Creative Uses For Alt-Mode Parts

Discussion in 'Transformers Toy Discussion' started by Dragonzzilla, Oct 16, 2014.

  1. Dragonzzilla

    Dragonzzilla Well-Known Member

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    Occasionally, the minds of Transformers break the established mold for certain uses of alt-mode parts. AOE Strafe's wings becoming a sort of split-cape? That's pretty cool. Using your car doors as thigh armor? Pretty neat.

    But what else is out there? Indulge me for a cycle or two.
     
  2. Beastwarsfan95

    Beastwarsfan95 Putting the ‘Bi’ in Bionicle.

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    I've always imagined bot mode backpacks as some sort of "cyberlife" support system. Perhaps to process energon to get the most out of each cube.
     
  3. Meta777

    Meta777 Dr Pepper Fan

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    Man, there is a lot of stuff you can do with alt-mode parts if you really like it. Me personally, I always adore it when alt-mode parts correspond to emotive states. We have classic examples like Movie Bee and TFP Screamer flicking and moving their doors/wings when they're agitated, scared or excited, or maybe ROTF Grindor flexing his rotors when he's just standing around chilling, but you can get really in-depth.

    Cars and trucks might spin their tires if they're excited or irritated, tanks can grind their treads if angry, huff exhaust if you're bored or grumpy, rotors might clack together if you're scared or spread out to make yourself look bigger and scarier, all sorts of stuff to give a more physical indication of how the robot is feeling.

    Of course, they can be used in battle as additional weapons. Blackout using his tail rotor as a melee weapon is a classic example, but we also have TFP Optimus giving Megatron a makeover with his tires or Movie Megs ripping Starscream a new one with his tank tread boots as more unorthodox examples. What else can you do? A car could have doors on their arms and use them to slap people, or have doors on their hips and use them as hidden knives when grappling someone. Puff smoke into their face with exhaust pipes, use a tow truck's crane-thing as an extra arm, use wide wings as shields, all sorts of stuff really.

    You can do whatever you want with alt-mode parts, with just a little imagination and the good old knowledge that shape-shifting robots from space can pretty much do whatever they want! :D 
     
  4. Starscream Gaga

    Starscream Gaga Protoformed This Way

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    Crosshair's trenchcoat car was indeed awesome, as is Prowl's side-car Samurai armor if that counts. Airachnid using her helicopter rotors as spider legs was pretty inspired too! And of course Bulkhead's in-built chair! What about Generations Straxus' cannon folding out into an axe or the sides of Drift and Blurr's cars becoming sheathes for their weapons? Do those count?
     
  5. Basilisk

    Basilisk It will give you infinite pleasure!

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    I thought RTS Lugnut was pretty genius considering it turned the wings into well articulated arms.
     
  6. SG Roadbuster

    SG Roadbuster SG Wrecker

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    I like how dotm Skyhammer handles the placement of his rotors in bot mode. on every other copterformer i've seen the rotors wind up on the back, or affixed to the arm as a weapon. folding the rotors over and under the shoulders gave Skyhammer a unique look to him.

    i also enjoy dotm human alliance basic whirl, and how his rotors fold up and lock together into the barrel of his weapon mode. easilly my favorite from that subline
     
  7. moreprimeland

    moreprimeland Optimus told me to do it!

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    Gotta move this one to the Toy Forum.
     
  8. Mizzinno

    Mizzinno Merc With A Mouthplate

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    Armada Starscream's wing sword.
     
  9. Dragonzzilla

    Dragonzzilla Well-Known Member

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    But... this wasn't a toy thing. It was general design...

    [​IMG]
     
  10. Dragonzzilla

    Dragonzzilla Well-Known Member

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    While I am one for clever alt-mode usage, weapons made from a Transformer's alternative-mode don't sit right with me. Sure, weapons can take a lot of abuse, that's just standard fare; but using an integral part of your anatomy as a weapon? That's asking for trouble.
    1. Are the weapons made from the same material as the rest of body? If so, wouldn't melee weapons fail miserably against an actual weapon? We know Transformer swords can cut through a Transformer just like a human sword would cut through a human: if your sword is made from the same stuff as your body is... wouldn't you be essentially dueling a carbon steel long-sword with a blade made of flesh?
    2. If your weapon is an integral piece of your alt-mode, as with Armada Starscream's wing saber (mentioned by Mizzinno), what happens to your transformation if you're ever disarmed of it? I doubt your body would grow a substitute, even if you accept the "Regenerative Bio-Metal" concept. If Starscream lost his sword in a fight, he'd also lose a jet wing. For someone who knows when to cut his loses, that seems like shooting yourself in the foot.
    I can accept a Transformer's body having small weapons. I can accept their hands even shifting into guns, if within reason. Melee weapons though? They just don't cut it for me.

    Pun intended.
     
  11. usernamedustin

    usernamedustin Banned

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    Ummmm.....humans aren't just piles of flesh. We have organs and teeth and fingernails and bones and hair. Basically, we are made of different stuff. Wouldn't a TF body part weapon be a stronger part of the body? Maybe like how our fingernails are tougher than our skin?
     
  12. Geminii

    Geminii Toyetic multiformophile

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    Point. There's nothing necessarily stopping a melee weapon being made out of something stronger, and possibly retaining that strength (although unnecessarily) as part of the altmode.

    It seems a little odd with flying vehicles, given that human versions tend to be made of the lightest possible material, but there's no reason an Earth-style jet altmode might not weigh the equivalent of four or five genuine Earth jets. Aerodynamics are probably almost entirely aesthetic for them, particularly at low speeds.
     
  13. Prime Jetscream

    Prime Jetscream HE PULLS THE STRINGS AND HE MAKES THEM RING

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    I want a knight mask made from a grille.

    Also, I'm surprised Crosshairs' trenchcoat wasn't mentioned yet.
     
  14. SG Roadbuster

    SG Roadbuster SG Wrecker

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    I take it you've never made a shiv out of bone then?
     
  15. Kraken

    Kraken Is a vegiesaurus, Lex. Veteran

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    [​IMG]

    I really want to see more done with tyres. There's been a few lately, Jolt and AoE Hound for example where the tyres became part of the the legs and feet respectively, but it didn't carry through onto the toys. I'd like to see a figure where the wheels and tyres actually transform instead of just being there or getting hidden. Especially for a bikeformer or a tractor or monster truck. They'd be soooo many complaints that they didn't roll though :( 
     
  16. GiganGoji

    GiganGoji Well-Known Member

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    I would be 100% ok with non-rolling wheels if it meant that they could be part of the transformation.
     
  17. thunder117

    thunder117 Magna Defender

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  18. kaiserlisk

    kaiserlisk Squid Kid

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    I'd like to see wheels turn into weapons, like maybe unfurl into a whip for motorcycles or flip around into a Gatling-style gun.
     
  19. Prime Jetscream

    Prime Jetscream HE PULLS THE STRINGS AND HE MAKES THEM RING

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    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  20. Ribieconvoy

    Ribieconvoy Well-Known Member

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    Animated Prowl and Prime Bumblebee both used tires as the center of rotation for their knees and outward shoulder movement, respectively. I was amazed that those features translated to the toys so well, especially in Prowl's case. In addition, I loved the way ROTF Starscream's body wrapped around itself in order to allow the friggin rear wings of all things to become an integral part of his torso.