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Transformers Super Thread 7


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The poster and the actual toy don't seem to match at all. I will need much better pics before I decide if he's in G1 toy colors or not. The shade of blue is acceptable, but I can't tell if he's metallic or not.

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The poster and the actual toy don't seem to match at all. I will need much better pics before I decide if he's in G1 toy colors or not. The shade of blue is acceptable, but I can't tell if he's metallic or not.

I've "Pixel Dove" the image below and it looks on the metallic side to me.

Especially along the side and nose of the jet.

post-1571-1213937899_thumb.jpg

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I think I'll just buy the Universe versions of those pictured Henkei toys. They barely look any different.

When I say the "look", I mean the body proportions not the dark look of the series. Of course that dark, moody imagery is part of what made it look great. Just that if they had used x-men style realistic figures with the dark approach (set at nighttime when batman fights crime) I would have liked it even more than the exaggerated body proportions of big square jaw, wide chest, skinny lowerbody.

You know it's a bit like how people whine in the macross toy forum about the toynami 1/100 vf-1 toys having the oversized shoulders. I'm pretty sure one of the earliest comments about the TFA toon before it actually started and people only had a picture of the characters to go by was that: "geez...why do they have to make them look all deformed like that?" That's not to say that having them be expressive is bad or anything, just that NOT having them be stylised like that isn't going to suddenly make Transformers animated suck in any way. (because other cartoons like 90s spiderman or x-men didn't suffer in any way without being that way, right?)

But the big head of spiderman in spectacular spiderman, and the square jaws of characters in TFA is distracting to me. It just is. Not that there is anything wrong with it....

I believe the point of Animated was to do something unique and new for Transformers, and to make it stand out from the crowd of six or seven other relatively similar looking cartoons with similar looking robot designs. One advantage of this stylised art style is it allows for pretty dynamic animation, especially compared the the past three japanese series where the only visual 'excitement' came from stock footage :p
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More Alternity details:

http://tformers.com/transformers-the-411-o.../9667/news.html

Japanese on-line retailer BO-YA has placed product listings with descriptions for TakaraTomy's Transformers Alternity Nissan GT-R Convoy Vibrant Red and Ultimate Silver.

The listings confirm this figure is part of a new series that will be a smaller 1/32 scale model with an auto-transformation mechanism and contain die-cast parts just like the 1/24 scale Binaltech series.

The red color scheme is a homage to Convoy while the silver color scheme is for respects to the car model itself.

Both will be released in Japan in November 2008 retailing at 4,500 Yen.

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All red Powerglide is going to be one of the few examples where I prefer the Henkei version over the US counterpart. Casting realism to the winds, I'm all in for a red A-10.

With the Movie line, Animated and Classics, I never knew I'd be spending this much on Transformers. And now with Alternity coming in, the hits just keep coming. :wacko:

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The following is more of a concern/preference more than a complaint or bitching. Am I the only one who isn't very keen on automorph or any automatically transforming mechanisms? I mean, yeah it's cool that they can do that, but for me it takes away a LOT of the fun of a transformer. A large part of why I like transforming toys is because I enjoy sitting there and fiddling with them and changing them from one mode to another. It's like a rubiks cube thing or something. When parts or even the whole toys transforms by itself I tend to feel let down.

The most recent example of this is Animated Starscream. I knew going into it that it had an extensive automorph, but I still picked one up yesterday because it does look cool. But the damn thing really does almost entirely transform itself. You start moving some parts in jet mode and, BAM, it's a robot. Another issue with Starscream and the automorph is that I think a lot of the sculpt was sacrificed for this. His legs, or more specifically the thighs, are downright terrible and aside from weird articulation and loose joints (the lower left leg falls off at the slightest touch) I can't get the legs in a position that doesn't look like he has polio.

So, hearing that this new Alternity line has auto-transformation really, really makes me lose a lot of interest. Yes, the most important aspects are still how they look in alt and bot mode, and articulation, but for me the FUN lies in figuring out how to get them to and from those modes. Even if I bitch about something being fiddly or taking a long time to transform, I still like to figure it out.

Rant over. :p

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From what I recall of the Takara designers interview from that Binaltech book, 1:32 was Takara's original planned scale for Alternators (hence the tiny prototype Smokescreen/Bluestreak prototype seen at Hasbro's offices during BotCon 2007), but during discussions with Hasbro they scaled up to 1:24.

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I swear I posted a response, but it's not here. Anyways---got a link to the Grimlock repaint? I can only find BA, Prime, and Megs on his blog page. (Man, he went all-out on BA, I don't know if I can do the gold edging like that---maybe if I find a good metallic marker in coppery-gold)

David, the Sharpie brand "Copper" metallic pen is a very close match for the paint on Blackarachnia. It looks really good on mine.

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Allright GobotFool, you were right.

Dammit, that sucks. Boo TomyTakara...BOO

See, I prefer the smaller toys, because they're cheaper.

Except in this case. If Hasbro brings Alternity to the States at a reasonable price, I'm all for a new Prime toy. But I'm not paying$40-$50 for a Deluxe size toy, even if it does have die-cast and a licensed alt mode.

The following is more of a concern/preference more than a complaint or bitching. Am I the only one who isn't very keen on automorph or any automatically transforming mechanisms?

No, you're not the only one, although my complaints are less that it takes the fun out of transforming the toy and more that it made a lot of the movie toys somewhat broken. Old Camaro Bumblebee, Blackout, and Barricade all have seams that just won't line up, and I transformed Concept Camaro Bumblebee one to bot mode and never changed him back for fear of breaking him because his chest does something goofy. Honestly, I bought movie toys because I was pumped over the movie, but even then I limited them to just characters that were actually in the movie, and even then I don't like the majority of them.

Edited by mikeszekely
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Allright GobotFool, you were right.

Dammit, that sucks. Boo TomyTakara...BOO

Does size really matter? Actually, T-formers have never been very accurate to scale, so a size-down on the new Alternity line doesn't bother me; in fact, a smaller toy with similar engineering and die-cast means slightly lower prices and more win for the dollar. As for size differences, the Animated line is a prime (no pun intended) example: Lockdown is about an inch taller than Grimlock, all the deluxes are taller than Voyager Lugnut, who should at least rival Bulkhead in size, and on and on. The sizes of the toys don't match the sizes depicted in the toon. Still think they're nifty toys, though... personality pours out of these things.

I'm with Eriku, however, when it comes to automorph...less is better, none is better still, but I don't see an end to it any time soon, or ever. Laziness is progress, I suppose; I'd rather manhandle them from one form to another, as figuring out and admiring the ingenuity of the transformation scheme is a huge part of the hobby for me. Automorph takes some of that away, and makes it, I imagine, more difficult for the designers, as they have to figure out gear ratios and such. It bugs me when I accidentally 'grind' the gears and then have to realign everything; I'm just waiting for little plastic gear teeth to fall out someday, leaving a nice floppy-former.

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David, the Sharpie brand "Copper" metallic pen is a very close match for the paint on Blackarachnia. It looks really good on mine.

Thanks, I actually have to go by the craft store todays anyway, will see if I can pick one up.

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Does size really matter? Actually, T-formers have never been very accurate to scale, so a size-down on the new Alternity line doesn't bother me; in fact, a smaller toy with similar engineering and die-cast means slightly lower prices and more win for the dollar.

Yeah it matters to me when it's going to cost the same as a 1/24 Binaltech and I'm only getting a deluxe sized bot.

Plus I like how the BT's and MP's go together size wise and now we're gonna have a new line that's smaller.

Wish they would have just kept it 1/24

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I don't mind automorph. I think it was particularly well executed on '08 BB, Ironhide, Starscream and Leader Optimus Prime. And seriously, they really don't take away much from the transformation, you still plenty of steps to do by yourself. I have yet to encounter a single defective toy with automorph (Movie or Animated) and I have them all and transform them often.

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Little parts that automorph don't bother me as much, like some leg panels opening up or something like that (even though I don't prefer it). It's mostly the shift towards full auto-transformation that leaves me cold. Animated Starscream is far beyond the automorph of the movie toys. He's like those RID basics that fully transformed themselves (two jets, a dump truck and a race car, don't recall their names). With those toys and animated Starscream there is very little left to do yourself other than pose the limbs. I have a hunch these Alternity toys will try to take it a step further as well.

Not saying it's bad or wrong or even that I wont buy the toys, just that it makes them less desireable to me. Like a puzzle that puts itelf together.

Edited by eriku
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I like the auto-transform on Animated SS, the only problem is it gets kinda annoying when the backplate with the wings keeps folding back on you during bot->jet Tfing... SS could also have used some kind of more positive pegs or locking to align the arms in jet mode, but that's minor. I dig Lugnut's auto-tfing...

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Found silver and gold sharpies, but not copper. Have to go over to the other side of town to the other store...

Annoyance noted: While they gave MP TC a black nose, they left his v.stabs blue. IMHO the black stabs are more important than the nose. Both are equally "unrealistic" so there's really no point either way NOT to have as much black as possible on him.

Fact: Black on TC is *just* as important as purple is on SW. Go check, there's a perfect correlation between the two (depending on your reference). SW is black with purple, TC is blue with black. They share silver in the same areas, but SW's "most important accent" color is purple, while with TC its black---but people tend to overlook the black on TC for some reason.

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Am I the only one who isn't very keen on automorph or any automatically transforming mechanisms? I mean, yeah it's cool that they can do that, but for me it takes away a LOT of the fun of a transformer. A large part of why I like transforming toys is because I enjoy sitting there and fiddling with them and changing them from one mode to another. It's like a rubiks cube thing or something. When parts or even the whole toys transforms by itself I tend to feel let down.

I do like automorph, and while I do like Animated Starscream a great deal, I see where you are coming from. Aside that figure, I like automorph that is focused on certain parts as opposed to nearly the whole figure or transforming nearly the entire figure. Movie Ironhide, Movie Starscream and Animated Lugnut all have great automorph features. I like an automorph that isn't minimal but at the same time does not transform the entire toy for you. Movie Ratchet had one of the worst automorph gimmicks, because the parts in question barely morphed.

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Annoyance noted: While they gave MP TC a black nose, they left his v.stabs blue. IMHO the black stabs are more important than the nose. Both are equally "unrealistic" so there's really no point either way NOT to have as much black as possible on him.

Fact: Black on TC is *just* as important as purple is on SW. Go check, there's a perfect correlation between the two (depending on your reference). SW is black with purple, TC is blue with black. They share silver in the same areas, but SW's "most important accent" color is purple, while with TC its black---but people tend to overlook the black on TC for some reason.

MP Skywarp has black 'Verts' where as on the original they were purple. It looks like a straight color swap just like

MP Skywarp. That and black paint cough-Krylon Fusion-cough is quite cheap.

Just keep breathing David, it'll be okay...

B))

Edited by Chindenathus
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Just picked up my animated Lugnut today and wow. This is my first animated figure and I love how simple the transformation is and also how accurate the sculpt is to the animation. No problems paint is good, joints are solid. I am a Happy camper. ALL HAIL MEGATRON!!

Edited by SuperHobo
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will cancel my preorder for the alternity figure. don't have money to start collecting a new line in a different scale. the henkei/classics figures look cool too but also don't have money for those.

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will cancel my preorder for the alternity figure. don't have money to start collecting a new line in a different scale. the henkei/classics figures look cool too but also don't have money for those.

I just can't get over the fact that it's red, has a Prime head, the name Convoy and it's not even remotely truck-like. For a collector's line coming after *other* collector's lines with Primes, it's just silly to start off this way. The window was WIDE open for an Alternator-esque Bumblebee. That was the figure to do, and I cross my fingers that that's in the works. Although Classics Bee doesn't look too out of place in an Alternator display.

New FanProject news at http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/c...on-guns-165191/. Pictures of fully painted Magnus. The BFG looks MUCH nicer fully painted. A Classics scale Matrix and small Classics Megatron guns for figures to hold. If the accessories are similiary priced to the MP Starscream coronation set, these new accessories shouldn't cost too much.

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Opened up TF:Animated Voyager Optimus Prime ... it is sweet! It's better than the Deluxe version, but doesn't entirely blow it away.

Deluxe version is a great figure and has a very poseable robot mode, but lame alternate mode IMO. You can see the arms and hands when viewed from the back. Also has a great battle axe weapon.

Voyager version feels more sturdy, has a great, solid alternate mode & robot mode with everything hidden away in both modes. Maybe some slight kibble on the leg sides. Transformation is pretty easy (similar to G1 OP), but there is one auto-morph step where you push a button and the legs automatically spin and unwrap themselves to form Prime's legs - makes the toy feel very loose when you first try it. And even after the transformation, OP's waist is not really tight and stable, it tends to swivl, because of this auto-morph feature - could have done without this feature. Otherwise, it is awesome. Includes a gun for him that can shoot water, but his battle axe weapon looks lame compared to the Deluxe version.

Will post pics when I get a chance.

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Opened up TF:Animated Voyager Optimus Prime ... it is sweet! It's better than the Deluxe version, but doesn't entirely blow it away.

Deluxe version is a great figure and has a very poseable robot mode, but lame alternate mode IMO. You can see the arms and hands when viewed from the back. Also has a great battle axe weapon.

Voyager version feels more sturdy, has a great, solid alternate mode & robot mode with everything hidden away in both modes. Maybe some slight kibble on the leg sides. Transformation is pretty easy (similar to G1 OP), but there is one auto-morph step where you push a button and the legs automatically spin and unwrap themselves to form Prime's legs - makes the toy feel very loose when you first try it. And even after the transformation, OP's waist is not really tight and stable, it tends to swivl, because of this auto-morph feature - could have done without this feature. Otherwise, it is awesome. Includes a gun for him that can shoot water, but his battle axe weapon looks lame compared to the Deluxe version.

Will post pics when I get a chance.

I was jonesing to pick one up until I read about the automorph. I utterly detest the feature on my Transformers, it's part of what killed my interest in the movie line. I'll stick with the deluxes for now I suppose since the seem too small to incorporate automorph into them.

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Voyager version feels more sturdy, has a great, solid alternate mode & robot mode with everything hidden away in both modes. Maybe some slight kibble on the leg sides. Transformation is pretty easy (similar to G1 OP), but there is one auto-morph step where you push a button and the legs automatically spin and unwrap themselves to form Prime's legs - makes the toy feel very loose when you first try it. And even after the transformation, OP's waist is not really tight and stable, it tends to swivl, because of this auto-morph feature - could have done without this feature. Otherwise, it is awesome. Includes a gun for him that can shoot water, but his battle axe weapon looks lame compared to the Deluxe version.

Are the shoulders loose on yours? I've read reports of this Prime showing up with loose shoulders...and its impossible to tell if it will happen unless you take it out of the box.

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Well, I have found out that copper Sharpies have been out of production for years, and there's no way to get one now. I did find a few "similar" items, but even the finest of them (that are the right color) are still too big---I could only do the "hip pads" on BA, and even then only by "erasing with spit" (which works well when metallic pens are used) before it dried. No way I can "outline" the chest, arms, wrists, etc though.

Anyone know of some other very fine-tipped markers/paint pens? The best I found was a "Zig Painty Fine Tip" in "copper". But it's still a lot less fine than I need. Everything else finer was simply "gold" and likely too bright/yellow. (Hey, at 3-5 bucks each, it costs a lot to experiment with colors)

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Aww crap. I've just noticed my movie leader Prime (from Japan) is cracking apart at the ankles. (The chrome is fine BTW). The dark blue parts of his lower legs? One has a chunk missing, and the other has a large crack. (the very large circular detail on the inner side of the leg at the very bottom) Anyone hear of this happening to any other leader Primes?

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Aww crap. I've just noticed my movie leader Prime (from Japan) is cracking apart at the ankles. (The chrome is fine BTW). The dark blue parts of his lower legs? One has a chunk missing, and the other has a large crack. (the very large circular detail on the inner side of the leg at the very bottom) Anyone hear of this happening to any other leader Primes?

I just gave my Premium the once over and I don't see any cracking. However, I did see that the lower legs peg together inside that circle, so that might explain the pressure that caused it. Still, it shouldn't have happened to you in the first place.

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