought the 10 dollar 78 bumble bee and i think i already broke the automorph thing the front piece will not lock back when transforming into vehicle mode, any suggestions on how to fix it?

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Bought the 10 dollar 78 bumble bee and i think i already broke the automorph thing the front piece will not lock back when transforming into vehicle mode, any suggestions on how to fix it?

Ouch. You might try taking it apart and gluing the piece back. With that figure you have to use the button to initiate the chest transformation, otherwise breakage is highly possible(it happened a lot last month). The ones that broke have a thicker tab that is not symetrical to the other side, but if you use the button, generally you can avoid the breakage, although its still happened to others.

[David Hingtgen]

I've gotta ask--RichterX, did you read the instructions, or simply try transforming it yourself the first time? (I don't have one yet, but have seen many horror stories, so I'm worried/paranoid)