Transformers: Age of the Primes Thread: ll First Post All Listings II Update : April 12th, 2027 Bonus Wave: Repaint fun, Beast Wars, G2, Machine Wars

[Haywire]

If they were going to reinterpret Nexus Prime anyway, and not make him a Titan-class box set, I kind of wonder how viable a figure based on Landcross would be? As in something akin to a pretool? Maybe not at all, and Dinoking already shows that a combiner made of 6 little dudes is still going to be Commander-level prices, minimum, but the major complaint I'm seeing is that Nexus is not a complete combiner itself. Being a Landcross-style combiner would solve that (as well as potentially make a Landcross retool possible down the road), and the dual-combining nature of the individual bots would lend itself to the idea of the progenitor of combiners.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I'd have been fine with something no more complicated than Amalgamous. I'd have loved a modern PCC. I'd have been fine with splitting into simple bricky robots with no vehicle modes. I'd have been fine with splitting into vehicles with no robot modes. Anything as long as it were some kind of combiner in one box.

 

[Platypus Prime]

That's a good point, though, while I never had the core class Dinobots, I really liked Dinoking and would have liked a Core Class box set, especially if it HAD been sold as a set due to the lack of any actual Core Class. I hate hunting parts.

I can't criticize anyone's preferences, anyway. I was ecstatic when a friend told me he found the Skybyte with wheels and asked if I wanted him to grab it for me. It's my favorite design in that whole line.

 

[GodSentinelOmega]

This thing wasn't actually officially revealed yet.

True. Speculation is fun, Hasbros full reveal will be interesting.

 

[unluckiness]

I don't see what an official reveal could add aside from marketing fluff.

 

[GodSentinelOmega]

I mean interesting in the sense of seeing how they explain this.

I so agree that any other form of combiner would have been a good option. Just so long as it was Nexus splitting into components. As is, he’s one guy who can Jack any other bots he wants, whether it makes sense or not.

 

[unluckiness]

Maybe they should change the name of this release to Nexus Maximus, because they've gotta be hugging with us.

 

[Onyx]

I'll get Nexus Prime, simply because I'm pretty sure DNA will make a frame and drone limbs for him.

 

[Platypus Prime]

Not necessarily, they seem to have left out the T-bar in their Omega Prime kit. And on a admittedly less likely note I never got Dinoking shells either. But my point is the obvious sometimes isn't included in their offerings.

 

[Undead Scottsman]

Maybe they should change the name of this release to Nexus Maximus, because they've gotta be hugging with us.

The RV?

https://www.rvtrader.com/Nexus-Maximus/rvs-for-sale?make=Nexus%7C765318175&model=MAXIMUS%7C765008309

 

[CoffeeHorse]

 

[lastmaximal]

I would genuinely have taken something like Amalgamous but with simplistic robot modes and little/no articulation for the limb bits. A PCC or Combiner Force combiner without the automorphing spring-loaded whatevers.

Hell, make Liege a Voyager and this a Leader class and there's even more budget to work with, but it could've worked at this price point. The resulting combiner would be very rudimentary, but at least The First Combiner wouldn't turn out to just be The First Part Of A Combiner.

 

[Magnus]

I'm surprised at all the negativity. How is this any different than what we got during Combiner Wars? I personally love the fact that he can interact with all the frame combiners - and I guarantee people would be whining if he couldn't. The vehicle mode stinks, but for the Voyager price-point I think the play value is fantastic.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

If you don't already have a $200 combiner lying around, the play value is nearly nothing. This doesn't do much on its own.

If you do already have a $200 combiner lying around, the added play value is being able to stuff this crumpled wad of robot into the frame instead of the default crumpled wad.

 

[unluckiness]

I just realized that the combiner photos are taken with Superion's frame but with the torso turned around 180 degrees. Meaning we get the choice of Superion with a different head, or the worst recorded case of pectus excavatum.

 

[lastmaximal]

It's one thing to have Vector Prime, whose whole time travel schtick is not really something representable in toy form.

It's another thing to have The First Combiner, explicitly depicted as such in almost every media appearance (well, two I can think of where there's room for it), just be some guy despite his whole gimmick being doable in toy form. Yes, he's a Voyager, but that's not exactly some inevitable death sentence. First, laying out plans for who gets what price point could have considered that. Second, even if only a Voyager slot was available, there are ways to maximize the budget available at that price point. This was a choice, and all people are doing is disagreeing with it.

It's nice that he "interacts with the frame Combiners", and yeah, people would be "whining" if he didn't do that... because then he's even LESS of a combiner, which is already what the complaints are about. I don't understand why that's such a big gotcha, but okay, gotteem.

I'm curious about "more soon", which suggests there IS more to this than just the "alternate frame wearer" mode (this current setup seems like he could wear another Nexus as a chestolate? Does he combine with himself? Is that a thing?). And this team has at least been up front about their production and design logic, so I'm interested in the story behind this. But I feel justified in saying this, in the forms we've seen, is a miss given the checklist making a Nexus Prime should entail.

 

[Magnus]

If you don't already have a $200 combiner lying around, the play value is nearly nothing. This doesn't do much on its own.

If you do already have a $200 combiner lying around, the added play value is being able to stuff this crumpled wad of robot into the frame instead of the default crumpled wad.

Setting aside the fact that Hasbro has themselves admitted collectors are driving toy sales now more than kids are, I think you'll find the majority of AOTP collectors do indeed have at least one of these combiners lying around already. Besides, think of the opposite scenario - now people don't have to pay $200 to get the last Prime of the 13. There's more choice this way.

It's one thing to have Vector Prime, whose whole time travel schtick is not really something representable in toy form.

It's another thing to have The First Combiner, explicitly depicted as such in almost every media appearance (well, two I can think of where there's room for it), just be some guy despite his whole gimmick being doable in toy form. Yes, he's a Voyager, but that's not exactly some inevitable death sentence. First, laying out plans for who gets what price point could have considered that. Second, even if only a Voyager slot was available, there are ways to maximize the budget available at that price point. This was a choice, and all people are doing is disagreeing with it.

It's nice that he "interacts with the frame Combiners", and yeah, people would be "whining" if he didn't do that... because then he's even LESS of a combiner, which is already what the complaints are about. I don't understand why that's such a big gotcha, but okay, gotteem.

I'm curious about "more soon", which suggests there IS more to this than just the "alternate frame wearer" mode (this current setup seems like he could wear another Nexus as a chestolate? Does he combine with himself? Is that a thing?). And this team has at least been up front about their production and design logic, so I'm interested in the story behind this. But I feel justified in saying this, in the forms we've seen, is a miss given the checklist making a Nexus Prime should entail.

I mean, I don't think Alchemist was ever depicted as transforming into a Jeep Grand Cherokee a billion years ago either but we dealt with it. Just like Kingdom Rodimus isn't 86 Rodimus, the AOTP Primes aren't beholden to past depictions, especially for a character who's had wildly different interpretations made of himself over the years. Consider also that he's "the god" of the combiners in the AOTP toy line specifically, and it seems like a no-brainer they went this route. As to your other point, I'm not a toy designer myself, but I think it's fair to say a modular, multi-combiner adaptable, triple-changing figure at the Voyager price-point is the very definition of "maximizing the budget".

 

[lastmaximal]

Yeah, these are totally equivalent examples.

So much of that description has to be exceedingly kind to make the point. "Modular" and "multi-combiner adaptable" are pluses for the frame system and things that system allows, not what one module does. CW Air Raid doesn't "maximize the budget" by having the same combiner plug as every other limb, even if it is "multi-combiner adaptable". I'll grant that he "triple changes" more than, say, Armada Laserbeak or TM2 Megatron or a pair of Crocs, but that's not exactly a high bar.

You're right to set aside how "Hasbro has themselves admitted collectors are driving toy sales now more than kids are", because that has nothing to do with how this lone item does not provide the aspect of "play value" that can only be achieved with the aforementioned $200 of other stuff. Without that he doesn't transform into a combiner part, he just transforms into a slightly different block-with-protrusions. Modular, multi-combiner-comparible, all of that only becomes apparent when you HAVE said combiners.

Is it a Voyager on its own? Sure. No one seems to be disputing that. It's a "complete" toy. But is it disappointing depiction of a character whose main thing is "originated combining"? Also yes. If all you want is a Voyager price point toy that just has a robot mode and an altmode, if that's where the bar is, get a Sky-Byte, who is all of those things.

There are many options between "buy this Voyager class toy of a guy known for being the finished product of combination" and "buy a $200 toy of same guy". I keep mentioning Amalgamous because he's something produced at the Voyager class price point with a robot mode made up of smaller bits. (People can then complain about the simplistic limbs, but not the fact that there's no real combination going on within Nexus Prime.) It doesn't even have to be a five-part scramble combiner. Make it 3 stacking block guys. Make it a big Duobot/Powerlinx combiner. Or, all the way back at the line planning stage, don't paint yourself into a corner by putting this character into that price point. People "paying $200" for this character was never set in stone. But with this particular execution, if one wants to see this guy IN a "combined mode" (which is maybe 15% more of a combination than Buzzsaw being in Soundwave's chest is), which is kinda something people will want to see from not just the god of combiners but the first combiner, they will.

Again, I'm open to seeing what else is up Hasbro's sleeve that we can't suss out yet based on what we've seen and been shown, but I think being surprised by the disappointment people are showing -- and I'm fully aware that the verbalization might not fit one's definition of disappointment as "aw shucks, but oh well" -- may be being a bit obtuse.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I can only speculate, but I imagine that people who spent $200 on Superion were planning to display that Superion. You can't do that and display Nexus. And if you add Brawl to match what Mark showed here, now you can't display Bruticus either. This whole approach sucks, but it would have sucked less during CW when there were leftover limbs that didn't have a torso to combine with. This is the worst way this could have been done.

 

[Badgertron]

Who are you cutting from AotP to make that happen- Silverbolt or Onslaught?

Well therein lies the rub, I think the fact they went from lines being three year concepts to AotP being two years to fit all the Primes in, as well as fewer waves per year, have both been factors. In a normal, three year concept, one of those probably would have been in the third year, probably bringing Nexus along with them.

At least if he was a Commander class, we could have hoped for a full box set with recoloured limbs at some point. Unless they hilariously threw in just the frame bits recoloured from Superion with it.