Transformers United Comparison Thread

[autobreadticon]

RK has the united targetmasters Fracas and Haywire, somehow still not interested in them, but if Rk does put up Recoil def. getting it, i saw the image of TM Recoil mounted on Kup in vehicle mode , really nice

[jaydisc]

I haven't received my latest United orders yet, but overall, it's pretty disappointing:

1. No Chrome
2. Inconsistent metallics - Look at Perceptor's alt mode's roof. Why didn't they complete the metallics?
3. Plenty of Hasbro gray

I still think Hasbro releases universally look cheaper and more like kids toys (as designed) than their Japanese counterparts, but unfortunately, United ain't no Henkei.

[Doubledealer]

RK has the united targetmasters Fracas and Haywire, somehow still not interested in them, but if Rk does put up Recoil def. getting it, i saw the image of TM Recoil mounted on Kup in vehicle mode , really nice

Was quite excited about these until I saw the price...US$50 before shipping. Ouch.

[lcz128]

I haven't received my latest United orders yet, but overall, it's pretty disappointing:

1. No Chrome
2. Inconsistent metallics - Look at Perceptor's alt mode's roof. Why didn't they complete the metallics?
3. Plenty of Hasbro gray

I still think Hasbro releases universally look cheaper and more like kids toys (as designed) than their Japanese counterparts, but unfortunately, United ain't no Henkei.

As I posted in the Henkei United Showcase thread, there is a quick and easy (and if you pick a Perceptor up during the sale..not too expensive) way of Henkei-fying Perceptor BEST OF BOTH WORLDS! United's metallic (albeit imperfect due to the whole chunk of unpainted red on the top of perceptor's alt mode) and Henkei's chrome-ness

[GoktimusPrime]

I got my first United toy (Tracks) yesterday (well technically Fracas was my first United toy, but he's just a repaint of PCC Chainclaw)... was kinda disappointed that it didn't come with a catalogue. Although his tech specs profile is much better written IMO compared to RtS and Generations.

[GoktimusPrime]

This conversation comes from the Generations Warpath thread, but I thought it would be more appropriate to continue it here in a thread that compares United with Generations/RtS.

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Well as you well know the old tech spechs were written by an established comic writter, the new ones are written by Fred in marketing, at least that's my guess.

I'd say that's true. The G1 tech specs were written by Marvel Comic writers like Bob Budiansky... whereas today's tech specs are written by toy marketers who wouldn't necessarily know the first thing about writing an interesting bio. But having said that, when it comes to writing up bios for Classicsverse characters, the bios already exist. All they need to do is look at the existing bios for the G1 characters that they're based on and just re-write it.

The two most recent Classicsverse toys I've picked up recently have been RtS Special Ops Jazz and United Autobot Tracks. RtS Jazz's tech specs makes him out to be some kind of xeno-anthropologist; and while G1 Jazz's tech specs does say that Jazz love and knowledge of Earth culture makes him an indispensable asset, it also paints Jazz out to be a special agent trusted to take on especially dangerous missions. Hence why his function was Special Operations Agent. RtS Jazz's name is "Special Ops" Jazz, but nothing in the bio itself talks about his role as spec ops. Jazz's profile almost reads more like Glyph's. RtS Jazz's tech specs also completely glosses over all of his abilities... the toy comes with deploy-able speakers but the bio doesn't mention what they're for. If one didn't know better they might just think he's just some doof-doof junkie, unaware of his ability to disorient opponents with lights and sounds. And of course, RtS Jazz's profiles - like most Hasbro bios, ignores the character's quirks or weaknesses, in the case of Jazz, the susceptibility to being distracted.


Compare this with United Tracks' tech specs on the other hand. It mentions:
+ UTD Tracks loves Earth more than any other Autobot and prefers his vehicle mode over his robot mode. G1 Tracks' bio states that other Autobots call him "lousy Earth lover" because he prefers his Earth car form over his robot form.
+ UTD Tracks' preference for his alt mode comes from his love for Earth mechanical designs, esp. from New York. While this isn't mentioned in G1 Tracks' bio it's reminiscent of G1 Tracks' appearance in the G1 cartoon and his adventures in New York (with his human chum Raoul).
+ G1 Tracks' tech specs states that he thinks others who criticise him are just jealous of his beauty and his G1 TFU profile (also written by Marvel) does state that his vanity is his greatest weakness / UTD Track's tech specs states that Tracks is incredibly self-confident and believes that others are just jealous of his ability to fight in vehicular mode. Note: the wording of UTD Tracks' tech specs here is more similar to G1 Tracks' Japanese tech specs.
+ G1 Tracks' bio states that he is armed with a blinding black beam gun / UTD Track's bio states that he carries a black beam gun which robs opponents of their sight.
+ G1 Tracks' bio states that he can launch heat-seeking missiles for up to 60 miles (97km) / UTD Tracks' states that he has dual shoulder mounted homing missiles which can track opponents up to 100km.
+ G1 Tracks' bio states that he can achieve sub-sonic flight / UTD Tracks' bio states he can fly to close to the speed of sound (sonic speed).

Now let's compare their stats...

(G1 Tracks / UTD Tracks)
STR: 6 / 6
INT: 6 / 6
SPD: 7 / 7
END: 8 / 8
RNK: 5 / 5
CRG: 6 / 6
FPR: 8 / 8
SKL: 8 / 8

(G1 Jazz / RtS Jazz)
STR: 5 / 6
INT: 9 / 6
SPD: 7 / 9
END: 7 / 7
RNK: 8 / 8
CRG: 9 / 9
FPR: 5 / 6
SKL: 10 / 5

Now I don't know if TakaraTOMY are hiring professional writers to write their tech spec bios... I don't think they are. But IMO tech specs based on G1 characters are easier to write up because the groundwork's already been done by Marvel comic writers from the 1980s -- all they need to do is do a simple re-write. It's easy enough to find G1 tech specs and TFU profiles online. :/

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References
G1 Jazz tech specs
RtS Jazz tech specs
G1 Tracks tech specs (English)
G1 Tracks tech specs (Japanese)
G1 Tracks TFU profile
United Tracks tech specs

[Lord_Zed]

Yeah I noticed on United Jazz's techspechs that he had a severe skill reduction and intelligence too, maybe Jazz did become a doof-doof junkie.

I'm still waiting for Tracks to arrive, he's very late it's not good.

[Eazy D]

I noticed that as well.

RTS Jazz's tech spec really lets him down in what should be two of his forefront areas - intelligence and skill.

I liv=ke the bios on the reveal the shild and generations figures but some of the stats are way out.

[GoktimusPrime]

I don't dislike the RtS tech spec bios per se, but I'm not thrilled with them either - and judging from United Tracks' tech specs, I prefer it over my RtS profiles. As I was saying in the Generations Warpath thread, one thing I really liked about G1 tech specs was that they tried to balance characters out - not just with cool abilities and strengths, but also with quirks and weaknesses. RtS tech specs tend to gloss over the abilities but don't delve into the quirks or weaknesses. For example RtS Perceptor's tech specs goes on about how smart he is and how a lot of Cybertronian technology is based off his research -- but G1 Perceptor's tech specs was more fleshed out... it spoke about his unquenchable thirst for knowledge, but also looked at his quirk (i.e. absent minded) and weakness (i.e. fragile lens).

As Lord Zed was saying, one advantage G1 had was that the tech spec bios were written by Marvel comic writers, hence why the characters are more fleshed and balanced out, whereas tech specs today are probably written by toy marketing staff. So when it comes to original characters not based on G1, I could perhaps understand a lack of depth in the profile. But when it comes to Classicsverse, which are (for the most part) based on classic G1 characters, then there's less original creativity required so to speak, at least from the fiction POV. All they would need to do is look at the original G1 bios already written by Marvel writers, and just adapt it for RtS or Generations bios.

From what I can observe, it seems that this is what TakaraTOMY have done with United since Tracks' tech specs is pretty similar to his G1 bio. But I don't see the same level of fidelity with the RtS and Generations bio. When I saw Generations Thundercracker's bio I was pretty irritated that they omitted the part about him being not totally convinced of the Decepticon cause, because that's really the one defining feature of his character. It'd be like making a toy based on the G1 Starscream character, but not mentioning his desire to lead the Decepticons.

[STL]

Who gives a stuff?

Not like anyone flicks through their box packaging everyday anyway, right? If anything, everyone just chucks it away.