TF Views

Dominic wrote:Armada: We did get the basic 3. But, Skywarp is not similar to G1 Skywarp if one reads the tech specs, having a differen personality and power set. Thrust is not really G1 Thrust. There is simply no Dirge. And, we only get a Ramjet if on counts "Universe" Ramjet, which was part of a different line. (Even if one allows fan-fic, which one should not do, this does not count as a complete set.)

There was Powerlinx Thrust, who was coloured like Dirge. Was a big huge thing, if you recall, since we wanted him to be coloured like...y'know, Thrust.

TFU/Classics/Henkei: It gets messy here.

Starscream and Ramjet at mass retail, in new color schemes. I have nothing against the new color schemes in and of themselves. In fact, I kind of regret painting over my "Classics" Starscream for a custom. But, the problems come up when comparing them to later figures. Skywarp is in "close enough to G1" colors to not look right near Starscream and Ramjet. Then, the only way to get Thundercracker, Thrust and Ramjet was in that idiotic boxed set. Thundercracker and Thrust were G1 colors. Dirge was "wrong" all around. He had G1 colors....but incorrectly molded wings.

Then, Takara made a "close-enough" Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker. Of course (This is the set I have, alongside a Henkei Ramjet.) But, then Takara turns around and makes Thrust and Dirge not only as exclusives...but gives them different color schemes. To add insult to injury, this Dirge has G1 style moulding on the wings.......

Again, I am not against change. In fact, i rather like the new wing patterns. But, I want to be able to get the damned jets in one friggin' aesthetic! Is that too much to ask!?!?????? I would be perfectly happy getting all 6 with paint jobs like the ones used on Starscream and Ramjet in the US back in '06.

The differences in the wings...never bothered me. So Starscream has a new, different and unique wing pattern, but Thundy doesn't. Is Thundy blue and black? I'm good. (Actually, I'm a picky bastard, so if he's blue like the cartoon, I literally won't buy it. Thundy is dark blue, like Onslaught. Maybe even a little greenish.)

This is further simplified by one simple fact: I don't care about the Coneheads. Never have, probably never will. They always felt extraneous and cruddy. Right now I have no guarantee that I'll buy Thrust or Dirge. (I might, actually, buy Thrust, since I don't own 'a' Thrust right now, but I have the reissue Dirge, so he's probably out.)

Dominic wrote:

Releasing Thundercracker will make Hasbro money, so he'll be out at retail sooner or later.

The longer they wait, the less credit it will be worth though. They might wait until after the next "upgrade" to release him, meaning that the set will be inconsistent/incomplete.

The TFU/Classics figures were easy enough. But, they made an incomplete set.

Dom

Less creditable? Not sure what you mean here.

And I can easily understand why they don't release the set all at once. They'd essentially be putting six or more of the same toy out on shelves at the same time. Sure, the colors and wings are a bit different on some of them, but Hasbro would be very likely to see too much of the same product out on shelves at one time as diluting sales. Kids would see them as interchangeable. Don't forget that Starscream and Thrust were the only mass retail releases out of the original six. Skywarp was a Target exclusive, and both the Starscream repaint and Acid Storm came a year or more later, and not at the same time.

Dominic wrote:Sparky/O6, help me out here, did they all come out at US retail in PVC form? I know moulding for all 6 exists.

"nobody else seems to love this mould as much as I do" variety.)

No. Thrust and Ramjet were Japan only. I know because I had to track them both down separately.

I totally share your love of the Sunstreaker/Sideswipe mold. I really need to try to get the Punch/Counterpunch.

There was Powerlinx Thrust, who was coloured like Dirge. Was a big huge thing, if you recall, since we wanted him to be coloured like...y'know, Thrust.

No fan-fic allowed. PLX Thrust is Thrust.

The differences in the wings...never bothered me. So Starscream has a new, different and unique wing pattern, but Thundy doesn't. Is Thundy blue and black? I'm good. (Actually, I'm a picky bastard, so if he's blue like the cartoon, I literally won't buy it. Thundy is dark blue, like Onslaught. Maybe even a little greenish.)

I just do not want one guy to look like it is still 1984 if the other one looks like 2010. (Ohhhh, unintentional fan-pun.) LIke I said, I really do like "Classics" Starscream's patterning. Similar color mapping would look really good on Thundercracker.

I am fine with either light or dark blue for Thundercracker. I prefer the dark, almost purplish, blues of the comics. But, I can accept the light blue of the cartoon. (Both are official. Neither is obscure.) How do you see "greenish"?

(I might, actually, buy Thrust, since I don't own 'a' Thrust right now, but I have the reissue Dirge, so he's probably out.)

You can live with them looking clearly and obviously different?

Don't forget that Starscream and Thrust were the only mass retail releases out of the original six. Skywarp was a Target exclusive, and both the Starscream repaint and Acid Storm came a year or more later, and not at the same time.

I think you mean "Starscream and Ramjet".

Either way, kids have been consistently recognizing TF characters for 25+ years now.

And, I am not saying the all have to come out at once. But, it would be nice to have a tighter turn around time between the first and last member of the team, if not having them all released in the same line.

No. Thrust and Ramjet were Japan only. I know because I had to track them both down separately.

Are you sure? The last wave or two was stupidly rare, even by "Heroes of Cybertron" standards.

I totally share your love of the Sunstreaker/Sideswipe mold. I really need to try to get the Punch/Counterpunch.

You also need to get Breakdown. And, you need to make Tiger-Track, Spin-Out, Clampdown, Deep Cover, police recolor Sunstreaker, G2 Sideswipe, Deadend (ala "Alternators"), Wreckloose, Sideswipe in movie colors, Breakdown in G1 colors, and Sideswipe in SG colors, along with any I have forgotten to list.


Dom
-can tolerate the chromed up launchers on the Henkeis.....barely.

Dominic wrote:I just do not want one guy to look like it is still 1984 if the other one looks like 2010. (Ohhhh, unintentional fan-pun.) LIke I said, I really do like "Classics" Starscream's patterning. Similar color mapping would look really good on Thundercracker.

I see no reason why either design specifies any time point. After all, wasn't ClaScream's original release deco patterned after the original F-15 prototypes? Presumably such protos would be from before the F-15 reached production, i.e. actually *predating* the design the 1984 Seekers would be using.
http://www.laughingcatsstudio.com/userm ... pe-web.jpg
http://www.math.tau.ac.il/~turkel/F15-NASA.jpg

I am fine with either light or dark blue for Thundercracker. I prefer the dark, almost purplish, blues of the comics. But, I can accept the light blue of the cartoon. (Both are official. Neither is obscure.) How do you see "greenish"?

Sometimes lighting skews the colours of a legit G1 Thundy (or a recent update) so that they look slightly more green than a straight dark blue. My ideal Thundercracker colour lies somewhere inbetween a darker Dirge (what most Thundy updates, e.g. Armada use) and Onslaught's, which is clearly Dark Blue With A Little Bit Of Green. I think the G1 boxart perfectly captures the colour I see in my head.

I think Botcon Thundy takes it a little too far in the green, but it's better than the cartoon's sky-blue, which, to me, always makes Thundy look like a wuss:
http://www.vector-sigma.it/museum/d/984 ... PREbot.jpg

You can live with them looking clearly and obviously different?

Yeah, actually. If I can live with Classics Devastator hanging out next to G1 Soundwave, Universe Onslaught and Henkei Megs, I'm sure it's not an issue. Hell, Dirge and Skywarp (both reissues) pal around with Classics Starscream all the time.

It's because I care about the Coneheads way less than I do the original trio. The lack of Thundy is what's bothering me, see. If we were just missing easily-obtainable versions of Dirge and Thrust, I wouldn't care one bit.

You also need to get Breakdown. And, you need to make Tiger-Track, Spin-Out, Clampdown, Deep Cover, police recolor Sunstreaker, G2 Sideswipe, Deadend (ala "Alternators"), Wreckloose, Sideswipe in movie colors, Breakdown in G1 colors, and Sideswipe in SG colors, along with any I have forgotten to list.

You made ClaSwipe...in MovieSwipe colours? I must see this.

Dominic wrote:

No. Thrust and Ramjet were Japan only. I know because I had to track them both down separately.

Are you sure? The last wave or two was stupidly rare, even by "Heroes of Cybertron" standards.

I totally share your love of the Sunstreaker/Sideswipe mold. I really need to try to get the Punch/Counterpunch.

You also need to get Breakdown. And, you need to make Tiger-Track, Spin-Out, Clampdown, Deep Cover, police recolor Sunstreaker, G2 Sideswipe, Deadend (ala "Alternators"), Wreckloose, Sideswipe in movie colors, Breakdown in G1 colors, and Sideswipe in SG colors, along with any I have forgotten to list.


Dom
-can tolerate the chromed up launchers on the Henkeis.....barely.

Yup. I still have all of the Heroes of Cybertron ones and Dirge was in the last wave. The fact that we never got Thrust or Ramjet here annoyed me almost as much as Thundergate.

I ordered the Botcon set, so Breakdown is gonna happen and I am SO molding that head in G1 colors. That is gonna happen.

And yet, the chrome is at least a consistent aesthetic.

The chrome is consistent with the Nenkies, which is perfectly fine....except Ramjet will be shiny while Thrust and Dirge are not..... And, I already used my non-shiny Ramjet launchers in a custom. And, even if I had not, using them would make Ramjet non-factory spec.

(Yes, I am this obsessive about such things.)

I see no reason why either design specifies any time point.

More a specific time point for the franchise than the real world. If one of them looks like the 1984 character model, they *all* have to look that way.

I think Botcon Thundy takes it a little too far in the green, but it's better than the cartoon's sky-blue, which, to me, always makes Thundy look like a wuss:

It still looks better than pink and green.

Yeah, actually. If I can live with Classics Devastator hanging out next to G1 Soundwave, Universe Onslaught and Henkei Megs, I'm sure it's not an issue. Hell, Dirge and Skywarp (both reissues) pal around with Classics Starscream all the time.

I can handle this sort of thing better with TFs than with say...Joe figures. But, past a certain point it starts to bug me, especially with characters that are clearly supposed to be of similar type to each other. They need to look the same.

You made ClaSwipe...in MovieSwipe colours? I must see this.

Not yet. In fact, I have done little if any customizing for about 4 months. Movie colors Sideswipe is on the list with Wreckloose and Deadend, pending availability of time and figures.

Breakdown will have to wait until I can buy a custom head off of Trekkie. At that point, I can put the head on an apporpriately painted "Generations" Red Alert. (I will swap the roof/chest with Clampdown's roof, and remove Clampdown's siren, painting over the glue damage.) If Red Alert's siren comes off easily, it gives me bodies for movie colors Sideswipe and in theory Wreckloose. However, I would prefer using a Sunstreaker (configured as Sideswipe), for Wreckloose.

Deadend, for obvious reasons, has to be Sunstreaker.


Dom
-would likely add some colors to Deadend, to avoid a straight black recolor.

I really don't mind differences in my Seekers. My current team is Classics Ramjet and Skywarp, with Universe Starscream, Acid Storm, and Dirge (I love the idea of him being this one big guy in a team of otherwise same-size dudes), and Titanium Sunstorm. I'm ecstatic to hear about Generations Thrust, since I wanted that version of the mold for my team's Thrust, and now I can get it at retail. Then at some point I want to order a Titanium Thundercracker to serve as my version of him, since that would balance things out nicely. Of course, if I had the scratch on me, I'd commission an Action Master colors Thundercracker from Dom or Trekkie or somebody.

And hell, I'll probably buy Generations Dirge when he comes out anyway, just because. The Conehead variation of that mold really shines.

Well so many around here are apparently jonesing for AM Thundy so much that I pretty much plan to crank out about 10 of 'em once I get the molds perfected. And my damn house liveable. Probably sometime by the end of the year. Ish.

See, it's important to me that I'm not viewing all my Decepticons as a coherent unit. I own a collection that spans a time period longer than I've been alive. Realistically, not all of it's going to match up. And in strictest terms, the shelves don't have to coherently apply to any rules. I'm pretty sure that, right now, Masterpiece Starscream is standing next to Classics Devastator. That's really dumb, but where the hell else am I gonna put MasterScream? I only have so many shelves and I have even less coherent groups of Decepticons. I have enough Autobots that they can be split into eras (G1 on one shelf, Classics/Universe on the next, etc.) but I don't own enough G1 Decepticons to do that--so I have to kludge it all together. (I also have so many ArmEnerTron Decepticons that they can't fit on a single shelf, while the corresponding Autobots that I have here all fit on one.)

It's not as if I'm envisioning that my G1 Dirge and Skywarp are literally next to Classics Starscream. Obviously having them all in one consistant scale would be preferrable (because that's far more important, to me, than the specific little vehicle details you're talking about--seriously, when ClaScream's first pics showed up, I barely noticed his wings were different.) but I'll take what I can get due to limited funds and space. Plus, regardless of anything else, I already own those reissues--they're not gonna 'go away' if I get current figures. I still have my reissue Sideswipe out even though I have a hugely superior Universe Sideswipe. (Though G1Swipe is a fun little guy, in terms of detailed robocars. Something about the G1 diecast and paint makes all their vehicle modes awesome. And he was only fifteen bucks!)