You could maybe build something like that from Ironworks and other Transformers WFC/Legacy figures, perhaps.

Otherwise, not that I know of, and I kinda doubt any 3P would do that, but if you feel so enthused, then be the playset designer you want to see in the world.

More readily, you could look into scale model buildings, or maybe the "chain bases" and hangars marketed for Gundams and the sort.

Come to think of it, there were some orange and purple TF equivalents of the chainbase, but I dunno if those are even in stock anywhere, all these years later.

I get that feeling, I do, but I personally like the idea of a Transformers playset being, again, just a big Transformer.

And, personally, I prefer saying Base Mode/ Titan versus City Mode/ Citybot for the exact reasons you criticize. .^.

Still, you did remind me of one really good TF Diaroma at retail, besides the occasional 3P throne for Megatron... but it's a build-a-diorama: New Age's Space Bridge pieces that came with their Seekers~



Naturally, you'd need to buy several seekers to put together a whole space bridge.

And, ultimately, as much as I enjoyed Mighty Max and Beast Wars Microverse's Orcanoch and Arachnid, I still prefer Titans for my playsets scenes, like this old photo from when I was assembling a Raspberry Pi...

 

I was working on a Sherman Dam diorama/playset for a while (since it wouldn't be anywhere near to scale, it was definitely more in playset territory than diorama). It kinda' fell by the wayside like most of my projects do. My plan was to do a bunch of mini-scenes for my Legends collection that would all fit into an 8'x2'x2' space (two moducases end to end) but the dream of actually having that setup has been kicked down the road so far that it was difficult to stay motivated to build the scenes.



Someday I hope to get back to it, but like I said, it's hard to be too enthusiastic when I don't have anywhere to put it. Those are peg holes for stands on the back, btw. 3mm and 4mm iirc. The idea was to be able to position stands basically anywhere including having seekers or other flying characters off to the sides.

 

Oh man this is beautiful!

 

DAM! Now this is what I’m talking about!

everybody has had some great suggestions, and I can see arguments for play sets that do and don’t transform. Some things I was looking into, related to this topic-

Vintage hot wheels and matchbox play sets (where they look semi real),
Model train building materials, etc.
You guys are killing it in this thread today for real.

 

Hmm, such an awesome idea but I definitely hear you about the space issue, I’m the same. But maybe something smaller scale that could serve as backdrops on a shelf or moducase, or just small scenery pieces instead of the whole diorama?

 

You could always try to reduce the height of this great piece, like only use the top part of the dam (maybe 1/3d of the original intended height). That way you can still recreate that Optimus/Megs scene, without losing all that space in your display cases. You would also keep all the peg holes this way for intended use.

 

Speaking of Titans…









Before I realized that I forgot to open Diabolus Rex’s ramp…



Better…







I was quite surprised at how small Energy Dragon is in person, but that’s not a bad thing! They’re adorable, and plenty posable, though I found moving the hinging pivot arm inside their hips can be a bit tricky to not then have panel the hip is attached also unhinge and flap off the body.

Also, I’d love head rotation and tilting, and a longer and more articulated tail, but that would all entail a likely larger figure, which would almost certainly frustrate their cuteness and fidget factor.

I also shoulda remembered to bring down Iron Factory’s Runabout and Runabout, but there will be times for that as I look forward to when I have the Battle Damaged and Dark Energy Dragons to build a small Trypticon fleet.  

 

As designed it's already kinda small. I want to say it was like 9" tall and 15" wide or thereabouts. To be in scale, it'd need to be something like two feet tall (probably more like four feet). The problem for me is that every bit of floor space in my case is taken (largely by the two city-bots). To put this in there, I'd have to push the Titans to the edges of the case and everybody else would be even more crowded than they already are (though I could definitely get a bunch of Decepticons off the ground).

Actually, looking at my case now, it might not be as bad as all that. There's actually enough space between the Titans as is, though the combiners are going to get very crowded. Maybe it's time I finally get back to this. Have to figure out how I want to do the waterfalls - the idea was always to make this semi-mass producible so I could put it on my Etsy store. I figured probably print the parts and do all the sanding and then cast them in resin (something roto-castable so that each copy wouldn't take up tons of resin). Hm, that puts it back out of reach as I don't have any place to deal with casting. I'll have to think about it some more.

 

ive often felt that there’s great potential for an “autobot city” from the movie done like Castle Grayskull. If it folded open and had various rooms from the movie (like the missile launcher or the medical bay), and a communications tower, and some gates like the one Hot Rod and Kup drove through. Would be great for a lot of things whether it’s legends scale or even reaction figures.

 

I never got the urge to do this kind of thing with masterpiece scale

Prime and grim by Pete, on Flickr

 

Decepticon roll call.  



Almost got them all in the shot. I forgot about the Constructicons and ran out of room.  

 

My memory is getting foggy. Which Thurnderwing is that?

 

Looks like the Generations Deluxe figure

 

Yep, went on a wild google search for Iron Factory Thurnderwing and came to the same conclusion.

 

MS Prime 2.0!!! Legends Primes FTW. I may actually try to get my hands on the Hot Soldiers and DX9 ones to complete the set! Amazing how far we have come from my beloved THS Convoy, who is STILL the centerpiece of my entire Collection(mostly out of some kind of rebellious 'spite' at this point).











I purposefully omitted Beast Convoy from IronFactory and the rest of MakeToys' Thunder Manus; they didn't look as good with the rest of the pics in this series, and I have limited time for transforming my figures these days.

 

Can't wait to get my Energy Dragon from ShowZ. He's my first 3rd Party Figure in general (meaning my first 3P Legends as well).

I heard great things about Dr. Wu, especially about his Extreme Warfare line. Really excited to post photos here once Trypticon comes. Guess I have fallen down the rabbit hole and there is no climbing out now.
It's most likely not going to be anytime soon, but what are some Legends recommendations for a beginner. I've been eyeing at Newage Cyclonus, Galvatron, and Grimock, but I am not sure if they are best suited for a first timer. I generally prefer transformations that are smooth, not fiddly, not overly complex, etc.

 

Excellent Prime collection! Where did you get the cool little Rubik's Cube?

 

Thanks, it's been quite an adventure collecting these guys. As for the little Rubik's cube, get it HERE

 

What's that War Within looking one?

 

Iron Factory Ultimate Commander