One of Unicron's lines from the first film that always stuck out to me.
"For a time, I considered sparing your wretched little planet Cybertron"

The very idea that Unicron would spare Cybertron always ran counter to how often comics and later media would depict Unicron as someone who's entire being is to just destroy Cybertron.
So I've always kind of preferred the idea that Unicron and Cybertron don't really have any real connection.

 

In the fan fiction that I'll never actually write, my take on Unicron doesn't have a connection to Cybertron. He's only brought into conflict with them because even if he never attacks Cybertron directly, he's still a threat to the galaxy and stability of the universe (because his method traveling from one universe to another involves punching a hole in spacetime that collapses the one he's leaving). So he'll consider sparing worlds, but only because they'll eventually be destroyed anyway.

 

To me Unicron is huge, like massive mountain huge which fit almost all scenes of the 1986 movie, so that next to Cybertron it's more like this:

 

Plus it's basically just a big gun with a vehicle built around it, so it's still in the spirit of his original alt mode.

It makes for cool art but an A-10 wouldn't have enough mass to work as a good Megatron in toy form. And I generally prefer him not to take an Earth mode at all. It feels more in character for him to proudly stick with his Cybertronian form.

 

So it doesn't have to be an A-10. He can still be some kind of big sexy flying thing. Cybertronian is fine too  

 

There's nothing wrong with more simple toys like one-step changers. I used to not like them, but it makes sense that some kids want toys that can be transformed fast. Thinking back to when I was a kid, the 'regular' toys were funner as puzzles than action figures. If you were trying to tell a story, you had to pause the story for 3 - 5 minutes to transform the figure, which kind of wrecks the momentum. Hence why I liked telling stories with Legends figures (or even cheap McDonalds toys) more than Deluxes or Voyagers. In hindsight, I actually wish I had more simple figures during my early Transformers years.

 

I care a lot about how they look in robot mode and rarely put them in vehicle mode, but I was also never a child during my involvement with TF fandom.

 

The machine wars ”auto-changers” (the trucks for example, or even the early Beast Wars legends) are 3 inch tall, great plastic, detailed and excellent articulation, and are not younger children oriented. They probably are the best ”marvels” of engineering that have been ever done and shows that it can be done ”right”. I hated that their concept was forgotten and ended.

Edit: forgot to mention that they even integrated their weapons as part of their Alt mode...something that's just so lost lately. Pegging a gun on the side or roof just isn't the same.



Pardon the dust, he just sits on my desk next to me...

 

Or Unicron was lying to make Galvatron despair?

 

Well I could see that as a possibility if you’re trying to fix the obvious contradiction, but the fact of the matter is it’s just not the case

at the time the idea that Cybertron had a special Significance/connection to Unicron wasn’t conceived yet

 

Holy cow, this is metal. This is how you experiment and do something fresh with the G1 design, instead of adapting it to a different art style and try nothing else.
(Although I do prefer an assault helicopter for Meg)

 

Yeah. My kids love the Rescue Bots Academy 1-step toys. They’re quick and easy, chunky & durable to stand up to a toddler. And the look on their faces as they successfully transform a toy is priceless.

 

When they try to convince me that Windblade is a character

 

Now that's a Megatron design! The A-10 works beautifully for him, since it's basically a gun with a plane built around it, and it lets him fly like in the Sunbow cartoon. On top of that, there aren't a lot of A-10 Transformers compared to the metric tons of tanks in the franchise. Literally the only change I'd make would be to turn the fusion cannon into a rotary fusion gatling that could also synchronize all four (or six, I'm not picky) barrels for heavy charged shots.

(Side Note: I prefer that Energon design for Galvatron - the alien jet is cooler than G1 Galvatron's artillery platform.)

Universe Powerglide used the A-10 design back in '08, and he was beefy looking. Granted, they beefed up the A-10 a bit to do it, but it still worked.

 

Yeah, that's an understatement. I have that figure. The fuselage's diameter is about twice that of the real plane, and the wings are comparatively tiny. A real A-10 with those dimensions would likely never get its fat ass off the ground. And I wouldn't describe the robot as "beefy": tiny waist, overly-broad chest, massive sagging breasts. When I was a kid, I had a great aunt built like that who loved to hug. Not a good thing.

Don't get me wrong-- TAS's concept drawing is fantastic, and I do think it could be done, but it would be a significant feat of engineering to retain the relatively trim dimensions of the plane and also deliver a respectably fleshed-out robot.

Isn't one of his other designs being developed as a figure? A helicopter Waspinator? Anything's possible, I suppose.

 

For the Powerglide figure, they could move the wings to the legs and modify the rear cylinder things (it's late, words fail me right now), but there's also the Energon Skyshadow figure that they could draw on (albeit, again, moving the wings to the legs. It's doable with proper investment.

 

I really don’t like the idea of characters keeping their cybertronian alt modes on earth. To me, one of the main appeals of transformers is the meeting between the fantastic and the mundane which I think you lose if a character doesn’t transform into an earth vehicle

 

I agree, it's do-able. But it's not been done well so far, in my opinion, and I think it would be a challenging design to pull off. It'd be a very cool alt mode for Megs, for sure.

 

True enough.

 

Windblade should be Optimus Prime's replacement in a new show, taking the mantle of Prime as well.

Also Masterpiece Windblade needs to happen.