It would have been a shame if we didn't get the shield. It looks pretty cool with him.

 

Had G1 Metroplex and some combiner teams as a kid and loved this feature. Why was this combination ability ignored? Trypticon didn't have any connections for combiner limbs did he?

 

On topic, I got my order for one in a few weeks ago. (Technically, it's my wife's Christmas present to me.) So glad we met the stretch goals. My wife was pretty happy, too. "So we'll get everything?" she was keen to know.

Off topic, but in reply to others ponderings of future Haslab projects... I see a lot of interest in a Ginrai as another wanted Japanese character... Personally, I'm rather happy with the one we got out of Takara during their equivalent of Titans Return.





I suppose there is the slight downside of him being a Headmaster rather than a Powermaster, and also of the cab not having a separate robot mode, but if you don't mind taking a dance on the dark side that is third party upgrades, there were ways to fix that.






And if you are bothered by third party upgrades, and if you're mainly interested in displaying him fully combined as God Ginrai, the upgrades are kind of superfluous anyway.

I don't know. If you're the kind of person who must have this figure, who must have every single mode available, and who absolutely positively hates any third party upgrades, I guess there is a bit of a market. But that's a project I would be okay sitting out. Meanwhile, I look forward to seeing how Victory Saber looks with Dai Atlas and the God Ginrai I already have.

 

If they are going to have a retro box art for this set, I wonder if the contents inside will be similarly laid out to the OG box set:
I've looked for a somewhat tail for Victory Leo, and it looks both the OG toy and the anime, he never had or used a tail, is this correct?

Also, I wonder if Star Saber would have the opening shoulder missile pods, like the MP? I know the G1 toy didn't, but still.

 

LG-EX God Ginrai is a great toy as is, but the upgrades were always tempting. I'm not into unlicensed figures, but upgrades could be considered. I liked the separate cab upgrade, but didn't want to lose compatibility with other TR figures. What this figure really needs is a new pair of feet.

 

Metroplex and the first four Scramble City Combiners were originally planned to be released under an aborted Diaclone subline called "Jizai Gattai," or "Free Combination." This subline never ended up releasing due to Takara canceling Diaclone and Microman in favor of importing Transformers to Japan, unfortunately. Their interactivity is a remnant of their originally planned play pattern, hence all four of the torso bots, even the Decepticons, having base modes that connect to Metroplex. Trypticon was completely original to Transformers, made specifically to work with the two Jizai Gattai sets that were made Decepticons.
We don't really know exactly why Hasbro decided to ignore so much of the originally planned Jizai Gattai play pattern.

 

IIRC during the reveal stream they said there weren't any missiles in the shoulders and it doesn't appear to be any hinges in the promo pics showing them. They could update the design during the production as we are still a looooong time from this getting in our hands.

As for the tail, that was an accessory in the 3P Simba figure along with the shield/nosecone. Doubtful that Hasbro will be making anything that originated from a 3P version of one of their characters. If people want that a 3P company will probably make them as part of an upgrade pack along with gap fillers.

 

It was quite awhile back since I watched that video, or that I just missed it completely, probably a combination of both. Another reason for keeping my MP SS, shoulder missiles! Thanks for confirming both the no shoulder missiles and the no tail. 

 

The stability issue is a fair criticism of those CW combiners, although I still like them.

That said, the idea that we're not getting repaints and remolds, let's go through the WFC line figure by figure...

• Firedrive -> Fracas, Singe, Pinpointer, Sparkless Singe, Nightstick
• Lionizer -> Dazzlestrike, Captive Lionizer
• Blowpipe -> Caliburst, Trenchfoot, Heartburn, Heatstroke, Sparkless Caliburst, Aimless, Shrute
• Pteraxadon -> Terror-Daxtyl, Enerax, Sights
• Rung -> Battlefield Rung
• Micromasters -> I don't feel like listing every one of these but they had a bunch of repaints
• Sideswipe -> Covert Clone Sideswipe, Red Alert, Netflix Sideswipe, Netflix Red Alert, Deep Cover, Tigertrack, Netflix Deep Cover, Kingdom Red Alert, Kingdom Sideswipe, Gigawatt
• Cog -> Aragon
• Hound -> Hot Shot, Netflix Hound
• Skytread -> Slamdance
• Chromia <- POTP Moonracer, Novastar -> Nightbird, Lancer, Greenlight, Tentakil, Scylla
• Ironhide -> Crosshairs, Ratchet, Deseeus Army Drone, Earthrise Ironhide, Galactic Odyssey Ratchet, Shattered Glass Ratchet
• Sixgun -> Cromar
• Prowl -> Barricade, Smokescreen, Bluestreak, Sparkless Bot
• Refraktor -> Scrapface
• Brunt -> Centurion Drone, Zetar
• Impactor -> Decepticon Impactor, Netflix Impactor
• Mirage -> Holo-Mirage, Netfilx Mirage, Kingdom Mirage
• Spinister -> Rotorstorm
• Optimus Prime (Siege) -> Classic Animation Optimus Prime, Nemesis Prime Spoiler Pack, Premium Finish Optimus Prime
• Megatron (Siege) -> Classic Animation Megatron, Netflix Megatron, Spoiler Pack Megatron, G2 Megatron, Combat Megatron, Premium Finish Megatron, Earthrise Megatron
• Starscream (Siege) -> Skywarp, Thundercracker, Red Wing, Acid Storm, Ion Storm, Nova Storm, Hotlink, Sparkless Seeker, Shattered Glass Starscream
• Soundwave -> Soundblaster, Netflix Soundwave
• Ultra Magnus -> Netflix Ultra Magnus, Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime, Kingdom Ultra Magnus, Premium Finish Ultra Magnus
• Shockwave -> Galactic Man
• Jetfire -> Shattered Glass Jetfire
• Soundbarrier -> Sheeldron
• Siltherfang -> Fangtron
• Hoist -> Trailbreaker
• Wheeljack -> Exhaust, Netflix Wheeljack
• Cliffjumper -> Netflix Bumblebee, Hubcap, Bug Bite, Shattered Glass Goldbug, Buzzeworthy Bumblebee Bumblebee
• Ironworks -> Greasepit, Botropolis Rescue Ironworks
• Arcee -> Elita-1
• Airwave -> Hot House, Overair
• Allicon -> Quintesson Bailiff
• Smokescreen -> Earthrise Barricade, Prowl, Bluestreak
• Fasttrack -> Black Roritchi
• Sunstreaker -> Spin-Out, Cordon
• Runamuck -> Runabout
• Starscream (Earthrise) -> Earthrise Thrust, Dirge, Ramjet, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Sandstorm, G2 Ramjet, Coronation Starscream, Premium Finish Starscream
• Grapple -> Inferno, Artfire
• Quintesson Judge -> Pit of Judgement Judge
• Optimus Prime (Earthrise) -> Alternate Universe Optimus Prime (dead), Netflix Optimus Prime, Shattered Glass Optimus Prime
• Scorponok -> Black Zarak
• Vertebreak -> Dracodon
• Rattrap -> Netflix Rattrap
• Cheetor -> Netflix Cheetor, Shadow Panther
• Blackarachnia -> Buzzworthy Bumblebee Blackarachnia
• Paleotrex -> Transmutate, Skelivore
• Airazor -> Skywarp, Terrorsaur
• Ractonite -> Tricranius
• Huffer -> Pipes, Road Ranger, Puffer
• Tracks -> Road Rage
• Optimus Primal -> Nemesis Primal, Netflix Optimus Primal
• Dinobot -> Grimlock
• Tigatron -> Mutant Tigatron
• BW Megatron -> T-Wrecks, Tyrannocon Rex
• Galvatron -> G1 colors Galvatron
• Jackpot <- SS86 Jazz

You can't tell me there's not a ton of reuse, with several characters spawning a disturbing number of repaints. That's been the business model of Transformers since day one though.

 

This franchise has always had reuses, so I don't see the argument here.

 

I believe @PloverNutter's point about repaints wasn't that we aren't getting repaints but that we are getting less of the CW Prime/Prowl/Ironhide/Mirage style repaints from molds that don't really suit the characters. Especially for the deluxes and up

 

It's gonna be a verrry long year!  

 

Guess I should start watching the Victory anime huh XD

 

I’m just excited to see how he scales with LG dai atlas

 

And Masterforce!

 

Also I wonder how well he could scale with FH God Ginrai

 

@Fenrys you hit the nail on the head. Like CW Motormaster was just CW Optimus with a new head, but next year he is going to be the Commander figure with a brand new mold. There is no longer lazy reuse of molds in the mainline figures, otherwise SS86 Jazz would have been a ER Datsun redeco for sure.

 

Combiner Wars was especially bad about it. Again, the Techno bots are a prime example of half-assed attempts.

 

The separate cab upgrade was totally worth it. The biggest problem these days, I suppose, is that from what I understand, good luck finding these upgrade kits for anything close to the original asking price. But if you can find them for a price you're comfy with, go for it!

If the Titan Master comparability was important to you, you can in theory use the stock Super Ginrai head with the new cab. There is an unfortunate sacrifice in neck articulation. The hinge that the head opens on in order to insert the Titan Master ends up nestled between two other hinges (circled in yellow) on the new cab...



But it can technically be used. And if memory serves, you need to turn it sideways, but it will store inside the new cab for vehicle or cab-robot modes.

As for your desire new feet... I get this is a matter of personal preference, but I never had a problem with his feet. They look a hell of a lot better in vehicle mode than Magnus's/PMOP's feet. They may look a little odd in robot mode, but are accurate to the G1 toy. And I like the added height they give him. They're also kind of necessary to connect with God Bomber. And while it takes a bit of care in posing, I have never noticed any of the stability issues (even in God Ginrai configuration) that I have seen many others complain of. Maybe I got lucky?

 

I understand the general point you're making, but I'ma gonna correct you there. A lot of CW Motormaster was significantly retooled/pretooled from Optimus. It just wasn't the kind of retooling that affected the transformation at all. Mainly just a lot of the surface detailing.

This is the consequence of Hasbro having to come up with multiple combiner torsos in just the span of six waves. The cost of designing and engineering the combiner system clearly ate up a lot of the budget in general, which is why we got so many redecos and retools in that line. This is something combiners done once per year likely won't suffer from. Especially not with commander class torsos, since commander class figures have big enough budgets that they aren't required to have any pretools/retools in the pipeline.