The Random Transformers Thoughts Thread

[Raider]

Anyone else ever wish they would reissue the Japanese G1 transformers in the western market? Really want a Star Saber without the $1k price tag

I picked up a Deathsaurus and Scorponok from KL when I was a little kid. Really wish I had have pleaded with my parents to buy them all! Who am I kidding, I am sure I would have

If only I had have told them to buy 2 and keep one set MISB. My dad may have gone for that if he thought it was a smart investment. Oh hindsight...

[GoktimusPrime]

When it comes to reissues and MPs Hasbro are very reactive, not proactive. They always wait for Takara(TOMY) to release a product first, then later consider releasing that toy in their markets. So given that TakaraTOMY haven't reissued Star Sabre, I don't foresee that Hasbro would. And sadly TakaraTOMY's geoblock on their online survey site prevents those of us outside of Japan from nominating Star Sabre for an upcoming reissue.

But have you ever seen/handled a G1 Star Sabre? Cos IMHO it's a pretty rubbish toy. I'm happy enough with my MP and RM Star Sabres. Yeah, I'll buy a reissue if it happens, but it's honestly not a nomination priority for me.

[Raider]

When it comes to reissues and MPs Hasbro are very reactive, not proactive. They always wait for Takara(TOMY) to release a product first, then later consider releasing that toy in their markets. So given that TakaraTOMY haven't reissued Star Sabre, I don't foresee that Hasbro would. And sadly TakaraTOMY's geoblock on their online survey site prevents those of us outside of Japan from nominating Star Sabre for an upcoming reissue.

But have you ever seen/handled a G1 Star Sabre? Cos IMHO it's a pretty rubbish toy. I'm happy enough with my MP and RM Star Sabres. Yeah, I'll buy a reissue if it happens, but it's honestly not a nomination priority for me.

I've seen one boxed but never had the pleasure of handling one. I still think it looks pretty cool and I mostly want it as I like have the G1 version of my MPs.

[GoktimusPrime]

Someone did bring a G1 Star Sabre to a Sydney fan meet in 2002 (see all those shelf-warming Animorphs and Beast Machines toys in the background? ). You're really not missing out on much. And that particular specimen suffered from chronic "chrome dandruff."

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Saw a Diaclone red Sunstreaker today, which AFAIK is pretty much the first transforming proper-vehicle-to-robot figure ever. 円30,000, or ~$350. Slightly damaged box, otherwise looked OK.
Kind of want to buy it for the sake of historical significance, but it doesn't fit in with my approach to collecting (buy 'em as cheap as possible and even then only if you like 'em/find 'em interesting), and I'm currently sans employment so am watching the spending a bit more than what I would if I had a salary coming in.

I still remember having to budget for bus fare during the ol' uni-student days, so it still seems a bit crazy to be able to casually blow 1/3+ of a thousand dollars on an old toy simply for the sake of historical significance. Let alone finding doing so pretty tempting...

[GoktimusPrime]

As a kid I actually knew a kid at school who had a red Diaclone Sunstreaker. Don't know if he got it from overseas or if it was a counterfeit. But anyway, I actually encountered Sunstreaker in red before I saw it in yellow. If TakaraTOMY were to ever reissue Sunstreaker it'd be neat to see the red version be reissued as a new character. They could do it with MP too.

I've heard a rumour that one reason why an MP Sunstreaker would be challenging is because Lamborghini won't approve a toy where the car splits (i.e. bonnet splitting to form the feet). No idea if there's any truth to this. Obviously other car companies like VW/Porsche, Lancia, Corvette etc. aren't so fussed, but maybe Lamborghini are. If it's true I reckon that TakaraTOMY might still be able to get around it by having a non-splitting panel that covers the bonnet and hides the split line. That panel would then fold away and there'd be faux-bonnet kibble underneath that would form the robot feet. Kinda like how the MP Coneheads' heads are made from a false nosecone with the actual nosecone folding behind the back. It wouldn't be ideal mind you, but I think it would be possible if Lamborghini won't let them have it any other way.

Sunstreaker also doesn't have a whole lot of repaint potential. The red version is one, and the other would be the police car version. They'd basically be relying on fans' knowledge/nostalgia of Diaclone to sell those repaints, but the same happened with MP Exhaust and Loudpedal. Road Rage too, although she had some precedent from the G1 eHobby figure, but in spite of that the toy did shelf warm.

[Seraphim Prime]

People mentioning Beast Wars and CGI got me wondering.

I wonder what inspired the idea of Transmetals? Was it a response to seeing what was capable using Madman's CG capabilities or was it an independent choice?

[GoktimusPrime]

I'd say it was a response to people who kept on pining for more mechanical and vehicular looking Transformers. The "Trukk Not Munkee" crowd was an extremely vocal minority. Hasbro launched Machine Wars which failed, so I'd say they came to a compromise where they continued with beasts, but these would have robotic beast modes but bestial robot modes, as well as intermediate vehicular modes.

It worked out in the West but the idea flopped in Japan where a lot of fans didn't like Beast Wars Metals as they found that the concept made the Beast Wars Transformers no longer robots in disguise. A robotic gorilla isn't a realistic looking beast mode. This is why Takara went with more realistic looking beast modes with the Japanese BW lines, especially BW Neo. Some of the BW Neo Transformers were actually based off fan designs submitted via competitions; such as Mach Kick, Archadis and Bazooka. Star Upper (see Paulbot's avatar) was a competition winner that unfortunately wasn't made into product, but the character did appear in the manga series and made a cameo appearance on the TV show (only as a background character and only in beast mode).

BW Neo really gave us some fascinating beast modes likely to be never repeated. What other series has given us a Transformer who transforms into an extinct species of marine mollusc!

[BigTransformerTrev]

Looking at the latest Maccas Bumblebee toy with the beehive wings, Bbee might have been good to make a cameo in Beast Wars. He was already one of the smallest Autobots (though still makes him bigger than all the BW cast I guess) and had a bestial name. Could have given him a big bee mode no probs.

But considering since he's shown up in ever cartoon series and movie since 2007 it's nice to have a show without him I guess

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Another thing with a photorealistic Beast Wars movie is scale. Here are some size comparisons between different animals compared to a human:
human vs gorilla (Optimus Primal)
human vs cheetah (Cheetor)
human vs velociraptor (Dinobot)
human vs wasp (Waspinator)
human and tarantula (Tarantulas)
human vs pteranodon (Terrorsaur)
human vs tyrannosaurus rex (Megatron)
etc.

Imagine all of these animals - in realistic 1:1 scale - fighting each other. And their robot modes would be scaled to the beast modes, so .....

They could easily justify the BW characters not needing to scale to the original animal size though. There was no reason for them to hide their forms as at the time the planet was only inhabited by other animals and cavemen, which we only saw briefly. It's quite obvious that scale wasn't an issue in the original show, unless Rattrap scanned a R.O.U.S.

Long story short, if there's nothing to hide from, no need for realistic sized animal modes.

I also find it odd that the Japanese didn't like Transmetals. Personally I find organic beast modes extremely boring, but when I suddenly had myself a purple mech gorilla? - Hells yeah! Maybe people in Japan are just too spoiled for their robot action.