Count me in with the people who prefer the toy/ox/toon hybrid style to the full-on toon look. I grew up loving the cartoon, but also recognize its limitations because of cost-cutting, and I am glad when companies take details from other sources. As such, I personally hope Toyworld's not-Bruticus primarily follows the toy colors over toon. I respect that others have different opinions, which is why I think providing alternate parts is the best way to please the most people. I have Constructor V1 and love it, my only real nitpick being addressed by the lat fillers. I'm fine with the Ox silver thighs and "hooded" head, and I even like the individual heads, but also think a new set would be nice for those who prefer the cartoon look. Having options is good.

I keep seeing the discussion about Swindle being a Humvee vs a Jeep (cartoon - I know), but the original toy and Ox art was based on an FMC XR311, which looked like a cross between the two. I originally thought Toyworld may have went for a "custom" fully enclosed version of this for better bot storage, but looking closer, I now see the Humvee sides and sloped back. Vortex's alt further suggests a change. Curious about this decision, but I'm still in.

 

I agree with everything Qing shared however let's also take into account cultural norms around being outspoken or having and voicing individual opinions, since that may also play a part in why the survey panned out the way it did for each audience segment.

 

Wow, I'm surprised to say this but I think I reached my limit on Combiner size. My collection needs to have a distinct size difference between my titans and my combiners, I think the latest round of big Gestalts is too big for me. Feral Rex is as big as I need.

That said I do like the look of this guy, If Weijang or someone ever does a downscaled version, I'd be excited for that. I still do need a G1 Bruticus, I have FOC Fruiticus with upgrades, I got my CW Dudicus, a UW Ruination is on the way, the actual G1 coloring somehow I never picked up though. Would be cool if a nice medium sized third party option was made available.

 

And here we are again... as is the male condition it in perpetuity it would appear... discussing the overall importance of size.

 

No way I'm buying this upfront, as it comes out after Dev. I can live without it, and probably will. If it gets a 'screw the v1 buyers' release down the road, maybe I'll consider it...though encouraging that practice probably isn't the best idea either.

 

By saving the image files?

 

Nice comparisons and colours.

You know what? That Vortex arm ... the way the rotor blades fold up into a peacock tail fan ... it's killing me. I'm dead. The bad dead.

I simply cannot understand why they've done Vortex the way they have. Catch the Movie market? Sell a G1 Vortex down the road? Like, whatever. I can probably hack a Swindle re-alt, but I don't think I can live with Blackout as an arm instead of a proper G1 Vortex.

 

Couldn't you just...not fold up the rotors?

 

All speculation at this point, but I think this is a different case from Devastator. I think TW addressed V1 quality issues with the G2 release, and the G1 V2 (   ) was released with those fixes to give people who wanted a green set with the updates. I'd expect that they've learned from that process and worked out all the kinks at this point, making a V2 Bruticus unnecessary (other than the eventual G2 repaint). I'd be surprised if subsequent releases followed the same path Constructor did. If that became the pattern, initial releases wouldn't sell as well. It just doesn't make sense from a business standpoint.

Couldn't we just not fold it up like that though? I'm not seeing anything to suggest that leaving the rotor unfolded will affect any other part of the transformation. I could be missing something though.

 

But even so, he'd have a five-bladed rotor thingy on his arm. Fiiiiive, not four, but fiiiiive  

Yeah, I know. But I really do want a G1 Vortex. The bot and alt modes are important to me too. Blackout replacing Vortex does not a G1 Combaticon team make, whatever iteration of "G1" one chooses. It's ... it's CW Protectobot Rook all over again.

 

Maybe, but I'm not going to risk missing out on a better, more accurate, and much cheaper version. Also helps that I don't NEED this set either. I'm planning on skipping the season 2 combiners...but I could be convinced otherwise if they look great and are a price that's too hard to pass up.

 

Unless I'm really in love with the set (e.g. Quantron), that's been my mantra since the Predaking wars (thankfully not the hard way). The main reason being the price drop that seems to happen with most 3P combiners 6, 8 10 months after the full set is out, esp on the secondary market. Of the last 5 or so combiners I've gotten in the last year (Hercules, Ordin, Constructor, Guardia, FP Dinoking,), Guardia is the the only I've paid more than 50% of the original MSRP for and I didn't have to hunt very hard for those deals either.

 

Thanks to MMC and their "I'm a biggish CHUG/smallish MP" sizing, I've told myself that Feral Rex can hop over to the Combiner Wars gestalt shelf if anyone ever does a full-on, TW-sized or thereabouts G1 Predaking in future. God knows that Feral Rex leans more towards the CHUGgier side of styling, anyway.

 

The OSKO works as an MP display piece IMO. I've always seen Predaking and Devastator as the two biggest combiners, with the Scramble dudes being smaller.

*waits for screen stills showing Combiner X at Size Y*

*repsonds with screen stills showing Combiner X at size Z and Combiner A at size Y*

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

The OSKO has questionable quality (even though it's cheap and tall enough to match the new generation of growth-hormone combiners).

I'm greedy ... I'd be down for a whole new G1-based Predaking that's purpose-built for an MP shelf (looking at you Toyworld ... maybe after Menasor and Superion, and don't mess with the formula!).

Speaking of a CW-display Predaking, I wouldn't mind a UT Predaking there either - just that I haven't been able to find one at a price I like. It's a pretty flimsy bunch of toys so I'm not willing to shell out too much.

 

You miscounted, friend. He has 4 blades. You're counting the tailfin.

 

Really? *squints like hell* ... maybe it is four blades ...

I must confess I'm not exactly a copter aficionado. But with all this talk of a Blackout alt mode - doesn't that entail more blades than four?

Don't get me wrong, I'd be far happier with four blades than more. In respect of gestalt mode, that would just leave the issue of whether the arm can be transformed such that the tail rotor doesn't block the free-spinning rotation of the unfolded main rotor.

I've still seen next to nothing of the copter and bot mode though. I can only hope that they're both reasonably Vortex-y.

 

If you go back a few pages and look at the larger photo that hasn't been digibashed, you can see everything more clearly and can tell it's just four blades.

 

In terms of deco, I'd hope they go the way of the UW Bruticus. Toon deco, but with the ugly white replaced with a more toy-ish silver.

 

Those digibashes look great !!!
Really like everything about it except probably Swindle !!! Not being his original vehicle mode.

But Vortex just looks weird, it just doesn't seem to look anything like either the toon or the toy !!!
Or the Studio Ox pic that it's inspiration is drawn from !!!
Anyway.. hopefully a handpainted proto comes up soon, coz he looks great everywhere else !!!

Hopefully the thigh parts can attach to Onslaught in vehicle mode as missle launchers or something !! Even some part of a base mode ?? Ala his G1 toy ?!