In the last month, I have picked up a lot of figures. But to my surprise the ones I like most are the ones based on real life vehicles. This is also what first drew me to G1 way back when.

There is just something better when you look at a TFer and it branded with a real life make and model. It just makes it cool. While having some unique design is nifty in it's own right (PRiD Wheeljack), it just isn't the same as MP figure, or even a movie figure.

So, what's the hurdle? Licensing of course. But I was thinking about this a bit. Why doesn't Hasbro use the movies to their advantage. All the big car makers want to have their cars in the movies, the same way Hasbro wants to have their cars in the movies.

So the deal Hasbro should work out with them is that they have the right to all of the cars, not just the ones shown in the movie. Obviously they would work in some royalties for product sales and such.

The idea is, the licenses they have would be used, not only for Movie figures, but for MPs and Classics or whatever other line they could think of. Since the licenses will already be there for Nissan wanting their newest GTR in the movie or something else, then they would get the whole Nissan license to make a MP Smokescreen or an updated classics Smokescreen and so on.

I am ready to get hammered on this, but what do you guys think?

 

would be nice. but kind of doubtful that it will happen lol

 

I'm kind of a complete opposite right now. The main retail figures that have me interested at FoC and those aren't even close to any Earth vehicle. We've gotten actual car models or "close enough" versions for a very long time, I'm all for new, crazy, alien designs.

 

It would be cool but earning the rights are a pain for u.s laws.

 

I disagree. I'm really digging the new spikey Beast Hunter designs and you can't really do that when using licensed cars.

 

I would pay more money for realistic, or even licensed vehicles. But a new movie is coming, so im sure my appetite will be satisfied then.

 

I was busy writing a very long and detailed list of reasons why not, but in the end it just boils down to this: way, way too expensive, and a terrible pain for worldwide distribution of the toys, as in some areas of the globe other companies might already hold licenses for using the cars in some form.

So in short:
Live action movie toys: definitely!
Masterpiece toys: yes please, if accurate!
General Transformers toys: I'm perfectly fine with more generic lookalikes.

 

PRID Wheeljack s based on a real car, Modified but his vehicle mode is based on a real car. The name escapes me but I really want to say its from the Lancia family

 

I prefer realistic vehicle modes, it was a big part of the appeal for me as a kid too.

 

Completely agree. It's why the movies figures are some of my favorites, and exactly why I am starting to collect the Alternators line.

 

Real life vehicles should only be limited to movie and Classicsverse stuff. I'm no lover of Prime and the Prime toys, but a realistic vehicle set up does not work for the stylized look that Prime sports. Having realistically proportioned vehicles in Prime, which sports generally cartoon proportions on the vehicles, is jarring and creates a disconnect with the rest of the characters and casts. I think about the only thing that looks like it is realistic, vehicle wise, is the little hatchback that Rumble/Frenzy turn into.

If you want realistic, wait until Movie 4 and/or the next batch of Classicsverse stuff to hit. For me, I'm going to easily ignore Movie 4 and just wait until the next Classicsverse stuff hits.

It's the Lancia New Stratos 2011 concept car. Actually, it's more of a mix of two cars. The New Stratos 2011 concept and the e-Wolf Alpha 2 concept car.

 

In the long run, it's a bad idea. It limits what Hasbro can do with a figure. It also prevents them from being used by the club.

 

I like realistic vehicles, but making them licensed would only hinder things. You can be realistic without being actual real-life vehicles.

But what I love are tank Transformers that are heavily detailed and sculpted. There's something awesome about having something that looks like a premium model tank and it's also a giant robot. Hasbro needs to make more tanks like Bludgeon's sculpt, where it is covered head to toe in detail.

 

Welcome to 1986, and 1998, and 2003, and...

But really, why "All lines" instead of one/some lines or selections?

Personally, I'm OK with fantasy vehicle TFs as long as they are recognizable as vehicles and not as robotic Yoga.

 

if thats the look of the current series/movie then fine if not then no.

personally i prefer a non real world altmode as the figure can be designed as a whole and made better as they can build it from the ground up as a transformer with out having to fight with a given altmode to make a transformation work.

 

that's why i love the movie figs so much... licensed stuff is awesome, i love looking at a camaro and thinking "hey, it's bumblebee" or something like that. you can't do that with "generic mashup vehicle #253".

 

I couldn't care less about real alt modes. As long as it looks cool and is a cool figure that's all I care about.

 

Yes and no, bare with me:

I never did know much about cars when I was a kid - but all the alt modes of my bots looked like what I thought cars looked like, and that was good enough for me.

And I guess that philosophy has stuck with me to this day. As long as it looks like something that I could expect to see when I cross the street then that is really all I need, It doesn't have to be a specific make or model, and I don't care about things like if the bumper of yyyyyy isn't the exact shape as on a real xxxxxx

As a G1 fan I can't help but thinking that the whole "...in the disguise" bit is what makes them so incredibly awesome - and it is probably why I'm not as big a fan of season 3 bots as I am of season 1 and 2 bots. I remember really not liking the G1 pretenders in particular.

I'm not sure this is the best explanation for it, but I guess I kind of want them to at least look as if they were man-made. If they are futuristic - take G1 Metroplex for example, one of if not my favorite bots of all times. He certainly doesn't look like anything in the real world, but to me at least he looks as if he could have been man made, and when I see him in base mode I see an Autobot base, it's not something that I would expect to transform into a giant robat, so in a way he does pull off the "in disguise" bit, so he gets a pass.

However when it comes to something like FoC I just can't see it - it looks too spaced out, as if it was made to look futuristic for the sake of looking futuristic rather than have their deisgns make sense...I'm not explaining this well, but take FoC blast off for example, as far as I can tell he is a fairly small, speedy craft yet his design doesn't look aerodynamic, he has so many bits and pieces and a huge bloated section that you would think that these details would get torn off at high speeds...and when you make earth vehicles look futuristic like this there are things that make me wonder why they made it to the final design, like why does both blast off and vortex have windows and what looks like a place for a pilot to sit? Whilst I appreciate the nod to G1 in their vehicle forms, I can't help but find it a bit weird that they are so similar.

 

I think elements like windshields and stuff like that are just purely for the sake of design aesthetics, and as you said, a nod to the G1. However, in regards to their designs, I think it's important to note that in the case of Transformers...it's like magic...they don't have to explain shit. I think the more pressing issue is how the majority of the characters in WfC/FoC mass shift to extremes, rather than worrying about how some things are aerodynamic. The biggest offender has to be Shockwave. Where does he store the extra length in alt mode? Howabout that BIGASS booster in the back?

I'm more willing to forgive quibbles like aerodynamic because they are supposed to be alien in general. They're alien, cybertronian takes on their G1 forms, so you have to have some give and take on stuff like aerodynamics of their forms. I think mass shifting is a much more criminal error.

 

Dumb question, but how impossible would it be to get licensing for vehicles that aren't from US based companies? I mean Aveo had that limited run with Swerve. Maybe it's a marketing thing, but wasn't some of the original G1 vehicles based upon the Japanese renditions of vehicles from that era?