No. Not at all. They are, at their core, rock solid.

I have the Toy World Devi and the new Bruticon. The last thing they are at their core are figures that are flimsy or hollow.
People who are against parts forming are clearly willing to sacrifice stability and aesthetic for the sheer novelty.

 

Is he the same size as perceptor? When are we gonna get our toon accurate 16 inch perceptor

 

That looks kinda cute lol. I will buy that if anyone even dares to attempt this.

 

Here we go again...

The animators were not lazy. They were just overworked, and had really difficult deadlines. They weren’t Transformers fans like we are, they were just people, trying to do a job to the best of their abilities, in trying conditions.

The same company who animated the 86 Movie also worked on many of the episodes - it just goes to show the quality of what they could achieve when they were given a year to animate 90 minutes of footage rather than the usual grind of 25 minutes per week.

If I had no idea who the Combaticons were, and I had a script saying that all the Combaticons should be in this shot, then yeah, I can see how it’s possible to look up the model sheets and assume Bruticus was a regular Combaticon. But because time was short it couldn’t be corrected.

No other cartoon show of that era had as many character models. Including vehicle modes you’re talking about 300-odd model sheets that the artists had to reference, and do it quick.

Mistakes aren’t evidence of laziness, they’re evidence of regular people working under intense pressure. I hate it when the animators are characterised as uncaring, unfeeling hacks, when that accusation is far better reserved for the show’s writers.

The artists on that show worked absolute wonders, considering the pressures and constraints they were working under.

 

I like just looking at this guy. Can't wait for Skydive and Airraid!

 

Nah, I don't buy the sob story. I think the truth lies in between the two extremes. The truth is that they were careless. Regardless of what they were paid or the working conditions, good or bad, they were careless from the very first season where there were scenes with fake seekers, doubled up seekers, color-swapped figures, weird size portrayals, and other errors.

 

Notice this always happens with the Decepticons? They need to buff up their numbers.

 

Or not. While fans of partsforming have been using the stability argument since Constructor (which actually was more stable than pretty much anything that came before it) that never meant that partsforming was necessary for stability. Case in point, while I heard Zeta made some improvements when they did the cartoon-colored box set UT's Bruticus was actually much more stable than the original release of Zeta's Bruticus.

As for aesthetics, that's often a matter of subjectivity. I think there are much bigger factors that go into it than partsforming or not, but for now based on what MMC has shown I'd argue that going with Zeta is sacrificing aesthetics for height.

 

Often but not always. Hook/Grapple comes to mind.

 

Most of those issues from the first season come from the opening three-part pilot episode, where there was a deliberate attempt to bolster the Decepticons’ numbers with a whole army of generics who shared body types and colours with other Decepticons. The second episode in particular features lots of additional seekers, Reflectors and cassettes.

Furthermore, Hasbro’s toy release schedule was still a little up in the air, which is why you had the likes of Reflector, Shockwave and the Dinobots showing up way before their toys were released. Hauler is another by-product of that early confusion. There may well have been plans for Hasbro to release seekers and Reflectors in other colours, which were eventually nixed.

By the time episode 4 went into production, both Hasbro and Sunbow had a better idea of which characters they wanted to feature in the show. With a few notable exceptions, Hasbro were particularly keen to focus only on those characters who had a toy available in the shops, so the idea of a Decepticon ‘generic army’ was quietly dropped after episode 3.

But I digress!

These Aerialbots look amazing, and I can’t wait to have the next one in hand!

 

Absolutely! (BTW sounds like you should add this to wikipedia... unless that's where it came from...)

I was super interested in Spoiler because up to recently we weren't sure what would be in the box in terms of combiner pieces, but also the Menasor leg limbs don't have a "combined mode".

With the Aerialbots at least we can play with the leg limbs to see how the "combined mode" will work.

I'm assuming the legs, Goose and Ice Man, will have little to no waist articulation to ensure the combined mode is more stable.

 

Some of that is true, some of it rings of convenient anachronism. Yes, the first 3-part mini series suffered from excessive errors due to the reason stated, but that does not explain the remaining errors and sloppy work thereafter. From what is seen in the released product, the careless animation work was a theme that carried forward throughout at least the first two seasons.

 

Bob Budiansky and Ron Friedman spoke of the difficulties in animation back in the 1980s. You didn't have rapid telecommunications, and beyond a phone call and maybe an occasional meeting with the animation group, all the animation team really had was the line art, the colour chart, the story line, and may be some storyboards. With the turnaround time being what it was, they really didn't have a chance to go back and sort out all the continuity issues, character line art QC, and so forth. As they said, you kind of got what they drew, and maybe you had a chance to solve some of this with character voice work, but often you didn't. With the cartoon trying to line up with the toy releases, and having all this happen in a matter of months, you can imagine that a lot of the precision got dropped. (Plus, I guess, it was a kids show.)

Going back and looking at G1 TF is amusing. It's like going back into an odd era of international production pre-Internet, and thinking, wow, they pulled that off for a few years.

 

I think Sunbow/MP's Transformers and GI Joe were the only animated shows that had inconsistent animation quality through their runs. Some eps had really good animation, some were ok, some passable, others not so great.
Even other animated shows of the 80s had solid, and consistent animation each and every episode.

 

So who on here is going to keep their Kronos if you have bought one. I am debating right now. I might just sell off their version and keep the FT's Ethereaon once all are in hand. I can't see myself keeping both. Unsure right now.

 

I'd keep the FT version hands down. It's just better overall, I feel. You can always repurchase Kronos later if you sell it now. FT stuff is near impossible to find once they dry up.....either that or you're at the mercy of marked up prices from scalpers.
FT vs Zeta, there's no debate IMO. lol.

 

Oh hands down I agree. I guess I am just debating if Kronos is worth keeping. Do I need two combiners who rep the same character? Probably not because I will probably gravitate towards the Ft version. Once I had Silverbolt in hand I pretty much regretted getting Zeta's version. Live and learn and will probably take a beating on Kronos when selling. haha.

 

The thing with Kronos is that I'm pretty satisfied with it as a combined Superion, but I'm not impressed with any of them as individual Aerialbots. So I did pick up Maverick and I have Goose preordered, but if I'm being honest Maverick was kind of a letdown after Roadking. If I'm not wowed by Goose I might be out on this set.

Even if I do finish it, Fans Toys has never done a combiner before, and they seem to be doing the usual Fans Toys route of loading up all the members of this set (and their Stunticons) with paint and diecast. Which, you know, is fine on a normal figure, but leaves me a bit concerned about combined mode stability. There's a chance that FT's might me my Aerialbots, but Kronos might still be my Superion.

 

Good point

 

Also, remember Zeta Superion does not come with the G1 toon chestplate but FT Superion does.
So with Zeta, if you use the G1 toon head, you're stuck with the mismatched Japanese/Studio Ox/Manga chestplate.