Kingdom Tigatron has the potential of setting an interesting precedent going forward; something that's perhaps been present throughout Kingdom but we've managed to justify or ignore up until now:



Kingdom Optimus Primal, Blackarachnia and Rattrap haven't been able to integrate their weapons. We told ourselves that Primal had an impossible task trying to fit all the same features and accessories as the Original, Rattrap was too small to store a weapon, and Blackarachnia being great justified her blaster hanging off the bottom. But in light of Kingdom Tigatron and the overt (read: lazy) nature of the weapon integration in beast-mode, it gives us pause to reflect on all of these figures.

The silhouette of the white tiger beast-mode is broken entirely. There is no attempt to integrate the weapon, at all. Part of the initial design, or a last-minute addition in response to the lack of a blaster with Cheetor? We'll probably never know for sure (though Cheetor not coming with a blaster despite the fists on the underside of the beast-mode being in a prime location to hold one could be an indication if the nature of Tigatron's holstering is anything to go by).

But as we move forward, perhaps we should be expecting more of this. If the accessory doesn't fit into the beast-mode, just throw it on. A win over the figure not coming with the accessory at all, perhaps, but given the marvellous and creative ways the original Beast Wars figures integrated theirs, it does cut against the grain.

Issues with weapons in Kingdom isn't just limited to integration however. Rhinox's diminutive chain-guns that don't rotate, Cheetor's axe, Waspinator's blaster, and the decisions around both of Dinobot's weapons all leave a lot to be desired. Even Airazor's darts are a little curious. And looking forward, there's already been word that Tarantulas may be coming with a pizza cutter...

Was it all just too hard? Were the design priorities wrong? Was there a mad scramble to have them ready for Kingdom? It's all just a bit odd.

 

Personally, I just see it as they had a particular vision with the Kingdom line. they wanted to make realistic animals, and that came first in the design process. If they had to make sacrafices to the robot modes or weapon placement, so be it.

And honestly, I can't say this was a bad decision. We are all fans, and that kind of makes us a little blind at times. We have obsessed over Beast Wars for 25 years now, and those original designs are stuck in our heads.

But kids walking through the isles in a store? They've never heard of any of these. But they have heard of cheetahs, tigers, gorillas, etc. Putting the focus on these modes, making them look realistic, will appeal to a different market that a typical transformer. It can potentially get in a new fanbase in on the idea.

If it is successful, this, plus the upcoming and inevitable movie line, will likely mean we will see Beast Wars again. It might be more accurate, might be less accurate. They might go for complete redesigns next (think Unicron Trilogy, but for Beast Wars). Make these characters known in different forms. Then go back and do a nostolgia line.

Point is, I don't see Kingdom even being intended to nail the original. Though the robot modes of a couple do, I think that was just a happy outcome that was achieveable from the primary goal.

Anyway, that's just my thoughts. I've personally really enjoyed the kingdom line.

 

Can't say I disagree with anything you've said here and think you pretty much nailed it

 

It's not my best work, but it's just a thought of what Golden Disk Tigatron will look like.

 

Organic/Kingdom/Beast-Era versions of the Jungle Planet characters

Leobreaker from Tigatron
Backstop from Rhinox
Undermine from Dinobot/Grimlock
Brimstone from Terrorsaur or Wingfinger

 

Realistic animals, with weapons that break the beast-mode silhouette. This is my point. Should we be expecting more of that going forward? Beast with organic beast-modes will look more like G1 Pretender Beasts rather than straight-up beasts.

This is different to the Original Beast Wars figures, the Universe Beast Wars figures and T30 Beast Wars figures, who all maintained clean beast-modes.

 

The weapons are massive and often got in the way of other factors like proportions and articulation. We don't have massive shells like the original rhinox where we can tuck bits of gun away. Car transformers rarely fluidly integrate or hide the weapons anymore either. Usually you slap em on the fender or the roof and call it a day. You get the rare exception like Voyager Megatron and ER Cliff's shield but so to do the beasts have Cheetor's tail and Dinobot's sword and shield, and Waspinator and Airrazorish and Rhinox. The beasts have a far better track record than the cars at this point. Monkey has swords and the gut gun hangs low in a place you probably shouldn't be looking at anyway. Also, T30 Rattrap was far from clean, he looked like he was skinned alive with the utter lack of a belly.

 

By clean beast-modes, I mean that all their accessories are tucked away, or part of the beast-mode. T30 Rattrap's blaster tucks into the underside. Kingdom Rattrap's attaches to his rear leg. There's a distinct difference there.

 

Honestly, I think it has less to do with Blackarachnia being great, and more to do with her weapon being about as conspicuous as the rest of her robo-bits hanging underneath. I am hesitant to lump Blackarachnia with the likes of Rattrap, Optimus Primal, and Tigatron on the grounds that I believe a good faith effort was made to integrate her weapon (or at least hide it). It was just poorly executed.

While I definitely would have preferred integrated swords for Primal, I am more accepting in his case since he barely used them at all in the show (twice?), so I don't really consider them to be integral to his design.

At the moment, Kingdom Tigatron is not doing it for me. If a third party designs a gun that can be incorporated into his beast mode, and fill out his underbelly while they're at it, then I will reconsider.

It is definitely the priorities in my opinion. No attempt whatsoever was made to incorporate Rattrap's weapon, for example, yet I managed to tuck it in such a way that it is hidden from view without compromising the beast mode. If I could do it, then HasTak certainly could have designed a way to do it. It just simply wasn't even a factor for them. With modern design philosophy, it is apparently good enough to just include the weapon and "store" it on their back or whatever.

In Rattrap's case, I don't think they ever considered integrating his gun in the first place. I think they designed him and the gun separately, but proposed them together. If the bean counters call for a reduction in costs, then it's simple enough for them to just nix the gun. I believe that it was the same case for Tigatron and for Cheetor, except that Cheetor was a victim of some cost cutting measure. I do not think Tigatron's gun being included is a result of consumer backlash about Cheetor.

I know you're probably being facetious, but it is kind of hard not to notice.

 

Mostly but I think you can do a lot to hide it depending on how low your table or shelf is and how you position the legs around it. I don't have Cheetor so I can't make an accurate guess, just a thought

 

At least this means that there's a chance of having Inferno's proper cannon.
My take is that his weapon could be formed by two different pieces: one being the actual cannon (which wouldn't integrate into the transformation, much like Tigatron's gut blaster), and the ant-maw (much like the original), so that both pieces combine to form his cannon.
Or the could go the easy route of having his blaster as an entirely different piece, and get rid of the and-maw weapon by having them integrate into the transformation without partsforming (much like Waspinator)

 

If the designers are still going for screen accuracy/inspiration in bot-mode in the next line, the advantage Inferno has is that the ant-maw (the grey pieces) doesn't end up on his chest traditionally. So removing it to be part of the weapon works in our favour.

 

has there been any KOs of the generations rhinox and waspinator figures?

 

I know this is off-topic, but how can you call that thing on Cliffjumper a shield. It isn’t a shield, it’s a problem. Transformers are glorified puzzles, and that “shield” allows you to cheat the puzzle. It shows laziness. But it did save me a lot of money since I didn’t buy any versions of that mold. On-topic, I love how they decided to go all out for the 25th anniversary for Beast Wars, I just wish it didn’t overshadow RiD 2001’s 20th anniversary.

 

I call it what they call it. It's a big metal thing that you wave in front of your face to catch bullets. I'm not stating whether I like or dislike the accessory and how its handled, just that it is an example of one integrated into the alt mode.

 

same, the cliffjumper mold was arguable the worst earthrise mold. im only getting it now because of the worlds collide 4-pack

or the 10th anniversary of animated ending, or the 10th anniversary of tfp, hell even the 10th anniversary of DOTM

 

Arcee was definitely worse. The Cliffjumper mold is pretty decent overall.

 

at least arcee can transform without having to remove a growth from her alt mode, im not saying that she was the best ER mold, just that she definitely isnt the worst figure from a flawed line

 

Arcee is the very definition of a shellformer, which in my opinion is much more egregious that partsforming.

 

Not that Kingdom Megs is a shellformer (or at least not to the same extent as his Original version), but it was curious to me that they gave him such small hip blasters. As a designer, you're being gifted the opportunity to eat up some of the dino kibble in such an easy way, yet you shrink the blasters and stick all the kibble on the back.

It makes you think forward to an update of Big Convoy, who is a certified shellformer, and who has similar blasters on his lower legs. They've got to make the most of them. He is the One Man Army after all. Give him some massive blasters.