any idea when they will ship from Target ?

 

Sorry, I don't mean to belabor the point but wishing that this figure strayed from the animation model is illogical, since the figure is a direct reference to his very first appearance. (Just like Origins Bumblebee, and they both retained their earth based kibble, it's a feature not a glitch)

Young me, probably would have been bothered by it too, but back then you couldn't rewind and demand to rewatch, so they made the right decision in the end....because I didn't notice. By the time they're on earth you haven't spent enough time with them to really connect the dots and be bothered. Later in life you just accept this contradiction as a lore mystery.

Moreover, Siege continued this tradition to a degree, Prime looked exactly like earth Prime in bot mode, as does Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream. They were making a play at this episode but reimagining the alt modes. I think the line would have been even more successful had they nailed the MTMTE episode first and then branched out. Personally I want to see Origins expanded as far as it can go. Marvel Origins Bluestreak from Jazz, Marvel Origins Optimus. Origins Elita etc.

Here is the scene where Jazz Transforms



...and Wheeljack is deeply anticipated by fans of Bee and Jazz.

 

Oh okay, thanks! That's good news to me

 

The big flaw of this figure is that you need to put a lot of stress on the panels in vehicle mode in order to tab everything together. The natural position once you tab in the backside to the top is this:


Once in this position you kind of just have to force everything together. I can't imagine the plastic liking this over time.
If the legs could have collapsed like 3 more millimeters it would have fit perfectly.

 

That's true.

Yeah. I can still wish though. I don't want to go over my point again so one last time here it is. The fake earth mode chest makes the robot mode look cheesy. It's there for accuracy to the show and nothing more. Just because it's accurate doesn't mean it should be replicated imo.

 

Someone on here who worked at Target said 3/16 is when these are supposed to start showing up in stores.

 

Transforming into alt mode, you have to squeeze everything to get the panels to fit.

Any tips?

 

Use a pencil to push the panels in.

 

Well, it wont be the Cybertron mode from the show then but some stylized rendition of something that had nothing to do wirh the show as the mode is an alien vehicle. Their bot modes are the ones with the earth vehicle parts.

 

Not yet. It says “no release date yet.”

 

So, Origins Bee has a fake chest, but it was at least incorporated (albeit half-assedly) into the alt mode. If they had made the chest...I don't know, tail lights? With the window covering the hood part? Maybe that would work. I don't know.

I've just always hated fake parts...the first time I really remember noticing things like that was Transformers Prime Smokescreen. A great looking toy, and I get impossible to have transform as it did in the show, but the fake chest panel really bothered me there too (and ever since...CW Stunticons, I'm looking at you)

 

Cybertronian Jazz literally couldn’t be what he is without a fake chest. As the cartoon didn’t give him a. Cybertronian robot mode so this figure essentially needed it to be done within the design language that is currently going on. Also personally I couldn’t care less about fake parts. Whatever gets the best looking robot mode is what I care about most. Whether it’s the design, budget, cost etc, it makes sense.

 

I wonder...I first started collecting Transformers in 1984. Well, "collecting" may be a strong word, but playing with them for sure. And there were no fake parts back then (as far as I remember anyway)
Anyway, point is...do fake parts bother people more who were introduced to Transformers way back when, and newer fans, who are more used to good-looking articulated toys (as opposed to G1 "bricks") are bothered by fake parts less?

 

Im 34, been collecting with my own money my entire adult life essentially. Grew up with beast wars. I’ve never once cared about fake parts. No consideration whatsoever. Just my personal experience.

 

100% better than 10 seconds of G1 accurate.

 

It doesn't usually bother me. I think if you handle 86 Hotrod, and just take in the engineering genius that it represents, you might quit worrying about the fake parts.


Also lately the fake part is right behind the real one, like with Hotrod and BBM Jeep bumblbee, BBM Cybertron Bumblbee also went with the faux chest, but it's often amazing how they fit it in.

I mean, how would you make the chest real in these cases and get reasonable proportions?


The only time I didn't like was on Runamuck and Runabout.

I felt like they could have used real parts for the chest (perhaps by splitting the windows midway.... and the wheel spurs were disappointing because we missed out on what would have been an amazing leg transformation, to naturally line up the wheels.
(See Redalert)



Thet still look good, hope we get Devastation colors.....

 

Yeah there are just some times where a fake chest or fake parts are just needed in order to get something to look right.

 

Collector since G1.

I always wanted something more like the media and remember being really happy with Powermaster Optimus Prime's proportions and fake chest.

 

I've been playing with Transformers since the beginning, and no, fake parts have never bothered me. Not once, not in any circumstance. In fact I've been delighted to see the use of fake parts where that has been the only way to make the toy work in both modes (and by work I mean "appear the way the designers want it to appear").

Sure, it might be nice as an ideal to aim for, to not use fake parts, but in the real world the designers have to work with strict budgets and physical reality (in the case where the toy is representing an animated or comic character where the designer of that on-screen/page character didn't bother with what could actually physically work for a toy), and both of those will get in the way of that ideal, particularly when an explicit goal for the toy (must look like the character did on screen in 1986) is part of their design brief.

 

All right, I stand corrected!  

I totally admit fake parts make one mode look better than it could without them. I guess I'm ok with functionality over form. Uh oh...does that make me a functionist!?!