Just for the hell of it

Ancillary, non-main-line stuff. Star Wars TF, Speed Stars, Titanium Series, Robot Heroes, that sort of thing. They're kinda neat, but we all know they're not really that important. Admit it, you know it's true.
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Mako Crab
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Just for the hell of it

Post by Mako Crab »

It's the first day of the new year, and to kick it off right, I thought I'd start a thread about what we like about Transformers. Post any old random thing or character from any corner of the franchise that you like and tell us a little bit why.

One thing I really like about Transformers is that scene in the original G1 pilot movie, More Than Meets the Eye part 2, when the explosion at the end of the episode sends Prime rolling (in truck mode) down the mountain with an ominous "to be continued..." on the screen. I was 6 years old when I first saw it and the scene was epic at the time. I completely forgot about Roller, Spike and Bumblebee, who were all still inside the mine and closer to the explosion. Prime rolling down the mountain was far more dramatic as a cliffhanger.
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Re: Just for the hell of it

Post by BWprowl »

Heh, I went though almost the exact same thing, except I was watching the G2 airing. Still the first piece of TF media I ever saw, and yeah, it shocked the hell out of me.

I like how the engineering on Transformers has just been getting better and better lately. It seems like just a couple years ago it was a nice little bonus if a toy had wrist swivels. Now they seem to be going out of their way to put those on everything they can, along with double elbows and knees, and more ranged ball-jointed heads. Not to mention their recent stance on planning out IN ADVANCE alternate toolings for figures. I've honestly been really impressed with Hasbro lately.
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Re: Just for the hell of it

Post by JediTricks »

You know the G1 cartoon's "we'll return to the Transformers after these messages" with a character transforming and doing something? The one with Prime has this great shoot-n-pose that just looks outstanding, and the one with Jazz has great kinetic motion and sounds really good - the rest have terrible sound, but his has this deep booming gun-firing sound that resonates over and over as he machine-guns.


When I was a kid, I remember getting Topspin or Twin Twist - I am pretty sure it was Topspin only because I wanted the drill guy more since a cube with wings wasn't all that impressive, but that could be reverse-thinking about it, that I was grateful I didn't have Topspin because of that - anyway, I remember getting one of those Jumpstarters, and I wasn't really that excited as far as the figure went, but on my grandma's coffee table and kitchen floor, it was awesome to have a figure transform itself, multiple family members were really digging it.


I currently own G1 Broadside... for no reason! I bought him about 12 years ago at a collector show for not that cheap really, just kinda bought it for the novelty. I paid even more for Astrotrain a year later, but I actually WANTED him. A friend gave me a knockoff Blitzwing not too long ago, I promptly lost it in my closet, having never transformed it. :(


I have a bunch of G1 catalogs, man were they cool! Soooooo much better than the catalogs we've been getting from Hasbro the last 15 years or so.


I used to think I really liked the Omibots, but I think I just really like Overdrive, the other 2 aren't so good.


I think Jetfire is both overrated, and possibly the coolest thing ever. Overrated as a TF, but the Macross Veritech Valkyrie is awesome.


I never noticed when I was a kid and could do something about it, but Roadbuster and Whirl are really cool-looking TFs! It helps that they came from a different line, but I love the styles they have, Roadbuster has this killer wide jeep thing going on, like a Humvee but better. I'd really like to see Hasbro do stuff with a little more bite to it like those 2 had, take a few more chances on alt modes, add more accessories, and make tougher-looking but still sleek alt modes.


This post wasn't meant to be so G1-centric.
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See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
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Dominic
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Re: Just for the hell of it

Post by Dominic »

Okay, I will bite:

At the end of "More Than Meets the Eye" part 3, Mirage brings down the Decepticon ship at great pesonal cost. (Lets just ignore the sloppy animation that shows Mirage on the ground, watching the ship take off.)

When he meets up with the other Autobots later, as happy as they are to see him safe (and the Decepticons defeated), they are actually suprised that he brought the ship down, rather than stowing away for a ride home. That bit of writing, ("Wow, Mirage, you are not as much of a jerk as we thought you were."), still impresses me.


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Re: Just for the hell of it

Post by Onslaught Six »

Or maybe Mirage was just covering his own ass after being outed as a traitor.
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People spend so much time worrying about whether a figure is "mint" or not that they never stop to consider other flavours.
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Re: Just for the hell of it

Post by Gomess »

Shockwave's head design.

Blot.

Purple headquarters.
COME TO TFVIEWS oh you already did
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Re: Just for the hell of it

Post by andersonh1 »

I think for me that the Transformers came along at just the right time to make a lasting impression on me. It was a combination of the toys being such fun, and the cartoon bringing the toy characters to life for me and my younger brothers. We all wanted Transformers, and we'd all get together and play while trying to imitate the voices from the cartoon. All of this made an impression so that even when I grew out of the toys a few years later, I remembered them fondly and kept them stored away.

What do I love?
- the collecting aspect of the hobby, and the fact that some figures are still as out of reach now as they were when I was a kid, thanks to cost. I'll never have every figure I want, and so I won't exhaust the collecting possibilities.
- the nostalgia - spending time with my brothers playing with our figures was the end of my childhood. It was a fun time, and one of our few shared toy interests at the time.
- the characters - For me, G1 is still my favorite. So many great characters, and so many undeveloped with potential to become great.
- the fun of fiddling with the figures - it's still just basically enjoyable to open and transform an new Transformer every so often.
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Dominic
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Re: Just for the hell of it

Post by Dominic »

The sheer breadth of the hobby is amazing. Comics, toys are representations of characters (Generations), toys as fiddly-fodder (PCC),.....
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Re: Just for the hell of it

Post by 138 Scourge »

One of the things that keeps me into this hobby, and got me back when I should have been old enough to know better in the first place, is how it can keep reinventing itself and doing different things. Even in 1986, when I first saw the movie and was supposed to be thinking "What the hell? They killed all the cool guys?" I was thinking "Wow, look at all these cool new guys!" Bring in the almost entirely new cast and take the show in this whole different direction, I am O.K. with that.

And pretty much since then, the Transformers brand has adapted and grown in so many crazy directions and done different things, it keeps me from getting bored with it. When I look at a shelf that's got Powermaster Prime, Pretender Snarler, Animated Rodimus, ROTF Ransack, and Heinlad on it, it's kind of impressive that they're all from the same basic toyline. This is maybe why I like the Power Core guys so much, it's another neat mutation of a toyline that's proven to be just crazy adaptable.

In addition, I like that almost every iteration of the Transformers line has given us killer robot dinosaurs. Can't get much better than that.
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Re: Just for the hell of it

Post by BWprowl »

Oh god, you know what stupid little thing I just love? TFs storing their guns in subspace pockets. I just dig the idea of them *VWIP*ing out their weapons at a moment's notice when the time comes.

And though I generally dislike the way the fanclub fiction handles things, I won't pretend that I'm not happy it's canon now.
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