Bulkhead is probably Prime though, right? (could be Animated I guess)

plus there's that standalone Armada Starscream by his lonesome

 

The original Tidal Wave was a beast compared to Megatron, but he managed to hold it pretty steadily. And given Armada Megs specifically has a pretty basic transformation, there's a TON of room to beef him up with sturdy ratchet joints. If you've held either SS Grimlock or Slug in hand you know what I'm talking about. They both have ratchets in both the hips and knees and I believe the shoulders are as well. That'd go a long way holding up a bulkier armor bot. Especially if they leverage Tidal Wave's price point to improve the combination aspect so the connections are sturdier.

Also, Tidal Wave himself wasn't all that complex. As a Titan, he'd just be *big* with no real benefit to it. He'd be more like the Ark in the sense he'd turn in to a big bot but wouldn't have much of a third mode. I'd rather they put him at Commander so he can be the big battle ship that would scale well with a Titan city bot.

Thought of an additional thing in response to this. If a combiner team is more than the Core 5, you beg the question "Okay, you've got multiple limbs...what if they take out the torso?" At which point you'd likely suggest "the team includes at least one additional torso bot."

But by that point, you've effectively described what Scramble City already is. A number of combiners on each side with interchangeable limbs and torsos. Your "backups" aren't really thought of as such because you've got so many "backups" they're busy forming their own gestalt and if any particular team member gets injured there's an opportunity to mix/match with another team who's down a member.

Funny enough, CW touched on this briefly and PotP leaned in to it fully. The latter only had official combos for the Terrorcons and Dinobots, and later the Elite Guard...but beyond that you had an assortment of torsos and limbs and no official configuration. That sold the idea that these combiners were just "literally everybody" so in a combat situation you've got your trained teams but in a pinch anyone could hop in and form an arm or torso if needed.

 

Assuming Arcee and Bulkhead are prime characters as rumored…

I want a prime Arcee that doesn’t have half a motorcycle glued onto the back side of her, and doesn’t have wings that are obscenely huge. I’d like for Bulkhead to be impressive too.

FE Arcee had clever tricks like the splitting wheel and fairing that I hope are reused. The PRID deluxe Arcee was passable at the time, but nothing impressive. The FE Bulkhead wowed with use of compressing parts, but was very inaccurate in many areas like the shoulders and legs.

I’m probably hoping for too much, but I’d really like for an Arcee and Bulkhead that become known to the wider fandom for having a creative transformation and solid, kibble free modes all around.

I remember the hype around their clever engineering and masterful sculpts when Generations Springer and PRID Vehicon came out (and apparently they are almost a decade old now holy heck I’ve been here a while), and Studio Series Hot Rod has captured similar praise recently. Here’s to hoping Hasbro and Takara can capture that design energy again for these tricky Prime designs.

 

Good point, but remember Bulkhead is a fairly new character in the Transformers universe. Id bet thats gonna be Generations style representation of the character similar to what they did Lugnut 5-6 years ago. With that being said, wouldnt Arcee be labeled "TF Prime Arcee" the same way they labeled Starscream "Armada Starscream" ? They did that with the TF Prime figures in the RED line I believe. Why wouldnt they make that distinction here ? (Same for Bulkhead) While that presumption might not signal Energon Arcee either, it definitely hints that it wont be TF Prime unless its a pretool for Energon Arcee which is also a motorcycle. Thats my opinion. Ive been wrong before, but ive also been right before. If I was making the decisions in Hasbro, im not gonna do an updated mold of a 10 year old character just to give ankle tilt and wrist swivel. Theres too many other pre-2010 characters that paid their dues and are victims of outdated engineering.

 

I'd sure as hell love to see that kind of story.

 

Energon Monster.......wut, I was kind of hoping for Kremzeek but he's energy based not Energon, no clue.

Oooo ho a voyager Armada Screamer you say. Give me a blue repaint and we're talking.

Bulkhead, really hoping that's animated, Hasbro is going to have to do some work to top the Prime FE. Much prefer an updated Animated version.

Blaster it's about bloody time is all I can say.

 

@B-Fox

 

That's true. But I don't see the whole combiner thing being the only aspect of the unit that would be considered for reasons to have a larger team. The combiner would probably be intended for a last resort(whether the team uses it as such or not), and their unit would normally function as just a normal group of soldiers most of the time. The groups would just have a better cooperative function than mixed teams. Protectobots coordinate easier with their rescue missions, and Stunticons coordinate better in car chases, for instance. Extra limbs/torsos for the combiner would be a bonus.

I never watched those series, so I'll take your word for it.

 

I take it Elite Guard refers to Elita-1's team?

 

Ah yes, I knew of Transmetal 2 Megatron, But as words. Since I know nothing of Beast Wars I assumed that was a T Rex, and that a dragon Megs would be the RiD2001 version!

 

Im inclined to believe that Bulkhead is getting the Generations treatment like Lugnut got 5 years ago. Those who want the super cartoony faces and physique might end up being very disappointed. And since I think thats the case, Prime Arcee doesnt make much sense since "Arcee" is not a newer character like Bulkhead is. (Not to mention Knockout) If Arcee is TF Prime, it will definitely be a pretool for some fembot that actually needs an update. For everyone pushing TF Prime speculation so hard, I ask one question:

Where is the star of TF Prime ? Where is the great immortal Bumblebee ?

You cant have an updated group of TF Prime molds and skip the star of the show. Thats why I speculate theyre giving newer characters the CHUG treatment, not going for show accuracy this time. Thats why TF Prime Arcee seems like a weird choice. Why would Arcee's newest incarnation be in need of an update when she has older incarnations that have outdated engineering ? Energon seems like a better candidate if they are really going to do Unicron Trilogy. But then again, the only logical pretool for Energon Arcee would be TF Prime Arcee. Its a real mind bender in my opinion.

 

God, I'd love a new figure of that too!

 

I'd love a Needle with a Nose, in the shape of an Earth fighter jet. Preferably deluxe.

 

Go to Miami and start digging then.

 

So you see people, reputable leakers, saying you'll get TFP versions of Arcee, Bulkhead, Optimus, and Knockout...but your response is "nah that doesn't make sense" especially when Hasbro has raw numbers to prove that people are still interested in that from the reissues a while back.

 

Landmine from Energon? Possibly his repaint Landquake?

 

Im thinking Bulkhead is going to be CHUG/Generations style the same way they updated Lugnut to make him look less Cartoony. Bulkhead falls in that group of newer characters that were destined to get inserted into Generations lines. (Drift, Windblade, Lugnut, etc.)

 

I can't believe they'd make Ravage separated from Soundwave, but not only it, make Ravage first

 

What is that????