quick digibash.

 

Those angles make the figure look a fair bit better. I've also revisited the TFCon photos and my opinion has changed a bit: I see what you're going for with making a skinny bot and the transtech-reminiscent feet have grown on me. I think this design has potential, but the hood chest NEEDS to compress horizontally to prevent the upper torso from looking bloated. I think that's the number one thing throwing the proportions off.

 

As stated, really all the photos do not give this guy any justice at all and it does have quite a different feel in hand. Personally I love the unique direction and the way the feet work is so interesting and not something I have really experienced before and we have seen a fsir share of odd feet design.....Armada scavenger...i am looking at you.

One bit to consider is that MAAS is not trying to make overly complicated, expensive figures. I know what you are saying about the chest collapsing but it is not that easy to just drop that into a design and maintain a low price point and a smaller size. Downbeat is impressive and has changed how we see chests of cars but in the robot world we have seen car chests for over 30 years and only now seen this compression technique. I don't believe it will be assumed that it can now be applied to everything, as much as we would want it!

From my understanding, all deluxe size figures will maintain the $40 price point of Skiff so Stack should be $40, Speed should be $40, Strong and Cliff should be $40 and so on. No fluctuating prices, no question of will this one be more than the other and so on. Maintaining a price structure on a size class, similar to how Hasbro does it.

That said, the expectation on a $40 iron factory legends figure is not to have tons of gimmicks and articulation, just to look good and have minimal articulation for its size.

I do totally see what you are saying about the bloated chest tho. It is difficult when the remajnder of the figure is so thin by design and then required to have this wide car chest going on. The car was designed to be sleek and fast looking and the robot thin and lean looking but it may not all translate perfect in both modes.

 

I'll admit that Downbeat has kind of spoiled me when it comes to hood chests on TFs, and I'm really only saying this because I want this figure to be the best that is possibly can. If it's not feasible given the current engineering then yes, I totally get it, but I'll maintain that the silhouette of the bot mode would look better with slightly more narrow shoulders.

I also appreciate that MAAS is focusing on fun and playability above all else, because that focus was what made so many of FP's figures as great as they are. Hell, the Warbot guys are still some of my favorite transforming robots ever for that reason. There's a lot that I like about this (the character choice, the head sculpt, the alt mode, the smaller and more desk-friendly size) and I hope this could be the start of more G1.5/G2 figures from MAAS. I'd be over the moon if they did the Predators at some point.

What I'm trying to say is that I intended for my comments to be constructive. My initial reaction was dismissive and kind of dickish, which I'm sorry about. I didn't mean to make it sound like that I knew better than the designers with my second post though.

Also, while I'm glad for the low price point, I don't want that to be a constraint for the figures. If some extra engineering and parts for the benefit of the overall design meant that price might need to be the increased by $5-$10, I'd be completely willing to throw down the extra cash and I think most collectors would as well.

 

@ZombehDino no worries, no dickish thoughts on my end. It is always difficult as we all want what we want and want to apply that to everything we want to buy.

Your critism is far more constructive than the it is shit comments and totally appreciated. It is good to see that others can see the potential of not only this figure but others to come.

In am also hoping for a pile of G2 possible characters and am sure that if this set is successful you will see a lot more in the future. There is a lot of great ideas in the G2 line that did not get their fair share of exposure.

 

That digibash is awesome. Looks amazing actually. Thanks for the efforts.

You made a few changes on the colors from the 3d files like on the hands, the arms and the head. Any reason for this? Artistic impressions? I like the outcome.

 

I'm about as big a g2 fan as they come and I have to say that while I was taken back at first I still really like what I see, especially at a lower price point, and hope it's successful enough to see the Skyscorchers, Cyberjets, Rotor Force, Laser Rods and maybe even the Aquaspeeders, Predators, Turbomasters, Lightformers and Stormtroopers in a unified line. I'm in for as much 'Gee Too' as you can throw at me.

 

Much like Planet X has it's niche with the video game line I'd love to see MASS be a success with their War Within style line and G2 line...let everyone else compete with the same characters over and over...

Hopefully you can get a lot of mileage from G2 figures that share engineering (the Laser rods are really just 2 designs, and most of the jets share the same cockpit chest, wings for a backpack, the Stormtroopers...) with just a few skeletons you can really crank out a lot of unique characters (heck, I'm down for Block Town repaints lol)

 

This may have already been answered but there is a question which for me, is critical to my enjoyment of these toys........will the windows be pink?

 

I second the European colors for these guys.

 

I know that’s a thing, but I’m used to them as they appeared in their North American releases, rather than the European release. So the pink windows don’t really register as “proper” to me.

 

If their first release is any indication, we'll get both variants... and about 5 convention exclusive versions.

 

The more the merrier  

 

Sorry for the off topic, but, Spence, you light-up FP rump with a Flamethrower yet? Those assholes need to fuggin wake up.   

 

Hoping for something soon. Been trying to push but they work on their own schedule. Hope to see info by the end of the year.

 

I see. Time to get the spiked-bat onto them    

Thx for the update  

 

can the op update the title of this thread please

 

While I understand and appreciate US fans would have the black windows in their mental image of these guys for me it has to be pink all the way. That G1.5 era is one of my all time favourite sets of toys and it would feel so plain if we didn't see some epic pink windows. But as we've seen, we'll probably get it all!

 

Maybe they can do it with replaceable windows so we can have both options...and then the obvious recolor...

 

I will make a request.