Ok and that's bad because? The figure still turned out great and using 4 molds instead probably meant they had more budget to heavily retool the entire figure to be more accurate to the film and include all accessories. So not a bad trade off

 

Override used fewer molds because she was a new mold who was supposed to be a retool. Why is this the case for Optimus?

 

Oh, so it was done Override-style as a basically-fully-new mold done in only the 4 toolings allotted to a retool rather than the normal new-mold amount, after expanding the scope of what they wanted to do with it beyond being a more conservative "change a few parts" retool while still working in a retool's budget. Extremely impressive given that fact.

The question remains, though..... why was this Studio Series toy of Optimus Goddamn Prime only a retailer-exclusive retool in the first place rather than a mainline new mold with full new mold budget?

 

Because this Optimus is the same situation. Ot was meant to be a retool of Studio Series 38 but it got to a point it's almost a new figure besides reusing the tyres and windshields

 

No, I think NexMix meant: why was the Studio Series figure for ROTB Optimus in the same situation as being relegated to a retailer-exclusive retool in the first place, rather than being a mainline new mold?

 

Ah I see, I didn't quite understand what they were trying to say or ask.

It's not an ideal situation since Prime is a Buzzworthy exclusive. But if I was to make a guess, they probably did this to free up slots in Studio Series for new figures of other characters from ROTB.

Also they probably felt the Studio Series 38 mold was a good base to use anyway since it's a pretty good figure. No need to entirely throw it out and start again I suppose.

 

Mm, yeah thinking about it now, I think that does really make sense to be the reason. Feeling at the beginning that SS-38 was already pretty good and they didn't need to change much to get him to be a good ROTB Optimus, they relegated him to a retool, but then in the process of developing the retool realized that actually there was so much they could improve on with the figure that they wanted a new mold, and so now hamstrung by their initial decision, had to have Takara work their engineering magic to get a basically-fully-new mold onto a retool's four toolings.

Disappointing that their initial misdecision kept this figure from being as good as it could have been with a full new mold budget, but still manages to be pretty good in spite of it.

 

Well I just had a read there on Instagram, Sam Smith the designer who worked on ROTB Optimus explained that this figure was originally relegated to a retool of Studio Series 38 because the initial design and concept art for ROTB Optimus was pretty close to the concept art from the Bumblebee movie which studio series 38 is based on.

However when they got more art and assets from Paramount they realised he would look different and they decided to changed it more and more making the toy a heavy retool.

Again not an ideal situation for the designers as it's harder to change a physical toy so it can't be helped. Agreed they still did a great job.

 

Wow, they got the truck license, nice!

 

According to that BMac interview there wasn't a slot for him in main retail because of the delay, so that's why I guess?

 

Cancelled my pre-order yesterday after seeing the back of his truck mode, but dammit, these pics just made me order him once again.

*Sigh*

 

Glad to find out it's licensed, might need two now.

 

You know they're proud of a toy when they do the BTS

 

I will be buying this when I see it in stores...well, the one store that'll have it, but a little annoyed that they're bragging about the limited tooling when the back of the truck is so unfinished looking (most generous way to describe it). And planting SS38 truck mode next to SS102 truck mode and expecting an 'attaboy' is laughable. Yeah, robot mode, hands down a big improvement, but the amount of ground gained on the robot is lost and more with the vehicle mode, licensed or not. I doubt you could walk into a Freightliner showroom or lot (I have no ideal how one goes about viewing or buying a semi truck) and find something with jagged shit coming out of the back of the truck. Unlicensed though it may be, if I saw something like SS38 on the road, I wouldn't look twice.

 

My exact feelings.

 

Have you ever considered that maybe the attempt wasn’t to save money, but to get as much done as possible within a tight budget?

I listened to Bmac’s comments on the podcast he appeared on and he straight up mentions that there is only so much new tooling budget per year, and they have to figure out where to allocate that. Originally, this figure was only going to be a partial retool of SS38, but Takara was able to figure out how to manage all of the new parts within the budget. This was because it was cast with 4 molds.

The alternative to this would not be the same figure with more molds, it would have been a shitty retool of SS38.

 

The unlicensed one looks more realistic.

 

Exactly. Licensed apparently means an unidentifiable box on wheels with a Freightliner logo on it.

 

i still dont see why they couldnt refine the back of the truck a little bit more, that ruins the figure for me, wonder if one can swap the legs and feet,the new ones do not look like they are that much bigger but it would depend on the joints

 

It's so fuckin' weird that they licensed the truck with extensive mods rendering it near-unrecognizable.