I like to see bots who didnt in G1 get earth modes later on

[Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People.]

The movie changed up the game in 86. Transformers didn't need to hide. Suddenly we started getting all of these Cybertronian alt modes. The robots got pretty good, because their alt modes didn't have to look like much. Suddenly we get H-tanks and hover-cars and surfboard-spaceships. Metal rhinos, dragons, big metal monkeys.

This was inspired by the other thread asking what classics toys held up. For me the Classics, and the generations, and the HFTD lines did more. They gave some G1 characters another side. Another dimension.

I liked to see these bots get earth modes. What if in the movie in 2005 they still needed to be robots in disguise? People might have found out that Transformers exist, but they wouldn't be able to recognize one rolling down the street.

I still love Mindwipe as a stealth bomber. I used to imagine how that version could easily be put into any recent iteration of transformers, and annihilate most of the Autobots. (I know HTFD considers him a separate character, but they have the same personality)

I just got the Blurr car drift redeco, and it's awesome that it can lay down and be a sniper. It adds a new level to the character while having it look like something real.

Classics Astrotrain I also got recently, he's not a great toy, but his old train mode wasn't a disguise since those haven't been on tracks in years.

I like SeaSpray being upgraded. He's always been a troop transport, being tiny didn't help him do that.

Scourge makes a great ATB. The TR version might be a little more show accurate, but his vehicle mode still doesn't look like much of anything.

Classics Galvatron tried, and failed. I still want to see the version they abandoned.

I know Zob hates most of these toys for their inaccuracy. I like them because in some ways they are more down-to-earth (see what I did there?) and in ways feel more true to the original disguise aspect, and to me are more accurate in that respect.

[Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats]

On Thursday, August 25, 2016 at 7:42:54 PM UTC-7, Irrellius Spamticon of the Potato People. wrote:
> The movie changed up the game in 86. Transformers didn't need to hide. Suddenly we started getting all of these Cybertronian alt modes. The robots got pretty good, because their alt modes didn't have to look like much. Suddenly we get H-tanks and hover-cars and surfboard-spaceships. Metal rhinos, dragons, big metal monkeys.

I like to think that the Predacons are pretty sure they are disguised. Not all of the Transformers disguises were good disguises -- Fire Chief Lamborghinis, for instance.

Also, the Transformers were spread across space at this point, and may have picked up alt-modes on other worlds, where there were different design sensibilities. Perhaps the dog-people and the cat-people from "The Quintesson Journal" rode around in giant robotic rhinos?

> This was inspired by the other thread asking what classics toys held up. For me the Classics, and the generations, and the HFTD lines did more. They gave some G1 characters another side. Another dimension.

> I liked to see these bots get earth modes. What if in the movie in 2005 they still needed to be robots in disguise? People might have found out that Transformers exist, but they wouldn't be able to recognize one rolling down the street.

What about simply being 1988? By 2005 Earth had all sorts of wacky technology that might have been inspired by Transformers, so it was easy for Transformers to fit in, but if there were on Earth in 1988, some of the Transformers would have had different modes.

> I still love Mindwipe as a stealth bomber. I used to imagine how that version could easily be put into any recent iteration of transformers, and annihilate most of the Autobots. (I know HTFD considers him a separate character, but they have the same personality)
>
> I just got the Blurr car drift redeco, and it's awesome that it can lay down and be a sniper. It adds a new level to the character while having it look like something real.

Blurr is excellent. And Kup. I would have loved to see the main movie cast get more normal Earth modes, and a little backstory to their existence on Earth in the 1990s.

Arcee would, obviously, have been a pink cadillac. Hot Rod could have been a Lamborghini with a nice paint job. Springer as a real helicopter, with a cobbled together car mode.

(I am convinced that Hot Rod didn't have a Cybertronian alt-mode, that was the 2005 Lamborghini)

> Classics Astrotrain I also got recently, he's not a great toy, but his old train mode wasn't a disguise since those haven't been on tracks in years.

I never understood the Astrotrain hate. He's great. There are a few compromises in the shuttle mode, but it's the mode that would make a terrible disguise anyway -- how often do you see a shuttle blasting off for the moon, venus or mars?

He passes at first glance for something that will be going by you fast enough that you won't get a second glance.

> I like SeaSpray being upgraded. He's always been a troop transport, being tiny didn't help him do that.

Giant Seaspray and Powerglide were odd, because of their massive size. I am still disappointed we never got a Cobra Rattler out of the Powerglide mold.

> Scourge makes a great ATB. The TR version might be a little more show accurate, but his vehicle mode still doesn't look like much of anything.
>
> Classics Galvatron tried, and failed. I still want to see the version they abandoned.

Scourge, Galvatron and Cyclonus shouldn't have more normal Earthlike alt-modes. They were created by Unicron, long after a fair number of vehicles on Earth no longer looked normal.

They're designs should continue to get more futuristic, or should be influenced by some entirely different planet's culture.

> I know Zob hates most of these toys for their inaccuracy. I like them because in some ways they are more down-to-earth (see what I did there?) and in ways feel more true to the original disguise aspect, and to me are more accurate in that respect.

I love Thunderhoof. I don't see any reason, other than how he is sold, that would prevent Thunderhoof from standing side-by-side with a Classics toy -- Thunderhoof just spent time disguised on a world where the natives valued cuteness in their farm equipment. (Also, the natives call their planet "Earth", like 50% of the humanoid species in the galaxy...).

I had a point there, but I lost it.