The Energon Pub

Ok, don't get me wrong, I love the humanoid robots Hasbro has for the transformers and beyond, but seriously, WHY is almost every single robot of human build? Where are the cars and trucks that turn into giant mechanical beasts? I'll admit, Demolishor and Rampage are cool deviations, and they got everything right about Hatchet(but where is a voyager class figure of him????), but who wouldn't love to see a Ravage that turns into Hitler's Mercedes? Or an armored truck that turns into a triceratops??? That also solves the "Dinobot" problem; instead of having dinosaur alt-modes becoming humanoid robots, have dinosaur robots turn into big-ass trucks and military vehicles! Hasbro could have so many awesome ways to deal with non-humanoids becoming vehicles, and probably learn a lot about kibble distribution in the process. I love the human bots, but why would a distant race of robots that can change shape who have had little to no contact with humans have almost exclusively humanoid designs? Come on Hasbro! There's so much untapped potential!
PhD

I'm on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/PhelesDragon?feature=mhee

PhelesDragon wrote:I love the human bots, but why would a distant race of robots that can change shape who have had little to no contact with humans have almost exclusively humanoid designs? Come on Hasbro! There's so much untapped potential!

That raises Robert Epp's question: "If God made us in his image, who made them?"

Anywho, the Cybertronion race has had no contact with Earth animals either, so...what?

Valid point, but the issue still remains: Why do (almost) all robot modes have to be humanoid??? The potential is virtually limitless once they move past just humanoid.
PhD

I'm on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/PhelesDragon?feature=mhee

Gyrotron wrote:

PhelesDragon wrote:I love the human bots, but why would a distant race of robots that can change shape who have had little to no contact with humans have almost exclusively humanoid designs? Come on Hasbro! There's so much untapped potential!

That raises Robert Epp's question: "If God made us in his image, who made them?"

Anywho, the Cybertronion race has had no contact with Earth animals either, so...what?

Valid point, but the issue still remains: Why do (almost) all robot modes have to be humanoid??? The potential is virtually limitless once they move past just humanoid.
PhD

I'm on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/PhelesDragon?feature=mhee

Gyrotron wrote:

PhelesDragon wrote:I love the human bots, but why would a distant race of robots that can change shape who have had little to no contact with humans have almost exclusively humanoid designs? Come on Hasbro! There's so much untapped potential!

That raises Robert Epp's question: "If God made us in his image, who made them?"

Anywho, the Cybertronion race has had no contact with Earth animals either, so...what?

I was actually thinking this just the other day. Airachnid is nice, but even she has a fully humanoid mode. I'd like a centaur Transformer or something. Not with actual horse-features, but that body shape.

PhelesDragon wrote:Valid point, but the issue still remains: Why do (almost) all robot modes have to be humanoid??? The potential is virtually limitless once they move past just humanoid.
PhD

Maybe because it's difficult to operate a space ship when each of your four limbs end with a hoof.

I prefer my two armed bipeds cos there's more poseability that way, however, I have been thinking for a few years that a robot with four fully poseable legs and two fully poseable arms would be cool, as would a robot with two fully poseable legs and four fully poseable arms.

PhelesDragon wrote:I'm on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/PhelesDragon?feature=mhee

I'm on a horse

It's because they are designed to be sold. Humans tend to stick to what they recognise. We recognise humans.

Mykltron wrote:

PhelesDragon wrote:Valid point, but the issue still remains: Why do (almost) all robot modes have to be humanoid??? The potential is virtually limitless once they move past just humanoid.
PhD

Maybe because it's difficult to operate a space ship when each of your four limbs end with a hoof.

I prefer my two armed bipeds cos there's more poseability that way, however, I have been thinking for a few years that a robot with four fully poseable legs and two fully poseable arms would be cool, as would a robot with two fully poseable legs and four fully poseable arms.

PhelesDragon wrote:I'm on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/PhelesDragon?feature=mhee

I'm on a horse

There's coffee coming from my nose.

I do think they could offer a few that step out of the norm and into the badazz. My only issue would be could the Toy version be as awesome as the the artist idea.

Believe it or not, you tapped my Dinobot Idea right on it's head. I was thinking Like Dirt Rally Crash'n'Bash derby cars turning into Dinosaurs would be cool, or just the cars themselves, all Dirt and gritty sandrail styled dune buggies and hummers and whatnot, deco'd up like Dinosaurs, turning into Robots that look Similar to what we see in G1 Grimlock and whatnot. Iv'e givin the Dinobots alot of thought, and the bigger and beastlier the better. Like to see a Armored Plane drop off two armored vehicles, turn nto swoop, then the 1 armored Dune Basher would turn into Slag, and the Armored Dirt buster pickup into Snarl. And to finish it, an armored Hummer as Grimlock. A guy can dream....and those are pretty armored and sick dreams...

Looked at my avatar and I know who you are talking about.

"Maybe because it's difficult to operate a space ship when each of your four limbs end with a hoof."

Agreed, but WHO CARES? Let the director figure out how centaurs operate spaceships, not the toy designers. And centaurs have more than 4 limbs, they also have 2 human arms.

"It's because they are designed to be sold. Humans tend to stick to what they recognise. We recognise humans."

Valid point as well, but you know what else TransFormers fans recognize? TRANSFORMERS. Humanoid or not, We TF fans are smart enough to spot a robo-shapeshifter when we see one.
Um, and what country do you live in that your people don't recognize animal forms? Sorry, I had to ask.

"I prefer my two armed bipeds cos there's more poseability that way, however, I have been thinking for a few years that a robot with four fully poseable legs and two fully poseable arms would be cool, as would a robot with two fully poseable legs and four fully poseable arms."

Having a 4-legged(plus) transformer would not necessarily inhibit pose-ability. In fact, a huge issue with TFs is top heaviness due to kibble. You know what stands better than a biped? A quadroped.

it be damn near impossible to create a inect beast that transforms into a car without some serious kibble(shellformer) or a great deal of compromise in both modes. either that or a huge figure that has the needed space to incorporate all of this not something hasbro is going to do.

Why? Explain to me the logistics of why this is impossible. And I didn't say anything about insects, but while we're at it, hell yeah, throw in a few bugs too. They won't know unless they try. Look at G1, the toys sucked, but after years of practice, the stuff they are putting out is unbelievable. I challenge you to give me a solid argument why animal based robot modes are an impossibility.

alternator77 wrote:it be damn near impossible to create a inect beast that transforms into a car without some serious kibble(shellformer) or a great deal of compromise in both modes. either that or a huge figure that has the needed space to incorporate all of this not something hasbro is going to do.

PhelesDragon wrote:Why? Explain to me the logistics of why this is impossible. And I didn't say anything about insects, but while we're at it, hell yeah, throw in a few bugs too. They won't know unless they try. Look at G1, the toys sucked, but after years of practice, the stuff they are putting out is unbelievable. I challenge you to give me a solid argument why animal based robot modes are an impossibility.

alternator77 wrote:it be damn near impossible to create a inect beast that transforms into a car without some serious kibble(shellformer) or a great deal of compromise in both modes. either that or a huge figure that has the needed space to incorporate all of this not something hasbro is going to do.

To be fair there are a not-insignificant number of non-humanoid robots. Just look at DOTM Hatchet, or ROTF Scalpel and Ejector. Pretty much every Laserbeak and Ravage ever (except for Beast Wars/Energon). The Breast Force. Sky Lynx. Noble Savage. There are a ton of examples.

Yes, I understand that, but where is a decent sized movie Hatchet? My issue not that there are not beastial robots, it's that there are not enough vehicle alt modes attached to them. The ones that exist are few and far between, and I am not gonna shell out for the ravage that turns into the car on eBay. My issue is that with all of the copious amounts of robots that are humanoid, could we have a few each line that are not? I'm ignoring 'bots that have beast modes am focusing on 'bots that could have animal-like robot modes. Oh, and the "Breast Force"? LOL. (Yes, I understand that is a thing)

alternator77 wrote:it be damn near impossible to create a inect beast that transforms into a car without some serious kibble(shellformer) or a great deal of compromise in both modes. either that or a huge figure that has the needed space to incorporate all of this not something hasbro is going to do.

[/quote]
To be fair there are a not-insignificant number of non-humanoid robots. Just look at DOTM Hatchet, or ROTF Scalpel and Ejector. Pretty much every Laserbeak and Ravage ever (except for Beast Wars/Energon). The Breast Force. Sky Lynx. Noble Savage. There are a ton of examples.[/quote]

PhelesDragon wrote:Why? Explain to me the logistics of why this is impossible. And I didn't say anything about insects, but while we're at it, hell yeah, throw in a few bugs too. They won't know unless they try. Look at G1, the toys sucked, but after years of practice, the stuff they are putting out is unbelievable. I challenge you to give me a solid argument why animal based robot modes are an impossibility.

alternator77 wrote:it be damn near impossible to create a inect beast that transforms into a car without some serious kibble(shellformer) or a great deal of compromise in both modes. either that or a huge figure that has the needed space to incorporate all of this not something hasbro is going to do.

Why don't you prove they ARE possible?

Hasbro has been making Transformers for ~20 years and employs some of the best toy engineers in the business.

If they though it was possible AND profitable they would have done it already.

Ok, fair enough. Here's an argument. Hasbro, along with making some awesome toy decisions, has also made some TERRIBLE toy decisions. Them not even really attempting to make many beastial robots is proof that it MAY be profitable. Look at how many people want that ravage that turns into a car. It's among the most highly-coveted TFs. Granted, I can't PROVE that it's possible to make beastial robots turn into vehicles, simply because I am not a toy designer, but there is no solid argument that it can't work(not that I've seen anyway)and last time I checked, Hasbro was based in America, where we decided we wanted paper-thing laptops, so we made them. Bullshit we can't make beasts into vehicles. Hasbro does have some awesome designers, but the company can also be lazy. Case in point, DOTM Leader BumbleBee. A recent, humanoid robot that looks like ****. And An expensive one at that.

"Why don't you prove they ARE possible?

Hasbro has been making Transformers for ~20 years and employs some of the best toy engineers in the business.

If they though it was possible AND profitable they would have done it already."

PhelesDragon wrote:Ok, fair enough. Here's an argument. Hasbro, along with making some awesome toy decisions, has also made some TERRIBLE toy decisions. Them not even really attempting to make many beastial robots is proof that it MAY be profitable. Look at how many people want that ravage that turns into a car. It's among the most highly-coveted TFs. Granted, I can't PROVE that it's possible to make beastial robots turn into vehicles, simply because I am not a toy designer, but there is no solid argument that it can't work(not that I've seen anyway)and last time I checked, Hasbro was based in America, where we decided we wanted paper-thing laptops, so we made them. Bullshit we can't make beasts into vehicles. Hasbro does have some awesome designers, but the company can also be lazy. Case in point, DOTM Leader BumbleBee. A recent, humanoid robot that looks like ****. And An expensive one at that.

"Why don't you prove they ARE possible?

Hasbro has been making Transformers for ~20 years and employs some of the best toy engineers in the business.

If they though it was possible AND profitable they would have done it already."

You might think they are making terrible decisions but considering that Hasbro stock is up over 12% since the first movie came out I would say they're making good and more importantly profitable decisions.

Do I like every toy they do or don't release? No but I also don't have the hubris to think I know better then they do about what they should or shouldn't be making.

PhelesDragon wrote:"Maybe because it's difficult to operate a space ship when each of your four limbs end with a hoof."

Agreed, but WHO CARES? Let the director figure out how centaurs operate spaceships, not the toy designers. And centaurs have more than 4 limbs, they also have 2 human arms.

My point was evolution. It's said that it's our oppose-able thumbs that give us the advantage over animals. I also went on to say that I'd love a centaur type robot. With the two 'arms' it would be able to operate machinery.

A friend of mine wanted a TF as a kid and he got a Rock Lord. He was happy as it was an object that transformed into a humanoid. Maybe humanoids DO sell better.

I have to admit, Doubledealer's Vulture/Condor robot mode is pretty sweet. Yeah ok, he has a humanoid robot mode too, but it's a secret from his other mode...
Plus that's an excellent example of an animal transforming into a vehicle as both the bird and artillery modes are pretty flawless by G1 standards. The only other examples I can think of are the cassette formers, who are pretty neat. Although Frenzy is my fav amongst them and he's a humanoid too.

I think the reason I like humanoid robots is because I identify with them more; it's easier to inject imagination and personality into them when they have a shape you can relate to. Although having said that, I really wish Cybertron Scrapmetal only had a vehicle mode and a monstrous beast mode instead of a humanoid robot form as he has no personality and actually is a mindless monster.

I wouldnt even be botherd if they wernt earth vehicals

i would like to see like Hatchet(finally got him)Cyberverse/CHURG Scout versions of Steeljaw and Ramhorn and so on

They could be a fleet of cybertronian spaceships they dont have to come from Blaster or Soundwave we already know there little cassette gangs they would just be there own clique from either faction

If it was from the CHURG line they would fit nice with Rumble & Frenzy and it would be nice if that lead to Eject & Rewind .

Ok, this has gotten a little off topic talking about evolution and all that crap. Robots that become cars. Logic is out the window as far as I'm concerned. Look, I just think it would be really cool if, instead of doing the same thing 99% of the time, that Hasbro changed it up a bit. Would it really kill us if they some non-humanoid robots? I wouldn't mind a few "pets" for my bots.

PhelesDragon wrote:Valid point as well, but you know what else TransFormers fans recognize? TRANSFORMERS. Humanoid or not, We TF fans are smart enough to spot a robo-shapeshifter when we see one.
Um, and what country do you live in that your people don't recognize animal forms? Sorry, I had to ask.

If you're going to be sorry in advance, the question you ask is going to be a bit mean even by you own standards, wouldn't you agree?

Aside from that, usually animalistic depections are synonims of human character traits. Symbolism is a cultural phenomenon understood by most people, examples; a snake is a cunning and deceptive character (check your local bible) and not much ofa heroic character. If I where a christian comsumer, not a crazy assumption if you live in the US, you wouldn't be very tempted to buy such a character for you kid, right? Forgive me if I can't list every animal metaphore, the list is extensive and I can imagine you can think of your own examples.

Also. there's this article: http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/humanization/

And be aware that fans can recognize a TF, but are not the primary market.

Lets see some ROTF bike sister piles of failure.

Soundwave and Blaster both had loads of non-humanoid minions/companions. BM Vehicons and Movieverse Decepticons really push the envelope on robot designs. And then there's Trypticon and Sky Lynx, and probably a bunch more I'm not thinking of. While non-humanoid TFs have been done, a lot of those designs have been "forced" onto Harbro, either because they were rebranding a bunch of older toys (the G1 guys) or had a separate party do the designs for them (as with Movieverse). [I'm not sure how Vehicons were handled]

Personally, I love non-humanoids (in fact I hate human-like bots) and would love to see more of them. There's no real reason Hasbro can't make any.

EDIT: I would LOVE to get Dinobots that had dinosaurs as their bot modes. I don't know about anyone else, but their Dino-parts are far more memorable than their Bot-parts (and the original cartoon abandoned the robot modes at one point, IIRC).