TFW2005 member Rookbartley attended the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis Transformers Exhibition, and has shared with us some images of the exhibit. The Age of Extinction Optimus Prime truck greets guests at the front of the museum, and there is a display of 160 Transformers toys, including a Lucky Draw Energon Optimus Prime, Japanese exclusive pieces like Victory Saber, and even a previously unseen prototype of a Voyager class Starscream from an aborted line that never made it far off the drawing board in 2011. The wide selection of toys on show come from the collections of Pete Sinclair, Tony Preto and Karl Hartman.
Check out the images attached to this post. They are not an exhaustive showcase of the exhibit, so if you’re in the neighborhood, be sure to drop by when the exhibition opens to the public.
SPLIT LIP
Eh y'know, that awkward moment when you copy-paste the wrong name and don't bother checking because only squares second-guess themselves.
But yes, thank you Griffin-of-oz.
Dachande
Wrong guy, but yeah, the pics are nice. It's cool seeing all these figures and displays in a children's museum. Maybe they'll inspire future fans.
griffin-of-oz
The listing might have been the same assortment number as the RID 6inch Titans, but the image and description referred to five decos of the Gen1 Starscream (from the SDCC 5-pack, that was then released last year at Retailers separately).
So the info may not be all there yet, and it is still very vague as to their where/when/how, but that's an image from Hasbro of four redecos of Starscream, that we haven't seen or heard about since last September (well, until Sunstorm popped up at this Exhibit)… so I was quite excited to see one existing "in the flesh".
SPLIT LIP
Thanks for the pics, Griffin-of-oz!
This exhibit looks really cool, depsite the oddities like misidentifying the Camaro from TF1. that gen Rhinox Prototype looks either like a sweet mid-transformation shot, or the victim of an axe attack. I love the displays showcasing the different versions of Soundwave kids may not know of.
Nevermore
No, they're very clearly listed under the same assortment number as these guys:
Which, when released, looked more like this:
Dachande
"How do you spot Transformers mega-fans?"
So, owning a Lucky Draw makes you a mega-fan?
griffin-of-oz
Top of the second image in the first post, or the third image in the attached images.
When I saw them I thought that they might be the third wave of those Titan Guardians, but could also be a proposed 5-pack since it had Starscream included (who was in wave 2).
Nevermore
That's the life-sized prop used for the 2007 movie and Revenge of the Fallen.
They still can't spell "Volkswagen" properly…
When and where was Sunstorm revealed "ten months ago"?
EDIT: Found it.
Transformers 2015 Toyline Details Leaked – Transformer World 2005 – TFW2005.COM
Wait, that is odd… B0758, that's the assortment number the RID Titan Guardians (Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Steeljaw) have.
The released single G1 Titan Warriors (Starscream, Megatron, Optimus Prime and Soundwave) had the same assortment number (A6107) as the Beast Hunters Titan Guardians (Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron and Shockwave).
Afterburner
I'd pay to see a collection of every figure, in or out of box, from the beginning to now. Or even just every figure in G1, or some other selected time period of significance and interest. Display cases large enough to show all of G1 interacting. How cool would that be?
Maybe some day. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has had a robot toy exhibit before.
An exhaustive exhibit of only unproduced hardcopies and prototypes would also be fascinating.
griffin-of-oz
Just a reminder that this exhibition ends in one week (July 26th), so if you are close enough to the Indianapolis Children's Museum to be able to check it out, you need to do it before next Sunday.
Below are a small sample of photos that I took while I was over there (before BotCon), plus a link to the webpage of all the rest of them (I don't have the time to post all of them here, and few people will probably want to look at the rest anyway).
There are 281 photos, with 152 of them for the Transformers part of the Museum (the rest are of other exhibits, including a Hot Wheels exhibit that also ends soon).
I recommend to any fan who can get there before it closes, to go to it, despite it looking like it was aimed at young kids. Sure, there were interactive elements aimed at young kids, but all the displays and most of the interactive elements would have been set up with adult collectors in mind.
Especially the whole section that was devoted to the design process of Transformers, which has changed a lot from when it was detailed to fans on the 2007 Hasbro tour.
So these are the three pages of photos…
Page 1 – Museum Entrance, Gift-shop with heaps of Transformers toys, All but the Design section of the Transformers Exhibit.
Page 2 – Designing Transformers (and the Hot Wheels Exhibit).
(page 3 has Dinosaurs, Hollywood Movie Magic and props, Chinese Cultural Exhibit, Archaeology, and Trains… but you can find that link at the end of page 2 if you want to check out more non-Transformers stuff)
I was in there for three hours (it cost $21.50 for non-member adults), but could have spent all day in there if it wasn't so unnerving being a single male adult taking photos in a Children's museum and getting all these looks from the parents while I was in there.
A "life size" Bumblebee in the main foyer of the Museum.
Choose your allegiance…
A random assortment of eras and countries.
The main room… so pretty.
Beast Wars was the only non-current series to be featured in the Exhibit, which was surprising… not even Generation One was featured, and it was their anniversary that started all these exhibits in various countries around the world in the last 12-18 months.
So much bling… yes son, that's real gold.
What about his jet alt-mode, or train mode?
Karl Hartman's toughest Transformers toy – RID-2000 Landfill. Mine was the Omega Prime combiner from the same series, as it was the first toy that I had needed to use instructions just to work it out.
An interactive game, where you become Bumblebee on the screen (it moves when you move)… who wouldn't want one at home (with a
selection of characters of course).
I could have spent all day in here… if I was a lot younger to blend in.
All Soundwaves… because, you know… he's Superior and all.
This was my favourite part of the Exhibit, the Toy Design area, which had interactive screens, concept drawings on the walls, and an assortment of pre-production toys on display… including some that have never been released as toys (some of which will never be released as toys).
.
Most of this section featured the RID Warrior Strongarm toy, which might seem a bit boring but it gives you the entire design process of one figure to eliminate confusion from the variables that would come from using different toys at each stage.
This was for kids to identify robot parts, based on what the vehicle mode looks like.
Hasbro Designer Sean goes into a little detail about the design process of the toys, which I have included most of it on the page of photos.
Sketching…
Engineering of the parts and joints.
Now going Digital with the drawings and colourings…
3D rendering…
3D printing of test models…
.
Using something like this to print out the pre-production prototypes…
And finally, some pre-production prototypes that were on display…
Titanium 12-inch Cosmos, previously seen at the 2007 Hasbro HQ Tour.
Three pre-production BotShots toys that don't match any released figure, or any of the 20 toys that were revealed in 2013 but never got released.
Since these would have been for a 2014 release I can guess two of them. The one on the left is a beast and has wing details like Beast Hunters Skystalker, while the one on the right looks a little like the Beast Hunters version of Starsceam who had the same tail fin and wings that swept a little forward. The one in the middle facing to the back is a mystery, as it is a six-wheeler with a cannon on the top… a bit like the Trailer that came with the first BotShots Megatron. Since Megatron already got two BotShots in 2013 that weren't related to any existing Megatron toy, this could have been another Botshot toy that just wasn't related to an existing toy.
RID Drift and Generations Rhinox
Titan Guardian Sunstorm (actually looks like a factory toy, but it was first revealed 10 months ago and is still yet to be seen)… with the Starscream toy that fansites got all excited about until someone realised that it was just a mis-transformed Cyber Battalion Starscream toy.
Human Alliance Soundwave and Alternators Mirage.
Plus a few others that on my full page of photos… including a Police version of the 2014 Deluxe Beast Hunters Smokescreen (the enlarged
Legion toy), which suggests that more of the simplified Beast Hunters toys were possible in 2014 if the line hadn't been wrapped up so quickly, that most of the 2014 toys didn't even show up in most countries.
I hope the Exhibit got enough patronage for Hasbro to do more of them in the future, and in other countries…, and maybe at locations that aren't primarily aimed at young children, to make it less uncomfortable for the adult fans going on their own.
.
Autobot Burnout
You…did notice that prototype clearly does not have knees, right?
Probably, though at the same time G1 Prime's look is iconic to the point of transcendence. Everybody remembers Prime's cab chest. Hasbro wants everybody to forget Megatron turns into a gun because of modern toy laws making that a real problem.
But…I thought Laser Rod Optimus was in a cartoon?
p)
Esquilax79
Really looking forward to going!! Looks awesome!!!
I was going to find some kids to go with but there are two adult nights I might do instead (I had no idea)
https://www.childrensmuseum.org/exhibits/transformers-robots-disguise
Necromaster
Holy balls I had no idea G1 Chromedome was that big.
Thanks Transformers exhibit, you showed me something new.
Nevermore
Based on the photos that feature children, I would assume it is already open to the public.
Johnator
When does this open to the public?
TCJJ
Any chance we could get smaller pictures, please?
griffin-of-oz
The Exhibit turned out great.
Well done to the people who contributed their toys and time to it.
Looks like there's going to be an overnight stop at Indianapolis on the way to BotCon for me then…
Prime135
I feel sorry for all the kids there that will now think all decepticons are animals. (Most likely why there are so many beast wars predacons on display)
IaconStargazer
It looks like there are a few errors, and the info provided isn't exactly in-depth, but it seems pretty impressive for a children's museum exhibit. Not bad.