We all know that they're bound to happen. But let's face it, can the Prime designs really translate well to plastic? I can see action masters... but an actual transforming Prime figure would have to make so many sacrifices. The Robot modes are rounded off, as opposed to angular alternate forms, The only characters I can see being translated well to a toy are Arcee, and the decepticons. But Prime, Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead... I just cant fathom how a toy version of them can look good.

 

Dude, look at Animated! Many of us (myself included) scoffed at the notion that hasbro would be able to make toys from the designs. What we got were some of the most screen accurate and articulated TF's ever. After seeing what hasbro did with animated, I have complete faith in their ability to make Prime toys.

Cant wait.

 

What Brooticus said.

 

In our age of CAD and lasers.. Im gonna say its doable

 

Ratchet would be a good toy. In fact, he's about the only Autobot I can see a clear transformation scheme for....

 

I wonder how they are making Arcee. I hope she keeps her feminine figure (along with the blades). Somehow when I see her fight in the cartoon, I think of Buffy or Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

 

Yes, thats true. But let's compare the Animated Aesthetic to Prime.

With this here, we can clearly see the details of Bumblebee's alternate form, and just from looking at it, we can start to see the pattern of his transformation. Not to mention that the show gave a nice helping hand with their fairly thought out tranformation sequence.
Now, let's look at Prime:

...
For me, the only distinguishable feature of the characters alt mode are the door wings. And those aren't enough to make a remote guess as to what his Alt mode even is... sure it's a a car... but what kind of car? Sure we see wheels, but thats where I just draw a blank. I see a sea of yellow shards of metal.
And even then, the makers for the toy dont have much to go on, seen as how the tranformation sequences in prime are a bit jumbled.

 

I'm looking forward to pretty much all the Autobots, even Bee, and especially Cliff. Cant wait to see the Eradicons too.

 

Toyfare magazine back in the day confirmed that they do have a team that tweaks the designs for better toy accuracy, so I'm sure they'll manage something.

Plus it's not that hard, look at Bumblebee over there. Front is chest, front wheels are shoulders, door wings, back wheels are legs.

The detailing might not match but the transformations will be easy as cake. They'll probably do what they do with movie toys and stuff like Swindle aka making the internal parts perfect in-show accurate detailing and shapes while the outer vehicle mode parts will stay blocky.

 

I see where you're coming from, and you never know, there may be some 'cheating' involved (false transformations). I can especially see this happening with Bee and Bulkheads chests. But if I'm going to play the reductionists advocate, Primes aesthetic is essentially Movie-Meets-Animated, styles that the designers have become pretty adept at translating to toy form.

 

I have no doubt that they can pull of Prime. If only Prime. He's simple as hell.

And I hate when they cheat DX

 

I have noticed on Bulkhead the inside of his legs appears to be his fenders

 

If Hasbro could translate Animated characters into toys, they can do the same for Prime.

 

If by "bound" to happen you mean "officially confirmed by Hasbro at Botcon" to happen, then yes.

Hasbro seems to thinks so. They said Bulkhead's toy is looking great.

 

I'm pretty sure they can pull it off. They did animated a few years ago and blew people away. I'm pretty sure they can do it again now.

 

Must have Arcee...

 

I'm sure as hell interested to see toys. If they can give me a Ratchet with pop out blades, I'm set. Surprisingly, while there are characters in the show I'm not particularly fond of, I would totally buy their plastic forms. Here's looking at you, Bumblebee.

 

You bring up some good points, but I'd like to point some other things out.

First off, Ani. Bumblebee's transformation can not be easily judged from just that one picture, it's much more complicated than it seems. The physical impossibility of the black stripe staying on the same side of the robot in both forms aside, there is no clue that the real car roof is actually formed from parts behind the legs, tucked into the fake roof chest, and Bumblebee's butt, along with the fact that his car nose feet are actually upside down.

Prime Bumblebee, however, is actually pretty easy to figure out considering he's clearly based on Movie Bumblebee. While the exact specifics of the transformation are unclear (such as how the front wheels become the sholders), I'm betting transformation will still be similar. Considering how Hasbro was able to replicate the "encased wheel heel" design of WfC Bumblebee into a toy, I think Hasbro can achieve the Prime designs.

 

I have a strong suspicion they'll just repaint the movie figures for some characters like Optimus and Bee. So there you go.

Personally I want to see Ratchet and Arcee toys. I will be quite tempted to get them if they're good.

 

I don't think movie figures would cut it, while there is a strong similarity, IMO there is is enough differences to make a repaint a bad option.

Arcee, Bulkhead & CliffJumper are what I'd like to get

I'd really like a "Human Alliance-ish" Bulkhead if they use that idea for TF-P