I did. And still do.
And no he is not.

Granted, I own the Battle Core version.

Feel I shouls state I am not a fan of Sunbow accuracy.
Yuck.

 

I'm thinking based on the leaks and the facts you stated that they're going to be doing 1 gestalt per year. By the time they get around to the latter ones, enough time will have passed. I, for one, do want to eventually see another stab at Predaking because he was the only gestalt I had every member of as a kid. I didn't get the PotP one and wasn't happy with it because of of him looking emaciated, among other things.

I don't think it was ever in the cards that Hasbro would officially name a line "gestalts." It's a little too highbrow a term for a mass market toy.

 

The obsession with toon accuracy is so protestant.
Sure in several cases the G1 toon representation looked better than the tot, but a lot of times the toys looked way better or there was barely a difference.
And in toon accuracy a lot of toy detail gets lost.
Luckily we have toyhax for that.

 

Takara has done a lot of weird things in their continuties that hardly anyone cares about, so I wouldn't use that as an argument.

I, for one, think that solid Combiners are more fun than generic-looking "I used Breakdown as Bruticus' leg! I'm creative" messes, but that's just me.
The new Stunticons will turn out great precisely because they don't need to be quadruplechangers.

 

Whhhaaaaat? You mean the Kiss Players aren't in your canon?

 

I think GI Joe Classified needs to be kept in its own box. Hasbro had tried to make GI Joe a thing again for years now. Classified is legitimately the only thing that's worked for the line in 10+ years because they do these limited runs of figures in what amounts to Marvel Legends for GI Joe. It's a low risk line for them, compared to the last time they tried to do GI Joe in a big way. GI Joe is Hasbro's He-Man.

The TMNT thing, I think, stands apart because (at somewhat crazy prices), fans of that are getting spoiled. Heck, growing up I was a WAY bigger fan of TMNT than I was Transformers and even I was tempted. But they have seriously gotten Movies, Cartoon, Video Game and action figure recreation, within the span of like two years. I don't think there's been anything like that in collecting ever. I actually bought my first ever TMNT, Mondo Gecko, the other day, because growing up he was my "grail figure". Except I got a bit excited and didn't get the Super 7 recreation, but rather than NECA animated version.

but there is a real difference between TMNT and Transformers. Your average Transformers Generations line consists now days of 1 titan, 1 commander, 3-4 leaders, 4-5 Voyagers and 16-18 deluxes for a line-wide cost of about $1400 give or take (throw in exclusives and redecos, and it'll go above $2k). That's an annual baseline of, if we're going by the numbered entries in the last few lines, around 38-40 figures. They are typically sold, at retail, in the general Toy aisle, along with the other action figures. These NECA/Super7 lines for TMNT, like Aliens/Predator, are sold at the specialty "adult collector" section at retail, which is typically next to movies and not in the kids toy section. And the lines have a handful of releases per year... 5-10. They also typically exist at one of three size classes: $30 normal, $40 "deluxe" or $55 2-packs. It's just entirely different.

I've said for some time I think Transformers absolutely has room for an "adult collector" line that exists between Generations and Masterpiece, where the NECA/Super7 premium stuff does, with a limited number of figures per year. Maybe it would be "pure G1" or maybe "best of Transformers" or maybe a "Diaclone Transformers remaster" like the Super7 TMNT line. It'd be great! But it also would necessarily be different than generations.

 

So I did something I haven't regretted for Predaking. Unlike a lot of people I didn't dive into Feral Fex. I got burned, hard on spending $500 on TFC Hercules (yikes... i still love him, but yikes) and when those other 3P combiners started to pop up around 2013/2014, once Combiner Wars was leaked I decided that I would hold out on Predaking. And I did until I saw PotP Predaking, who I liked, but wasn't at scale (I did end up getting him anyway). For my "at scale" Predaking I went with TFC Ares. Ares got a bad rap because he has some design flaws to him (the ankle design sucks) and he lives in Feral Rex's shadow, but if you want an IDEAL Combiner-Wars scale Predaking who is suitably beefier than the others (but the same scale), he's a great choice. I picked him up for about $160, which I figured was nearly the cost of 2 leaders and 3 voyagers at the time anyway. I highly suggest picking him up.

 

So far Dragstrip and kickback now to wait for mid next year

 

I have been bored of most of recent Optimus Primes apart from the Galaxy one, so this new look is a welcome change. Arcee is a might buy, but she looks a little blockier that i had hoped for.
Bulkhead however looks like something i drew when i was 5. He makes Soundwave and Blaster look rounded. 

 

and Mattel is currently promoting MOTU to the tune of 3 separate lines. Including one that is faithful to the original line but more articulated. Maybe Classified is successful because it's the first time they've done an ARAH accurate line in forever. The movie bombed, but it was terrible and nothing like the original comics, toy line, or cartoons. I had Mondo Gecko as a kid, don't hate me. I think such a TF line as you suggested could be supported, but I've been pretty happy with WFC recently, other than the hollow limbs.

 

About the cheapest I see TFC Ares right now is $300. Wow, TFC Poseidon ranges from $500 to $620.

 

Poseidon is holding his value so far because he remains the only 3P Piranacon.

That may change if anyone else does one, especially if it's MP scale/style.

 

For me, the most important questions will be 'Is the combined mode stable?' and 'Does it look good?'. Legacy Menasor's apparent design makes sense to me.

My preferred approach to the other combiners -
For Superion - Leader Silverbolt, and Voyager limb-Bots (to rival the Decepticon Seekers).

For Bruticus - Leader Onslaught and Blast Off (part of the shuttle mode becomes Bruticus's chest and the rest a Voyage sized limb (someone mentioned this idea elsewhere, and to be honest, that's how I first thought the original G1 toy worked when I was a kid) and 3 Voyager limb-bots (I'd upgrade Swindle to a similar, though slightly larger type of military vehicle).

For Defensor - (the trickiest) - Leader Hot Spot, Voyager Blades, possibly a Voyager Red Alert that could be based on something like a largish ambulance.
BUT, I would personally consider giving him a Leader class version of something like this -
, that would help balance out the smaller sizes of Streetwise and Groove. Incidentally, my version of Defensor would be more like Devastator than the normal torso-bot plus 4 limb-bot combiners. And being me, I might give the Protectobots an extra member or two. Maybe reduce the size of Groove to Core class as well. It won't be cartoon accurate, but it makes more sense than trying to use a Voyager sized bike as a limb.

 

They do increase the risk every year. They tested BW during T30 with 3 figures, had that Tankor figure from BM and Introduced Skybite. As for the Unicron Trilogy they did Prime from Magnus during this last line as well as the Houd repaint. Sorry if I'm not familiar enough with the characters.
Hasbro just doesn't know well enough if certain lines will hold.
They do their research but can only go so far. Releasing Prime figures is a huge gamble for them. Bulkhead will be a pre-tool of whatever they are going to release. Be it a Wreckgar or a Hound from the movie verse.the parts forming shield gives endless options.
As for Arcee again this mold can be reused into oblivion for characters like IDW Chromia and recolor/ retooled for others.

 

He's $560 for preorder on BBTS. Is every limb MP scale?

 

I think keeping to G1 esthetics as well as scale is impossible. Copters and bikes just don't scale with ambulances and police cars. If you take away any of those you lose the original esthetic that makes defensor.
Brutus has the same issue with Vortex and Blastoff. But also the scale difference between Swindle and Brawl. After all a tank and jeep don't have the same size and mass.
You can go a long way with.increasing the size of the center robot into a Commander class. For instance Onslaught giving him the treatment they are giving Motormaster would do a lot. And Onslaught is probably more popular as well.
The only team that could possibly work is the aerialbots. Since a passenger plane is a lot bigger than 4 fighter jets. And if they can do something else for the mass on Silverbolt to increase it who knows.

 

Welp, I had a crack at estimating the sizes of the deluxes, same as I did with Bulkhead, and I got this result:



If I had to guess, Drag Strip looks to be about the height of RTS Jazz, while Kickback and Skids are around the height of WFC Sideswipe, and Arcee is somewhat smaller.

Oh and I done did a revised estimate for Bulkhead, based on the livestream.


I reckon he's between the two Astrotrains. Or if you've got Siege Spinister or GS Rotorstorm, I reckon he'll come up to about the top of their rotor blades.

Usual disclaimer: I was eyeballing it while half asleep, please do check my work to make sure I'm not tripping balls etc etc.  

Nova Prime. His leg transformation is basically identical to that G2 Prime.

 

Great idea for a live-action Defensor! However, that will not happen and it will stay close to the sunbow animation models for the Protectobots and their combined form, Defensor when they're finally announced. Out-of scale motorcycles, cars, and helicopters aren't new to CHUG, so expect some unrealistic vehicle scales as vehicular scales were almost never a priority for the toy's designs.

 

Wow. I think I'm in it for Kickback and Skids so far. If things work out my way, I'd still try my hand at nabbing Dragstrip and Bulkhead. That G2 Optimus Prime is hot lusciousness but I'll wait to see more of him before I start evacuating my wallet.