I actually found the whole experience intriguing and invigorating. 
Black?GuyIncognito wrote:As for the Skywarp bit, isn't it obvious? You said it yourself. Their original plan was to make a purple and black space shuttle named Spacewarp.
Notice the "too" in my original response, indicating that I said that Fun Pub has created both new character toys and existing character toys.GuyIncognito wrote:Sabrblade appeared to disagree with the suggestion that FunPub doesn't create "original characters", and responded thusly:Sabrblade wrote:Fun Pub has created new character toys too:
I'll admit, that wording may have been a bit misleading. A less confusing phrasing would be "Fun Pub has created toys for new characters too."GuyIncognito wrote:Now, Sabrblade's usage of the term "character toy" is confusing, as it combines two concepts in one.
They are, as they are portrayed quite differently than their namesakes. A character's personality and portrayal defines who they are, not their physical appearance.GuyIncognito wrote:But the point I raised is that SOME of the example he listed, such as Buzzclaw and Astrotrain, are NOT examples of FubPub CREATING ORIGINAL CHARACTERS, but rather examples of them shoehorning (to borrow xyl360's term) existing characters into their fiction. Sabrblade appears to be arguing that FubPub's Buzzclaw and Astrotrain figures were, in fact, original characters created by FunPub.
Let's look at the Spacewarp example again. Had they acquired that name, he likely would have turned out to be the exact same kind of character Cyb. Astrotrain became. A bitter, cruel, independent bounty hunter who inspires loyalty in his small band of followers.
Then, let's say Spacewarp one day got into a fight that left his body badly injured. During the repair process, suppose he able to fix everything but his head. Seeking a replacement for this part, he bought a new noggin that resembled that of G1 Astrotrain. Liking the way this head looked on him, suppose that Spacewarp liked it so much that he went down to the Cybertronian legal name change center to file for a name change, in honor of the new of his new head. Now, Spacewarp has a new head and now goes by "Astrotrain", yet still continues to live the same life he always had, conducting business through bounty hunting and being loyal to his minions. Does this somehow make him a different person from how he was before his accident?
They did more than just "If you take an existing mold, repaint it in homage to an existing character, give it the same name as that existing character, align it with the same faction, and change some details of the bio/backstory" for those two.
For Buzzclaw, while they did keep the name for the mold, his deco looks nothing like BW Buzzclaw, he's has no affiliation to the Predacons (G1 or BW versions), and his bio in completely original, barely resembling that of BW Buzzclaw.
For Astrotrain, they took the Jetfire mold, gave it Spacewarp's colors, faction, and bio, and then threw an Astrotrain noggin and name on it. He's basically Astrotrain in name and head only, with everything else about him being all about Spacewarp.
