I've been contemplating not labelling my 3rd party mp figures with their faction decals in alt mode as I feel it kind of ruins the disguise (in a fantasy world of course) and I also question if it looks good.

I stuttered originally on putting them on my Gigapower Dinos as they are a beautiful representation of the team, then looked at spoiler and roadking and posed the question to myself - do they need their faction displayed in this mode?

I am aware of the irony that 5 giant robot dinosaurs may not be able to go around their business without been noticed to the masses.

My other concern is my official takara bots all have the factions displayed as standard, and also some bots naturally by design display the same symbol in both alt and bot form.

Just wanted to get others opinions on the matter.

 

Myself, I go with what's cartoon accurate. If their alt mode has the symbol somewhere, I put it on. If not, I leave it off.

 

A blatantly displayed faction symbol does indeed kill the whole Robots in Disguise element. In the Marvel G1 comics the Autobots had their faction symbols on rotating panels (at least in one issue) so those could be hidden away in altmode, which I always thought made sense.

I think with the exception of jets (who in real life have national symbols on the Wings), I think my preferance would be to have the faction symbol applied to a robotmode-only part.

Sadly, with the toys this often is not possible since Hasbro/TT has already applied them (especially with the Diaclone repaints of the MP this is annoying). Thus, in general, I follow the G1 toy guideline with applying them for 3rd party figures. But not always. For example, with MMC's Mirage I applied the Autobot symbol to his shoulder. It's seeking a balance between the G1 toy placement, a logical place and the wish for it to be invisible in altmode.

 

I used to feel the same way, especially during the early 2000's, before the first live-action movie thrust Transformers back into the public eye in a big-bad way.

What changed my mind was noticing how many cars, trucks and SUVs are out on the road, post-2007, proudly displaying Transformers faction emblems.

Some are vinyl window decals while others are 3D chrome applications. Some cars even have faction emblem hubcaps on the wheels!

In some ways wearing a prominent emblem makes a 'bot even less conspicuous in the present day.
An actual Cybertronian could wear their emblem proudly in alt-mode and nobody would even think twice about it.

Maybe they are already among us!  

~L~

 

I never applied faction symbols to my 3p figures because I suck at applying stickers,but even for official producers I'm not bothered by the fact that they are visible in vehicle mode. I mean, when some of the supposed disguises are not street legal race cars, UFOs, dinosaurs, I'm already using enough suspension of disbelief that a visible faction symbol isn't going to change anything.