Favourite Subgroup/gimmick/concept?

[GoktimusPrime]

Yeah, I do like the idea of retooling/repainting moulds as new characters! What I like about the idea is that someone at Hasbro is actually putting creative thought into their retool/repaints! We all know that Hasbro benefits from repaints because they get more "bang for their buck" with what they invest into developing new moulds, but we also know that seemingly random or pointless repaints (e.g. Bumblebees!) are about as appealing as being slapped in the face with a live trout and end up peg/shelfwarming. But thoughtful repaints actually give a impetus for people to buy the toy! These are the kinds of repaints Hasbro should be putting more focus on instead of doing all their random repaints that don't sell.

P.S.: Skullgrin's not really obscure - he had a prominent and repeated canonical appearance in G1 and G2 (and later in Dreamwave and IDW). I agree that Axer is pretty obscure though - never had any canonical appearances during G1/G2 or DW -- only ever made a brief "hi then bye" appearance in IDW's Spotlight: Arcee

[klystron]

I'm on the Dinobot bandwagon for favourite sub-group. Some of my favourite combiners (Combaticons, Technobots, Tripredicus) rate a close second.

Gimmick-wise:
Combiners -
I'm a fan (but not owner) of all combiners. I dig the concept of a functional transformer then forming part of a bigger robot. Sometimes simplistically (scramble city) or with a high level of complex engineering (Tripredicus). I also like PCC which is a concept that I think has a lot of untapped potential.
Multichangers -
Triple, six, unoffical, dumb base-modes, whatever. I love TFs with more than one alt mode.

Are weapons being hidden / incorporated into an alt-mode a gimmick? Cause I'm a fan of that too.

How about fictional gimmicks of TF characters...? Cause the winner there ATMO is definitely Skywarp. In my universe he's like Nightcrawler in the X-MEN movies.

[GoktimusPrime]

Are weapons being hidden / incorporated into an alt-mode a gimmick? Cause I'm a fan of that too.

It's a concept, and I agree it's a darn cool one. Ditto incorporated/self contained accessories like gestalt parts. Aaah, that's why I'd really love to see TakTOM reissue Lio Kaiser!

How about fictional gimmicks of TF characters...? Cause the winner there ATMO is definitely Skywarp. In my universe he's like Nightcrawler in the X-MEN movies.

How far can Nightcrawler teleport? Cos Skywarp's teleportation range is four kilometres. Although I like how Skywarp teleports in and out through purple lights, instead of blue fart clouds. "BAMF!" Eeewwww!

[Bartrim]

Just because you earn money doesn't mean you're an adult

touche

[BigTransformerTrev]

My fav subgroup when I was a kid for setting up battle scenes was always the Combaticons!

Despite the 'Robots In Disguise' concept, I had never really understood, when they were in the middle of a civil war, why more Transformers did not have combat oriented alt-modes. So I used to have my Combaticons set up on the loungeroom floor arranged against the few combat-oriented Autobot alt-mode vehicles I had such as Guzzle.

[GoktimusPrime]

Despite the 'Robots In Disguise' concept, I had never really understood, when they were in the middle of a civil war, why more Transformers did not have combat oriented alt-modes.

There was also a deliberate decision by Hasbro in early G1 that the Autobots would be more "peaceful" civilian vehicles, whereas the Decepticons would be weapons of war or instruments of espionage (cassettes etc.). If you look at the 1984 line up, that's how they were. A similar thing happened with Beast Wars -- most of the Maximals were "warm bloods" and Predacons were mostly "cold bloods," and in Bay's 2007 movie you had Decepticons being "authoritarian vehicles" (army, air force, police) whereas the Autobots are all civilian vehicles. So it's often a thematic choice -- the Combaticons are typical Decepticons, "nasty war vehicles", whereas say the Protectobots are their antithesis as vehicles of search and rescue. As Neil Kaplan once said, the cool thing he loves about RiD Optimus Prime is that he's always a hero - when he's not fighting Predacons and Decepticons, he's helping to put out fires.

[griffin]

That's the Hasbro explanation... he's commenting on the story explanation, or the lack of. As in, if they are in a multi-million year old war, why would would ANYONE have a non-military alt-mode.
That's where the fan-speculation comes in to explain Hasbro's toy decisions, within the context of the story universe.

[GoktimusPrime]

Oh right, well... canonically the alt modes on Earth are typically portrayed as their disguise modes and the robot modes as their fighting/warrior modes. The way I see it, it's similar to a predatory animal that disguises itself as something else, but then drops the feint when pouncing on its prey (some fighting styles do that too, like Drunken Boxing). So for example:
+ Bumblebee used his alt mode to get close to Sam Witwicky in order to monitor and protect him. He only transformed to robot mode as a last resort when he had no choice but to stand and fight Barricade to protect Sam and Mikaela.
+ Soundwave used his alt mode in DotM to get close to Carly (and thus also to Sam). The deception of his alt mode allowed him to easily capture Carly as a hostage.
+ DotM Laserbeak uses his varying alt modes to infiltrate all sorts of places, but transforms to robot mode when he needs to do some killin'.
...etc.

Those who happen to have weapons/military vehicles for alt modes are able to fight in thsoe modes too, but that's more by chance -- i.e. they happen to have a diguise that can fight. But ultimately the alt modes' purpose is disguise. On Cybertron the alt modes don't seem to serve the purpose of disguise ('cept for G1 'toon Soundwave) but more as a faster means of locomotion. Or as Trailbreaker once said, "It sure beats walking." So I guess on Cybertron the alt modes' purpose is more of versatility rather than disguise.

[ITZTRU]

Fav gimmick:

Mech tech / Powerizer!

(Sorry...I just HAD to. Couldn't resist.)

[GoktimusPrime]

I like Mech Tech. It's a fairly non-obtrusive gimmick and I like how some of the toys have those "pop up covers" that plug up the 5mm holes. (Not personally fond of the LED gimmicks in PRiD though)