Hello, Everyone!

I've been wanting to start this thread for a bit, and finally got the impetus to do it. The premise of this thread is pretty simple; this thread is for steps in a figures transformation that makes us stop and go "Neat!".

This is for any TF from any line. Actually, I personally don't mind if GoBots and third party products are mentioned either, though I will leave the final say on that to the moderators  

So tell us, what are your favorite bits of transformers engineering? It can be the entire transformation process itself, or even just one or two steps on a figure that is not-so-appreciated otherwise. Who knows, maybe we'll even see some of them in a new light!

I thought this might be a way to say "thank you", to all the folks over the years who did lots of mental gymnastics to produce toys that did actual gymnastics and gave us years of enjoyment.

I will go first, of course.

My first pick is ROTF Starscream. While his robot mode is my least favorite among all of the movie Screamers, and has those big ol' hands marring what would be a sleek jet mode otherwise, I think his transformation is really fun and creative. I mean, just about the entire jet splits in half and folds in around itself! We have had NOTHING like it since. I still have fun changing him back and forth.

One other pick (this falls under under-appreciated) is Classics Tankor (not-Octane). I find the way it transforms from truck to plane fascinating, especially how the wings hide, complete with propellers. I know each mode has its faults, but major, major props for hiding the plane parts in truck mode, and vice versa.

 

The way MP-10's torso transforms to create a near-perfect truck front, it's genius the way the hands flip in to make the front strip cohesive, all while creating two seats in the process.

The way MP-12 Lambor's legs are formed from three panels and a multitude of swivels.

 

RotF Terradive, Breacher, Lockdown... That whole era had some really great things going on in terms of unique transformations that broke the traditional car and jet tropes.

I'd add Thrilling 30 Springer and his partner in crime Sandstorm. Both are amazing. They both have really nice triple changer action going on and represent reminds done right.

And one more: WfC Optimus. He squeezed a masterpiece level transformation into a deluxe giving you a tight robot and alt mode with lots of neatly thought out steps.

 

WHOA....

You just like..did my post for me..I could add a few, but those popped in my mind after I read the OP

 

I like how Galvatron....has....wheels

 

masterpiece megaton. skinny, but i don't know any other mold that has crazier engineering than mp-05.

fansproject m3 diesel is my next runner up.

 

MP Lazerbeak -everything about him.
FT Scoria - The leg transformation, the way the alt-mode's feet are concealed in the robot mode, brilliant!

 

This is hilarious, I was going to make a thread exactly like this two days ago. I actually had my post written out, I just decided not to go through with it.

Anyway, what made me want to make a thread like this was when I cleaned up my collection shelves a bit, and I started fiddling around with TFP FE Bulkhead and RID Vehicon. I just had to say "wow" while I was transforming them, such amazing engineering went into them.

But probably the most ingeniously engineered TF ever: MP Laserbeak/Buzzsaw. How they got it to look toon-accurate in both modes, be the same size as a G1 cassette, AND somehow integrate the weapons into the transformation is mind-blowing to me.

 

People are probably gonna disagree, but....FoC Bruticus.

He's far from perfect. Very far, in fact. But that doesn't change the fact that he is a combiner completely devoid of combiner kibble. No fists, no feet, no chestplate, no head that can be lost.

Sure, he could have been better. Sure, Onslaught should have been a voyager instead of another deluxe. But as a first attempt at a combiner free of partsforming I have to admire the engineering.

 

This thread will just make me wish Hasbro wasn't getting so cheap. Imagine what we could have today with this engineering but 2009-2010 figure sizes/budgets.

 

The way Generations Rhinox's kibble all folds up nicely on his back.

 

Prime Wheeljack's legs. They turn an otherwise boring affair of splitting a hood apart to form legs into something fun that both eliminates kibble and makes his legs sleeker.

Also, both the Legion and Deluxe DOTM Sideswipes. They both did an amazing job of making a transformable convertible, and both even had seats. DOTM Sideswipe is still my favorite Legion figure to this day.

 

FE prime bulkhead. One of the true tests of mass shifting gone right.

Rts leader starscream. Unbelievable amounts of engineering.

A lot of the larger human alliance pieces also come to mind. Near alternators scale, with amazing complexity. But none better than Jazz. He is hands down the best.

 

I agree. Getting a kibble free non partsforming scramble city bot at deluxe price points is impressive. He's clearly the beta test of whats to come. I'm curious what the next attempt will look like.

 

I don't own it but evasion prime is probably the best engineered of 2014 so far. Some of my favorites are ha jazz, rotf Optimus prime, mp 10, generations rhinox, mp laserbeak, fe voyagers, and others that I can't remember.

 

Totally agree on FOC Bruticus. Not perfect, but deserves praise. I like him so much I got the SDCC, G2, and retail releases.

 

RotF Leader Optimus - This figure truly made me appreciate how far transformers engineering has come. My favorite transformer that I owned as a kid was the G2 Hero Optimus so seeing that same style truck redone really blew my mind especially when compared to the previous 2007 Leader Optimus. It isn't so much a single step in the process but rather how the entire transformation comes together that is really impressive. The sheer precision and intricacies of each molded piece really did take transformation to a whole new level.

DotM Leader Sentinel - Similar to the RotF Optimus but I feel the creative folding, collapsing, and inverting of the alt mode to bot mode deserves special mention. The way the entire front of the fire engine collapses into Sentinel's chest and the way the panels arrange around the lower legs (a process which feels similar to MP-12) were very surprising even by RotF standards.

MP-17 - The ankle transformation in the MP Datsun mold is a stoke of genius and something that definitely would not have been possible a decade or so ago without the entire foot exploding due to the amount of force pulling the joint apart.

 

People hate them, but ROTF Leader Optimus and Mixmaster.

I love those transformations.

 

I'm quite fond of RotF Prime and Mixmaster. They're royal pains to transform, but the transformations are ingenious.

Gonna also give some appreciation to Battle Blade Bumblebee. Impressive accuracy and articulation at a deluxe price point.

 

I always like these kinds of threads. It's a slight challenge at times to ensure that I'm picking well/amazingly engineered TF's rather then personal favorites, figures who have some other amazing element to them, or are often overlooked figures.

All IMHO obviously, my top 7:

For me, number one is Animated Longarm/Shockwave. Yeah, the crane to tank isn't that much, but the robot to robot conversion is phenomenal. Every single aspect of the body is altered as the short and stocky Autobot becomes a tall and lanky Decepticon. It's clean, efficient, and effective. As I've mentioned prior in threads like this, I actually had a friend over one day years ago and he actually didn't believe me when I mentioned that 'True Colors' Shockwave (who I had just gotten) on the Animated Decepticons shelf is the same toy as Autobot Longarm on the Animated Autobot shelf. So I had to pull Longarm off the shelf and change him into Shockwave. He was floored and asked me to make 'True Colors' Shockwave Longarm so I did that as well and he just loved watching it happen.

Second is PRID Vehicon. It's a very neat robot form and a nice CTS car mode, but the brilliance is in how from the front bumper to the trunk, it all folds up into the legs. The result is a robot that looks more like a KO Revoltech line robot rather then a Transformer. One of my big complaints up until that point was how few car transformations there were; sure there isn't a lot of duplication in the actual details, but the general steps there weren't that many, especially with the sheer volume of cars we'd gotten over the last 30 years. Then along comes the PRID Vehicon and suddenly it's a brand new game.

Third, I'll go with Animated Lockdown. His transformation has been copied, but the original Lockdown toy has such a neat transformation that it borders on mass shifting. A deluxe sized car who easily transforms into a robot form that's larger then most Voyagers and rivals some Leaders.

Fourth, I'll go with 30th Springer. Triple (and more) changers are always difficult and usually require degrees of compromise. Springer however, perhaps due to not becoming some known vehicle models and instead being the 'tec' versions of a car and helicopter deftly avoids it. The transformations are complex enough that they don't feel like a car with helicopter blades on the roof or a helicopter with wheels, but not so much that we're back into movie style 90 step change territory either; it's a wonderful balance of effective steps and mode changing to create three modes that all work wonderfully. Plus, it's an all around fun toy. I think I "played" more with it the first week I had it then all the other transformers I had gotten that year up to that point put together.

Fifth I'll go with Big Convoy from Beast Wars Neo. Some people love him. Others hate him. In some ways, he really is all about "puzzle play" as his virtually unarticulated beast mode shell is a series of interlocking plates that all fit together and then explode about like the Bayformers on screen do to be replaced with a very badass looking robot. The sculpted detail, the intricate transformation, and the gimmicks along with crazy superposablity (in an era when that was only just starting to be the norm) make Big Convoy a big deal.

Sixth, DOTM Deluxe Starscream. I'll admit, I'm no fan of Bayformers. At all really. I only have a few in my collection and I only got Starscream because TF's were on sale and I had a promo card that was expiring that weekend, so the final cost to me was a dollar and some change. One of the better dollars I had spent, I was honestly really amazed by Starscream. So much so when I saw Thundercracker on clearance a few months later, I picked up the redeco. He doesn't mass shift, his transformation doesn't have some genius step to it. But what he does, he does shockingly well. A nice F-22 that cleanly transforms into a pretty good representation of movie "Dorito chip" Starscreams robot mode with a lot of smart choices about how it transforms.

Seventh, Animated Voyager Bulkhead. Some of the beauty lies in how clean the transformation is and how there's so many clever little steps, but the reality is, he's on the list because he's one of the few where the Autotransformation adds to the toy rather then detracts. The head swivel and the arm pop out are just well done, but not intrusive or 'broken' as they are on many automorph style transformation schemes. Clean lines that convoy character are a hallmark of Animated, but Bulkhead really runs with it to a high degree of success.