While I appreciate the comparison to the movie, it's apples to oranges, since we know the WFC are INSPIRED by G1, not slavishly copying G1. It's expected to be different. It's like complaining that a Beatles tribute band isn't identical to the original band. It's close enough, and should satisfy most. When we see Unicron in season 3 of the Netflix series, we'll probably see a Unicron with a backpack and kibble.

 

Lots of good points made about this design.
My personal take reminds me of my experience as a young car nut in high school in the 1990s (yeah, I feel like old man Kup telling stories)...

The Plymouth Prowler, now remembered as a sort of dorky “warm rod” car that never quite lived up to its looks, was a big freaking deal when the concept car showed up in 1993.

Thanks to the amazing Viper, people knew that Chrysler was serious about making their concept cars into reality. The insane custom hot rod sheet metal seemed impossibly cool for a production car...the fact that they were going to sell these sleek, evil looking, open roof/open wheel cars in showrooms for about the price of a Corvette, blew my teenage mind.

Well a couple years went by and pictures of the street legal version of the prowler started to emerge. Right away, people fixated on the blocky bumpers, bigger headlights, etc and how it didn’t look as good as the concept.

While I agreed with this, I also grew to see the production car as being more appealing because it actually worked. It wasn’t just a demonstration of a design, it was a machine that you could get into and drive (slowly) around. The changes were justified and necessary and still, a ton of the original design was in tact!

I see Unicron’s kibble the same way. Sure, it takes away from the composition...but it represents the fact that this AMAZING piece of plastic actually transforms. Seeing those chunks is a reminder that this figure is the real deal. So... I’m finding that I like the kibble.

 

I think that’s fair to some degree. I addressed this my first Source Material paragraph — I’m well aware this is WFC Unicron and not G1 or Masterpiece Unicron. That said, I think this is more than just heavily inspired. There are certainly some updates as you would see in any Generations figure — in this case, the extra detailing and paint, the spiked wings, the 8 abs (ugh), etc. — but this is also meant to be the closest Hasbro will be in making the movie Unicron. Check out this description from the HasLab site:

“This will be the most accurate Unicron figure ever created. Artists and designers from Takara Tomy and Hasbro reviewing various movie references and are working to capture little details and features of the relentless Chaos Bringer.”

This is likely a case of Hasbro having its cake and eating it too — Haslab Unicron is probably meant to be all things to all people. Seeing how accurate this guy is to the movie is me keeping them to their word and picking out all those little details and features the designers snuck in. And it turns out, he is pretty damned accurate, in many cases surprisingly more than the third party version.

Also, this is fun for me! You don’t want to ruin my fun, do you?  

 

That’s technically the correct coloring for Optimus when Unicron first shows up  

 

Same. Galvatron and Rodimus (and Optimus from the Centurian set) will be removed from the package long enough for me to take a brief look at them, then back in they go where I'll forget they exist.

 

That’s factually accurate, but if they took significant liberties with Unicron that made him noticeably different than TFTM, I’d have saved $600, and I am confident I am not alone. The further they stray from a 1986 tribute ensemble in WFC/SS, the more money I will spend elsewhere.

 

Speaking of which, have they actually released anything about making Studio Series figures for the 1986 movie? Or is that just a rumor? I don’t see why there are G1 movie characters showing up in both WFC and SS

 

Only a Studio Series 86 movie Grimlock was leaked thanks to Walmart. (Name only)

 

Gnaw as well

 

As I've said before I'm a returning fan to this fandom so consider me a newbie.
Please give me more info on that Gnaw. I love sharkticons and have always wished they (hasbro/takara/anybody) would make a masterpiece style Gnaw.

 

This one is a deluxe, labeled with an 86 identifier for the movie and in studio series. It’s likely pretty much what we would have gotten had gnaw won last years earthrise fan vote, but that’s just speculation on my part

 

Respectfully disagree.

 

I'd agree with you if it wasn't for the 3rd party Unicron that actually pulls of a transformation without all the kibble.

 

how many times do we have to go over this

the reason Haslab has kibble and Zeta doesn't is cuz Haslab actually goes for a screen-accurate planet mode, while Zeta really doesn't

 

This in a nutshell, zetas is inaccurate in planet mode, which is how unicron spends most of the movie

 

Well... seems things are as expected in here.

I think the biggest drawback for the Zetacron is that the optional maw of the planet mode just kinda poorly plugs into the original face and has no shame about how bad that is. And they seem proud that they even offered the "feature".

 

I'd take the kibble as long as it comes with an accurate planet mode and accurate robot mode details. Zeta JUST has a robot mode with no kibble, which isn't good enough for me.

 

The biggest drawback for me is that every reviewer I watched said Zetacron wasn't fun to transform and he was just as fiddily as I was worried he would be. Honestly, if I bought him, I'd just keep him in robot mode.

But back on to Haslab Unicron. Despite the massive kibble, he still looks fun to transform (not overly complicated and a stand for stable transformation are a plus for me). I think ultimately that's what it boils down to, aesthetics be damned. But we'll see when I get him in hand if that's still true, haha.

 

yeah thats clever until you look at the planet mode which only looks sort of good from the front turn it around and the back of the planet mode is shit , i have one on pre order for the second batch so i'm not a hastak only fanboy bashing the figure here as i love the look of zeta's robot mode but there is no getting away from how bad the planet mode looks

haslabs planet mode looks amazing but i also i firmly believe haslab could have done a much better job with their robot mode and transformation to get rid of some of that kibble which makes the whole thing look awkward , would have jumped on the pre orders if i had the money at the time just for that lush looking planet mode

both figures have their flaws!!

one of those times if people have enough cash they should buy both and enjoy the best of both worlds

maybe one day someone will nail both modes tho  

 

Different design goals, in ways that cannot be reconciled with each other.

The HasLab version was designed to have a very detailed, accurate planet mode, replicate a number of the iconic transformation steps illustrated in the movie, be manageable to transform, and most importantly, be freakin' huge.

The 3P version was designed to have a clean robot mode, and to transform into a ball. Everything else about it was sacrificed for that sake. The planet mode is super inaccurate, the transformation is a crazy mess of folding panels that doesn't work like the onscreen transformation at all, and would very likely self-destruct if scaled up to HasLab Unicron's height.