So far i have Mirage, Rodimus, Skids and Jazz. I had Wheeljack once, but wasn't a big fan of the robot mode. Maybe Grimlock looks better?

What's wrong with the Dodge Viper? If it's that bad i might go with one of the Jeeps instead. Also considering Prowl, Rumble and Arcee (harder to find).

 

It's one of the first attempts and shows it. The articulation is hindered by car panels. And the hood skirt is awkward. The entire rear of the car is just kinda there on his back in bot mode.

I suggest looking at the Seibertron galleries.

It shelves well enough but it's not for dynamic posing. Prowl isn't terrible. Grimlock does use the Mustang better mostly due to it looking like G1 Grimlock. And the build has some of the best articulation. The Jeeps are good but not great.

Rumble is not a good figure and Arcee isn't much better than the Viper build types. They all look okay but they are display pieces, definitely not toys.

 

Thank you for this, will definitely check a bit more reviews before i choose the next one :O

 

Alternators - Reflector @ TFW2005
Lambor - Binaltech - Reflector @ TFW2005

Rumble - Reflector @ TFW2005

 

Honestly, I think Overdrive is just as stupid. Outside of his head there's nothing Overdrive about him: no longer a hood-former, wrong body shape and wrong colour layout; I've always used zoom-zoom as Overdrive. Not that he's accurate to Windcharger in any way (save for not being a hood former).

I think Grimlock is better, at least better looking. Also fits the mould better, because Wheeljack...he's just not right: colours aren't wheeljack and a Mustang is an ill fitting altmode for Wheeljack. But the mould definitely isn't easy to transform and the bottom of the car dangling from his butt is...inconvenient...

Also, the BT suffers a bit from the heavier weight from the die cast and the balljoints and hinges havng trouble with supporting it.

As @Hicks_Royel already commented, he was one of the first and it shows. That said, I do quite like the figure: I can easily list figures I like a lot less (Skids being one of those). If you do buy the Dodge Viper mould you should definitely go for the alternator and not the BT. I had the BT Sideswipe/Lambor and all the issues the mould has are even moreso a problem with the BT (plus you have diecast bumping into diecast resulting in nice paint chips on the hood). The alt deals a bit better with the hood dangling behind his but, because the joint can deal with the lighter plastic making the hood stay higher up) and the balance is better thanks to being all plastic.

(Still regret nog getting the blue alt KO of this mould.)

Sadly, I think you're right. I don't see Alt/BT return and if they did, they'd be very expensive. At best I see a sort of mix between alternity and BT having a chance: size of alternity, pricing of the current MP's, but designs more along the lines of BT.

A figure of this size, complexity and features is just not feasible today for the prices we got back then. Of course, a big advantage of the line over MP is that they're not held back by the need to make the figures resemble the G1 characters as exactly as possible. Alt/BT is very much it's own thing and in way very similar to diaclone: start from the car and see where the robot ends.



Still think it's a shame no KO company ever OS the alternities. It would've given us a Megatron. seekers, Bumblebee/Cliffjumper and a better Optimus.​

 

The front grill of the Viper on a hinge for the ankle is always bothersome. This is especially so on the Metals Transform KOs...my goodness some of those parts are floppy! But I still love em  

Re: Overdrive - Ive always really liked this figure. I think it's a great modernization of the character (and, boy, talk about pulling out obscure characters early, Takara!). I always thought it being released as "Windcharger" in the Alternators line felt cheap: Overdrive seemed much cooler and appropriate, especially the head sculpt specifically designed for him, and then everyone's favorite detail: the missing muffler/gun cannon. Just my 2 cents there.

Also, I love Wheeljack as is. The alt mode looks super cool, and it also is a good modernization of Wheeljack, shedding the Lancia Stratos deck that's...specific to the Lancia Stratos.

Speaking of that, in regards to a continuation of the Alt/BT line, look back at the time. There were several collectors dissatisfied with the modernized and updated choices for things. We saw a number of customs that would even butcher the alt mode just to make a more faithful "G1" representation. What most REALLY wanted at the time is what the Masterpiece line is giving us today.

 

The new Toyota Supra came out today. I'd love an Alternator/Binaltech of it, and frankly, both Hasbro/Takara and Toyota should want to sell me one.

 

Using an obscure character was indeed great. I wish they had done that more (for example, I still think naming the police Subaru Alert was a mistake: it should've been Clampdown: a police car who works with the human police (a great fit) while Red Alert being the paranoid character he is and a fire department, isn't a great fit). Also bonus, when you use the Honda as Overdrive then along with alt Camshaft you have two of the three Omnibots.

But I just don't see any Overdrive in the figure outside of the head. Remove the head and ask a G1 fan for whom this could be a modern figure and even an Overdrive fan won't see any similarities. The entire shape of the body is wrong (no hood chest, and legs are the wrong shape) and even the colour lay out is wrong (black on the legs wich should be red with silver, and silver and black on the chest which should be all red). From day one I've been using Zoom-Zoom as my Overdrive, because the body shape is mostly the same and thanks to swapping out the limbs the colour lay out is almost the same. (Really got to switch the heads around.)

And As you likely remember, a complaint at the time was that everybody was a hoodformer. And here we have a character, Overdrive, who is a hoodformer and as a BT he isn't.

Definitely agreed that he should not have had the Lancia deco (well, unless it was a Lancia). There were stickers for that and even though I'm not a car enthusiast, it even looked wrong to me.

But I have two major issues with seeing the Mustang as Wheeljack.

First his colours, and then I mean the blue. He's supposed to be a version of G1 Wheeljack, but blue has never been a Wheeljack colour. This is the only Wheeljack (up at that point and even since) that has blue. All wheeljack figures have been white with black robot parts and red and sometimes green in car mode. (All save the Armada version, that was dark grey with yellow and white -- but still not blue.) Now, it they had replaced the blue stripes with green (or even better made the car green with white stripes, which is an existing Mustang deco), it would've worked colourwise much better imo. (The Cybertron deco would've looked gorgous as well.)

(That also means I miss the gold on Grimlock. It's a distinguishing feature on every incarnation (save the RiD Landfill member) and it's absent with the Alt.)


Second issue I have is Wheeljack's bio and abilities. G1 Wheeljack is according to his bio a very skilled driver, one of the most skilled among the Autobots, and capable of performing all kinds of stunts (which we didn't see in the cartoon and very little in the comic). Now, I don't know much about cars, but I do know the Ford Mustang isn't a very manoeuvrable car. (There was a joke once in Top Gear when Hammond was going to testdrive a Ford Mustang and Clarkson pointed out a huge problem: there was a curve in the road.) Purely based on his abilities as a stuntdriver, the Mustang (a muscle car) would be the worst altmode for Wheeljack after the Scion.

So my dislike to alt Wheeljack isn't that he isn't a Lancia or hasn't got the Lancia deco, it's that the altmode (a muscle car) doesn't fit with his abilities and character, plus that blue isn't a Wheeljack colour.

Yep, that definitely was part of a critique aimed at the alts at the time. Fans wanted them to be more G1. You could even see it when Classics was introduced. And I'll admit, I sometimes was guilty of that as well (I never used BT Grimlock as such, but that was in part because of the MP).

But in a way, that would be a good point in case of a revival. Fans who want that already have their line. But then the question remains: are TF buyers who would want something like the alt line be enough to warrant new releases. And I doubt that very much.

 

Got my Rodimus today. Applied the Toyhax stickers even if they were meant for the other version with white stripes.

More flames is always good lol

 

I'm glad Rodimus wasiterally the last figure we got, but I greatly dislike the Ford GT40 with any sort of flames. Robot mode is fine, but not the alt mode. KP got Hot Rodimus right.

Just my 2 cents; not trying to puss in the corn flakes or anything.

 

He's gonna stay in robot mode   I like the side flames more than the hood ones. I tried it with the sides only, but he reminded me too much of Flash McQueen lol.

 

@Dresky Great purchase. The Ford GT is a very nice mould and thanks to the lighter colours, I find Rodimus to be the more pleasing version to look at. The repro label flames are definitely better done than the flames the alt came with, but I'm with @Superquad7 on this: the flameless Kiss Player version is much better. It just has more class.

Off course, there are custom paint jobs and I can see Hot Rod having a custom paint job with lots of flames  


I still have my KP Rodimus as a sort of Diaclone red Mirage with the limbs and heads swapped:



Was going to paint the hands and head to match, but I think I'll go back to using him as a Hot Rod for my Rodimus collection.

And when I do, I will repaint the arms and legs orange. Not enough orange on this version of Rod.

 

Secret Agent Mirage 

 

sweet! I still haven't opened my Mirage!

 

I think all of the GTs have their appeal.

 

Indeed. It doesn't hurt that the car is brilliant design.

 

attempt at action pose: moderate success.
attempt at decent photo setup: moderate "meh"

 

Yer image ain't showin' up, dude  

 

couldn't fix the first image kerfuffle, but hopefully the edited upload of it sticks.