Or those large road-construction style ditch witches or concrete saws that look like giant chainsaws and circular saws.
Thread of Thoughts, Questions (and Maybe Even Answers) That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread
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Or those large road-construction style ditch witches or concrete saws that look like giant chainsaws and circular saws.
Sorta reminds me of RotF Devastator.
That was my thought, too. For all of the sins of the Bay-era movies (and they were many), they did occasionally stumble across an interesting idea. Devestator being not a specific combination of Constructicons, but rather a thing that could be assembled from any number of different components was one of them.
IDW1 had the idea of making Devastator modular, but didn't do much with it.
Honestly? The Constructicon redeco of Landfill is probably my favourite version of Devastator. The CW Titan is actually pretty fun for what it is- just a big chunky robot made out of Tonka- and the SS '86 one looks fun but I donno... maybe it's the fact that I was born too late to be a true G1 kid... but the G1 Devastator design isn't really my favourite look.
By the way, I just got to checking this, and the notes mentioned that there was only one track new to Season 4 -- and that was the one, "Developments".
Unfortunately, it's not on YouTube, so I need to see what I can do to convert a .wav to an MP4 to go with the rest.
Thought: Hasbro has given us a good handful of IDW-based toys over the years. I haven't been reading Skybound, but It's my understanding that they're hewing closer to a traditional G1 look without re-imagining designs in the way IDW did. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)
So, looking towards the future, what can we expect regarding Skybound-inspired toys?
So, looking towards the future, what can we expect regarding Skybound-inspired toys?
Pretty sure "Optimus with Megatron arm/cannon" is going to be way up there. Even a KO of SS86 Op is getting in on that action.
Shredhead and Ballpoint have also got to be on that list. The former is even a fairly easy Skids rework.
Shredhead and Ballpoint have also got to be on that list. The former is even a fairly easy Skids rework.
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What lastmaximal said.
I'd also say that IDW's reinventions were very hit and miss- I'll take Legacy's G1 Skids over T30's IDW Skids any day- so I'm not fretting if we won't be getting more "comic original" designs.
Haha, I feel the opposite. The Legacy toy is perfectly fine, but devoid of personality (IMO). The T30 toy is imperfect, but has more visual interest. I'm afraid I fall very much on the side of liking the Classics/Universe/early Generations reinventions of G1 characters, and I think a lot of IDW designs fit in well there.
It also gets complicated when talking about comic designs versus what team made the toys. The Legacy miner Megatron and Doom 'n Destruction Bludgeon, both IDW designs, are more pleasant toy experiences than some T30 stuff.
Well I agree on that last part. T30 had some hits- Springer and Jetfire- but for the most part I found it an utter disaster. Meanwhile the current team's take on IDW stuff through their exclusive releases has been pretty solid.
I think, though, that they work because they don't fully commit to the hyper-stylized IDW look. Miner and Gladiator Megatron, and both versions of Orion Pax, have IDW looks but they're based off of G1-inspired bodies (or a High Moon one in the case of Cop Orion). This means that it's essentially a solid G1y base with some IDW flavour on top, which I think works much better than the full-on IDW designs like T30 Skids or Nightbeat.
This jives with some of my favourite IDW-inspired designs overall. TR Sentinel Prime is an IDW Sentinel head on a G1y Astrotrain body. TR Chromedome is an IDW Chromedome head on a G1y Chromedome body. Legacy Nova Prime is an IDW design passed through a G1 filter (the team said they used Devastation Nova as a reference, who they said was more "G1" in his stylings).
I just think the IDW aesthetic works best when toned down a bit.
To these points... I can't agree about Skids. I love the Honda City Turbo and though the Legacy version isn't one it's close enough to scratch the itch for me. And I feel like his robot mode just has that perfect Diaclone robot man energy.
Meanwhile the T30 IDW Skids is awkward, looks both too slender and too bulky at once, can't stand, and is a pain to transform. It's interesting, perhaps more interesting than the Legacy one, but it doesn't make it good, IMO. Which is a distinction I try to make- unique and interesting are not noble pursuits in and of themselves if the end result doesn't work, and I feel like a lot of the IDW stuff from T30 wasn't working.
Now on the issue of "reimagine classic characters vs faithfully update them"?
Either/or? I think Classics '06 is a great line and Classics Prime is an utterly fantastic figure. I also think ER Prime is pretty great. Which is better? I have ER on my main shelf and Classics (well Henkei) on my Optimus shelf... but it is a matter of preference, and I don't think there's a wrong answer there.
Me not liking how IDW designs were handled in T30 isn't an indictment on the idea of reinterpreting classic designs... I just didn't like that specific attempt at it. It was the wrong design philosophy meeting the wrong design team (or at least leads) meeting the wrong aesthetic IMO.
Additionally... IDW's general stylized aesthetic is like a lot of IDW1 to me. I was super into it for a time, but I've mostly moved past it.
I agree mainly with the notion that it's more a matter of the toy design sensibilities from the time vs the actual design itself.
Of course I'm glad to have BOTH a blocky G1 style Skids and the more lithe, horribly brweaponed Milne art style Skids. But there's so much spring-loaded hoopla and panel-y schtick from that era that renders that mold more cumbersome than really enjoyable. Nonetheless, I appreciate that both had their eras, and frankly at this point I'm more open to the pendulum swinging back toward less reined-in-by-Sunbow reimaginings. (I do also still want more IDW era stuff. Still talking myself into a T-Spark MTMTE Rodimus, but if a mainline one showed up I'd be after THAT and all its redecos. Then there's Aileron, Velocity, etc)
Of course I'm glad to have BOTH a blocky G1 style Skids and the more lithe, horribly brweaponed Milne art style Skids. But there's so much spring-loaded hoopla and panel-y schtick from that era that renders that mold more cumbersome than really enjoyable. Nonetheless, I appreciate that both had their eras, and frankly at this point I'm more open to the pendulum swinging back toward less reined-in-by-Sunbow reimaginings. (I do also still want more IDW era stuff. Still talking myself into a T-Spark MTMTE Rodimus, but if a mainline one showed up I'd be after THAT and all its redecos. Then there's Aileron, Velocity, etc)
Even if T30 Skids could stand I'd still hate the legs. I hate the aesthetic. I like my super robots with proper huge boots. They're great for stability, but visually they also balance out the proportions, as Transformers tend to have huge chests. A lot of IDW designs instead pile all the mass higher on the calves, leaving the actual feet sad and skinny. I guess that does make it easier to add ankle articulation, though it sure didn't help in Skids' case.
I don't really mind that aspect of T30 Skids, but I do have an odd fondness for Legacy Skids' huge chonky boots. Even from the first reveal photos that made a strong impression.
There's nothing odd about it. Super robots need huge chonky boots. It just works.
I don't disagree, but the draw was unexpectedly strong to me as someone who doesn't really look for that so urgently. And Legacy Skids' lower legs are quite a bit bigger and boxier than usual, even for things like Earthrise Ironhide, which would ordinarily give me pause. But in those reveal photos it just clicked.
The MTMTE designs worked in the context of MTMTE. They seldom interacted with anyone who wasn't of similar size, so they saved the huge boots for bots who were supposed to be big by Cybertronian standards, like Ultra Magnus and Ten. It gave them more weight, which was helpful to show that these giant robots are more giant than those giant robots.
The peak of MtMtE's design work was Femboy Rodimus.
The first is that I don't think that ever went away. Sure, the overall design philosophy has shifted to being more G1 accurate, but that doesn't hold true for every character.
Take Legacy Galaxy Shuttle. That is not G1 GS' robot mode. At all. It's a very Aaron Archer "stick a new head and paint job on a close enough mould and call it a day" sort of reimagining.
Or sticking with Victory, Dinoking. Legacy Dinoking is not inductive of how G1 Dinoking transformed. The idea of basing the individual robot modes and the combined mode off of their dino shells is itself a reinterpretation. One done to facilitate a Dinobot pre-release but eh... pretools, retools, and repaint potential was why a lot of those pre-CW "reinterpretations of classic characters" happened in the first place.
You also have the IDW stuff from Legacy that breaks away from G1 orthodoxy. Legacy Bludgeon (any version) is not G1 Bludgeon. Now you might say that in that case Hasbro isn't doing the new design work themselves, just accurately replicating what someone else did, but from my perspective? A reinvention is a reinvention. Where is came from isn't as vital to me as the final result.
And I think this also highlights a bigger point.
It's not that Hasbro's in a period of G1 accuracy above all... they're in a period of media accuracy above all, and that happens to include G1. Legacy's IDW, UT, BE, and Animated releases all tried to replicate tw original media's look as best they could within the line's confines.
Prime didn't fair as well but I will give it to them, Prime Cliffjumper succeeds where Prime Arcee and Bulkhead failed.
My second caveat (Jeeze that first point took a while) is that while I'm down for a return to a more reinterpretation-based mentality, it has to be done well.
This may seem self-evident, but again I'd point to most of the T30 IDW designs I thought sucked.
As I said earlier I don't find creativity or uniqueness or a reinterpretation to be noble pursuits in and of themselves, the result has to be worthwhile.
So the idea of going back to getting a bit crazy with classic characters and not staying hemmed in by source material accuracy isn't one I'm against, I'd just like to see more Classics Primes and less T30 Skidses.
I like using the Crosscut repaint of T30 Skids as Cybertronian mode Crosscut while the Legacy version is Earth mode Crosscut. I suppose in theory this would work for Skids, but T30 Skids also has a haunted and elongated face on top of all of his other issues I just find unappealing.
I'm not against that, I just have some caveats to that statement.
The first is that I don't think that ever went away. Sure, the overall design philosophy has shifted to being more G1 accurate, but that doesn't hold true for every character.
Take Legacy Galaxy Shuttle. That is not G1 GS' robot mode. At all. It's a very Aaron Archer "stick a new head and paint job on a close enough mould and call it a day" sort of reimagining.
Or sticking with Victory, Dinoking. Legacy Dinoking is not inductive of how G1 Dinoking transformed. The idea of basing the individual robot modes and the combined mode off of their dino shells is itself a reinterpretation. One done to facilitate a Dinobot pre-release but eh... pretools, retools, and repaint potential was why a lot of those pre-CW "reinterpretations of classic characters" happened in the first place.
You also have the IDW stuff from Legacy that breaks away from G1 orthodoxy. Legacy Bludgeon (any version) is not G1 Bludgeon. Now you might say that in that case Hasbro isn't doing the new design work themselves, just accurately replicating what someone else did, but from my perspective? A reinvention is a reinvention. Where is came from isn't as vital to me as the final result.
And I think this also highlights a bigger point.
It's not that Hasbro's in a period of G1 accuracy above all... they're in a period of media accuracy above all, and that happens to include G1. Legacy's IDW, UT, BE, and Animated releases all tried to replicate tw original media's look as best they could within the line's confines.
Prime didn't fair as well but I will give it to them, Prime Cliffjumper succeeds where Prime Arcee and Bulkhead failed.
My second caveat (Jeeze that first point took a while) is that while I'm down for a return to a more reinterpretation-based mentality, it has to be done well.
This may seem self-evident, but again I'd point to most of the T30 IDW designs I thought sucked.
As I said earlier I don't find creativity or uniqueness or a reinterpretation to be noble pursuits in and of themselves, the result has to be worthwhile.
So the idea of going back to getting a bit crazy with classic characters and not staying hemmed in by source material accuracy isn't one I'm against, I'd just like to see more Classics Primes and less T30 Skidses.
Milne didn't give his robots boots, he gave them clown shoes.