100% this. I already spent money on the Leader Class version of the character, which I felt was a lot to spend on a relatively non-existent character. No way I can justify 3 times the cost.
Studio Series discussion
- Thread starter Paladin
- Start date
I think "out of context, cool" is a low enough bar for something to become "iconic". Lots of the former have wound up as the latter.
I do not think it's "charge for a Titan" level iconic. I'd sooner buy one of those 3P mini-AOE Optimuses that can ride the Leader class Grim.
And honestly while it would be cool to get the rest of the dinos at this size, I don't know if Titans or even Commanders of them sell well enough to last long; I wouldn't mind being wrong about that but it genuinely feels like an uphill battle.
Might have been intrigued by, say, a Titan class playset of Lockdown's ship, including a Lockdown retool with the masked head from the Shadow Raider and a new swappable gunhead. And a couple of Steeljaws.
I do not think it's "charge for a Titan" level iconic. I'd sooner buy one of those 3P mini-AOE Optimuses that can ride the Leader class Grim.
And honestly while it would be cool to get the rest of the dinos at this size, I don't know if Titans or even Commanders of them sell well enough to last long; I wouldn't mind being wrong about that but it genuinely feels like an uphill battle.
Might have been intrigued by, say, a Titan class playset of Lockdown's ship, including a Lockdown retool with the masked head from the Shadow Raider and a new swappable gunhead. And a couple of Steeljaws.
re: Optimus/Grimlock, it certainly has been tried, for a long while now, but doesn't get traction. I once when Toys R Us existed got a freebie mini-block kit that made a small Grimlock with a tiny Op to ride it. I still have it too, though the mini-Optimus gets more use from my nephew who has decided his job is to get jumped on by Lego Mario. Maybe he needs to call Grimlock for help. But the idea of paying nearly $250 to replicate that...
For me, it just represents the zenith of Optimus Prime's "I'LL KILL YOU!!!" phase of psychopathy under Bay's direction.
He's the legend that exists!
He’s Optimus Prime’s Yoshi
Aceept a LOT meaner and tougher than Yoshi
Yoshi devours his foes alive and converts their remains into ammunition to eradicate what he cannot consume. He has Grimlock beat.
"Is not a character" can probably be leveled at 90% of the characters that have shown up in the live-action Studio Series.
Those films weren't exactly good on characterizing the Transformers outside of a handful of big name ones. Especially as time went on.
Those films weren't exactly good on characterizing the Transformers outside of a handful of big name ones. Especially as time went on.
It can also be leveled at a lot of TF series. Not always as high, but there are still a bunch of "Not a character"s that people get excited for.
As I've said even when the film was new, when you put Optimus Prime riding on the back of a giant fire spewing robot T-rex and my only reaction is "meh", it's over.
Usually I can at least explain their role in the story, even if they're not really characters. I can't even explain AOE Grimlock's role in the story. It really feels like two halves of two completely unrelated scripts somehow accidentally got shuffled together, and one of the two resulting jumbles got filmed. Or the main production unit got one script but other units got sent an earlier wildly different script and nobody noticed until they got to the editing room. Everything is a bridge to nowhere or a bridge from nowhere.
He's one of the other prisoners that Lockdown had captured that Optimus threatens with death if he doesn't aid them in battle. He's unwilling backup, essentially.
Those remains had to have been the Dinobots in one of the scripts that got mixed together into the mess we have now. Most of that story got lost in the shuffle, so we're just left with bits and pieces that don't connect to anything. It's unclear who the Dinobots are, where they came from, why Lockdown's clients would want them, or how Lockdown's clients even know they exist. They never did anything as far as we're shown or even told.
What I would give to tour Paramount's vault and see what they've got. There is some version of this story that made sense. Maybe it never got farther than a treatment. But someone at some point had a theory on where they were going with this, and I would love to read it.
The Bay films are honestly a fun trove of bits and bobs of story concepts and scenes and moments. Great for mining to write up on your own, which will invariably result in a better output than the Bay writers' We Don't Care, Random Bullshit Go approach of writing a theme park ride disguised as a movie.
Okay, there are a good handful of takes on this, but amusingly, none of them use the Bayverse versions, save for a side-by-side comparison pic.