Toys I'm Hoping To See

[William Rendfeld]

My apologies for posting something that's generally fluff, but I feel like we need something approaching real content around here that doesn't come from our resident troll with a persecution complex.

Anyway, we all have toys we're eager to see released. I've got a few that I'd like to see, and I'm optimistic that we'll be seeing them sooner rather than later. I figure, why not elaborate on why?

Please note, however, that I'm talking about Deluxe-sized toys here, not Scouts or Voyagers or Leaders. Cyberverse aside, it's the biggest chunk of the line as far as individual releases are concerned. I'm also not talking about versions of these characters for Prime; these are ideally Classics-styled figures, or at the very least guys with the WfC/FoC aesthetic.

First, I'd love to see a new toy for Trailbreaker. Excepting the fact that he got a new Legends figure for the Reveal The Shield line, I'm optimistic that Hasbro will eventually give us a new figure for him. Excepting the fact that he's the only remaining character from the initial group of Autobots (in other words, the crew of the Ark), doing a new toy for him could inevitably lead to a new toy for Hoist as well. Well, a new G1 toy for Hoist; I'm not in a rush for it, being satisfied with the ROTF figure, but someone out there no doubt feels differently.

Second, I'd like it if we finally got a new toy for Cosmos. Hasbro's clearly tried, between the design made for him for Classics and the prototype for the Titaniums line, so this seems slightly more probable than not.

Third, I'd love a new toy for Skids. Granted, he's probably the least prominent of the '85 Autobots - he only appeared in, what, two episodes of the cartoon? - but he's getting prominence again thanks to IDW's comics. I'm hopeful that we'll eventually see a new toy for him that doesn't look too out of place beside the other updated releases.

Fourth, I'd love for us to finally see an official G1-styled release of Arcee. This isn't so much for me, mind, but if it got an eventual repaint and remold as another female Cybertronian, then I'd gleefully snap that one up. Yes, there are two or three third-party Arcees out there, and yes, we've got Arcee running around in Prime, but if there was enough difference between Animated Prowl and G1 Prowl for Hasbro to justify the simultaneous release of both toys, then I'd figure the same logic would hold true now.

Fifth, and this falls into the realm of pipe dream, but I'd love a new Ironfist toy. Through some minor miracle, we got a new Guzzle, so why not a new Ironfist as well?

Sixth, I'd like to see more combiner teams released. We're already expecting the Combaticons later this year, and assuming they're successful, we could end up seeing new versions of the other teams. I'm kinda optimistic that we'll see new versions of the Technobots, if only because it'd be cool to see an Autobot team next that isn't the Aerialbots or Protectobots...though I wouldn't complain if we got the Protectobots instead. A new First Aid or Groove would be awesome.

So, thoughts? Any guys that you'd like to eventually see that you think are pretty much inevitable or at least more than likely?

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

William Rendfeld <WARen...@aol.com> wrote:
> My apologies for posting something that's generally fluff, but I feel
> like we need something approaching real content around here that doesn't
> come from our resident troll with a persecution complex.
>
> Anyway, we all have toys we're eager to see released. I've got a few that
> I'd like to see, and I'm optimistic that we'll be seeing them sooner
> rather than later. I figure, why not elaborate on why?
>
> Please note, however, that I'm talking about Deluxe-sized toys here, not
> Scouts or Voyagers or Leaders. Cyberverse aside, it's the biggest chunk
> of the line as far as individual releases are concerned. I'm also not
> talking about versions of these characters for Prime; these are ideally
> Classics-styled figures, or at the very least guys with the WfC/FoC aesthetic.
>
> First, I'd love to see a new toy for Trailbreaker. Excepting the fact
> that he got a new Legends figure for the Reveal The Shield line, I'm
> optimistic that Hasbro will eventually give us a new figure for him.
> Excepting the fact that he's the only remaining character from the
> initial group of Autobots (in other words, the crew of the Ark), doing a
> new toy for him could inevitably lead to a new toy for Hoist as well.
> Well, a new G1 toy for Hoist; I'm not in a rush for it, being satisfied
> with the ROTF figure, but someone out there no doubt feels differently.

I think Trailbreaker and Hoist might not be well served by being mold-mates
these days. The logical next alt-mode for Trailbreaker is a SUV, while
Hoist would be a tow truck.

> Second, I'd like it if we finally got a new toy for Cosmos. Hasbro's
> clearly tried, between the design made for him for Classics and the
> prototype for the Titaniums line, so this seems slightly more probable than not.

Cosmos is one I'd like to see done big. Big enough to be a playset for
Legends figures. Yes, the original was tiny, but his alt-mode is likely
huge. Or they were tiny aliens. Perhaps he could have a Cosmos shaped
capsule, and be a headmaster -- little Cosmos is robot, head and capsule.
Big Cosmos is a body, a ship, and a playset.

> Third, I'd love a new toy for Skids. Granted, he's probably the least
> prominent of the '85 Autobots - he only appeared in, what, two episodes
> of the cartoon? - but he's getting prominence again thanks to IDW's
> comics. I'm hopeful that we'll eventually see a new toy for him that
> doesn't look too out of place beside the other updated releases.

Skids and Trailbreaker might not be bad mold mates this time out. Sure,
Skids is traditionally more of a minivan, but SUVs have taken over much of
that role.

> Fourth, I'd love for us to finally see an official G1-styled release of
> Arcee. This isn't so much for me, mind, but if it got an eventual repaint
> and remold as another female Cybertronian, then I'd gleefully snap that
> one up. Yes, there are two or three third-party Arcees out there, and
> yes, we've got Arcee running around in Prime, but if there was enough
> difference between Animated Prowl and G1 Prowl for Hasbro to justify the
> simultaneous release of both toys, then I'd figure the same logic would hold true now.

Definitely.

> Fifth, and this falls into the realm of pipe dream, but I'd love a new
> Ironfist toy. Through some minor miracle, we got a new Guzzle, so why not
> a new Ironfist as well?

Which one is Ironfist? Sure, why not.

> Sixth, I'd like to see more combiner teams released. We're already
> expecting the Combaticons later this year, and assuming they're
> successful, we could end up seeing new versions of the other teams. I'm
> kinda optimistic that we'll see new versions of the Technobots, if only
> because it'd be cool to see an Autobot team next that isn't the
> Aerialbots or Protectobots...though I wouldn't complain if we got the
> Protectobots instead. A new First Aid or Groove would be awesome.

If they are going with the WFC look, then I'd want the Technobots.

>
> So, thoughts? Any guys that you'd like to eventually see that you think
> are pretty much inevitable or at least more than likely?

I'd like a few pretenders. The main guys from Masterforce, mostly. The
series is out on DVD, and it should whet fan desires. Run the show on the
Hub at night -- "The Hub after dark..." -- to give them a bit more
promotion.

[Zobovor]

On Jun 15, 9:45 pm, William Rendfeld <WARendf...@aol.com> wrote:

> First, I'd love to see a new toy for Trailbreaker. Excepting the fact that he got a new Legends figure for the Reveal The
> Shield line, I'm optimistic that Hasbro will eventually give us a new figure for him. Excepting the fact that he's the only
> remaining character from the initial group of Autobots (in other words, the crew of the Ark), doing a new toy for him could
> inevitably lead to a new toy for Hoist as well. Well, a new G1 toy for Hoist; I'm not in a rush for it, being satisfied with the
> ROTF figure, but someone out there no doubt feels differently.

Hasbro's approached every single one of the Autobots from 1984
available at retail except for Gears and Trailbreaker (yeah, I don't
count the Legends toy) , so I see both of them as being inevitable. I
would prefer if they did some tricky Sideswipe/Sunstreaker engineering
that would give us two different robot mode configurations; Hoist
should ideally be shorter and fatter than Trailbreaker. But yeah, I'd
love to see both of these. The Revenge of the Fallen version of Hoist
was good in that the head sculpt was specifically based on the G1
Hoist toy, but I'd like to see a toy that was designed to reflect the
character as a whole, not just the head.

> Second, I'd like it if we finally got a new toy for Cosmos. Hasbro's clearly tried, between the design made for him for
> Classics and the prototype for the Titaniums line, so this seems slightly more probable than not.

I consider his Legends edition to be a slightly more passable updated
version of the character than Trailbreaker, if only because the
original Cosmos toy was pretty tiny. A lot of the other former Mini
Autobots have gotten Deluxe-sized or Voyager-sized updates, though, so
Cosmos is positively puny compared to them. I'd be happy if they came
up with a Deluxe edition of him at some point.

> Third, I'd love a new toy for Skids. Granted, he's probably the least prominent of the '85 Autobots - he only appeared in,
> what, two episodes of the cartoon? - but he's getting prominence again thanks to IDW's comics. I'm hopeful that we'll
> eventually see a new toy for him that doesn't look too out of place beside the other updated releases.

I don't really care about Skids as much, but hey, he got an
Alternators toy, so obviously Hasbro hasn't forgotten about him
completely. To me, though, he's sort of a non-character in the way
Overdrive and Downshift and Camshaft are.

> Fourth, I'd love for us to finally see an official G1-styled release of Arcee. This isn't so much for me, mind, but if it got
> an eventual repaint and remold as another female Cybertronian, then I'd gleefully snap that one up. Yes, there are two or
> three third-party Arcees out there, and yes, we've got Arcee running around in Prime, but if there was enough difference
> between Animated Prowl and G1 Prowl for Hasbro to justify the simultaneous release of both toys, then I'd figure the same
> logic would hold true now.

Arcee: Cybertron's version of the Tonnika sisters.

It's a crime that we haven't gotten an official G1-styled Arcee that
turns into a pink car. Hasbro can't even use the "girl characters
don't sell" excuse any more because they've *done* countless editions
of Arcee, but they're all the wrong ones. It's almost like Hasbro is
holding out for as long as possible because they know once they
finally do Arcee, a proper Arcee, they'll have crossed off the very
last name off the list of non-toy characters who desperately needed
toys.

> Sixth, I'd like to see more combiner teams released. We're already expecting the Combaticons later this year, and
> assuming they're successful, we could end up seeing new versions of the other teams.

The new Combaticons disappoint me. The Power Core Combiners also
disappointed me. The Energon combiner teams REALLY disappointed me.
Hasbro just doesn't know how to do a decent combiner team anymore. I
think the last really good one we got was Rail Racer.

> So, thoughts? Any guys that you'd like to eventually see that you think are pretty much inevitable or at least more than likely?

I've been hoping for new-mold Deluxe-scale G1 Constructicons since
about 1994 and I am hopeful that we will still get them one day.


Zob

[Ob1k...@att.net]

On Saturday, June 16, 2012 12:50:33 AM UTC-5, Zobovor wrote:
> > Sixth, I'd like to see more combiner teams released. We're already expecting the Combaticons later this year, and
> > assuming they're successful, we could end up seeing new versions of the other teams.
>
> The new Combaticons disappoint me. The Power Core Combiners also
> disappointed me.

I don't even consider PCC as combiners anymore, it's 1 bot with power-armor.

The Energon combiner teams REALLY disappointed me.

I wasn't super dissappointed by Energon combiners, but then again I built my own so the limbs didn't repeat. I did hate the see-thru hands and feet though.

> Hasbro just doesn't know how to do a decent combiner team anymore. I
> think the last really good one we got was Rail Racer.
>
> > So, thoughts? Any guys that you'd like to eventually see that you think are pretty much inevitable or at least more than likely?
>
> I've been hoping for new-mold Deluxe-scale G1 Constructicons since
> about 1994 and I am hopeful that we will still get them one day.
>
>
> Zob

I thought it was interesting that PCC had dinobot team and constructicon team, I was hoping that would mean that we might get combiners of them sometime. I know Dinobots weren't a combiner in G1, with the exception of a horrid comics abomination, but I still want to see a properly done toy one.

[Blaster Master]

We did. It's name is Hercules.

Brad

On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 22:50:33 -0700 (PDT), Zobovor <zm...@aol.com>
wrote:

> I've been hoping for new-mold Deluxe-scale G1 Constructicons since
> about 1994 and I am hopeful that we will still get them one day.

--
Blaster Master

a.k.a.

Brad S. Russell

[Zobovor]

On Jun 16, 9:32 am, Blaster Master <bsr...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> We did. It's name is Hercules.

There's no Hasbro toy with that name. (And I'm not spending $500 for
six Deluxe-scale toys.)


Zob

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:

> The new Combaticons disappoint me. The Power Core Combiners also
> disappointed me. The Energon combiner teams REALLY disappointed me.
> Hasbro just doesn't know how to do a decent combiner team anymore. I
> think the last really good one we got was Rail Racer.

I think a big problem there is that since the limbs transform into robots,
and modern transformers have so much articulation, the limbs aren't rigid
enough. It was definitely a problem with the Energon combiners, although
they also had crappy center robots for no good reason.

The new Combaticons may or may not be nice -- but they aren't the
Combaticons we know and love.

The PoCoCo were pretty good for what they were. Except the limbs didn't
transform into robots. But the combined forms were pretty solid. I liked
the Dinobots, despite the weakness of the leader toy, because little
semi-sentient animal drones just made more sense to me than little
semi-sentient car drones.

I doubt Hasbro will return to an Armada design philosophy any time soon,
but if they did, and they added a proper combiner to the mix, I'm pretty
sure that guy would be awesome and solid. The power up armors for Megatron
and Superpants Prime were pretty stable.

[William Rendfeld]

On Saturday, June 16, 2012 12:22:26 AM UTC-4, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

> William Rendfeld <WARen...@aol.com> wrote:
> > First, I'd love to see a new toy for Trailbreaker. Excepting the fact
> > that he got a new Legends figure for the Reveal The Shield line, I'm
> > optimistic that Hasbro will eventually give us a new figure for him.
> > Excepting the fact that he's the only remaining character from the
> > initial group of Autobots (in other words, the crew of the Ark), doing a
> > new toy for him could inevitably lead to a new toy for Hoist as well.
> > Well, a new G1 toy for Hoist; I'm not in a rush for it, being satisfied
> > with the ROTF figure, but someone out there no doubt feels differently.
>
> I think Trailbreaker and Hoist might not be well served by being mold-mates
> these days. The logical next alt-mode for Trailbreaker is a SUV, while
> Hoist would be a tow truck.

Yeah, though my logic was that Trailbreaker was repainted and remolded into Hoist back in G1, and that seems to be repeating with an Asia-exclusive repaint of the Trailbreaker Legends toy. So it's plausible, yes?

> > Second, I'd like it if we finally got a new toy for Cosmos. Hasbro's
> > clearly tried, between the design made for him for Classics and the
> > prototype for the Titaniums line, so this seems slightly more probable than not.
>
> Cosmos is one I'd like to see done big. Big enough to be a playset for
> Legends figures. Yes, the original was tiny, but his alt-mode is likely
> huge. Or they were tiny aliens. Perhaps he could have a Cosmos shaped
> capsule, and be a headmaster -- little Cosmos is robot, head and capsule.
> Big Cosmos is a body, a ship, and a playset.

...that'd actually be kinda cool. Really outlandish and unlikely, but cool.

> > Third, I'd love a new toy for Skids. Granted, he's probably the least
> > prominent of the '85 Autobots - he only appeared in, what, two episodes
> > of the cartoon? - but he's getting prominence again thanks to IDW's
> > comics. I'm hopeful that we'll eventually see a new toy for him that
> > doesn't look too out of place beside the other updated releases.
>
> Skids and Trailbreaker might not be bad mold mates this time out. Sure,
> Skids is traditionally more of a minivan, but SUVs have taken over much of
> that role.

I certainly wouldn't object to that, if it was done right.

> > Fifth, and this falls into the realm of pipe dream, but I'd love a new
> > Ironfist toy. Through some minor miracle, we got a new Guzzle, so why not
> > a new Ironfist as well?
>
> Which one is Ironfist? Sure, why not.

This guy.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Ironfist

I'm mostly eager for him thanks to his appearance in LSotW, though something tells me that if we see a new version of him, he'll be a Club release.

> > Sixth, I'd like to see more combiner teams released. We're already
> > expecting the Combaticons later this year, and assuming they're
> > successful, we could end up seeing new versions of the other teams. I'm
> > kinda optimistic that we'll see new versions of the Technobots, if only
> > because it'd be cool to see an Autobot team next that isn't the
> > Aerialbots or Protectobots...though I wouldn't complain if we got the
> > Protectobots instead. A new First Aid or Groove would be awesome.
>
> If they are going with the WFC look, then I'd want the Technobots.

No objections to that.

> > So, thoughts? Any guys that you'd like to eventually see that you think
> > are pretty much inevitable or at least more than likely?
>
> I'd like a few pretenders. The main guys from Masterforce, mostly. The
> series is out on DVD, and it should whet fan desires. Run the show on the
> Hub at night -- "The Hub after dark..." -- to give them a bit more
> promotion.

More new versions of the Pretenders would be welcome, though we've gotten new toys for Thunderwing, Skullgrin, Black Shadow... is it wrong for me to hope that we get a new Cloudburst?

[William Rendfeld]

On Saturday, June 16, 2012 1:50:33 AM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
> On Jun 15, 9:45 pm, William Rendfeld <WARendf...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> > First, I'd love to see a new toy for Trailbreaker. Excepting the fact that he got a new Legends figure for the Reveal The
> > Shield line, I'm optimistic that Hasbro will eventually give us a new figure for him. Excepting the fact that he's the only
> > remaining character from the initial group of Autobots (in other words, the crew of the Ark), doing a new toy for him could
> > inevitably lead to a new toy for Hoist as well. Well, a new G1 toy for Hoist; I'm not in a rush for it, being satisfied with the
> > ROTF figure, but someone out there no doubt feels differently.
>
> Hasbro's approached every single one of the Autobots from 1984
> available at retail except for Gears and Trailbreaker (yeah, I don't
> count the Legends toy) , so I see both of them as being inevitable. I
> would prefer if they did some tricky Sideswipe/Sunstreaker engineering
> that would give us two different robot mode configurations; Hoist
> should ideally be shorter and fatter than Trailbreaker. But yeah, I'd
> love to see both of these. The Revenge of the Fallen version of Hoist
> was good in that the head sculpt was specifically based on the G1
> Hoist toy, but I'd like to see a toy that was designed to reflect the
> character as a whole, not just the head.

To be fair to Hasbro, they did repaint Movie1 Stockade as Gears for RotF, and I'm content to accept that toy for the time being. Still, you're right; they're all inevitable for future releases.

> > Third, I'd love a new toy for Skids. Granted, he's probably the least prominent of the '85 Autobots - he only appeared in,
> > what, two episodes of the cartoon? - but he's getting prominence again thanks to IDW's comics. I'm hopeful that we'll
> > eventually see a new toy for him that doesn't look too out of place beside the other updated releases.
>
> I don't really care about Skids as much, but hey, he got an
> Alternators toy, so obviously Hasbro hasn't forgotten about him
> completely. To me, though, he's sort of a non-character in the way
> Overdrive and Downshift and Camshaft are.

Yeah, though how much of that is due to the G1 cartoon? As I recall he was a little more prominent in the comics, and he's got some more prominence going in the newer comics now. Maybe his luck's changing.

> It's a crime that we haven't gotten an official G1-styled Arcee that
> turns into a pink car. Hasbro can't even use the "girl characters
> don't sell" excuse any more because they've *done* countless editions
> of Arcee, but they're all the wrong ones. It's almost like Hasbro is
> holding out for as long as possible because they know once they
> finally do Arcee, a proper Arcee, they'll have crossed off the very
> last name off the list of non-toy characters who desperately needed
> toys.

I've never thought about it in that context, but yeah, that's a saddening thought.

> > Sixth, I'd like to see more combiner teams released. We're already expecting the Combaticons later this year, and
> > assuming they're successful, we could end up seeing new versions of the other teams.
>
> The new Combaticons disappoint me. The Power Core Combiners also
> disappointed me. The Energon combiner teams REALLY disappointed me.
> Hasbro just doesn't know how to do a decent combiner team anymore. I
> think the last really good one we got was Rail Racer.

I'm reserving judgment on the new Combaticons until we actually have them in stores and can fiddle with 'em. The PCCs, I'll grant you, weren't perfect, and I can accept people calling them pseudo-combiners given they were a robot combining with armor to form a bigger robot rather than a bunch of little robots combining. And I've no trouble admitting the Energon combiners' flaws, owning all three of the originals plus the Club recolor. Can't comment on Rail Racer, however, as I skipped most of RID...kinda regret that now...

> > So, thoughts? Any guys that you'd like to eventually see that you think are pretty much inevitable or at least more than likely?
>
> I've been hoping for new-mold Deluxe-scale G1 Constructicons since
> about 1994 and I am hopeful that we will still get them one day.

For the time being, I think that third party release is the closest we'll get. I'm not thrilled about that, mind, but hopefully Hasbro will see how folks respond to it and put out their own version.

[Zobovor]

On Jun 16, 6:46 pm, William Rendfeld <WARendf...@aol.com> wrote:

> To be fair to Hasbro, they did repaint Movie1 Stockade as Gears for RotF,
> and I'm content to accept that toy for the time being.

I don't accept that as a true update any longer. We're way past the
point where Hasbro can just slap a G1 name on a toy and call it good.
We need a new toy that's specifically, purposefully designed to
resemble Gears—preferrably with the head and face he had in the G1
cartoon, since we've never gotten that before. (I remember that a lot
of people used to say that Gears was special to them because he was
their first Transformers toy. Granted, this is probably because he
wasn't as cool as Bumblebee or Brawn, so he ended up being the
pegwarmer that parents bought their kids in 1984 when there was nobody
else left. But still.)

>>  To me, though, he's sort of a non-character in the way
>> Overdrive and Downshift and Camshaft are.
>
> Yeah, though how much of that is due to the G1 cartoon?

Well, uh, probably all of it? Really, though, it's just the nature of
the beast. The cartoon made the toys come alive and made them
memorable. It's due to the cartoon that we remain fond of the
characters to this day. It's not because of the toys' color schemes
or clever transformations. Otherwise, we'd all be sitting here
begging for reissues of Roadbuster and Whirl and GoBot Puzzler, and
that's clearly not the case. Skids gets a pass since he was
technically in the show, but he's not nearly as meaingful to me.

> As I recall he was a little more prominent in the comics, and he's
> got some more prominence going in the newer comics now.
> Maybe his luck's changing.

Well, I can't speak for everyone, but characters stopped having a
truly meaningful, lasting impact on me after I was out of my childhood
years. IDW could do a freaking twelve-issue mini-series called
Spotlight: Skids and that wouldn't magically rescue him from the
annals of obscurity, in my eyes.

> I'm reserving judgment on the new Combaticons until we actually have them in stores
> and can fiddle with 'em.

I don't even care about the engineering or the transformation schemes
at this point. The toys don't look like the Combaticons. I get that
these new editions are supposed to be their Cybertronian forms (which
is meaningless to me since they were built on Earth in the cartoon;
that's like giving the Stunticons a Cybertronic form) but the end
result is that the toys resemble the original characters in only the
most superficial way. That doesn't appeal to me at all. If I have to
be told that this is the new edition of Swindle or Brawl rather than
it being a patently obvious tribute to the original character, then it
just doesn't do it for me. I would have gladly accepted a new set of
Combaticons if they looked like their cartoon selves, and I wouldn't
even have cared if the combiner schtick was poorly-realized. Now, I
don't think I'll ever buy them. (Well, maybe if I just happen to have
sixty bucks that I can't think of anything else to do with. And
already own Masterpiece Soundwave.)

> For the time being, I think that third party release is the closest we'll get.
> I'm not thrilled about that, mind, but hopefully Hasbro will see how folks respond
> to it and put out their own version

I really don't think that Hasbro pays a lot of attention to what the
third-party guys are doing. Yeah, maybe in a roundabout sort of way
to gauge what G1 characters other folks are paying tribute to and
which characters fans are really interested in, but I don't seriously
think they go, "Oh, well, these guys came up with fake Constructicons
that cost a hundred dollars each, so there's no point in us mass-
producing affordable versions now."


Zob

[Ob1k...@att.net]

On Saturday, June 16, 2012 3:41:43 PM UTC-5, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
> The PoCoCo were pretty good for what they were. Except the limbs didn't
> transform into robots. But the combined forms were pretty solid. I liked
> the Dinobots, despite the weakness of the leader toy, because little
> semi-sentient animal drones just made more sense to me than little

> semi-sentient car drones.\

My PCC limbs always spring off, the Combaticon core was nice and solid, but I could not get the figure to ever stand, if I did try, his knees rocketed apart, or the connectors would never both point straight down, he was either leaning forwards or back. I've never been a fan of auto-transform though. Must be popular if 25+ years later Jumpstarters are back.


I foresee the new Combaticons, if released in stores, will be pegwarmers, as they are aimed at video game characters based on G1 characters, and all the fans that tuned in in armada years, or children, will have no connection to them. Maybe I'll pick em up for $7 or so on clearance.

[Onslaught Six]

On Jun 16, 10:58 pm, Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:

> Well, uh, probably all of it?  Really, though, it's just the nature of
> the beast.  The cartoon made the toys come alive and made them
> memorable.  It's due to the cartoon that we remain fond of the
> characters to this day.  It's not because of the toys' color schemes
> or clever transformations.  Otherwise, we'd all be sitting here
> begging for reissues of Roadbuster and Whirl and GoBot Puzzler, and
> that's clearly not the case.  Skids gets a pass since he was
> technically in the show, but he's not nearly as meaingful to me.

Um, I'm asking for reissues of Roadbuster and Whirl.

Skids was also sort-of important in the comics (if only because of how
horrific his fate was) and in IDW's new comics, he's...well, he's the
guy from Momento, but still.

> Well, I can't speak for everyone, but characters stopped having a
> truly meaningful, lasting impact on me after I was out of my childhood
> years.  IDW could do a freaking twelve-issue mini-series called
> Spotlight: Skids and that wouldn't magically rescue him from the
> annals of obscurity, in my eyes.

See, I'm probably weird in that I'm still very much affected when I
see things that're awesome. I'm watching Masterforce right now, and
it's really making me want to own new toys of Bomb Burst, Skullgrin,
Landmine and Waverider--let alone guys like Ginrai and Overlord. And
Masterforce is from 'before I was born.'

> I don't even care about the engineering or the transformation schemes
> at this point.  The toys don't look like the Combaticons.  I get that
> these new editions are supposed to be their Cybertronian forms (which
> is meaningless to me since they were built on Earth in the cartoon;
> that's like giving the Stunticons a Cybertronic form) but the end
> result is that the toys resemble the original characters in only the
> most superficial way.  That doesn't appeal to me at all.  If I have to
> be told that this is the new edition of Swindle or Brawl rather than
> it being a patently obvious tribute to the original character, then it
> just doesn't do it for me.  I would have gladly accepted a new set of
> Combaticons if they looked like their cartoon selves, and I wouldn't
> even have cared if the combiner schtick was poorly-realized.  Now, I
> don't think I'll ever buy them.  (Well, maybe if I just happen to have
> sixty bucks that I can't think of anything else to do with.  And
> already own Masterpiece Soundwave.)

Hey, they turn into the same things and are the same colours. That's
enough for me.

Although I'm probably weird in that I'm very much a toys-first guy. I
get a toy and that actualizes the character for me. He looks like That
Toy, because that's the toy that I can grab and touch and feel. It's
'real.' For me, Optimus Prime has big gaps in his forearms.

[No One in Particular]

"Zobovor" <zm...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:3857b836-0eee-4a4f...@vs10g2000pbc.googlegroups.com...

On Jun 16, 6:46 pm, William Rendfeld <WARendf...@aol.com> wrote:

>
>Well, uh, probably all of it? Really, though, it's just the nature of
>the beast. The cartoon made the toys come alive and made them
>memorable. It's due to the cartoon that we remain fond of the
>characters to this day. It's not because of the toys' color schemes
>or clever transformations. Otherwise, we'd all be sitting here
>begging for reissues of Roadbuster and Whirl and GoBot Puzzler, and
>that's clearly not the case. Skids gets a pass since he was
>technically in the show, but he's not nearly as meaingful to me.

>Zob



I love Roadbuster, and I like Whirl. Since I already own 'em both, I don't
really see paying $100 apeice for them, which is probably what they'd cost.
But an updated version of them? Hopefully voyager sized? Sure, I'd go for
that, as long as it was a good update, like you were discussing earlier. I
don't want a random DOTM toy with the "Roadbuster" name slapped on it, but a
true Classics/Universe style update? You betcha.

Brian. Come to think of it, both of those toys have some major wear and
tear. I might drop the dime for reissues after all.



--- Posted via news://freenews.netfront.net/ - Complaints to ne...@netfront.net ---

[Ob1k...@att.net]

On Tuesday, June 19, 2012 9:05:09 PM UTC-5, No One In Particular wrote:
> I love Roadbuster, and I like Whirl. Since I already own 'em both, I don't
> really see paying $100 apeice for them, which is probably what they'd cost.
> But an updated version of them? Hopefully voyager sized? Sure, I'd go for
> that, as long as it was a good update, like you were discussing earlier. I
> don't want a random DOTM toy with the "Roadbuster" name slapped on it, but a
> true Classics/Universe style update? You betcha.
>
> Brian. Come to think of it, both of those toys have some major wear and
> tear. I might drop the dime for reissues after all.

I might consider Roadbuster if they came up with new ways to store everything in both modes. Roadbuster has so many parts....maybe give him knees too.

I was thinking of taking a hobby knife to DOTM HA Whirl and making my own update, but that would take a lot of work, as the toy currently looks pretty shitty in both modes.

[No One in Particular]

<Ob1k...@att.net> wrote in message
news:44cb4c4b-ef1a-43e4...@googlegroups.com...

> I might consider Roadbuster if they came up with new ways to store
> everything in both modes. Roadbuster has so many parts....maybe give him
> knees too.
>
> I was thinking of taking a hobby knife to DOTM HA Whirl and making my own
> update, but that would take a lot of work, as the toy currently looks
> pretty shitty in both modes.

Agreed. I only saw him once or twice, but I declined both times. Just
wasn't anything there really worth messing with.

Brian

[Ob1k...@att.net]

On Thursday, June 21, 2012 7:45:32 PM UTC-5, No One In Particular wrote:
> <Ob1k...@att.net> wrote in message
> news:44cb4c4b-ef1a-43e4...@googlegroups.com...
> > I might consider Roadbuster if they came up with new ways to store
> > everything in both modes. Roadbuster has so many parts....maybe give him
> > knees too.
> >
> > I was thinking of taking a hobby knife to DOTM HA Whirl and making my own
> > update, but that would take a lot of work, as the toy currently looks
> > pretty shitty in both modes.
>
>
> Agreed. I only saw him once or twice, but I declined both times. Just
> wasn't anything there really worth messing with.
>
> Brian

the best part was his clip system weapons

[Zobovor]

On Jun 16, 6:21 pm, William Rendfeld <WARendf...@aol.com> wrote:

> More new versions of the Pretenders would be welcome, though we've gotten new toys for Thunderwing,
> Skullgrin, Black Shadow... is it wrong for me to hope that we get a new Cloudburst?

You're the second person in this thread who's said something about
wanting more Pretenders. I don't understand why; they were horrible
toys.

No, I"m not referring to the Pretender shell gimmick, but the actual
robot toy. Every single one of the original twelve Pretenders was
some lame variation on "fold the legs over and pretend it's a vehicle,
and not just a robot folded in half." Granted, the actual robot
designs were pretty cool-looking and kibble-free, but that's because
none of the toys had discernible vehicular features. What made
Landmine an "exploration vehicle" but Waverider a "sea skimmer"?
Nothing, really, except Hasbro's say-so.

I really wanted to put together a visual guide to illustrate my point,
so here you go:

http://zmfts.t15.org/pretenders_silhouette.jpg

How many of these guys can you identify just from the shape of their
vehicle mode alone? I might have been able to do one or two. I just
put together this image five minutes ago and I already can't identify
most of these guys. They're all indistinguishable mechanical blobs.

Here's another one with the vehicles clearly visible, but in black-and-
white:

http://zmfts.t15.org/pretenders_greyscale.jpg

Again, without doing any research, how many of these guys can you
correctly identify off the top of your head?

The smaller Pretenders from 1989 were a *little* better, but they
relied wholesale on accessories to complete their transformed modes—
Bludgeon's tank turret, Pincher's scorpion legs and tail.


Zob

[Ob1k...@att.net]

Hey, the 2nd wave Pretenders were pretty decent robot modes....sure they were the size of Micromasters.... with shells almost the size of the original, sure they still had giant backpacks and still barely fit in....

I think people don't necessarily like the Pretenders gimmick, but the characters. note that all the re-released "pretenders" haven't had this gimmick at all. It's almost as if people are asking for corrections to the 88 toys.

Though for some inexplicable reason I got out all 10 of my Pretenders and was fiddling around with them, and was entertained for quite a bit. I know I'm not a fan of the Bayverse lump-of-limbs vehicle modes, but somehow these are still better. Maybe I'm just excusing the naivete of the 80's.

At first when you mention Pincer I was thinking "Legs? Do you mean Octopunch?" I couldn't even remember that Pincer existed, so i went and looked it up. Apparently i've had Pincer's shell and had no idea. I've been putting Bludgeon insert inside Pincer's shell because I didnt have all the parts for either.

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> On Jun 16, 6:21 pm, William Rendfeld <WARendf...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>> More new versions of the Pretenders would be welcome, though we've
>> gotten new toys for Thunderwing,
>> Skullgrin, Black Shadow... is it wrong for me to hope that we get a new Cloudburst?
>
> You're the second person in this thread who's said something about
> wanting more Pretenders. I don't understand why; they were horrible
> toys.
>

I think a fair number of people are getting their first significant
exposure to the Pretenders with the recent release of Masterforce on DVD.

For me, that is the current Transformers series, and I'd like toys of some
of the characters. I'm enjoying it about as much as TF:Prime -- it's not as
well done, but it's a much more hopeful and pleasant place to spend twenty
some minutes.

> No, I"m not referring to the Pretender shell gimmick, but the actual
> robot toy. Every single one of the original twelve Pretenders was
> some lame variation on "fold the legs over and pretend it's a vehicle,
> and not just a robot folded in half." Granted, the actual robot
> designs were pretty cool-looking and kibble-free, but that's because
> none of the toys had discernible vehicular features. What made
> Landmine an "exploration vehicle" but Waverider a "sea skimmer"?
> Nothing, really, except Hasbro's say-so.

And none of that should affect new toys. I think to do it right, they might
have to make a scout sized robot in a voyager sized shell, but there have
been lots of great scout toys over the years.

> I really wanted to put together a visual guide to illustrate my point,
> so here you go:
>
> http://zmfts.t15.org/pretenders_silhouette.jpg
>
> How many of these guys can you identify just from the shape of their
> vehicle mode alone? I might have been able to do one or two. I just
> put together this image five minutes ago and I already can't identify
> most of these guys. They're all indistinguishable mechanical blobs.
>
> Here's another one with the vehicles clearly visible, but in black-and-
> white:
>
> http://zmfts.t15.org/pretenders_greyscale.jpg
>
> Again, without doing any research, how many of these guys can you
> correctly identify off the top of your head?
>
> The smaller Pretenders from 1989 were a *little* better, but they
> relied wholesale on accessories to complete their transformed modes
> Bludgeon's tank turret, Pincher's scorpion legs and tail.

That's like saying "no new Ironhide, because the first toy sucked."

[William Rendfeld]

I'm not asking for a slavish update of the old toys here, just more stuff along the lines of what we've gotten. I don't see how that's a bad thing.

...and I'm a little ashamed to say, I only name dropped Cloudburst as a suggestion because he was the first Autobot Pretender I could think of that wasn't Landmine, Skyhammer, Metalhawk, or an update of a pre-existing character.

[Onslaught Six]

On Jun 22, 12:15 am, Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:

> You're the second person in this thread who's said something about
> wanting more Pretenders.  I don't understand why; they were horrible
> toys.
>
> No, I"m not referring to the Pretender shell gimmick, but the actual
> robot toy.  Every single one of the original twelve Pretenders was
> some lame variation on "fold the legs over and pretend it's a vehicle,
> and not just a robot folded in half."  Granted, the actual robot
> designs were pretty cool-looking and kibble-free, but that's because
> none of the toys had discernible vehicular features.  What made
> Landmine an "exploration vehicle" but Waverider a "sea skimmer"?
> Nothing, really, except Hasbro's say-so.

They wouldn't have to follow that pattern. Besides, like others have
said, a lot of us are suddenly more interested in the Pretenders
because of Masterforce's recent release on US DVD.

Thunderwing might've had a simplistic transformation, but they don't
all need to follow that template. For example, look at ROTF Bludgeon.
That's what I want to see--keep the altmode, and keep easily visible
elements of their Pretender shell (or inner robot; depending on which
was more popular in media) and that's all you need.

For example, I've wanted a new Longtooth toy since the first time I
read his starring issue in the Marvel comics, but that's because I
like his Pretender shell, and as such I'd expect a new toy of him to
at least sort of resemble that. (It would probably come out looking
like certain BW toy heads, really.) I don't care how his original
transformation was! I don't even know what he turned into. I just want
a walrusman Transformer!

For what it's worth, I think Cybertron Landmine is a great update of
the original character. (Energon Landmine would be, too, if he was
coloured just a little differently. Maybe it's a size thing, I don't
prefer to think of Landmine as a huge dude.)

[Zobovor]

On Jun 22, 1:51 am, "Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats"

<gustavowom...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> That's like saying "no new Ironhide, because the first toy sucked."

I'm just not sure what it is about the Pretenders, specifically, that
people want to see. A fairly slavish interpretation of the original
toys would result in a pretty lame update. Ironhide's a special case
because his cartoon depiction was so radically different from his
original toy. People never wanted to see a slavish update to
Ironhide's G1 toy; they wanted a cartoon version of him, something
we'd never gotten previously. To make somebody like Cloudburst into a
really good toy, he would require a wholesale redesign—but then
suddenly he'd upset the purists because he no longer looked like
Cloudburst.

The new Thunderwing toy was good because it was an updated, poseable
version of his Pretender shell (since we basically never saw his
little robot mode). Same with Bludgeon. Are people really wanting to
see a version of Cloudburst that transforms from a jet into a human?
It would be like vehicular Animorphs.


Zob

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

Jet to robot, human shell. No more slavish than Optimus as a truck, which
has been done countless different ways by now.

Cloudburst might not be my top pick, I'd go for the Autobot leader in
Masterforce, and then the three Decepticons.

A good scout toy, borrowing from the original, but not afraid to change
things a little (Optimus has been a long nose truck, these can change a
bit), with a voyager size shell

The shell might need some flip out weapons to add some play value.

And then, I want updates to the headmaster jrs.

[Blaster Master]

On Fri, 22 Jun 2012 22:47:17 +0000 (UTC), "Gustavo Wombat, of the
Seattle Wombats" <gustav...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> And then, I want updates to the headmaster jrs.

YES!!!!!! Start with Squeezeplay!!!

[Zobovor]

On Jun 22, 4:47 pm, "Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats"

<gustavowom...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Jet to robot, human shell. No more slavish than Optimus as a truck, which
> has been done countless different ways by now.

Yeah, but the first update to Optimus Prime was a pretty faithful
reproduction of his cartoon model. Clearly, they had to subsequently
go in different directions to keep things fresh and interesting, but I
can practically guarantee you that the sum total of Cloudburst updates
we ever get are going to number somewhere between zero at the minimum
and one at the maximum. Therefore, if they do a Cloudburst update,
they need to get it right the first time, because he's not nearly
important enough a character to readdress more than once. (This is
one of the reasons I was so disappointed with some of the Classics-
style toys like, say, Skullgrin. I don't think we'll ever get
another, proper Skullgrin update because Hasbro's already crossed his
name off their to-do list.)

> And then, I want updates to the headmaster jrs.

Nightbeat, maybe. He was originally up there with my list of Marvel
Comics characters I wanted to see redone, along with Thunderwing and
Bludgeon. And no, the BotCon toy doesn't count.


Zob

[Onslaught Six]

On Jun 22, 11:03 pm, Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:

> Yeah, but the first update to Optimus Prime was a pretty faithful
> reproduction of his cartoon model.  Clearly, they had to subsequently
> go in different directions to keep things fresh and interesting, but I
> can practically guarantee you that the sum total of Cloudburst updates
> we ever get are going to number somewhere between zero at the minimum
> and one at the maximum.  Therefore, if they do a Cloudburst update,
> they need to get it right the first time, because he's not nearly
> important enough a character to readdress more than once.  (This is
> one of the reasons I was so disappointed with some of the Classics-
> style toys like, say, Skullgrin.  I don't think we'll ever get
> another, proper Skullgrin update because Hasbro's already crossed his
> name off their to-do list.)

While some of this is partially true, I don't think people necessarily
need the Pretender updates to be completely faithful on the level
you're thinking of. When it comes to characters like Optimus Prime and
Soundwave and Starscream--sure, we want them to look exactly like the
cartoon. But guys like Waverider or Bomb-Burst, we'd be happy with
something that sorta-kinda looks like the guy, if all the right
elements are there.

For example, with Waverider, I'd be happy with a dude who was mostly
black with white legs and a blue visor, because that's what he looks
like in Masterforce. Landmine? I don't even need a new Landmine--
Cybertron Landmine is a great update.

That's the level I'm looking at here; Cybertron Landmine doesn't even
really turn into the same kind of vehicle (although Energon Landmine
does) but his colours are identical and his head is pretty similar, so
he's good! And he's even 'named Landmine!'

I think people aren't necessarily needing a specific or perfect
update; they just want an acknowledgement of the original toy.

Of course, everyone's going to remember different things. For some,
Metalhawk's Pretender shell was more memorable; but I'm actually
watching the series and he spends far more time either in his
"unsuited" regular human form (where he just looks like a businessman)
or in his non-shelled robot form (which is also how he appears in
IDW's RID), so the Botcon toy does absolutely nothing for me.

> Nightbeat, maybe.  He was originally up there with my list of Marvel
> Comics characters I wanted to see redone, along with Thunderwing and
> Bludgeon.  And no, the BotCon toy doesn't count.

I want Nightbeat too. And then I want Minerva. (They'd have different
heads, of course. You'd be surprised how badly Masterforce messed with
your head on the Headmasters--for the first few episodes, I was
convinced that Shuta was a repaint of Nightbeat, because he has the
toy's head...then I remembered that the heads were swapped in the
comic, so the head I remember as being Nightbeat's didn't belong to
him in the first place.)

[Autobus Prime]

Folks:

I wonder how practical it would be to make a Pretender toy by
enclosing a relatively normal robot toy in a thin, stretchy
molded-vinyl shell.

You'd have to make the robot mode quite slender, and the
shell quite muscular. I think a plane mode could work, if
the major kibble ended up on the back, and could be removed.
Giving it the option to poke through the back of the shell
would add some cyborg jetpack fun.

The creepiness factor would probably be appealing to the kids. :D

Cordially yours:
Autobus Prime
w/minicon Farebox
See the Blurry Robot Theater:
http://www.blurryrobot.com