I find it interesting people look at the shape of this toy vs. Mig-25 and say oh yeah, lack of rear stabilizers is the deal breaker.

 

There is a lot of junk under the wings and tank mode has visible jet parts as well

 

Been chewing through threads, mostly interested in to third party aviation stuff like the aerialbots. I have some old-school love for Blitzwing, and considering picking up this ST-01 or FT-21.

I’m a bit of an aviation geek, so decided to read up on the Foxbat. There’s so much bulk in the real (terrible) MiG-25 that it could be sized much larger than the comparatively svelte F-15, and use clever engineering to transform into a tank. If anyone (TT, FT, etc) decided to scale the plane properly compared to the standard Seeker mode then they could pull off clean plane and tank modes.

 

The fact that the MiG-25 is basically "a box with wings and fins", is why it works at all as a triple-changer. A triple-changing F-16 for example, would almost assuredly look terrible in every mode. (unless the third mode wasn't THAT different, like a large-finned rocket or something)

 

DX9 kind of already did the realistic MiG-25. And it was bigger than the F-15 MP Seekers.



Objectively, the problem is that the tank still wound up looking like this:



Subjectively, my other problem is that the jet mode isn't some kind of funky bi-plane like the cartoon...

 

Thanks for the side-by-side! That’s great, really makes the MiG look like the bloated crate it was. Totally agree about the tank phone… it alone is why I won’t get that one.

I have the original, the recent Legacy release, and want an MP-class that doesn’t have the horrible original toon art (it was stunningly bad) as a constraint. Theoretically tank treads inside wrap-around panel legs could all go in the fuselage since basically it was all fuel tank behind the cockpit in the real jet.

Couple missiles under each wing was the max operational load-out, so the wings can be more panels that wrap around as armour in tank mode .

Point may be moot… ST-01 pre-order I can get, FT-21 not so much. The prototypes from Star Toys could be much better, but are at least a little better than every other option that isn’t also an unobtainable prototype.

 

The "tank" mode is based on this IFV, the BMP 3

 

That seems like a pretty big stretch----more like someone desperately trying to say "it's SUPPOSED to look like that, cuz I found this", rather than simply being a fugly excuse for a tank-mode.

 

The toy isn’t far off from the BMP-3, whether intentional or not I don’t have the patience to dig to confirm/dis-confirm. The original Blitzwing toy was apparently modeled after a Japanese Type-74 main battle tank.

 

I remember reading somewhere that that was the case

 

Sunbow Blitzwing was never a Mig. I don't think any Transformer in that cartoon was depicted as a real vehicle in their universe.

 

Still too tall/thick, and still showing too much purple.

 

Sunbow Blitzwing wasn't not-a-Foxbat, though. Japan literally had the first Foxbat captured by the west, really interesting story that. Definitely "inspired by" (notably without the horizontal stabilizers seen in the toy), in the same way Warpath was at least "inspired by" the little Sheridan light recon tank.



ST-01 is mostly toy-accurate and Sunbow-accurate, in all the really silly ways that people have love-hated for almost 40 years.

 

Kind of glad Blitzwing isn't a BMP as if he was, well, a soft tickle would make him either break down or explode.

 

To put a finer point on the alternate mode debate, the old Diaclone art literally used drawings of a MiG-25 and (most likely) Type-74 tanks. The other Triple Changer is the Cobra helicopter. Its jet mode is supposed to be a F-14 but the toy itself only barely resembles one. Blitzwing's vehicle modes are based directly on the toy.

 

The BMP was great for what it is, an IFV, but outdated for today's battlefields

 

I think the artists and animators were probably more concerned with stuff looking cool rather than being technically and historically accurate. I mean we've spent nearly 30 pages arguing about Migs and tailfins not being correct...it turns into a robot!! None of this is technically accurate! None of it is real.

 

Next ur gonna say Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny aren't real either. Dream killer 

 

Hey NORAD says he's already on his way across the globe, so he can't be dissing Mr Claus.

Easter Bunny is fake though. Obviously...

 

100%, not to mention how the animation was drawn on a budget and sometimes very clearly to meet tight deadlines. Some real TLC was poured into some episodes, frames, or scenes, but for the most part it's easy to see how things were thrown together.