Power of the Primes

The modern comics universe has had such a different take on G1, one that's significantly represented by the Generations toys, so they share a forum. A modern take on a Real Cybertronian Hero. Currently starring Generations toys, IDW "The Transformers" comics, MTMTE, TF vs GI Joe, and Windblade. Oh wait, and now Skybound, wheee!
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Sparky Prime
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Re: Power of the Primes

Post by Sparky Prime »

TFW2005 has found that Amazon has a listing for a Punch/Counterpunch figure that comes with a "special edition" Prima Prime Master figure.

Just leaves Nexus and Amalgamous that have yet to have Prime Master figures announced.
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Dominic
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Re: Power of the Primes

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That is interesting. I am curious about how (or how well) Hasbro is going to pull off a faction-switcher at that price-point, especially if they keep the combination gimmick.
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Re: Power of the Primes

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I'm interested too. I missed out on the previous two versions. The TFCC one is the one that irks me the most, since, by rights, I should have been able to get one at it's original selling price. I was a member of the fan club at the time and had called within an hour of the sale starting. Sure, I could go on ebay and get one, but I'm not paying through the nose for something I realistically should have had access to. The next one was a Botcon repaint of Combiner Wars Wheeljack and was just Counterpunch with no faction switching.
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Dominic
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Re: Power of the Primes

Post by Dominic »

I made the Starscream combiner using various limbs.

The core-body form has definite stability issues, both with pieces fitting together and the tolerances on the click-joints. (I notice that my Starscream's joints do not click consistently. Not sure how much of this is unique to my copy.)

I like the idea of a Starscream as the leader of a cross-faction team (consisting of Jazz, Moonracer, Dreadwind, Rippersnapper and Windcharger). But, divorcing this figure from the character, I cannot recommend it.


Dom
-planning to post more about his later.
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Shockwave
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Re: Power of the Primes

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Got the rest of the Terrorcons yesterday. I like them, they're a great update to the original set. But I'll get to my thoughts on that in a moment. First I want to address something Dom and Sparky were talking about in regards to the Prime Masters and the cards possibly have been going to be part of some sort of game. I think you guys are right. I was watching a review on Youtube of Blot and noticed that the card for Blot that the reviewer had was different from mine. I went back and watched the other videos for the rest of the Terrorcons that they were different too. The artwork is the same but that's it. They had different "Primes" listed and the abilities that go with them were different too. Hun-Grrr is the one that I remember with the reviewer's card calling him Amalgamous Hun-Grrr with a description that says something like about changing forms into a collection of mouths and stomachs. Mine is Leige Maximo Hun-Grrr and says something about bartering for unlimited Energon. So yeah, the cards are all different, leading me to think that the game idea is probably true and it was probably scrapped somewhere. I also noticed that each prime has a symbol and color and the front of the card has the symbol and border color so you can actually look through the pegs to find the one with the Prime power that you want.

Hun-Grrr: Is pretty interesting. Looks like the combined mode borrowed a lot from Superion. The arms become the legs and the torso transforms almost the same. The monster mode is almost the same as G1, with some additional articulation in the heads. Robot mode has about the same as his G1 counterpart. Overall, I like it and I would recommend it, especially if you're planning to complete the set (duh!)

Cutthroat: Is basically a retool of Swoop. Wings are almost exactly the same, the ends are different, same arms and same transform. My only complaint with this figure is the beast mode head, it pops off pretty easily. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with him. They really did well with updating the limb bots on combiners to have far more articulation and detail than they did in G1, while still maintaining the combiner functionality.

Rippersnapper: Not sure if I reviewed him when I got him, but here it is anyway. I think this one is my favorite. I've always liked the idea of a "land shark" and this pulls it off perfectly. It's also one of the few Terrorcons that can hold all of his accessories in bot and beast mode. And the guns allow for a LOT of versatility in how you display it.

Sinnertwin: One of my favorite original Terrorcons, and they updated it well. The beast mode is kind of the same situation as Hun-Grrr with it having slightly better than G1 articulation. The legs have a LITTLE more movement and the heads are far more jointed than they were and the mouths open as well.

Blot: I have no idea what Blot's alt mode is. I don't think anyone does. Does anyone know? Feel free to chime in. That said, they really did something interesting here with the transformation. Instead of the usual "open and collapse the legs" CW bit, instead his bot mode legs wind up on his back in beast mode. The bot mod hands fold in to make a third "claw" for the beast mode. and his beast mode articulation is WAY better than his G1 original. I'm not talking to much about articulation on the bot modes because if you have one CW figure, you pretty much have them all in that regard. Paint and detail on these guys is obviously an improvement over their originals. One thing I did notice with this set is faux rubsigns. Faction stickers that look like rubsigns but aren't. At first I was a little leery of the concept but I gotta say they actually look pretty good on these guys.

Abominus: So combined mode for Abominus is pretty similar to Superion with an almost identical transformation and therefore level of articulation. I did notice some stability issues with it but that might have been due to a loose connection between the "foot" and Cutthroat (who I was using as the right leg). It will probably be more stable with a different arrangement of the limb bots. I like the combined mode, the colors of all 5 Terrorcons really does seem to come together well even though they're vastly different from each other. I should also mention that Hun-Grrr has stickers on him but they were applied well and don't seem to be in danger of peeling due to any transformation joints (unlike Blitzwing). Overall I would definitely recommend this set. I'd been looking forward to them and it certainly lived up to my expectations.
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Re: Power of the Primes

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Ok, so after fiddling with Abominus a little bit more, here's some additional thoughts. And really they're my only two criticisms of the set but they're not even that bad. 1 is the lack of weapon for either Hun-Grrr or the combined mode. Other sets had legends class figures that turned into weapons, but Abominus.... nothing. I guess he's expected to just punch Computron to death. Also, the lack of consistency in the merge mode extremities color. The feet are fine because they both come with Hun-Grrr, but the hands are made out of the Prime armor for the other limb bots, all of which are molded in the color of the bot they came with. So at no time will you have an Abominus with two hands the same color. Rippersnapper and Blot come close, both being a dark shade of blue, but they're still different shades of blue. Cutthroat's purple come close to matching the feet, but still not completely and that still leaves the other hand a completely different color. It doesn't bug me that much, I'm still happy with the set as is, but I can see this annoying some fans. If you're the type that wants all your merge feet/hands to be the same color you either have to get another set from another combiner or one of those unofficial sets because God knows they'll make one for Abominus at some point. Anyway, just wanted to give a quick update on that. Still loving this set though. Now to get Computron.
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Dominic
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Re: Power of the Primes

Post by Dominic »

There is a third-party set for Abominus. HoneyBear ordered it.


I have been thinking about the game aspect of the cards, and am going to apply my rough thoughts on it to Starscream's merge-form.

In a real game, the Prime-power would probably be determined by throwing dice, rather than randomly packed cards (especially as those cards are effectively blind-packed with the larger figures). Natural combiners would be teams like the Predacons (and arguably the Dinobots). Non-natural combiners would be combinations of pre-existing teams or characters that were not normally combiner-parts.

I approach this assuming that an enigma-block is only needed if the merge-team is not a natural combiner. And, in that case, the enigma-block replaces one of the Prime-powers (but not necessarily the core-member's power). Nexus Prime can replace an enigma-block in a non-natural combiner. Generally, the Prime-power carried by a component can only be used by that component. And, if that component is removed or damaged, the combiner loses that power.


Starscream: Prima
The trading card describes Prima as making Starscream a responsible leader. For the purpose of this post, assume that means Starscream is a leader for all Cybertronians, and can recruit from any faction.

Rippersnapper: Quintus
Quintus confers the ability to create swarms of troops. The best way to handle this would be to roll a d6, and assume that is the number of troops created. The stats of the troops would be based on a pre-set template, or maybe one of several templates (determined by another d6 throw). Used as the right arm. (I like to think that the troops are created by shooting at the ground, not unlike using a seed-gun.) Ripper is a Decepticon, a beast, and a member of a pre-existing team.

Moonracer: Megatronus
Megatronus gives Moonracer the ability to kill with every shot (assuming that I read and remember the card correctly). With a power like that, Moonracer is going to be the left arm of the team. Moonracer being a female with a non-Earth mode also adds to the team's variety.

Jazz: Quintus
In this case, Quintus gives Jazz the ability to evolve life in random ways. For the purpose of this combiner, this would mean that the player could re-roll for the troop-creation described above. Right leg. Jazz is a classic Autobot with an Earth mode, proving that any character is fair game for this combiner.

Dreadwind: Alchemist (replaced with enigma-block)
The card describes Alchemist Prime as giving Dreadwind the ability to create a "shadow spark" in other robots. I have not idea what this mean... But, it sounds like that most sacred idea of character-building in a game, the dump-stat. I am replacing this ability with the enigma-block. If Dreadwind (the left leg) gets knocked out, the combiner would break down. Dreadwind is a Decepticon with an Earth mode. And, he is part of a formalized two-bot combiner (with Darkwing).

Windcharger: Liege Maximo
While technically not a component of a combiner, there is some precedent for Combiners having a sixth member, or having a "floating" member that works with the larger robot. In this case, the player could use dice throws to represent Windcharger talking to populations, making them more amenable to Starscream's message.
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Sparky Prime
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Re: Power of the Primes

Post by Sparky Prime »

A SDCC exclusive repaint of PotP Optimal Optimus has been revealed called "Throne of the Primes". This gives his Optimal body the same colors as his season 1 body, along with a crown and scepter. The scepter, called the Scepter of Sparks, connects with 4 Prime Master figures. Also included with the figure are Prima, Nexus, Amalgamous Prime Master figures along with and a new one representing the "Legendary 13th Prime", all referred to as comic-con exclusives. The cardboard throne the figure includes has a dial over the Halo of Primus that can hold 12 of the Prime Master figures and a small detail on the Throne are the faces of the other Prime candidates for the fan vote that Optimus Primal had won.

Overall, I think it's a pretty cool looking figure. The color scheme works pretty good for the Optimal form. Not sure I like the crown. That's just always seemed like the Starscream thing to me. But it does appear to be removable. The Scepter of Sparks is an interesting idea to wield more than one Prime Master at a time. It's nice that four Prime Masters that haven't seen release are also included, but I'm disappointing they're said to be Comic-Con exclusives, indicating that the full set will not be seeing wide release. Although there was also a report of a Punch/Counterpunch figure that'll come with Prima so who knows...
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Re: Power of the Primes

Post by andersonh1 »

I think the figure looks good in those colors. Nice choice.
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Dominic
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Re: Power of the Primes

Post by Dominic »

This makes me glad that I was not planning to get all of the Prime figures. Not a bad figure. But, it is likely more than I want to spend on toys right now.
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