The Transformers Thread (licensed) Next

[danth]

2 hours ago, Tking22 said:

Don't forget everyone, The Toys That Made Us part 2 is up on Netflix today! If you haven't checked it out, do! It's a fantastic little 8 part series covering several toy lines from inception, to their glory days. First four parts covered Kenner Star Wars, Masters of the Universe, Barbie, and GI Joe. The second part out today covers Star Trek, Hello Kitty, Lego, and of course TRANSFORMERS!

Awesome! This day just keeps getting better!

Thanks for the heads up. I forgot I was waiting for new episodes of that show.

[derex3592]

Ohh SWEET!!! I'm there! 

[Old_Nash]

http://news.tfw2005.com/2018/05/31/1st-trailer-for-transformers-bumblebee-movie-to-be-released-on-june-5th-364662

 

C'mon Hasbro/Universal Transform this movie in the reboot of franchise not a solo spin-off!

[M'Kyuun]

I'm tots holding my breath! No, not really. Reserving judgement , first and foremost, to see what approach they took for Bee's design. If he has more in common with the CHUG/MP aesthetic over Bay's skeleton with shards approach, then my interest is piqued. I hope so, as I want to actually like the TF films, and the Bayformer aesthetic will kill it for me right off the top.

Bee's looks aside, I hope they actually wrote an engaging film, gave Bee a personality more like his G1 self and less like the mascot sidekick that he's been in all the Bay films- more like an older brother/mentor kind of character to Hailee's. After all, Bee's much older and far more experienced than she is, so why he should cowtow and follow her lead makes little sense. His obsequiousness to Sam bugged the crap out of me in the first Bay film. That and the terrible mute , speak through the radio, thing. Give the character a voice, for Pete's sake. Cuz, y'know, he's only the main character. That has to be one of Kurtzman and Orci's worst ideas, and I wasn't a fan when it translated over to Prime, which in all other respects was a pretty good show.

Bit of a rant; didn't intend to be quite so negative. Anyway, from top to bottom, I hope this is truly a new start for the franchise on the big screen. As I said, I really want to enjoy seeing transforming bots in the theatre. Moreover, I want to see films made by folks that have a built-in passion for these characters, for the history, and for telling good stories around them.

[tekering]

On 6/2/2018 at 1:12 AM, M'Kyuun said:

I hope this is truly a new start for the franchise on the big screen. As I said, I really want to enjoy seeing transforming bots in the theatre. Moreover, I want to see films made by folks that have a built-in passion for these characters, for the history, and for telling good stories around them.

While I would hope the relative failure of The Last Knight might make that possible, I'm really not expecting it.  

[lechuck]

New MP Convoy officially confirmed.

http://news.tfw2005.com/2018/06/09/masterpiece-convoy-v3-confirmed-365343

 

Looks very promising, as far as one can tell from the crude images.

I wish Takara would give us an option of a trailer-less and therefore cheaper variant. My MP-10 version has spent its life in the box and highly doubt this new version will get any more usage by me.

[sh9000]

I’ll buy it.

[GobotFool]

Looks like the robot chest is a set of faux windows. Not really a fan of the use of faux parts, even if it gives us cartoon accuracy. Still as a display piece it looks pretty good in bot mode at least.

[mikeszekely]

Well, his diaper matches Megatron's...

[David Hingtgen]

Just me, or does he have short stacks?

[davidwhangchoi]

look like mp-1

[jenius]

It's the legs that look vastly improved.

[M'Kyuun]

And his arms are the proper length.

As for the possibility of faux windows, I'm not a fan of fake parts either, but it seems more and more to be the tradeoff to achieve screen accuracy. For what it's worth, this looks pretty good- better than MP-10, although the 'diaper' is a bit large.  The other thing is that the leg vents look like they're just molded in there without actually being vents like MP-10's. Hopefully it'll look better once painted; as it is on the greyscale, it looks a little cheap. But hooray for smooth legs- I never liked the look of MP-10's.

[JB0]

22 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

As for the possibility of faux windows, I'm not a fan of fake parts either, but it seems more and more to be the tradeoff to achieve screen accuracy.

I hate fake parts, and consider it cheating at best. May as well just go with part-swapping, it is exactly as honest and at least the transformation will be simpler.

[mikeszekely]

4 hours ago, jenius said:

It's the legs that look vastly improved.

 

31 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

And his arms are the proper length.

The legs and arms (smokestacks aside) do like like a big improvement over MP-10.  It's the torso that's not looking so good.

I'll reserve judgement until I see it in color, I suppose.  I mean, I was one of those people questioning the need for MP-10 because I thought MP-01 was good enough, and I wound up being blown away by how much better I thought MP-10 was.  But so far I'm not exactly impressed.

[Old_Nash]

Variant cover for IDW Unicron.

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/idw-transformers-unicron-issue-1-sara-pitredurocher-cover-revealed/41379/

The end of all wars...

It's give me some sadness... Because IDW chronology was my reentry to TF after a long hiatus in read comics (until this date I read only mangas).

[M'Kyuun]

Concerning  PV3, looking at it with fresh eyes this morning, those pictures are rather poor, so I'm reserving judgment about the faux windows thing. That's a lot of real estate to try and hide, and just seems pointless to me, especially when the front wheels and such all need to fold into his torso. The grill, I get, and that's been a tradeoff for awhile now in any number of Prime figures. I wouldn't mind if it was the truck's actual grill, just hinged to fold for bot mode, but that never seems to be the route taken. Seems it'd be easier to do than try and hide a second grill, though. Anyway, I'm not hitting any panic buttons just yet; I'll wait for better pics (front and back)/ early promo vids (if TT do any)/ in-hand reviews before making a final decision. As it is in all its grainy goodness, it looks alright to me thus far, certainly far more proportionally so than its predecessor. And the pelvic section, comparing with my PotP Leader Prime, looks about the same overall, except PV3 has longer skirts that make the whole look larger. Just an observation.

I will say, I kinda agree with lechuck in a previous post concerning the option of just buying PV3 without the trailer, especially if they make the new and old compatible (they probably won't, but you never know). My MP-10 trailer has been out of it's box once or twice in all the years I've owned it. So, the option would be nice, if only to bring down the price and save space.

[sh9000]

I don’t like the look of the back as it seems to be panels that fold and it messes with the silhouette of the torso.  Overall Optimus looks fine.  It doesn’t look much like MP-1 other than it’s also an Optimus Prime toy.  I like the legs on this more than MP-10.  Too bad TRU is dead otherwise I’d get a US Hasbro version from their store for super cheap with one of their discounts like what I did with their MP Optimus.  Maybe one day another store will pick up the US MP releases.

[M'Kyuun]

I also noticed the hinged panel on his back, which brings thoughts of his having a Sunstreakery backpack. Hope not. Hasui managed a really clean torso on MP-10, and one would think the goal would be to be as good, and hopefully better, than MP-10 all the way around.

[Tking22]

Faux chest parts were already confirmed on TFW2005, this pic is being torn apart on like 30-40 different threads on that site. I don't mind faux parts at all, using the real parts isn't always an option, and sometimes a downright physical impossibility, especially if you are trying to achieve a more toon accurate look, which never lends itself well to using the actual car parts when necessary, faux parts are ALWAYS the way to go for the toon look, which is all Takara is going for now so faux parts are here to stay. I didn't mind the fake chest on BadCube Sunsurge, they achieved the toon accurate look, then Takara fanboys declared Takara would NEVER use a fake chest, and then official Takara Sunstreaker had a fake chest EXACTLY like BadCube Sunsurge, pretty funny stuff. Honestly, the thought of the price scares me, MP-36 was expensive enough, coming with a new trailer I can only imagine this guy will somehow be even more expensive. As others have said, too early for me to judge, I need some real, color photos. Looking decent so far, but I really like MP-10, so Takara will really need to show something special to get me to consider trading out one expensive figure for an updated version AGAIN. Yes I had MP-1, and then MP-10, I'm really reluctant about buying a new MP Prime AGAIN.

[M'Kyuun]

MP-01 required no thought-instant purchase when it first became available. I was TDY to England at the time, and IIRC, I had it delivered there b/c I just couldn't wait to get him. Honestly, he didn't disappoint. His truck mode was lacking, sure, but, that bot mode was pure joy. Then along came MP-10, and all I saw were the too-long arms and those damnable wheel wells jutting out of his legs. So, I fence-sat for about a year, all the time seeing pics of MP-10 here and there, and more and more thinking it didn't look so bad after all. I still think he's a nice Prime figure, but the original niggles I have with the figure remain, and I've been open to a V3 that corrected those issues. Now that he's been shown, faux parts notwithstanding, it's a pretty sure bet I'll be adding this guy to my collection. I hope, however, that he cleans up well, and those hinged panels we can see aren't part of some sizeable backpack. I still don't understand why the windshield, of all things, would ever need to be replaced by faux parts so long as they go with a G1 styled cabover. Guess we'll see why they went that route once more is known.

[GobotFool]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

 I still don't understand why the windshield, of all things, would ever need to be replaced by faux parts so long as they go with a G1 styled cabover. Guess we'll see why they went that route once more is known.

Its to get rid of the windshield wipers and maybe get that angle between the windows that exists only in bot mode.

[dizman]

I'm still gonna skip this Optimus, it looks nice but I'm not about to spend $300-$400 when I'm already happy with MP-10. When we see the painted prototype and accessories maybe I will change my mind but probably not. The faux windows don't really bother me but what looks to be an overly complicated transformation does.

[mikeszekely]

Well, head's up, if you thought MP-10 needed some work in the arms and legs but liked the torso, and you think Op v3 has better arms and legs but you're iffy on the torso, it seems a 3P called Magic Square is doing an MP-style Optimus that looks somewhere between MP-10 and Op v3.  I'll post more about it in that thread.

[Kuma Style]

Have Takara MP Soundwave coming to fill out my Cons a bit along with a bunch of the tapes. Also ordered that Ocular Max Jaguar (Ravage.) I have this sinking feeling that the second it gets here a 2.0 or 3P upgrade will be anounced; ha.

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, Kuma Style said:

I have this sinking feeling that the second it gets here a 2.0 or 3P upgrade will be anounced; ha.

It's kind of funny how Takara has to release new versions of their old MPs to match the aesthetic of their more recent post-Hasui MP releases while I'm buying 3P-style MPs to match the aesthetic of MP-10, Sounddwave, and the Autobot cars.

[Scyla]

In depth look at Power of the Primes Predaking: 

To me it is amazing how terrible this looks.  After how stellar the Titans Return line was the PotP line looks like two major step back. 

 

Edited June 16, 2018 by Scyla

[M'Kyuun]

Not the best. You're paying for the plastic, not so much the engineering. But, Transformers toys these days are all over the place in terms of engineering. The TR deluxes got the most love of any recent releases- some really neat figures with mildly complex transformations that looked good in both modes. Not to mention, most of them turned out to be fun toys.

This looks to be a step back, but it's still superior to the CW Constructicons. Still, think I'll pass.

[Scyla]

I have to clarify my previous statement. I actually like the engineering and from the video the toy seems solidly build since most of the swivel connections seem to be pinned in instead of friction hold in. I also like that they didn't used stickers on the toy from what I could tell.

What I meant by terrible looking is the aesthetic. It leans heavily into the G1 toy looks. For me one thing I didn't liked as a kid was that the Transformers toys looked derpy disproportioned compared to the characters in the show and comics. 

To me even if the quality went down with Transformers toys over the last years they, to me, always looked cool which this doesn't.  

Edited June 17, 2018 by Scyla

[JB0]

1 hour ago, Scyla said:

For me one thing I didn't liked as a kid was that the Transformers toys looked derpy compared to the characters in the show and comics. 

Don't you have that backwards?

[Scyla]

11 minutes ago, JB0 said:

Don't you have that backwards?

Maybe derpy is the wrong word. How about disproportioned?  

[edit:] I also have to clarify that I'm mostly talking about the Predacons and not Predaking which looks fine. It's fine!

Edited June 17, 2018 by Scyla

[JB0]

I was partially joking, but I've always preferred the general toy aesthetic over the cartoon's flat, simplistic look.

Certainly, the toys were all over the map in terms of proportions and articulation, but I always liked that they actually looked like they could turn into a thing(for the obvious reason of "because they could"), and that they tended to have a bunch of superfluous mechanical detailing.

The cartoon often shucked both points for the sake of animation simplicity(or, perhaps, it depicts an alternate universe where ALL the Transformers were minicars).

[Scyla]

I can understand where you coming from. One thing I like of the transformers aesthetic is the re-purposing of parts. Stuff like a jet nose cone has vaguely the shape of a human torso. In my opinion a Transformer where you can't identify parts of his alt-mode is missing something

I attributed some of the weirdness in  the design of the G1 toys to the toy technology of the 80s where they don't have that much experience with designing transforming toys like they do nowadays. 

 

[M'Kyuun]

I can see both sides of the argument: JBO nailed it insofar as the toys had an authentic mechanical look to them, had the alt mode parts obvious but often used in clever ways to achieve or enhance the bot mode, and often had superfluous, yet cool, mechanical details molded in or added by virtue of stickers. Like you said, they looked like they turned into something else because they could, and that was all the gimmick they've ever needed, IMO. It's what fascinated me then, and continues to fascinate me as an adult.

On the contrary, due to the limits of tech, or just b/c Takara was cheap, or b/c standards at the time were really low for toys, the depiction of the toys in the toon often had better proportions (more anthropomorphic), but most importantly, they had full articulation. I bought my first Transformer, Prowl, because of the cool depiction of him in his boxart. That's what I expected to have in my hands when I opened him up. I still recall the disappointment at discovering his non-articulated uni-leg.  And the same feeling punctuated many of my other TF purchases, so I started trying to buy figures that had at least limited articulation in the legs. G1 Soundwave and his cassettes were one of my early purchases that gave me hope- not to mention the whole idea of carrying his minions around in his chest was just mind-blowingly cool to me. Still is. I digress.  For me, a marriage of the cartoon look and articulation with the mechanical look and details of the toy is the ideal. I think that's what Hasui was going for, a balance of both, with a stronger leaning towards toon for the bot look, and a high sense of realism for the alt. But now, I think Takara are leaning too much towards the toon look for the bot mode, eschewing much of the detail that made the original toys cool to just look at. But I guess until attitudes change about that in Japan, very realistic alts that become very bland bots is what we can expect in the foreseeable future. But, I will give credit to TT for improving the articulation, if Sunstreaker is the standard they're going for. On that front, it's a pretty impressive figure.

[Kuma Style]