Kinda surprised it took this long for this news to surface! Got my Gen 2 Prime in the mail from BBTS today, and as an afterthought, took a look at the instructions.

Click to view attachment

It's a similar but different head. He's definitely got the same crest and ears, but with a chinstrap, some kind of nose(?), and Ginrai-like double circles on each side of his head.

(It may be Motormaster's toy head. It's not a perfect match, but it's as good a guess as any, other than "Facemaskless G2 Prime.")

Totally called Motormaster!

Hmm I guess that looks a bit like Motormaster's toy head. But how many people remember the toy head? We all remember the bucket head in a frame from the cartoon. Oh well new heads are still fun, and should have been a predictable surprise at this point.

Motormaster? That's just crazy enough to work!

He's even got a sword just like Motormaster does.

if its MM, blud and i called it in private.....

that sounds bad

Yeah, I thought Motormaster made sense all along since he's somewhat established as a sword-using character. I'd usually be okay with using a more toy-accurate head, but not so much when his "bucket in a box" animation head is a bit more memorable, and you're doing a vaguely Prime-like head remold on a toy that was already a Prime.

That leaves MM open to be repainted as a store or convention exclusive Ultra Magnus.

After checking TFU.info, I can see why they went with the toy head. The animation model's head is way too plain looking for a modern TF toy, and duplicating the head-in-a-box appearance wouldn't have been possible with this toy.

.... Well, FunPub. Ball's in your court to give me a new Scourge.

Chinstrap? Or frowny face?

That second frame depicts an old man frowny face on him. I wonder if it's a new character... Crankimus Maximus?

"You damn kidbots better get offa my silicon lawn!"

He'll go great with the new Kup.

...that's not Neme-Scourge....

The head reminds me of either Longrack or interestingly, Cybertron Menasor.

Nemesis Scourge wouldn't need a new head for obvious reasons, I'd think. I wouldn't say its safe to rule him out as a repaint.

I can deal with motormaster. Drag Strip will have company now.

Because they... couldn't before? Laser Ultra Magnus was a direct redeco of Laser Prime, unless you mean you'd want them to go with a head without a faceplate to resemble Magnus' more iconic face more. Scourge was also a direct redeco, so I'm not sure why that should come up in this discussion either...




Eh, I can see where you'd need a very specific transformation scheme to use the "box" thing, but they probably could have come up with some kind of a bucket head that wasn't too much like Megatron. These guys make heads all the time.

Either way, hopefully the final head will be nice and distinct.

Wouldn't Motormaster be close enough already, color-wise?

Motormaster/Motor Master would work! It kind of explains why PCC Huffer's repaint was named Crank Case instead of Motor Master or even Menasor if they plan on using either name for this recolor, especially since PCC Crank Case's super-mode head is a dead-ringer for Menasor, and he turns into a truck!

Looking forward to seeing this recolor show up at Toy Fair, I hope!

-Lio Kaiser.

I can see making the argument that they'd be a little too similar to justify getting both characters out of the mold, but saying they're close enough to be each other on some level is more of a stretch.

Depending on how the mold can be laid out, and how the highlight colors and details are used, they could be very different even though black and gray are main colors on both.

That's like saying "Wouldn't Camshaft be close enough to be Bluestreak", or some other silver car.

The former, not the latter: they're completely different characters, but the colors could be similar enough to make a general release Scourge redundant. Depends on how they use the black and grey, really.

(Watch Motormaster have a pretty close color breakdown to Scourge and see a 3rd party 'Nemesis Head' get released.) : l

Yes, I'd prefer him to have a more Magnus-y head. I'd also assume Nemesis or Scourge would have to be exclusive repaints.

You know, it's nutty, but it reminds me of Tigerhawk more than anybody else...

But I don't want to give them more money for something so simple that should sell at retail.

Tigerhawk was the first thing I thought, too. But, no toy-based-Motormaster is what I think it actually is.

Looking at the elongated crest, I'm going to go with Sentinel/Zeta Prime as I'm not getting a Motormaster vibe from it. Given how we're getting Megatron Origins Ratbat, Sentinel Prime isn't beyond the realm of possibility.

Motormaster's black an' purple. Scourge is black, grey an' teal. Motormaster doesn't have a woober. Scourge does

@Ricochet: If anyone should be redecoed into Sentinel Prime, I'd want it to be Kup. Give him a plow and replace the musket with a lance, and give 'im a head like Sentinel Major, and you have a winner. Mebbe even give i'm a shield that he can store in the back

I get a sort of Optimus Primal vibe from this alternate head (mostly the first picture more than the second frowny one).

I remember the pain and humiliation I suffered months ago when I even suggested that RtS G2 Optimus' retool be Motormaster over Scourge because Scourge is already an established redeco. Now look at everyone think it's a good idea otherwise.

Granted I'm not even convince it is his head though. It reminds of someone else, I can't put my finger on it though.



YAY! SALT-MAN Z IS BACK!

Randy

I feel like I'm missing something here. How does anyone think that an alternate head prevents the straight redeco that is RID Scourge? Are these molds limited to two uses only all the sudden? Assuming that the alt head is Motormaster, the two would look sufficiently different even though both are Decepticon semi trucks. Space them out a few waves or something, and it's all good.


Actually, grey/silver makes up a fairly large amount of his color, which would further serve to distance him from RID Scourge. Scourge also has enough red to be notable as a difference between the two.

That is one ugly head. I hope that looks a lot better in plastic form.

Didnt Primal have that body for a while?
I'd love it if it was optimus primal, but I expect it to be MM.

On a side note, do we have any idea why so many instructions use the heads of the toy's future repaints? Seems like a strange thing to do.

Could it be Zeta Prime?

Seems deliberate, as a wink, wink, nudge, nudge kind of thing from Hasbro.

Randy

Goofy. A cartoon design Motormaster head would have been a home run. If it ends up being a munkytrukk, I'm still interested, though.

If this toy does end up being Motormaster, will it be likely that he'll end up getting the Menasor name again, due to trademark issues?

Not that it matters, he'll BE Motormaster if this is the case.

Then again, G1 Motormaster's silver comes largely from his trailer, while this is an all-cab toy. Dilemma ?

I don't know why, but I really hope it's Motormaster. I have, like, zero memories of him except in that one episode where he and Prime plowed into each other, but I'd much rather see him that yet another Nemesis/Scourge thing.

I hope its Motormaster too, with a planed Zeta/Sentinel Prime repaint planned.

But Scourge is the hero of the idea! The evil prime that wasn't a complete waste. His character is something that kind of matters, as far as characters who actually had fiction pay attention to them. He is love.

But I'm not knocking Motormaster. Like I said, Dragstrip needs a friend. Actually, since I currently have movie deadend, and move brakedown backing him up, if hasbro throws a wildrider homage at me I'll be totally set with this being Motormaster.

Not really, at least not IMO. Even considering an all-cab Motormaster, if they went with the cab of the original toy and made him virtually all black, he'd then look nothing like Motormaster. Let's be honest: right now the major point of resemblance is that he's a semi truck (not the same kind and lacking trailer) that turns into a robot (which is COMPLETELY different than the original) with a sword. If they want it to be more than In Name Only, Motormaster needs to have at least as much silver/gray as the Legends figure.

Someone on TFW2005 suggested the new head might be Micromaster Overload's. That'd make me pretty happy.

So wait. A nice, detailed helmet with some personality in it is "goofy"... but a block of cement with a face in it, that's not???

The face looks very organic to me. Like a zombie or something.

Randy

looking at TFU.info, my money is on this.

Lacks the glasses over the eyes, though. But I can sorta see it.

You'd think if it was Overload (or even Motormaster) his face wouldn't look like Terak.

Randy

Yeah, black and purple isn't Motormaster's color scheme, a change in the transformation because of being an homage using a toy that was originally someone else doesn't change that.




And it's virtually the same color palette as the first version of the mold will have had, with a vaguely similar head shape as well.

Yeah, concerns are already being expressed about whether Scourge and Motormaster are too similar to get out of this mold, and we're talking a red/blue/black/grey truck into a blue/red/grey truck.