Should we do a Year in Review thing?

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JediTricks
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Should we do a Year in Review thing?

Post by JediTricks »

Those can be fun with toy lines, and 2010 has been pretty interesting in TF. We come up with categories to discuss, then add comments to each, stuff like...

- Best TF Figure -

- Worst TF Figure -

- Best Transformers 2010 Line -

- Worst Transformers 2010 Line -

- Best Paint -

- Best Transformation -

- Best Esoteric Character -

et cetera. So, what do you guys think, should we give this a shot? And what should be the seed categories? The above ones were just random examples.
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Dominic
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Re: Should we do a Year in Review thing?

Post by Dominic »

Hell yeah.

I am adding comics to the list.


- Best TF Figure -
Red Alert.

- Worst TF Figure -
DoubleClutch (terrible execution)

- Best Transformers 2010 Line -
"Generations", hands down.

- Worst Transformers 2010 Line -
"Activators"

- Best Paint -
Dunno. QC is so random that it is tough to be sure.

- Best Transformation -
Red Alert

- Best Esoteric Character -
Straxus/Darkmount

- Best Comic -
Last Stand of the Wreckers

- Worst Comic -
"Infestation" preview



Dom
-and "Infestation" can reserve its spot for next year!
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JediTricks
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Re: Should we do a Year in Review thing?

Post by JediTricks »

Don't forget to explain your choices.
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Re: Should we do a Year in Review thing?

Post by BWprowl »

- Best TF Figure -
Probably ROTF Leader Starscream, that thing is amazing. Though HA Jazz and MP Grimlock are close. And a special shout-out to WfC Prime, but I'll save that for later.

- Worst TF Figure -
Are Mini-Cons eligible? If so: Backwind. Holy crap, that figure barely looks like anything in any mode.

- Best Transformers 2010 Line -
Generations has been pretty great so far, but mostly from an insular fan perspective. I think I'll give the nomination to Transformers 2010 just for giving us some cool original characters that can mostly fit in with Movie or G1 displays, and for showing what the ROTF line could be like without the financial holdbacks that crippled the original rollout. Stuff like Terradive, Breacher, Hubcap, and BBBB are awesome. I really want to find Highbrow.

- Worst Transformers 2010 Line -
Star Wars Crossovers. This line never really interested me in the first place, and the new stuff I'm seeing from it now just seems so blah and lazy and pointless that it's a wonder I don't forget about this line more often. Endless pilots and troopers!

- Best Paint -
I kinda want to give a joint nomination to Straxus and Skullgrin, for demonstrating how cleverly differentiated paint apps can really change the look of a mold. Straxus's paint does a great job of highlighting the signature red triangles all over him, and then Skullgrin's goes and completely downplays them, making different parts of the design his own. Brilliant!

- Best Transformation -
Generations WfC Optimus Prime. It took me a while to figure out, but not in a frustrating way. They sheer complexity that goes into getting these two models to transform into each other is pretty impressive in itself, but it's actually rather intuitive once you get the hang of it. They really went the extra mile with stuff like the rotating exhaust pipes and the flip-up taillights. I was also pretty impressed by Sea Spray, if only for the clever rearrangement of mass he pulls off.

- Best Esoteric Character -
It really just has to be Straxus, doesn't it? Although I think Lockdown is a contender, especially with his ROTF toy getting repurposed into G1 continuity.

- Best Comic -
Everyone's gonna say Last Stand of the Wreckers, and I'd be inclined to agree. Though we really shouldn't ignore the initial arc of the Ongoing, since it soundly showed us that Costa was right about telling us to wait. And I'm one of the few people who really liked Figueroa's art in there. We're never gonna get a toy of that ingenious Menasor design, and that makes me a sad panda.

- Worst Comic -
Either Recordicons or Generation 2: REDUX. C'mon Dom, I hate zombies as much as you do, but how could you forget about these abortions of paper and ink?
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Re: Should we do a Year in Review thing?

Post by Dominic »

Okay, here are my expanded answers and responses to Prowl.

Best TF Figure -
Red Alert: I have a damned near pathological love for this mould. You all know this. If I thought I could convince JT, I would push hard for a sub-forum dedicated to discussing and affirming the greatness of RedAlert, SunStreaker and SideSwipe. They need to make troop-builders using this mould.

- Worst TF Figure -
DoubleClutch (terrible execution): Not only is the commander blatantly out of scale with his drones, the figure does not even hold together in core mode. I really wanted to like this figure. :(
Backwind is friggin' awesome. He is a good little generalized Minicon who turns into a light fixture.

- Best Transformers 2010 Line -
"Generations", hands down. "Transformers 2010" is so damned hazy and undefined that I just cannot get behind it. The over-generalized packaging makes it feel like some kind of remaindered line, regardless of how good some of the toys are.

- Worst Transformers 2010 Line -
"Activators": I should have said "any of the half-assed kiddie lines". The figures are ugly. The engineering is sub-standard. "Crossovers" in general is a good choice though.

- Best Paint -
Dunno. QC is so random that it is tough to be sure.

- Best Transformation -
Red Alert: YOU KNOW IT IS TRUE!

- Best Esoteric Character -
Straxus/Darkmount: This one speaks for itself. Lockdown seems to be almost pandering. Almanac-gate took some of the shine off oif TFA for me.

- Best Comic -
Last Stand of the Wreckers: The lack of drama and whining about this title put it over for me. But, I would be lying if I said I did not have to think long and hard about calling it for the first Costa/Figueroa arc of the ongoing.

- Worst Comic -
"Infestation" preview. I would not even dignify "Recordicons" as a comic. And, as bad as "G2: Redux" is, (and it is shit), "Infestation" is worse by virtue of being an intrusive cross-over. There was really no question on this one.
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Re: Should we do a Year in Review thing?

Post by 138 Scourge »

Yeah, 2010's been a crazy year for TFs. Hell, I thought I might be done at the beginning of the year, and now at the end of the year, I'm back on a two-toy a week streak. The movie line dragged on wwwwaaaaaaayyyyyy too long again and wore out it's welcome, but new things finally showed up and renewed my interest in these things. And Animated, sadly, breathed it's last gasp, but we got Rodimus Minor out of that, so that's something. I'm in for this "Year in Review". The categories we got so far are pretty damn good, I can't think of too much to add other than, maybe "Best Repaint/Retool"? I'd nominate Thrust and Dirge for that one, myself, because they show that a couple new parts and a new coat of paint can do a damn fine job of making a mold we've almost literally seen a million times can do a damn fine job of evoking different characters. Although I guess the G1 jets did all the work proving that one. Look, I'm just happy that Thrust and Dirge came out in the first place.

Anyway:

Best TF Figure -
Masterpiece Grimlock. He's just a damn-near perfect recreation of the G1 character in robot mode, and a damn-near perfect recreation of the cartoon design in alt. mode. His transformation manages to be, basically, the original's, but rejiggered for the MP line to be more satisfyingly complex. The light-piping and eye-color swap features are just incredibly neat, and even the gimmicks that aren't so great don't intrude on anything else. This year's had some hellafied good releases, but, to me, nothing else comes close to this level of radness.

- Worst TF Figure -
I don't really buy any toys unless I've pretty well already psyched myself up to like 'em, so this is a tough call. But Tuner Skids is just a terrible idea. It's like, you've got the Mudflap repaint that nobody anywhere loves, that thing's just hangin' out everywhere, forever, so the decision's made to do a repaint of the other Retardobot? Honorable mentions to Deluxe Ironhide and Deluxe Ratchet for just looking like ridiculous pieces of ass.

- Best Transformers 2010 Line -
Tough to beat Generations, but it is a little frustrating that the line only has Deluxes going on. Some of these guys, like Straxus and Thunderwing, could've benefited from a bump up to Voyager class. I'm not gonna bitch about it that much, though, Generations did a lot of good things, putting out Straxus, Drift, and for cryin' out loud the other two Coneheads! That's pretty boss. But I'd give honorable mention to the Power Core Combiner line for taking the Transformer concept and doing something different with it, and getting a really fiddly and fun result that elevates some okay scouts into being really, really entertaining toys.

- Worst Transformers 2010 Line -
Marvel TF Crossovers. I'd really like to love this line, but the figures don't look that great, they're really kind of overpriced-seeming, and most importantly, the whole thing seems to be nothing but transforming Iron Men and Spider-Men. Plus I'm still bitter that the most awesome and ridiculous thing this line's ever produced got shitcanned. I will say, though, that the Ghost Rider looks like the best thing this line's had yet.

- Best Paint -
Prowl's got a good point about Straxus and Skullgrin, but I'm inclined to give it to War for Cybertron Bumblebee. His paint looks shiny and almost metallic, and the bright pink accents almost seems to glow. He does a good job of actually looking like the picture on the back of the card.

- Best Transformation -
Drift's is pretty neat. It's not really complicated, but it does things we haven't seen a billion times. On the other hand, Cybertron Bumblebee's transformation is hard as balls, but it's certainly interesting and unique.

- Best Esoteric Character -
Yeah, you pretty much can't beat Straxus on this one. Guy that showed up in a few comics about twenty years ago winds up with a pretty decent toy? That's pretty cool. I just wish I liked the figure itself better. It's good, but it's not rocking my face.

- Best Comic -
Transformers comics I've been pretty indifferent on lately. But Last Stand of the Wreckers was awesome all the way through. Not just a bad ass Transformers comic, a bad ass comic in general.

- Worst Comic -
You know the best thing about "Recordicons"? Since I don't subscribe to the fan club newsletter, I never have to look at it. But I did manage to see one strip, so I'll go with that, or anything else Shattered Glass Ravage has ever appeared in. That thing's annoying enough to be the worst goddamn kitty ever.
Dominic wrote: too many people likely would have enjoyed it as....well a house-elf gang-bang.
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Re: Should we do a Year in Review thing?

Post by Dominic »

Hmmm....

Best retool: Dirge (I cannot give all the praise to RedAlert.(
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Re: Should we do a Year in Review thing?

Post by Onslaught Six »

- Best TF Figure -
ROTF Bludgeon. A damn fine figure all-around; he's a G1 homage character that improves on the original, and he works just as well in the Movie line context. This is a figure who'll feel at home in almost any TF toyline.

- Worst TF Figure -
You know what? There aren't a lot of bad TF figures these days. Maybe ones that tread a little too far on the complex side, what with the panels lining up or stuff like that...but rarely is there an outright *bad* toy. That said? ROTF Dirge is an outright bad toy.

- Best Transformers 2010 Line -
Generations, man. Sure, I haven't bought a single WfC figure but the rest of the toys have been spot on.

- Worst Transformers 2010 Line -
Animated. A poor showing, after all of Hasbro's talk of releasing the figures somewhere, and on top of that I honestly couldn't care less about the line.

- Best Paint -
Shouldn't this be something like...Best Deco? Or, even better, Best Repaint/Retool? In which case, Generations Red Alert. That's a swanky fig.

- Best Transformation -
Bludgeon's pretty cool with that treads thing going on, but Lockdown has that spiffy assymetry going for him. Straxus impressed me pretty well, too. Hrmm...I think I'll go with Bludgeon.

- Best Esoteric Character -
Drift. Shutup. Drift is cool.

- Best Comic -
Last Stand of the Wreckers even though I haven't read it. I know it's good. People said! (Maybe someone will get it for me for Christmas.)

- Worst Comic -
I don't...know?
BWprowl wrote:The internet having this many different words to describe nerdy folks is akin to the whole eskimos/ice situation, I would presume.
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: Should we do a Year in Review thing?

Post by Dominic »

I could get behind Red Alert for best painted figuere actually. :?


I think "Animated" would qualify as "worst supported" line.

Dom
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Re: Should we do a Year in Review thing?

Post by Shockwave »

Ok lessee....

Best TF: Wow, this is a tough one. Botcon Breakdown. I like the new head and will be using it for molding in regular colors. Plus any excuse for a new version of that mold. Honorably mention for Rapido. Antonio Banderas as an Autobot? Awesome! And the Tech Spec was completely in Spanish too.

Worst TF: Legends Fallen. The full size version is asstastical and so is this one.

Best line: Generations/Reveal the Shield: Both have the continuation of CHUG so it's instant win for me. Jazz, Tracks, Blur, Drift, Thrust, Dirge, WFC Prime, Megs and Bumblebee, STRAXUS!!! :D Skullgrin, Thunderwing... so far I really have yet to be disappointed. Even the one repaint I have, Cliffjumper has a different head from Bumblebee meaning the 'Bro actually took the time to create a new part for it.

Worst Line: Power Core Combiners: Lackluster names, bot modes, drones with no bot modes, and merge modes that can't/won't stand very well or at all without falling apart just makes this all one big pile of fail.

Best Comic: Ongoing. Much as I liked LSOTW, this is where it's at for me. If for no other reason than I've always wanted to see what could happen with Thundercracker and it was never explored. Now it is. He's been turned into an actually interesting character as opposed to "random seeker grunt number 2".

Worst Comic: Sector 7. Honestly do I really need to justify THAT response? They couldn't even keep the names consistent in the first issue and it had me actually considering dropping a TF book. Even the Fanfic-I mean Fan club comics didn't manage that.

Best Esoteric Character: Yeah, I'm going with Straxus as well. I've always wanted one and now I have one.
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