Loving the concept for sure! The designs look alright, but hard to tell with the glare. I'd love to see the head.

 

The first picture states that the mini-con does indeed have a robot mode. Its in the list of 4 things the mini-con can become.

 

Sweet! The reason I got into the series to begin with was because of the minicons. These sound like enhanced minicons that are basically targetmasters/armor. If the figures themselves do no sacrifice basic features for the sake of the gimmick and the engineering is improved, I will have to buy truckloads.

 

As opposed to Sam "nononononononononono" Witwicky?  

-F. "and a transforming minicharacter with gun and armor modes reminds me of Brestforce" Lager

 

Get it? Huh? Huh?

 

Looks to be a good Transformers line already! I'm in!  

 

I really like the design aesthetic and really want to see what the legacy characters will look like in this line...

 

Yes, the Mini-Cons are back! Glad Chopster has so much integration with the main bot, I hope the others are like that. No idea who the main bot could be though, probably a brand new character or a namesake at best.

 

cool the minicon looks cheaply made but guess that is normal

 

Really too bad about the glare as it would have been nice to get a better look at the robot mode. The sort of standardized hand sort of suggests a bit of of the pre-movies look but there are also a few elements of a movie look so perhaps the line will have the hybrid look. Fingers crossed that the heads will have a nice look instead of something crazy.

As far as gimmicks go it's one I can live with. You get a weapon for your robot and a second robot as well so not a bad deal. I mean it worked really well with Universe Cyclonus so I think it's pretty cool having the small robot turn into something useful like a weapon instead of an undersized vehicle.

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

i'm excited about this line, that 'bot looks great and it looks like they are doing a much, much better and more logical execution of the minicon concept (and, for that matter, the Energon Weapons from Energon) then Armada.

i don't know, from what we can see so far from this fellow and Huffer, it looks like they made a good 'bot first and then applied the concept to them ~ looks like this Minicon just plugs on top in vehicle mode like any number of TF weapons over the years, and i think there is a flip-pout plug on his chest for the minicon to attach too in armor mode (which i'm guessing will just be the axe with the handle flipped up/retracted)

In short, based on the limited evidence so far, it looks like the gimmicks are additive rather than subtractive. (not to say i'm not nervous like you are, the ghosts of Armada Minicon and the Energon Powerlinx gimmicks still make me twitchy)

Minicons were a good idea, just a mostly terrible execution (and i LOATHE that name ~ Micromasters is so much better, i wonder why they can't/won't use that)

I don't think he's actually chickenlegged, i think that is a semi-optical illusion caused by the design and the pose (looks like his Knees might move slightly past straight up and down like Classics Prowl can)

assuming he is somewhere between Basic and Deluxe (going more by what we saw from Huffer) i think he looks to have fairly standard articulation ~ although that pic makes his hips look suspiciously static. I just can't imagine them making Armada level mistakes in that regard again though, articulation has been good to great from Cybertron forward. (even most of Energon)

oh, good catch ~ i see two at the top of the shoulders and 2 off the legs ~ i wonder if those might be attachment points for more weapon-mode minicons?

LMAO. Exactly. Jeez, Armada was terrible

 

they don't have any vehicle modes of their own. thats kind of a sacrifice if you like mini cars and jets.

but four transformation modes is still cool though. a vehicle as well would have been impossible or very crappy.

 

I'm in love with Power Core Combiners already! So excited.

 

Looks pretty decent. Hopefully not too Armada/Energon like though.

 

These might be something I would be interested in.

 

Those blue plugs look too big for minicons to plug onto plus they aren't round so if they were intended as weapon mounts then you wouldn't be able to rotate said weapons which would just be... bizzare.

Also, just noticed on closer inspection that the MC has what looks like minigun arms. Nice.  

 

Anyone else noticed the text in the blue box says something like:

My guess is that Hasbro is going back to the tried-and-true 5-member Gestalt combinations. This guy has "Commander" written under it, and has four block-shaped combiner pegs - two in shoulders, two at knees. My guess is, he is a torso-builder bot, and guys like the Huffer we saw earlier will be the limbs. The Minicons might form the misc. hands, feet or weapons.

Looks pretty good, btw. Odd that a fire chief car is a Con, though.