what with the ducons battletrap and flywheel now being 4 bots with separate vehicle modes that combine to become 2 bots for their main mode

does that make each duocon a sort of powerlink combiner in thier way?

this is how they should have handled the whole idea back in the energon toyline imho folks


now if they can just further improve o nthe idea to provide each duocon set with a combined vehicle mode as well

say the truck and the tank combinging to form a heavy armored assault tank halt track style

or the jet and copter combining into a jetcoptor gunship

 

What about the semi truck and useless oil tank combining into an oil tanker?  


On a more serious note though, the POTP Duocons definitely are in essence the Powerlinx Combiners of old, though they differ in that Battletrap actually looks good  

 

No, they are Duocons

 

I dunno...if a duocon is defined as one robot with two simultaneous vehicle modes, then the Battletrap isn't really a duocon anymore.

I'm not sure if I would call it "powerlinx", since those guys could all link with any other powerlinx figure, right?

These guys are more like the cassette combiners where two separate robots merge into one robot.

 

...existential contemplation; i like it!..

...if flywheels comes along later in power of the primes, we may well get some powerlinx-style action out of these figures, although i always thought flywheels would have made a better-suited pretool for overlord than black shadow...

 

Ironically, I was always bothered by the idea of a Duocon. I had Flywheels, but I never quite understood what the advantage was of having two simultaneous modes.

And a tank and a jet are bound to get separated in battle.

So what happens to them if one half gets destroyed? Can the half with the head exist without the half with the legs? If the half with the head gets destroyed, does the half with the legs die as a result? Or do they both have brains?

So I get the idea of making each part its own robot more, but then it's not really the same thing anymore.

(Is there a list of transformers that simultaneously inhabit multiple bodies? G1 Optimus Prime, Skylinx, the Duocons...)

 

magmatron from beast wars neo/beast machines has three beast modes that combine into one robot

 

It's what PotP is doing with them. And there's nothing wrong with calling them "Duocons" because that's just as easily the Subgroup as it is a description of how they function.

They're two bots that become one bot. Might as well stick with calling them Duocons. Much like Apeface and Snapdragon would still be the Horrorcons even if they lost their triple change mode or gained a headmaster gimmick.

PotP defines Roadtrap and Battleslash as individual robots who can also combine into Battletrap. So for the purposes of this particular iteration I'd assume either can operate without the other and the loss of either would only mean the combiner is lost.

That said, like any other combining Transformer...if another bot is introduced who can also form half of a PotP Duocon, then I'd assume they're no different than a handful of comibiner-components bots forming a gestalt.

 

Perhaps.

Although, it would be a bit like still calling the Aerialbots "Aerialbots" even if they all turned into cars...or calling Pretenders "Pretenders" even if they lost their shells...

The original gimmick was that one robot became two vehicles, not that two robots became one robot.

Or maybe Devastator is really a Hexacon...Bruticus and Menasor are Pentacons...

 

By the reverse logic, was g1 overlord a duocon? He fits the description. What about characters that are two bots that combine into one vehicle like dreadwind and darkwing?

 

Off-topic, but "if" Apeface and Snapdragon "gained a headmaster gimmick"? They were originally Headmasters.

In POTP, at least, Duocon seems to be the term for any combined form made up of two Decepticons. So neither Roadtrap or Battleslash are actually Duocons: Battletrap and Dreadwing are (POTP Dreadwing is labeled as one in the instructions for it).

 

thats actually probably the best way to put it for the modern interpretation, a duocon is the combination of two bots (be it alt or bot mode) but not the component bots, which would then keep overlord and skyshadow out of the duocon department as far as modern duocons go

 

Ugh. Hasbro's copywriting department has really confused me. I'm looking at a screenshot of the back of the packages and it refers to Battleslash's "Duocon partner Roadtrap" (and vice versa). Which makes it very ambiguous as to whether the components are classified as Duocons (because they are pairs) or the combined robot (because it is made of two other robots).

So, it looks like my assertion of the G1 definition is rendered null-and-void by the PotP copywriters.

Never mind, everyone. I'm gonna go slither back to 1987.

 

Touche. I meant to sat Primemaster.

 

Disagree, not any more. Hasbro destroyed more iconic characters.

 

It's semantics, but if the Aerialbots lost their ability to combine they'd still be the Aerialbots.

Same concept here. They're still the Duocons, they've just gained a new ability.

 

Hasbro reinterpreted the term, that’s their right. I’d hardly call the duocons iconic, there’s only two of them, their original toys are shit and they aren’t in the cartoon (outside of the last arc of headmasters)

 

"Iconic"

 

i had one of the duocons as a kid and i hated him. for the same reason i hate the throttlebots, their arms had weird articulation. But I love my toyworld "nottlebots" and i am looking forward to the new duo cons

 

Just for the sake of debate: yes, if they lost the combiner ability they'd still be Aerialbots...because that name doesn't really refer to their ability to combine, but their ability to fly.

I'm assuming Duocon refers to one robots ability to split into two vehicles--while still being the one mind. The concept was that Flywheels was a tank AND a jet; Battletrap a truck AND a helicopter.

It would be gaining a new ability if the new Duocons continued to have a single mind when in the two smaller robot modes. In other words, Battletrap was controlling both Battleslash and Roadtrap. But if Battletrap is just a fusion of the two other robots, then it isn't gaining an ability so much as losing one.

Or, put it this way, where does Battletrap go when not combined?