Generations 2027: No More Primes! It is the Age of Evolution!

Agreed.

I'm generally... fine with this Starscream in robot mode, as the incongruity of the altmdoe stings more and has fewer redeeming qualities. Maybe down the line we'll get a better one, but it's nice to have one right now.

Thunderclash... I can only do one compromise of this size at a time. Gimme the real thing.

I don’t mind that MW Starscream has shoulderpads. I don’t like how unfinished the mold is though.

They work really well with the colors, cape or no cape. I just wish he'd gotten the big honking missile drums instead of someone else's big honking shoulderpads (while winding up with missile drums that are neither big nor honking).

But they look good where they are, so I'm not too mad about it. In robot mode, at least.

Starscream looks good, but I think I'll wait and see if they make Skyquake or King Atlas. And I'm sure DNA or someone is already working on a kit to make it more accurate to the original, so by the time the decos I want come out, the kit will be ready.

Starscream was my first Machine Wars toy so this one really hits a spot for me. I keep checking daily for preorders to go up, but I'm sure I'm being overzealous.

I would not be surprised if any MW Starscream kit also includes a more appropriately sized cape for him and a Galvatron cannon based on the famous art.

I don't really care much about Machine Wars. I only got Megatron or Megaplex when it was new. (Can't remember which and picked up the other years later.) None of the rest ever appealed to me.

Now the Predators, on the other hand, I would love to get. Skyquake's definitely top priority, but I'd also like to see Doubledealer -> MW Soundwave -> Stalker.

Exatron said:

I don't really care much about Machine Wars. I only got Megatron or Megaplex when it was new. (Can't remember which and picked up the other years later.) None of the rest ever appealed to me.

Now the Predators, on the other hand, I would love to get. Skyquake's definitely top priority, but I'd also like to see Doubledealer -> MW Soundwave -> Stalker.

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I'm good either way.

The thing about Machine Wars is it is an important franchise milestone, in a way we couldn't imagine at the time. Before Classics, before Robot Masters, before Universe 1.0, there was Machine Wars. It was our first real collector bait line. Not much of one, but it was there, sold side by side with the mainline. It was kinda predicative of the brand's structure today.

But the characters look absolutely nothing like what you'd expect, given that description.

CoffeeHorse said:

But the characters look absolutely nothing like what you'd expect, given that description.

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The wackiness of MW adds to the legend. Not just the out there decos, but the haphazard nature of everything. Changing the base decos but not the sticker sheets to match. Using G2 symbols on the box except for the figures who have the G1 symbols... except Skywarp who has the G2 symbol. Megatron and his clone, only the clone looks more like Megatron. A Prowl that they randomly decided to care to make G1 accurate in his colour scheme even though he had a completely different alt mode and a random olive green head.
It's a weird mix of "what the hell?" and "I guess I can see it..." and "was this just rushed together at 4:55 on a Friday?"
I love it.

Thing is... I get the frustrations at the time. I was a kid in 1997 I just thought they were cool, but if you were in your 20s and were looking forward to the first new Optimus Prime in years and then he's got the wrong head, he's grey, and his arms are green and he has a bird tattoo on his chest... I get the letdown, I really do.

But we now live in a world where we get a lovingly G1 referential Optimus every few years (if not every year) and we have no shortage of options. In the current environment? MW's decos stand out as unique and special.

With time and context, it's been very nice to look back at it and realize that they did go back to revisit G1... BUT they did it the way they were doing it in G2! The legacy name reuse BUT with peripherally-appropriate assigning of names, the mining of molds that hadn't yet been tapped in this manner... And all under its OWN, tantalizingly new series name, rather than being filed under what we've gotten before. It's delightful, and its short-livedness only adds to the charm.

All the already-discussed elements of its role in overall franchise history aside, I just want to get into MW already because I need a 1997-flavored dopamine hit. That decade in general is underrepresented, and that vintage has some pleasant notes.

LordGigaIce said:

The wackiness of MW adds to the legend. Not just the out there decos, but the haphazard nature of everything. Changing the base decos but not the sticker sheets to match. Using G2 symbols on the box except for the figures who have the G1 symbols... except Skywarp who has the G2 symbol. Megatron and his clone, only the clone looks more like Megatron. A Prowl that they randomly decided to care to make G1 accurate in his colour scheme even though he had a completely different alt mode and a random olive green head.

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Don't forget Bait-and-Switch Prime's box art!

I know Machine wars was made on the cheap, but I'm surprised they didn't do new heads at least for Prime and Starscream.

But I'm glad they didn't.

I was in my mid-ish 20s and I absolutely loved MW. Bait and switch boxes and odd deco choices anad all.

My one gripe was not updating the insructions that listed accessories that weren't included in the sale.

I think I only had Starscream, although I got the rest of the molds later in RID2K and Universe. My headcanon was that the junker G1 Screamer I'd picked up at a flea market had finally died and possessed a much bigger, stronger Decepticon for a new body.

CoffeeHorse said:

But I'm glad they didn't.

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A new release of MW Prime should have swappable parts, or at least swappable heads.

I think for a while, I kept forgetting what the deal was, so I'd be in Kaybee and see it sitting on the shelf, and be like "Oh, maybe I should get this." Flip it over, see a toy that looks totally unlike the image on the front and nothing like Optimus Prime, and I'd remember why I didn't do it sooner and put it back.

With time, I've come to appreciate the uniqueness, but... I dunno, call me petty. I want both the version I never had and the version I always wanted.

Obviously the best solution here is to make toys of both designs.

I'd like the Thunderclash version, but I would love the boxart version.

The official release should be the toy head, if not having an alternate profile of the box art head. If it can only have one, make it the toy head; DNA can make the alternate head when they sell an upgrade kit that's 97% irrelevant stuff that makes it look like someone else's fan art and stores nowhere on the original figure. That sweet, sweet 3%.