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In the previous movie toyline, Age of Extinction, the debate was on which was the better Grimlock since he was the only character with two new toys in the collector oriented line in two different classes. However, both were mediocre so it was more of a question of which wasn't as bad. But now with The Last Knight's Megatron, it's the reverse with two really awesome looking toys. But which is best?
I will break it down through categories and pick a winner, based on what I feel and read online from you guys, and then we will all say our preference in the forums. Sound good?
Jet Mode:
The leader definitely wins by having some kibble free wings in jet mode. Having those flame effects in the back is a really nice touch too. it is quite an imposing jet. The back of the jet is also cleaner than the voyager which has the robot shoulders there looking asymmetrical. The fact that the wings on the leader have no kibble underneath them really makes the jet look sleek and adds to the alt mode's distinctiveness from the robot mode. The alt mode of TLK Megatron is a gorgeous jet design and the leader is a better representation of it.
Leader
Voyager
Leader
Voyager
Robot Mode:
This one is a toss up with the leader edging out the voyager by just a bit. The leader has more dedicated parts for the robot mode with the jet kibble relegated to the back and on the arm cannon while the voyager has some fuselage doubling (unconvincingly) as part of the knight skirt and jet wings wrapped around the robot legs. But that also means he has a cleaner back, more alt mode integration (which I can't be mad about) and a cannon that looks fully dedicated to the robot mode. The arms on the voyager are better since the forearms are sleeker. The leader's standard arm pose gives you gorilla arms but you can adjust that with the wrist swivel, which gives you a giant hole and unseemly wide forearms.
Speaking of articulation, both give you a decent range. The leader even has double jointed knees if you use a transformation hinge but after seeing the images below you might not use it for the robot mode. The leader does something else that I did not notice until having him in hand, the sleekness of the torso, as it tapers down, is hampered by the backpack. Meaning that you don't get that nice shape at the midsection and instead it looks like those u convincing Power Rangers zords where they draw a sleeker body on a rectangle and make the collector/child pretend it's not there. Also, the leader ends up with a crotch hole ala MP 10, which the voyager does not have. With all these knocks against the leader, you would think the voyager would win this easily but I really like how good the leader's robot mode looks with the face mask and how clean the robot mode is. Point goes to the leader.
Voyager
Leader
Gimmicks:
The leader clearly has more gimmicks than the voyager. All the voyager has is light piping (eyes and "gills"), which is something absent in the leader figure and actually works well enough on the voyager. You get a cool evil look with it. Now the leader's gimmicks are both its pro and con. Yes, the facemask is really cool but for that to work you end up with a really derpy looking mouth when the mask isn't deployed. You also get a weak spring loaded feature for the front of the jet to come undone and it is as annoying as Leader Optimus' spring loaded swords. Sometimes too much is like not enough and I would rather not get a gimmick than a poorly executed one. The face mask is still cool but the fact that I hesitate to transform the leader just because of how annoying that bit will be means I prefer the voyager for keeping things 100.
Facesculpt:
As just said, the retracted chin on the leader doesn't look good and makes him look more derpy than menacing. Almost reminds me of Sloth from the Goonies. Voyager wins this one.
Voyager
Leader
Paint/Deco:
The voyager wins here by a landslide. Both toys go for a very different look with the silver deco and I fail to understand why. The voyager uses the silver as a way to subtly add to the layering of the armour. Its a nice effect that seems to only work on the naked eye. What is baffling is that the leader uses silver paint to instead give a weathered or battle damaged look. It is blotchy and not uniform and looks random.
Leader
Leader
Leader
Voyager
Arm Cannon:
Oddly enough, I find the voyager's a tad bit too small. It's maybe movie accurate but it doesn't look very threatening. The Leader's is way too big. The fire effect is super cool and I am able to pose him the right way so that the weight is evenly carried across the toy, but it still looks very big. I give both of them major props for avoiding the partsforming route.
In the end, the Voyager wins here but not by much.
Transformation:
This is the big one. I much prefer the Voyager's transformation since I much prefer unfolding panels instead of the panel forming and massaging you have to do with the leader (in the back portion of the jet). There is more of a shell aspect with the leader which the voyager doesn't have since almost every part of the robot mode is reused for the jet mode. Also, the first step they give you for the leader is to transform the nosecone from the cannon which is a terrible idea. It will surely keep getting undone as you keep transforming since it is spring loaded. The voyager is really a joy to convert from one mode to the next. Nothing gets in the way too much and there isn't anything annoying. It is also far more intuitive and there is no need to exert pressure anywhere. My leader already has some stretch marks where the nosecone tabs into the forearms.
While the voyager wins out most of the categories it is still a tough call when the ones the leader wins is when it comes to the best looking modes. In the end, its all about what you want best. If you will be transforming these often, the voyager is the way to go. But if you just want to pose him, the leader works better since he is far more screen accurate. However, you wouldn't be able to pose him with anyone since the only other toy in his scale in this line is the inaccurate Optimus Prime leader. Still, I can't say this pic below isn't awesome and I don't regret getting both.
Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.
Top 5 Best Transformers Toys with Easy Transformations
While many fans loved the complexity of the Revenge of the Fallen line, parents were not as enthused and eventually, the Age of Extinction Toyline came with a publicized push by Hasbro to simplify the transformation process of Transformers toys. They claimed it was both to bring it back to the brand’s basics and to be more appealing to kids and this idea of toys being simpler has stuck in he current collector landscape. While I love my complex transformations as much as the next fan, I actually thought this was all smoke and no fire. Not simply because complex and articulated Transformers didn’t disappear, and not just because we’ve had one step Transformers since G1’s Twintwist and Topspin, but because I believe easier Transformers can sometimes yield great designs that are just as hard to pull off as more complex transformations. An easy transformation doesn’t necessarily mean that the engineering is lacking and sometimes overcomplicating a transformer can yield terrible results (which is what the majority thinks of Universe Galvatron). All I want to show with this list is that there can be great style and a lot of fun resulting from easy transformations and I wanted to give the best examples of that. My only rule here is that it had to be less than 5 main steps (not including posing) to see the robot mode. This isn't necessarily about simplified toys or one steps, that could be another list of its own. Here, I was looking for awesome toys that you could transform extremely fast that even a young fan with a small attention span would appreciate and marvel at.
These are one step transformers, for the most part, and are a lot of fun. The seeker mold has the best robot mode of this class, which makes up for the sub par jet mode, and it is loaded with articulation for that size. It really reminds me of the spring loaded Best Wars Basics which had just as much articulation as the deluxes. With all the lovely ball joints, this seeker mold even puts more recent attempts at Legends sized seekers to shame in terms of the amount of articulation and poseability.
When Hasbro said they were taking the property back to basics, I thought of what that meant and looked at my G1s. I could totally see what they meant. Transformer toys of the past were far easier than what they became in the ROTF line (hyperbole, right? But that’s the point) but I think they still look great in their own way. I grew up with the beautifully articulated Beast Wars figures and yet I can still see the great style of G1 and appreciate them as the fun toys they are. Blocky maybe, but it really sells the robot esthetic and even better, the robot in disguise aesthetic with the great alt mode integration of the early licensed diaclone toys. Optimus Prime (Battle Convoy) is the best example of this, and he transforms in just 4 steps (which includes part forming).
1.Bring down the legs and feet
2.Pull out the arms and shoulders
3.Flip the head
4. Plug in some fists (if you still have them)
And voila!
It’s simple but really smart, especially the arms taking part of the front of the truck with them, giving Optimus a slimmer figure in the abdominal area that lines up with where the legs begin. And while he looks like a blocky robot, the alt mode is impeccable with no notion of robot kibble (it helps that his hands are just accessories). Also, let me reiterate, less than 5 steps!
To be frank, I could have picked any of the basic beast wars figures since they are all as good and as smart, so feel free to substitute this entry with your favourite of the basic spring loaded beast wars one step figures. Terrorsaur is a tad more special than the others to me since he was my first Transformer and, along with Rattrap, this was the only class to have a toy of the show character. And while I did complain about the size as a kid, I didn’t complain about the transformation (and no one complained about the show accuracy in the beast wars line, it wasn’t part of the fandom’s lexicon yet and I was just glad my Terrorsaur didn’t have a mutant head). The transformation was actually pretty smart and I believe it even beats the more recent Pretodactyle mold we got, Age of Extinction’s Strafe. Unlike Strafe, Terrorsaur’s head isn’t visible in Beast Mode even if you flip him to see the undercarriage, and the robot hands are hidden as well, transforming into the beast mode feet. I still find that hand transformation ingenious to this day. It’s so simple how the beast mode feet are panels that just flip onto the forearms and disappear in robot mode. You can count that as a step if you are so inclined, since it’s a great step, but he is principally a one step transformer since the entire robot mode comes to view once you unhook the beast mode head and let the spring do the work.
And voila:
He was my favourite to transform as a kid because I marveled at how fast it was to go from these two totally distinct beast and robot modes. Unlike Terrorsaur above, there wasn’t a spring involved, this was a deluxe, and neither his arms nor legs appeared in robot mode. His fully articulated limbs only appear in robot mode and you get there in just 3 steps once you remove his tail (which you also must do with the three step Robots in Disguise Grimlock).
1.Open the shark’s underbelly/shell
2.Flip the newly revealed legs to the front end of the toy
3.Flip the shark head down
And voila:
A beautiful robot mode with some decent alt mode integration (the shark’s head!) with one of the best headsculpts and decos of the beast era. He is also full of weapons and hidden projectiles (the sharks’s head!). This is by no means a design that lacks engineering, or inventiveness, especially considering that the beast mode is a realistic shark that has no arms or legs. And yet it’s super simple and fun to transform. I didn’t feel cheated then and I sure don’t feel it now. For a simple comparison, the Transmetal II version was made far more complicated to transform and the result doesn’t hold a candle to the initial cybershark who is far more sleek, giving him the look of the swift, sharp and skilled killer he is (or was in my imagination).
This figure is astounding compared to today's toys in terms of heft, deco and sculpting. It's a deluxe class figure with an excellent amount of articulation, but do you know how many steps it takes to transform it? Only four. Five if you have to turn his head for it to face the right direction.
1. Pull the rear of the car back.
2. Flip the rear vents up to form the robot feet.
3. Swing the sides of the car out while pulling them down, splitting the front of the car.
4. Rotate the cockpit, and accompanying top of the car, 180.
(5. Turn the robot head around if it's not facing the right way)
And voila!
This can be performed in 10 seconds, with no hyperbole. And that's it. The transformation is so simplistic and elementary, yet results in an impressively articulated figure with some fun non-inhibiting gimmick features. The simplicity in the toy is a result of the robot mode using the very same parts from the alt mode but in a way that the kibble is no longer visible, giving way to a robot mode with detail that was never found before.
Just look at how little of the alt mode shows up in the robot mode:
And yet, the robot mode uses parts from the car mode, making him still sleek with a nice amount of bulk and heft. This toy simply amazes me. I love the alt mode being a Cybertronian Lambourghini. Design is two fold; it is the look of the figure as well as its engineering. And this guy works that way. The simple engineering means you can have a swift conversion from 2 modes that look nothing like one another. Think about it guys, this is what Hasbro is trying to hard to achieve right now with simplistic transformation. But this is it done right. It is truly a figure for all ages (it's my 11 year old cousin's favourite toy, she usually finds transformers too complicated).
And the style of the figure is something to behold. Speaking of head sculpts, this is probably one of my all time favourites, there is so much detail and sculpting. You have four colours playing off one another on this head design with different kinds of plastic as well, giving it a unique look while also hearkening back to a very old school robot look. And speaking of hearkening back, his gimmick is that he becomes an homage to Hotrod.
Sure, he isn't perfect. He has a big buttflap, the doors don't retract across his arms and the legs are quite bulky but to me this is just part of the design and intention to make him quick to convert while using as much as the kibble as possible in the robot mode (ie the legs ad doors).
This was the last line before the movie happened, and the very last states side line which used Takara for design and not just engineering. It was like a last hurrah for the classic transformer design, yet flipped on its head (or upside down, as is the case with this toy). It's just great.
Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.
Top 5 Transformers with best weapon storage
The title is pretty self explanatory. Sadly, as you might guess, there are no G1s on this list.
It's a good thing I got the Takara version simply because its instructions showed how to store the weapons in alt mode. You had to guess for the Hasbro version, since they didn't say. And that's a pity since the weapons storage is really smart. Arcee comes with several weapons for a deluxe figure, including two guns of different shapes and sizes. They can both be stored at specific spots under the car mode but the best part of this is that the smaller gun also helps you tab the hands so that everything is solid under there.
Vector Prime is a Transformer toy that just keeps giving and giving. Never mind him having an intricate design and excellent paint, and being a great toy all around, he also has really awesome weapon storage. His minicon is also a spaceship/blaster and there is a perfectly shaped indentation on his vehicle mode to store him. The best part though is the sword. It is big and can be stored on the side of the spaceship. The little detail that just brings it over the top is how his sword has a nice artisinal hilt to drive home the ancient theme and it sticks out of the side of the ship when the sword is lokcked in. For this not to look out of place, there is a molded in hilt detail sticking out on the other side of the ship, completing the uniform look and totally hiding the sword since that extra hilt detail now becomes a detail of the ship.
Scourge is known for his big wings and Hasbro gave them a lot more functionality with this toy, by having them open up to store his two weapons. I also like how you have to transform the weapons a bit to have them fit properly within his wings. It looks even cooler on the translucent versions of this mold where you can see the guns there as if he is passing through an airport scanner.
I had this toy as a kid and the weapon storage was the best part of Rhinox. I loved how it makes you become a mini MacGyver taking random bits from here and there and then putting them together to give him a chaingun of doom. It was even more fun than actually transforming the figure. Plus his tail became a weapon as well.
This monkey the Boss when it comes to weapon storage, bar none. He's got two swords stored in his back, heightwise, and two springloaded shoulder cannons that spring out from his backside. These cannons have missiles, which are also stored inside the figure's back behind his head. But that's not all, he has more weapons up his sleeves, literally. One of his forearms has a springloaded double barreled blaster and his other forearm stores a mace shaped like a skull! This Maximal leader is a one man army all on his own and if he gave in to his Gorilla Warefare side we all know the Predacons would have been history and the beast Wars would have been over quite early on.
Honourable Mentions: Lots of Beast Wars; Dinobot, cheetor, all do it very well but it's nothing compared to Rhinox and Optimus Primal
Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.
Top 5 best Targetmasters since G1
While it was a bit hard to wrap one's head around the headmaster concept, and the differeing interpretation in the fiction, Target Maaters have always been more to the point. It's a simple and fun idea of a robot turning into a weapon that another robot can use. While there was a whole subgroup fo them in the 80s, they were rather similar one to the next so what I would like to focus on is what we have gotten since that era and how that concept kept being brought back to the brand, with a different take everytime. And with Titanmasters making a huge comeback this year, thanks to Takara, I thought it would be the perfect time to look back on what we have gotten in the post-G1 era. The criteria is simple, it has to be a small robot that turns into a weapon to be weilded by someone else and released after the G1 era. Let's get to it!
Editor's Note: This list was written earlier in 2017
5. Robots in Disguise Minicon Weaponizer Tricerashot
Even the most enthusiastic Robots in Disguise fan had a tough time warming up to the new Robots in Disguise Minicons. They didn't have the original Minicon Ports and the only ports they did have only fit with either simpler toys collectors were not getting, or Takara Exclusive toys (like their Supreme Class Optimus toys which never got released through Hasbro). To add insult to injury, the only way to really play with them was to spend money on simplified transforming toys called Deployers and you needed three different Deployers to be able to deploy all the differently shaped minicons.
But then, Hasbro had the brilliant idea of bringing back the Targetmasters concept with the next itiration of these RID Minicons. And it was fleshed out well in the cartoon with these little guys really adding firepower to their friends (just as Grimlock). It also solved the problem of having to buy additional toys we didnt need just to do the gimick since anyone in the line (from one-steps and up) could use these. The real standout of these new Targetmaster-like Minicons was Tricerashot. He is a good looking triceratops that becomes a cool three barrelled lazer cannon. It wasn't a perfect rendition of the show model, but a great effort none the less at replicating the three barrels. Plus you have the option to customize him with extra clear plastic accessories in either mode. It's too bad this toy still hasn't appeared in the US as of this article's publication.
This guy is a cross of a lot of concepts since while he is a little robot that turns into a gun but it's a gun that is also spliced with a spaceship altmode. He also has a minicon port and has a special slot just for him to complete Vector Prime's full spaceship mode. And he accomplishes everything perfectly. I love how detailed this little guy is in both modes with a very sleek bot mode. And his lower arms are on balljoints just to give that extra premium feel from a golden era we are now way past.
My problem with a lot of Targetmasters is how one of the modes is usually sacrificed for the other. You might have a great gun but a brick for a robot or you will get a nice robot that doesn't look that much like a convincing weapon. Well enter the Chainclaw/Bomburst mold. Firstly, it's a nice identifiable robot, with lots of poseability for a bot that size (about as much as a Legion class figure). I also love the use of clear plastic, the deco on both of these is fun. And then you get to the best part: the weapon mode. Out of seemingly nowhere you get these two huge missile launchers that now seem completely unavoidable. Its a fun trick of the designers to have the most obvious weapon detail hidden under the robot's feet. And unlike other Targetmasters, this ends up being principally for the bigger bot's vehicle mode and becomes where it becomes a centerpiece of death and mayhem.
This is just a great update to the G1 Targetmasters. It's just nice to see a classic Targetmaster brought back and improved in every way. That gun mode is so much more convincing than the G1 version and offers more transformation steps with parts dedicated just to that mode.
1. Transformers Arms Micron Bulkhead Knuckle
I think you have to own him to know why this guy deserves this spot. He was never released by Hasbro, as is the case with most Arms Micron microns, so I don't expect you all to have him. He's also really hard to search for online because this isn't Arms Micron Bulkhead (meaning Bulkhead from that line), nor is it the micron that comes with Bulkhead but instead this is just Bulkhead as a micron. These were available as single releases in those gashapon machines in Japan where you put in a coin and get a small capsule. All this to say that I am sorry if you cannot bask in the awesomeness that is this Bulkhead micron and I hope my words and pics will help. So here's the deal: he is a small Prime Bulkhead that turns into a literal Hulk Hand. He becomes a big green fist. I got him in a pack of microns and didn't really understand what he was even looking at the picture because he was next to a bunch of swords and guns and a disembodied fist isn't as distinguishable (as you can see here).
But then I inserted him onto a deluxe figure and bam, I saw it. It's such a perfect fit too, I don't know how Takara did it. The 5 mm peg is positioned at the perfect spot so that making any figure hold him really gives him convincing Hulk hands. It even looks better than pegging combiner fists on toys because not only is it the fist but the forearm too, making it look kinds like Hellboy or a that moment when you use a super punch in a video game. It becomes part of the figure and makes every figure you put it on look so much more badass. Extra props for being smart and finding a simple way to make him both left handed and right handed if need be. This is a very unique weapon to turn into and it could not have been done better.
Here are a couple images I found on the internet (some done by me, FireofOrodruin, Code XCDM and others) to help sell my point:
The Target Master concept came back in full force in the Generations line's Legends Class (which was basically the new name for the scout class). Each robot came with a smaller robot which could turn into a weapon. Interestingly, each of these smaller robots actually had 3 modes. An alt mode, a robot mode and a weapon mode. The two I thought were particularly well done were the Payload and Eclipse mold, the two space shuttles. I thought the robot mode on Eclipse was particularly detailed, especially the tiny face sculpt and both have fun weapon modes that actually look like weapons. You just have to love that double barrel Payload gun!
Dr. Edgar Lobaton wrote:My passion for machine learning and autonomous systems started when I was a little kid.
I was in my first year of elementary student in Peru, waiting diligently every weekend in front of the TV in order to catch an episode of the Transformers animated series. Sitting on my parents’ couch, hearing the classic tune describing the robots as “more than meets the eye,” the same thought would keep going around and around in my head: “I’ve got to have one.”
Growing up in a third-world country, my parents could not afford to buy Transformers toys for me. As a resourceful kid, I did the next best thing: I decided to build my own. With the limited resources I had, I started to build my own robots. At age five, I started by drawing my first Transformers on a piece of paper, cutting them out with my bright red training scissors, and then folding legs and arms in order to convert them into little squares. Not the most useful Transformers, but it was a first attempt.
Seen here: Not quite what they're working on
Check out the full text of the article here to learn about some of his work that was inspired by Transformers. Insecticons, anyone? We hope you enjoy this unconventional news, and let us know by replying to this post if Transformers have inspired any of your life's work.
Every 2 weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a top 5 list related to all things Transformers, usually written by william-james88, but for this special list of which characters are better in the comics than the G1 show, it was best to call on a friend to these lists, fellow Seibertronian Optimutt (Rob Queen). These are opinions of one person, so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and we hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.
Top Five Transformers Characters That the Comics Did Better
This is a list that looks at certain Transformers characters from the G1 era that appeared in cartoon form but were not done “right” until the talented writers of the TF comics (of both past and present) got them in their word processors. Many of these characters have reached almost a cult-ish following thanks to these comic representations.
I would like to give special thanks to Bob Budiansky, Simon Furman, Michael Higgins, Eric Holmes, Mike Costa, Shane McCarthy, Zander Cannon, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, Flint Dille, John Barber, James Roberts, Mairghread Scott, Chris Metzen, and every other writer who has contributed to these comics for the fun ride. May we keep on rolling.
5. Thundercracker
In the cartoon, his thunder booms gave Starscream a headache. In the comic, he wrote a screenplay. In the cartoon, he was proud of Megatron using his weapon. In the comic, he had a pet dog. In the cartoon, he got put in his place by Starscream. In the comic, he got shot in the face by Skywarp. In the cartoon, he was turned into Cyclonus (or was it a Sweep? Or the Armada?). In the comic, he declared humans as unworthy of Decepticon attention and took an atomic bomb into orbit, saving the day. Ultimately, though, IDW turned this generic, one-step-above-a-Rainmaker into a quirky, earthling lover with aspirations that take him far outside the simple world of Autobot! Versus! Decepticon!
4. Skids
You must have blinked. That was why you don’t remember seeing him in the original G1 cartoon. With his whomping three minutes of screen time, Skids was essentially the overlooked Autobot car. Yup, that guy who, in issue 20, was totally interspecies relating to the Human named Charlene, was a total nobody in the cartoon. However, this spotlight issue of interspecies love was nothing compared to what the member of Autobot Diplomatic Corps and outlier is doing on the Lost Light, in the more recent comics. In fact, Skids has become so popular that he even got a fancy new toy that blows people away with its arsenal of “hidden” weaponry!
3. Scorponok
The concept of Binary Bonding was deeply explored with this mighty Decepticon. When he first appeared in the Headmasters limited series, he was a true villain, who enjoyed beating up Autobots so much that he trekked across a galaxy for the chance to crush his nemesis, Fortress Maximus. Once there, he agreed to Binary Bond with Zarak, an ambitious politician. In the later issues of the comic, however, he found himself on Earth, struggling with the duality of his being: the frailty of his Nebulon brain, and the invincible warrior of his Cybertronian self. During this time, he was able to set aside his reservations and create a truce with Optimus Prime so that he could die heroically in the battle against Unicron. If you were able to read his death scene without shedding an eye, you were made of sterner stuff than the eleven-year old I was. And his role in the cartoon? Big city. But at least Zarak made his cartoon version a bit more interesting than the bore that Chromedome was. Hence his spot in the list as opposed to the out-of-continuity Honorable Mention that poor ‘Domey gets (spoilers).
2. Shockwave
In the original cartoon (which he later reprised in TF: Animated, much to the delight of fans around the world), Corey Burton portrayed Shockwave as a cold, emotionless monster who got to rule Cybertron while Megatron was comatose on Earth. And boy was his voice awesome! What puts Shocks so high up on this list is the fact that as awesome as he was, the comics made him even better. Bob Budiansky must not have liked Megatron much, because following Shockwave’s first appearance in issue 4, the traditional Decepticon leader was relegated to second fiddle to the stone-cold tactician of a brute called Shockwave. Until Megatron blew himself up (to Cybertron, as was later revealed), the pair regularly came to blows for leadership, and boy was it satisfying to watch the two at each other’s throats. Since then, the comics have just kept making him more and more compelling, to the point of even having him be a Cybertronian Senator.
1. Grimlock
Anyone who has ever read anything by Simon Furman knows of the author’s love for this conflicted Autobot (is Furmansession a word? It is now!). The original cartoon established him early on as being stupid, with a certain arrogance that sets him apart from most other Autobots, but as time went on, the grammatically-challenged Dinobot Leader was relegated to comic relief. Sadly, it seemed that the comic version of him would follow suit, too, with his run as an ineffectual leader. Thankfully, Furman was able to channel every fan-child’s love of this T-Rex and dove headfirst into what Grimlock could be. Over the last thirty issues of the original Marvel series, we saw him go from restless PTSD sufferer, to rebel with a cause, to a bot who managed to replace guilt with a completely different kind of guilt, to Autobot savior. Quite simply, he became exactly what fans of the cartoon were hoping for with their Grimlock: a three-dimensional badass that could munch Trypticon’s head as easily as he could lead the Autobots to salvation following the inevitable destruction of Cybertron. And it is exactly because of this fan demand that Grimlock wins out.
Honorable mention: Chromedome
In the Japanese Headmasters cartoon, Chromedome was the de facto main character. He was hotheaded and impulsive, and ostensibly young. Basically, he was every Hot Rod, Cheetor, Side Burn, Hot Shot, Bumblebee (Animated), Sideswipe (Robots in Disguise), and Smokescreen (Prime) that there ever has been. Despite being a lame duck plucked for a Beijing feast, at least he was far less annoying than Kicker and Ironhide (remember them? Mean of me, wasn’t it?) Thankfully, James Roberts got his fingers in him and made him forget what a tool he was. And how was it possible to do so? Mnemosurgery! Sure, being able to inject psychological failsafes in Overlord’s mind is cool and all, but that is nothing compared to just what Chromedome represents within the story: an emotional ship sailing the turbulence that comes from absolute commitment to emotions. It takes quite a special ‘bot to say the Big Three Words, and there is no way the impetuous youth from the cartoon would even consider them, let alone vocalize them.
There are many other characters from the G1 cartoon that really got their moments of glory in the Marvel Transformers Comics rather than on the screen and you wouldn't believe how much of a real bad ass Ratchet and Blaster are until you read them. It just shows you how rich the Transformers fiction can be and what awesome potential all these characters have. There are some phenomenal stories out there with the characters you always wished to see more and if you are new to the comics or have any questions, don't be shy to visit our comic forum and ask the community.
Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.
Top 5 Best Grimlock Transformers toys
Grimlock is one of the mot iconic and popular characters in the Transformers brand. He has been part of it since the very beginning and keeps being a mainstay with his inclusion in the soon to be released Transformers: The Last Knight. Surprisingly, for a character this popular, he hasn't had many great toys in the 30 years but there are some winners and you can find them all below!
I really love how this toy is a totally new take on Grimlock and yet stays true to several cues for the transformation. The robot legs become the tail and the robot arms become the dino's legs. This reuse of parts among the different modes help make this a sleek robot with minimal extraneous kibble in either mode, unlike the lager Leader ifgure which has visible hands and feet in dino mode and quite a bit of partsforming. There is none of that here. Instead, only the dino jaw is left in the back of the robot while the rest of the dino T Rex heads splits to become imposing shoulder pads. It gives him this ancient warrior look, like he comes from a Cybertron expansion of Warcraft. That's the look Hasbro and Michael Bay were going for and it works and comes fully realized in this toy. As a bonus, he has a chomp jaw action, which is always welcomed in a T-Rex toy.
The Dinobots are some of the crown jewels of any G1 collection and while their poseability is nothing to brag about, they will always looks great. Grimlock especially with his massive shoulders and decorative wings, adding to his upper mass. His T-Rex tail become the legs brings equal mass to his lower area, offsetting any top heaviness. The colours are also just great, with that gold just popping. It was a smart transformation and one that keeps getting carried over through different iterations over the years, even the movie toy covered above. And that biologically incorrect T-Rex mode adds to this toy being a time capsule of the 80s era while also giving him a more stylized mechanical dinosaur look, turning something dated into a timeless design.
3. Robots in Disguise Grimlock Battle Pack
The Robots in Disguise Warrior Grimlock came out with little fanfare. It was the same size as a deluxe, so out of scale with Bumblebee and the gang, his elbows had a breakage issue and he didn't even come with any weapon. But then Hasbro fixed all that, at a smaller scale. The Battle Pack Grimlock is similar in size to a scout figure of old. He has all the complexity of the warrior but in a smaller bot which makes him have a nice high parts count for his height. Plus they fix some of the transformation from the warrior and he no longer has the breakage problem. Also, unlike the warrior, he ends up in a nice scale with the smaller Legion bots and looks good next to the battle pack prime (who is a beast on the show). And lastly, the clear plastic weapons are perfectly fine. They give him an awesome homage to the AOE Grimlock when worn as armour and they connect to become a dino head which can plug into his arm for him to have some BW Megs action going. So all the pluses of the warrior, no downside and great accessories. I call that a winner.
2. Takara Battle Grimlock and AOE Silver Knight Grimlock
Lipstick on a pig is an expression fans throw around when there is a deeply flawed Transformers toy that Hasbro or Takara tries to amerliorate with a paint job. It doesn't always work and usually the toy ends up remaining just the same, but with lipstick. However, these two are some good examples of times when it worked, especially he Takara Batle Grimlock which uses the same base mold as Fall of Cybertron Grimlock but totally refurbashes it and amelioates it by repurposing it into Robots in Disguise Grimlock. The shoulders which were once a mess are reworked and made simpler and less frustrating, and if you didn't know the mold existed before you would think this was made just for this character. They reworked a lot of pieces from the original and give it a faithful colour scheme. Here is a quick example to show how it keeps the base mold yet reworks it.
What can I say at this point that hasn't been said? This toy is nearly flawless. It has an imposing robot mode and a smooth Dinosaur mode that looks exactly like the show but with the extra shine of the G1 toy. The Transformation is well executed as it replicates the G1 transformation while taking modern engineering into account. Plus he is fully poseable. This is without a doubt the best Grimlock toy of all time and I don't see it being beaten anytime soon.
Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are my opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.
Top 5 Worst cases of Undercarriage among Transformers Toys
This list is all about the most poorly disguised robots. We are talking here about the Transfomrer toys which wish to remain inconspicuous (so of course, no random cybertronian spaceship) but have just a bit to much robot showing which removes any illusion. That protruding robot kibble usually sprouts from under the robot and while I would never knock against kibble that can only be seen when a car is flipped over, I am really not fond of when I see so much undercarriage from the sides. Here are 5 examples of the worst cases of that:
While the articulation of today wasn't present, the G1 era will always be a place for great design in my book. They are probably the best era (aside from Masterpiece and Alternators/Alternity) for the most realistic vehicles with well disguised robots. However, that specific era I am referring to encompasses the first few years of this rather expansive era we now call "Generation 1". The alt mode wasn't always prioritized and by the end it was a line made up of gimmick after gimmick. Case in point Vroom. He sure looks like a fun goofy toy but the alt mode doesn't try hiding the fact that there is a whole man under there with his hands hanging out the side and a big belly as the undercarriage. The motorcycle becomes simply a mode of transport (like Transmetal 2 vehicle modes) rather than an actual disguise. Why this guy takes the cake though is because his underside is all organic and doesn't mesh with the mechanical motorcycle which makes the undercarriage really distracting.
Ironhide kept the same voyager mold for a long time (as did Ratchet) and while it was always the same, different versions worked depending on how they handled the underside. Movie Ironhide having a real life recognizable GMC truck alt mode would make any extraneous kibble look really off. It just so happens that the voyager mold has his arms hanging there in the undercarriage. Certain versions hid them well by placing weapons on either side but the ROTF version just let it all hang loose for all to see and for the disguise to fail. The leader figure, while quite good in my opinion, went for a very streamlined and efficient transformation, meaning that most of the bot is already there under the vehicle. As you can tell from the pictures, it isn't hid very well either.
It really pains me that this toy did not take any cues from any Pteranodon transformer that preceded him when it comes to handling his robot arms. For crying out loud, the G1 toy hid them better and all that was done there was have them compact within his chest (which G1 Divebomb also did to an even better result). A transformation I fnd quite brilliant was the Animated Swoop where his robot arms were in plain sight in Dino mode but merged with the wings to become the arms of the Pteranodon. AOE Strafe did none of that. The robot arms are just right there spread far and wide, under the wings (which feature their own dinosaur claws). It's not just the arms you see, but practicaly the entire robot. The chest doesnt transform at all from dino mode and the head just nods a little for you not to see the eyes. It looks like he's got four hands and three heads.In the end, the dino mode look more like a robot playing peek-a-boo than a legitimate attempt at a dino mode (I do find the robot mode quite nice though).
If it wasn't for number one, who is a very special case, this guy would take the cake for most extraneous undercarriage. There is absolutely no one kidding themselves that this is just a jet and not some mechanical alien hidden under it. It's a very weak and cheap way to make a toy and what's worse is that while the design is lazy and the transformation is overly simplistic, they made it one of the most annoying transformations on the planet (unlike say, AOE Leader Optimus who is also simplistic but not annoying in any way). I don't know why they wasted so much time putting all the necessary panels needed to make the top of the jet look ultra lifelike. It just makes the panel forming more frustrating when you know the end design wont benefit from any attention to detail since all we are paying attention to is all that kibble underneath.
1. Silverbolt, (almost) all of them.
Oh man, this is the ultimate poorly disguised robot, with a heavy undercarriage loaded with all the robot kibble possible. What I find quite funny is how the fact that this was the case in the G1 era seems to give it a free pass for designers to continue imitating it. Quite frankly, I think it is a rather easy way out when supporting design. Silvebolt is one of the most iconic jet transformers (he is at least surely the representative for the concord jet in this brand) and yet perpetually suffers from his whole body being under the jet. I think he deserves better, and should at least be disguised better.
And I know it's a different character, but it just fits so well here as the most poorly disguised robot, here s another Silverbolt with very exposed kibble in his "undercarrage":
There is one toy I want to mention here that should be on the list as well but I don't feel is fair. You see all toys above have an undercarriage as a consequence of converting between two modes that dont share the same pieces but of course are connected to eachother. There is one toy out there with an egregious undercarriage isn't stuck to his undercarriage though, Gunrunner.
It's a robot that only turns into a "jet" because you plug a jet body on top of it. So you end up with a jet with a robot plugged under it. An odd toy indeed.
Seibertron.com was invited to visit the Kabam Games studio in Vancouver, Canada. They currently make both Marvel: Contest of Champions and the award winning Transformers: Forged to Fight. Of course, we went to learn more about the Transformers game and I have tons of tidbits for you about the process and design behind the characters, which is what fascinated me most. We will have more content for you coming, such as interviews with the creators, writers and Hasbro packaging artist Marcelo Matere, who is now a full time employee on Transformers: Forged to Fight (but don't worry IDW fans, he still has time for variant covers).
The one thing that I really got from this is that these developers are huge fans of the franchise. There is a big (not licensed) Optimus Prime Statue at the studio entrance. It used to make sounds but that drove the receptionist crazy, so now he only lights up.
Here is what I learnt while on the tour and speaking to the creators and designers:
The model used for Drift in the game (seen in trailers and cutscenes) is based on his Age of Extinction look rather than his Last Knight look because the more reference to movement available the better, and the only media they have access to for The Last Knight right now is trailers (which Drift doesn't appear in). Hasbro does send them reference material if needed and the reference Hasbro sent to them for Drift was shots of the Prime 1 Studios statue.
The Sharkticon design was in house and not based on any previous design. They needed a grunt type character for the story and while the Sharkticons fit the bill narratively, their G1 designs, which is echoed in their Generations toy, didn’t fit with the overall aesthetic of the game. So they created their own “Generations Sharkticon” which would be more of an update, “classics” style, like many figures were before the recent turn of the Generations toys being much closer to their G1 counterparts.
From a writing perspective, Cuz Parry, the writer of this game (and the writer of the entire Skate series), finds this similar to writing a comic book since it doesn’t end. You just build on the story and create new stories with this same or evolving roster. There is a beginning and then a middle, middle, middle, middle…
The only licensing in the game is with Hasbro for their characters. While the alt-modes look very close to their movie alt-modes, none of the vehicles are licensed. All the designers have to do to bypass copyright is change the angle of the headlights and the shape of the grill. Those happen to be the distinguishing features trademarked on a car’s look.
As you all know I am fond of lists, and here are two tidbits regarding lists and Transfomers:
1. Hasbro sent a list to the team of specific characters they would be fine with them using. And that list included Trenchmouth.
2. Hasbro also has a list of 7 pillar Transformers characters that they try to keep visible in their marketing and licensing (like DC’s three marketing pillars being Superman, Batman and the Joker). While they didn’t remember the specifics, they said it was the obvious G1 ones like Megatron, Optimus, Bumblebee and Starscream, but they did remember being surprised by the inclusion of Hound.
The hardest move to design ever was the box move for Mirage. It is not the design that was hard (it's just a box), it was the timing. The box must first appear fully around Mirage for him to then disappear and it must then reappear fully and fade away for Mirage to reappear. That’s a lot of animation to handle and a long time for the game to stop and for the opponent to either move away or no longer be in control. Plus, you are giving someone the ability to no longer be seen, which might be too big of an advantage in a fast paced game like this. So there too, it’s about the timing. How long can the player be truly invisible? Cuz, the writer, jokingly said that if the box didn’t work they could just have his special be that he parachutes down.
Most G1 designs in the game are based on Hasbro designed toys. Lead character developer, Adam Cooper said that sadly, Ratchet does not have any good Hasbro designed toys out there and thus his design is instead a hybrid of the Takara Masterpiece and the DeNA design from Transformers: Legends.
These are all the tidbits I have for now. More will come when we are at the discretion to share and in upcoming interviews. And about the city itself, Vancouver, if there is one thing I wasn't prepared for, it's for how sarcastic it was.
Joking aside, it was an amazing trip and Seibertron.com would like to thank Hasbro, Kabam Studio and their partners at Rogers & Cowan for organizing this exciting event.
The website We Are Teachers - which offers advice for school teachers about classroom plans, how best to treat students and provides teaching materials among other things - has posted an article about robots in science fiction and how they can be used to impart useful lessons to children. And, of course, our favourite franchise about transforming robots got a spot! Here it encourages teachers to let students play with Transformers toys for a bit and see what they can learn about them from an engineering perspective. Take a look at the article here and tell us what you think in the Energon Pub!
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