Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
A lot of votes for combiners, but what made them really cool was the Scramble City gimmick. Allowed a kid to make their own combiner if they didn't have a set of one team - which could be an outright pain to find before the days of the internet. The Scramble City combiners were also in scale with each other, another plus.
Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
Minicons and Combiners are definitely my favourites-more robots = more fun
Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
NAZGHUUUUULLLLLL!!!!!Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
Targetmasters, much like many other Binary-Bonding gimicks and unlike Headmasters, are fairly inoffensive gimmicks. If you lose the partner then you've only lost a weapon. And being all 5mm post weapons, you can easily substitute it. The core robot remains the same. Same with Powermasters, Breastmasters etc. - the core Transformer remains in tact and functional. Headmasters are the worst because their robot modes are useless without heads.
Nearly as bad are Brainmasters/Motorvators who of course are faceless without their partners. I suppose they can still be serviceable robots if you like your Transformers looking like freaking Ring Wraiths.
*shriiiieeeeeeekkkkkk*
That's a fair call though Goktimus on the Headmasters. I think what could've fixed this would be if they sold replacements separately if need be. Like have a little after-sales support with some spares in case one got lost.
Come to think of it, a 'spare parts' store for TFs in general would be a great idea...
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
It wasn't so much the difficulty (they became especially easier when they were reissued in the early 90s) but the expense of buying any of the core body boxed figures. The carded limbs were cheap and easy to get, and as such, gestalts like Devastator and Monstructor were easy to complete with your pocket money. The Scramble gestalt gimmick was both a blessing and a curse - the upside was that you could mix and match members between teams. But the downside was that it was more expensive/harder to complete teams because each team required the purchase of a dearer boxed leader figure.
I suppose the problem with mass producing and selling spare parts would be the cost benefit or lack thereof. And to Hasbro's credit, they did provide spare heads in the form of body-less individual Titan Masters. Takara did this in 1987-88 with the Master Warriors (e.g. Shuffler, Rodney, Zetoca etc.); and from a marketing POV they sold better because they were new/unique figures and not just spare existing figures. The Master Warriors probably go for crazy prices on the after market because they're unique. I don't think they'd be as highly prized if they were nothing more than duplicates of existing Headmaster/Godmaster figures (e.g. Spike, Hi-Q etc.). And it also gives collectors a bonus incentive to buy both the standard Titans Return figures and the individual Titan Masters. Same with the current Prime Masters (although they have the bonus features of also being Pretenders and Targetmasters - 3 in 1!).
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
If you got the right type of plastic, couldnt you print spare parts out on a 3d printer?
Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
Yeah I guess you could if you had the template, and could afford a 3D printer
Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
Most things have been covered, however here's my 2 cents:
The good old clean intuitive transformation. Complexity and that puzzle aspect is fun, however if a toy can't be transformed in the time it takes me to say "Tch choo chu choo tchik" it looses its play-ability. Especially in the eyes of me as a kid.
Triple Changers. I only ever had G1 Octane but the idea behind it always fascinated me.
Targetmasters. As said previously, you lose the master and the bot is unaffected. If you don't lose the master, you have a cool little transformer.
Duocons. This one is more the narrative than execution. While I played the heck out of my G1 Flywheels, the toy wasn't really that great. However the idea that a single character, could split up and surround their enemy was awesome. Looking at the new Flywheels (Skytread), I think it is going to be a perfect representation of a Duocon.
Articulation. Can I say articulation? Articulation. Shoulder, elbows and knees, oh my! The ability to pose Transformers is something that my younger self would have leapt for joy at. It's probably why I have a soft spot for Actionmasters, since they had more articulation than anything that could transform at the time.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
In theory yes, but anything printed on a additive manufacturing printer is going to have lines in it's surface where you can see where the layers were applied.Yeah I guess you could if you had the template, and could afford a 3D printer
shapeways use another method that is much more expensive to set up that sinters powder in layers rather than laying down a heated filament. The finish on their product is smoother but it has a finish like a kittens tongue.
liquid resin printers give a smoother finish again but they are potentially messy and require an extra step under UV light to cure the product.
the other issue with 3D printing is developing the CAD part, accurately so that once cured it's the right size for the parts it is interfacing with. And being able to achieve the necessary minute detail if required. There are threads on this stuff somewhere. it's a great technology and in the future it's going to change the way we manufacture more than it already has.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Yep, that's pretty impressive. Twice is the max I can do. Then I'm spent.
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