I think it depends on what motivates a person to collect these toys to begin with. You might be in for appearance. Some of us (myself at least) are into the mechanical "art" of it. If a figure achieves its transformation through manipulation of parts via hinges, sliders, joints, etc., then I appreciate it. If it does it by removing and relocating parts, it's just not very interesting to me. It reflects a lack of sophistication and imagination on the part of the designer.

 

Fair enough. I’m in it for fun toys that look good. Partsforming doesn’t make it less fun for me. But, we’re all in this for different reasons so if it’s not your cup of tea I get it.

 

Depends on what they do with those parts, as well. The modular gimmick toys from WFC were a blast, love my Paleotrex, but Bumblebee and Cliffjumper felt like a "we couldn't do better" solution that I didn't think was necessary. The part doesn't even look that good as a shield either so I never used it as such

 

Yeah I agree that the shield doesn’t look to good. I don’t have that mold, but I do have SG Goldbug on preorder (and I’m planning on getting Cliffjumper and Bumblebee at some point, when I find em for relatively cheap) but I don’t think it’s that bad. From what I’ve seen (and obviously having it in person can change it) it still hits my two main needs for a figure: 1) looks good 2) is fun. But like I’ve said, different people have different wants from it. Whatever floats your boat, yeah?

 

That SG Goldbug looks cool. It has a nice headsculpt, and the color scheme is pretty sweet. I'm tempted.

I'm also tempted to get one just for the head, which I would repaint blue and pop onto a gold-painted Bumblebee body.

 

Yeah black and gold just works. Honestly, I wasn’t too fond of the head sculpt at first. It’s grown on me, though!

 

I'm a bit late on Energon Ironhide, but I own him and honestly love him. His exposed head is... well, it's not good, but it's really the only overt flaw of the toy. And I've seen far worse instances of visible-head syndrome. It's only really bad if you look at the upper structure dead-on.

It's a big, chunky truck that rolls really well and has molded-in seats, a steering wheel and what appears to be a glove compartment inside. Transformation hits the sweet spot for me where there's enough to keep it interesting, but it's not frustrating. And you get a big, powerful robot mode with decent articulation and one of the best Powerlinx modes in Energon. I've got him on my desk right now and he's just... fun!

Would he benefit from some updating? Hmm... maybe some updates to articulation, but only if the Powerlinx gimmick isn't compromised/removed. And even then it'd really only be the wrists/waist, and if it's a choice between a waist and powerlinx? I'm going with powerlinx.

 

Hey, in the 80s rectilinear stuff was fashionable!

I'd be happy with a city/station that was actually good for once, with lots of play value, and not just a robot doing yoga or taking a nap. If the positioning of the robot parts in altmode is something that I, personally, could mimic as a squishy human, it's less a 'transformation' and more of a 'pose'.

 

I don't like calling them city bots because none of the toys are anywhere near big enough to be city, and I don't like the ginormous size they are shown as in some media. It would be nice if large base bots had more interactive features for other figures/vehicles. They work best with small size classes like Titan Masters, Micro Masters, and sometimes legend/core size.

 

backpacks can totally enhance the design of a fig, like idk how but i rlly like the packs on my mp spinout and mpm ratchet lol

 

Is that the same as "I love it when my figures can't stand and they fall over and I have to display them lying down or only in alt mode".

That's bound to be unpopular I would think.

At best they are all platforms, not one has an actual "room" or such that figures can fit in or has proper play value.

I wish that they would have "absorbed" the Gobots line completely and we could get updated versions of the Thruster and City Commander base/robot/ships that would have more potential.

Opinion wise: The Go-bots bases were better than every TFs bases ever done (even the Titans of today).

Electronics, elevators, multiple floors, actual "rooms" for the mainline figures, triple modes ("robot", base, vehicle)

 

MPM Ratchet actually stands pretty solidly due to the diecast metal parts and somewhat extensive use of ratchet joints.

 

I don't see how. Both Spinout and Ratchet stand up perfectly well.

 

..No it's saying something like Shockwave's barrel on his back or the pontoons on Siege Soundwave give the designs depth and details on an otherwise boring and uninspired surface. "backpack" =/= cripplingly heavy and lazy kibble

 

I agree! Done correctly it adds to it . Like Rotf bludgeon, it makes him look cooler.

 

While I appreciate the chrome details on original G1 toys, I understand why many people don't want to see that on modern figures. I'm usually satisfied in those cases with metallic silver paint, or in the case of CHUG, a light grey plastic. However, I strongly dislike the use of white plastic or paint to represent the original chrome. Yes, the Sunbow artists used white in the mid-80s cartoon, but that was for practical reasons in that media. IMO it makes the toys look very cheap.

 

I don't think (most) combiners need to be as big as many people seem to imagine they are. Somewhere along the line combiners became these titans-sized behemoths which absolutely tower over everyone else. I think that doesn't make sense. A typical Scramble City style combiner should be no more than roughly 2-2.5x the height of a normal transformer. An arm should after all be almost exactly the height of a standard transformer.

More complicated combiners like Devastator, Predaking and Raiden may end up being taller due to how they're built up, though even then we're taking at most 2.5-3x the height of a normal transformer. Not 10x.

In terms of toys the only question left is the actual size class of the toys (e.g. deluxe vs. voyager vs. leader for limbs).

 

5 cars towering over already tall buildings. Yikes

 

Impressive. Afterburner is a motorcycle the size of a house and each of Drag Strip's wheels could squish a transformer.