Most of you know that the Dodge Neon was seriously considered by Hasbro as the Alt version of Bumblebee after VW refused to sign on. And then suddenly all Neon talk stopped.

 

Here's why: Link The Neon is ending production and is being replaced with this.

 

The Dodge Caliber. Yeah it's an ugly sucka (still not as buttface ugly as the Mini-Coop), but if you look at the gallery, it's got a lot of the same style as the old bug, but in the frame of a four-door.

 

I dunno. I'm bored and got to daydreaming here. Probably nothing to this at'll.  Probably.

 

 

Maybe.

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I think that Caliber looks only about 500 zillion times better than that crap-soaked Neon.  But that's my "I hate sedans" voice talking, so if it has 4 doors and a trunk Im gonna have no love for it.

The Caliber looks like a "superdeformed"version of the Dodge Magnum.

The Caliber looks like a "superdeformed"version of the Dodge Magnum.

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Now that you mention it, it does.  I just dig wagons on some level, because they only serve to make sedans look sillier.  Think about it, if you really need the room of a 4 door car, then go for broke and have a full cargo area too.  You can fold the seats flat and get a ton of junk in there, and the design of a small wagon isnt bound into one shape like sedans are, so they can be shaped pretty much any way the designer wants.  Damn near every sedan on the road looks pretty much the same, wheras the smaller wagons look radically different from each other, and much sportier, IMHO.

 

This is a Jeep version of the same thing. Even though a front drive jeep is a no-no in my book, if I were looking for a roadtrip car that could still get up and scoot and look decent, this would be worth a look for me:

 

http://automobilemag.com/auto_shows/frankf...9_jeep_compass/

Alternator Red alert. :)

 

 

Alternator Red alert. :)

 

 

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Rockin! :thumb

Nice! :thumb

 

:tfdance

This was an idea that struck me a while back that I thought I'd share now it's clear that alternators will be with us for at least another year. There are certain TFs that it would be nice to see in the same scale (1:24) as the current alts, yet their alt modes would be far too big to give equivalent sized robots. Therefore, why not design the toys with the old TF gimmick of battle stations in mind, so that the robot can detach as the cab and the rear section becomes a station of some sort. The first ones to spring to mind (and their repaints) are:

 

Inferno/Hotspot - fire truck (transforms to rescue station)

Ratchet/First aid - Ambulance (transforms to repair bay)

Grapple/Hook - crane (transforms to construction bay)

 

The details of the rear trailer could be changed (i.e. different lightbars and colouring) as well as the internal workings (i.e. different tools and gadgets) when transformed could also be easily modified to add variety to the molds.

 

I also thought of a nice trick that could be incorporated into this type of transformation to make the robot modes different. All it would involve at the factory level would be the hands being swapped over. Basically, each of the above figures would have a simple G1 ratchet/ironhide like tranform when detaching from the trailer, with the window pointing to the front. The repaint however, would be transformed with the back acting as the chest in the form of a plate that fold up and sits between the legs and trailer in alt mode - this can be interchanged easily for different detail on figures. The waist and head can therefore be rotated 180° and, if the arms are designed to bend both ways, it would make for a lot more variety between the repaints and be cost effective for hastak also. It still allows the characters to retain a G1 homage look - Ratchet/inferno/grapple have windows to the front, first aid/hotspot/hook don't.

 

What do people think to the idea- I personally think it would add a nice gimmick to the higher price point alts while allowing them to retain some G1 homage status and still be repainted in an original manner. Opinions?

I'll take what ever they make. As long as they make em. Unless they cost to much.

I'd like more variety and bigger toys but that = bigger price. All depends on Hasbro wanting to stick to 1 price point or not.

 

Base idea is good. Worked for G1 Prime.

 

The 180 idea. I don't expect them to come slightly modified from the factory though. They could easily have the next version of the Prowl mold assembled with reversed legs but probably not. I do like that if you're willing to put in the effort you can make your own bots look sufficiently different. Remove Swindle's doors. TF Dead End's doors into wings or do the trunk mod, etc.

 

I'm just happy they're off to meet with Takara on non car Alts. Bring on the jets. Change the scale of course.

Is it just me - or does anyone get the idea that the Alt jets are scrapped - i mean that if MID-SERIES Starscream is going to be a near perfect replica of a F15 - then why make Alt-Jets??

 

Sounds like we are going to get what we want in the Mid-Sereies (between Cybertron and Movie)