Prime Wars: Part 3 Speculation

[SharkyMcShark]

snip

I actually found the Titan Master gimmick less intrusive from a design perspective than the Combiner Wars gimmick. A lot of the Combiner Wars figures felt incredibly generic and overly simple because of the fact that they all needed to be a robot, vehicle, arm and leg, and the limbs had to be the same size across the line so they could be swapped around.

The Aerialbots were a wash because of this - three of the limbs were essentially the same figure (all four, if you're counting the UW release). Same goes with the Stunticons. I will concede that the Protectobots and Combaticons were at least insulated from this because of the variety of alt modes making up the team.

I'm with the rest of the posters in the thread who prefer lines without overarching gimmicks. If there is to be some unifying theme let it be something like Animated (dynamic head reveals for the transformations, and a line wide theme of Autobots using melee weapons only), or Studio Series with it's line wide consistent scale.

[GoktimusPrime]

The Aerialbots were a wash because of this - three of the limbs were essentially the same figure (all four, if you're counting the UW release). Same goes with the Stunticons. I will concede that the Protectobots and Combaticons were at least insulated from this because of the variety of alt modes making up the team.

These are all issues that they've inherited - for better or worse - from their G1 counterparts.

And fans go nutters when the toys aren't G1 enough for them. Just as Combiner Wars Blast Off and Groove.

I think the main drawback of having an overarching gimmick is that it starves the line of diversity.

Correction: the pink slice in the 1987 pie chart is meant to represent "gestalts"
Lines like TR had even less diversity than 1990 where 64% of TFs on shelves were Action Masters and 36% were Micromasters (I'm counting sets, not individual 'bots). 1990 in Japan probably had the lowest amount of diversity in Transformers since every toy released in that year with the sole exception of Metro Titan were Micromasters.

Having said that, TR obviously wasn't the only Transformers line released in mid-2016 to the end of 2017 - we also had Bayformers, Rescue Bots, MPs, RID, Rescue Bots etc. This is quite different from 20th Century TF lines where there would typically only be just one overarching line. Like sure, 1987 G1 had greater diversity than TR, but it was also all we had. But yeah, as far as diversity within Generations itself, these overarching gimmicky sublines can arguably reduce line diversity. Or improve line dedication/focus depending on how you look at it - but I'm guessing that more fans prefer diversity (which is totally understandable; a lack of diversity just makes things rather bland)

[Lint]

I actually found the Titan Master gimmick less intrusive from a design perspective

Agreed, I'd even go as far as to say that it liberated the designs. Without having a head in the way or a chest cavity to hide it in it opened up a lot of different transformation possibilities.

As for speculation I am still waiting for real pretenders

[GoktimusPrime]

Yeah... sorta. Although removing parts instead of concealing them kinda feels cheap and less satisfying. Take having retractable fists vs just removable fists like on so many G1 toys. I like toys with self-contained parts.

And ultimately the Titan Masters' heads are still stored in alt mode as the pilots. And this also brings something else that may be considered intrusive from a design POV - having to accommodate a cockpit for the pilot. Granted they've done a pretty good job, and I really love how a lot of these cockpit cavities collapse in robot mode instead of just being a hollow block like we had in G1 And I love how some of the Legends Class figures do this too, e.g. Wheelie, Bumblebee etc. TR Galvatron is an example of a toy that really didn't need to be a Headmaster and, IMO, suffers as a result of it. And I know that it's because the toy wasn't conceived as a Headmaster. I think it would've been a better toy if they kept to the original intention of having the head flip inside the chest instead of being a Headmaster. And that's the thing, if they weren't Headmasters and therefore didn't need to have a cockpit, they just as easily use that space to conceal the non-removable head. Head concealment isn't really an issue for most Transformers. Not since the days of Energon Ironhide anyway (and yeah, some other later exceptions like the first two Bayformers Megatrons etc.).

But I suppose making Titan Masters is one capital idea to stay ahead of the game. Who knows what's necks for Generations.