Is that the Immortal Iron Fist, Protector of Kun Lun, Sworn Enemy of the Hand???

 

Not to mention his sidekick is also kind of a man-whore. I expect Karen Page to get a turn any day now.

 

What you describe for a non-transforming TF figures, I feel like maybe Takara should pull some corporate espionage to find out how Bandai makes thier gunpla magic happen cause that's the way to get something (basically) figuarts poseable at a sub-30 dollar price point.

EDIT: in b4 "the space ghost monkey is blip not gleep"

 

I made UT Troll join the monsterbots.  For one thing the fact his alt was a functional thing means he\'s barely a blot.  Secondly, his follow ups were such a drag (looking at you Fenrir) I like to believe he figured they were lame and left before the team got together for some bots who know how to have a good time.  BTW Repugnus (assuming Captured Prey isn\'t changing stuff) was split with Broadside and Hound.  Perceptor got Ramhorn.

 

Cosmos with Guardians of the Galaxy.  Cybertronians are seen as all cool and stealthy or dangerous as hell and you have a dumpy guy who\'s altmode is weird and obvious.

 

I keep thinking the Monsterbots are Decepticons because, you know... they're monsters. When Fans Hobby started revealing their unofficial MP Monsterbots, it didn't even register to me that they supposed to be Autobots. Then when I got the Repugnus titanmaster, it happened again! I absentmindedly put it on my legends Decepticon shelf, completely oblivious to the Autobot logo on its honkin' head.

As for the non-transforming figure talk, I recently got the Oritoys Optimus Prime and I'm over the friggin' moon with it. It may be my favorite TF purchase all year. The articulation on that thing is so impressive that I managed to balance it on just the edges of his two feet. MP10 can't do that I bet. Interestingly enough, my previous favorite TF purchase this year was also a non-transforming Optimus Prime, being the Toys Alliance MAS-01. What it lacks in articulation it makes up for in sheer presence.

 

That's one of the reasons I really dig the Monsterbots, in my head-canon they constantly get attacked by other Autobots who assume that something that ugly has to be evil.

 

My experience with licensing deals can be broken down into either price point OR scale, most deals are specifically a size range at a certain price point. Could be as vague and simple as a "license for 1/6th Scale x property" or as strict as '12"-16" at $199-$299.'

Occasionally, and this seems rare to me, a company will pitch something to a licensee saying "we don't have a licensed product at x price point and size, we want you to make them." And there are opportunities to pitch amendments in the license to include other series or size ranges - depending on the company/studio/artist you're working with.

I think realistically a licensed non-transforming 8"-12" range would be priced somewhere between $100 and $140, maybe more depending on the tooling. Still pricey, but not as harsh on the wallet as the premium format ones. Definitely curious to hear what the interest for a smaller range would be like.

 

Incase this hasn't already been addressed Transformers did make a slight appearance in Secret Wars. The Beyonder talked with Circuit Breaker.

https://www.seibertron.com/images/secret-wars-circuit-breaker.jpg

Just thought I'd let you know.

Noj

 

I am totally with you on origin story ennui, Vangelus. It's one of the reasons why I never really got into the Doctor Strange movie. I'm also at the point where if I never see Green Lantern's origin story again it will be too soon. DC milked the hell out of that in the late 00s. They redid it in the comics, the Ryan Reynolds movie, two separate direct-to-dvd animated movies, and in the comics again, all in the span of about two years.

 

Faction/allegiance headcanons:
* Cyberfire Bumblebee is definitely an evil clone of Bumblebee, so 1: He's a Decepticon, and 2: he can talk, and thus mislead Autobots who don't notice he looks like satan.
* Ditto for that black and red Voyager Optimus Prime that came with the flaming axe or whatever it was in the DotM toyline.
* Crossovers X-Force Wolverine. For the longest time, my classics deceptions shelf was that and the Ultra Onslaught toy from Universe. He's still on there now, alongside some Stunticons and a Megatron. He just looks so perfectly villainous, I can't help it.
* While Sawback is definitely in hero colors, I have a weird rule on my desk regarding the beastformer titan masters, so he's huddled up with all the other ugly monsterbots on the Decepticon side. I was really hoping there would be some way to put the shield mode onto Wolfwire's body and treat it as a lion mode, but I just can't find a way. Still, the shield goes well with Wolfwire's sword, so for now, that's where he resides.

Related headcanon: I chose to interpret the Movie toys of Sideswipe, Darksteel, Swerve, and that blue and yellow Sidearm Sideswipe as all being brothers, with the blue and yellow one being Sunstreaker. Obviously there must be some bad blood there, since Darksteel joined the Decepticons. It's that nominative determinism that always gets Transformers screwed up.