Best and worst of SDCC 2018?

[CHILENO20]

Starscream is Blitzwing.

This

[CHILENO20]

On the plus side, the WFC stuff is great and now confirmation we are getting a Frenzy

[SharkyMcShark]

This

Yeah I thought that was a joke.

Maybe ok if its an actual triple changer and not a name change thing. I'm not totally up on the reasoning. Or is it a swerve??


Side note... Clone Wars news made my allergies play up big time. Help us Dave Filoni, you're our only hope. There is still good in Disney, I have felt it.

Starscream is Blitzwing.

Wow that passed me by.

Not super fussed by name slaps in general. In a post Beast Wars world I'm open to anything. Inferno anyone?

[GoktimusPrime]

Even G1 had unrelated name reuses.
Lightspeed and Lightspeed, Sky High and Sky High, Barrage and Barrage, Flame and Flame etc. Also, remember that Cloud Starscream was a redeco of Generations Blitzwing, so the similarity between Blitzwing and Starscream isn't a wholly new thing.

Besides, how many other Bayformers look like one character but is named after another?
e.g. the black and white police car that looks like Stakeout is actually Barricade!
Then there are those which are nothing alike, such as Rampage etc. etc. etc. Also, having Starscream on Earth in 1987 might create continuity issues with the first live action film.

Anyway, back on topic...

Best of the SDCC reveals for me were CHUG Swindler and Bumblebee Movie Deluxe figure. Worst would be that Ultra Class Cyberverse toy. Geez... in 1996 Hasbro gave us Ultra Class figures like Optimus Primal which, in relative terms, rivals Masterpiece Beast Convoy. The original Ultra Class figures, like many BW figures, were ahead of its time. The Cyberverse Ultra Class figure looks pretty poor by 2018 standards. Forget rivalling MPs, it looks like it's already outclassed by the Scout Class toys.

The animation style/quality of the Cyberverse cartoon doesn't look great to me. Is it still being animated in Japan or is it all in-house stateside Hasbro animation now? Story-wise I do like how the Autobots and Decepticons appear to be a united faction. I hope that this is the actual premise of the show and that they run with it. The idea of a reunified post-war Cybertron is something that hasn't really been explored in the cartoon but has most notably been explored in the IDW comics (despite John Barber's appalling command of the English language).

[Gouki]

I am so bored of the same handful of characters getting new figures over and over and over and over again. In some ways, the Classics/Universe/Generations has become the worst thing about the Franchise because it is so G1 heavy. There are other Generations. The line isn't called Generation.

Where are the awesome G2 toys getting redone? New Beats? Hell, it's time to start celebrating RiD soon! But we won't! We'll get some new figures for some more G1 characters again! Did we really need every G1 character to get a new figure? Don't get me wrong, we get some inspired figures in this line and that's great, but, shit, this franchise does not die with G1!

[FatalityPitt]

I am so bored of the same handful of characters getting new figures over and over and over and over again. In some ways, the Classics/Universe/Generations has become the worst thing about the Franchise because it is so G1 heavy. There are other Generations. The line isn't called Generation.

Where are the awesome G2 toys getting redone? New Beats? Hell, it's time to start celebrating RiD soon! But we won't! We'll get some new figures for some more G1 characters again! Did we really need every G1 character to get a new figure? Don't get me wrong, we get some inspired figures in this line and that's great, but, shit, this franchise does not die with G1!

Ssshhhh, the geewun people will hear you and go on a rampage.

But yeah, I totally agree. I was thinking lately that it would be nice to get more Beast Wars stuff. I thought Optimus Primal winning the 2018 fan vote would be a sign that it was time for Beast Wars to make a proper return. While I appreciate the Leader class Optimal Optimus in PotP, it would have been great to see a full line dedicated to Beast Wars. It would be a nice break from Transformers that just transform into more boring cars and planes (even if they are futuristic). Would be cool to get more modern iterations of classic Beast Wars characters like Tarantulas.

[SharkyMcShark]

I genuinely cannot understand how Tarantulas has not had an original figure since the 1990s.

[Gouki]

I was born in 1987, I do love G1, but outside of some season 2 episodes, maybe fifteen to twenty toys, The Movie And Rebirth almost all my memories are of G2 and Beast Wars. And Cybertron was what actually got me back into Transformers in a big way.

Tarantulis neglect is a crime. I would love to see a new Transmetal Blackarachnia. Or Transmeral 2 Cheetor. Combiner Wars Tripedacus, perhaps? A Silverbolt that doesn't frequently split at the crotch when posing.

[FatalityPitt]

I genuinely cannot understand how Tarantulas has not had an original figure since the 1990s.

Has it been that long? I always thought of Tarantulas as one of the more iconic bad guys in BW. Sure there was Megatron (leader), Blackarachnia (token bad female), and Waspinator (comedy relief); but Tarantulas was the truly mean one. He struck me as a cross between G1 Shockwave and Starscream, where he was like an evil mad scientist with his own dark agenda.

I was born in 1987, I do love G1, but outside of some season 2 episodes, maybe fifteen to twenty toys, The Movie And Rebirth almost all my memories are of G2 and Beast Wars. And Cybertron was what actually got me back into Transformers in a big way.

I think Hasbro likes to focus on G1 in their Generations lines because the IDW comics makes them easier to sell. But I wish they'd include characters from other continuities into their Generations lines, maybe one or two BW characters and one Unicron Trilogy character, or something like that. Just to mix things up a bit. There also doesn't seem to be much diversity when it comes to alt-modes. In what we've seen in Siege so far, most of the characters turn into automobiles. Would be nice to see some more dinosaurs, birds, spiders, etc.

[Silverbolt]

Im holding out hope that the Bumblebee movie will finally see an improvement in the live action movies. As for toys, I was about to pull the trigger and buy the Titan Return Ultra Magnus. But seeing this new toy, that will will become the Ultra Magnus for my classics collection.