Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
So out of curiosity and off topic, where did Sunbow get the Coneheads from?
It doesn't appear on the box art, in the instructions or in the catalogues.
If it was a conscious decision I'd be interested to know by who and for why. If it was an accidental mistake, I'd also like to know where/how the mistake came to fruition.
Rank 3 - Basic Member
Don't quote me on but I think I read in a Floro Dery interview ages ago the series 2 character model robot modes were definitely based on the actual toys, rather than the somewhat more improvised season 1 character models. So he (or someone) probably noted the Seeker jet toys could do that, and ran with it as a design idea for the animation.Originally Posted by KELPIE
Rank 3 - Basic Member
I wonder a similar thing about Jazz flipping back his door wings.
And I'm not sure that's really too off topic.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
It was a deliberate decision made by Floro Dery to help further differentiate the second year jets from the first year jets. Because if they stuck with toy accuracy then the second year jets would look more like this:
And bear in mind that this looks "wrong" to us because of our personal bias. We're used to seeing the second year jets look like coneheads in the cartoon and comics, so seeing them drawn normally in that style looks strange. Although other G1 media did draw them normally, but the rest of the body was also more toy-accurate so it didn't look out of place.
Dery made the decision to make many 2nd year Transformers who were redecos of first year toys look different rather than just recolouring the same animation model. I guess the funny thing is that he made the Autobot Cars more toy-accurate whereas the Decepticon Jets became less toy-accurate, but both decisions were made to differentiate the first year toys from the second year toys. And it may have been helpful to animators too, because we know that the first year Jets were often hilariously miscoloured because in black and white they all look the same!
Look at Trailbreaker and Hoist for example. Both are based on near-identical Diaclone toys, but Trailbreaker's animation model was drastically changed from the toy whereas Hoist is far more toy accurate.
Because if Dery had decided to make the Autobot Cars toy-accurate in Season 1, then characters like Trailbreaker might've looked more like this...
Not sure if it counts as a mistransformation, but when I was a kid I used Swindle to form one of Menasor's legs. My Wildrider fell from a desk and he got beheaded (neck/connector plug snapped), so whenever I wanted to form Menasor, Swindle had to fill in for Wildrider.
Rank 3 - Basic Member
Thanks for those images. I'm very attached to the cone-up look combined with the more toy accurate body (more lumpy legs and curved arms) but it is interesting seeing what could have been.
Your more accurate Trailbreaker looks cool to me. It also gets me wondering about the reverse. What if molds like Inferno's that were not released as Transformers till 1985 got the 1984 simplified animation model treatment.
Oh, well in that case, I do that with Scramble City toys too, since I have less than five of any set.
I guess it's only a mis-transformation if you strictly conform to the recommended combos rather than embrace the 'free combination' inherent in their design. Besides, I find that the leader-torso portions (and associated accessories) contribute most of the identity to any gestalt.
Yeah, I guess it can't be helped if you're unable to secure every member of a combiner team, because some members might be more elusive than others - Heck, it still happens to this very day (looking at you Snarl, Sludge and Rippersnapper)Oh, well in that case, I do that with Scramble City toys too, since I have less than five of any set.
I guess it's only a mis-transformation if you strictly conform to the recommended combos rather than embrace the 'free combination' inherent in their design. Besides, I find that the leader-torso portions (and associated accessories) contribute most of the identity to any gestalt.
In the case I described earlier, the rabbit hole gets a bit deeper. The Stunticons I had were the gold-boxed/carded G1 reissues that my father bought for me during a trip to Australia. I lived in South-East Asia at the time, so getting a replacement Wildrider would have been out of the question. Those G1 reissues were Australia/Europe exclusives. The Swindle I used to substitute Wildrider was the G2 version; so you could probably imagine how weird it looked
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Cybertron and Destron Super Scrambles are exactly that -using members from different subgroups.
G1 Ironhide/Ratchet: I bring the shoulders right in so that the shoulder joint sits flush against the grill in robot mode, which gives it a more "War Within"- esque look. The outstretched shoulder struts work when you're talking about a power lifter on a tank tread battle station base, but not so much when you're talking about a humanoid robot.
G1 Hurricane: The position of the shoulders on the instructions makes it looks like Hurricane's arms are attached halfway down his ribcage, so I slide the shoulders up to the point where the arms just have clearance still, which makesit look 100 times better.
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