Transformers Legacy toyline

unluckiness

Hello everynyan!
Citizen
I dunno. Bulkhead being squared off is more or less consistent with the pre-movie G1 cast but on the other hand, it's the somewhat athletic proportions that really diminish the resemblance.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
Yeah, Bulkhead is a character with a very specific design that breaks away from the traditional "ideal physique" that so many other TFs have. He's basically the most recognized representation of a person of size interpreted as a Transformer.

This new design, which is meant to "make Bulkhead look like he belongs in [the] G1 universe", removes any and all traces of his overweight appearance and reshapes him to have that more traditional "ideal physique" shared by so many other bots, with longer legs, a broad chest, and all-around Superman-esque proportions. The guy best known for being fat and stocky (which we love about him) is no longer fat and stocky. Because he wasn't "G1 enough". That has very unfortunate implications regarding what is and isn't considered "appropriate" for Transformer physiques, G1 or otherwise.

We have female Transformers, we have Transformers of different ethnic influences, why can't we let the most notable person-of-size-Transformer remain a person-of-size-Transformer?
 

NovaSaber

Well-known member
Citizen
Exactly what I've been thinking reading through these. I get wanting show accurate characters. It's what I like, and what I want, but it's funny when the same people that use a Grimlock who has his dino head as feet, or a long nose cab Optimus as reasons why we didn't need Earthrise Optimus, or SS86 Grimlock are the same ones complaining about his alt mode not being the same, or his proportions, or transformation.
That strawman that don't make any sense. Neither Classics Grimlock nor TR Optimus (Is that the one you mean? It's the last longnose one that was the G1 character) was either the most recent or the generally-considered-best figure of those characters when the most recent ones came out.
And in Grimlock's case they were also separated by even farther in time than Blockhead here is from the good Bulkhead that people are holding up to say "track this down on eBay and probably pay a three-digit price instead of expecting a new one to be passable".

I honestly don't remember anyone complaining about Studio Series Grimlock as at all.

For Earthrise Optimus, the complaint was the extreme similarity between him and Siege Optimus...with the general view being more that it was the Siege one that became unneeded.
To me, at least, the Siege one should have been more different, so that it wouldn't be made redundant by its own retool
And the same goes for every other Siege figure whose vehicle mode was "already looks like something from Earth if you squint"; pretty much all of them got actual Earth modes in Earthrise, making the fact that the Siege ones didn't look different a waste.
 
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MrBlud

Well-known member
Citizen
Jazz and the Datsun Bros have rounded chests. G1 is “boxy” but you can do that WITHOUT making it look like a robot put their arms and legs through a delivery box.

This Bulkhead is basically akin to repainting that Skids as Jazz. Yeah, it’s got some of the original callbacks (protruding chest, door wings, etc) but it would look very much off and wrong and I’m not going to fault people being disappointed when a “new mold” of a character has the same energy as Wings of Honor Kup.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
At least Wings of Honor Kup was justified in its being "This is a different body that Kup had a long time ago in his youth long before he got his more familiar old-age body" rather than saying "This is just what Kup looks like now because we don't want him to be an old timer anymore."

Bulkhead is basically "This is Bulkhead's new look because we don't want him to be fat anymore."
 

Kalidor

Supreme System Overlord
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
IMO, Skids' design is kinda clever, in that it seems clear to me that their attempt at "license dodging" his alt-mode winds up serving as an homage to his Marvel Comics profile art, which renders his City Turbo alt-mode as something quite a bit boxier:

View attachment 1714

Seems appropriate, in that the Marvel Comics run is the only time G1 Skids had anything approaching prominence.
That's probably because Marvel thought he was a van.
 

Kalidor

Supreme System Overlord
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
Yeah, Bulkhead is a character with a very specific design that breaks away from the traditional "ideal physique" that so many other TFs have. He's basically the most recognized representation of a person of size interpreted as a Transformer.

This new design, which is meant to "make Bulkhead look like he belongs in [the] G1 universe", removes any and all traces of his overweight appearance and reshapes him to have that more traditional "ideal physique" shared by so many other bots, with longer legs, a broad chest, and all-around Superman-esque proportions. The guy best known for being fat and stocky (which we love about him) is no longer fat and stocky. Because he wasn't "G1 enough". That has very unfortunate implications regarding what is and isn't considered "appropriate" for Transformer physiques, G1 or otherwise.

We have female Transformers, we have Transformers of different ethnic influences, why can't we let the most notable person-of-size-Transformer remain a person-of-size-Transformer?
"Person of size" lol
 

Kaon

Guest
Legacy-Skids-Sketches-By-Robby-Musso.jpg


Legacy Skids Concept art

Courtesy of artist Robby Musso, via his Facebook account,
 

Rhinox

too old for this
Citizen
I don't particularly like the style of either. Bulkhead looks like a strongman whose skipped leg day for the past few years. Skids is super boxy and not in a way that I favor.

I'm sure I'll get them both because I'm a toy whore, but neither one has me really excited at this junction. Maybe when we see more I'll have something to get behind.
 

tec

Maystor missspelur
Citizen
Ill def need to see Skids in hand something about his pose looks off and might make the fig look bad

Bulkhead looks ok but I was never a fan of the Bulkheads from both Animated or Prime so I never owned any of the figs
 

Suspsy

Active member
Citizen
Have to say, I’m liking Bulkhead more and more. The radical change in body shape honestly doesn’t bother me. And I’m really fond of that truck mode. Always nice to see something new.
 

Platypus Prime

Well-known member
Citizen
I will be interested in what else is shown tomorrow. I myself have so MANY car-formers that it's hard to get me really enthusiastic about any of them, but I'm very curious as to how they will do the 'Energon Monsters' and the implied Pretender remakes. Then again, it may be a version of Beast Wars Iguanus, who knows?
 

CoffeeHorse

*sip*
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
I hope we get a good shot of Bulkhead from behind, because there's a few bits of the transformation I can't figure out.
 

Steevy Maximus

Well known pompous pontificator
Citizen
Have to say, I’m liking Bulkhead more and more. The radical change in body shape honestly doesn’t bother me. And I’m really fond of that truck mode. Always nice to see something new.
To me, he looks like a more "militarized" permutation of the "civic utility vehicles" exemplified by Grapple and Inferno. Kind of like how Prowl, Smokescreen, Jazz and Skids all share broad body structures, but are clearly more "specialized" in their uses.

Heck, all things considered, I think people might have responded better to him being a heavy remold of THAT tooling than be this whole new iteration. I generally get the feeling the big hang up is the fact Hasbro's citing him as a "Prime" representation, where I think the Animated and AOE Hound (who is basically movie-verse Bulkhead, IMO) influences are WAY more prominent.
 

mx-01 archon

Member
Citizen
Maybe they just don't want to admit that Animated exists.

Animated, for the time being, simply doesn't fit with their strategies going forward. They want multi-purpose toolings that can potentially find new life down the road. Animated reduxes proper can only be used for Animated.
 

unluckiness

Hello everynyan!
Citizen
Animated, for the time being, simply doesn't fit with their strategies going forward. They want multi-purpose toolings that can potentially find new life down the road. Animated reduxes proper can only be used for Animated.
This. Also, seekers and maybe Cliffjumper aside, any mold reuses they get are going to be background filler at best.
 


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