Beast Hunters DLX Smokescreen & Bulkhead

[SharkyMcShark]

I'm trying to remember a time when transformers actually bothered transforming in accordance with their design instead of having the vehicle mode become humanoid in shape and then plastering fake car bits all over.

(am aware that 'vehicle mode becoming humanoid' is a transformation)

[GoktimusPrime]

I'm trying to remember a time when transformers actually bothered transforming in accordance with their design instead of having the vehicle mode become humanoid in shape and then plastering fake car bits all over.

IMHO it was the good old days when Transformers were designed as toys for the sake of being toys, without needing to conform to any animation/movie model. Back then, artists had to "translate" a toy into a cartoon model. Now toy engineers have to "translate" cartoon models into toys. I prefer the old method.

[Gouki]

IMHO it was the good old days when Transformers were designed as toys for the sake of being toys, without needing to conform to any animation/movie model. Back then, artists had to "translate" a toy into a cartoon model. Now toy engineers have to "translate" cartoon models into toys. I prefer the old method.

I far prefer poseable action figures to ugly bricks (excluding the Diaclone stuff, they tend to be pretty, small bricks), nostalgia aside.

[Pipesqueak]

IMHO it was the good old days when Transformers were designed as toys for the sake of being toys, without needing to conform to any animation/movie model. Back then, artists had to "translate" a toy into a cartoon model. Now toy engineers have to "translate" cartoon models into toys. I prefer the old method.

Agreed. I hate fiddly transformations and floppy figures that won't stand the test of time for the sake of trying to mimic anorexic character designs. Give me bulky, sturdy, robots that are destined to become the collectors pieces of tomorrow, not next week's broken trash.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Smokey has me intrigued. I guess the armour would have to transform as well to fit over the car.. Hmmm. I'd rather see more of the figures with removable armour than a remould methinks.

I far prefer poseable action figures to ugly bricks (excluding the Diaclone stuff, they tend to be pretty, small bricks), nostalgia aside.

Me too, but I'd rather see a toy designed as a toy first, character model after. Should mean that the toy is more fun and intuitive.

[liegeprime]

So is this a new mold just for Smokey? I didn't like the idea of him just a repaint of Knock out. That mold didn't suit him IMO. I hope the armor is removable. I like the weapons that came with this Beast Hunters but I don't know if ill buy the same character again just for it. they really should come out with weapons packs ( I know, one can dream)

[SharkyMcShark]

Agreed. I hate fiddly transformations

The lack of fiddly transformation is my main issue here. Look at the new pics that have been released

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-...screen-176634/

Instead of engineering it so that the front end of the car will collapse into the chest of the robot (which looks like it would not have required anything extraordinary or unprecedented design wise) they basically have the entire car hanging off the back of the robot and fake pieces on the front, as you can see from the below images:

Underside of the car

Back of robot mode

Side of robot mode

I don't even have issues with the car parts go on the back of the robot transformation scheme in general (RiD Sideburn, Cybertron Hot Shot etc), it's just the laziness of then pretending like it transformed the same as in fiction that gets me.

I fully cede that some show/movie designs are too complex to mimic in toy form and am willing to make concessions for those, but this just stinks of laziness - there's nothing here that they couldn't have done properly.

[i_amtrunks]

Those in hand shots show the Australian Hasbro details, could it mean a soonish release here, if they are in packaging already?

[griffin]

Those in hand shots show the Australian Hasbro details, could it mean a soonish release here, if they are in packaging already?

It doesn't guarantee it, it is just allows them to sell it in more countries without having to spend on generating new packaging templates.

[GoktimusPrime]

I far prefer poseable action figures to ugly bricks (excluding the Diaclone stuff, they tend to be pretty, small bricks), nostalgia aside.

I wasn't referring to poseability. Articulation is something that came in during the latter part of G2 and was refined and standardised during Beast Wars, so it's not all that new. But I find that toys that are based on an animation or movie model are often not as well done as toys that are just made as toys, because the former requires toy engineers to look at an animator's model and "translate" that as a toy. As explained in the Transformers Prime Season 1 DVD box set (special features), the two processes are essentially counter intuitive to each other. An animator will create a robot-character, then work out how it will transform into the alt mode. Toy engineers take an alt mode and then work out how it will transform into a robot (Binaltech and Alternity are good examples of this). When toy engineers have to "translate" a cartoon model into a toy, then it becomes an additionally challenging task, because animators will often overlook considerations that toy designers cannot (e.g. how parts actually move and fit IRL, play factors, cost/budget etc.

Media-based TF lines also affects the availability of characters as toys. During most other TF lines (e.g. G1, BW, BM, RiD etc.) the toys were already out long before they appeared in comic books or cartoons. So say for example, you switch on the TV and you see the episode where Seaspray makes his first appearance. You get all excited and rush to grab your Seaspray toy to play along with the cartoon, and you continue playing with that toy long after the episode's finished. Woo! Now it's like, oh look, there's Smokescreen! Man he's cool, I wanna play with my Smokescreen toy now--, ooh... I don't have one...

I'm still waiting for my Animated Omega Supreme and Constructicons... Yeah, I know that G1 had some characters that didn't exist as toys, but for the most part what you saw in the media was what was available to own as a toy.

You'd think that they'd have the factor of making toys of these characters in mind, so they would at least make a cartoon model that actually can be executed into toy form.
But NOOOO Hasbro, that's "inefficient" and "unimportant".

See... that's the problem when Hasbro lets animators dictate what a Transformer should look like instead of letting toy designers set the standard. In the old days (by this I mean pre-2007) this was usually done when HasTak would design a toy, then send samples to animators or artists to go make a cartoon or comic book based on the toy. But HasTak aren't going to make any big changes to the toy... it's already made! Oh look, Mainframe wants to create two female Transformers in Beast Wars... they take two androgynous looking moulds and ask Hasbro if they can be female. Hasbro agrees and uses female pronouns in their tech specs... but NOTHING is done to make the toys themselves any more feminine looking! Blackarachnia was still a straight up repaint of Tarantulas, and Airazor just looks androgynous (so much so that she was marketed as a male character in Japan).

I dunno... when Hasbro made Transformers as toys first, people complained about the lack of "show accuracy" (which is mostly a fallacy since the toys came first). Now we have toys that look more like the show, but compromises the design integrity of the toy. I'd rather have a well made Transformer toy that tries to be a good toy, rather than a Transformer toy that tries to be a cartoon character. JMHO.