Those are the chains?!!
It's always fun when people see the chains for the first time
The saving grace of most mainline Transformers is that they have to
They even scaled back difficulty when they admitted, post-DotM, that the movie stuff was getting a bit too complex for kids.
I think recently the mainline stuff has been on a role in terms of accessibility. CW stuff was all very simple by design but they still pulled off a number of great figures. TR and PotP's stuff wasn't that difficult and still worked in headmasters and powermasters. And the WfC/Legacy lines have hit a really good balance of quality with straightforward engineering. Even stuff that seems to make magic happen like ER Optimus or Kingdom Cyclonus have simple solutions that go long ways in transformation.
The problem is when you remove kids from consideration.
"We're making toys for the adult collector" has always lead to overthinking stuff in the worst ways, be it from HasTak or 3p companies.
I don't own any MP TFers anymore but I do own the two Brave MPs TT did and while I like them in all their end modes the transformations are entirely unpleasant. The thing is that Exkaiser, King Exkaiser, and Dragon Kaiser are not complicated designs, yet these toys go out of their way to be as intricate and complicated as possible because "it's an adult collectable."
And while I don't collect MP Transformers, a quick look at reviews of TT's latest MP offerings shows that mentality is still alive and well.
Of course 3p companies fall into the trap as well. Some of it is, admittedly, about trying to copy the feel and aesthetic of existing official MP toys. And you have some companies like BadCube who base their entire brand around having challenging transformations.
But I've seen enough 3p figures first hand that neither qualification would apply to that still had frustratingly intricate and complicated transformations because that's just what's expected with "aDuLt CoLlEcTaBlEs"
It didn't always have to be this way, of course. I had both the FansProjects UM upgrade kit for Classics UM and the Rodimus Prime upgrade kit for Classics Rodimus. Neither of those were overly complicated. But ofc the same company overthought the problem with their 3p Springer figure. And Mastermind Creations' Nova Prime was downright unpleasant converting from alien truck to robot. Far too many small pieces on ball joints that had to align EXACTLY right for anything to fit together as intended.
Again, not complicated designs. But take away the guardrail of "kids need to be able to have fun with this" and designers and engineers lose their minds, thinking simple and effective solutions don't cute it because "adult collectables" require complexity.
I remember back in the early days of the 3P market when some company or other made a Skyfire that had intakes that moved location between modes and they were tied to the body with literal string just to avoid partsforming.
This is actually a step up.
This is actually a step up.
Sadly, some non-86 Studio Series toys are still like this, too, having such teeny tiny pieces that need to go in the absolute exact places in order to transform, but keep popping off at every moment during the transformation.
And the same could be said for TF cartoons aimed primarily at adult viewers. The people making them overthink things in the worst way and the results tend to be the same each time: Unnecessarily excessive amounts of grim misery, uber-violence, occasional swearing, surface-level G1 references (or in Kingdom's case, BW references), and hardly any levity. It's like the people making these think adult fans only want to feel depressed and not have any fun.
It was especially funny because that Skyfire had multiple instances of partsforming anyway. So what was the point?
My biggest gripe is that everyone making "adult" TF content seems to be referencing TF:TM as their idea of what "G1" was. Prime giving heroic speeches, epic battles. Like I'm convinced the Transformers: Prime writing staff thought G1 Prime began and ended with the '86 movie.
When in reality G1 Prime cracked wise, trash talked, told Blaster his music sucked, called Astrotrain and Blitzwing "boobies," and played basketball. But no one ever remembers THAT G1 Prime.
Which is one reason I like both Earthspark and SB's Transformers title. Both seem to remember that Optimus is a compassionate guy who just wants the best for everyone and isn't above a dad joke or two. He's not an endless trailer quote machine.
As far as the toys? I have ER Optimus and I passed on MP-44. After watching a review of the latter I'm confident I made the right choice.
TF:TM does have an oversized presence in the minds of pop culture, IMO stemming in part with the fact that it was probably most commonly available piece of TF media on home video for decades. You probably didn't have many, if any, episodes on VHS but you damn well had that movie! By the time stuff like internet piracy and DVD's became more common, the damage was done and we got an entire generation raised on that movie.
Which, that movie is such a weird, unqiue and specific happenstance that likely will never be repeated, so centering the franchise around it is unfortunate. Especially since people seemingly just remember the first 20 or so minutes and then the stuff at the end.
Which, that movie is such a weird, unqiue and specific happenstance that likely will never be repeated, so centering the franchise around it is unfortunate. Especially since people seemingly just remember the first 20 or so minutes and then the stuff at the end.
And even then, TFTM wasn't all "Gritty and Mature Edginess", neither. It had Hot Rod and Daniel fishing. It had Eric Idle Wreck-Gar with his wacky obscure TV quotes. It had other characters with equally silly voices and speech quirks like speed-talking Blurr and rhyming squeaky-voiced Wheelie. It had cutesy Dinobots who just want to hear storytime. It had grandpa Kup who ended up being one of the funnier characters of the movie. And it had a music score that was less "Hollywood epic" like John Williams, Danny Elfman, or Hans Zimmer, and more "wondrous" and "party-going" like an 80s metal/techno/rock concert.
Too many people forget all of that.
TFTM is an okay adventure movie, a pretty good toy commercial, and a great 80s hair metal video.
The media generally wants optimus to be a prime, but always forgets that he was orion pax before he was optimus. If you make the leaders PEOPLE, rather than infallible... somethings or others, you make better media.
I want a prime that says "I don't have time for that right now" and "Not even going to try", because it outlines their individual and contextual limits. Earthspark prime, despite the fact that most of his time on screen is literally either deliberately being a caricature, or being a... politician, is the most realistic... giant alien robot person... you could ask for.
I want a prime that says "I don't have time for that right now" and "Not even going to try", because it outlines their individual and contextual limits. Earthspark prime, despite the fact that most of his time on screen is literally either deliberately being a caricature, or being a... politician, is the most realistic... giant alien robot person... you could ask for.
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At least its a fun adventure and has a legacy that carries on to this day, unlike some other movies that don't leave a major impact, years later!
In a theoretical world where a Marvel Comics-accurate Straxus already existed, I'd be willing to see Krang-Straxus made. Until and unless that happens, it's a mistake.
Cyberverse Optimus also says "Hi." He was shown to be introverted, bad at giving party speeches, and could even get annoyed at the most mundane things because of their being so mundane. He had flaws, and rather than seeing them as flaws that needed to be overcome in order to better himself, the show recognized that it was acceptable for him to have those flaws. The show was like, "This Optimus Prime is not a flawless paragon of perfection, and that's okay."
Cyberverse Optimus was fun - and awkward. So was Animated Optimus, if I'm remembering correctly.
The next show writers (if they're writing for "adults") should watch the Orville, then write a Transformers show.
The problem I had with Animated Optimus was that he was such a departure it stopped feeling like Optimus. If you wanted to tell the story of how Orion Pax became Optimus Prime and wanted to update it with Orion Pax having adventures on Earth then that would be cool. But even G1 Optimus, in all of his dad joking basketball playing glory didn't feel like that much of a guy out of his depth.
Oh! Animated but the main Autobot is Hot Rod, with Optimus in the rarely seen Ultra Magnus role, would have been a fun play on it too.
Oh! Animated but the main Autobot is Hot Rod, with Optimus in the rarely seen Ultra Magnus role, would have been a fun play on it too.
It happened because Prime became a religious/monarchial position. Pre-Movie, Optimus was a laid-back military dude and Prime was just part of his name. When it was retconned in the movie, it brought all the stuffy trappings you’d expect of being handpicked by capital-G God to be king.
Keep in mind, all the religious stuff came from the Marvel comics. TFTM may have made "Prime" a Matrix-bearing rank, but before the comics invented Primus, the Matrix was just a tangible symbol of military/political authority with no explained origin.
Likewise, Unicron was "just some guy" whom season 3 would later say was built through science by a space monkey.