Transformers Legacy toyline

LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
And yeah, it is IDW's fault. They went to Hasbro to pitch the shaded universe idea, not the other way around.

Hah! "Shaded" works, for all the shade people have thrown at it, doesn't it?

If you're going to do a shaded Hasbro universe then you need to start small. Transformers (their most viable and visible brand) and GI Joe (struggling but probably #2 by default) are the best choices. And just let them grow on their own.

Okay, after the second time, I'm not sure if "shaded" is just am amusingly appropriate typo anymore.

And MAYBE, if things break right, you try a Rom comic down the line or something, and see how that does as a self-contained story before having him meet Optimus Prime.

Someone get ToyHax on it.


I agree with all of this.... I'd just like to see them take their time. IDW pushed the Revolution-verse out at once and in retrospect there were too many IPs not enough people cared about.
I think making Visionaries or Inhumanoids or Rom and the Space Knights work would require it taking time, and rolling them out slowly to let them feel established first.

They really just went full Justice League with it.

You never go full Justice League with it.

And the theme song did refer to them as "crusaders".
Mobile Armored Strike Krusaders?
Problem was, as I said earlier, Hasbro's IP list is deep on paper, less so in reality. Transformers and MAYBE GI Joe are the only ones with any pop culture currency. They hadn't even bought Power Ranger yet.
Wow, could you imagine if they'd made that a part, too?
 

Exatron

Kaiser Dragon
Citizen
What if this is the Titan version? I’d pay $200.
This just really highlights the oddity of the fan reaction to me. Star Convoy was a bigger toy than Grandus. In all the artwork I've seen from the manga and story pages, Star Convoy was at least as big as, if not bigger than, Grandus. And yet, while I always see a lot of talk about wanting a Titan Grandus, the biggest response to Titan Star Convoy seems to be that it's going to be too big unless it's a set.

I get it on some level. Standard Optimus should not be a Titan. And Grandus is supposed to be pretty big, and his look gives off a Fort Max-style gargantuan appearance. But Star Convoy is not just a standard Optimus. This isn't like Armada Tidal Wave, where you can pick from either media showing him just a bit bigger than other boys or media showing him to be gigantic. As far as I can tell, everything from the era indicates Grandus should be big, but Star Convoy should be even bigger.

I'm not committing to buying it without seeing it first, but I'm certainly not going to dismiss it as too big just based on the price class.
 

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
Okay, after the second time, I'm not sure if "shaded" is just am amusingly appropriate typo anymore.
😅
I was reviewing the comics for the front page when Revolution was a thing and I admit I was into it at the time. Like... if you're going to have the Transformers interact with a human military org why not make it GI Joe? The EDC, S7, NEST, GHOST, Skywatch, etc... Transformers is littered with these groups and none have any staying power. Why not just use GI Joe in that role?

But the problem I didn't see at the time was that this isn't the best way to make people wanna check out GI Joe when the Transformers aren't around.

Wow, could you imagine if they'd made that a part, too?
It would be wild.

Though I think Power Rangers might be an IP that's the easiest to tie in to Transformers. lastmaximal pointed out that having Transformers on Earth kind of escalates any status quo for GI Joe vs Cobra or MASK vs VENOM, but Power Rangers is about transforming robots and cosmic threats attacking the Earth.

Seems like an easier time fitting that in with Transformers.
 
Last edited:

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
This just really highlights the oddity of the fan reaction to me. Star Convoy was a bigger toy than Grandus. In all the artwork I've seen from the manga and story pages, Star Convoy was at least as big as, if not bigger than, Grandus. And yet, while I always see a lot of talk about wanting a Titan Grandus, the biggest response to Titan Star Convoy seems to be that it's going to be too big unless it's a set.
Just goes to show that Grandus oughtn't be a Titan of his own, either. ;)

I get it on some level. Standard Optimus should not be a Titan. And Grandus is supposed to be pretty big, and his look gives off a Fort Max-style gargantuan appearance. But Star Convoy is not just a standard Optimus. This isn't like Armada Tidal Wave, where you can pick from either media showing him just a bit bigger than other boys or media showing him to be gigantic. As far as I can tell, everything from the era indicates Grandus should be big, but Star Convoy should be even bigger.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: They are big guys, yes, but not as big as Cityformers like Fort Max and Metroplex. They're more like the height of Combiners.
 

Cybersnark

Well-known member
Citizen
I was reviewing the comics for the front page when Revolution was a thing and I admit I was into it at the time. Like... if you're going to have the Transformers interact with a human military org why not make it GI Joe? The EDC, S7, NEST, GHOST, Skywatch, etc...
For that matter, with Prime's MECH, we have a VENOM analogue all ready to go.

Though I think Power Rangers might be an IP that's the easiest to tie in to Transformers. lastmaximal pointed out that having Transformers on Earth kind of escalates any status quo for GI Joe vs Cobra or MASK vs VENOM, but Power Rangers is about transforming robots and cosmic threats attacking the Earth.

Seems like an easier time fitting that in with Transformers.
You could even build in a lore connection: Zordon (or whoever built the Zords) was originally affiliated with the Quintessons (or maybe even a Quintesson themselves); the Zords are based on the same technology that would go on to become the Transformers, just with organic pilots subbed in for the sparks (the Rangers' suits allow them to link up to their Zords symbiotically).

For that matter, maybe Morphing is the predecessor technology for binary bonding (explaining how humanoids who go through the BB process are able to physically transform --and even setting the stage for Masterforce's Master-Braces).

Meanwhile, MASK's technology is the "third generation" human-made attempt (with the Masks as the brain/machine interfaces), made by studying the Transformers without the benefit of Quintesson science or Cybertronian nano-manufacturing capability.

(If Hasbro could acquire Robotech, they could even work it in as the future version of MASK, with the helmets streamlined into "Thinking Caps" and the Veritechs as the mass-produced human equivalents of Seekers.)
 

Cybersnark

Well-known member
Citizen
Funny, people were comparing MECH more to Cobra at the time.
True, but Cobra-plus-obsession-with-transforming-tech kinda leads inevitably to Venom.

I know Cobra loved their sci-fi superweapons, but they always struck me as the more "analogue" terrorists, just with fancy-yet-ultimately-conventional gear.
 

Dake

Well-known member
Citizen
It's always tricky having GI Joe and Transformers coexist in the same universe because the latter element escalates things immediately. It's hard to isolate and ignore it for the sake of telling GI Joe stories. They're the elephant in the room that always has to be acknowledged because why would a special military strike force not be deployed to deal with this sort of thing?

Unless you keep it to early stages of Infiltration protocol, and culminate with the GI Joes or Cobra or both stumbling upon the facsimiles used by the Decepticons. But from there the state of play has to change. Transformers becomes the Poochie of the world GI Joe inhabits.

Which isn't bad per se because there's plenty of stories to be told with that interaction, but it's a pervasive undercurrent for GI Joe stories that will have to be accounted for. Just shared universe things.

Marvel has been doing it with the Avengers for ages now. Why wasn't the Hulk or Thor or Iron Man called in? Oh, they're in space. In the end, it's still a big planet and humans are still gonna "human" leaving plenty for the Joe team to do.

If nothing else, the fact that these aliens are able to convert at will means most "action" can appear anywhere and disappear just as quickly leaving even the Joes unable to respond in time.
 

lastmaximal

Administrator
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
I think it's workable enough on a per-story basis (response and travel time alone would be a big card to play), but it's not the sort of thing that can keep happening that way and just be ignored. Before long it's "some highly trained special mission force, lol".

But like I said and to your point, the robots in disguise element can be leveraged if the coexistence is mostly done while the Cybertronians are in infiltration mode. That keeps the Transformers unknown/undiscovered and hiding, and turns it into a mystery the Joes need to track down over time rather than repeated "Dangit, just missed 'em".
 

Undead Scottsman

Well-known member
Citizen
It's a problem of scale.

If the Transformers fight is just a handful of bots beating the crap out of each other in a city, that's bad but not world ending. Likewise whatever random shootout between Cobra and GI Joe probably isn't going to hit the radar of the Transformers

However, if Megatron is summoning Cybertron into Earth's orbit, causing global devastation, then you'd start to wonder why GI Joe isn't trying to get involved. Likewise when Cobra gets their hands on a weather control machine or doomsday device, you'd think the Autobots would take notice, if for no other reason than they'd have to suspect the Decepticons were behind it at first.
 

Shadewing

Well-known member
Citizen
I think it's workable enough on a per-story basis (response and travel time alone would be a big card to play), but it's not the sort of thing that can keep happening that way and just be ignored. Before long it's "some highly trained special mission force, lol".

But like I said and to your point, the robots in disguise element can be leveraged if the coexistence is mostly done while the Cybertronians are in infiltration mode. That keeps the Transformers unknown/undiscovered and hiding, and turns it into a mystery the Joes need to track down over time rather than repeated "Dangit, just missed 'em".

That's kinda how EU is handling it so far. Duke actually seen, and survived an attack by Starscream. He knows that there is a jet that can shift to a humanoid form, but nothing more then that. He's determined to track it down and who manufacuted it becuase he just thinks its human made and why wouldn't he? But largely no one believes him, but its better to keep an eye on him with his own team then let him do things on his own, as the Duke miniseries shows.
 

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
For that matter, with Prime's MECH, we have a VENOM analogue all ready to go.
I just wish that some of these groups stuck around after the series that spawned them. MECH is cool. Why not use it in other stories?

Like... would Earthspark have been any lesser if, instead of GHOST, they used Sector 7? blah blah Bayverse... I'm just talking about reusing the name. If only to establish some consistent mythos across the brand instead of all of these same-but-different groups that every re-invention creates only to see them go unused as soon as the next thing comes up.
 

Undead Scottsman

Well-known member
Citizen
It's probably because nearly all of those agencies aren't terribly interesting in and of themselves. Sometimes you get an interesting character, like Silas, but overall, they're treated as interchangable because they basically are.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
It likely boils down simply to "Everyone has their own idea that they want to add in as their own personal contribution, but it turns out it's all the same idea because no one does checks and balances on each other."
 


Top Bottom