Combiner Wars

[Dominic]

I am planning to get Slingshot, partly for the sake of consistency. The Aerialbots are simply not going to be to scale considering Silverbolt. (Powerglide does not help on this front either.) But, at the very least, it would be nice to have the limbs be "close enough" (as close as liberalized fighter jets can be). Besides being over-sized, Alpha does not make sense on a team with jets because 'copters are slower than jets. ("Form Superion....in about 20 minutes when Alpha catches up....")

Alpha Bravo gets us at least Blades and probably Vortex, and potentially even Blastoff. (

Alpha looks more like Vortex than anything else.

But sometimes it's cool to see that G1 universe expanded, and that's where I come down with the new members of the combiner teams. At least at the moment.

After 30+ years, it *should* be expanded and have new characters and such, even with the odd hard reboot.

I never understood the idea that a franchise needs to stay more or less the same over time. Some characters can be rotated out and replaced. That makes both creative and commercial sense. In the case of merge groups, it should not be too much of a stretch to assume that a member died, left or was kicked off the team.

And while Wildrider's profile mentions they may cut him loose if his behavior gets worst, that's not the same thing as specifically saying they have fired him from the team.

It is an implications thing.

[JediTricks]

... allow us to viably have other moulds down the line--Alpha Bravo gets us at least Blades and probably Vortex, and potentially even Blastoff. (There is talk from people that the mould could make a good Blastoff if stripped of its copter parts and given new legs, which is not out of the realm of possibility when things like the Protectobots and Cyclonus are being done. But until we see it, it's all just talk. I'm personally not a fan of the idea though, and would sooner see another Aerialbot remoulded.)

Alpha Bravo's legs wouldn't change, his arms would, they'd get wings, and it'd look glorious. The tail rotor assembly is a separate piece so swap that out for thrusters, and the main rotor assembly is a very narrow hinged tab piece so again, swap that out for a tailfin and you've got yourself a fantastic shuttle. Honestly, I dunno why they didn't put landing gear on the Alpha Bravo arms to complete the look, this seemed kinda obvious even if it meant a landing skid above each arm. But it should translate well to a shuttle.

Here's my question (mostly to JT since I think he's the only one who has them)--for someone who already owns all of Superion and Menasor (or will own, as soon as preorders come in, in my case), is it worth getting either Slingshot or Wildrider in addition to the other team members? I guess everybody else can chime in on whether they're going to get them or not, too.

It depends entirely on how attached you are to those specific characters, or to G1 accuracy, or to team dynamics. Alpha Bravo doesn't exactly fit with a gang of jets in that regard. Offroad is the only limb who isn't a sleek speedster, but at the same time the team is led by a flatnose semi-tractor, so it's almost a mental thing (plus, the design desk images for Offroad show the intent being a very speedy truck). The limbs I think look better with more mold variety on Menasor (variety isn't really Superion's strong point so it's not as big a deal there). I'd personally go for variety over G1-accuracy, but I think this one is going to be a very personal choice.

[Sparky Prime]

It is an implications thing.

The implication being he may get kicked off the team, not that he has been? It's a distinct difference.

[Shockwave]

In the actual comic, Swindle makes reference to Wildrider's departure, what I got out of it was that he had voluntarily left and that Off Road was there to replace him.

[Sparky Prime]

In the actual comic, Swindle makes reference to Wildrider's departure, what I got out of it was that he had voluntarily left and that Off Road was there to replace him.

Yeah, in the comic he left the Stunticons, while Slingshot was last mentioned to be close to death, leading to the need to replace them. But the bios that the toys have don't exactly line up with the events in the comics.

[Almighty Unicron]

It is an implications thing.

The implication being he may get kicked off the team, not that he has been? It's a distinct difference.

I kinda wanna see a TF with a boat alt mode called "The Implication."

[JediTricks]

It is an implications thing.

The implication being he may get kicked off the team, not that he has been? It's a distinct difference.

I kinda wanna see a TF with a boat alt mode called "The Implication."

Well played reference. Mac and Dennis want to date-rape women on the open ocean without technically being date-rape (in their eyes), I don't think that's going to get a kid's toy out of it.


I wouldn't mind seeing a nautical-themed combiner though, but MTMTE has all the best nautical alt-mode characters right now.

[Dominic]

"From the people who brought you KissPlay...."


(Joking aside, after Takara released "KissPlay", can we really discount anything?)

[andersonh1]

Okay, the pictures didn't turn out all that well, but I'm too lazy to retake them at the moment. I used to have a halogen floor lamp that I used for indirect light that did a much better job at lighting than the overhead, but my kids knocked it over one day and destroyed it. I'm sure I never did anything like that at their age.

G1 and Combiner Wars Drag Strip compared:




My G1 Drag Strip's stickers were worn off when I was a kid, so I replaced them with some sort of holographic stickers that I cut into strips, hence his custom deco.

Combiner Wars Drag Strip surprised me by having telescoping legs. I had expected them to fold up like most Transformers these days. The legs are a little loose on my copy, but otherwise this is a decent update of the original that skips the chrome engine but has more color variety in the legs and in the hands. Transformation is simple and the snap together slots take a little work in some places to push together, so the vehicle holds together very well.

[JediTricks]

Cool pics, sorry your kids destroyed the lamp - I was too much a goody 2 shoes to have been like that. Mine also has loose telescoping legs, they don't collapse but they do wiggle.