We have something extremely cool to share with you today. Professional toy inventor Andrew Mercer (aka Caution Low Sign) got in touch with us to share a concept for a Transformers line which he created. The concept, Transformat, was a plan to celebrate the different eras of the Transformers brand with toys of characters who could shift between their classic and modern incarnations. Andrew shared this brief writeup with us to explain more:
“I started working on this concept back in 2011. Knowing that 2014 was the 30th anniversary year, I thought this line would be a cool way to celebrate the rich history of the brand. Figures that could reformat between different Generations in the same way they could Transform from robot to vehicle. That is actually where the name Transformat comes from, Transform + Reformat. Enough time has passed so I wanted to share my work with the community. I built the prototypes by cutting/pasting/customizing/painting a bunch of different toys and plastic parts, (minus Starscream who is a concept mock up using existing toys) The Optimus Prime comic artwork was done by Alex Milne and Josh Perez. These guys are true professionals and a pleasure to work with. I appreciate them keeping this concept confidential for all these years. I plan to keep working towards my goal of having Transformers concepts on the shelves for everyone to enjoy.
Thanks for having a look.
Andrew Mercer
Toy Inventor
Caution Low Sign”
You can check out some pictures showcasing the concept attached to this post – and also be sure to check out this Youtube video demonstration which shows how the Bumblebee concept transforms between his two Generation forms:
Click here to visit the Caution Low Sign Facebook page for more work in Andrew’s portfolio.
StarSaber
I think the parts count would be insane and price these right out for most fans.
-SS (neat idea though)
netkid
I hate to revive this thread but this is the first time I'm seeing actual Transforming mock-ups of these (I had only previously seen the concept artwork on the tfwiki) and I gotta say this concept is sound. I LOVE this gimmick. Robot to robot. And the larger size classes also do a vehicle. Probably explains why I love Punch/Counterounch so much. Love his gimmick. It's basically this. Man, I sure hope they revisit this idea and make it real. I'd buy every one of these things. I love oddball Transforming toys stuff like this. Makes me think of the old Beast Wars mutants. Damn, I hope they make these someday. LOVE EM!
LegendAntihero
Wow. Why has Hasbro never tried to make toys like this?
AoE
But if they actually came out they'd be brand new molds. That's like saying that a super secret prototype of RID Bumblebee using the second Vehicon mold is bound to use the Vehicon mold.
Infosaur
I could see this for maybe one or two characters (Optimus looks pretty good) but that's about it.
I wouldn't expect a vehicle mode. Pretty cool.
VokVisitor
OOh!! This would be cool! Like a version of Beast Wars Metals Jaguar that's a triple changer that actually changes into a cassette, too.
VokVisitor
These are really, really clever! Some people are being way too harsh. They're obviously not going to look finished, because they're prototypes.
I think there's a lot of potential in Transformers that shift from one robot mode to another, to provide the "reformatting" effect. I like the "then and now" idea too.
And there are a lot of other applications too. It'd be cool to have an "Orion Pax to Optimus Prime" that works using this kind of thing.
A lot of the time when we get something like this, it's just some kind of armor-switching thing. I like how you have the different structures turn inside out and upside down and stuff so it's an actual transformation, rather than just changing the toy's "costume" so to speak.
Good work, and keep making toys!
Autovolt 127
The G1/Prime Bumblebee is easily the best of the three because his vehicle mode actually looks like a vehicle.
CautionLowSign
Thank you all, I really enjoy the feedback.
Some people where asking about vehicle modes so I went and transformed my prototypes into shapes that somewhat resemble vehicles. Close enough that you could try to pass them off as Cybertronian vehicles. Obviously a lot more engineering would be needed to make these modes decent, but these were kind of fun so I wanted to share.
Also The Prime BB was always a triple changer
Autovolt 127
That works so well on so many levels.
I hope Hasbro make this concept a reality.
Purple Heart
If Punch and Couterpunch worked and still transformed I'd buy it, the Takara version, any other versions, and the six more of each version I already own!
RMStunticon
I'd buy that. Or maybe *insert robot name*/ *insert super mode of robot*
Sideways77
This is a cool idea, honestly.
But how about they use that technology for Punch/Counterpunch and Drift/Deadlock?
Basilisk
That's a really awesome concept, excited to see if they make any products out of it.
DoubleClouder
To me I would rather have two figures that go into both modes as opposed to having one figure transform into two robots. At that point you could almost just make a figure with an internal skelaton and just swap out the various outer armer.
Also as people brought up Punch, at least with Punch/Counter-Punch they still turned into vehicle mode.
Autobot Burnout
Call me when he decides to apply the idea to reinventing Punch/Counterpunch so the two robot forms are even more significantly different than what we've got now.
As it is, while I applaud the creativity and skill he has to pull these off, the novelty of having toys transform between different versions of basically the same character while simultaneously dropping the alt. mode really doesn't grab me given it would be far easier to just display the two different looks with two seperate toys.
I would not be adverse to more…selective character uses, though. MTMTE Cyclonus <-> G1 Cyclonus, BW Ravage <-> G1 Ravage, IDW Drift <-> IDW Deadlock (a.k.a. pre-reformation Drift), etc.
destrakon
it is possible, we just need eric back in transformers
LSyd
weirdly awesome. i hope to buy these at retail in the future…and ones that go from cybertronian to earth vehicles (i know that'll be hard to execute).
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Afterburner
Who's jumping for joy? I didn't buy any of those garbage packs. A bunch of old molds with random paint jobs. Just another way to try and move movie product so they get a return on the molds since normal retail is no longer cutting it.
Shizuka
So people jump for joy over anniversary sets but say no to G1 Optimus turning into movie Optimus? Double standards much?
This could be the start of something new, I was thinking that the line has hit its peek too. Are you guys telling me that if someone released Evasion Optimus that morphed into AOE Optimus you wouldn't buy it?