The Random Transformers Thoughts Thread

[SharkyMcShark]

How are you find the weird bot modes on Rampage and Hightower when you're playing with them though? Specifically during melee combat. I find Rampage to be limited because he has no real grounded support due to a lack of legs. Jumping up and down is actually really impractical in a hand-to-hand fight (in reality you want to do the opposite and stay low to the ground). A simple tackle would ruin his stance, although he could try to rely on his tread-whips to maintain distance and prevent opponents from drawing in too closely. Hightower on the other hand I find utterly useless in a fight. There's virtually nothing here that remotely works. Sure, he can use that crane arm thing but being back mounted rather than arm mounted makes it harder for him to generate sufficient momentum and it's too easy for his opponent to just dodge/block/parry/grab the crane arm and either avoid it entirely or use it against him. His arms are impractically tiny, much like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but of course a T-Rex's primary weapon aren't its arms but its massive jaw lined with razor-sharp teeth. But even considering Hightower's arms to be as a secondary weapon like T-Rex, it still feels impractical because the claw-arm isn't articulated in a way that would allow Hightower to draw his opponent towards himself to allow his little hands to rip and shred. And the inability to draw in a captured opponent really makes the crane arm as more of a potential liability than an asset (as an opponent could easily use it against him, such as to throw him etc.). This is why any wrestler or grappler doesn't just idly grab an opponent and stand there, they will always immediately close in. Same with any predatory animal. When a snake lashes out to capture a prey it doesn't remain extended, within a fraction of a second it will recoil and draw its prey towards itself. Heck, even Hungry Hungry Hippos uses this same principle!

In terms of play, I find Hightower pretty good. I stand by the comments I made in the review thread, being that the legs are so posable that it makes up for the gimpy arms. As I said in that thread, I would have preferred a cannon attachment for the crane boom, but I don't mind it as a sort of faux scorpion tail. I find him to be a characterful little gremlin.

Rampage I find is mainly hindered by the lack of elbows, though the claws being so posable makes up for that to an extent. Also, for a design that essentially gives up and cheats to achieve upright stability (ie partsforming a stand onto the bottom of the figure), it's not that stable. I find that it still tips quite a lot.

[griffin]

For people like me who never saw the movie Kubo and the two Strings (directed by the guy who did the Bumblebee movie, so we kept hearing it mentioned everywhere last year during Bumblebee's production)... to see what his previous work was like it is on tonight at 7pm on channel 99.

[UltraMarginal]

I'm tempted to just put my unopened packs of DOTM cards in the recycling. I have zero interest and got them purely because RK gave me dozens of them with every order they shipped me.

I'll cover shipping if you want to fling them my way rather than the trash. I have nearly got a full set and probably 2 more 80% or more sets.

And Griffin, if you send me a list of what you're missing I can probably help you out a lot.

[SharkyMcShark]

Does anyone else get the impression that the Bumblebee Movie Studio Series figures were all drafted by either a different designer, or created with a slightly different remit to the rest of the Studio Series line? They all seem slightly more complex and intricate than other figures in the line. Granted, 5 figures (Prime, Bee, Dropkick car and chopper, and Shatter car) isn't a massive sample size, but it seems to hold true across the line.

[Tha_Phantom]

Does anyone else get the impression that the Bumblebee Movie Studio Series figures were all drafted by either a different designer, or created with a slightly different remit to the rest of the Studio Series line? They all seem slightly more complex and intricate than other figures in the line. Granted, 5 figures (Prime, Bee, Dropkick car and chopper, and Shatter car) isn't a massive sample size, but it seems to hold true across the line.

I have to admit, these figures were the ones I was most looking forward to from Studio Series and none of them impressed me as much as I'd hoped, I find the earlier figures from the line more enjoyable. Getting back to your question, yes it seems as though a different designer did those ones.

[GoktimusPrime]

Isn't that usually the case with every Transformers series since 1984? It's always been a team of designers working on the toys rather than an individual. Yoke Hideaki, Ono Koujin, Okude Nobuyuki, Kawamori Shouji, Yuki Hisashi, Kobayashi Hironori, Alexander Kubalsky, Onishi Yuya, Miya Tomoya, Oshima Yuki, Hasui Shogo, Ejima Takio, Kunihiro Takashi, Kikuchihara Takashi, Tajima Yutaka, Shiraishi Daigo, Nakase Takashi etc. etc. - okay, granted some of the people I just named no longer work at TakaraTOMY, but you get the idea. I'm not sure why Studio Series would be any different.

[SharkyMcShark]

Isn't that usually the case with every Transformers series since 1984? It's always been a team of designers working on the toys rather than an individual. Yoke Hideaki, Ono Koujin, Okude Nobuyuki, Kawamori Shouji, Yuki Hisashi, Kobayashi Hironori, Alexander Kubalsky, Onishi Yuya, Miya Tomoya, Oshima Yuki, Hasui Shogo, Ejima Takio, Kunihiro Takashi, Kikuchihara Takashi, Tajima Yutaka, Shiraishi Daigo, Nakase Takashi etc. etc. - okay, granted some of the people I just named no longer work at TakaraTOMY, but you get the idea. I'm not sure why Studio Series would be any different.

I suppose what I'm getting at is that as a unit taken together all of the Studio Series Bumblebee Movie figures feel different to the other Studio Series figures. They feel more intricate and all seem to me to have more involved transformations than the rest of the figures.

[christalcase]

I suppose what I'm getting at is that as a unit taken together all of the Studio Series Bumblebee Movie figures feel different to the other Studio Series figures. They feel more intricate and all seem to me to have more involved transformations than the rest of the figures.

I have to agree there. I feel the Bumblebee figures are more fiddly and less elegant. Shatter and Dropkick (car) felt unrefined and way less impressive than say Stinger and Starscream.

[GoktimusPrime]

The Bumblebee movie toys are also based on a very different screen design aesthetic. (Bayformers vs Knightformers)

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Stumbled across this article about WFC and it got me thinking, where exactly are these ranking insignia?