The Energon Pub

Hey folks,

Something that has always troubled me and I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas why it happened was the releasing order of the G2 waves of toys that were cancelled.

The Arielbots and Combaticons were released in the same wave but the Stunticons and Protectobots (due for release next) were cancelled. I've always wondered why they didn't release the teams in their original marketing strategy I.E. Stunticons and Arielbots and Protectobots with Combaticons.

I've been scratching my head trying to work out why they got paired like this and the only thing that I can think of dawned on me when connecting all the scramble city leaders to Metroplex.

I'm no expert but I think all the scramble city toys were "hold-over" toys that were created pre-transformers brand and then saw the light of day when all the diaclone toys were reborn into the transformers brand (correct me please if I am wrong)

If you look at the arrangement of the leaders on Metroplex, both Hotspot and Motormaster have a similar base mode with opposing positions the same as Silverbolt and Onslaught, so I looked at this and tried to find some similarities between each group/leader.

Firstly if you look at Motormaster and Hotspot's transformation, while not identical they do employ some of the same engineering features. Big thick pivot connectors on the legs and a very small designed head, along with a flip up piece which becomes the chestplate. Look at their transformation to body mode and again they share some features such as bigger chestpiece that clips on, waist/hip section that fits into their legs and a face/mask that replaces the head (rather than the helmet that is common on all the rest of the scramble city leaders).

While this does not make them identical, if you look at the mini vehicles,(apart from groove and blades) they all sport a variation of the generic rear cannon that clips in and over the top of them in vehicle mode. This is found nowhere else in the scramble city figures.

Again this doesn’t make them unique per see, but if you now look at Silverbolt and Onslaught, they share much more with each other than with the opposing leader. The position in Metroplex’s base mode. Their own base modes being launchers with a transformation sequence very similar allowing a ramp to be placed in-between their legs. The large shield that clips on in gesalt mode rather than a single chestpiece and the lack of a waist/hip section.

In light of all of this the only thing that I can think is that way back when they were first designed they were created in this order by different design teams and perhaps originally slated for release in a different order. Perhaps this all got lost in translation in G2 and the original release order was followed?

I’ve spent far too long thinking about this so if anyone actually knows why the decision was made to release them in this order rather than opposing team factions like G1 please say.

skyshadowprimus wrote:Hey folks,

Something that has always troubled me and I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas why it happened was the releasing order of the G2 waves of toys that were cancelled.

The toyline didn't perform well. That's pretty much the long and short of it.

skyshadowprimus wrote:The Arielbots and Combaticons were released in the same wave but the Stunticons and Protectobots (due for release next) were cancelled. I've always wondered why they didn't release the teams in their original marketing strategy I.E. Stunticons and Arielbots and Protectobots with Combaticons.

I've been scratching my head trying to work out why they got paired like this and the only thing that I can think of dawned on me when connecting all the scramble city leaders to Metroplex.

Because G2 wasn't G1. I'm not sure why they chose the order they did, but it is what it is. G2 didn't do well enough to secure the release of the other gestalts.

skyshadowprimus wrote:I'm no expert but I think all the scramble city toys were "hold-over" toys that were created pre-transformers brand and then saw the light of day when all the diaclone toys were reborn into the transformers brand (correct me please if I am wrong)

Sorry. You are incorrect. Devastator was Pre-TransFormers/Diaclone. Scramble City was definitely a TF era invention. Combiners included.

skyshadowprimus wrote:If you look at the arrangement of the leaders on Metroplex, both Hotspot and Motormaster have a similar base mode with opposing positions the same as Silverbolt and Onslaught, so I looked at this and tried to find some similarities between each group/leader.

Firstly if you look at Motormaster and Hotspot's transformation, while not identical they do employ some of the same engineering features. Big thick pivot connectors on the legs and a very small designed head, along with a flip up piece which becomes the chestplate. Look at their transformation to body mode and again they share some features such as bigger chestpiece that clips on, waist/hip section that fits into their legs and a face/mask that replaces the head (rather than the helmet that is common on all the rest of the scramble city leaders).

All Scramble City leaders had the same gimmicks (I.E. base mode, combiner mode, robot mode, vehicle mode) and swapping limbs was one of those gimmicks, even if it wasn't mentioned in US ads and programs.

It was just a way to sell the toys, and it worked.

skyshadowprimus wrote:While this does not make them identical, if you look at the mini vehicles,(apart from groove and blades) they all sport a variation of the generic rear cannon that clips in and over the top of them in vehicle mode. This is found nowhere else in the scramble city figures.

Again this doesn’t make them unique per see, but if you now look at Silverbolt and Onslaught, they share much more with each other than with the opposing leader. The position in Metroplex’s base mode. Their own base modes being launchers with a transformation sequence very similar allowing a ramp to be placed in-between their legs. The large shield that clips on in gesalt mode rather than a single chestpiece and the lack of a waist/hip section.

In light of all of this the only thing that I can think is that way back when they were first designed they were created in this order by different design teams and perhaps originally slated for release in a different order. Perhaps this all got lost in translation in G2 and the original release order was followed?

I’ve spent far too long thinking about this so if anyone actually knows why the decision was made to release them in this order rather than opposing team factions like G1 please say.

I have to agree, you've spent far too long thinking about this. Simply put, they each have a base mode and can connect to their respective city figures. It was just a way for the toys to have another selling point, really.

The only rhyme and reason to any of it: To make money. There's no deep thought involved. The cartoons gave them too much backstory for something so simple.

One correction on an otherwise perfect reply: Metroplex and the first four Scramble City combiners were indeed planned for Diaclone, for a sub-line called Jizai Gattai or "Free Combination". The name refers to the interchangeable limbs, and all four leaders can connect to Metroplex in their ramp (or in Hot Spot's case, repair bay) modes; the whole was to be called "Scramble City". Everything was integrated in the design, but the whole was shelved to Transformers instead. From Metroplex' Wiki article:

Metroplex was apparently designed as part of the aborted Diaclone line, Jizai Gattai ("Free Combination"), given the high degree of interactivity he has with other toys confirmed as part of it—namely, the Aerialbots, Stunticons, Protectobots and Combaticons. Each of the smaller "limb" robot from these four groups (and those that came after using their basic design, like the Technobots, Terrorcons and Seacons) can plug into ports in Metroplex's shoulders and knees in robot mode, while the base modes of the four leaders—Silverbolt, Hot Spot, Motormaster, and Onslaught—can connect to him in city mode. While the former feature was included in the Hasbro instructions, the latter was omitted. The peg-size of Metroplex's weapons also allows them to be wielded by the leaders and super-robots these teams create.

I'm not sure where Trypticon originally came from, but the fact that he has to use adapters for Motormaster and Onslaught means he was not originally designed with them in mind. The rest of the Scramble City combiners are Transformers originals and designed in pairs (Technobots vs. Terrorcons). The Seacons' counterpart would have been a Dinosaur themed combiner.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:One correction on an otherwise perfect reply: Metroplex and the first four Scramble City combiners were indeed planned for Diaclone, for a sub-line called Jizai Gattai or "Free Combination". The name refers to the interchangeable limbs, and all four leaders can connect to Metroplex in their ramp (or in Hot Spot's case, repair bay) modes; the whole was to be called "Scramble City". Everything was integrated in the design, but the whole was shelved to Transformers instead. From Metroplex' Wiki article:

Metroplex was apparently designed as part of the aborted Diaclone line, Jizai Gattai ("Free Combination"), given the high degree of interactivity he has with other toys confirmed as part of it—namely, the Aerialbots, Stunticons, Protectobots and Combaticons. Each of the smaller "limb" robot from these four groups (and those that came after using their basic design, like the Technobots, Terrorcons and Seacons) can plug into ports in Metroplex's shoulders and knees in robot mode, while the base modes of the four leaders—Silverbolt, Hot Spot, Motormaster, and Onslaught—can connect to him in city mode. While the former feature was included in the Hasbro instructions, the latter was omitted. The peg-size of Metroplex's weapons also allows them to be wielded by the leaders and super-robots these teams create.

I'm not sure where Trypticon originally came from, but the fact that he has to use adapters for Motormaster and Onslaught means he was not originally designed with them in mind. The rest of the Scramble City combiners are Transformers originals and designed in pairs (Technobots vs. Terrorcons). The Seacons' counterpart would have been a Dinosaur themed combiner.

Beat me to it...

Counterpunch wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:One correction on an otherwise perfect reply: Metroplex and the first four Scramble City combiners were indeed planned for Diaclone, for a sub-line called Jizai Gattai or "Free Combination". The name refers to the interchangeable limbs, and all four leaders can connect to Metroplex in their ramp (or in Hot Spot's case, repair bay) modes; the whole was to be called "Scramble City". Everything was integrated in the design, but the whole was shelved to Transformers instead. From Metroplex' Wiki article:

Metroplex was apparently designed as part of the aborted Diaclone line, Jizai Gattai ("Free Combination"), given the high degree of interactivity he has with other toys confirmed as part of it—namely, the Aerialbots, Stunticons, Protectobots and Combaticons. Each of the smaller "limb" robot from these four groups (and those that came after using their basic design, like the Technobots, Terrorcons and Seacons) can plug into ports in Metroplex's shoulders and knees in robot mode, while the base modes of the four leaders—Silverbolt, Hot Spot, Motormaster, and Onslaught—can connect to him in city mode. While the former feature was included in the Hasbro instructions, the latter was omitted. The peg-size of Metroplex's weapons also allows them to be wielded by the leaders and super-robots these teams create.

I'm not sure where Trypticon originally came from, but the fact that he has to use adapters for Motormaster and Onslaught means he was not originally designed with them in mind. The rest of the Scramble City combiners are Transformers originals and designed in pairs (Technobots vs. Terrorcons). The Seacons' counterpart would have been a Dinosaur themed combiner.

Beat me to it...

Thanks guys, I went on the theory that as Metroplex WAS a diaclone holdover the rest had to be considering all the leaders attach to him and he has ports for the limbs to plug into him. With this in mind do you think the original plan was for the teams to be released as they were in G2? The only thing I can find that supports the G1 release plan is that both the arielbots and stunticons were very generic in their teams. I.E 4 of the same limb vehicle with similar transformations, where as the protectobots and combaticons had some variety in both figures and transformations (not much but more than the others)

I don't think Hasbro planned on releasing Metroplex for G2, as it's a "playset" and Hasbro stopped releasing those at the time. As for release strategies it's all a stab in the dark. Similar forms have to have similar transformations is what I'd say, as you can only do so much with a Car and Aircraft theme in terms of vehicles. I'd like to believe that Blast Off was originally an Aerialbot, but put with the Combaticons instead, but who am I to try and promote that idea

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:One correction on an otherwise perfect reply: Metroplex and the first four Scramble City combiners were indeed planned for Diaclone, for a sub-line called Jizai Gattai or "Free Combination". The name refers to the interchangeable limbs, and all four leaders can connect to Metroplex in their ramp (or in Hot Spot's case, repair bay) modes; the whole was to be called "Scramble City". Everything was integrated in the design, but the whole was shelved to Transformers instead. From Metroplex' Wiki article:

Metroplex was apparently designed as part of the aborted Diaclone line, Jizai Gattai ("Free Combination"), given the high degree of interactivity he has with other toys confirmed as part of it—namely, the Aerialbots, Stunticons, Protectobots and Combaticons. Each of the smaller "limb" robot from these four groups (and those that came after using their basic design, like the Technobots, Terrorcons and Seacons) can plug into ports in Metroplex's shoulders and knees in robot mode, while the base modes of the four leaders—Silverbolt, Hot Spot, Motormaster, and Onslaught—can connect to him in city mode. While the former feature was included in the Hasbro instructions, the latter was omitted. The peg-size of Metroplex's weapons also allows them to be wielded by the leaders and super-robots these teams create.

I'm not sure where Trypticon originally came from, but the fact that he has to use adapters for Motormaster and Onslaught means he was not originally designed with them in mind. The rest of the Scramble City combiners are Transformers originals and designed in pairs (Technobots vs. Terrorcons). The Seacons' counterpart would have been a Dinosaur themed combiner.

I stand corrected, then.

Learn something new every day. O_o And now that you mention it...the adapter thing for Trypticon never really meant much of anything to me until you posted.

Interesting tidbit.

I've seen posts on other forums about the arielbots originally being slated as decepticons and stunticons as autobots and vice versa.

I always wonder how certain lines would have sold if their toys were opposing factions. I was always quite into the decepticon theme of tanks and guns and liked the unhinged personalities of the toys. The arielbots were pretty meh as the toys looked crap and there was nothing likeable about them in the cartoon. I certainly feel that Hasbro missed a trick not marketing the whole scramble city playset with combining leader functions as a single faction as I know my mentality as a child would have been to collect the missing leaders.

I guess until someone has some cold hard proof of what (if any) original plans were for the toys its all just speculation

skyshadowprimus wrote:I've seen posts on other forums about the arielbots originally being slated as decepticons and stunticons as autobots and vice versa.

I always wonder how certain lines would have sold if their toys were opposing factions.

Do a "Completed" auction search on eBay for either "Shattered Glass" or "BotCon 2008" and you'll have your answer...

As well as a need for about $2,000 and a box of tissues.