The Random Transformers Thoughts Thread

[GoktimusPrime]

Congrats I'm surprised you didn't hold off and buy something more significant for your 2000th unless of course the character holds special meaning for you.

It wasn't deliberate, but I've had a hell of a time finding the Wave 2 TR Deluxes so I just grabbed 'em as soon as I found 'em, and Highbrow just happened to be #2000.

[DELTAprime]

I know some people are really good at keeping track of their TF purchasing but I always fall off on my efforts.

I stopped filling out my spreadsheet last year. Given that I'm simply buying current release Takara Generations and Masterpiece I don't feel the need to fill in a spreadsheet anymore.

Actually I think the spreadsheet method just made me spend more money. I would look at a line like Henkei and see I was only missing say 5 figures from the entire line and then I would go hunt them down for completion sake. Now that I don't look at the spreadsheet anymore I don't feel the need to go back and fill in the blanks. As for the Henkei line I never got Armada Hotshot or the second Minibot set and I feel fine about it now.

[griffin]

I still keep track of my purchases... just not the amount I spend, as it's best that I don't know.

[BruiseLee]

I still keep track of my purchases... just not the amount I spend, as it's best that I don't know.

Hehe, I think it would be easier for you to keep track of the things you don't have!

[UltraMarginal]

I wonder if they'll ever release non-Titan/Headmaster versions of Titan Return figures in the future. Example, versions of Galvatron, Scourge, Blurr that uses their TR bodies but excludes the titanmasters gimmick. They'd need to be retooled of course, but I wouldn't mind seeing such toys, even if they have to parts-form the heads (where the heads, non-transforming, just get plugged in similar to a Combiner hand/foot).

The thought popped up in my head when I was mucking around with Scourge. The nice thing about TR scourge is that the alt-mode (space ship) is accurate to the original toy and the robot proportions are more impressive than the 2010 Generations toy. My only slight nitpick with the TR toy is that the titanmaster gimmick makes the head a bit too square for my liking. Ideally, to me, Scourge's head is bucket-shaped (like Windcharger, Megatron, and Skydive) but with a gun on top. If I had the time, skill, and means (i.e. a 3D printer), I'd probably try to sculpt my own non-transforming Scourge head.

If you can model up a head you can get it printed on a website like shapeways. granted it's not a cheap way of doing it. there might be something more local you could use for the first go or two before you finalised the design.

with regards to the Titan returns figures being remoulded. I get why the headmasters are headmasters but I feel making everyone a headmaster is really effecting the engineering of the other toys. Voyager Galvatron for example. the face mask looks pretty mediocre and a huge section of the chest it Taken up with the flip out mask gimmick when a smaller amount of the chest could be used for that and the unused space may have been utilised in making the transformation and other modes more homogenous.
The current design of both Megatron and Alpha trion uses up a massive amount of body space for the gimmick and both have extremely restricted head movement. Good head movement is one of the features that gave the Combiner Wars toys so much character.
Scourge has a massive amount of his core being used up for a cockpit for the titan master, I would like to see what might have been if he was not a headmaster and didn't need a cockpit. it might have allowed for those ridiculous flaps on the underside of his alt mode to go somewhere else.

I still keep track of my purchases... just not the amount I spend, as it's best that I don't know.

Hehe, I think it would be easier for you to keep track of the things you don't have!

True that.

[FatalityPitt]

If you can model up a head you can get it printed on a website like shapeways. granted it's not a cheap way of doing it. there might be something more local you could use for the first go or two before you finalised the design.

with regards to the Titan returns figures being remoulded. I get why the headmasters are headmasters but I feel making everyone a headmaster is really effecting the engineering of the other toys. Voyager Galvatron for example. the face mask looks pretty mediocre and a huge section of the chest it Taken up with the flip out mask gimmick when a smaller amount of the chest could be used for that and the unused space may have been utilised in making the transformation and other modes more homogenous.
The current design of both Megatron and Alpha trion uses up a massive amount of body space for the gimmick and both have extremely restricted head movement. Good head movement is one of the features that gave the Combiner Wars toys so much character.
Scourge has a massive amount of his core being used up for a cockpit for the titan master, I would like to see what might have been if he was not a headmaster and didn't need a cockpit. it might have allowed for those ridiculous flaps on the underside of his alt mode to go somewhere else.






True that.

Yeah, I checked out shapeways. Someone there is selling fan-made faces for TR Scourge. But shipping, for something so small, is outrageously expensive. Also, looking at the sizes, I don't think they're big enough to cover the titan master arms; which really are the culprit for my little first-world problem with Scourge.

It's definietly possible to make versions of Galvatron and Scourge without the Titanmaster gimmick. For Galvatron, the head could flip up from where the mask is. It's a pretty ample cavity that can well and truly fit a whole head. For Scourge, if it weren't for the cockpit, the head could've easily been made retractable by attaching it at the top of the 'spine' that gets pulled up and down during transformation (if you've played with the toy, you'd see where I'm coming from).

As for the flaps that make Scourge's shins, they don't bother me too much, but I can see that if they changed the transformation by having the lower legs turned the other way (so the side exterior of the space ship makes the shins instead of the calves); they could've excluded thos flaps. Problem with excluding the flaps is that Scourge will then have hollow legs like CW Bombshell.

To sum up - it's definitely possible for some TR toys (namely Galvatron and Scourge) to be re-made without the Titanmaster gimmick. Question is; will Hasbro/Takara do that if enough fans clamoured long and hard enough?..

[UltraMarginal]

I don't think they would.

If you were interested in doing some design work of your own I'd suggest 123D as a free basic CAD system. you could then submit the .stl files to shapeways yourself.

[SMHFConvoy]

Just thinking about the simplicity of Twintwist and Topspin and how Hasbro could make the pair as TR legends class figures...

[BigTransformerTrev]

Got the Retro Edition of Transformers Monopoly for my birthday (along with some other TF stuff). No wonder it was only half the price of Transformers Monopoly: Collectors Edition, it's only half as good! Collectors edition is way better, though I'm quite happy to have both now

[M-bot]

Listening to a 'Stuff You Should Know' podcast on Action Figures (3/11/16), they spoke about Ronald Reagan appointing a new head to the US Federal Trade Commission who went on to make it possible (in order to encourage free markets) for toy manufacturers to advertise heavily with and during cartoons. Without this ruling, we may not have had Transformers as we know them.