Takara Missing Link G1 Series
- Thread starter MrBlud
- Start date
I would be much more forgiving of a reimagined Missing Link Skyfire. Obviously the original toy design would be off limits here.
I think the issue here is that the "mission" of Missing Link has seemed (externally looking in) to be recreating the G1 toys but with added modern engineering. This was a niche that had not previously been tapped, and even ML Arcee was based on a G1 concept prototype that existed (albeit as 2 static, non-transforming prototypes) in that era. Plus, there's the added bonus of recreating figures whose original molds were lost to the ages.
If someone wants the exact G1 toys, yeah, there have been reissues to various degrees over the years. Masterpiece was the line for figures of the toys we (may have) imagined Transformers to be, especially if we grew up on the cartoon more than the actual toys. For articulated updates of legacy characters that still make good toys, we've had G(1-with-knees)enerations, with Studio Series turning the screen accuracy up to 11 (more or less).
It will be interesting to see what the full Ironhide figure looks like, and how it does what we can see in the image we have. Maybe ML was always going to be a fusion of G1 and modern, and we just hadn't had an example of the extent of how much might get changed until now? Ironhide was one of the few G1 figures I had (briefly, until it broke), and I'm curious to what changes and improvements they might make?
If someone wants the exact G1 toys, yeah, there have been reissues to various degrees over the years. Masterpiece was the line for figures of the toys we (may have) imagined Transformers to be, especially if we grew up on the cartoon more than the actual toys. For articulated updates of legacy characters that still make good toys, we've had G(1-with-knees)enerations, with Studio Series turning the screen accuracy up to 11 (more or less).
It will be interesting to see what the full Ironhide figure looks like, and how it does what we can see in the image we have. Maybe ML was always going to be a fusion of G1 and modern, and we just hadn't had an example of the extent of how much might get changed until now? Ironhide was one of the few G1 figures I had (briefly, until it broke), and I'm curious to what changes and improvements they might make?
Even reissues are toon colored now. Toy fans get one line.
Takara is, admittedly, pretty even handed to the point of being nonsensical. MP-44? So toon accurate he folds inside out with very little of his truck mode actually making it into robot mode. Still gets a toy accurate alternate deco.
ML Optimus? Basically just the G1 toy with modern articulation. Gets a a toon accurate alternate deco.
That's what's tripping me up here. We've graduated from a single blacked out teaser pic to a single full colour teaser pic. We haven't seen the full figure. We haven't seen its accessory layout. We don't know what it can do. I'm still banking on it being able to switch between a G1 accurate Diaclone mech mode and something that has some toon accuracy.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it can't do that... but as of now, it seems too early to declare definitively that they've betrayed the spirit of the line.
And given how weird Ironhide and Ratchet are... it's possible that they just said "screw it lets do something different here." So in the event that you can't replicate the G1 toy "robot" modes... I don't think you can read anything into that other than "G1 Ratchet and Ironhide are weird toys, man, and they had to make some choices."
Ultimately we need to see more.
This is my Encore Ironhide (with a Reprolabels Sunbow face sticker, because that's what I was like back then...) in as close to the same angle as I could approximate to the teaser image:
It looks to me (and anyone can feel free to copy the image and repost side-by-side with the teaser if that helps) as though the cab of the robot is more complete (no visible seams) and the drone/chair head is situated higher behind the windshield. If the part hanging off the back is the "battle sled", it looks like it uses the top of the van only (much like Earthrise Ironhide), rather than most of the back of the van and opening like a mini version of Optimus' trailer.
Now, I don't dislike the looks of this as a G1-ish Ironhide redux. Also, according to the Wiki, G1 Ironhide was not part of Takara's original retail lineup, so maybe that makes it "fair game" for a redesign more than we've seen so far in Missing Link? In fact, looking at the tiny struts that hold the arms (and trying carefully to transform him into robot mode for the first time in a few years), I'm not sure how much room there would be to retain the original design and not have an end result that's more fragile than the original. If what we think we're seeing is the actual robot mode, and it's more sturdy for it, then that may have been the best choice available for this piece.
If, on the other hand, the original robot form is retained, and the extra torso bits, head, and arms are built into the battle sled, then I'm guessing that the battle sled is going to be a shell of its former...shell? This makes me sad only because my original Ironhide broke almost immediately; i have almost no memories of playing with him beyond his arm breaking. On the other hand, the Battle Sled I remember playing with well after the rest of Ironhide was gone, with the missle shooter becoming the "head" of an unconventional robot, not unlike a Scutter.
I don't know, I definitely want to see a full reveal and learn exactly how this figure does what it does. It may be enough of an improvement that I want to buy it, or it may be too far from the original design to feel like a "proper" Missing Link. It may even be both. I'll be looking forward to seeing more.
It looks to me (and anyone can feel free to copy the image and repost side-by-side with the teaser if that helps) as though the cab of the robot is more complete (no visible seams) and the drone/chair head is situated higher behind the windshield. If the part hanging off the back is the "battle sled", it looks like it uses the top of the van only (much like Earthrise Ironhide), rather than most of the back of the van and opening like a mini version of Optimus' trailer.
Now, I don't dislike the looks of this as a G1-ish Ironhide redux. Also, according to the Wiki, G1 Ironhide was not part of Takara's original retail lineup, so maybe that makes it "fair game" for a redesign more than we've seen so far in Missing Link? In fact, looking at the tiny struts that hold the arms (and trying carefully to transform him into robot mode for the first time in a few years), I'm not sure how much room there would be to retain the original design and not have an end result that's more fragile than the original. If what we think we're seeing is the actual robot mode, and it's more sturdy for it, then that may have been the best choice available for this piece.
If, on the other hand, the original robot form is retained, and the extra torso bits, head, and arms are built into the battle sled, then I'm guessing that the battle sled is going to be a shell of its former...shell? This makes me sad only because my original Ironhide broke almost immediately; i have almost no memories of playing with him beyond his arm breaking. On the other hand, the Battle Sled I remember playing with well after the rest of Ironhide was gone, with the missle shooter becoming the "head" of an unconventional robot, not unlike a Scutter.
I don't know, I definitely want to see a full reveal and learn exactly how this figure does what it does. It may be enough of an improvement that I want to buy it, or it may be too far from the original design to feel like a "proper" Missing Link. It may even be both. I'll be looking forward to seeing more.
Honestly, I mainly wanted a Missing Link Ironhide for the potential Diaclone repaint. It is a terrible Transformers design, but in its original context it totally works. It is obviously not the lead hero's mech, but I can see it as as a common support mech for the greenshirts (or whatever Diaclone's equivalent would have been). It has that vibe. It's great.
I want to apologize to the group for my behavior throughout yesterday's posts. I have a lot of "life" happening right now, haven't felt entirely like myself; I know that my responses to things in this thread were fuelled in no small part by that. People have a right to feel the way that they want to about this clearly divisive release, and I am aware that some of what I posted did not allow for that. Again, I am sorry.
I am still very interested in where things end up with Ironhide, and it sounds like we'll know a bit more by at least next Wednesday (5/13), if not sooner.
I am still very interested in where things end up with Ironhide, and it sounds like we'll know a bit more by at least next Wednesday (5/13), if not sooner.
If it doesn't look like the original G1 toy, why wouldn't I just buy any of the other "Ironhide with a head and articulation" toys already out there instead?
The more I ponder on this, the more puzzled I get; the Dorvack tank, Tulcas, was left out of the Deluxe Autobots lineup, ostensibly due to its lack of a head, yet the Onebox van was left in the line, albeit heavily modified in fiction (beyond the early issues of the Marvel comics). I'm not overly familiar with the minutiae of the Diaclone Car Robots line, but was the Onebox the only figure without a "proper" robot head? It's possible this has been considered some kind of oversight that needed "corrected".
Presumably (much like ML Arcee), this Ironhide will have a vehicle mode largely identical in size and feel to the original, with a mix of plastic and die cast metal construction, yet have a robot mode with a "proper" head and seemingly less fragile arms. I'm leaning towards the "not quite what I've come to expect from Missing Link" camp, and yet I can see the potential appeal of this figure in a G1 reissue collection, particularly the recent ones with Sunbow-based decos. It's likely I will be priced out of buying one, but I'm interested in seeing exactly what this figure actually does, because it has a certain appeal despite the inaccuracy to the original figure.
I think so, though the Waruders earlier had little headless walkers of their own. Not everything in Diaclone had a head. It definitely wasn't an oversight, just Diaclone having variety.
Because it does still look like the original G1 toy in var mode?
My guess is that they used the Onebox mold because Takara owned Diaclone already anyway, but used the "no head" excuse to not pay licensing on the Tulcas mold. Could be entirely off base, but a simple economic solution seems reasonable to me.
If anyone is buying Missing Link because it looks like the original G1 toy in var mode, THEY might be the ones who should just buy a reissue (except for Sunstreaker/Cordon).
It could be that the decision to drop the drivers was made later on, so the head issue didn't cross anyone's mind when the initial molds were selected. If you look at it in its original Diaclone context, it's suddenly a very cool design. It's a fairly compact vehicle that unfolds into a pile of stuff. It looks like a lot of fun in one box.
By the time they were picking Takotoku molds they knew better. Tulcas is a bot you have to love for the weirdness. If you don't, it doesn't do a lot to make up for that weirdness.
I feel like the original plan was to treat those toys as living robot characters all along, since the Microman Micro Change toys were scooped up by Hasbro at the same time as the Diaclone Car Robot toys, and the Micro Change toys don't look like piloted mechs like the Car Robots do.
That, and because I will never, ever, use the meaningless term "var mode." It's either "vehicle mode" or "alternate mode" or, in pure desperation, "car mode."
"Var" is not, and never will be, a word in my vocabulary.
If it's Ironhide, it could be "van mode".
I think they just got choosier later.
When they did both versions of the Onebox at the very start of the line they probably didn't know they'd make many Transformers that weren't Diaclone or Microchange molds, while by the time they decided to use two of the three from Dorvack they were also already starting to make their own.
There actually were a few Diaclone toys that had both robot modes and realistic robot modes that they didn't use; the Honda City R (Crosscut), the trains (which Takara used in Transformers the instant they starting making ones that Hasbro didn't), and a jet/helicopter triple changer that has still never been a Transformers toy.