I just transformed...

[The Nemesis]

Originally Posted by MapleMegatron

I just transformed Kingdom Megatron. The original is my favourite TF toy of all time and I know it's transformation inside and out (like a soviet soldier assembling an ak47). So I find it so fun and refreshing that they literally turn that familiar transformation on its head.

This made me think of something:


Having now played with SS86 Grimlock for a few weeks now, one of the things I love about the big lug is that like 30 years later I can transform him basically the same way that little me transformed my G2 Grimlock back in the day (which is obviously the same as transforming a G1 Grimlock, he just wasn't cobalt blue). Yeah it's not identical (the new one's bot head flips down to store in dino mode, the hands hing into the dino legs instead of retracting the legs to expose the hands while removing any sort of elbow, the tail pieces would just swing out and hang on the sides of the calves, the new one has a complicated hinge system to retract them into his bot legs so they aren't visible from the outside), but the spirit of that original transformation is definitely retained with the benefit of 3 decades of technological advancement to make it cleaner and lead to a less bricky robot.



So what do people prefer when it comes to new incarnations of classic characters?


Familiarity where if you remember how the original worked you can see how the modern one works, just more ornately and with more articulation and functionality in robot mode?


Or originality where you have a pair of similar robot modes, a pair of similar alt modes, and then two completely different paths that get you from A to B?

[steamwhistle]

Me, I would love it it they would simply take the G1 designs as a basis, and find ways to tweak them to improve articulation and improve appearance, especially for bot-mode (less kibble and full limbs - that is, without visible hollow openings).

Part of what was fun about the cartoon was seeing them transform -- they, albeit loosely, followed the toy transformation in the animation.

[CyberDragon10K]

Originally Posted by The Nemesis

This made me think of something:


Having now played with SS86 Grimlock for a few weeks now, one of the things I love about the big lug is that like 30 years later I can transform him basically the same way that little me transformed my G2 Grimlock back in the day (which is obviously the same as transforming a G1 Grimlock, he just wasn't cobalt blue). Yeah it's not identical (the new one's bot head flips down to store in dino mode, the hands hing into the dino legs instead of retracting the legs to expose the hands while removing any sort of elbow, the tail pieces would just swing out and hang on the sides of the calves, the new one has a complicated hinge system to retract them into his bot legs so they aren't visible from the outside), but the spirit of that original transformation is definitely retained with the benefit of 3 decades of technological advancement to make it cleaner and lead to a less bricky robot.



So what do people prefer when it comes to new incarnations of classic characters?


Familiarity where if you remember how the original worked you can see how the modern one works, just more ornately and with more articulation and functionality in robot mode?


Or originality where you have a pair of similar robot modes, a pair of similar alt modes, and then two completely different paths that get you from A to B?

I liked how MP-10 was a straight update of the old G1 transformation scheme gussied up with modern accoutrements. Mind, I didn't have G1 Optimus back in the day, but Ultra Magnus gave me a similar experience until you had to stick the blue helmet on him and plug him into the trailer.

Then again, ER Prime with the chest/torso origami is a welcome surprise after most SS Optimuses basically frankensteined a bunch of Optimus transformation methods together.

I guess I'd like a bit of both at the end of the day. Kingdom Galvatron looks like he'll do just that, even if TFW still hmms and haws about it.

[delrue]

Kingdom Optimus from monkee to robot. Getting that back panel open is not something that feels good.

[Harry Prime]

Siege Impactor, bot to alt. Love the colours, fun transformation.

[The Nemesis]

Got Studio Series Scourge today. He looks great in both modes. The transformation had some really fun clever bits, like the way you hinge his shoulders down to pin onto his legs, but I can't help but feel he's mostly just a shellformer using his wings to encase his body and leaving his bot legs still kinda exposed on the underbelly. He's a better shellformer than a lot of other examples (hi there, ER/Kingdom Arcee!) but still...



Also a little disappointed that the head-stalk bit you saw from time to time in the G1 cartoon is only done via a flip-up panel that sits there awkwardly out in front when you want to expose his face in hover-ship mode.


Still enjoy the figure a lot standing next to Cyclonus and the other movie villains I have. Now comes the wait for Galvatron.


Next new figure up for me will probably be Retro Chromedome, slated to arrive on Monday afternoon. But I might fiddle with something else beforehand as I'm rearranging my shelf into a different sort of tableau right now. I'm also considering going into my storage bin and transforming most of the bots who are off the shelf at the moment into alt modes just because they likely store better that way instead of in robot mode. If I do that I'll probably have a good 3 or 4 pages worth of posts for this thread, lol

Originally Posted by delrue

Kingdom Optimus from monkee to robot. Getting that back panel open is not something that feels good.

I swear every Beast Wars character in wave 1 at least (I don't have Airazor or Dinobot to compare against for wave 2) has at least 1 moment like that in their transformation. Either a fragile looking bit or a dicey bit of clearance or something that is extremely stuck/set in one mode and requires an uncomfortable amount of potentially fatal force.


I love all the Beast Wars figures that I have so far, but I do not look forward to transforming most of them.

Originally Posted by Harry Prime

Siege Impactor, bot to alt. Love the colours, fun transformation.

Which version? The regular retail version with the Autobot insignia? or the 3-pack one with the IDW head and Decepticon logo on his chest?


I know they're functionally like 95% identical, but inquiring minds want to know.

[The 12th Prime]

Thrilling 30 Double Dealer from plane to tank, I like the little things it does like push the treads down and out of the legs and the little flip up pieces to fill the front of the tank. It’ll be my “Cybertronion” version.

Then Earthrise Double Dealer from bird to truck, the instructions don’t show it that way, to hell with them, lol. Was easy and fun to figure out, flipping the one shoulder up was a little nerve racking otherwise a good time was had. Tomorrow Bot mode for both of them.

[evenstaves]

Kingdom Ractonite, if you can even call it a "transformation"

Basically a complete partsformer, you pull off his arms, bot shoulders (could do the pelvis; I did, but you may not need to?)

And just put them back together in dino mode
Turning his bot head 180 might be the most "transforming" element present, but do you even need to?

I'm not saying he isn't fun, because he is - but I can see him upsetting anti-partsformers

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

I'm pretty anti-partsformer myself, but Ractonite is clearly its own thing so it doesn't bother me that much. I still won't buy one, but it's not like the recent Cliffjumper/Bumblebee mould where they took an established transformer and made it not transform.

[steamwhistle]

Siege Omega Supreme, bot to base mode.