Parts-forming used to mean things like G1 Omega Supreme, or the Siege weaponizers. Now it's a term that people throw around during a fit because Primus forbid they have to remove an accessory.  

 

i believe it's spelled "ankylophile," n i'm one too.




check out that tail club... wow.

 

Welp, I like my crow with a side of Epi-pen and a visit to the ER (I'm allergic to poultry), thank you.  

 

As much as I'm sure this is going to send my name diving faster than a meteorite hitting Yucatan, I do not like the recent trend that Takara has been taking with their Masterpiece figures. Especially Masterpiece Bumblebee 2.0. I swear, JobbytheHong called it best. And while I like Emgo316, I have to heavily disagree with him about the engineering and the backpack.

If you want one of the most, possibly the second most popular, of characters in recent TF media to be done justice? For the love of Primus, don't do what Takara has done and just stuff all the kibble and vehicle parts onto the back. Yes, MP-44 can get away with that protrusion of a backpack because he needs to do something to make that box of a speaker not look like a tumor from his lower back, but Bumblebee 2.0? That piece of scrap has no excuse. Unless you wanna argue that the door gimmick and the Spike gimmick are essential, which I really, really doubt they are.

If you wanna look at good examples of engineering that don't compromise aesthetics nor articulation, look at Mastermind Creations' Combaticons, or Unique Toys' Challenger or their Dragoon. And if you say that Hasbro has to deal with a budget, then I counter with this: their Combiner Wars' Constructicons blow MP Bumblebee 2.0 out of the water. Why yes, I did just say that. And you know why I say that? It's because the engineering doesn't compromise the articulation, nor the aesthetics. If Takara could've gotten away with a touch of ingenuity from combining the minds of Hasui and Warden, and created a Devastator that was competing against two 3rd Party Devastators at the time, and come out with a strong opening punch? Then they have no excuse to show such a blatant lack of effort in their Masterpiece line.

And I'm sure my argument has tons of holes that people can poke through, but in my mind, this blatant display of a backpack shows only one quality from HasTak: Hubris. And I fully admit, I'm starting to wonder if that WfC Unicron is even worth those $600+ dollars, because while I didn't back it, that was a HELL of a demand. And you have to believe this: The customer holds the power. If we don't buy it, they won't be able to sell it.

And if the MP Hound is a vast improvement? Maybe HasTak just decided to screw everyone over with Bumblebee. But that's going to leave a bad taste in many a person's mouth, even those who didn't buy him.

Seriously Takara. Get your shit together.

Thank you for visiting my TEDTalk.

 

One thing that I don't think anyone mentions about the upcoming Earthrise mini-bases and "shield" road figures:

If we were to go with the whole "Transformers are living beings" thing... wouldn't being a house or a piece of road that others are using be some sort of very depressive "life"?

I mean, you hear "TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT" and there you are... a piece of real estate or chuck of road that drops to the floor and just lays there.

I understand the Titans are still "active" in some sort of way, Omega flies around as a rocket or keeps watch as a tank, the citybots are monitoring scanners, can become a huge cruiser/spaceship or such, etc.

But the Targetmaster shield "sorry dude, you are absolutely and completely expendable, you live to be what the enemy will shoot at and destroy" or "just lay down and stay there while we drive over you for the next few years"... the mini-bases "transform and don't move or do anything while we sit and guzzle energon all day and night inside you"..."and don't mind if you're a sitting duck for all attacks, as you're just a base/house to us".

I really wish they'd just do some actual bases with gimmicks and such but no need for them to be robots too... even if it would be simple cardboard dollhouse type. Make the panels/section modular and it would be freaking amazing if done with just a bit of imagination.

 

This is why I’m not buying the shield-masters or that Ironworks “base.” G1 Ironworks was a micromaster with a transforming battlestation that didn’t transform into a robot. I much prefer that set-up.

 

Re. BW. Thank you. That's what I was getting at, we don't even know the first thing about the show, really, but the toys have done staggeringly well. The BW look and story is just so far away from what we have and are getting.

 

The Beast Wars MPs are significantly cooler than the G1 MPs. MP 32 is the greatest masterpiece created in this decade.

I never liked most of the movies, but ironically the studio series toys are the best part of the mainline.

 

The whole partsforming argument is nonsense. Weapons, bots using other bots as weapons, Combiners FFS! People need to get a bloody hold of themselves.

 

I've got mixed feelings about parts forming. I dont mind if it's a part of the altmode that turns into a weapon for the bot mode. Or like a trailer that separates to form the main body ala PoTP Prime.

 

Yeah, sorta thing I could watch but that's where it ends. I was 14 when it appeared and it just felt like all those kids action cartoons starring animals had finally reached Transformers. I just have no connection to it like I do with so much of the canon.

 

That's a fair assessment. BW was my G1. I was 8, and had no concept of what transformers was before that until much later in my life.

 

Masterpiece Hoist, whenever it happens, is going to be truly hideous.

 

Not really an unpopular opinion, more of an anecdote:

I think Beast Wars Injector is one of the worst toys ever made. (This isn't the "unpopular" part.) It's hideous in all modes. The transformation is insultingly simple. There aren't any mechanical parts. Is he even a machine??? And who decided to call it "Injector"? Imagine a parent's horrified face as a kid says "I want to play with my injector!"

Here's the "unpopular" part: Despite my loathing of the figure......I've probably played with Injector more times than 99% of my MP, third-party, or CHUG toys. When I was a kid, I frequently show Injector to my friends and "transform" it into its various modes to show off how bad it is. Then, as the years went by, the transformation was so simple, I couldn't help myself but transform it. When putting my figures in cool battle scenes, Injector frequently played the part of some bad-guy redshirt character.

Now, today, I still think Injector is horrible in every imaginable way, but it's become like an ugly dog to me. Because, as we all know, there are no ugly dogs, there are only dogs that are cute in their own way. There's something fun and charming about Injector's awfulness. If you released Injector as part of the Ninja Turtles or Power Rangers toy series, with exactly the same mold and colors, it would fit right in as one of those mutated monsters.

So, yeah, Injector. I'm not here to defend Injector or suggest it's unfairly maligned. Injector sucks, but for me, it's so bad that it's good!

 

Some KOs are OK.
I stand firm that the CWKO are good because they serve a purpose in the market. The aftermarket prices for CW are absurd and the KOs allow people like myself who missed CW to get the characters we love affordably.

 

Finally someone agrees with me

 

I actually like airachnid

 

I'd really like to know what so many people think makes ROTF Mixy better than SS Mixy because IMO SS Mixmaster is way better in every way. For starters, he's simpler, less fiddly, better painted, can form a demonic head from hell, and isn't a pain in the ass to transform.

 

On the one hand, Hoist never was supposed to be a robotic Adonis. On the other hand, maybe it'd do him good not to stick to his toon appearance too much.

I think the same goes for the Dinobots. As much as I mostly love the toon look of current masterpiece figures, I can't imagine MP Dinobots looking any good if HasTak sticks with their oversimplified Sunbow look. Recent MP figures like Inferno, Sunstreaker, Prime v3 and the upcoming Hound look fantastic if you ask me, but for the eventual Masterpiece Dinos I'd rather they revisit all that delicious toyetic detail.

Although I don't dislike Bee as much as ol' Jobby does (I've yet to handle the little guy myself), I wonder if they could've improved his kibbliness if they just didn't bother to make his little Spike minifig rider him in car mode. Some of the picture our fellow forumers have taken of Bee v2 are stunning, so I do want to get myself one eventually (and preferrably on a discount), but forking up USD 100+ for a figure with limited waist articulation and a backpack that doesn't hold together very well wouldn't feel worth it for me. Blackarachnia and the soon-to-be-released Hound too look great though, so here's hoping the line will keep on returning to form.