Things you never realised about Transformers (toys etc)

[Senor_2]

Never really thought about it before and it's probably been mentioned a number of times elsewhere, but Camshaft is an ironic name for the character (G1 Omnibot), as his car mode is a Mazda RX-7, rotary engines don't have camshafts....
I wonder if the person who decided on the name did so as a small joke

[UltraMarginal]

As roller pointed out to me today. G1 Ultra Magnus' helmet head can combine with his blue chest piece to form a little jet vehicle of some sort. I thought it was just a joke, but then we tried it... crude but yup apparently it does.

It's a carry over mode from Powered Convoy. The PC release came with small wheels on his chest piece too

Wow...never realised this. There is even a little seat for the microman that would of come with the pre transformer release of UM

That's really interesting, surprising and cool. you can even see the little slots in the side of the ches piece where they coiuld have put those thin wire axels in for the wheels.

Never really thought about it before and it's probably been mentioned a number of times elsewhere, but Camshaft is an ironic name for the character (G1 Omnibot), as his car mode is a Mazda RX-7, rotary engines don't have camshafts....
I wonder if the person who decided on the name did so as a small joke

This is noticed by someone every 6 months or so on a board somewhere around the world, but that doesn't make it any less valid or interesting. I like to think it's the designers being creatively ironic. it's this sort of trivia that I love about Transformers.

[Bidoofdude]

Today I saw a picture of G1 Reflector with some other G1 bots and I have to say, he's WAY smaller than I thought.

Come to think of it, IMO most G1 toys are quite hard to tell scale with. Before I saw G1 Optimus in person, I presumed he was at least a tall deluxe-ish size. Soundwave, I couldn't give myself any idea and I still find it quite hard to tell.

Anyone else feel this way?

[Sinnertwin]

Today I saw a picture of G1 Reflector with some other G1 bots and I have to say, he's WAY smaller than I thought.

Come to think of it, IMO most G1 toys are quite hard to tell scale with. Before I saw G1 Optimus in person, I presumed he was at least a tall deluxe-ish size. Soundwave, I couldn't give myself any idea and I still find it quite hard to tell.

Anyone else feel this way?

I grew up with G1, so they've always seemed normal to me, apart from the odd one or two. It's Beast Wars figures that really throw me i've either forgotten or have not seen it in the plastic.
In relation to Soundwave's height: he's almost the same height (feet to top of head) as Generations Sandstorm

[GoktimusPrime]

Anyone else feel this way?

<clears.throat> Most of us here are twice your age or more^were children of the 80s who grew up with G1, so we've been used to the size of G1 toys for as long as they've been around... so it doesn't come as much of a surprise to us.

[Paulbot]

<clears.throat> Most of us here are twice your age or more^were children of the 80s who grew up with G1, so we've been used to the size of G1 toys for as long as they've been around... so it doesn't come as much of a surprise to us.

Well I've been a TransFan since an 80s childhood too, but can still get surprised how big or small some G1 Transformers I did not own (or see) as a child turn out to be.

One thing that still gets me every time I see them is how big the Pretender Beast shells are since I didn't see them in person until the mid-late 00's. Much larger than I ever imagined as a kid. Same with Galvatron. And Sixshot. which made Quickswitch disappointing small when I finally played with him.

[Hursticon]

Well I've been a TransFan since an 80s childhood too, but can still get surprised how big or small some G1 Transformers I did not own (or see) as a child turn out to be.

Yep! - I've experienced the same with many figures, such as Scorponok, Predaking, Sixshot, God Ginrai & Gnaw - Just to name a few.

@Bidoof: G1 figures and, by extension, that of G2 never actually had a hard or marketed "Size Class" as they predate these concepts (In the Transformers toy line at least).

Beast Wars (I believe) was the 1st Transformers Toyline to introduce consistent "size class"-based figures & price points; a marketing strategy that, although has had name changes over time (Basic=Scout, Mega=Voyager, Supreme=Leader ), remains with the franchise to this day.

[liegeprime]

hehe, Imagine if the toys relative size to each other were the strict basis for the cartoons sizing as well...... man oh man, it's a regular crazy cartoon with all the scale disproportions you'd see. As for Bumblebee's claim of being the smallest , pffft, liar hahahaha. What about Ultramagnus, he'd easily defest any gestalt with his size, so can Blaster. And by golly gee whiz how the heck are they gonna fit in Astrotrain hahahahaha.... I don't think the franchise would take off as much, most prolly would think, this is an idiotic show hahaha

[GoktimusPrime]

Beast Wars (I believe) was the 1st Transformers Toyline to introduce consistent "size class"-based figures & price points; a marketing strategy that, although has had name changes over time (Basic=Scout, Mega=Voyager, Supreme=Leader ), remains with the franchise to this day.

Yes, this is true. Before Beast Wars there was no such thing as established size classes/price points. Beast Wars introduced this concept and it's stuck ever since.

BW didn't had Supreme or Leader Class. BW had Basic (Scout/Commander), Deluxe (Deluxe), Mega (Voyager) and Ultra (Ultra). An example of more recent Ultra Class TFs would be Universe Powerglide, Onslaught, Silverbolt etc. BW also had Super Class, which was Optimal Optimus.

Supreme Class was introduced in Beast Machines, the first being overpriced-piece-of-crap^Supreme Cheetor. Examples of a more recent Supreme Class toy is Animated Roll-Out Optimus Prime.

[Hursticon]

BW didn't have Supreme or Leader Class... BW also had Super Class, which was Optimal Optimus.

Super/Supreme... I wasn't far off , but one could argue "Super" becoming "Supreme" which in-turn became "Leader" - But yeah, Leader was as a name certainly not present in BW.