What makes a sucessful updated homage new mold? in you opinion.
TigerMegatron
my 2 cents:
(1) it can successfully replace the original 1st version. Example
classics 1.0 Rodimus. master piece megatron,master piece optimus
prime.
(2) proper size scale in relation to the oginal characters bio tech
rank,original toy size. original cartoon size scale that the character
appeared next to other characters. trying to best figure out what size
the original toy was & then translate that size into the updated
homage new mold.
a bad example: Energon deluxe Rodimus was a leader of his own crew &
second in command next to optimus in the energon cartoon series+toy
tech spec bio. energon Rodimus should of had a toy to match both his
G-1 leader rank & energon second in command rank. Energon Rodimus
should have clearly been a Voyager or Ultra sized toy.
another bad example: Classics 2.0 Cyclonus should have been a voyager
or ultra. due to the 2nd in command rank of the character. also G-1
cyclonus's toy was bigger than the 1984 diaclone autobot cars.
A few good examples of proper size scale: classics 2.0 hound,classics
2.0 miage,classics 2.0 sunstreaker/sideswipe. WHY? Because in the
generation 1 cartoon series,comics & toy line. the average big autobot
car in 1984 would now in 2008-2009 translate into the deluxe size
scale.
(3) giving the updated new mold the same exact LISCENSED car vechicle
& as close looking robot mode like the orginal 1st version had. For
the most part trying really hard to get a updated 2009 vechicle from
the 1984-1986 version. granted this may be harder than it seems
because some of those 1984 autobot cars had vechicles brands that are
not being made anymore.
A few good examples: Classics 2.0 hound
a few bad examples: almost all the alternators/binaltech toys.
classics 2.0 Onslaught looks nothing like his 1984 toy form. the
energon version called barricade looks more like 1984 onslaught in
vechicle alt mode.
A few good examples:
classics 2.0 sunstreaker/sideswipe.Classics 1.0 astrotrain.
(4)UPDATTING UN-Realistic/futeristic vechicles: normally it should be
easy to match up a un-realistic futeristic vechicles from 1986 &
transfer that design into a 2009 updated homage version. sadly hasbro
has problems doing even this small/easy task. the technology is there
why exactly haven't the following toys been made into more closer
updated homage new molds. Why exactly has the classics toy line been
given the strick only realistic alt modes rule. especially considering
the 1986 thru 1999 G-1 toys all had either un-liscened alt modes or
futeristic.
why exactly can't a homage line get the following proper updated new
mold homages: shockwave that transforms into a space laser gun,
galvatron that transforms into a laser canon alt mode. Rodimus Prime
that is bigger than a deluxe sized toy.
(4)getting the colors right & as close to the orinal color scheme as
possible.
this doesn't seem to be a problem with updated new mold homages.
for the most part Takara tries harder while hasbro strays a bit.
Example henkei Astrotrain verses Hasbro Classics 1.0 Astrotrain.
Gustavo Wombat
> What makes a sucessful updated homage new mold? in you opinion.
To be a truly astounding homage -- not just successful, but wildly
successful -- an update of a character has to do all of the following:
First and foremost, it has to be an great toy -- something that
completely surpasses the original.
Second, it must actually capture the character being redone. Most
transformers have distinctive design elements and color schemes, and
the toy needs to capture enough of those elements to be immediately
recognizable.
Third, it must make me look at either the character or the original
toy in a new way. A new alt-mode or a very different transformation
can do this.
Fourth, the character should be fairly fresh, with no other version in
the past couple of years.
Now, that's a lot, and I'm not sure any toy has managed all of those.
But scoring very high on two or three is enough to be successful, most
of the time.
A few of the more successful ones to leap to mind:
Masterpiece Optimus Prime -- it's definitely not a fresh character,
but the toy is amazing (from a puzzle standpoint, rather than a toy to
play with standpoint), it is very obviously the character, and it made
me really start to look much more closely at the animation model for
the original, with it's different grills in robot and truck mode, as
well as how completely different the G1 toy was from it's animation
model.
Alternators Shockwave -- Again, the toy excels from a puzzle
standpoint rather than a playability standpoint, and there are lots of
little details about the toy that delight me (the small patches of
lavender make you see that slightly purplish blue plastic as purple in
the robot mode, despite it looking blue in car mode). It captures the
character with just a couple of distinctive elements, with the car's
nose doing a great job standing in for Shockwave's distinctive chest.
And it definitely makes me look at the character from a different
perspective -- they've found the bare minimum design elements of
Shockwave that evoke the character, and placed them on a radically
different robot mode, and it still works.
Classics Ramjet -- The original Seeker mold, for all its charm, is a
pretty crappy toy by today's standards, and an update is very welcome.
I think the only reason that I like this toy more that the near
identical Starscream and Skywarp is that the character hasn't be done
nearly as often. The mold doesn't do anything new and interesting with
the character, but it's a massive improvement over what had come
before. The Starscream version of the mold doesn't have that level of
massive improvement, because there have been so many toys released as
Starscream since G1 (Robot Masters, and Energon Energon Starscream
leap to mind), so it is only an incremental improvement.
Animated Blackarachnia -- this is just a case where the character is
finally getting a toy. Previously, we have had to settle for
Tarantulas, built like a linebacker, dressed like a cheerleader. There
are countless deviations from the BW animation model, but it still
looks dramatically more like BW Blackarachnia than the toy released
then. And it is a good, solid toy.
Armada Powerlinx Hot Shot -- there have been a whole bunch of toys
with a Hot Rod deco over the years, but the rest have either failed as
toys (Energon Rodimus), failed to suggest the original character
strongly enough (RID Super Sideburn), or failed to do anything new and
interesting with the character design (Cybertron Exhillion, Classics
Rodimus). The original Hot Rod toy was great, and is readily
available, so an homage has to either bring something new and
interesting, or be a stunningly amazing toy. All the Classics toy
brings is a little bit of articulation and a pin head.
Gustavo!
Kil - Michael McCarthy
news:83535a5e-90f5-4255...@z41g2000yqz.googlegroups.com...
> What makes a sucessful updated homage new mold? in you opinion.
I consider an "update" and "homage" to be two different things.
-Kil
SteveD
<michae...@aol.com> wrote:
>I consider an "update" and "homage" to be two different things.
Point, although it's possible to have both in the same toy - for example,
an update of a character which includes homages to other toys or
characters in its design.
-SteveD
ahsan.sa...@gmail.com
> What makes a sucessful updated homage new mold? in you opinion.
Generalized alt-form shape, colour scheme and head, those are what
make up a homage. What makes a good homage, well...
A good toy, I think, yesss, something that would stand up on its own
merits, yes-yes?
The perfect example, I think, was Wreck-Gar from Animated. While it
didn't share the alt-form of the G1 Wreck-Gar, it did homage G1 Wreck-
Gar's origins as a Junkion (as a garbage-truck), and even had the
horns on the head. Then they went two steps further in the TV show,
and got Weird Al to do the voice (after they failed to Eric Idle, but
still...), got him talking TV, and even had him say the Universal
Greeting.
Great update, and homage.