2017 Fan Vote for new leader in the Power of the Primes series

[griffin]

From a Hasbro press-release, from January 23rd, Transformers fans will be able to vote for the new face of Transformers Generations, for the third series of the Prime Trilogy, so far being called "Power of the Primes".

The vote will take place through the Transformers.com website, but since it region-deflects non-Americans to their own country's website, it is not yet known if non-Americans will be able to take part.

Voting must only be for a few days too, as the second round of voting from a short-list of four finalists will take place from February 1st to February 4th.

From what I can work out in the press-release and promotional image, there are nine candidates who are part of three groups - Hono(u)r, Chaos, and Order. From those nine, the first round of voting will reduce it to four, and the second round of voting will give us a winner that will be announced at the New York Toyfair in February.

The nine candidates are Ultra Magnus, Hound, Arcee, Shockwave, Megatron, Star Saber, Thunderwing, Unknown Evil, Optimus Primal.

HASBRO LETS FANS SHAPE THE FUTURE OF THE TRANSFORMERS FRANCHISE WITH THE “POWER OF THE PRIMES” FAN VOTE

The fans can decide which Transformers character will become the next leader of Cybertron!

PAWTUCKET, R.I., December 1, 2016 – Today Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS), announced the “Power of the Primes” fan vote, an upcoming event that will place the fate of Cybertron directly in the hands of Transformers fans around the globe. Beginning on January 23rd, 2017, fans will be able to visit Transformers.com to cast their vote to help determine which character will join the ranks of Optimus Prime, Rodimus Prime and other Cybertronian legends. The fan-voted Prime will be featured in the Transformers Generations toy line and brand’s Prime Wars Trilogy storytelling in 2018.
The Prime serves as leader of Cybertron, wields the immense power of the Matrix of Leadership and holds the fate of the Transformers universe in their hands. This leader is usually chosen directly by the Matrix of Leadership, but the “Power of the Primes” fan vote will put the fans in command and give them the power to light the darkest hour and choose the bot to lead Cybertron into a historic new era.
“Hasbro’s past Transformers fan votes have led to some of our most exciting characters, including Windblade, Victorion and next year’s Trypticon Titan,” said Tom Warner, Senior Vice President of the Transformers franchise at Hasbro. Our “Power of the Primes” fan vote will raise the stakes higher than ever. The Prime sets the tone for all things in the Transformers universe, and we’re excited to see which direction our fans want to take.”
The first round of voting will begin on January 23rd, when fans can visit Transformers.com to choose between three groups of candidates – Honor, Chaos and Order.
Honor: These legendary warriors will lead with honor and carry on the noble legacy of Optimus Prime.
Chaos: These powerful warlords will stop at nothing to become supreme leader of Cybertron, even if it means creating a chaotic world where only the strongest survive.
Order: These commanders vow to leave the Autobot and Decepticon factions in the past and unite Cybertron under a new order.
Four finalists will be chosen by the fans and revealed by Hasbro in late January. Fans can then have the final say by returning to Transformers.com to vote between February 1st and February 4th. The winning Prime will be officially unveiled during New York Toy Fair in February.

[Verno]

There is only one real choice:

[MayzaPrime]

There is only one real choice:

But isnt he already a Prime, he contained the matrix and was upgraded. He is aready a Prime in my book

I have always secretly wished that Megatron could be a Prime... but we have a lot of Megatron toys so I dont know if I will vote for him

[morg176]

I think it has to be G1 hound.

Young.
He's not a primary character
Has a lot of untapped potential.

What name do you think he should have as prime?

Canis Prime

[DELTAprime]

I don't want this type of decision left up to a vote. This is something the IDW writers should have full control over.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

"Unknown Evil", hey? Now there's a name I can trust!

Seriously though, assuming they want to incorporate it into the ongoing comic fiction almost all of those characters are kind of hard to see working out.

I don't want this type of decision left up to a vote. This is something the IDW writers should have full control over.

Also this.

[UltimateGalvatron]

I voted Hound, although IMO they are all stupid choices.

[GoktimusPrime]

Star Sabre. He's the only G1 character who doesn't yet have a Classicsverse toy.

But isnt he already a Prime, he contained the matrix and was upgraded.

Nope. Optimus Primal carries a Matrix (as seen in the Beast Wars theatrical movie*) but not the Matrix. Optimus Primal was later upgraded as Optimal Optimus because he carried the Spark of Optimus Prime☆ within him. If you listen carefully, Optimal's voice is actually deeper when he's carrying Prime's Spark, but this "grit" in his voice is lost when he's no longer carrying Prime's Spark. Megatron was similarly mutated (from Transmetal to Transmetal 2 form) when he carried the Spark of G1 Megatron, no Matrix involved. The idea was that the Sparks of Optimus Prime and G1 Megatron were so powerful that for a BW TF to carry it would be incredibly risky.

Beast Wars basically portrayed the G1 Transformers as gods. They were shown as being much larger than the BW TFs, which makes sense in terms of scale (a truck is significantly larger than a gorilla) as well as in terms of canon (re: Micromasters; and this is even explicitly stated in the show※), but it also makes the G1 Transformers appear to be godlike Titans compared to the BW TFs. And when we see Optimus Prime he is sitting in a throne-like seat. Even Megatron was shown as being slumped in an upright seated position, whereas other G1 TFs were shown just lying around on the floor.

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*Skip to 41:30 if you want to see the scene where Primal (as Burning Convoy) and Lio Convoy unleash the power of their Matrices.
☆This was due to a misinterpretation of the Matrix on the part of the writers. They'd watched the scene in TFTM where Optimus Prime passed the Matrix onto Ultra Magnus, but mistakenly thought that it was a vessel containing his laser core. Hence this is what the Matrix is portrayed as being in Beast Wars, which is why it's empty and the vessel even shatters after Prime's Spark is transferred into Primal's body, then restored when the Spark is returned.
※In G1, it was stated that Micromasters were created as a means of allowing Cybertronians to conserve fuel. When BW Megatron first enters the Ark, as he surveys the fallen G1 TFs he mutters the words, "Archaic Energon guzzlers!"

[Bidoofdude]

Shockwave has no decent scale chug toy either, withholding the FOC deluxe and legends figure (more of an accessory).

Proper voyager, do him justice.

[GoktimusPrime]

I disagree that Legends Shockwave is merely an accessory. That toy may be small, but it is still pretty awesome. The fact that it can be used as an accessory by larger toys is incidental, but Shockwave is still a good and solid figure in its own right (and to scale with other Legends Class figures such as Reveal the Shield Megatron, Legends Optimus Prime etc.).

Compare this with figures like the Arms Microns or even the individually packaged Titan Masters (e.g. Apeface, Nightbeat etc.) - those toys are really just accessories. I like to use the "separate play value" test in terms of whether I regard a toy as a proper figure in its own right or just an accessory for other toys. In other words, would this toy be fun to play with on its own. Let's say if it's the only Transformer that you have on you, would it be fun to play with? I would find Shockwave to be a reasonably fun toy to play with. It has an articulated robot mode, transforms into a gun (which was always portrayed as a flying cannon in canon). My Titans Return Apeface has far more limited play value as a stand alone toy. If I owned no other Titan Master figures, then he'd just be a robot that transforms into a head. Apeface needs to accessorise a larger Titan Master "Transtector" body in order to be a fully functional toy, Shockwave doesn't. Same with TR Rewind, although he does work as an accessory for Blaster, he is still a fully functional Transformer figure in his own right as a Triple Changer (robot/data pad/tank). Also, bigger isn't necessarily better - there have been a few cases where larger versions of a character aren't much better than the smaller/cheaper ones (often the smaller ones are superior relative to size and price).

In any case, a CHUGUR Shockwave exists - they can revisit existing CHUGUR characters later after they've done the ones that have never been done yet IMHO. Star Sabre has never ever had a CHUGUR figure. Optimus Primal has already had a CHUGUR figure done in the form of LG02 Convoy (a repaint of the show-accurate BWR retool of the original figure).


Shockwave's done! Bring on the rest of the Deluxe Insecticons, Predacons, Scorponok, Targetmasters*, Terrorcons, Duocons, Slugest, Overkill, Headmaster Horrorcons, the rest of the Monsterbots, the Throttlebots★, Pretenders, Triggerbots/Cons, Sparkabots/Cons, gestalt cassettes, Seacons, Powermasters※, Quickswitch, Punch/Counterpunch, Micromasters et al.

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*except Triggerhappy unless they want to revise him as a proper Targetmaster
★other than Goldfirebug
※other than Optimus Prime