The Energon Pub

Masterpiece OP has no kibble. There's something to be said about square, bulky alt modes.

FoC Shockwave is also very nicely designed if a bit small.

Handels-Messerschmitt wrote:

Mykltron wrote:Triple Changer or GTFO.

His ape mode is his robot mode. He is an ape robot. Why would he need two flavours of primate?

Did you know that I somehow ALREADY DID THAT?

Best figure? I can't believe nobody has brought this up yet.

RoTF Leader Class Optimus Prime.

Aside from Masterpieces, this figure is probably the closest we will get to a perfect figure. It adheres to the design of the character on screen almost to a fault (fixed with the Buster version), it's proportionate, whatever little back kibble it has is there in the movie, the only thing I found mildly annoying (and only the 1st couple of times I transformed him) was the arm panels. Otherwise, This figure is perfection. I don't own the DotM version, but from what I've seen it's an improvement, if that's possible.

Worst figure?

I can't really think of a single figure based on too much kibble or non-adherence to the onscreen character. Too many garbage figures out there...

Rodimus Prime wrote:Best figure? I can't believe nobody has brought this up yet.

RoTF Leader Class Optimus Prime.

Aside from Masterpieces, this figure is probably the closest we will get to a perfect figure. It adheres to the design of the character on screen almost to a fault (fixed with the Buster version), it's proportionate, whatever little back kibble it has is there in the movie, the only thing I found mildly annoying (and only the 1st couple of times I transformed him) was the arm panels. Otherwise, This figure is perfection. I don't own the DotM version, but from what I've seen it's an improvement, if that's possible.

Worst figure?

I can't really think of a single figure based on too much kibble or non-adherence to the onscreen character. Too many garbage figures out there...

But we're not talking about the best figure ever. We're talking about the best figure that stores vehicle kibble nicely and doesn't have floating panels, backpacks, and wings. RotF Prime has a big backpack.

The thing I dont like about floating panels is they CAN be wrapped around a body part nicely. So many figures does it right like FE Bulkhead, Weaponizer Bumblebee (If you dont count the roof backpack) and the figure I might never have, Prime RiD Vehicon. Leader DotM Sentinel Prime hide panels in his legs too. That's why I cannot really forgive the Classic Voyager Optimus Prime mold. Just ONE more hinge in that floating panels on his forearms and it could have wrapped up around the arm nicely.

As for the backpacks, the ones that are not hindered by gimmicks, they could have been part of the body. So many figures with tiny arms and legs only to have a HUGE backpack. Cybertron Leader Megatron is a prime example. Sure, his "twin" backpack does contain gimmicks, but the gimmigs could have been implemented in much bigger arms and legs while avoiding the backpack altogether.

Mykltron wrote:

craggy wrote:

quickmixed wrote:2 best kibble-less figs in recent memory for me are Prime RID Soundwave and RTS Jazz. The Jazz mold, while simple, is one of the best yet.

RTS is wearing a car t-shirt though.

But he looks damned close to the cartoon.

I less than three RTS Jazz. Doesn't make him magically kibble-free thought. In fact, he's an example of why I'm not really all for the craze of hiding all the identifiably alt-mode characteristics. I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people's first Optimus Prime toys had some form of truck grill or cab windows on the chest.

craggy wrote:

Mykltron wrote:

craggy wrote:

quickmixed wrote:2 best kibble-less figs in recent memory for me are Prime RID Soundwave and RTS Jazz. The Jazz mold, while simple, is one of the best yet.

RTS is wearing a car t-shirt though.

But he looks damned close to the cartoon.

I less than three RTS Jazz. Doesn't make him magically kibble-free thought. In fact, he's an example of why I'm not really all for the craze of hiding all the identifiably alt-mode characteristics. I'd be willing to bet that a lot of people's first Optimus Prime toys had some form of truck grill or cab windows on the chest.

I'm not too sure what I'm quoting, but the goal of the thread is not to discuss normal kibble that is a must for a transformers look, like car or plane parts. It's when the kibbles are enormous, obnoxious, and dont seem to be part of the robot's body, as if it's wearing unfashionable accessories.

-Kanrabat- wrote:I'm not too sure what I'm quoting, but the goal of the thread is not to discuss normal kibble that is a must for a transformers look, like car or plane parts. It's when the kibbles are enormous, obnoxious, and dont seem to be part of the robot's body, as if it's wearing unfashionable accessories.

For me, the one I find the most unsightly is PRID Arcee and that mass of bike parts hanging a half-inch from her back.

Of course, that kibble on her back is necessary for transformation, but it was just "thrown onto her back" by lazy designing.

After seeing that awesome PRID Arcee custom by Death Wing, it just shows how a bit of effort can seriously improve the toy, if only the designers actually bothered.

-Kanrabat- wrote: That's why I cannot really forgive the Classic Voyager Optimus Prime mold. Just ONE more hinge in that floating panels on his forearms and it could have wrapped up around the arm nicely.

I'm willing to bet the reason there's no hinge there is parts budget. The deigners have a limit of number of parts, amount of plastic, etcetera. They can increase the number of parts at a cost of amount of plastic, and vice versa. That is part (note I said PART) of why later period toys are smaller - they have a much larger number of moving parts than, say, early Classics or Transformers:Cybertron figures. Of course, the cost of petroleum products and other factors played a role, but still.

To be honest I dont mind some panels here and there or wings hanging out on the back. In some cases it adds to the look and gives some figures character. The biggest thing that bothers me is a giant backpack. A little backpack I dont mind. The figures I spend more than say 70 on I'm expecting alot more out of. I can be more forgiving on a 10 - 40 dollar kids toy.

PrymeStriker wrote: RotF Prime has a big backpack.

No he doesn't. Especially considering how big the cab part is that makes up the backpack in truck mode. Those panels fold in nicely and minimize all that stuff. The only things that stand out are the arm panels. Probably not the best figure ever when it comes to kibble, but the rest of the figure makes up for that little bit of arm flap.

STngAR wrote:To be honest I dont mind some panels here and there or wings hanging out on the back. In some cases it adds to the look and gives some figures character. The biggest thing that bothers me is a giant backpack. A little backpack I dont mind. The figures I spend more than say 70 on I'm expecting alot more out of. I can be more forgiving on a 10 - 40 dollar kids toy.

Classic Henkei voyager Optimus Prime IS basically a 10-40$ toy... I had to buy mine a whopping 90$ total. So when I saw that it's floating panels were worst in person than in photos and one of these panel have a horribly botched paint job, you can understand that I was kinda disapointed.

Valandar wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote: That's why I cannot really forgive the Classic Voyager Optimus Prime mold. Just ONE more hinge in that floating panels on his forearms and it could have wrapped up around the arm nicely.

I'm willing to bet the reason there's no hinge there is parts budget. The deigners have a limit of number of parts, amount of plastic, etcetera. They can increase the number of parts at a cost of amount of plastic, and vice versa. That is part (note I said PART) of why later period toys are smaller - they have a much larger number of moving parts than, say, early Classics or Transformers:Cybertron figures. Of course, the cost of petroleum products and other factors played a role, but still.

That may be the exact same reason why the hands of the RotF voyager Starscream mold dont fold inside the vehicle mode nicely as promised by the manual. Instead, they just stuck out of the jet's butt in a very stupid way. I dont mind toys that are slightly smaller as long that the engeneering got extra care.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

PrymeStriker wrote: RotF Prime has a big backpack.

No he doesn't. Especially considering how big the cab part is that makes up the backpack in truck mode. Those panels fold in nicely and minimize all that stuff. The only things that stand out are the arm panels. Probably not the best figure ever when it comes to kibble, but the rest of the figure makes up for that little bit of arm flap.

Right, and we're talking about kibble, not declaring the best figure of all time.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Best figure? I can't believe nobody has brought this up yet.

RoTF Leader Class Optimus Prime.

-Kanrabat- wrote:That may be the exact same reason why the hands of the RotF voyager Starscream mold dont fold inside the vehicle mode nicely as promised by the manual. Instead, they just stuck out of the jet's butt in a very stupid way. I dont mind toys that are slightly smaller as long that the engeneering got extra care.

Yeah, ROTF voyager Starscream would have been the perfect toy if it hadn't been for the hands. Slim jet mode, accurate (enough) bot mode, decent articulation (besides the elbows swinging the wrong way)...all spoiled by a pair of hands sticking out of his alt mode's ass.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

PrymeStriker wrote: RotF Prime has a big backpack.

No he doesn't. Especially considering how big the cab part is that makes up the backpack in truck mode. Those panels fold in nicely and minimize all that stuff. The only things that stand out are the arm panels. Probably not the best figure ever when it comes to kibble, but the rest of the figure makes up for that little bit of arm flap.

I dont consider panels that sit completely flat on the back a "backpack" either. A real backpack is something that seem like it's not really part of the robot. Something that seem like a wore accessory or a terrible overgrowth. Despite being an excellent figure, the DotM deluxe Optimus Prime have a backpack made out of his front cab while the RotF Leader does not. He DOES have the arms panels but at least they manage to tuck themselves away more effectively than the Classic mold.

Too many movie carformers and Alternators have the roof of the car just floating off the back. For me, that's lazy designing. Especially if viewed from the side, there's a big gaping hole. That make that roof part BOTH a floating panel AND a backpack.

One last comparison. The difference between the two excellent figures of Voyager Optimus Ptime FE and RiD molds. The FE have no backpack whatsoever but even if the RiD mold manage to tuck away his back as tightly as the FE, it does have that unsightly basic back panel. Even though it's not floating nor sticking out of the back, it manage to look like extra kibble because it so much larger than the front so it appear like extra kibble instead of flowing nicely with the rest of the body.

SKYWARP2.0 wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:That may be the exact same reason why the hands of the RotF voyager Starscream mold dont fold inside the vehicle mode nicely as promised by the manual. Instead, they just stuck out of the jet's butt in a very stupid way. I dont mind toys that are slightly smaller as long that the engeneering got extra care.

Yeah, ROTF voyager Starscream would have been the perfect toy if it hadn't been for the hands. Slim jet mode, accurate (enough) bot mode, decent articulation (besides the elbows swinging the wrong way)...all spoiled by a pair of hands sticking out of his alt mode's ass.

I RAGED so much when I received my DotM repaint of that mold. Not only it was the non-transparent cockpit and eyes variant, the butt-hands... when in the manual... argh...

-Kanrabat- wrote:

SKYWARP2.0 wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:That may be the exact same reason why the hands of the RotF voyager Starscream mold dont fold inside the vehicle mode nicely as promised by the manual. Instead, they just stuck out of the jet's butt in a very stupid way. I dont mind toys that are slightly smaller as long that the engeneering got extra care.

Yeah, ROTF voyager Starscream would have been the perfect toy if it hadn't been for the hands. Slim jet mode, accurate (enough) bot mode, decent articulation (besides the elbows swinging the wrong way)...all spoiled by a pair of hands sticking out of his alt mode's ass.

I RAGED so much when I received my DotM repaint of that mold. Not only it was the non-transparent cockpit and eyes variant, the butt-hands... when in the manual... argh...

I know where you're coming from. I felt the same way, except it was this the 2OO7 voyager version of movieverse Starscream. Good gosh, the face looked horrendous, and this time it's his head that sticks out of his ass in jet mode!

Strangely, I liked the G1 retool of the mold a lot better, probably because it has no CGI source to live up to, and I left it in bot mode all the time.

Handels-Messerschmitt wrote:

Mykltron wrote:Triple Changer or GTFO.

His ape mode is his robot mode. He is an ape robot. Why would he need two flavours of primate?

G1 Apeface had a jet mode, an ape mode and a robot mode.

Triple Changer or GTFO!

Valandar wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote: That's why I cannot really forgive the Classic Voyager Optimus Prime mold. Just ONE more hinge in that floating panels on his forearms and it could have wrapped up around the arm nicely.

I'm willing to bet the reason there's no hinge there is parts budget.

I'm willing to bet that they just didn't think of it! Have you ever done something and then after it was finished thought "Damn! If only I'd done such and such THAT way instead!"?

Two more things:
1) Why isn't Kibble (formerly Not Enough Kibble) in on this discussion?
2) HAHA! SKYWARPED has been demoted to Minicon!!!

Mykltron wrote:G1 Apeface had a jet mode, an ape mode and a robot mode.

Triple Changer or GTFO!

^This.

I'd definitely buy that!

Mykltron wrote:G1 Apeface had a jet mode, an ape mode and a robot mode.

Triple Changer or GTFO!

G1 Apeface was also a lump.

Mykltron wrote:HAHA! SKYWARPED has been demoted to Minicon!!!

Yeah, laugh it up, why don't ya?

Dang it, and it seems only MY account was deleted. How'd the FBI find out I was really Bob Lazar? Now they're going after my forum accounts too!

PrymeStriker wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

PrymeStriker wrote: RotF Prime has a big backpack.

No he doesn't. Especially considering how big the cab part is that makes up the backpack in truck mode. Those panels fold in nicely and minimize all that stuff. The only things that stand out are the arm panels. Probably not the best figure ever when it comes to kibble, but the rest of the figure makes up for that little bit of arm flap.

Right, and we're talking about kibble, not declaring the best figure of all time.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Best figure? I can't believe nobody has brought this up yet.

RoTF Leader Class Optimus Prime.

Yes, I am aware of what we're talking about. You must be missing something. I wasn't talking about best figure in general, I was talking about best figure when it comes to kibble and panels. that's what this thread is about. Repeatedly quoting my post won't change its meaning. Maybe you should read my 1st post again. The whole post.

SKYWARP2.0 wrote:

Mykltron wrote:HAHA! SKYWARPED has been demoted to Minicon!!!

Yeah, laugh it up, why don't ya?

Dang it, and it seems only MY account was deleted. How'd the FBI find out I was really Bob Lazar? Now they're going after my forum accounts too!

I'd ask why you were demoted, but then I'd be trailing this thread off topic.

What about Animated Oil Slick? Aside from the handlebars, he doesn't have a lot of floating panels. No wings or backpacks.

I definitely like kibble sometimes. A lot of the time actually. If TF's didn't have prominent kibble, they'd all pretty much look like generic Actionmasters. Not necessarily a bad thing for many G1 Autobots, since that's pretty much how many of them looked on the show, but it would make for a lot of really boring looking bots in my opinion.