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New Binaltech/Alternator


Smokescreen01

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I personally don't like the idea of "Alternator-izing" TFs that were never earth vehicles in the first place.

Why do so many people keep saying that? TF's from the movie like Kup, Hot Rod and Arcee weren't Cybertronian vehicles, the movie was set in 2005 and started production in 1984/5. This is what the desiginers were showing as "futuristic desigins" for Earth vehicles. Take Hot Rod, for example, who has wheels as opposed to Bumblebee's Cybertronian mode which is a hovercar. Why would Cybertronian technology take a step backward in the implied years between their creations?

 

But to stay on topic, if Kup were an Alternator, I'd say make him a Nissan (maybe the Nails prototype). I wouldn't buy a Nissan truck, but they look more like Kup to me than anything out on the road.

If you look closely during the scene in MTMTE where Bumblebee is in his alt mode, you will notice that he does in fact have wheels (one of them gets blown off in the Decepticon attack). Not that it makes any sense for him to have wheels... But besides that, there are plenty of times in the G1 cartoon where they show Cybertronian vehicles with wheels on them.

 

Point is, it was never explicitly stated that Hot Rod and the others were supposed to be Earth vehicles. And anyway, I don't think levitation should be the sole criterion by which we determine the source of a TF alt mode design (Blurr is a hovercar too, you know). Not to mention that there are advantages to having wheels -- floating isn't always better just because it's more "futuristic."

 

It makes sense for an Earth vehicle from the 80's to be updated as an Earth vehicle from today. But what's to update if you've got futuristic vehicles that still look futuristic today?

 

I understand the desire to see some of these figures updated, but I don't think Alternators is the most appropriate toy line in which to do that. (Heck, if you want an updated Hot Rod, just go buy Energon Rodimus.)

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I'd rather see Mirage done intoa F1 Car/Kart Racer or BumbleBee done up. Kup is ok. Nothing great.

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To tell you the truth I think it would be awesome for Hasbro to not intirely involve older Transformers for these Binaltech/Alternators. Its always Hasbro and what sold good and what sells good, but apparently they wouldn't ever think of doing a newer TF from a different series.

 

I was looking at my RID Silver X-Brawn and his vehicle mode looks so much like an SUV of some sort. He would make a great canadite to become an alternate of a real license SUV. He is an awesome toy and awesome design that would be awesome larger scaled and redesigned and peaked at different areas of him.

 

For one he doesn't have that style with the car trunk and the head that pops out. Instead the whole front of the car is a sheild/arm and other parts of the car are used for protection too. He is really poseable for his size and his color scheme is perfect.

 

Well I would go more into it, but I'm sure nobody else agree's with me. ^^

 

xbrawn01.JPG

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Well, he was a real Mercedes SUV, though not officially licensed. And really, the whole point of an Alternator is to provide an "updated" version of classic or older figures (i.e. ones that look stupid old nowadays). X-Brawn came out in 2000 and has at least as much articulation as Alternators Smokescreen and Sideswipe. He's already about as close to an Alternator as you can get without actually being one. I still don't think it makes a lot of sense to "Alternator-ize" Kup, Hot Rod, and so on, but it makes more sense to do that than to create a new version of a 4-year-old figure.

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The version from Japan was a good bit closer in design to a Mercedes ML, X-Brawn was reverse engineered to avoid legal issues.

 

 

Since Dodge/Chrysler effectively own Mercedes know,it could easily happen.

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The version from Japan was a good bit closer in design to a Mercedes ML, X-Brawn was reverse engineered to avoid legal issues.

Reverse engineered is not the technical term for it. Reverse engineering means to take the final product, and pretty much try to work backwards, taking the item apart and whatnot to determine the processes used to make said item work, for whatever purposes. Bootleggers reverse engineer toys all the time, that's why we have all sorts of KO gestalts flooding the market, while Takara and Hasbro maintain that they don't have the molds to work with at all.

 

No, the correct term in this case is probably more like, "modified".

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Personally I'd love to see Kup. He had real personality, much like many S3 characters. He wasn't the new Ironhide, he was his own act. He reminded me of a cross between my own two grandfathers. Ironhide was more like a heroic version of Yosemite Sam. They were both dynamic characters in their own way.

 

True, killing off all the originals or having them just go away unexplained (Hound, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe?) in favor of the newbies isnt something Im a fan of. But lets face it, thier mildly dysfunctional personalities are more representative of the wierdos you actually meet in life. Wheelie was annoying as hell, and while I liked Blurr, so was he at times. But thats representative of reality, life is full of people you want to attack with an aluminum bat for being such nauseating dweebs. Not like S1/2 sometimes did, like gaving Huffer the opportunity to complain here and there since that was his cue and he'd have had no lines otherwise.

 

As to doing Alt versions of characters with Cybertronian/Earth vehicle modes so what if these seem to be going backwards? If something they can get a license to fits the character, then full speed ahead.

 

As to hovercars being somehow better than those with wheels, no way. Its been proven time and again that hovercrafts have lousy handling traits, whereas a car set up for maximum performance will always have the best handling due to having physical contact with the road.

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True, killing off all the originals or having them just go away unexplained (Hound, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe?) in favor of the newbies isnt something Im a fan of. But lets face it, thier mildly dysfunctional personalities are more representative of the wierdos you actually meet in life. Wheelie was annoying as hell, and while I liked Blurr, so was he at times. But thats representative of reality, life is full of people you want to attack with an aluminum bat for being such nauseating dweebs. Not like S1/2 sometimes did, like gaving Huffer the opportunity to complain here and there since that was his cue and he'd have had no lines otherwise.

Dude, if you want to be annoyed by freakish people, go hang out at the airport. I think your assessment of Wheelie and Blurr is a bit like saying, "the show was *supposed* to suck," as if the writers intentionally inserted cringe-inducing characters into the Transformers show, rather than simply writing characters that were supposed to be funny but weren't.

 

Not that I disagree with you about Huffer. He was a waste of space.

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I want the Lamborghinis! Larger scale of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, with articulation. Doesn't have to be too complicated. Wheeljack and Mirage would be great as well.

Also a nice big Warpath (or Blitzwing) would be ideal!

Sky is the limit!

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