Pretty much how I feel about it. I thought Binaltech was great at the time, but the engineering and aesthetic has moved on; Alternity were then a great new take on the idea for all the reasons you list, and personally I had no problem with the 1:32 scale - especially once I'd got Convoy & Megs, just the sorcery off the transformation was enough to move them beyond BTs. On the other hand, I was never taken with the BB/CJ mould (they forgot to apply transformation to the chest! Which just ruined that one for me) or the Seeker update, so it's more the potential of Alternity I liked. If they could pick it up again tho, and really put some work into the transformations, and avoiding a restrictively small pool of makes and models, awesome. No question it's also appealing to a niche part of the collectors' market tho - and unless it was a direct revival of Alternity we'd undoubtedly be starting off again with Prime, Megatron, Seekers, etc etc - so again, I can see why all that would work against a third go at the Alt/BT/Alternity concept. Never say never tho
Maybe But that Ford GT mould was The One . KP Hot Rod and the Electro-disrupter Mirage looked brilliant. And I had an awesome custom made of Skywarp, from that GT mould. Should never have sold Electro Mirage on, one regret there...
I will never sell my Electro Disruptor Mirage. That thing is just pure bliss for me. I'm transforming my ALT Mirage right now. It saddens me that we won't be getting more uses from that mold. So much potential.
I forgot to mention this but as much vitriol KP got for its less than savory comics, the weapons that came with them were STELLAR in my book. Surfboard sword for OP? Fishing rod for Rodimus? Traffic cone gun for Autorooper? BRILLIANT. Oh and the 3rd party gas can gun was genius as well.
It's my favorite Bumblebee ever made, and I like the chest. Keeping it like that is what makes it feel authentically like the character, imo. I like the deco of the KP Rodimus a lot more than the Alternators version, but I really wish he (and the other KP) had been produced in die-cast like Binaltech.
Basically, no. Alternity was mentioned as a mystery name [or Alternium or whatever] in the final chapter with Convoy. I remember fans, myself included, wondering about that during those days.
personally, before classics came out, i thought BT/ALT was the logical step for G1 v.2, they were still G1-ish but a lot more involved. but classics has been great too. still miss the BT/ALT line, though. like it more than alternity.
The only things I don't like about Alternity are that they feel a little fragile, and that they shrunk the toys while inflating the price.
Imagine Alts today with Animated/ROTF/Prime FE engineering? Maybe we'd have actual human-accurate proportions on them?
I honestly tried to like Alternity. I bought Convoy, Megatron, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Starscream and Thundercracker. The alt modes were fine but the bot modes and the scale ultimately made me turn around and sell them. The bots were a little too Gundam-esque for me. There's something inherently simple to the bot designs of the ALT/BT line. I guess you could say it's G1-esque. It wasn't overkill on the detailing, something that I felt a tinge of on the Alternity line. ALT/BT still have blocky proportions which made it that much closer to an updated G1 line for me in terms of using real, licensed vehicles. The scale of Alternity didn't bother me at first as the vehicles looked great but as much as I wanted to display them with my ALT/BTs, I just couldn't do it and I think the scale was a huge factor in it.
The thing is, I don't really need or even want that. I want them to look like robots. I like the proportions not being perfectly human.
I'm fine with the 1:32 scale of Alternity, but I wouldn't complain about a 1:24 scale line either. The biggest failure of the Alternity line IMHO was the character section. If the GTR and Fairlady were say Smokescreen and Jazz I think the line would've been better received. Prime, Megatron, and the Seekers are the hardest characters to successfully change there alt modes. Sadly the designs of the Alt/BT's are starting to show their age. I was messing with my Smokescreen last week, and he felt a little dated to me. That being said, it's all the more reason to bring them back because they were amazing for their time, and a reboot would bring even more amazing engineering!
Yeah, I can see that a little. Particularly in Convoy. But kind of the newer Gundam aesthetic, like 00 (which I see as being less Gundam-esque, actually, but yeah).
I guess you could ask Hasbro if they kept the existing moulds or if they lost them down the back of the sofa ?
It's a shame that Hasbro actually has a good number of licences currently from GM, Mercedes and Ferrari but won't be putting out ALTs for them with there being Human Alliance already.
I'd kill for a Ferrari BT Rodimus Prime. And I'd maim for some GM Binaltech. Mercedes, eh, maybe a little mayhem.
I'd take the Ferrari as Wildrider. Dunno about the E550, Volt, Camaro, Top Kick, Hummer, Trax, Corvette, Beat, Saleen, R8 and Solstice. I'll have to give those some thought.
I'd be open to just about any licensed vehicles for any characters as long as they kept the scale, the rubber tires, and the Binaltech die-cast. I need that heft. A toy that if somebody slammed me in the head with it, I'd be hospitalized. That's what I want.