...except the scenes where he TRANSFORMS! Burn!!

 

Pretenders came from a concept where Hasbro suggested making a line of Transformers that transformed into humans. Takara kinda went "nah" and suggested the idea of encasing Transformers in human looking shells instead - at least for the Autobots (with monsters for the Decepticons) and Hasbro went "yeah alright" and thus HasTak created Pretenders.

 

If they want to do a TF/GI Joe crossover, they should have the vehicles transform into robots, but either:

+ classic characters, e.g.: Starscream as a Wild Weasel (he could come with a Cobra Commander pilot figurine like how the Star Wars TFs have pilots). Or...

+ original characters, like Snowcat.

 

The mistake that they made (and are continuing to make) with Star Wars Transformers is trying to make the robot modes look like humanoid Star Wars characters, which ruins the overall look of the robot mode. How much better would the X-Wing TF be if it didn't have to try to resemble Luke Skywalker in robot mode? Snowcat wasn't trying to imitate any Joes in robot mode, thus the robot mode was allowed to have its own form and character. Even the idea of trying to make the robot mode look like classic G1 characters is fine. The mistake with the Star Wars Transformers are these robot modes based on organic Star Wars characters, and it just looks el crapo.

The mistake that they made (and are continuing to make) with Star Wars Transformers is trying to make the robot modes look like humanoid Star Wars characters, which ruins the overall look of the robot mode. How much better would the X-Wing TF be if it didn't have to try to resemble Luke Skywalker in robot mode? Snowcat wasn't trying to imitate any Joes in robot mode, thus the robot mode was allowed to have its own form and character. Even the idea of trying to make the robot mode look like classic G1 characters is fine. The mistake with the Star Wars Transformers are these robot modes based on organic Star Wars characters, and it just looks el crapo.

 

But the resultant transformation is a mechanical exosuit that resembles a mechanized interpretation of its driver - it makes sense, because the SWTF comes with the mini-figures that IS the SW character piloting the larger transformable counterpart of themselves - but then again, I guess it depends on how you look at it. I see the resemblance to the driver as an "avatar" type of design, i.e. the appearance is merely a holographic projection, but I guess you can also look at it as "organic transferrance" of the character themselves, i.e. build an exo-suit that looks like yourself which, I agree, is cheesy.

But the resultant transformation is a mechanical exosuit that resembles a mechanized interpretation of its driver - it makes sense, because the SWTF comes with the mini-figures that IS the SW character piloting the larger transformable counterpart of themselves

 

Why the hell would you want a giant piloted mech that looked like you? Just make it look like a mech. Hell, technically it wouldn't even need a head.

Pretenders came from a concept where Hasbro suggested making a line of Transformers that transformed into humans.

ANIMORPHS'D :tfevil

With the new G.I. Joe Line Sigma 6 out, I picked up Cobra Commander and it rocked. Then I remember Chris Latta (the actor that supplied the voice for Cobra Commander and Starscream back in the 80s) and looked at my Pretender Starscream sitting at my desk - the two figures are roughly the same size. Then it got me thinking, why don't Hasbro put the two lines together the way they did with SWTF, except not suck? I got a few suggestions for putting TF characters/robots inside G.I.Joe characters/shells:

 

TF/G.I. Joe match ups:

 

Starscream/Cobra Commander (this one isn't even up for debate)

Megatron/Serpentor

Mindwipe/Crystal Ball

Skullcruncher/Croc Master

Bugly/Storm Shadow

 

 

Just a thought.

 

 

Going back to the original topic:

 

 

I cannot understand how Hasbro has ignored this possibility for so many years (and more to come).

 

I have always wanted to see G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover toys made. Even when I a child collecting the original G1 TFs and 3 3/4 inch Joes I realized they were made by the same company so why didn't they ever combine them? I wanted to have human figures that could drive TFs (other than the 2 small (diaclone?) figures that came with some combining robot but fit on my TFs). This is one reason I kinda liked Headmasters, so the TFs had human toys to interact with.

I'd buy a serpentor toy like the one from TF vs GI Joe vol III.

"I'd buy that for a dollar!" :thumb

 

 

CJ

 

 

 

:tfdance

But the resultant transformation is a mechanical exosuit that resembles a mechanized interpretation of its driver - it makes sense, because the SWTF comes with the mini-figures that IS the SW character piloting the larger transformable counterpart of themselves - but then again, I guess it depends on how you look at it. I see the resemblance to the driver as an "avatar" type of design, i.e. the appearance is merely a holographic projection, but I guess you can also look at it as "organic transferrance" of the character themselves, i.e. build an exo-suit that looks like yourself which, I agree, is cheesy.

Hasbro has failed to provide SWTFs with a background story, so we have no idea as to why the Transformers look the way they do. Are they simply piloted mecha (even if they are, it's not common practise to model your mecha's robot mode after the pilot), or are they sentient living Transformers who have a symbiotic relationship with their pilots (which is what I prefer and how I've portrayed them in my fanfics)? We don't know.

 

Having Cobra Commander pilot Starscream who transforms into a Wild Weasel, or even an F-15 Eagle, but whose robot mode resembles Starscream and not Cobra Commander, is a far better idea than having Cobra Commander piloting a jet that transformed into a robotic version of Cobra Commander. *shudders*

 

Another thing they could do with the G.I. Joe/TF crossover concept is to simply give us 9.5cm G.I. Joe figures based on human characters from Transformers, e.g.: Spike, Buster, Sparkplug, Carly, Daniel, Dr. Archeville, the kids from A/E/C (remember, kids buy toys too!) etc.

 

You could have certain variations of these characters, such as:

+ Cartoon Spike (youth): brown hair, comes with the same clothes he constantly wore throughout seasons 1 and 2. Would have a removable yellow helmet. He could also come with an Autobot X PVC.

+ Cartoon Spike (adult): Based on Spike as we saw him in Transformers the Movie. Comes with exo-suit that can be assembled around the figure. It would be extra neat if the exo-suit could be re-assembled for its vehicle mode.

+ Comic Spike: blonde hair - normal civvie clothes. Comes with clip-on Headmaster armour (i.e.: the armour he wears when bonded with Fortress Maximus). The armour doesn't need to be able to actually transform into Cerebros' head, but it would be neat to have a 9.5cm articulated version of Fort Max Spike. There should be two versions of the helmet - with and without the faceplate, so you can re-enact scenes where he's wearing only the helmet without faceplate (and was still able to remotely interact with Fortress Maximus).

+ Daniel: wearing the clothes he had in Transformers the Movie. Same exo-suit accessory that adult cartoon Spike comes with.

+ Cartoon Sparkplug: Again, wearing the same clothes he always wore... complete with unbuttoned shirt and exposed beer belly. No wonder Spike had no mother. Comes with same removable yellow helmet.

+ Carly: Based on young version from Season 2. She'd be hot.

+ Carly Witwicky: Season 3 version of Carly.

+ Captain Marissa Fairborn: In her profile, her name should be "Marissa Dashielle Allison Fairborn," so that she would carry her parent's given name as her middle name (I just made up "Dashielle" as a feminine version of "Dashiell" - in reality 'Dashiell' doesn't have a feminine form, but obviously it'd be a neat reference to Flint).

+ Christopher "Chip" Chase: With wheelchair! He should definitely keep his leg articulation so that he can stand like he did in the cartoon when he caught the grenade. Freakin' faker... I bet he just rides in that chair to get disabled parking for Bumblebee.

+ Walter Barnett - probably the version where he's wearing his combat uniform with removable helmet and rifle. He'd look more like a Joe than a TF human character!

+ Buster Witwicky: he should come with some transparent yellow plastic "energy wave" thing that can be clipped onto his head, representing him commanding the power of the Matrix.

+ Donny Finkleberg: aka The Robot Master

+ G.B. Blackrock

+ The Neo Knights! Oh boy, how long have we been hanging out for a Circuit Breaker toy! *fapfapfap*

The piloted mech story is official isn't it? The Falcon set came with miniture hans and chewies you could put in thier cockpits.

Sigma Six comes in two scales, big and tiny, so allthough 3.75 scale transformers would be cool, the tiny Sigma Sixers would be able to fit inside transformers more easily, heck their vehicles are the same size as TFs