For those of you who can only resort to BBTS, i'd suggest you pre-order him now. Last year, Nemesis Prime started out at 44.99 USD and steadily climbed to 89.99 at around september.

 

That was me, and I still think he looks stupid like that. But for some reason, I guess it might be all the exposure, I've kinda grown to like some of these weird designs. I mean, I bought Leader Prime and after transforming him non stop he's become a favorite of mine. But he needs someone to boss around. That's where Alt Hot Rod comes in  

 

Alts aren't fun to transform though. :x

 

Complex transformations are awesome, especially when you do them for the first time.  

 

I'm right there with ya. I appreciate the engineering and love the complexity, but I HATE transforming the Alternators.

I wouldn't mind owning Alt Lost Copyrightimus, but no way I'm paying that much.

 

Making something complex isn't as impressive as complex, intuitive and fun. :X

 

Well, considering I'm not ten anymore I do find Alternators' transformation to complex while intuitive and fun. I don't know maybe its because I've been doing for so long, but I enjoy the challenges that Alternators offered.

 

Let me rephrase what I said:

Complicated transformations are awesome, especially when you do them for the first time.

Complexity is pretty much an objective trait. No one can deny that alts are great little marvels of engineering.

Something intuitive and fun, on the other hand, is completely subjective.

Some may find an alt transformation makes complete sense to them from start to finish, and some people may still have their bots mistransformed on their desks and just can't get them back in alt mode.

I personally wouldn't want a TF that just transforms itself by unfolding it. It could be complex, with 30 different automorph gimmicks, but IMO it wouldn't be any fun.

 

Err, complexity is a pretty damn subjective thing too. I'm sure there's someone out there that would deny their complexity, and I'm sure they'd be able to support it reasonbly as well.

Something be intuitive is the nearly as subjective as something be fun, and I don't like how you lumped them both together. If anything, complexity and intuitive design are equal in how subjective they are.

I personally wouldn't want a TF that transforms itself as well. But I would like a complex intricate transformation that isn't tedious, ergo why being intuitive is an important aspect to the fun.

And Alternators are in no way intuitve.

 

I appreciate the complexity of a transformation, as long as it's fun. To my mind, a perfect example of a simple transformation that is NOT fun is Leader Megs. What the HELL they were thinking with those legs I will never know. By contrast, Alt Mirage, complex as he is, is an absolute joy to transform IMO.

 

Well, if you want to talk about subjective viewpoints, I'll note that I actually find elements of the Alternators designs to be intuitive. Now, obviously, this is based on playing with plenty of Transformers of different levels of complexity, but there's a certain point - in the Alternators line, at least - where a person can begin to surmise "Ah, okay...here are the legs...ah, okay...here are the arms," etc. and then reverse-engineer the toy from robot to vehicle and back.

Now, this is, obviously, accumulated intuition that would be local to our own fandom, but, for some - and I think there might be more than a few people like me that feel this way - there is a level of intuition that goes along with playing around with Alternators and Masterpiece dudes.

Now, is it fun? I dunno. Again, it all comes down to who you're asking. I like transforming the Alternators, because I like the outcome no matter what - amazing vehicle form, amazing robot form. Others don't find the transformation process itself fun, and that's fine.

 

When Alts Hot Rod was first announced, with SDCC exclusivity and all, I though that this would be another Alts I won't have. But the pre-order on BBTS isn't that much expensive I think, I was thinking it would be more like Nemesis Prime, around 69.99 or something. Anyway it's the only Atls I'm willing to pay around ~50$ for it, the other expensive one (Nem Prime and Swerve) don't interest me at all for their price.

So come now Hot Rod, I want you   Probably the last Alts too  

 

I'd love to see someone debate what makes something complex or not, but the fact that it can be quantified (in man hours, development costs, how many points of articulations a toys has, etc) into degrees of complexity makes it an objective quality, I think.

How much fun would you say you have with your TFs? 10 calories worth?

I respect your opinion.

 

Hot Rod is a must!! anyway I still don't like the yellow hands..

 

I agreed that fun was a subjective thing, no need for that last bit of your response.

Measuring complexity in the terms you've presented is borderline useless. I've see wooden toy snakes with thirty points of articulation that have been made by hand, taking many hours to complete.

Those fit your specefications pretty well, but that toy isn't exactly complex.

Complexity is subjective enough that it should be argued situational, and not be subject to an absolute set measurment system.

 

I actually found parts of Masterpiece Megatron intuitive. I figure it's based on my owning the G1 mold, a lot of the general transform is the same. In other respects, he's terrifying to transform because of how thin some parts are and the stiffness of his joints.

 

Part of the charm of Alternators isn't only their great car and bot modes, but the challenge they tend to present in transforming them. If you don't find them fun then that gives you more time with Cyber Stompin' Prime or the like.

 

Won one on eBay for $50 and change plus shipping. I can live with that to not have to worry with HTS and all, especially since I've been saving on the online markups by picking movie stuff up via retail.