Perhaps, but consider the number of figures that Star Saber, Deathsaurus, or Thunderwing have gotten from Hasbro.

 

What reason would Hasbro have had in the past to make toys of Star Saber and Deathsaurus? They didn't appear in the western G1, and only recently (in terms of the franchise) appeared in western media at all, right?

 

They had the tooling for the G1 toys didn't they? At any rate their reasoning now doesn't affect anything today.

I'm prepared to settle for an Optimal Optimus, because it would at least be pretty cool, but it would be among the more boring of the most likely outcomes. I'd really like a Western Deathsaurus toy, but if the polls here are at all indicative that probably won't ever happen.

 

In 1989, Hasbro had their own thing going on, as did Takara.

 

A chug Starsaber and Deathsaurus would be cool and chances are we'll get them soon enough no matter the outcome of the poll.

 

I'm really hoping POTP surprises us the way TR has, bringing us more characters that are past due. I know it may not be a popular opinion, but I'd like to see the Titan Masters stick around for it.

 

As popular as the gimmick has been, I'd be surprised if it doesn't continue in some form or fashion for an extra year or so in box sets, ala Combiner Wars.

 

My meager, completely baseless, totally unsourced and probably unfounded speculation:

Looking at RiD and how they've now got a sort of two (or even three) in one very simplified gimmick going on (some homaging Pretenders, which while overly simple and not ideal, was a pleasant surprise,) and then looking back at Generations and seeing they've now done Combiners with various G1 styled figures, Headmasters with various G1 style figures, and even homages to powermasters, and a freaking Fortress Maximus of all things... and considering speculation that we could see Matrix chambers or what have you that go inside figures to facilitate transformation, AND lastly considering the ongoing emphasis on diversified play value with minifigures and so forth...

... I'm going to say I suspect we'll see continued homaging to G1, but now beginning to stray into Pretenders, Micromasters, etc. but that won't be the primary focus. The primary focus will be new Generations style takes on various G1 and other continuity "Primes."

What it might look like:

• Voyager and Leader "Primes" from various continuities, e.g. new Generations Optimus Primal, Rodimus Prime (complete with trailer finally, even if it's just an all in one design,) Star Saber, Sentinel Prime, maybe even Movie Prime (why not?) etc. with Matrix chambers in their chest. Perhaps some sort of related transformation gimmick, but it could also just be as simple as having a place for the Matrix. One or all of them might come with the Matrix. It's also conceivable that mini figures may themselves turn into Matrices. They may justify this in fiction somehow (the titanmasters were granted their freedom by Optimus Prime through the power of the Matrix of leadership, but were unexpectedly transformed by this power into lesser Matrix-like sources of power themselves! blah blah blah etc. insert whatever fictional justification here. This would fit with what I expect to be a "two or three in one" gimmick in this new phase of the line. See below.)
• Other popular characters turned into base sets (sort of how Soundwave and Blaster already have been,) to justify new base sets that homage less well known characters, including G1 Micromaster bases. Countdown, etc. These continue to come with titanmasters, though they may not be called that anymore. And they have their own transformations. Basically literal Micromasters. Perhaps this line's minifigs will be called Prime Masters or Matrix Masters or Matrix Minis or what have you.
• Micromaster teams (three or so of the small minibots) sold as sets.
• Micromaster "duos" or "trios" depending on class, wherein a micromaster (titanmaster sized figure) fits inside the chest or torso of a larger (deluxe and up) figure. This gives us our Pretender homages, although they are very different obviously. The largest come with vehicles they can also fit into. We might get a proper Skyhammer homage, for instance, albeit very different.
• All this will be rounded out with at least a small handful of followup titanmaster/headmaster figures, to catch some of the stragglers never release in this line, as we still do occasionally with Combiner Wars now.

This is probably a pipe dream and will never happen, but it would fit with what they've been going for lately imo. It wouldn't be a full on Pretenders and Micromasters line, because those lines aren't remembered fondly. It would be a PRIMES line, with the main gimmick being the Primes. But it would ALSO take that "thing goes inside chest" gimmick along with the ongoing minifigure base mode trend to justify Pretender and Micromaster homages.

Again, probably won't happen. But that's all I can think of, barring going completely away from G1 and doing something totally new.

 

People want them and they'll make money. That's reason enough from Hasbro's point of view.

 

And they look cool.

 

In the here and now, sure. But Hasbro have had no reason to produce new figures for them in the past 20 years because they were characters from Victory, not western G1.

Their inclusion through the comics and hopefully now through the toys is welcome news.

 

I see what you mean, but from a more cynical "all the money now please" perspective it seems like they're just squeezing the last of G1 dry, but Star Saber (circa Victory) is my favourite TF character of all time so I accept it.

Who knows maybe they'll hit BW-Cybertron in the nearish future. MP Armada Prime please and thank you.

 

Today I'm looking at the ORDER PRIMES.

These commanders vow to leave the Autobot and Decepticon factions in the past and unite Cybertron under a new order.

It seems most probable that this category will be a three-way tussle between Ultra Magnus, Star Saber, and Shockwave.

I honestly don't see Ultra Magnus as the type to "leave the war behind" but he is a control freak. I'm not sure where this direction would take him in the comics.

Optimus has had at least one toy in each line of Prime Wars Trilogy thus far. If Magnus wins he will likely share a mold with whatever new Optimus toy we get. They could perhaps homage the Maximus Ambus armor from the season finale of MtMtE.

I'd put Magnus pretty near the bottom of the pack for the big prize.

Pros:
-Detractors of the recent leader may like this better.

Cons:
-We just got a Leader Magnus in 2015.
-This one probably won't have a Minimus Ambus gimmick, so there's nothing to entice comic readers as much as the last one did.

When I think "New Cybertron Order" I think of Shockwave, who would love nothing more than a planet he could micromanage the scrap out of. It's only logical that he wind up here.

There is the small matter of him being... dead. In the comics that is. And not in a way that him coming back with the Matrix in hand would be an exciting twist. Dead in an editorial "can we finally put the Furman era to bed?" sense.

I have no idea what a Shockwave Prime would look like. Maybe finally give the Hearts of Steel submarine Shockwave a plastic representation. Otherwise he runs a risk of being too similar to the recent MP.

Shockwave ranks maybe a little higher than Magnus on novelty, but in this category that won't cut it.

Pros:
-Shockwave hasn't had a large scale toy at nor am retail since Prime, I think.
-Among all the 100+ dollar Shockwaves this would have a lovely niche as an economy model.

Cons:
-Um, actually there's nothing really wrong with this choice I guess. It's just not going to win.


The clear favorite in this category is Star Saber, currently neck and neck for the number one spot in the TFW poll. I put Star Saber in this category because it's more likely they'll use his Japanese characterization for the poll than his IDW one. There's an argument that both belong here though. But mainly, if he were in Chaos he'd face Megatron first go and that would be boring, and if he was in Honor he'd face Primal, and as I expect that to be the final matchup it would be quite disappointing to see it up first.

In the anime, Star Saber is Optimus Prime but he flies. He's here on a technicality, not unlike Primal. In the comics he's been missing for a while. A play for the Matrix to usher in a brutal age of spirituality would make for a cool story.

My idea that Star Saber could be a retool of Overlord won't fly anymore having seen the way the components interlock. So he will likely be his own mold, with the future spaceship being able to be retooled into a bunch of earlier Prime's if they give us the Thirteen.

Pros:
-The first ever time that Star Saber will have a toy sold over here.

Cons:
-As a character he's awfully similar to Prime. He's sort of "ordinary" for this poll.

 

well lets see if pretenders i can see them useing little toys like the one found in ultramagnus
if micromasters i can see them useing the master class to shove the teams with no bases
if beasts then i can see them doing what is needed to finish off usa g1 these characters are reconised by the public, if you asks someone who erector is you look like your pulling there leg, if you ask someone who skullgrain is or blugeon they have no clue, if you say predaking or grimlock there face lights up like a F$%(en Christmas tree.

I get you pretender fans are way over due for something, but be relistic the best you can hope for is for you characters to be shoe horned in with with a classics beast line and the non beasts to be placed inside another line, micromasters have the master size class and possibly legends as theres only so many minibots i can see them being done in time.

but if they are to do a line with both micromaster and pretenders i can see it being done simply by makeing a lil bot like the one in ultramagnus and making shells for the toys that size and then making little toys in the master size class

 

Finally we have the CHAOS PRIMES.

This is the category I'm most excited for, even though the winner has the smallest odds of coming from this category. The remaining contenders are Megatron, Thunderwing, and Deathsaurus, and all 3 of them would make for awesome winners.

Mighty Megatron isn't feeling so mighty these days in the comics. Going through something of a mid-millenium crisis, the former tyrant has reimagined himself as an Autobot and is working to make some ammends for the Great War. He's currently believed to be dead and nowhere near the Matrix... in this universe anyway. But Megatron Prime would be a pretty cool story.

Personally, I would love to see this Super Mode Megatron make a comeback as a toy for a Megatron Prime.

I think Megatron is the clear favorite of the chaos category, easily going to the final three if that's how they play it.

Pros:
-Moar Megatrons!

Cons:
-The last two Megatron toys have already homaged IDW Megatron in certain ways, with the Leader having an Autobot sticker and the Voyager approximately meeting his Milne design.

Thunderwing hasn't been seen in the comics or the toylines in many a moon, though rumor has it he's taken to online dating. Thunderwing has, in fact, possessed the Power of the Primes before when he got possessed by the Matrix in the old comics. He's super powerful, he's super crazy, and he's got a neat color scheme. There's also the small matter of his being a pretender. It's been posited that PotP may in some way involve pretenders, as it was the next major era of gimmicks in G1. It's more likely that his outer shell will just be treated like his true body, as Sky Shadow and the other recent Pretenders characters have done.

Pros:
-First Thunderwing toy since 2010
-Modern comic characters for those fans

Cons:
-The next character has had to wait a lot longer get than 7 years for his toy...

Many fans have never encountered the Unknown Evil of Deathsaurus. Star Saber's foe recently appeared in IDW comics with a rather similar character to his Victory counterpart. He's a somewhat more "noble" Decepticon than most, which makes him an interesting choice for Prime.

He recently had his first retail release as part of the Liokaiser box set, but his original toy only sold in Japan.

Of the ones on the list, he's the one getting my vote. But he won't win. For whatever reason, there are enough Victory fans here to put Star Saber within grasp of the victory but not his costar.

Pros:
-First ever new-mold Deathsaurus toy in the USA.
-He's got four eyes in both modes!

Cons:
-Ive got nothing. I really want this figure.

 

Assuming there are plans for all nine Power of the Prime candidates to receive new Generations toys, four of them have traditionally speaking toy-within-toy functionality (Ultra Magnus, Star Saber, Dezarus and Thunderwing). I'm starting to think that this will be the gimmick.

You would have a smaller, deluxe-sized transforming bot that can insert into a larger transforming suit.

The suits are interchangeable...as in a deluxe Arcee can fit into Dezarus's suit, for example.

The suits would be available at the voyager and leader class price points. There's a possibility that the leader-class suits would have base-mode capability to extend the hugely popular Titans Returns line.

Deluxes would come with booster armor but would be marketed as interactive with the larger class figures.

Scouts would continue to just be scouts.

Titanmasters would become Powermasters (sic). The tiny robots would combine with their vehicles to become armor or weapons for the larger figures.

The only bit I question within my own thoughts are budgetary...as in would a deluxe figure with a trailer that acts as booster armor feasibly fit into a voyager price point? This was precisely what Armada Overload accomplished but the Minicon was smaller than a scout at that very price point...so, some serious feats of engineering would have to be accomplished to make it all work.

 

Deathsaurus could be retooled into Onyx Prime and Grimlock.

 

So how many times will a vote officially count? Because I just voted three times for the same character & I feel like I shouldn't be able to.

 

That way I'd also be fine with them updating Pretenders.

 

I could only vote once.