Botcon '12 Exclusives

[Mirage]

My impressions of the set so far:

Ultra Magnus: I actually really like the figure, I just don't give a fig about Shattered Glass. So count me in on that one, I guess. I'm pre-registered, so I AM getting the set, just don't think I'll be keeping them all. I actually started cooking up ideas for alternate uses for some of the characters, and I like the idea of using him as one of the older Primes (maybe one who's been named, maybe not) who's become sort of a cross between a Ringwraith and the Old Knight from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He's been trapped somewhere... maybe guarding something? ...for millenia, and now he's just a Spark-powered ghost/spirit/whatever wearing physical armor. Kinda creepy, but why the hell else is he translucent?

Treadshot: I think that's a SHARP looking figure, nice colors on a great mold with a decent new head. But seriously, a reference to a character that only appeared in a Universe 1.0 Battle in a Box set?? That's obscurity for the sake of it. I like the idea of simply using him as a new figure of Armada Sideswipe. The original was one of the biggest turds in TF history, so he deserves an update. Hot Shot got one, so why not?

Soundwave: Just... no. What little I know of SG Soundwave, he sounds like a really stupid character. The mold choice is terrible (OMFG Ironhide's got a window chest like Soundwave so it's meant to be!!!) and it's a pretty crap mold to begin with. There's not one damn official character I could re-purpose him as, and I don't care to come up with a new one for it. This one's got the least chance of taking up permanent residence with me.

Tracks: You mean Road Rage? She'll be more than happy on my Classics shelf.

Overlord: Le SIGH. Really?? This could NOT have been their first choice of a mold. More likely they conceived the set, found out their first choice wouldn't work, and had to go with a backup because one way or another, they were already committed to Overlord. The biggest disappointment here, by far. Universe Silverbolt would have been my pick.

Metalhawk: Reserving judgment for a big pic, but it's the mold I would have expected. They could have used some other random jet-bot and ignored the shell, I guess, but I doubt that would have felt much like Metalhawk.

Octo-Punch: Nice idea, a new head would have helped immensely. Execution is just plain lame. Very little chance of any character identification on looks alone. And the paint apps on the existing head are awful.

And if we continue going with Seibertron's list, which has been pretty accurate so far?

Kick-Off: Well, it's a better use of the mold than Treadshot is. Kick-Off keeps popping up here and there in the official fiction, so it'll be nice to have a new figure. Unless he's Shattered Glass, then BOOO!!

SG Swindle: Uh... ok. Depends on what they homage, I guess. Really relaxing that non-re-use rule aren't they?

SG Junkions: Damn it all, I want to hate this idea, but I really like it! That's the VERY first SG idea that really intrigues me, and I think they'd look awesome in the Insecticon color schemes! What are they, a vicious tribe of savages? Maybe cannibals? I'm kind of digging on this...

[Gomess]

SG Junkions being a wild tribe would really defeat the super clever "opposites" rule of SG, wouldn't it...?

Presumably they're whimsical bohemians who learned everything they know from nature and personal interactions, and only say things worth saying.

[Mirage]

Yeah, but they're EVIL Autobots, aren't they? They've got to be nasty somehow or other...

Oh well, who cares. I'm not in it for the official story anyway.

[Gomess]

You ever met a bohemian? They can really be wankers.

Judging by what I've seen of SG, evil pretentious bike robots is way cooler than whatever they'll actually come out with, anyway.

[Shockwave]

I think that's mostly because SG (and I think this can extend to all franchises that have attempted this concept) really screwed up the concept. I mean, I can see the appeal on a conceptual level of wanting to see what things would look like in a franchise where the heroes wind up as the villains, but what FP and other franchises miss is that the underlying point of doing that would be to have a narrative about how the heroes are really just like the villains and would act just like them given the right situations. Unfortunately, that's never actually been done. Even Star Trek's "Mirror, Mirror" took things to an absurd level. The "Mirror" Federations should have been more like the regular universe's Klingons rather than the hate filled eViL one that we got. And the problem with SG is pretty much the same thing. The Autobots are unnecessarily brutal. To the point where they started enslaving the Decepticons. In most regular TF continuities the situation isn't reversed, the Decepticons haven't enslaved the Autobots. It's usually a pretty even fair fight. But not in SG! No, we need the Autobots there to be that much more evil! Ugh. And then there's the other way that SG fails on a character specific level. Again, the narrative point of universe "mirroring" is to show what situations it would take for the regular characters to take the perspective and beliefs of the other side. The idea is that at some point the two universes would have been one and the same and then there was a turning point where things either proceed as we know them or the wind up totally different to the point where characters have reversed points of view. But instead we have shit like Soundwave. SG Soundwave is in no way the regular G1 (or G1-esque variant thereof) Soundwave. Regular Soundwave is a sneeky, keniving, plotting son of bitch. And he follows Megatron because he actually beleives that they should attain power through conquest. He believes in the Decepticon cause. Buuuuuut.... SG Soundwave should be basically the same Soundwave with different goals. Maybe he would want to rise to power on Cybertron through more legitimate political means rather than outright war. But no. That's not what FP did with SG Soundwave. Instead they made him some sort of 'Nam-era classic rock hippie. WTF? How does that resemble the original character? It doesn't. At all! It's just changing the character completely just for the hell of it with no rhyme or reason behind it other than "hey, Hey, wouldn't it be funny if..." No, it wouldn't. And it's not! Stop doing it FP! On a side note, I think this kind of shit is what Dom meant when he said he hates whimsy for the sake of whimsy. Except that this is FP TRYING to be whimsical and just fucking failing.

[Gomess]

I think SG's remit- in practical terms; I don't care what they THINK their remit is- is just to make "nice" Decepticons and "mean" Autobots for the fun of it. They really haven't thought about it at all. Hence hippie Soundwave, purple-haired bare-midriff Sari, and- I assume- brutish tribal Junkions who've never watched TV. It's all very knee-jerk simplistic stuff, the kind you'd see on any given kid's DeviantArt.

[Shockwave]

I think SG's remit- in practical terms; I don't care what they THINK their remit is- is just to make "nice" Decepticons and "mean" Autobots for the fun of it. They really haven't thought about it at all. Hence hippie Soundwave, purple-haired bare-midriff Sari, and- I assume- brutish tribal Junkions who've never watched TV. It's all very knee-jerk simplistic stuff, the kind you'd see on any given kid's DeviantArt.

Exactly and that's my main problem with it. And I think that's the same problem that... well pretty much all of us here have with it. Guess I'm preachin to the choir then. But yeah, this is why it sucks.

[Gomess]

It's doofy, sure, but my biggest problem with it?

Why the hell is it called "Shattered Glass"?


'cos.. mirrors are.. glass.. and.. uh.. shattering.. yeh =|

[BWprowl]

It's doofy, sure, but my biggest problem with it?

Why the hell is it called "Shattered Glass"?


'cos.. mirrors are.. glass.. and.. uh.. shattering.. yeh =|

Because the original story this originated out of focused around G1-universe Cliffjumper (he of the Glass Gas gun) falling into this crazy mirror universe. The story was titled 'Shattered Glass' as kind of a cute nod to its outsider focal character, I guess. So now, every story taking place in this universe is labeled as the 'Shattered Glass' Universe.

Part of me thinks a lot of the silly/stupid character concepts that have pervaded SG come from FunPub wanting to recreate the well-liked success of the original 'Shattered Expectations' comic, trying to once again bottle that so-bad-it's-good lightning. Problem is, they can't seem to manage to push it far enough or do it tactfully enough, so they end up stopping just short at plain old 'bad'.

I do get to feel nicely vindicated whenever I'm on /toy/ or whatever and I see that there is quite a large population of people who think SG is Fucking Stupid. But hey, I guess FunPub only needs like 2000 people to like it for this box set to work.

[Onslaught Six]

That's not what FP did with SG Soundwave. Instead they made him some sort of 'Nam-era classic rock hippie. WTF? How does that resemble the original character? It doesn't. At all!

To be fair: SG Soundwave is totally Michelangelo from Ninja Turtles. (Or any of the Turtles, depending on your preferred Turtle universe. But I prefer to think of Mikey as the goofy one.) The idea is that Regular Soundwave is all stoic and emotionless so SG Soundwave is goofy and casual. It sort of makes sense even if it's a dumb idea. (I don't mind the idea of a Decepticon who's that informal, but you know.)