Takara Missing Link G1 Series

Sciflyer

Two arms and one smile
Citizen
This is what I tell myself to sleep at night: "Oh no!! They're making a really great G1 Ironhide out of G1 Ironhide - and they've put it in the Missing Link line!! How inappropriate! Holy crap, what am I going to do?" Then I just, you know, pass out :LOL:
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
This is what I tell myself to sleep at night: "Oh no!! They're making a really great G1 Ironhide out of G1 Ironhide - and they've put it in the Missing Link line!! How inappropriate! Holy crap, what am I going to do?" Then I just, you know, pass out :LOL:
Well, so long as you wake back up the next morning.
 

The Mighty Mollusk

Scream all you like, 'cause we're all mad here
Citizen
l8T9f1f.gif
 

CoffeeHorse

Hanging in there
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
Heck he's not even the first to create a whole new toy design to do it as Arcee was exactly the same situation.

There it is.

JUST SAY YOU LIKE THE IRONHIDE. Don't make up jive to try to justify being happy with it. Just say it's a good looking Ironhide and you like it. It's okay. I like it too in a vacuum. Just don't make up jive and tell me I'm missing the point.

They did not make up a whole new design out of nowhere for Arcee. You **know** they didn't do that. You know it's slavishly based on a prototype they designed back then. What you're willing to disregard in order to say these situations are "exactly the same" boggles my mind.

This is what I tell myself to sleep at night: "Oh no!! They're making a really great G1 Ironhide out of G1 Ironhide - and they've put it in the Missing Link line!! How inappropriate! Holy crap, what am I going to do?" Then I just, you know, pass out :LOL:

And that's okay. Comments like that aren't why my blood pressure is over 9000. It's a good looking Ironhide, in the wrong line. That's not a contradiction. It's a good looking Ironhide in its own way, in the wrong line. I agree. We're cool.

The problem with it being in the wrong line means it's taking the place of something that most likely will never happen now. This is why I can't just be happy for those who are happy with this, and am actually resenting it. This toy was apparently always going to disappoint someone. Those of us who are disappointed that this Ironhide doesn't look like the original toy, in a toyline that up til now has been all about looking like the original toy designs (whether released at the time or merely designed at the time), have nowhere else to turn. Those who would have been disappointed if this Ironhide looked like the original toy would have had to be content with every other line. Our disappointment is not the same.

And we're being told we shouldn't be disappointed, or at least not surprised, because this is exactly what Missing Link has been all along and there was no good reason to think otherwise, apparently.
 

G.B.Blackrock

Well-known member
Citizen
This is actual Missing Link. It's a toy "Ironhide with an actual humanoid Robot Mode" that did not exist is 1984/5 that Transformers fans have been loudly wishing existed since 1984/5. That is 100% what Missing Link is about... filling in the holes of the past with what might have been. Heck he's not even the first to create a whole new toy design to do it as Arcee was exactly the same situation.
No. Stop that. This is NOT "exactly the same situation" as ML Arcee. ML Arcee still looks exactly like the prototypes we saw back in the day, with whatever tiny caveat a nitpicker wants to include for the fact that it has modern articulation. ML Ironhide, whatever other benefits it might possess, is NOT that.
 

Shadewing

Well-known member
Citizen
See, I will say this. Like Coffee; I like this Ironhide... until you tell me its supposed to be Missing Link. I am almost tempted to preorder it (but it being almost the same price as Optimus is helping diminish that).

I can also agree that this:
1778715086705.png


Would probably be near impossible to upscale. Its petty much a stick figure.

But I feel like there was miles between the original toy, and what we got that feels too modern. And that's the thing. Even Arcee, still feels like an upscaled 80's toy. She feels very much like she could fit in with Kup and Blurr, the two that are closes to sharing same design ideas as Hot Rod still feels kinda like a Diaclone car, or least inspired by them. Ultra Magnus is Diaclone, and Springer being a Triplechanger is a completely different design philoshy imo.

ML Ironhide doesn't look like he'd fit in with ML Optimus, Sunstreaker, Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, let alone just slotted into a G1 collection. He's a great modern G1 Ironhide that looks like the G1 toy in alt mode, but the robot mode is just several hundred miles from looking like a Diaclone toy. Just compare him to Sunstreaker or Grimlock who they had to recreate due to lacking the original molds.
 

Noip

I'll think of something later.
Citizen
That's my disappointment. This is basically the same as CHUG or Siege; a brand new design that takes cues from the older toy. If it floats your boat, have at it. It's not what I want. I don't grudge anyone else their love of it, but it isn't what ML was presented to be. And if this is successful-which it probably will be-you can expect more and further variations from the core concept in the future.
 

MrBlud

Well-known member
Citizen
Like him or don't like him, but he's absolutely true to the core of Missing Link as a toyline.

Again, the first SIXTEEN FIGURES IN THE LINE were “G1 reissues with improved articulation”

If you go to a restaurant called “Tastes of the World” and order the special SIXTEEN TIMES and it’s Spaghetti then the next time you order it they give you a Burrito they can’t just point to the sign saying “Tastes of the World” when someone (rightfully) complains.

I *like* this Ironhide and I think it does fit the ethos of the line but I can’t stand the people that are pissed getting gaslighted that they don’t know what they’re talking about.
 

lastmaximal

Administrator
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
The problem with it being in the wrong line means it's taking the place of something that most likely will never happen now.

This is the one thing I'm not so sure about. It may be a while, but Takara might jump on this. I can see there being an intermediate design step between "G1 toy with retooled articulation" and this current, more transformative take that they could roll with. There'd be demand for it, and it'd certainly be distinct from the previous release to a degree greater than their usual "change head, tweak colors, call it anime edition".
 

Sciflyer

Two arms and one smile
Citizen
The problem with it being in the wrong line means it's taking the place of something that most likely will never happen now. This is why I can't just be happy for those who are happy with this, and am actually resenting it.

By gum it's been a minute since I've heard the good old "he's takin' our slots!" argument. The Missing Link line has, thus far, seemed to be popular enough for Takara to keep going with it. We don't know how many "slots" there are in the line, so I'm not sure I follow your rationale.

You (and others) are clearly pissed that this thing is coming out in the Missing Link line, and I get it - to a point. Some out there are okay with it, or maybe even ambivalent, and some don't like it; I get that, too. What I find particularly disappointing, though, is your inability to be happy for those of us who might like it. You don't like it? Cool! Someone else does? Okay!

This figure is being produced in the Missing Link line whether we like it or not. I guess it's cool that we're talking about it, even if we don't all agree.
 

NovaSaber

Well-known member
Citizen
By gum it's been a minute since I've heard the good old "he's takin' our slots!" argument. The Missing Link line has, thus far, seemed to be popular enough for Takara to keep going with it. We don't know how many "slots" there are in the line, so I'm not sure I follow your rationale.
I'm not sure I follow yours.

Who said anything about total "slots" in the line?
Unless Missing Link takes a second go at the same G1 toy (which I don't consider likely), making Ironhide this way means they're not going to make him a different way.
 

PrimalxConvoy

NOT a New Member.
Citizen
No. Thats just dumb.

This is actual Missing Link. It's a toy "Ironhide with an actual humanoid Robot Mode" that did not exist is 1984/5 that Transformers fans have been loudly wishing existed since 1984/5. That is 100% what Missing Link is about... filling in the holes of the past with what might have been. Heck he's not even the first to create a whole new toy design to do it as Arcee was exactly the same situation.

Like him or don't like him, but he's absolutely true to the core of Missing Link as a toyline.

-ZacWilliam, anyone who thinks otherwise is Missing the Point of Missing Link
i have two concur. This is what 'Missing Link' means; a range of toys that link the original G1 toys to modern ones (without being either). However, in this case, it does seem so much better than the original design as to be closer to CHUG (as the original design was one of the weakest G1 toys, IMO).
 

lastmaximal

Administrator
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
Missing Link might yet do it. They're not doing it right now, but they also didn't do a cartoon Bumblebee head right away (despite Convoy and eventually Grimlock getting simultaneous cartoon versions). Even that was a (small) divergence from the "toy-based" vibe. It'll be good to have options, hopefully.

I would laugh very loudly if Hasbro surprised us with one in the regular retail lines the way the Legacy United G1 Op mold suddenly showed up. And it'd be welcome. I miss being able to laugh.
 

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
There it is.

JUST SAY YOU LIKE THE IRONHIDE. Don't make up jive to try to justify being happy with it. Just say it's a good looking Ironhide and you like it. It's okay. I like it too in a vacuum. Just don't make up jive and tell me I'm missing the point.

They did not make up a whole new design out of nowhere for Arcee. You **know** they didn't do that. You know it's slavishly based on a prototype they designed back then. What you're willing to disregard in order to say these situations are "exactly the same" boggles my mind.



And that's okay. Comments like that aren't why my blood pressure is over 9000. It's a good looking Ironhide, in the wrong line. That's not a contradiction. It's a good looking Ironhide in its own way, in the wrong line. I agree. We're cool.

The problem with it being in the wrong line means it's taking the place of something that most likely will never happen now. This is why I can't just be happy for those who are happy with this, and am actually resenting it. This toy was apparently always going to disappoint someone. Those of us who are disappointed that this Ironhide doesn't look like the original toy, in a toyline that up til now has been all about looking like the original toy designs (whether released at the time or merely designed at the time), have nowhere else to turn. Those who would have been disappointed if this Ironhide looked like the original toy would have had to be content with every other line. Our disappointment is not the same.

And we're being told we shouldn't be disappointed, or at least not surprised, because this is exactly what Missing Link has been all along and there was no good reason to think otherwise, apparently.
Thinking this over...

The concept behind this figure is great. Take G1 Ironhide's toy, give it modern articulation, and give it a way to assume a more Sunbow/traditional robot mode.

The problem is they seem to have started with the Sunbow robot mode and then went "ok let's approximate the Diaclone mode from here."

What they should have done was start with the Diaclone robot mode and gone "ok now that we've got that down, how can we approximate the Sunbow look from here?"

In short, I love the concept, they just chose to compromise the wrong half of it.
 

CoffeeHorse

Hanging in there
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
Missing Link might yet do it. They're not doing it right now, but they also didn't do a cartoon Bumblebee head right away (despite Convoy and eventually Grimlock getting simultaneous cartoon versions). Even that was a (small) divergence from the "toy-based" vibe. It'll be good to have options, hopefully.

I would laugh very loudly if Hasbro surprised us with one in the regular retail lines the way the Legacy United G1 Op mold suddenly showed up. And it'd be welcome. I miss being able to laugh.

I will put my word on this right now. If either of those options happens I will take the win and never mention this debacle ever again.
 

Sciflyer

Two arms and one smile
Citizen
I'm not sure I follow yours.

Who said anything about total "slots" in the line?
Unless Missing Link takes a second go at the same G1 toy (which I don't consider likely), making Ironhide this way means they're not going to make him a different way.

I did. In response to a statement that very clearly said that this toy is "taking the place of something else". Then, I clarified by stating that we don't know how many slots there are in a given line, so how can we reasonably be sure that this is taking the place of something else? But sure, go ahead and stay willfully obtuse if you must.

Honestly, this thread has devolved into such a joyless, circular, shitty conversation. I'm on this board to have a little fun and indulge in this plastic robot hobby, and some just seem hellbent on taking every opportunity to loudly crow about "the thing that should not be". But it is! Or at least, it will be.

So, I tell you what: I'm wrong, you're right. I don't really like this thing, and I feel that it shouldn't be a part of the clearly-established pattern that Missing Link has displayed thus far. I wish that they had just released the original G1 Ironhide, except maybe given him opening fists and a face sticker. Moreover, I think that all of the toy designers who worked on this at Takara should be beaten with wet noodles and never allowed to work on another toy again. Finally, if Missing Link should ever deviate from whatever pattern is fashionable/acceptable/allowed, I will agree in lockstep with the loudest, most vocal, and most popular opinions among our community.
 
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NovaSaber

Well-known member
Citizen
I did. In response to a statement that very clearly said that this toy is "taking the place of something else".
The "something else" being an Ironhide more in line with the rest of Missing Link.

Nothing to do with how many total figures the line will have.

Then, I clarified by stating that we don't know how many slots there are in a given line, so how can we reasonably be sure that this is taking the place of something else? But sure, go ahead and stay willfully obtuse if you must.
You're the one who missed how specific of a complaint "this Ironhide means they won't do another Missing Link Ironhide" was.

Finally, if Missing Link should ever deviate from whatever pattern is fashionable/acceptable/allowed, I will agree in lockstep with the loudest, most vocal, and most popular opinions among our community.
From my perspective as someone who doesn't have a strong opinion about the figure itself either way, it's definitely (some of) the people who like this who seem to have a problem with anyone disliking it, not the other way around.
 


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