Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

[UndeadScottsman]

A Movieverse character who looks nothing like their G1 namesake? Quelle suprise!

In other news, water is wet and the sky is overhead.

If they hadn't gotten things right with the Bumblebee movie, you might have a point, but, like... they actually nailed it! They know how to make them fit the movie aesthetic without rebuilding the character from scratch. They COULD have just done that again, and being disappointed they didn't is a perfectly reasonable reaction.

 

[Dake]

Those slots in the windshield make it look like the VW bus from Pixar's Cars.

Otherwise, though, aside from the lack of paint that I would expect from a lower-price version of the character, it's not a bad mold. I still don't really like RotB Wheeljack's face, but I think the design other than that is great.

I'm kinda surprised that there isn't a 5mm port on the top of the vehicle mode to plug Rhinox into.

Yeah - I want him repainted into Fillmore.

 

[Shadewing]

If they hadn't gotten things right with the Bumblebee movie, you might have a point, but, like... they actually nailed it! They know how to make them fit the movie aesthetic without rebuilding the character from scratch. They COULD have just done that again, and being disappointed they didn't is a perfectly reasonable reaction.

Honestly, I rather dislike that they did that. I prefer some of the movie designs to the G1 designs, and largely all they've done it stoke the Geewunner's fires.

 

[UndeadScottsman]

Surely there's a happy medium between slavish G1 dedication and "This character is Wheeljack because we say he is."

Surely.

 

[Echowarrior]

You know, the more I see RotB Wheeljack, the more I want him to sound like Brains from Thunderbirds. Heck, I'm halfway towards buying a toy of him because of that image.

 

[Sabrblade]

Surely there's a happy medium between slavish G1 dedication and "This character is Wheeljack because we say he is."

Surely.

I mean, people didn't riot when this guy didn't have a red minivan almode, a mohawked helmet, or a gruff Texan accent:

And he came from the series that practically started the trend of making G1 homage designs.

 

[RichardT519]

I mean, people didn't riot when this guy didn't have a red minivan almode, a mohawked helmet, or a gruff Texan accent:

No, we were busy rioting over the fact that his head was clearly visible in his altmode.

 

[Cybersnark]

And I was complaining that he should've been called Gears.

 

[Shadewing]

Surely there's a happy medium between slavish G1 dedication and "This character is Wheeljack because we say he is."

Surely.

Personally, I like Wheeljacks design for the most part. The only part people don't like is the head. And I kinda agree. But everything else about the design works imo. His being a van isn't out of place, his pre-earth alt mode in MTMTE was a van. It being a TV repair van, fits Wheeljack's inventive nature. Honestly I feel the issue is BB Wheeljack. People rightly expect him to look like that. But if we removed the fanwank Cybertron battle, the only other Wheeljack we'd have to compare him with is Q, and I think we'd see a lot less people bitching becuase its, least imo, a better design then Q was.

 

[Superomegaprime]

The reason I don't want this Wheeljack is partly the head but also the alt mode, if they made him a new character, I wouldn't of had much of a problem with him, but then, I'm not keen on Nightbird, that one looks kind of silly and in some ways could be a pre-tool for Prowl and co, who have bonets for chests, so far, I'm not really digging some of these desgins, if they slap a established name on them, then my mind kind of wants to think about their classic look, its similar to how Legacy Bulkhead is, where they call it Prime, but barely looks like he from the Prime Universe and instead taking that Bulkhead, head and sticking it on a movie Hound, then I haven't really been a big fan of movie desgins at times, thou I think I got more cons than Autobots when it comes to movie TFs, partly because they decided to use more original characters and they kind of make a good impression at times, that said, I don't have a lot of movie figures that aren't Optimus prime, I got three copies of the ROTF leader mold, thou only two are on display currently!

 

[RichardT519]

Am I the only one who wishes Nightbird turned into a plane for once?

 

[UndeadScottsman]

I actually like the van altmode for Wheeljack; it's taking the head, ripping off his ears (his glowing ears easily being the most unique bit of non-altmode character design in all of G1 outside of maybe Soundwave's voice), and giving him a stereotyped nerd look.

Like if they had just slapped on BB Wheeljack's head, I'd be pretty happy right now; Which is what I thought they were going to do given how Arcee looks and how Wheeljack looked in his literal most recent live action appearance.

 

[Superomegaprime]

Wheeljack looks more like Elon John than Wheeljack, it kind of feels like they couldn't be bothered to go with trying to bring a G1 looking head in and stick with the bayformers look and the result is a mess as they seem to be partly focused on his old bio of a engneer/scienist and using a sterotype appearance that somehow looks like Elon John, of course, it could be that they desgined him to be a completely new character and someone decided higher up to slap the name, Wheeljack on him and a similar thing happening with Mirage, who got a G1 Jazz alt mode and a Mirage abilties yet, looks like neither in robot mode, I wonder if the naming is inspired by the complaints people had for Legacy Bulkhead looking nothing like the Prime Universe he meant to be based upon and more Bayformers in terms of body?

 

[Steevy Maximus]

...
Why are we still fussing over Wheeljack? We've known what he looks like for MONTHS now!

Now we just have to wait and see how many versions he'll end up getting in the line.


Speaking of, I'm actually exerting some patience this time around. We should know/see most of the line by the end of summer, and more than a few things should end up marked down.

 

[UndeadScottsman]

Wheeljack looks more like Elon John than Wheeljack, it kind of feels like they couldn't be bothered to go with trying to bring a G1 looking head in and stick with the bayformers look and the result is a mess as they seem to be partly focused on his old bio of a engneer/scienist and using a sterotype appearance that somehow looks like Elon John, of course, it could be that they desgined him to be a completely new character and someone decided higher up to slap the name, Wheeljack on him and a similar thing happening with Mirage, who got a G1 Jazz alt mode and a Mirage abilties yet, looks like neither in robot mode, I wonder if the naming is inspired by the complaints people had for Legacy Bulkhead looking nothing like the Prime Universe he meant to be based upon and more Bayformers in terms of body?

Mirage probably slips under the radar since he wasn't in the Bee movie.

Like, honestly, it's the Bee's movies fault I had any expectations for this film beyond what we saw in the first five movies. It really seemed like they figured some stuff out there and now it's increasingly looking like we're back to full on Bayhem.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Why are we still fussing over Wheeljack? We've known what he looks like for MONTHS now!

Because people are still pretending to be unable to understand the issue, because there's this weird internet thing where pretending not to understand is supposed to be witty or something.

Personally, I dislike the Bumblebee movie designs and everything they stand for, but for the people who did like them and hoped they were indicative of a new direction for the series, it shouldn't be hard to understand how it could feel like there was a bit of a bait and switch here.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Because people are still pretending to be unable to understand the issue, because there's this weird internet thing where pretending not to understand is supposed to be witty or something.

Personally, I dislike the Bumblebee movie designs and everything they stand for, but for the people who did like them and hoped they were indicative of a new direction for the series, it shouldn't be hard to understand how it could feel like there was a bit of a bait and switch here.

FWIW, I did like the BBM Cybertronian designs. But I’m also a weirdo that digs Beast Machines and like the new Maximal designs (if not always the EXECUTION of those designs). I still have my little candle hoping for a few Transtech figures for the 40th next year…

In terms of the film, I think there is a valid argument to be made that the BBM approach WAS followed here. Instead of the shattered metal or car part gimp mask look of most of the prior film designs, the Autobots DO have far more strongly defined physical features, especially in the face (even if Mirage’s didn’t make it to the toy).
The producers just opted not to replicate an existing design despite reusing an old name. That’s neither new or interesting in Transformers, where “Wheeljack” has, at times, been a Decepticon, elite soldier or cooky engineer. Who knows what THIS Wheelack will be.

And besides, continuity has NEVER been a hallmark of the feature films to begin with…

 

[Sabrblade]

still have my little candle hoping for a few Transtech figures for the 40th next year…

The Studio Series Bumblebee movie Arcee mold is right there just begging to be retooled into this gorgeous Transtech Cheetor digibash (albeit, with the correct insignia):

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

Anyone else notice one of the pictures had more paint on the front of the vehicle mode (lights, etc)?

 

[Haywire]

That is...weird. I do think this Wheeljack is going to get painted by customizers a lot, though. Brains from Thunderbirds is a great fit for the head, Fillmore from Cars, the Mystery Machine, there's just a lot of really neat recolor ideas a person could do with it to spice up the tan and brown...