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Jun. 21st, 2015 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geebsSo Botcon 15 was last week, and there were some interesting reveals. You know when Combiner Wars came out, I didn't realize they were going to go all out. I mean, it seems like they've come out with all the non-futuristic, vehicle ones, so Devastator, Superion, Menasor, Defensor, and Bruticus, but not Predaking, Technotron, and Abominus.
And then they made the non-Devastator ones six-robot gestalts (since Devastator was always six to begin with). Like they added Blackjack from the Sports Car patrol to the Stunticons to form the chestplate (since G1 Menasor had that roller car on his chest) and they added Powerglide to the Aerialbots to form his gun. And the Protectabots got a new member, SWAT vehicle Rook, taking Groove's place as limb, with Groove now forming Defensor's chestplate.
Of course, they also temporarily replaced some members with new ones initially, but then released those guys anyways. i.e. the Stunticons had new guy Offroad in place of Wildrider (now Brake-neck), Helicopter Alpha Bravo taking Quickslinger (formerly the Harrier Slingshot) on the Aerialbots. So you have like more potential limbs than the gestalts actually need.
But then they also started doing crazy stuff, like making Optimus Prime a combiner with Prowl, Mirage, Ironhide and Sunstreaker to form Ultra Prime. On the one hand, its excessive, because Optimus is just a redeco/retool of Motor Master, Prowl is a redeco of Streetwise (because they were both Datsun/Nissan police cars), Mirage Dragstrip (because they were both F1 Racers), Ironhide Offroad, and Sunstreaker of Breakdown (because they were both Lamborghini Countaches), and they even have a redeco of Blackjack, Rodimus (Hot Rod). So it seems a little lazy in that respect, even though I have to give props for the Optimus/Motor Master retools, since those two had vastly different transformations, but even though Motor Master now has a similar transformation to Optimus, he still looks like his old robot mode from G1.
Still, they also have some imaginative things going on. Like they have Cyclonus, who's a retool of Silverbolt, who can form Galvatronus. Two things, its amazing that while Silverbolt and Cyclonus were not even remotely similar in G1, nor are they here in Combiner Wars. Like technically its the same "design" even though both the robot and vehicle modes are incredibly different. And two, its cool that "Galvatronus" actually has design elements that invoke images of the original Galvatron.
But they stepped up their game with freaking Skylynx- I mean, the new version is just like the old toy- a space shuttle on a carrier vehicle that turns into some sort of weird dragon like thing. How the heck do you make a combiner out of that? But they manage to, Sky Reign. Whoever thought that one up was incredibly imaginative. I mean, its limbs (Hound, Trailbreaker, Smokescreen, and Wheeljack) are again just redecos of Swindle, Offroad/Ironhide, Prowl/Streetwise, and Breakdown/Sunstreaker, but not only having Skylynx be the torso, but still manage to have his robot mode look exactly like it did in G1 was brilliant!
And I guess they still have the female combiner, Victorion, coming out? Since Arcee, Chromia, and Windblade figure prominently in the comic (I would include Nautica, but they still haven't made a toy of her), I figured it would comprise of them. But the comic previews have the 3 of them bump into a fully formed Victorion, implying its a gestalt of totally new female characters.
So I'm a little jealous of this generation having way cooler Transformers than when I was a kid, but I guess these are kinda meant for old fans as well, since there are all these nuances and references that wouldn't be known by someone who didn't watch the old cartoon/read the comics/have the toys.
And then they made the non-Devastator ones six-robot gestalts (since Devastator was always six to begin with). Like they added Blackjack from the Sports Car patrol to the Stunticons to form the chestplate (since G1 Menasor had that roller car on his chest) and they added Powerglide to the Aerialbots to form his gun. And the Protectabots got a new member, SWAT vehicle Rook, taking Groove's place as limb, with Groove now forming Defensor's chestplate.
Of course, they also temporarily replaced some members with new ones initially, but then released those guys anyways. i.e. the Stunticons had new guy Offroad in place of Wildrider (now Brake-neck), Helicopter Alpha Bravo taking Quickslinger (formerly the Harrier Slingshot) on the Aerialbots. So you have like more potential limbs than the gestalts actually need.
But then they also started doing crazy stuff, like making Optimus Prime a combiner with Prowl, Mirage, Ironhide and Sunstreaker to form Ultra Prime. On the one hand, its excessive, because Optimus is just a redeco/retool of Motor Master, Prowl is a redeco of Streetwise (because they were both Datsun/Nissan police cars), Mirage Dragstrip (because they were both F1 Racers), Ironhide Offroad, and Sunstreaker of Breakdown (because they were both Lamborghini Countaches), and they even have a redeco of Blackjack, Rodimus (Hot Rod). So it seems a little lazy in that respect, even though I have to give props for the Optimus/Motor Master retools, since those two had vastly different transformations, but even though Motor Master now has a similar transformation to Optimus, he still looks like his old robot mode from G1.
Still, they also have some imaginative things going on. Like they have Cyclonus, who's a retool of Silverbolt, who can form Galvatronus. Two things, its amazing that while Silverbolt and Cyclonus were not even remotely similar in G1, nor are they here in Combiner Wars. Like technically its the same "design" even though both the robot and vehicle modes are incredibly different. And two, its cool that "Galvatronus" actually has design elements that invoke images of the original Galvatron.
But they stepped up their game with freaking Skylynx- I mean, the new version is just like the old toy- a space shuttle on a carrier vehicle that turns into some sort of weird dragon like thing. How the heck do you make a combiner out of that? But they manage to, Sky Reign. Whoever thought that one up was incredibly imaginative. I mean, its limbs (Hound, Trailbreaker, Smokescreen, and Wheeljack) are again just redecos of Swindle, Offroad/Ironhide, Prowl/Streetwise, and Breakdown/Sunstreaker, but not only having Skylynx be the torso, but still manage to have his robot mode look exactly like it did in G1 was brilliant!
And I guess they still have the female combiner, Victorion, coming out? Since Arcee, Chromia, and Windblade figure prominently in the comic (I would include Nautica, but they still haven't made a toy of her), I figured it would comprise of them. But the comic previews have the 3 of them bump into a fully formed Victorion, implying its a gestalt of totally new female characters.
So I'm a little jealous of this generation having way cooler Transformers than when I was a kid, but I guess these are kinda meant for old fans as well, since there are all these nuances and references that wouldn't be known by someone who didn't watch the old cartoon/read the comics/have the toys.
