A Transformers Thread

I personally prefer Hot Shot with Cybertron or Animated colors, maybe with some orange flames mixed in.

@Rescue Bot Academy. I'm surprised they put Hot Shot front and center when we have Bumblebee.

Edited by RAlexa21th on Nov 25th 2018 at 2:54:21 AM

Bumblebee grew up even in the original Rescue Bots. Plus more marketable in more adolescent settings. Such as fighting Decepticons in a never ending war.

Thus, Hot Shot is his substitute.

Edited by Shadao on Nov 25th 2018 at 8:29:42 AM

We finally have images of MP-44 Optimus Prime V3 in color!

Highlights:

• It's modeled specifically after how Optimus appeared in the Sunbow cartoon, just like MP-36 Megatron.
• Just like MP-36, MP-44 has insane articulation. He can even do the superhero landing!
• Accessories (there's a lot):
  • Ion Blaster
  • Energon Axe (now it has a hinge so you can make it look like he's actually swinging it)
  • Matrix of Leadership
  • Roller
  • Multiple heads: Season 1 head, Season 2 and G1 movie head, and the beat-up head from the G1 movie.
    • Also features a Starscream head and shoulder pylons to replicate the time SS posed as Optimus.
  • New figurines of Spike and Sparkplug.
  • Repair bay bot that can plug into Roller AND function as a display stand.
  • Jetpack from when Sideswipe lended it to him with accompanying blast effect parts. (Whether or not it fits MP-12 has not been confirmed or denied.) The blast effect parts can also be used to make it look like Optimus is shooting with his ion blaster.
  • Gas pump and hose

Also, there's been some controversy over the pricing. It was said to be the priciest MP figure yet, and was confirmed as such by BigBadToyStore's listing of MP-44. Of course, everyone's going ballistic over the price and Takara seems to have asked (or demanded) that BBTS to remove the listing, so...

Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Nov 30th 2018 at 10:42:47 AM

Not into the G1 design but I'm impressed with how you can put humans inside the cockpit. The humans and cargo also look nice too.

The price if f***ing insane. I don't know what's got into Takara. Beast Wars Dinobot and Beast Wars Megatron are hard to swallow, but this. 500$ bucks for Optimus?

F that. Glad I got my MP-10

I'm also not that impressed. He's got a giant backpack that looks awful.

Edited by Ghilz on Nov 30th 2018 at 4:46:32 AM

Siege looks great.

Edited by shackwave on Nov 30th 2018 at 11:35:13 AM

I bought the Power of the Primes Moonracer, Blot, and Skrapnel. The instructions are really hard to read.

There are a lot of resistance compared to the one I bought long ago, which was ROTF Brawn.

Edited by RAlexa21th on Nov 30th 2018 at 5:54:47 AM

Transforming TLK Berserker is so hard that I don't even bother.

Heroic Optimus prime is has so simplistic transformation for a toy hissl size, though both modes look nice. Lack of knee is a big minus though.

Yeah, TF instructions are becoming a real pain for me. Purple on dark grey backgrounds coupled with the smaller size is... not fun. I'm actually grateful for reviewers like Emgo for showing off transformations. Emgo's vid series just showing the back and forth conversions with no commentary are very helpful. I couldn't even get a handle on Leader Blackout.

So I just watched the first four eps of Rescue Bots Academy this morning. They were, ok. It's obviously aimed at a audience even younger than the one for Rescue Bots, with the main message being about teamwork (you could essentially call this Transformers: Teamwork is Magic), but Whirl is a fun character.

... They put Whirl in a show for lil kids?

O_O

This Whirl's pretty nice. The only thing she really has in common with MTMTE Whirl is "blue helicopter".

So kinda like Blades. The RB version is a sweetie who's Done Nothing Wrong, whereas the G1 version was Edgeman McMurderbastard.

GI Blades had a character? I'm only familiar with the GI Cartoon and the Marvel comic, but the only notable thing about him was basically being a combiner (actually, outside of Swindle, I cant think of any G1 combiner bots who had much of any personality).

According to his character bio he was basically a vicious killer despite being an autobot, the G2 comic actually shown this characterization.

So, aesthetically speaking, what are your favourite designs for some transformers?

Even though I can't stand his character, I gotta say I always liked Animated Bumblebee's design.

It was different from his old school Beetle look, but still kept to his roots, especially with how huge a departure his live action looks were. I love Prime Bumblebee's for his skill and competence (something his animated version sorely lacked) and if I could combine them into one, I'd go for the latters personality to some extent, and the formers look.

Another dude on my list is RID 2015 Optimus, for dealing with the long time issue of his trailer. It's amazing how easy that issue is solved by simply incorporating it into his robot form, and I'm surprised it's never been tried before.

There's also Prime Bulkhead, even though he's only had three looks, but something about that version was the best to me.

Edited by HandsomeRob on Jan 6th 2019 at 11:06:14 AM

Fall of Cybertron Optimus.

Armada Optimus and Hot Shot

Prime Bumblebee and Arcee.

Animated Hot Shot.

Movie Sideswipe.

IDW Grimlock and Whirl

Fall of Cybertron Bruticus/Combaticons

Movie Scorn

Prime Knockout and Shockwave

Animated Shockwave and Prowl

Edited by Kaiseror on Jan 6th 2019 at 11:34:11 AM

Oh yeah, I really dig FOC Vortex.

A surprising number of G1 Autobots fit that description. Grimlock, Sunstreaker, Sandstorm just at the top of my head.

G1 Shockwave

Prime Megatron

War for Cybertron Arcee

Cybertron Hot Shot, Jetfire and Wing Saber

Animated Blurr

Edited by windleopard on Jan 6th 2019 at 9:54:12 AM

Hrrrm, good question. For simplicity I'll keep to official characters and not 3rd party re-design of existing characters

G1 Predaking is my favorite combiner, he has an aesthetic that meshes very well togheter. Though if I had to give a special mention, JRX from the 2001 RID is also a sleek combiner

FOC Dinobots - Grimlock and Slag in particular. A great update to the classic designs

Lioconvoy (BW 2) - A sleek take on the beast former design. I love the asymmetry of it with the shoulder beast head to one side. The colors also mesh really well, the white and gold really working with the traditional Optimus colors.

Animated Shockwave - I love the way they got 2 very distinct robot modes and 2 sort of distinct alt mode out of this. And the figure is really cool. It's like g1 Punch/Counterpunch but so much cooler.

Transmetal Megatron - Best body of the best villain.

G1 Cyclonus - Sleek jet, cool robot mode. Whats not to love

Animated Bulkhead - Really cool design. No wonder Bulkhead became sort of a staple after his debut.

Most of IDW? It's hard to pick a favorite among so many design. If I had to I'd go for Nautica & Nickel

BM Obsidian and Strika : the show was a shit sequel to the best Transformers show, but the last 2 Vehicon Generals were hella cool.

Edited by Ghilz on Jan 7th 2019 at 10:16:51 AM

From the shows I've seen:

G1: Optimus (of course), Blaster, Defensor, Motormaster, Shockwave, Soundwave, Scourge, Ultra Magnus

BW: Tigatron, Megatron, Scorponok, Blackarachnia, Silverbolt, Dinobot

BM: Tankor

Animated: Optimus, Megatron, Starscream, Ratchet, Prowl, Blitzwing, Wreck-Gar, Sentinel Prime

Prime: Megatron, Knockout, Wheeljack, Cliffjumper, Starscream, Arcee

Cyberverse: Windblade, Grimlock, Shadow Striker, Soundwave

Rescue Bots: Heatwave, Chase, Boulder

Rescue Bots Academy: Whirl, Wedge

For designs:

Prime: Vehicons, they had a solid cool aesthetic, and great toys. Shame that the Video Game versions never got figures.

RID 2015: I quite liked Starscream's updated look. Soundwave's looked cool to.

IDW: Springer had a great design to him. Overlord and Whirl looked great to.

Animated: Good Soundwave design.

Also, the Generations redesign for Warpath was a pretty awesome look to.

Edited by DrPsyche on Jan 8th 2019 at 4:44:32 AM

Finished making this 3D animation earlier today, figured I'd show it off here, if that's alright:

Alright, continuing on the whole "what's your favorite design," I'll just talk about one in particular (because it'll take some time for me to sort out the other favorite designs):

Soundwave from Transformers Prime. If there is any design that is proof that you can still remain true to the character while having a completely radical, almost polar opposite, design in comparison to the classic G1, it's Soundwave.

The character design is a complete departure from the classic Soundwave. Instead being a colorful blue with gold trimming box body design, TFP Soundwave is sleek and slender with a dark blue color scheme. He only has a visor covering his head rather than a red visor with a faceplate, and he doesn't really talk all that often. In theory, he should have been unrecognizable as Soundwave and yet, he feels like Soundwave. In fact, I would say the design captures and distills the essence of Soundwave's role in the Decepticon hierarchy more than any Soundwave design, including G1. A serious, devoted and smart loyalist to Megatron who is not Played for Laughs (unlike Inferno and Lugnut). The tall, thin frame and faceless visor give him this Slender Man vibes that spooked me even before I saw him do anything. I knew he was someone not to be messed just by that look.

Additionally, his alt-mode as a Predator Drone made more sense than a jeep, satellite, or any other alt-mode replacing the old tape cassette player. It's practicable (giving him the advantage to monitor over land, sea and air, as well as jumping into the action quickly rather than orbiting around Earth doing nothing) and scary given the reputation of the Predator Drone. I said to myself that if Soundwave were to ever return for a live-action movie (as a reboot), he should take this alt-mode and the slender design. Imagine this giant slender man-like robot just marching through the mist, undeterred by the crossfire between the soldiers and Blackout, and stealing military information like he doesn't give a damn.

While I do like the Bumblebee film, I do hope that future filmmakers aren't going to be sticking too close to the original G1 designs because of designs like TFP Soundwave. Modern update and revision to be more realistic and practicable but still staying true to the character, just like a good MCU character redesign.

Edited by Shadao on Feb 4th 2019 at 1:13:27 AM

Pretty cool