I haven't the foggiest clue what you're talking about

 

[QUOTE="Kaynowa, post: 18256255, member: 126979"we]I haven't the foggiest clue what you're talking about[/QUOTE]
TGping is a comic artists who’s also a member of this site, his organic designs are the closest thing I can compare this idea of mine to as a frame of reference.

 

Non-headmasters of the Headmasters for those who don't like the gimmick

 

I'd say just make the headmaster optional. You can remove it if you want to have the smaller figure pilot the alt mode or whatever but you can also leave it on without it getting in the way of transformation. I think this would appeal to the most people.

 

I think Titans Return Sixshot does that

 

Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking of! I actually forgot about him doing that, thanks for reminding me. Him and Black Shadow/Overlord.

 

Yes please.

The problem I see with this is that the heads would still obviously transform into little robots. They only have face plates and in the back you can clearly make out where the legs and arms are. What if people want a full helmet look so they can pose the figure without constantly having to make the head look dead forward because that's the only angle it actually looks good? How are you going to solve that issue?

 

There's also the fact that the head could still come loose and get lost. And then you have yet another fairly useless bot that really is only good for battlefield fodder (and that many head shots is just ridiculous) I don't know how many times I've went to buy a bot from the 'bay only to find out the head was gone.  

 

Two things... non headmaster heads can just as easily come loose... depending on how they're attached. Swivel joints seem pretty solid but ball joints can easily pop off... But as long as the joint connection is tight and not overly loose when you got it, it shouldn't come off on it's own unless you're actually trying to pull it off.

And... NEVER BUY ANYTHING OFF E-BAY UNLESS THEY HAVE PICTURES! I only did that ONCE how did you manage to do that multiple times and you're still buying headless figures?

I got Optimus Primal and Megatron off e-bay, no pictures on the seller page, the description said they were missing parts but didn't specify which parts... I thought it was just missiles or something like that while I always end up losing anyway. Nope. Both figures came with no heads. Primal was also missing... his ASS so his shoulder weapons were constantly deployed with nothing to secure them down. The panel where his mace weapon stores was missing, along with the weapon itself so there was a giant hole in his arm. Megatron's hip launchers were missing creating giant holes in his legs in beast mode. The squirt thing in his mouth was missing there was a panel missing creating a giant hole in his neck in beast mode. I eventually replaced them with the 10th anniversary retools with more show accurate faces and no mutant head gimmicks but those figures I got on e-bay were a few years before that. Ever since then I won't buy anything without pictures so I can verify the condition it's going to come in.

 

So my fix to the Headmaster problem is pretty simple, although it might be a pain for the engineers: just give the toy two heads.

Have a normal head that does all the normal head stuff, put it on a rotating panel that hides the normal head and reveals the Headmaster socket. Then, make the Headmaster a 'powered-up' version, like give Prowl an elaborate samurai crest or Ironhide with Viking horns or something. Basically like a Mega Man X-style helmet upgrade. Best of both worlds, just need to find space in the body for a driver and a head. Added bonus, you can choose between IDW and classic Chromedome in one package.

 

Oh, I meant clicking on the item only to find the pics show that the head is missing. I wont buy if there is no head, 95% of the time the head costs as much if not more than the rest of the figure.

Sort of like they had with the PCC figs?

 

Ok guys hear me out

 

What's really annoying is I've seen some e-bay sellers that intentionally take the figure apart and sell parts separately when they have a complete figure available. How do I know they do this... because they aren't even clever enough to post each item at different times or on different accounts. I've literally scrolled trough pages of G1 Megatron parts all posted by the same user and every piece is accounted for when you look at all the listings. I'd link it but this was years ago and it's not likely to still be there.

Some times parts by themselves can be good if someone is missing pieces of a figure and is specifically looking for just the parts they need to restore it. Other people might have the missing pieces but already have gotten rid of the figure and don't need them anymore... but intentionally taking a complete figure apart to sell the pieces... A complete figure would usually sell for a lot more anyway, why even do that?

If each half of the combiner can also be a complete robot on it's own... YES!

By the way... I started a similar thread to this but I think that old thread was lost a long time ago when the forum switched formats or something... Can't remember if I've posted this here or not so...

An updated Tigerhawk figure that would look like he did in the show with the same robot and beast mode but can also function as a combiner being able to split apart into figures of Tigatron and Airazor with their own robot and beast modes... The individual figures would not look like their season 1 counterparts because that would frankly be impossible with the Transmetal 2 aesthetic. The figure would also come with little rubber Vok accessorites. Each one would be a different mold designed to fit over either a beast or robot head of the actual figure for when they're possessed as an emmesary of the Vok. You don't have to use them they can be displayed separately if you want, it's just a fun play option that you can if you want to have a Vok controlled Tigerhawk.

Even though Tigerhawk was never presented as a combiner in the show I think the idea of fusing Tigatron and Airazor together to make Tigerhawk lends itself pretty well to reimagine him as a combiner.

I think it sounds cools but the kind of dumb part is the way I want it to combine and transform is likly going to be an engineering nightmare.

 

I’m fine with this whether or not they can split into different robots or not. I love these as some sort of alternate Duocons.

 

Personally I just love how unapologetically outlandish it is

 

Doesn't that pretty much make waste articulation impossible?

 

Well it’s been done before with Jetfire and Jetstorm from TFA, as well as HyoRu and EnRyu from the Brave Series, but yeah I’m pretty sure they don’t have waist articulation unless you engineer a peg joint that splits in half or something.

 

Stretch the boundaries of what is possible with the robot form, beyond traditional bipedal droid.

I’d love to see what design aesthetics we could achieve if not limited to a bot form that requires two arms, two legs, a torso and head in the standard humanoid configuration. Every now and then, we get modifications. Substitute the face with a visor or a single light. Replace a hand or arm with a weapon. Whirl is a great example of taking the familiar and modifying it to result in a more alien appearance. ROTF Demolisher (not a big fan) is an example rearranging the alignment of the components.

But what else is possible? Less Robocop, more ED-209. Less 3PO, more R2/Droideka/Multi-Arm Grievous. Johnny 5 if he then evolved in the world of Terminator.

 

Not with good engineering. I hate to be one of those guys but if you look at MMC's Bruticus, his hands split in half to store inside the legs of the figures but also have a wrist swivel.

 

I was pushing for the limits to go beyond the robotic but you’re pushing to go beyond the humanoid like the strange forms of the Vehicons and maybe TransTechs, and I actually agree, we need to seriously see what kind of new aesthetics we can achieve and after RID 2001 began we never really got there because of the return to G1 aesthetics.