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Zob's Thoughts on Legacy Core-Class Iguanus and Skywarp (Also: Buzzworthy Silverstreak)
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Zobovor
Apr 22, 2022, 11:21:53 PM4/22/22
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Hasbro Pulse shipped this package with three toys in it quite a while ago, but they sent it to my old address even after I'd updated my shipping information with them. (I guess they don't typically update the mailing info on outstanding orders, because why would I want toys that I ordered before I moved? That's just nonsense!) So, it took me a minute to coordinate with the buyer who bought my condo (who is also my store manager, which makes for a little weirdness, but honestly not as much as you might expect).
I didn't get Legacy Hot Rod, as I had already found the toy during Kingdom.
IGUANUS
The last time we got Pretenders was during Power of the Primes, where they were reimagined as Decoy Suits that took the form of the original Pretender shells, and inside them were the Prime Master figurines which presumably represented the tiny inner Pretender robot. Iguanus didn't get the PotP treatment, so this is the first new version of the G1 character since 1988 (the various Beast Wars toys named Iguanus surely don't count).
So this time, the idea is that the toy transforms from the semblance of the outer shell into the semblance of the original inner robot vehicle. So, purple lizard Iguanus changes into a motorcycle. I realize that they keep trying to work the Pretender characters into the new toy lines in a way that makes sense, but to be honest, nothing short of a full Pretenders revival will satisfy me. However, this is an acceptable step in that direction.
Iguanus stands at about 3.5" in height, and he's stylized and angular in a way that suggests he's fully robotic, with none of that syntho-organic flesh that the original Pretenders has. His color mapping is reasonably accurate to the 1988 version, though the old figure had black shoulder armor where this one has purple.
Originally, the inner robot was dark purple with magenta, and turned into a somewhat abstract motorcycle (limited by the inherently skinny design of the robot and the need to minimize kibble). This edition has built-in kibble in the form of the motorcycle cockpit and the wheels on his back. To transform him, the wheels (which are mounted on asymmetrical struts) unfold and he just sort of reaches with his arms and feet to grab them, and that's the transformation. The waist rotates so that the lizard tail doubles as the motorcycle seat, which is kind of clever.
The motorcycle is about 3.25" long, and it totally nails the abstract aspect of his original toy. It makes the Beast Machines vehicle modes look like they were designed by George Barris. It has no kickstand to speak of, so it really can't stand up on its own unless you have Skywarp ride it or something.
I dunno, man. Like, I can appreciate that they tried. But this isn't great. It's not even good. It's a step in the evolution towards a full Pretenders revival. There was a time duing Power of the Primes when the only Elita One toy we had was a Starscream remold that turned into a pink jet. We have to take these things a step at a time, it seems. It sounds as if we're getting at least one more of these freakish non-Pretender abominations, so prepare for it.
SKYWARP
I was originally buying the Core-class toys thinking that the Autobot Ark would open up into a playset, and that the smaller characters would interact with it. Obviously, that didn't happen. Now I'm just continuing to buy them because I like wrong-sized versions of things, and they don't make the World's Smallest Transformers toys any longer.
Skywarp is a redeco of Core-class Starscream from Kingdom, but the paint applications have changed a bit. Starscream needed black paint on his head, but Skywarp started out black so that saved them a step. Starscream also got an additional silver paint application on the fans in his chest, but Skwarp's entire chest is silver, so that saved them another step. I guess that left enough of the paint budget for his weird magnet weapon, because that's what got painted.
It bugs me so much that he doesn't have his arm guns. We went through that stint during Power of the Primes when nobody had their signature weapons, and I really don't want to revert to that again. Instead, Skywarp gets a tuning fork or a giant magnet something with red-painted tips, so he can go hunt for scrap metal on the beach. (Unlike a lot of the Legacy weapons, there are specific instructions showing you how to connect Skywarp's and Iguanus' and Hot Rod's accessories together to form the big sword.)
I feel like this toy is incomplete without his guns, so I'm hoping Nonnef Productions comes up with a set of them (they've been setting up a new shop, so they've been slow with new product of late). There are 3D-printed replacement guns already on eBay, but I hate the visible striations, so I'm going to hold out for something that's actually molded plastic.
The combined weapon using parts from Iguanus, Hot Rod, and Skywarp is a bit silly. Hasbro said recently that they wanted the combined weapon to be a reward for buying all three toys, but honestly, it's more like a punishment.
SILVERSTREAK
We first heard about the existence of this toy eight long months ago. I can't believe it's taken this long for him to finally hit the market.
Hasbro's been paying homage lately to a lot of the early Diaclone color schemes, many of which we never got as official Transformers in the 1980's—red Hoist, police car Sunstreaker, etc. One of the more infamous color schemes is the legendary blue Bluestreak. Hasbro conflated all three Diaclone versions of the Fairlady Robo and treated them all as Bluestreak (they sold the all-silver version in 1984, but he was silver with black hood in the cartoon, and he was blue and white in his box art and instruction booklet and in the 1984 product catalog). This is a toy a lot of us, as kids, thought would be available but never was. Better late than never!
We are no longer just collecting Transformers characters—we are collecting hypothetical, non-existent versions of Transformers characters.
This isn't a straight Earthrise Bluestreak redeco, since technically it uses the modified Smokescreen chest/hood piece. I'm not sure if Hasbro did this on purpose just to mix things up a bit, or whether they goofed and put the wrong piece of the gated mold into production. His box art shows the Bluestreak/Prowl hood, but the photos on the back and the line art in the instructions shows him with the Smokescreen body, so who knows what happened exactly. At least they didn't give him the Smokescreen head as well.
He's got the reinforced knee joint found on late-run versions of Smokescreen and all known versions of Prowl and Bluestreak.
So, this version of the toy is predominantly blue in robot mode (the shoulders are white plastic, but painted blue), with black forearms and pelvis, and white used for the fists, biceps, upper legs, and weapons. He uses the correct Bluestreak head sculpt. The forehead crest is yellow this time (which is accurate to the pre-Transformer version). Normally I would worry about the blue paint covering the C.O.M.B.A.T. ports on the shoulders, but I doubt anybody buying this toy is going to cover him in F.O.S.S.I.L. armor and take him to play in the sandbox.
It's possible they tinkered with the tooling slightly. Historically, I've had problems with the little flip-out panels on the inside of the feet on all three versions of the toy, but this is the only one where I haven't had them pop off during transformation.
In car mode he's still mostly blue, with a silver-colored hood. The two-tone look is a little strange, but it's authentic to the Diaclone version. You can mount all the weapons in car mode. He does come with both the handheld rifle as well as the shoulder guns. (If you consider this an inessential character, you could still get the toy and give the white-colored weapons to Earthrise Smokescreen.)
I'm building up a fairly serviceable collection of Diaclone-colored characters at this point. I won't collect the Masterpiece versions of them (those toys are expensive so I have to really love the characters), but even a hypothetical non-existent Autobot is pretty affordable at only $20 or $25. And after all these years, it's honestly pretty awesome to finally have the fabled blue Bluestreak in my collection.
Zob (put my Masterpiece toys on a bookshelf today, and it's so nice to finally have plastic robots pointing their guns at me once again)
I didn't get Legacy Hot Rod, as I had already found the toy during Kingdom.
IGUANUS
The last time we got Pretenders was during Power of the Primes, where they were reimagined as Decoy Suits that took the form of the original Pretender shells, and inside them were the Prime Master figurines which presumably represented the tiny inner Pretender robot. Iguanus didn't get the PotP treatment, so this is the first new version of the G1 character since 1988 (the various Beast Wars toys named Iguanus surely don't count).
So this time, the idea is that the toy transforms from the semblance of the outer shell into the semblance of the original inner robot vehicle. So, purple lizard Iguanus changes into a motorcycle. I realize that they keep trying to work the Pretender characters into the new toy lines in a way that makes sense, but to be honest, nothing short of a full Pretenders revival will satisfy me. However, this is an acceptable step in that direction.
Iguanus stands at about 3.5" in height, and he's stylized and angular in a way that suggests he's fully robotic, with none of that syntho-organic flesh that the original Pretenders has. His color mapping is reasonably accurate to the 1988 version, though the old figure had black shoulder armor where this one has purple.
Originally, the inner robot was dark purple with magenta, and turned into a somewhat abstract motorcycle (limited by the inherently skinny design of the robot and the need to minimize kibble). This edition has built-in kibble in the form of the motorcycle cockpit and the wheels on his back. To transform him, the wheels (which are mounted on asymmetrical struts) unfold and he just sort of reaches with his arms and feet to grab them, and that's the transformation. The waist rotates so that the lizard tail doubles as the motorcycle seat, which is kind of clever.
The motorcycle is about 3.25" long, and it totally nails the abstract aspect of his original toy. It makes the Beast Machines vehicle modes look like they were designed by George Barris. It has no kickstand to speak of, so it really can't stand up on its own unless you have Skywarp ride it or something.
I dunno, man. Like, I can appreciate that they tried. But this isn't great. It's not even good. It's a step in the evolution towards a full Pretenders revival. There was a time duing Power of the Primes when the only Elita One toy we had was a Starscream remold that turned into a pink jet. We have to take these things a step at a time, it seems. It sounds as if we're getting at least one more of these freakish non-Pretender abominations, so prepare for it.
SKYWARP
I was originally buying the Core-class toys thinking that the Autobot Ark would open up into a playset, and that the smaller characters would interact with it. Obviously, that didn't happen. Now I'm just continuing to buy them because I like wrong-sized versions of things, and they don't make the World's Smallest Transformers toys any longer.
Skywarp is a redeco of Core-class Starscream from Kingdom, but the paint applications have changed a bit. Starscream needed black paint on his head, but Skywarp started out black so that saved them a step. Starscream also got an additional silver paint application on the fans in his chest, but Skwarp's entire chest is silver, so that saved them another step. I guess that left enough of the paint budget for his weird magnet weapon, because that's what got painted.
It bugs me so much that he doesn't have his arm guns. We went through that stint during Power of the Primes when nobody had their signature weapons, and I really don't want to revert to that again. Instead, Skywarp gets a tuning fork or a giant magnet something with red-painted tips, so he can go hunt for scrap metal on the beach. (Unlike a lot of the Legacy weapons, there are specific instructions showing you how to connect Skywarp's and Iguanus' and Hot Rod's accessories together to form the big sword.)
I feel like this toy is incomplete without his guns, so I'm hoping Nonnef Productions comes up with a set of them (they've been setting up a new shop, so they've been slow with new product of late). There are 3D-printed replacement guns already on eBay, but I hate the visible striations, so I'm going to hold out for something that's actually molded plastic.
The combined weapon using parts from Iguanus, Hot Rod, and Skywarp is a bit silly. Hasbro said recently that they wanted the combined weapon to be a reward for buying all three toys, but honestly, it's more like a punishment.
SILVERSTREAK
We first heard about the existence of this toy eight long months ago. I can't believe it's taken this long for him to finally hit the market.
Hasbro's been paying homage lately to a lot of the early Diaclone color schemes, many of which we never got as official Transformers in the 1980's—red Hoist, police car Sunstreaker, etc. One of the more infamous color schemes is the legendary blue Bluestreak. Hasbro conflated all three Diaclone versions of the Fairlady Robo and treated them all as Bluestreak (they sold the all-silver version in 1984, but he was silver with black hood in the cartoon, and he was blue and white in his box art and instruction booklet and in the 1984 product catalog). This is a toy a lot of us, as kids, thought would be available but never was. Better late than never!
We are no longer just collecting Transformers characters—we are collecting hypothetical, non-existent versions of Transformers characters.
This isn't a straight Earthrise Bluestreak redeco, since technically it uses the modified Smokescreen chest/hood piece. I'm not sure if Hasbro did this on purpose just to mix things up a bit, or whether they goofed and put the wrong piece of the gated mold into production. His box art shows the Bluestreak/Prowl hood, but the photos on the back and the line art in the instructions shows him with the Smokescreen body, so who knows what happened exactly. At least they didn't give him the Smokescreen head as well.
He's got the reinforced knee joint found on late-run versions of Smokescreen and all known versions of Prowl and Bluestreak.
So, this version of the toy is predominantly blue in robot mode (the shoulders are white plastic, but painted blue), with black forearms and pelvis, and white used for the fists, biceps, upper legs, and weapons. He uses the correct Bluestreak head sculpt. The forehead crest is yellow this time (which is accurate to the pre-Transformer version). Normally I would worry about the blue paint covering the C.O.M.B.A.T. ports on the shoulders, but I doubt anybody buying this toy is going to cover him in F.O.S.S.I.L. armor and take him to play in the sandbox.
It's possible they tinkered with the tooling slightly. Historically, I've had problems with the little flip-out panels on the inside of the feet on all three versions of the toy, but this is the only one where I haven't had them pop off during transformation.
In car mode he's still mostly blue, with a silver-colored hood. The two-tone look is a little strange, but it's authentic to the Diaclone version. You can mount all the weapons in car mode. He does come with both the handheld rifle as well as the shoulder guns. (If you consider this an inessential character, you could still get the toy and give the white-colored weapons to Earthrise Smokescreen.)
I'm building up a fairly serviceable collection of Diaclone-colored characters at this point. I won't collect the Masterpiece versions of them (those toys are expensive so I have to really love the characters), but even a hypothetical non-existent Autobot is pretty affordable at only $20 or $25. And after all these years, it's honestly pretty awesome to finally have the fabled blue Bluestreak in my collection.
Zob (put my Masterpiece toys on a bookshelf today, and it's so nice to finally have plastic robots pointing their guns at me once again)
Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats
Apr 23, 2022, 4:43:27 PM4/23/22
to
On Friday, April 22, 2022 at 8:21:53 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> IGUANUS
Decent articulation for the size class, including a waist and ankle tilts. And it's a nice solid mode with nothing drooping or coming unconnected.
The vehicle mode is not much of a disguise, more of a transport mode. But everything pegs together really well, so it's not a floppy abstract mess -- more of a solid, well-constructed and sturdy abstract wheeled thing. It rolls really well, better than the vast majority of transformers these days, and he's fun to roll across different surfaces and feel the textures of those surfaces reflected back through the toy. I am able to balance him on his wheels, as they are flat.
There are some gaps in the vehicle mode when viewed from the sides, and the arms and legs are very clearly visible. But, as a functional transformation rather than a disguise it doesn't bother me. If there was fiction where he was on Earth and people didn't notice the arms and legs... that would be bad.
The weapon is weak -- it needs a barrel, but there are lots of barrels that can plug into it. Still, weak. But beautifully painted. Sticking a blast effect into the hole is also nice.
The red paint for his body matches Hot Rod's red well enough that he can weild Hot Rod's sword without it looking out of place. I don't have the Skywarp chunk, so I don't know how the combined weapon looks/works, but he looks pretty good with the blaster firing a blast effect, and the sword in his other hand.
I don't have a huge attachment to the original G1 Iguanus, so I might be missing a lot of failed homage bits, but he seems satisfying in his own right, at least for a core class toy.
Story wise, he doesn't make sense as a Pretender. Presumably before he got his Iguana shell, he was just that G1 inner robot, and there wouldn't have been any iguana bits. And he's definitely not the Pretender, unless we are supposed to pretend that the shell now transforms, and there is a robot somewhere inside there. He might make sense as a post-Pretender Iguanus -- Iguanus's core robot gets so badly damaged that the Pretender shell cannot repair him without merging with the core robot. I can live with that.
I quite like him. I don't think you're giving him a chance because you wanted something else entirely. He's pretty good for what he is.
Gustavo
> IGUANUS
>
> I dunno, man. Like, I can appreciate that they tried. But this isn't great. It's not even good.
Let's see -- gorgeous robot mode. Absolutely beautiful sculpted details with pretty lavish paint operations to bring out all the details. There could be a few more -- the shoulders are missing something, and there is still an overwhelming purple quality that needs to be broken up on the lower body (maybe gold above the ankles, since they were already painting the shin?), but gorgeous. The wheels over the shoulders look good. He even looks good from behind.
> I dunno, man. Like, I can appreciate that they tried. But this isn't great. It's not even good.
Decent articulation for the size class, including a waist and ankle tilts. And it's a nice solid mode with nothing drooping or coming unconnected.
The vehicle mode is not much of a disguise, more of a transport mode. But everything pegs together really well, so it's not a floppy abstract mess -- more of a solid, well-constructed and sturdy abstract wheeled thing. It rolls really well, better than the vast majority of transformers these days, and he's fun to roll across different surfaces and feel the textures of those surfaces reflected back through the toy. I am able to balance him on his wheels, as they are flat.
There are some gaps in the vehicle mode when viewed from the sides, and the arms and legs are very clearly visible. But, as a functional transformation rather than a disguise it doesn't bother me. If there was fiction where he was on Earth and people didn't notice the arms and legs... that would be bad.
The weapon is weak -- it needs a barrel, but there are lots of barrels that can plug into it. Still, weak. But beautifully painted. Sticking a blast effect into the hole is also nice.
The red paint for his body matches Hot Rod's red well enough that he can weild Hot Rod's sword without it looking out of place. I don't have the Skywarp chunk, so I don't know how the combined weapon looks/works, but he looks pretty good with the blaster firing a blast effect, and the sword in his other hand.
I don't have a huge attachment to the original G1 Iguanus, so I might be missing a lot of failed homage bits, but he seems satisfying in his own right, at least for a core class toy.
Story wise, he doesn't make sense as a Pretender. Presumably before he got his Iguana shell, he was just that G1 inner robot, and there wouldn't have been any iguana bits. And he's definitely not the Pretender, unless we are supposed to pretend that the shell now transforms, and there is a robot somewhere inside there. He might make sense as a post-Pretender Iguanus -- Iguanus's core robot gets so badly damaged that the Pretender shell cannot repair him without merging with the core robot. I can live with that.
I quite like him. I don't think you're giving him a chance because you wanted something else entirely. He's pretty good for what he is.
Gustavo
Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats
Apr 23, 2022, 4:53:09 PM4/23/22
to
On Saturday, April 23, 2022 at 1:43:27 PM UTC-7, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> On Friday, April 22, 2022 at 8:21:53 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> > IGUANUS
> On Friday, April 22, 2022 at 8:21:53 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> > IGUANUS
> I quite like him. I don't think you're giving him a chance because you wanted something else entirely. He's pretty good for what he is.
>
> Gustavo
I could also see the mold being reused as a not-very-good Slizardo, with a new head sculpt and remolded chest. The transformation would make little sense, and suggest something very bad happened to him after we saw him last, leading to him becoming a cyborg. And the wheel and windscreen could just be popped off to make him a bit more G1 cartoon accurate.
>
> Gustavo
With the removable transformation parts, he could actually make an ok Slizardo, now that I think about it. Maybe I need to look at Slizardo some more.
Zobovor
Apr 24, 2022, 10:47:37 PM4/24/22
to
On Saturday, April 23, 2022 at 2:43:27 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> I quite like him. I don't think you're giving him a chance because you wanted something else entirely. He's pretty good for what he is.
I will freely admit that I'm definitely letting my desire for a full-on Pretenders revival color my perceptions.
> I quite like him. I don't think you're giving him a chance because you wanted something else entirely. He's pretty good for what he is.
But, even as a toy just taken on its own merits, that's an awful motorcycle mode. It's so obviously arms and legs contorted in weird ways. It may be merely a utilitarian transformation, as you suggest, but as a disguise it's absolutely terrible. This toy makes early attempts like GoBots Cy-Kill or G1 Wreck-Gar look like utter genius.
And now we have all these weird-sized Pretender homages that aren't even to scale with each other. He's fully double the size of the Decoy Suits.
My hope is that one day, perhaps in 2025 or so, Core-class Iguanus will become an entirely unnecessary toy, having been supplanted by bigger, better Pretender toys. Or, maybe by then I'll have acquired all the G1 versions and I won't have as much of a desire to upgrade to neo-G1 versions. Either is possible.
Zob (there is only one G1 Iguanus on eBay right now, and it's $776... I am a bit worried)
Gustavo Wombat
Apr 25, 2022, 3:17:19 AM4/25/22
to
Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> On Saturday, April 23, 2022 at 2:43:27 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the
> Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
>> I quite like him. I don't think you're giving him a chance because you
>> wanted something else entirely. He's pretty good for what he is.
>
> I will freely admit that I'm definitely letting my desire for a full-on
> Pretenders revival color my perceptions.
I may be way too excited by how well he rolls and that everything pegs
> On Saturday, April 23, 2022 at 2:43:27 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the
> Seattle Wombats wrote:
>
>> I quite like him. I don't think you're giving him a chance because you
>> wanted something else entirely. He's pretty good for what he is.
>
> I will freely admit that I'm definitely letting my desire for a full-on
> Pretenders revival color my perceptions.
together cleanly. He completely exceeded my expectations.
> But, even as a toy just taken on its own merits, that's an awful
> motorcycle mode. It's so obviously arms and legs contorted in weird
> ways. It may be merely a utilitarian transformation, as you suggest, but
> as a disguise it's absolutely terrible. This toy makes early attempts
> like GoBots Cy-Kill or G1 Wreck-Gar look like utter genius.
disguise is TM Tarantulas.
If it were a better disguise, it would likely fall into “tries and fails”
like Legacy Prime Arcee, because there just isn’t enough mass to hide parts
and all the parts are so distinctively arm, leg, foot…
Instead, he’s a nifty little guy who folds himself into a motorcycle and
zips off at high speed looking to all the world like a robot holding
wheels. I’m skimming TFWiki to try to figure out if he has a personality or
a function, because he looks like a courier. Doesn’t seem to be anything
other than a generic warrior with a fondness for reptiles though.
> And now we have all these weird-sized Pretender homages that aren't even
> to scale with each other. He's fully double the size of the Decoy Suits.
> My hope is that one day, perhaps in 2025 or so, Core-class Iguanus will
> become an entirely unnecessary toy, having been supplanted by bigger,
> better Pretender toys.
modern techniques and expectations, but I think they would have to try with
a very well known character. And to get a core sized figure inside, we
probably need a voyager scale shell, so I don’t think they would ever get
to all of them.
> Or, maybe by then I'll have acquired all the G1 versions and I won't have
> as much of a desire to upgrade to neo-G1 versions. Either is possible.
>
>
> Zob (there is only one G1 Iguanus on eBay right now, and it's $776... I am a bit worried)
idea of him hiding in a shell that looks just like him, but I like $776
more.
Irrellius Spamticon
May 10, 2022, 6:40:09 PM5/10/22
to
On Monday, April 25, 2022 at 2:17:19 AM UTC-5, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> > On Saturday, April 23, 2022 at 2:43:27 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the
> > Seattle Wombats wrote:
> >
> >> I quite like him. I don't think you're giving him a chance because you
> >> wanted something else entirely. He's pretty good for what he is.
> >
He's great for an update. He's a retry because you all hated the decoy suits so much they moved on to something else. .
> Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> > On Saturday, April 23, 2022 at 2:43:27 PM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the
> > Seattle Wombats wrote:
> >
> >> I quite like him. I don't think you're giving him a chance because you
> >> wanted something else entirely. He's pretty good for what he is.
> >
If you think this cycle mode is bad, you haven't seen his G1 toy. I have G1 Iguanus out on my shelf as the only pretender to remind myself how terrible things can get.
Legacy Iguanus having rolling wheels, wheels with tops on them, wheels that are a different color from the rest of the cycle are all significant upgrades.
G1 Iguanus comes from a time where someone declared "we can't fit half of this terrible looking motorcycle inside the shell, let's make it a giant block and declare it to be a weapon."
G1 Iguanus makes the great cheapening look not so bad comparatively.
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=167133969069385&set=pcb.167134019069380
Just a comparison of the original. I had to see if the Legacy fits in the shell.
it's tight but it fits
Zobovor
May 11, 2022, 10:00:30 PM5/11/22
to
On Tuesday, May 10, 2022 at 4:40:09 PM UTC-6, Ob1k...@att.net wrote:
> If you think this cycle mode is bad, you haven't seen his G1 toy. I have G1 Iguanus out on my shelf as the only pretender to remind myself how terrible things can get.
Yeah, but G1 is, like, the lowest bar there is to hurdle. That bar is touching the ground. You can step over it without jumping. It doesn't take much to design a toy that's objectively better than G1.
> If you think this cycle mode is bad, you haven't seen his G1 toy. I have G1 Iguanus out on my shelf as the only pretender to remind myself how terrible things can get.
When I say Legacy Iguanus is bad, I don't mean he's worse than the G1 toy. I mean he's worse than what they're capable of doing right now, in today's market with the current design team, modern engineering, and a contemporary budget.
> Legacy Iguanus having rolling wheels, wheels with tops on them, wheels that are a different color from the rest of the cycle are all significant upgrades.
Now, if they had done this toy at a Deluxe scale, it might have been better. Maybe the idea was too ambitious for Core-class. Maybe they could have even done a thing where the Deluxe version of Iguanus was a lizard that transformed into something, but then there was also a smaller Core-class robot you could buy, called Iguanacon or something, who turned into a motorcycle but could also fold up into a litle ball and fit into a hollow chest cavity in the larger Iguanus toy. You aren't required to buy both, but doing so enhances the play pattern. (Of course, then instead of buying like 30 toys to get a full set of Pretenders, you're buying 60 toys...)
Ultimately, what it comes down to, for me, is that Pretenders are supposed to be robots hiding inside shells. If they're going to bring back any of the characters, they really need to be tied to that gimmick. Some gimmicks are intrinsically part of the characters. I don't absolutely require Throttlebots with pull-back motors or a Galvagun with electronic sound and lights, but Pretenders need to be Pretenders. Full stop.
Zob (one of these days I will be done moving in, but that day will not be today)
Irrellius Spamticon
May 12, 2022, 9:11:30 AM5/12/22
to
On Wednesday, May 11, 2022 at 9:00:30 PM UTC-5, Zobovor wrote:
> On Tuesday, May 10, 2022 at 4:40:09 PM UTC-6, Ob1k...@att.net wrote:
>
> > If you think this cycle mode is bad, you haven't seen his G1 toy. I have G1 Iguanus out on my shelf as the only pretender to remind myself how terrible things can get.
> Yeah, but G1 is, like, the lowest bar there is to hurdle. That bar is touching the ground. You can step over it without jumping. It doesn't take much to design a toy that's objectively better than G1.
>
So G1 suddenly went from the ultimate tier to aspire to to the lowest hurdle?
> On Tuesday, May 10, 2022 at 4:40:09 PM UTC-6, Ob1k...@att.net wrote:
>
> > If you think this cycle mode is bad, you haven't seen his G1 toy. I have G1 Iguanus out on my shelf as the only pretender to remind myself how terrible things can get.
> Yeah, but G1 is, like, the lowest bar there is to hurdle. That bar is touching the ground. You can step over it without jumping. It doesn't take much to design a toy that's objectively better than G1.
>
> When I say Legacy Iguanus is bad, I don't mean he's worse than the G1 toy. I mean he's worse than what they're capable of doing right now, in today's market with the current design team, modern engineering, and a contemporary budget.
> > Legacy Iguanus having rolling wheels, wheels with tops on them, wheels that are a different color from the rest of the cycle are all significant upgrades.
> They are. You're right. But, when I look at all the other great toys we've gotten for Legacy so far, most of them turn into believable things. Cars and planes and Galvaguns and such. (Okay, I did say *most* of them.) And then you come to Iguanus, who is this sad little lizard man who bends over backwards and pretends he's a motorcycle while making "VRROOOM!" sounds with his mouth.
>
> Now, if they had done this toy at a Deluxe scale, it might have been better. Maybe the idea was too ambitious for Core-class. Maybe they could have even done a thing where the Deluxe version of Iguanus was a lizard that transformed into something, but then there was also a smaller Core-class robot you could buy, called Iguanacon or something, who turned into a motorcycle but could also fold up into a litle ball and fit into a hollow chest cavity in the larger Iguanus toy. You aren't required to buy both, but doing so enhances the play pattern. (Of course, then instead of buying like 30 toys to get a full set of Pretenders, you're buying 60 toys...)
>
> Ultimately, what it comes down to, for me, is that Pretenders are supposed to be robots hiding inside shells. If they're going to bring back any of the characters, they really need to be tied to that gimmick. Some gimmicks are intrinsically part of the characters. I don't absolutely require Throttlebots with pull-back motors or a Galvagun with electronic sound and lights, but Pretenders need to be Pretenders. Full stop.
>
Even though the comic media largely ignored the shells and pretender aspects.
Remember the second year of Pretenders when the toys were suddenly Micromaster sized and the shells were 2% better proportioned? As someone with an engineering background Hasbro did an amazing job making the decoy Suits, and the fact that they had anything fit in them. In 2015 we had the Oilmaster, an that was an expensive trainwreck. Actually a trainwreck would have been more interesting.
All you're likely to get with a bigger scale is a bigger decoy suit with really bad robots inside. I don't want to pay $60 for what is essentially a painted Kinder Egg with a Kinder egg robot inside. At least with Kinder egg I get chocolate.
>
> Zob (one of these days I will be done moving in, but that day will not be today)
Zobovor
May 12, 2022, 2:41:29 PM5/12/22
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On Thursday, May 12, 2022 at 7:11:30 AM UTC-6, Ob1k...@att.net wrote:
> So G1 suddenly went from the ultimate tier to aspire to to the lowest hurdle?
I don't think anybody has ever claimed that the G1 toy line, as a whole, is the pinnacle of engineering. They do lots of stuff better now. More durable plastics, more articulation, more cartoon accurate sculpts. (There is some aesthetic artistry in some of the early Diaclone stuff that I feel like we don't get now, but that's a separate issue.)
> So G1 suddenly went from the ultimate tier to aspire to to the lowest hurdle?
My point is, it's absolutely not difficult to come up with a motorcycle that's more motorcycley than G1 Iguanus, because G1 Iguanus has a really awful vehicle design. In this instance, looking at Legacy Iguanus and going "well, at least it's better than G1" honestly isn't saying much.
> So the G1 toy or nothing. Even though the comic media largely ignored the shells and pretender aspects.
I'm a fan of the G1 stuff. If you take G1 and try to improve it in some way, then that's a departure from the source material. The bigger the change, the more of a departure it is. You can do a departure if it's done well. Some changes like better articulation or a more normal-looking physique, are great, and I'm all for it. If you take away a key gimmick that helps define that character, though, it's not an improvement.
If they're going to do neo-G1 versions of characters, they need to stay true to the characters. Perceptor as a half-track doesn't work. He needs to be a microscope. Soundwave as a space jet doesn't work. He needs to be a tape player. Nightbeat needs to be a Headmaster, Crosshairs needs to be a Targetmaster, Iguanus needs to be a Pretender. I just don't think it's a successful, authentic update otherwise.
Zob (come at me, bro)
Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats
May 12, 2022, 4:58:22 PM5/12/22
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On Thursday, May 12, 2022 at 11:41:29 AM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> On Thursday, May 12, 2022 at 7:11:30 AM UTC-6, Ob1k...@att.net wrote:
>
> > So G1 suddenly went from the ultimate tier to aspire to to the lowest hurdle?
> I don't think anybody has ever claimed that the G1 toy line, as a whole, is the pinnacle of engineering. They do lots of stuff better now. More durable plastics, more articulation, more cartoon accurate sculpts. (There is some aesthetic artistry in some of the early Diaclone stuff that I feel like we don't get now, but that's a separate issue.)
>
> My point is, it's absolutely not difficult to come up with a motorcycle that's more motorcycley than G1 Iguanus, because G1 Iguanus has a really awful vehicle design. In this instance, looking at Legacy Iguanus and going "well, at least it's better than G1" honestly isn't saying much.
Just on the motorcycle, I don't think G1 Iguanus is trying to hide in motorcycle mode, so the Iguanacycle is a good upgrade to me.
> On Thursday, May 12, 2022 at 7:11:30 AM UTC-6, Ob1k...@att.net wrote:
>
> > So G1 suddenly went from the ultimate tier to aspire to to the lowest hurdle?
> I don't think anybody has ever claimed that the G1 toy line, as a whole, is the pinnacle of engineering. They do lots of stuff better now. More durable plastics, more articulation, more cartoon accurate sculpts. (There is some aesthetic artistry in some of the early Diaclone stuff that I feel like we don't get now, but that's a separate issue.)
>
> My point is, it's absolutely not difficult to come up with a motorcycle that's more motorcycley than G1 Iguanus, because G1 Iguanus has a really awful vehicle design. In this instance, looking at Legacy Iguanus and going "well, at least it's better than G1" honestly isn't saying much.
> > So the G1 toy or nothing. Even though the comic media largely ignored the shells and pretender aspects.
>
> I'm a fan of the G1 stuff. If you take G1 and try to improve it in some way, then that's a departure from the source material. The bigger the change, the more of a departure it is. You can do a departure if it's done well. Some changes like better articulation or a more normal-looking physique, are great, and I'm all for it. If you take away a key gimmick that helps define that character, though, it's not an improvement.
>
> If they're going to do neo-G1 versions of characters, they need to stay true to the characters. Perceptor as a half-track doesn't work. He needs to be a microscope. Soundwave as a space jet doesn't work. He needs to be a tape player. Nightbeat needs to be a Headmaster, Crosshairs needs to be a Targetmaster, Iguanus needs to be a Pretender. I just don't think it's a successful, authentic update otherwise.
I could almost even see the current Bulkhead as a Soundwave -- new head sculpt, remolded machine gun thing that is slightly more Soundwavy, and minions hiding under the tarp. He would need to be dark blue and gray, and some token sonic weapons or communications equipment. The main problem would be that the minions couldn't store in robot mode.
G1 Soundwave is really a very flexible character since he is so visually well defined. The fact that they also made MW Soundwave, Go-Bots Soundwave, etc where they violated all of those elements is unfortunate.
The ideal Iguanus would be a Pretender though.
But I'm really ok with this Iguanus as a different point in the character's life -- Transformers are always developing new technologies each year/toyline, and it's weird that they don't apply that technology to any Transformers that we met before. Perhaps Iguanus was briefly an ActionMaster, and this is now his ActionMaster Elite mode with a poor alt-mode that happens to be better than his previous alt-mode. Iguanus was probably pretty sensitive about what a shitty motorcycle he could transform into.
Travoltron
May 19, 2022, 4:48:17 PM5/19/22
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"Larkin's Lair" has made guns for Skywarp.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1210077938/legacy-core-class-skywarp-weapons-set
I don't buy much 3rd party stuff, but I've ordered a set. Saw some good
reviews of it on YouTube. Looks like he has some other nifty upgrades
for some of the recent toys.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/larkinslairyt
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1210077938/legacy-core-class-skywarp-weapons-set
I don't buy much 3rd party stuff, but I've ordered a set. Saw some good
reviews of it on YouTube. Looks like he has some other nifty upgrades
for some of the recent toys.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/larkinslairyt
Zobovor
May 19, 2022, 8:02:00 PM5/19/22
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On Thursday, May 19, 2022 at 2:48:17 PM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:
> "Larkin's Lair" has made guns for Skywarp.
I have a real aversion to the 3D-printed stuff. I hate the visible layers. Nonnef has sort of told-me-without-telling-me that they've got something in the works, so I'm going to wait for their version.
> "Larkin's Lair" has made guns for Skywarp.
Zob (pulling weeds is stupid and time-consuming and I hate it)
Zobovor
Apr 28, 2023, 4:15:11 PM4/28/23
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On Friday, April 22, 2022 at 9:21:53 PM UTC-6, Zobovor wrote:
> I feel like this toy is incomplete without his guns, so I'm hoping Nonnef Productions comes up with a set of them (they've been setting up a new shop, so they've been slow with new product of late). There are 3D-printed replacement guns already on eBay, but I hate the visible striations, so I'm going to hold out for something that's actually molded plastic.
So, after being unsatisfied with what was being offered, I sort of forgot about getting guns for Skywarp for a while. Then, after I got Core-class Thundercracker to complete the trio, I started lamenting how my Skywarp toy was still incomplete. In the year since Skywarp was originally released, there have been a bunch of upgrade kits made available for him. A lot of them are 3D-printed parts, but I found a seller from China (whose e-store is called Player Land) that was offering injection-molded plastic parts, and I'm super picky about my upgrade kits. I really dislike the 3D-printed stuff.
> I feel like this toy is incomplete without his guns, so I'm hoping Nonnef Productions comes up with a set of them (they've been setting up a new shop, so they've been slow with new product of late). There are 3D-printed replacement guns already on eBay, but I hate the visible striations, so I'm going to hold out for something that's actually molded plastic.
So, I had a choice between getting black guns for Skywarp or purple, and I chose purple because that's closer to his cartoon look. Black would have matched his existing plastic better, since the shade of purple doesn't quite match his gauntlets and boots. But, it's not awful-looking. The designs of the guns available seem to vary, but these weapons were molded using a set of Starscream guns, so they're a perfect match. No complaints.
The kit I got also came with a couple of blast effects. They seem to have been molded directly from the blast effects that came with Siege Aimless, only they're light blue. They're also translucent styrene instead of PVC, so they're not rubbery and don't really stretch enough to wrap around the tips of Skywarp's guns. I worry I will snap the barrel of Skywarp's gun in half while trying to attach these, so I'll probably just leave them off.
I paid $13.89 for the kit of four parts (two arm guns, two blast effects) but the arm guns by themselves can be had for $10.98 shipped. If I had it to do over again, I would have left the blast effects off, but I didn't know they'd be unusable. Oh, well.
Zob (mowed the lawn for the first time this season, and I'm worried my baby grass will not grow)
Irrellius Spamticon
Apr 29, 2023, 12:51:49 AM4/29/23
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Zobovor
Apr 29, 2023, 11:54:50 AM4/29/23
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On Friday, April 28, 2023 at 10:51:49 PM UTC-6, Irrellius Spamticon wrote:
> Still don't know why painting the guns from an extra Thundercracker wasn't an option.
It's not a terrible solution, but then I would have to worry about the paint coming off when the toys are rattling around in a box together. Plastic being cast in the correct color is much more durable.
Zob (and then I'd have a Thundercracker with no guns, which would bother me)
> Still don't know why painting the guns from an extra Thundercracker wasn't an option.
It's not a terrible solution, but then I would have to worry about the paint coming off when the toys are rattling around in a box together. Plastic being cast in the correct color is much more durable.
Zob (and then I'd have a Thundercracker with no guns, which would bother me)
Evil King Macrocranios
May 2, 2023, 4:18:16 AM5/2/23
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On Saturday, April 29, 2023 at 8:54:50 AM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> Zob (and then I'd have a Thundercracker with no guns, which would bother me)
It's not Thundercracker, it's a whole new character waiting to be born. Its his brother who always forgets his guns named Gunderslacker.
> Zob (and then I'd have a Thundercracker with no guns, which would bother me)
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