After reading the latest review of Cybertron Menasor, I thought I'd start a topic.

 

Not including the g1 and g2.  (Since it's obvious most if not all 80's child on this board probably loves them)

 

The only recent  TF lines I have enjoyed are alternators and RiD.

 

My reasoning? I grew up loving the original TF.  The best thing about them was while there were robots they also fit in with surroundings.  However, the recent TFs don't fit that concept anymore. Since you aren't really robots in disguise anymore (or more then meets the eye) if your alternative mode is even more wacked out than robot mode.

 

Don't get me wrong, the new stuff does have it's good points.  I love the increased articulation and there are some cool robot modes.  However, to me, TFs will always be robots in disguise.

 

note:  BW stuff hits the criteria also, I just haven't been a huge fan of beast stuff.  Loved the cartoon though.

 

Thoughts, comments, varying opinions?

 

thanks.

I am now and always have been more partial to realistic alt modes than the futuristic alt modes. I did like most of what was in BM though, but aside from that, I never really liked much of the off-the-wall stuff in Armada through Cybertron. I have always liked driving around and seeing Silverstreak, or Swindle, Grimlock, Tracks or even recently Prime (although I have yet to see Alt Prime and don't really like the mold choice, but that is beside the point) and getting a small, unexpected TF fix. Stuff like that makes this hobby more fun for me.

 

Gimme something like the Alt/BT or the Neo G1 line with realistic and believable alt modes and I will be happy.

most of the cybertron autobot alt modes would be believable if it wasn't for the paint job... it's something i feel they've improved in cybertron, hell thundercracker looks almost dead on, same as excillion and i don't think they even need to touch autovolt... i go for the over-all bot, if said bot has an alt mode thats less disirable it better have something else going for it before i pick it up.  i liked the alt modes from rid but i absolutly hated their bot modes (most of them) but i do love the alternator's line.  i'm realy fine with futuristic and unearthly alt forms though, as long as they actually look like something else, there where a few of them in g1 and it's fine with me but even if the gigalonians weren't supposed to disguised, they're alt modes still suck, hell neither animatros nor speedia's guys needed to hide but they at least had an alt mode that looked like something....  that's all ^_^

I, too, have always preferred the alt modes look like something that could be anywhere.

 

Let's spot the alien robot... Buick, Mazda, Ford, Honda, Toyota, Spacefighter with plasma cannons and hyberdrive, Tow Truck, Pogostick.

 

 

One of these doesn't fit as a disguise.

As a kid I always much preferred the realistic alt modes. Before knowing about Diaclone and such I always thought of it as cheapening Transformers when the movie came around and the had these weird futuristic alt modes. Later when I thought of them as Cybertronian alt modes instead of futuristic I somehow liked it better. That's a pretty superficial reason to like or not like something, but that's the vagaries of a person's taste.

 

However what I don't understand now is the preoccupation with the phrase "robots in disguise". That was a tag line, a minor marketing slogan. Very rarely even in seasons 1 & 2 of G1 has the "disguise" aspect really played up. Did the Dinobots or Omega Supreme ever fool anyone?

 

"Disguise" is really a minor point of the whole TF mythos, it hasn't truely been a main focus before, so why should it be now?

As a kid I always much preferred the realistic alt modes. Before knowing about Diaclone and such I always thought of it as cheapening Transformers when the movie came around and the had these weird futuristic alt modes. Later when I thought of them as Cybertronian alt modes instead of futuristic I somehow liked it better. That's a pretty superficial reason to like or not like something, but that's the vagaries of a person's taste.

 

However what I don't understand now is the preoccupation with the phrase "robots in disguise". That was a tag line, a minor marketing slogan. Very rarely even in seasons 1 & 2 of G1 has the "disguise" aspect really played up. Did the Dinobots or Omega Supreme ever fool anyone?

 

"Disguise" is really a minor point of the whole TF mythos, it hasn't truely been a main focus before, so why should it be now?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

the new comic by IDW shows why it works (when it works) the whold mystique of subterfuge and invasion is an awesome TF concept to get behind. 

But it has limited application. It seems to me that the purpose of transformation, as it's used in various TF media, is more about additional functionality than actual concealment.

 

Anyway, a disguise only works one time if you never change it.

I prefer realistic ones, but sometimes a mode that stands out can inhance a character.  Like Grimlock the t-rex, for example.  He'd be much less popular if he'd been a mustang in G1.

But it has limited application. It seems to me that the purpose of transformation, as it's used in various TF media, is more about additional functionality than actual concealment.

Anyway, a disguise only works one time if you never change it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is a very good point. However, I still prefer TFs w/ realistic alt modes over the ones that are futurist, or even worse, alt modes that only exist so that the bot mode can be really cool, ie Cybertron Prime and Megatron.

 

In that circumstance, the alt mode means almost nothing b/c the figure/character is never in alt mode b/c it looks so bad and the bot mode looks so good. I just think that w/ realistic bot modes, you can get a better balance of quality alt and bot modes.

the new comic by IDW shows why it works (when it works) the whold mystique of subterfuge and invasion is an awesome TF concept to get behind. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'm not saying it's never been used and used well. But when looking at the entirety of Transformers, it's a very minor point that fans seem to fixate upon. The IDW comic that has been around for less than a year is not a basis of their argument either. I'm not arguing for or against real alt modes, just putting forth the observation that "robots in disguise" is really a minor element. Like Madhammer said, it's usually more about functionality than concealment.