I'd prefer it just be done normally, but at this point I'll take what I can get.
Generations 2027: No More Primes! It is the Age of Evolution!
- Thread starter Steevy Maximus
- Start date
This is where I'm at, with more leaning toward "just do the thing". Fondly close adherence to what came before need not be reserved for
Of course, this could be easily solved by providing an alternate head, but that doesn't seem to be a thing these days unless you're a Scooby collab, and even then you have Batman 1989's lack of neck.
I have a cheap mattress, so for me Batman Neck is just relatable.
When they finally do the Batman collab, they should deliberately omit the neck joint and then call it out as a feature.
Then the upgrade kit can include an articulated neck as well as hands and gap fillers.
it’ll be worth it as long as they include a head identical to the stock head but with no ears.
I wouldn't mind an alternate head option to recreate the box art look, but if I could only have one, yeah stick as close to the original toy as possible.
Which seems like what they'd do. Not only is the current team committed to accuracy, but by sticking with the toy head you get a completed Thunderclash mould ready to go with no additional work needed down the line. Seems far more economical.
Besides, I'm sure DNA or someone else will make an alternate more classically/box art styled OP head.
I wonder how practical it would be to remold Legacy Laser Optimus Prime to get rid of the shoulder pylons.
I'd rather they do Thunderclash first and leave MW Prime for a capsule or something later.
Test it out with the Legacy Prime Dreadwing/Skyquake mold.
Counterpoint:
Thunderclash’s head isn’t a “traditional Optimus” head. They might go for something closer to a normal Prime head for marketing/branding purposes.
Hasbro has not been quiet in the past about stating they usually have some alternate parts in the tooling to allow for minor changes to a figure. So it wouldn’t be a “big deal” to do Thunderclash.
Personally, I would not be adverse to a “compromise” of Thunderclash’s general headsculpt, but with the crest in silver with an Optimus Prime (maybe toy inspired) plated face. Y’know, just for something DIFFERENT.
in today’s economy ?
In today’s economy, to get a small Voyager with converting trailer is going to put it above the Leader price point anyway!
I'm sure this team would give each of them their own head, if they were going to make a dedicated mold. I mean, as long as "Euro G1 & Machine Wars" is enough to justify dedicated molds...
*insert my stock rant about how Machine Ware is a genuine milestone and absolutely deserves dedicated molds*
If you're going to do it, do it, not 70% of it with the 30% being watering it down for some nebulous purpose. They've done Optimus Prime-themed things before that do not have an Optimus Prime head -- IDW Orion Pax is one from the current era. That's about as much a G1-adjacent offshoot as MW is, and the MW one would at least get to be called Optimus Prime on the box and in solicits. Someone seeking out a Machine Wars anything likely knows what they're doing and what they're after.
Hasbro has also at least once gone a bit extra so they and we can have it both ways -- Shattered Glass Ultra Magnus came with two heads. I'd rather that than some jumble between G1 and MW Op heads.
MW isn't exactly a self-selling landmark in the overall brand scheme of things, I'll grant, but it IS an area that has yet to be touched upon in an age when so many things have already been crossed off the list that are similarly deep cuts (comic Flame and Xaaron are notable, a ton of Diaclone/other pre-TF releases got nods, we got basically ALL the released AND unreleased G2 Dinobotsexcept for the green Snarl I wanted, etc).
Besides, any investment in tooling is easy enough to recoup with a bajillion redecos. The flipchangers have it easiest, with multiple redecos that need no retooling. (They could even make an Indy racer mold that could work as G1 Mirage and RM Rijie, instead of overcomplicating Mirage's design like they've bizarrely done TWICE now.) Even minimal retooling could turn the MW Thundercracker mold into Cybertron Thundercracker, which brings even more redeco possibilities. These are at least as worthwhile as any of the other new things they rolled into the lines (Fossilizers, Junkions, Armorizers).
Hasbro has also at least once gone a bit extra so they and we can have it both ways -- Shattered Glass Ultra Magnus came with two heads. I'd rather that than some jumble between G1 and MW Op heads.
MW isn't exactly a self-selling landmark in the overall brand scheme of things, I'll grant, but it IS an area that has yet to be touched upon in an age when so many things have already been crossed off the list that are similarly deep cuts (comic Flame and Xaaron are notable, a ton of Diaclone/other pre-TF releases got nods, we got basically ALL the released AND unreleased G2 Dinobots
Besides, any investment in tooling is easy enough to recoup with a bajillion redecos. The flipchangers have it easiest, with multiple redecos that need no retooling. (They could even make an Indy racer mold that could work as G1 Mirage and RM Rijie, instead of overcomplicating Mirage's design like they've bizarrely done TWICE now.) Even minimal retooling could turn the MW Thundercracker mold into Cybertron Thundercracker, which brings even more redeco possibilities. These are at least as worthwhile as any of the other new things they rolled into the lines (Fossilizers, Junkions, Armorizers).
That's why I want the toy to look like the toy. A new Optimus Prime that doesn't look like Optimus Prime may have been annoying to older fans in 1997, but there have been SO MANY new Optimus Primes done in his classic stylings over the years by this point. You're not really hurting if you want an Optimus who looks like Optimus. So let MW Optimus look like MW Optimus. Thunderclash head and all.
If so, let them pack in the alternate traditional Optimus head as a bonus option. They can do it. They've done it before. See SG Magnus.
That's really not a concern if you're interested in doing MW. Since when is Starscream black with a face plated head and have a crown crest? Since when is Soundwave grey and burgundy with black tiger stripes? Since when is Megatron teal?
Which circles back to my first point. Let Machine Wars be Machine Wars. Toss in an extra more G1y Optimus head to give people options, if you must, but MW fans? We've been waiting a while. Don't mess it up trying to make it G1.