The worst mould/figure released

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

I always wanted Ratchet as a kid because of his med bay and I saw him as a mini version of Optimus in that respect (having the trailer). I never got my hands on one until the Encores came around and while the 'robot' mode is crap, the combined coolness of the robot AND the med bay in such a small little TF made me happier than some of my other (more modern) recent purchases at the time!

[Trent]

That's dubious comparison IMO, because the toys came before the cartoon. And the cartoon cheated - a lot. If you look at Classicsverse Ironhide and Ratchet you can see how difficult it is to make toys based on the G1 cartoon models, and that's with modern day engineering! Nonetheless, it's easy for the cartoon models to look better than the toys because:
a) They came later, so obviously the animators are going to try to make them look cooler.
b) They can "cheat" by ignoring laws of physics/reality. Where do their mobile battle platforms go? Who cares, they just disappear into sub space, right?


I never felt that way about them. In fact, I always used to imagine that their windows in front of their heads were like HUDs that could display all kinds of cool information etc. - so in the middle of battle they saw things similar to how Hot Rod looked at the hole in the Autobot shuttle through his visor.


I've seen the 3rd party heads IRL and I don't like them. They sit way too far above the shoulders. The only way it'd work would be for the heads to sit over or in front of the existing heads, rather than covering them up and sitting on top of them. Because with the 3rd party heads (and the cardboard heads that come with the Encores are equally guilty of this), the arms look like they're coming out of their lower ribs! Honestly, if you want more show-like toys of G1 Ironhide and Ratchet, get the Universe or Henkei figures.

Or these…

[rocman12]

I was thinking about purchasing the third party heads that slip onto the original G1 bodies of ironhide and ratchet to make them look more like the cartoon. Has anyone purchased these? If so whats your opinion on them?

[GoktimusPrime]

I was always terribly disappointed with the Terrorcons, especially Blot. No idea what the alt mode is, and the bot is not much better. None of the Terrorcons had proper arms, just stumpy little things that only appeared to bend at the elbow and didnt reach past their chests.
So sad. Especially given how much I love Hun-Grrr. Nowadays I have the other 4 only as accessories for my HG.

I quite liked Rippersnapper when I was a kid... the idea of a walking shark was pretty cool to me. Sinnertwin is pretty cool too, cos the whole Greek mythology thing. But you're right, Hun-Gurrr is a great toy. But I don't mind the limbformers so much... they're just cheap carded figures anyway (although I agree that Blot is by far the worst ). I have more of an issue with expensive crap toys, like Combiner Class Devastator or Ultimate "Not-Quite-A-Mega-Pretender" Optimus Prime etc.

The Aerialbots' limbformers, as a group, are kinda crappy because they all look too similar to each other. They all have the same basic transformation scheme of pull the legs down, flip the nosecone and tail section to join at the back, pull arms out. At least the Terrorcons all look distinctly different from each other. The sameness of the Aerialbots looks the worst when they combine to form Superion -- good luck telling which limb is who. Individually speaking, the Aerialbot limbformers are nice toys, but as a group I find them disappointing due to too much uniformity in their design. Usually we see this when toys in a sub group have some main gimmick that dictates a kind of design uniformity, like Jumpstarters, Battlechargers, Throttlebots, Go-Bots/Spychangers etc. -- but there's no need for the Aerialbots to be so similar (as demonstrated by all the other Scramble gestalt teams).

Look at this picture of G1 Superion and see if you can name/identify which Aerialbot is forming which limb! I can't tell the difference, the arms and legs all look the same! In stark contrast you can tell who each of those Stunticons are on Menasor (although for some reason Wildrider (the left arm) is miscoloured red like Dead End... go Nel Yomtov's shoddy colouring!!) - but at least the Stunticons are distinctive enough that even with incorrect colouring you can tell the difference). Individually the Terrorcon limbs might be disappointing, but at least as a group they're distinct from each other. Even in this mediocre animation and obscured by flames image you can tell which limb is who.

And G1 Blurr. Ugly bot. And sorry, but that is not a car.

lol, so true. And the way the shield forms the front is lame IMO.
On that note, G1 Scourge is the crappiest of the G1 Decepticon jets. Did anyone else honestly think he was a hovercraft (or some kind of boat) when they first saw this toy??? It wasn't until I saw Transformers The Movie that I realised, "That's a jet?!?"

Or these…

I don't recognise those Transformers. Are they Transformers or somebody's kitbash/custom or unlicensed 3rd party toys?

[Trent]

3rd party. Igear PP05

[klystron]

Look at this picture of G1 Superion and see if you can name/identify which Aerialbot is forming which limb! I can't tell the difference, the arms and legs all look the same! In stark contrast you can tell who each of those Stunticons are on Menasor (although for some reason Wildrider (the left arm) is miscoloured red like Dead End... go Nel Yomtov's shoddy colouring!!) - but at least the Stunticons are distinctive enough that even with incorrect colouring you can tell the difference). Individually the Terrorcon limbs might be disappointing, but at least as a group they're distinct from each other. Even in this mediocre animation and obscured by flames image you can tell which limb is who.

Yes you are right. From that POV the Terrorcons > Aerialbots. But I put more weight in the individual Aerialbot toys being much stronger figures than the Terrorcons.
And while (IMO) Abominus trumps Superion, I would rather have an AirRaid toy in my hand than a Blot or a Rippersnapper.

[GoktimusPrime]

But I put more weight in the individual Aerialbot toys being much stronger figures than the Terrorcons.
And while (IMO) Abominus trumps Superion, I would rather have an AirRaid toy in my hand than a Blot or a Rippersnapper.

Oh yes, I absolutely agree with that. Individually the Aerialbots are better toys, but as a group/gestalt, the Terrorcons/Abominus > Aerialbots/Superion, simply because there's greater diversity in the designs, even if the execution itself isn't as good.

[seespotrun]

the alt mode for ravage is "scared cat rolled up in a ball" ...

You are mistaken, dear sir. Ravage's true alt mode is a robotic chicken. And who doesn't like robotic killer chickens?

The Armada sideswipe mould was pretty terrible---I'm surprised Hasbro got so many repaints out of it. At least he has a decent alt mode though, and his repaint Universe Oil Slick came as a freebie with the rather expensive Crystal Widow, herself a nice repaint of one of the better fembot moulds we've gotten.