I just feel like these are some of the most unflattering pictures they could have taken and that it's highlights the flaws rather than the strengths. With enough effort, you can make any TF look bad, haha.

I'm still very excited to actually get the toy though!

 

I mean, cringe all you want. I'm not asking Hasbro to reinvent things. What I asked is on the same engineering level as the Combiner Wars ports and many other larger figures. Doesn't even need ratchets to cut cost, a mushroom peg can do the same job if the friction is strong enough. Doesn't feel an impossible feat to me. Since you are an engineer, is what I ask impossible for Hasbro to pull off? If so, cringe away at my silliness, I don't mind apologizing for stepping on your profession?

I guest every engineer is a genius (espiecially at Hasbro) & put 100% effort into every thing they do, and us mere "customers" got no right to imagine/comment on the "engineering" aspect of a figure.

It's how KO (the Weijiang, BMB, etc.) companies cringe improve the engineering on Hasbro's products and eat into HasTak's profits because of the engineering & paint app cost cutting here-and-there on every figures that fuels their existence. Hasbro could've lost me as a "customer" if I don't do my own "silly engineering" & painting on my figures as much as I'm capable of to improve them. If I don't enjoy that apsect of improving a figure, I would've bought many KO to save me both time & money (moral arguements on KO be damned!). Like, I'm sure a big segment of TF fans just outright not consider buying the official MP & MPM lines anymore and instead wait for the KO because it's cheaper & better painted and oft-improved engineering.

Here's some DIY that I posted here on TFW: Adding my own wrist swivel to SS Blackout with a balljoint replacement (Minor/Repaint: - Studio Series Blackout - Hands and refueling probe mod), reconfiguring pieces to add play value (Minor/Repaint: - AOE Galvatron , Minor/Repaint: - Siege Jetfire - Better accessories configuration in plane mode , Minor/Repaint: - Netflix Elita-1's shield ), making my own weapon (Heavy/Scratch: - DIY Cosmic Rust Gun & Studio Series Sentinel Prime Repaint), adding countless wrist articulations (not worth posting to TFW) to my figures just because Hasbro "engineers" couldn't/wouldn't put in the effort for whatever reasons (not dismissing the material strength, budget limitations, etc.).

 

You're asking engineers, who have pressure from both the customer *and* the people who set their budgets, to do something with little to no understanding of what actually goes in to their design choices in order to strike the balance between customer and budget-setters that lets them keep working.

We see it all the time. "How hard could it be..." and then we give them estimates, and then they get mad.

Not every engineer is a genius, but every engineer doesn't need to hear from customers how to do their job better considering customers rarely understand the pressure coming from the other side of things to stay on budget/deadline.

 

I DON'T know the amount of say and how much the engineers can push for features in a toy at Hasbro. But as a customer can I not comment and elaborate my wishes? Reasonable or not IS for the budget-setters & engineers to decide, true. Or is it "beggers can't be choosers" in all things Hasbro? Actually, as a customer, I'd rather be the type that stands behind the engineers and justifiably pay a bit more (SS Hot Rod DESERVED to be a Voyager, imo, the only thing missing is a "Product design by: XXXX" in the packaging) and let them be proud of their output than always let the accountants wield their mighty pen over them (because "budget-setters thagt lets them keep working").

I don't mean to dismiss the constant reality & pressures (like I said about how the material type, strength, & budget allows or not) on the engineers. Apologies if I came off that way. It's less a demand/sneer of "it's not hard for the engineers to add this feature to this figure" (I've even put in the effort of imagining and typing out -- as hard as a non-engineer as me -- how to realize it for the non-engineer types to understand, and to show I'm not pulling unrealistic ideas out of my butt), nor a "I can think of this engineering marvel why can't you, Mr. (Hasbro) Engineer?" boast/trolling, but rather the disappointment of seeing cool, implementable features getting dropped by the Hasbro money-counters that frustates both engineers & customers. Sometimes to their own financial detriment (said KO companies' existence eating up HasTak's profits by sending a segement of its customers to get so used to buy KOs), and wearing down their own engineers' pride & joy (how they're capable of designing even better products but get shot down by the accountants).

Really down to it, it's more a business model and a "why not give some pride to their products and the people behind it (designers, engineers, QA staff etc.)" problem. Look at how different are American (Hasbro) and Asian (Takara, Bandai, Sentinel, Pose+, Action Toys, etc.) toy companies/designers approach their projects. Seems like American mostly do it with a "Fixed/narrow budget room, do as little engineering as possible we can get away with to maximize profits" model, the Asian companies mostly (I said mostly -- not an absolute. See the original MP Megatron story) do the philosophical opposite: ballpark budget, engineering comes first, then revise/set the MSRP to a reasonable (profitable) price that justifies the engineering. Maybe I'm delusional? But that's the way it seems to me between these 2 toy design worlds.

I mean, honestly, I feel yall, the designers/engineers. I've mentioned several times in other threads how I got pulled into collecting TFs back around ROTF because of the amazing engineering (I was still getting used to the messy looks of the Bayverse figures. That is, I love the engineering more than the look of the figures), I got nothing but respect for engineers. But it's also a matter of perspective. If the simple fact that being an engineer have the right to judge & dismiss every customer's comment as cringe, then yes, cringe away and there's no point talking. You cringe, I sneer (totally not polite nor reasonable. It's not what I'm after). But take the same customer comment and reflect it back to the budget-setters what we wish to see (like, "hey, Mr. money-counter, customers long want to see this and we can engineer it, is it a go if budget allows?" then future products might get even better.

 

Judging by that purple bit just below the back of the knee, is that part of a mechanism that flips those split panels into place?

 

Yes, it was shown on the video reviews

 

Official in-hand images showing the transformation sequence

TL-11 Tarantulas

https://mobile.twitter.com/TF_pr/status/1539080666637144066



TL-12 Elita-1

https://mobile.twitter.com/TF_pr/status/1539443056193073154



TL-13 Motormaster

https://mobile.twitter.com/TF_pr/status/1539805441881870337

 

The way they transform and then strike a pose in the end gives me Energon vibes.

 

Love the psuedo stop-motion photography.

 

I refuse to call that thing Galvatron.

The Bot mode looks like an unfolded brick of aluminum foil. People "Dont have to get the hate". I'm not even getting this crap for free!

Looking forward to the Legacy figures though.

 

Good lighting and angles? Decent poses? Interesting mid-transformation shots? These are the type of stock images I like to see! Also love the fact you can give Tarantulas a spider head and Elita a car head. Pickle Rick has nothing on these jokesters!

 

I must have it 

 

I’m normally against faux parts, but i like Motormaster’s fake cab feet.

 

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