Who is your favourite Fuzor toy?

[GoktimusPrime]

You know how it goes. Happy polling! :D

Not included:
* Blentrons - I might include them in the upcoming BWII poll (if space allows), otherwise I'll defer back to this poll by default.
* Mutant Beasts - canonically stated as ex-Fuzors. Um... does anyone really care enough about Mutant Beasts to warrant a poll? :p
* Magmatron - heh, I love how Hasbro's tech specs (http://www.transformers-universe.com/content/images/galerie/pics//1806/180631_Magmatron_Techspec.JPG) referred to him as a Fuzor (as it appears to be a reference to my review of this toy (http://www.reocities.com/sonconvoy/review_magmatron.html) (written in 1999, a year before Hasbro's came out) where I described Magmatron's gestalt beast mode as a Fuzor. :cool: But yeah, it's not really a Fuzor. At any rate, Magmatron will be included in a future BW Neo poll.
* Tigerhawk - will be included in a future poll on Transmetal 2s.
* The Wuzzles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wuzzles) - while Fuzors are essentially Transformers Wuzzles, the Wuzzles aren't Transformers. But hey, the Fuzors' beast modes would actually work as realistic disguises in the Land of Wuz (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJb9v7BZAxY). ;)

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Right now my favourite Fuzor is Quickstrike, but back in 1998 it was Silverbolt, so I've voted for Silverbolt. :)

[CHILENO20]

Quickstrike. So close to the animation and articulation was awesome. :D

[Arctorro]

Noctorro. Can't imagine why... :D

As for the Mutants, they are some of my favourite Beast Era toys ever :p

[Zommael]

I always enjoyed Air Hammer as a kid. Although he had no hands, the robot was articulated and the beast mode was kooky and cool.

[GoktimusPrime]

Quickstrike. So close to the animation and articulation was awesome. :D
Or more accurately, the animation was so close to the toy. :) Which was always one of the awesome things about Beast Wars. :D

For newer fans who may not know, Mainframe Entertainment was the first (and possibly only) animation company that used a 3D scanner to scan toys supplied to them by Hasbro/Kenner. These scans were then used as the basis for their animation models, which they would modify as they saw fit. Some models were more heavily modified than others - Blackarachnia was deliberately very extensively modified to make her look more distinctive from Tarantulas, but otherwise most of the show models were pretty toy accurate. :)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/toyvsshow_bw.jpg
Also, there's evidence which strongly suggests that that the animators must've played with the toys as they scanned them. The strongest evidence for this is Transmetal Optimus Primal's attack mode (https://youtu.be/Dgo3aiCAJFI?t=35) which was never an official mode for the toy, but the toy can do it! So it's effectively a fan mode which the animators must've made by fiddling with the toy, and then it became official when it appeared in the cartoon! :D
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/transmetaloptimusprimal_attacl_zpsi1rdvuii.jpg
Who didn't try this out with their toy straight after watching Aftermath?

[CHILENO20]

Also, there's evidence which strongly suggests that that the animators must've played with the toys as they scanned them. The strongest evidence for this is Transmetal Optimus Primal's attack mode (https://youtu.be/Dgo3aiCAJFI?t=35) which was never an official mode for the toy, but the toy can do it! So it's effectively a fan mode which the animators must've made by fiddling with the toy, and then it became official when it appeared in the cartoon! :D
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/transmetaloptimusprimal_attacl_zpsi1rdvuii.jpg
Who didn't try this out with their toy straight after watching Aftermath?

I remember doing that as soon as I got the toy :D

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Again, I didn't have them as a kid, but now of the 2 I do have Silverbolt wins out over Quickstrike. It's less that there's anything wrong with Quickstrike, and more that the Fuzors alt-modes were mostly one animal with hints of another, and Quickstrike is basically just a scorpion with an unusual sting. A flying wolf with eagle claws is just that much cooler. That and I'm not a fan of his non-snake-head hand design...it just looks ungainly.

I don't have one myself, but I do kind of like the idea behind Terragator. Pity the actual toy looks kind of lame.

[GoktimusPrime]

The thing that bumps Silverbolt down my list now is something that's always bugged me about that toy -- the hips. They just don't lock together very well and are highly prone to coming undone during toy play. Having said that, I really love the overall aesthetic of that toy as well as he can either shoot his missiles as ranged weapons or hold them as melee weapons. Although it is kinda weird how he can't really aim at where he's shooting since this wing tips either point up or sideways (the cartoon gave his wings forward articulation but the toy never had it). :p I just make him bow down so that his wing tips point forward and fire.

Arctorro's gonna hate me for this, but Noctorro was the one and only Fuzor that I never bought when these toys came out! Yes, I even bought Injector but not Noctorro! Noctorro always looked kinda bland to me. Injector is sinfully b'ugly, and I kept on laughing at that pegwarmer every time I saw it... but eventually Target had it on sale and part of me went, "Go on... I dare you!" :rolleyes: Injector really is just a stupid toy (JMO, apologies to the one person who voted for him :p). I did eventually get Noctorro from a collectables fair, so my Fuzor collection is complete. And I don't mind Noctorro either, but I must admit that I was never interested in buying one in stores.

Also bear in mind that I was a uni student with a significantly less disposable income compared to an adult in full time employment (although on the flip side I was still living at home :p). I did buy all the other Fuzors plus all the Transmetals (plus a few BWII toys), so that was already stretching my more limited budget thin.

[BigTransformerTrev]

* The Wuzzles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wuzzles) - while Fuzors are essentially Transformers Wuzzles, the Wuzzles aren't Transformers. But hey, the Fuzors' beast modes would actually work as realistic disguises in the Land of Wuz (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJb9v7BZAxY). ;)


Two times the fun, wrapped up and rolled in to one! :D

If Bumblebee and Razorclaw had a protoform would it be Bumblelion?


Who was the half-fish/half-wasp dude? That toy was so ugly I always kinda wished I had bought it :D

[Paulbot]

Silverbolt was the only one I purchased and even that wasn't until he was on clearance (for the old timers remember when they were reported being $4 at Target!). Had one loose joint but overall I really came to like the Bird-dog.

(Many, many years later I would get Quickstrike and I do like him too)

[Arctorro]

Arctorro's gonna hate me for this, but Noctorro was the one and only Fuzor that I never bought when these toys came out!

lol

Nope, not even slightly. I actually understand completely. I also got Noctorro to try and complete the set (still gotta finish that at some point :o) and was a bit unsure about him.

It was playing with him later on, trying to figure out if I liked him, that I realised that he could most likely swing through the trees like a monkey as well as fight in the air and on land. That really fired my imagination! Plus the spring-loaded gimmick didn't, for once, ruin the toy for me. No other BW toy sparked my imagination like Noctorro, that's why he quickly became my fav.

Now I need to dig him out of storage and sit him with my Mutants. Bugger, what box is he in...

[Deonasis]

I like Injector for his absurdness but i really enjoy the transformation of Sky Shadow with his feet up at his neck and tail/head.

[SuspectimusPrime]

Only had the Universe version of Silverbolt. What a crazy deco. Though he held together well with none of the issues Goki seems to have experienced.

I might have bought more as a kid (or an adult) if more characters were introduced. The cartoon used one actor for each character, giving each character lots of air time and really succeeded in character development. They could have reused some of those actors to introduce Fuzor side characters that are only around for 1-3 eps before leaving/killed off.

Fuzors could have been Actionmasters to me. Essentially undesirable toys, but their inclusion in the comics as side characters makes them cool even if they're only given a few lines/panels to show a glimpse of an interesting character, leading to me chasing their recent transformable updates (like Axor from the Lockdown mould).

[GoktimusPrime]

I like Injector for his absurdness
With a head that looks like either a fish swallowing or regurgitating a monster's head, it's pretty much a joke that writes itself. :o

Fuzors could have been Actionmasters to me. Essentially undesirable toys, but their inclusion in the comics as side characters makes them cool even if they're only given a few lines/panels to show a glimpse of an interesting character,
The Fuzors were also similar to Action Masters in that they did dominate the line. In 1998 there were only two kinds of Transformers that you could buy: Fuzors or Transmetals (not including Machine Wars, which did shelf warm for years in Australia but were essentially an import (of excess stock) from US 1997). One critical difference between Fuzors and Action Masters though was that Fuzors still fundamentally functioned as Transformers. They could still transform (as weird as their alt modes are). And their line dominance didn't serve a devastating blow to Transformers, it did the opposite in contributing to the "Transformers Renaissance" that revived the franchise. In 1990-91 Action Masters similarly dominated the line. You basically were either purchasing an Action Master or a Micromaster (excl. Classic reissues). And we know that Action Masters were basically a kick to the nards for Generation 1.

A good toy is one that succeeds regardless of its canonical appearance, not because of it. If you look at a lot of people's comments about why they like Fuzors (and Beast Wars in general), it's due to the merit of the toys. How much would you care about Action Masters if they'd never made any canonical appearance at all?

[SuspectimusPrime]

You basically were either purchasing an Action Master or a Micromaster (excl. Classic reissues). And we know that Action Masters were basically a kick to the nards for Generation 1.

I don't consider them at the same level of desirability (giving Fuzors a 5/10, whilst AM a 1.5-2/10), but I think of them as the same in terms of their arrival - at the end of a line, with design inspiration, new engineering ideas, budgets, time etc all running thin and the toy company just needing to come up with something fast that 5-up's the existing line in coolness to sell plastic. Going garish or out of the world seems to be popular (AM, Fuzors, or Beast Hunters).


A good toy is one that succeeds regardless of its canonical appearance, not because of it. If you look at a lot of people's comments about why they like Fuzors (and Beast Wars in general), it's due to the merit of the toys.

The stand-out feature of Transformers toys against other transforming-toy lines for me is the ability to achieve a realistic alt mode which effectively disguises the robot - in alt mode the less robot bits the better, and for the robot mode the more robot-like it looks the better. Achieving one very different form and going to another is all the designer's ingenuity - which was what compelled me as a kid to pick up my first BW figure, Dinobot. Fuzors broke the rules a bit as you're given an almost completely made up form in which you can essentially take engineering shortcuts (no better example than Injector).


How much would you care about Action Masters if they'd never made any canonical appearance at all?

I've never cared for any Action Masters prior to reading the first 80 issues of the G1 Marvel US comics, despite having Starscream and Jackpot (and another guy in a green chopper) as a kid (I had G1 Starscream and never understood why toy engineering took a step backwards with the AM Starscream). This was early in my uni years and at the time I was reading a lot more history and took on a great interest in the stratagems used. What the fiction did do for me was build up a huge interest in Krok (which motivated me to search for a MISB carded version of him on/off for a number of years, until the TFCC FSS repaint of Generations Megatron was released). The depiction of Krok was a clever piece of toy-marketing and became the hook, line and sinker for me.

Leaving it here before the the topic is derailed!