Transformers: Age of the Primes Thread: ll First Post All Listings II Update : April 12th, 2027 Bonus Wave: Repaint fun, Beast Wars, G2, Machine Wars

[Sabrblade]

Nexus Prime has the might of five bots! In fact, he used to BE five bots!

Funny you should mention that, as artist Ken Christiansen was reached out to a few months back and asked about the art he did of Nexus for the Binder of Revelation, the same art that was later first revealed to the public in the Covenant of Primus book. This art:

Here's what Christiansen had to say about the art:

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

Considering the original G2 artwork for Liege Maximo wasn't exactly clearly rendered to begin with, I think the recent toy did a pretty good job.

 

[Shadewing]

Personally I think Liege is as perfect as they can get with so few clear images of him around.

 

[Sabrblade]

Get a load of the toy's red missiles that look based on those spaceships that are flying out of his hand in that leftmost artwork.

Looks like the folks at Hasbro didn't realize that those were spaceships and that LM himself was originally a gigantic Titan-sized fellow, and instead interpreted those ships as darts, the Liegian Darts.

 

[LordGigaIce]

Get a load of the toy's red missiles that look based on those spaceships that are flying out of his hand in that leftmost artwork.

Looks like the folks at Hasbro didn't realize that those were spaceships and that LM himself was originally a gigantic Titan-sized fellow, and instead interpreted those ships as darts, the Liegian Darts.

I don't think it's a matter of misunderstanding... I think it's a matter of practicality. Titan class Liege Maximo wasn't going to happen, so he had to be a Leader, which means some stuff is going to get reinterpreted through being sized down.

I think it's a neat homage.

About that head...

If anyone was ever wondering how we got from the original Fun Pub head design to the current one based on the TF One design, but which looks nothing like the original Fun Pub head design, this is how:

I blame whoever decided on that final colour scheme for the FP figure. A solid black face with no shading to bring out the sculpting for the mouth is very easy to interpret as a solid black faceplate if you don't have HD pictures or the original design sketches.

Just making that area silver would have alleviated everything, as it would have allowed the sculpting for the mouth to stand out.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I misinterpreted it too. The mouth is invisible in any normal lighting conditions.

 

[Platypus Prime]

I never knew his mouth existed.

 

[wonko the sane?]

They're robots, why do they even have mouths?

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

They're very "in" right now.

 

[Platypus Prime]

It's for mental health reasons. It's hard to turn that frown upside down when it's internal.

 

[lastmaximal]

I don't think it's a matter of misunderstanding... I think it's a matter of practicality. Titan class Liege Maximo wasn't going to happen, so he had to be a Leader, which means some stuff is going to get reinterpreted through being sized down.

I think it's a neat homage.

Same, and I resist this knee-jerk urge to immediately land on "mistake". While that happens (and sometimes tends to), this team has been known to convert and repurpose details into various things to get more nods in there, and it isn't always going to be 1:1. "His artifact is the Liegean Darts, but that's from decades after the comic so there's no reference there. What should they look like?" "Oh, here's this cool design from the artwork, let's make that connection."

I appreciate Ken saying he prefers to describe the Nexus Prime situation as a reinterpretation rather than a misinterpretation, and that same energy could well apply here.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

Now I'm just imagining Nexus as this man about town kind of robot, combining with whoever he likes left and right, and they wake up in the morning with barely any memory of what happened...

"Did... did I get powerlinked last night?! Primus..."

One-night stands take on a whole new meaning when you're using two other people to stand.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I'm annoyed because Nexus could have been exactly for me. I like combiners. I do not have money or space for all the Legacy combiners. I will have to pick one. That means I have to pick one. You have no idea how bad I am at doing that. I need a reason to pick one over the others. I am bad at that. If I can't plot it out on a spreadsheet, I am stuck.

But some obscure rando? I can do that. Because it exists almost in a vacuum. There is no pressure to consider any other combiners. It's just this one practically standalone thing.

But now it's not. I have to pick a frame, and pick limbs. I'm not going to bother.

 

[lastmaximal]

Doesn't help that there seems to be no indication of what the gimmick is, on the packaging.

 

[unluckiness]

I think the way they handled Nexus Prime is not helped at all by their new frame combiner standard. If he released as a Voyager during the combiner Wars or Power of the Primes era of combiner, at least he could form a new torso by himself. Now he not only has to jack somebody’s combiner buddies but also a set of combiner kibble.

 

[lastmaximal]

I wonder if Nexus himself IS a frame instead of slotting into one. It would at least make sense that the first combiner "makes combination possible" (I agree that the old CW concept works better as a torso IS the frame). Is Voyager a rough equivalent for that part of Motormaster's trailer, and Silverbolt's unwieldy jet ass?

 

[LiamA]

Couldn't they have made Nexus Prime look like it's made of smaller vehicles. This thing looks like a generic-bot.

 

[unluckiness]

I wonder if Nexus himself IS a frame instead of slotting into one. It would at least make sense that the first combiner "makes combination possible" (I agree that the old CW concept works better as a torso IS the frame). Is Voyager a rough equivalent for that part of Motormaster's trailer, and Silverbolt's unwieldy jet ass?

Maybe the torso part but he’d still need the arm and leg parts, so you’ll still need a Commander class dude and the combiner will still look samey

 

[wonko the sane?]

Couldn't they have made Nexus Prime look like it's made of smaller vehicles. This thing looks like a generic-bot.

Better a generic bot than the crappy vehicle voltron.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

A generic bot that requires another couple hundred bucks of toys to use his gimmick.