Sadly, I believe they are inextricably tied to Marvel. That was one of the questions answered in the latest round of Hasbro Q&A's (though I can't remember specifically from which website that question came). If I remember correctly, Hasbro's response was "you will never see the Marvel molds used in other Transformers lines."

Which is a bummer, because I agree with you.... a lot of these would make fantastic Transformers if given new heads and paintjobs.

More work for the kitbashers, I guess.

 

Cap looks a bit Skrully

 

Yeah, I remember that too...

Though it makes me wonder... these exact molds are precluded from making an appearance, but that wouldn't necessarily mean we won't see extremely similar molds that may have been derived from the more successful Marvel molds, right?

zmog

 

he looks good but not good enough to suffice so much more for it than a regular TF deluxe

 

I can't imagine that would be a problem, if we're talking about essentially re-using a transformation scheme. If it's a direct re-use of an alt mode with a similar robot mode.... huh, I don't know. I don't know enough about trademark and/or patent issues to know. But even if they made a very similar figure, I'm sure there would be enough tweaks to differentiate it legally. I think the question would be more, would they WANT to? The design team seems to like to try new, innovative engineering, so I'm not sure how they'd feel about essentially re-creating a pre-existing figure.

Then again, Hasbro does like to re-use transformation schemes. Heck, the Captain America and Wolverine figures roughly transform like a Diaclone-style car-chest figure anyway.

I do hope the "wings unfolding into cape" part of this figure is re-used at some point. It's a neat element that I don't think we've seen much (if at all) before.

 

Remember Marvel Crossovers are substantially larger than Deluxes...closer to a Voyager in some cases, so I'd say they're worth the extra cost (particularly in the case of the jets, which are nicely scaled next to Deluxe Autobot cars...).

I know what you mean, but sometimes it feels like conspicuous attempts at "innovative" engineering can occasionally compromise a figure that would have been awesome with a more direct approach. I'd like to see some of these Marvel TF stylings reproduced where appropriate on some regular TFs.

Though one of the things I really like about these is the in-between scale... I doubt Hasbro is planning on adding a new price-point to their line-up...

Agreed. That's a really neat trick.

zmog

 

That's great! I like the wheel as a shield.

 

Best example of this: the Classics Minicons.

"Look! Look at my wacky transformation! I'm so innovative I can't even stand up!"

Anyhow, good point about the "in-between" size class. I think that's one reason that Wolverine is such a perfect Trailbreaker base, for me... he's bigger than a deluxe, but smaller than a Voyager, great for those few "larger car" G1 guys. This would also be the perfect scale, in my opinion, for characters like Springer, Roadbuster or the Headmasters.

 

The Classics Minicons felt like some kind of class project to me, as in "Design a TF toy, but it has to do something in the transformation never seen before."

Heh, I look at Cap and see an articulated version of the European TF Ironfist. I'm really thinkin' "non-huge, un-sucktastic Powerglide" when I look at Thor, too. Guess I need to start building on my meager kitbash skills.

 

Where is the paint, this is terrible. It's like publishing a book with the last chapter missing. A decent paint job/color scheme on this thing would probably make it really awesome. It's now a good toy for a 7 year old. I think Hasbro should start including paints, a brush, and a manual with their figures to finish the job.

 

Yes, perfect example! I was trying to think of one toy in particular to illustrate my point, but those minicons certainly qualify (most of them). I was always weighing my costs buying them, because there was usually only ONE good one in every 3-pack.

Heh, that's funny... I found the off-size aspect to Wolverine makes him a nice Gears or Beachcomber for my Alts (as you can tell, I'm not one of those Altertnators Scale Nazis).  

I think Cap would make for a sweet Roadbuster. Or with some extra work on the grill, even a good Soundwave.

zmog