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Which TF TOY series is your absolute favorite


sgt__york

Which is your favorite TOY line?  

70 members have voted

  1. 1. Which is your favorite TOY line?

    • G1 - the originals just still do it for me
      13
    • Beast Wars - love the animals
      1
    • Energon
      2
    • Cybertron
      4
    • Classics - better G1's
      14
    • ALT or Binaltech - cars, how they are meant to be
      10
    • MasterPiece - they just don't get any better
      10
    • Movie - new, improved and the best
      4
    • Animated
      7
    • OTHER - the best toy line was..
      5


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My basis:

+ Better quality rubber for the tyres. RiD tyres are notorious for splitting, whereas CR aren't. I got Super Fire Convoy in 2000 and RiD Prime in 2002 - a few months later my RiD Prime's tyres had split - to this day my SFC's tyres are immaculate.

I've got a RiD Optimus Prime from the toy's original North American release. The tires are still in perfect condition.

 

+ One cool feature of CR was that faction symbols were only visible in robot mode, but not visible in vehicle mode. CR Spychangers have heat-sensitive panels which show the symbol when rubbed (like rub signs, but not stickers). RiD have faction symbols plastered all over their alt modes, making them inferior robots in disguise than their CR counterparts!

The problem with that being that prior to CR/RiD vehicle Transformers always had their faction symbols visible in vehicle mode. It just looks odd for a Transformers toy to not have faction symbols visible in both modes, IMO.

 

+ RiD gave us some truly craptacular names for an English speaking market, e.g.: X-Brawn, Mo-Vor, Ro-Tor... Challenge of the Gobots'd!!

I agree here. X-Brawn should have been named Ironhide.

 

I liked Car Robots (rid) too.. but they seemed a lil too complex for their own good.. Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus are like the most puzzley puzzleformer I've ever seen.. and not in a good way. Totally awesome display peice, but as an actual toy, forget about it.

I have to strongly disagree. Those are two of my favorite TFs! My only complaint is Optimus Prime's fire engine mode could stay together better...

It's the opposite with me. Whenever I pick him up in robot mode it's a struggle to keep his chest plate/head/ladder backpack on, but his fire engine mode stays together just fine.

 

I actually decided to turn my RiD Optimus into my UT/Classics/Universe collection's Sentinel Prime. He needed something to do.

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MP Prime... I was disappointed. His posability was actually not that good (G1 Prime had just as good/better arm posability and proportions! Plus he was too heavy to hold any decent leg pose) and his alt-mode is just unconvincing, to say the least. I really do like Classics Prime in every respect other than accessories... which admittedly were awesome, but not enough.

I would have preferred MP Prime have been made with more plastic and less diecast, but I've been abel to pull of some rather fun poses with him. I have a hard time imagining his arms being any more poseable.

 

I love Classic Prime's weapons! There are so many different things you can do with them compared to other TF weapons. and they just look cool :)

 

I liked Car Robots (rid) too.. but they seemed a lil too complex for their own good.. Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus are like the most puzzley puzzleformer I've ever seen.. and not in a good way. Totally awesome display peice, but as an actual toy, forget about it.

I have to strongly disagree. Those are two of my favorite TFs! My only complaint is Optimus Prime's fire engine mode could stay together better...

 

 

I was mostly reffering to Omega Prime. Stand alone, they're pretty good.. but anything that takes an hour or so to form correctly kind of misses the point of being an actual toy.. which I think is probably what lead up to the overly simplistic approach Armada brought about. I mean if I was a kid *and I'm looking at this as in a kids perspective when I'm talking about most of the stuff here* I would be so frustrated with the damn thing.. I'd probably go play with Power Rangers or something instead. Makes a good display peice.. but as a toy, he pretty much fails.. kinda like MP Prime.

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The problem with that being that prior to CR/RiD vehicle Transformers always had their faction symbols visible in vehicle mode.

How is that a problem? If anything, they've improved on the traditional concept of having insignias adorned on alt modes and making them proper robots in disguise.

 

Also, they weren't the first Transformers to have no symbols in alt mode - it was done long before Car Robot, but it's odd how Robots In Disguise undid that and in doing so made them less effectual robots in disguise - quite ironic considering that the name of the line was "Robots In Disguise." ;)

 

It just looks odd for a Transformers toy to not have faction symbols visible in both modes, IMO.

They weren't the first nor last to do it.

Other examples include:

+ Mid to late Beast Wars - hidden/concealed rub signs & spark crystals

+ Binaltech/Alternators - did not overtly display faction symbols. Some of them had small symbols on their licence plates, but they're quite discreet. There are no large symbols which are emblazened on their vehicle modes.

+ Movie TFs: like BT/ALT, some of them display insignias discreetly in vehicle mode (e.g.: Prime's hood ornament), but otherwise not immediately noticeable in vehicle mode.

 

The whole coolness of lines like CR, BT/ALT etc. was the additional realism of not having insignias on the vehicle mode, because if you saw the vehicle IRL you could immediately imagine that it could be a Transformer. :D

 

zoomzoom.jpg

I found this parked outside my house one time - and I couldn't resist the photo op ;)

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I've got a RiD Optimus Prime from the toy's original North American release. The tires are still in perfect condition.

 

Yet. Those tires WILL crack, it's just a matter of time. My UM got a cracked tire several years ago, and my Optimus got one just recently while in storage. There's not really anything you can do about it, outside of gluing them back together. I haven't had any cracked tires on my Deluxes though, probably because they're smaller and thicker.

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The problem with that being that prior to CR/RiD vehicle Transformers always had their faction symbols visible in vehicle mode.

How is that a problem? If anything, they've improved on the traditional concept of having insignias adorned on alt modes and making them proper robots in disguise.

I'm not disagreeing about whether it was a good idea or not. It does make sense. I'm just saying that it's odd to see a Transformer in his car mode without a faction symbol when every other major incarnation that featured cars as alt modes featured faction symbols in those alt modes.

 

Plus, you have to consider that RiD was coming in off years of Beast Wars/Machines. As in the traditional Autobot/Decepticon dynamic was returning (the 'Cons were a little late to the party, but oh well). So slapping Autobot emblems on all the cars (the modes they were packaged in) may have been one of the ways Hasbro planned to promote the return of traditional factions.

 

It just looks odd for a Transformers toy to not have faction symbols visible in both modes, IMO.

They weren't the first nor last to do it.

Other examples include:

+ Mid to late Beast Wars - hidden/concealed rub signs & spark crystals

They transformed into animals. Not robotic animals, but organic animals. There isn't a lot of room with an organic alt mode to work in faction symbols.

The Spark Crystals and rub signs that did find their way on did feature faction emblems, though in a different manner then we're used to.

 

+ Binaltech/Alternators - did not overtly display faction symbols. Some of them had small symbols on their licence plates, but they're quite discreet. There are no large symbols which are emblazened on their vehicle modes.

The whole point of the BT/Alt line was to go for an ultra realistic approach using model-scaled RL vehicles as alt modes. The aim was realism, so huge faction symbols on the hoods and roofs wouldn't have made sense. The discreet use of the 'Bot and 'Con emblems made sense within the context of the line.

With RiD, however, you were dealing with a cartoon. Realism always takes a back seat to marketing when it comes to TF cartoons.

 

+ Movie TFs: like BT/ALT, some of them display insignias discreetly in vehicle mode (e.g.: Prime's hood ornament), but otherwise not immediately noticeable in vehicle mode.

Like BT/Alts, the theme was realism. So discreet use of faction emblems made sense within the line's context.

Again though, RiD was a cartoon. So the context is different.

 

The whole coolness of lines like CR, BT/ALT etc. was the additional realism of not having insignias on the vehicle mode, because if you saw the vehicle IRL you could immediately imagine that it could be a Transformer. :D

I agree that it's a neat idea to remove, or reduce the prominences of, faction emblems on alt modes. From a marketing PoV, however, it really doesn't work unless realism fits the context of the line itself.

 

RiD was a cartoon, and cartoon TFs always have their faction emblems visible in both modes. RiD was coming off of the Beast Era, so Hasbro probably wanted to stress the return to the traditional factions. So they slapped Autobot emblems all over the alt modes of the 'Bots, seeing as that was the mode they were packaged in.

 

zoomzoom.jpg

I found this parked outside my house one time - and I couldn't resist the photo op ;)

:tflaugh Nice

 

I actually decided to turn my RiD Optimus into my UT/Classics/Universe collection's Sentinel Prime. He needed something to do.

I'm calling him INFERNO PRIME and RID Ultra Magnus ALPHA MAGNUS. I had thought of calling him Sentinel Prime, but after Animated's Sentinel Prime I want to save that name for a jerk character :)

Eh, not big on Animated, skipping most of the line. So "Sentinel Prime" was up for grabs in my collection. The big old fire engine 'Bot fit the bill.

Besides, as far as my collection's concerned he's the best of both worlds.

Optimus' predecessor as Prime AND a huge jerk :D

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:tldr

 

Yeah there was an RID cartoon, but the point you're missing is that the Autobot cars WERE designed to be realistic, just like the BT's and movie toys. They're real cars with clear windows and rubber tires and chrome and stuff and they have extremely complex transformations for their size. They were by far the most realistic car alt-mode TF's to come along prior to Alts/BT's, and were probably the basis for the whole concept. I would also make the case that they're a lot more detailed than the movie toys, which are about 8 years newer.

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:tldr

 

Yeah there was an RID cartoon, but the point you're missing is that the Autobot cars WERE designed to be realistic, just like the BT's and movie toys. They're real cars with clear windows and rubber tires and chrome and stuff and they have extremely complex transformations for their size. They were by far the most realistic car alt-mode TF's to come along prior to Alts/BT's, and were probably the basis for the whole concept. I would also make the case that they're a lot more detailed than the movie toys, which are about 8 years newer.

Very possible. But the movie cars had better robot modes. The Autobot brothers were basically shellformers.

 

Regardless, it was still a cartoon-based line, and it was a mass release line. Not collector oriented, but aimed at the primary demographic, kids. And with a main line supported by a cartoon, the faction emblems are prominent, in both modes.

Also consider this was Hasbro's return to the traditional Autobot emblem, so they probably wanted to highlight that.

 

No faction emblems in alt mode (or discreet ones) is a very nice idea, and one that works very well when used. It's just not realistic to think Hasbro would have done that with their flagship line, especially after coming out of the Beast Era.

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The Car Robot/RiD cartoon did not feature faction symbols in alt mode. So by slapping those faction symbols all over RiD figures it actually made them less show-like. If you want truly "show accurate" RiD figures you're better off getting CR - especially Ruination. (-_-)

 

They transformed into animals. Not robotic animals, but organic animals. There isn't a lot of room with an organic alt mode to work in faction symbols.

Hasbro's BW 10th Anniversary line would disagree with that. :)

 

The Spark Crystals and rub signs that did find their way on did feature faction emblems, though in a different manner then we're used to.

The main difference being discretion. Look at B'Boom's rub sign - you can only see it during mid-transformation! I have Apache - which toywise is identical - and for the first few weeks of owning that toy I didn't even notice that it had a rub sign, cos it was so discreet! :P Bit too discreet IMO. The Spark Crystals kinda worked better because you knew where they were, although in many cases you had to open a panel to view it or it was only visible during tranformation (but no where near as badly hidden as on B'Boom/Apache).

 

...I still can't get over how Heinlad's spark crystal is located in his left testicle. :P

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