The Energon Pub

Quick jet nerd aside- Slingshot's actual alt mode (a Harrier) was much slower than the aircraft the rest of the team transformed into. The Concorde, Eagle, Falcon and Phantom could all go supersonic, which the Harrier can't. So technically, one of Superion's limbs will always be late to the party, regardless of whether it's Slingshot or Alpha Bravo.

Black Hat wrote:Quick jet nerd aside- Slingshot's actual alt mode (a Harrier) was much slower than the aircraft the rest of the team transformed into. The Concorde, Eagle, Falcon and Phantom could all go supersonic, which the Harrier can't. So technically, one of Superion's limbs will always be late to the party, regardless of whether it's Slingshot or Alpha Bravo.

Or Fireflight for that matter, since he now transforms into a Harrier as well

Black Hat wrote:Quick jet nerd aside- Slingshot's actual alt mode (a Harrier) was much slower than the aircraft the rest of the team transformed into. The Concorde, Eagle, Falcon and Phantom could all go supersonic, which the Harrier can't. So technically, one of Superion's limbs will always be late to the party, regardless of whether it's Slingshot or Alpha Bravo.

You're on the list ...

I have never understood why the real-world limitations of their alt modes matter when discussing fictional alien robot toys that can fly as fast or slow as the writer/imagination wants them to. That's a stupid reason to dislike AB. There's something deeper at work here.

King Kuuga wrote:I have never understood why the real-world limitations of their alt modes matter when discussing fictional alien robot toys that can fly as fast or slow as the writer/imagination wants them to. That's a stupid reason to dislike AB. There's something deeper at work here.

I do it because I'm the Anti-Va'al.

Burn wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:I have never understood why the real-world limitations of their alt modes matter when discussing fictional alien robot toys that can fly as fast or slow as the writer/imagination wants them to. That's a stupid reason to dislike AB. There's something deeper at work here.

I do it because I'm the Anti-Va'al.

At least you're honest

Burn wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:I have never understood why the real-world limitations of their alt modes matter when discussing fictional alien robot toys that can fly as fast or slow as the writer/imagination wants them to. That's a stupid reason to dislike AB. There's something deeper at work here.

I do it because I'm the Anti-Va'al.

They say honesty is the first step to acceptance... or something like that.

King Kuuga wrote:I have never understood why the real-world limitations of their alt modes matter when discussing fictional alien robot toys that can fly as fast or slow as the writer/imagination wants them to. That's a stupid reason to dislike AB. There's something deeper at work here.

Yes. AB was a made up character, forced on IDW by Hasbro to sell a repaint, that replaced anot existing character, that had actually had development in the past.

Of all the upsetting threads in this place, this is the one I am most fake hurt by.

Ironhidensh wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:I have never understood why the real-world limitations of their alt modes matter when discussing fictional alien robot toys that can fly as fast or slow as the writer/imagination wants them to. That's a stupid reason to dislike AB. There's something deeper at work here.

Yes. AB was a made up character, forced on IDW by Hasbro to sell a repaint, that replaced anot existing character, that had actually had development in the past.

Aren't they all made up characters though? also which character is he a repaint of? Blades or Vortex?


Plus didn't slingshot die from injuries inflicted by prowlastaor?

ZeroWolf wrote:

Burn wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:I have never understood why the real-world limitations of their alt modes matter when discussing fictional alien robot toys that can fly as fast or slow as the writer/imagination wants them to. That's a stupid reason to dislike AB. There's something deeper at work here.

I do it because I'm the Anti-Va'al.

At least you're honest

Some people don't seem to appreciate me being honest, or me just being me.

ZeroWolf wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:I have never understood why the real-world limitations of their alt modes matter when discussing fictional alien robot toys that can fly as fast or slow as the writer/imagination wants them to. That's a stupid reason to dislike AB. There's something deeper at work here.

Yes. AB was a made up character, forced on IDW by Hasbro to sell a repaint, that replaced anot existing character, that had actually had development in the past.

Aren't they all made up characters though? also which character is he a repaint of? Blades or Vortex?

Vortex, even though Alpha Bravo came first. That's our version of the Chicken and the Egg

And the reason for his existence (and Offroad's) is simply to prevent mold reuse within the same wave as Slingshot shares his design with Fireflight now (And Wildrider with Dead End). Just saying...

Plus didn't slingshot die from injuries inflicted by prowlastaor?

He sure did.

Burn wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:

Burn wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:I have never understood why the real-world limitations of their alt modes matter when discussing fictional alien robot toys that can fly as fast or slow as the writer/imagination wants them to. That's a stupid reason to dislike AB. There's something deeper at work here.

I do it because I'm the Anti-Va'al.

At least you're honest

Some people don't seem to appreciate me being honest, or me just being me.

Don't worry big guy, I appreciate the work you do just continue being you.

ZeroWolf wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:I have never understood why the real-world limitations of their alt modes matter when discussing fictional alien robot toys that can fly as fast or slow as the writer/imagination wants them to. That's a stupid reason to dislike AB. There's something deeper at work here.

Yes. AB was a made up character, forced on IDW by Hasbro to sell a repaint, that replaced anot existing character, that had actually had development in the past.

Aren't they all made up characters though? also which character is he a repaint of? Blades or Vortex?


Plus didn't slingshot die from injuries inflicted by prowlastaor?

That was retconned. If you look at the panel in question, Slingshot winds up much better off than Silverbolt and Fireflight.
http://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/d/d ... onDies.jpg
This was a little bit before Dark Cybertron, much less Combiner Wars. Honestly I think the original intent was just to straight up kill Superion, before Hasbro was like "Okay our next toyline is going to be combiners and we want you to help."


And yes, they are all made-up characters to sell toys. That's hardly unique to AB. The only difference is the other Aerialbots were made up 30 years prior to AB, but since new characters are introduced all the damn time, I don't have any issue with it.
maybe it's because I'm a 90s kid with no attachment to the individual aerialbots or even Superion besides "Cool, combiner!"

King Kuuga wrote:That was retconned. If you look at the panel in question, Slingshot winds up much better off than Silverbolt and Fireflight.
http://tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/d/d ... onDies.jpg
This was a little bit before Dark Cybertron, much less Combiner Wars. Honestly I think the original intent was just to straight up kill Superion, before Hasbro was like "Okay our next toyline is going to be combiners and we want you to help."


And yes, they are all made-up characters to sell toys. That's hardly unique to AB. The only difference is the other Aerialbots were made up 30 years prior to AB, but since new characters are introduced all the damn time, I don't have any issue with it.
maybe it's because I'm a 90s kid with no attachment to the individual aerialbots or even Superion besides "Cool, combiner!"

I prefer when new characters are created as it makes the universe larger, aside from Victorion, I think we're overdue completely new combiner teams (though to make me a hypocrit, I'm not against new versions of the seacons...)

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Black Hat wrote:Quick jet nerd aside- Slingshot's actual alt mode (a Harrier) was much slower than the aircraft the rest of the team transformed into. The Concorde, Eagle, Falcon and Phantom could all go supersonic, which the Harrier can't. So technically, one of Superion's limbs will always be late to the party, regardless of whether it's Slingshot or Alpha Bravo.

Or Fireflight for that matter, since he now transforms into a Harrier as well

Burn wrote:

Black Hat wrote:Quick jet nerd aside- Slingshot's actual alt mode (a Harrier) was much slower than the aircraft the rest of the team transformed into. The Concorde, Eagle, Falcon and Phantom could all go supersonic, which the Harrier can't. So technically, one of Superion's limbs will always be late to the party, regardless of whether it's Slingshot or Alpha Bravo.

You're on the list ...

Well FWIW a Harrier is still a lot faster than any helicopter; it's just that it's still slower than the other four members of the team, at least with G1 altmodes (though out of the CW versions, it's still the slowest actual jet). The CW Aerialbots seem to be made of a Harrier (or two), a Hornet, a Tomcat and what looks less like a Concorde and more, ironically enough, like the Tupolev Tu-144 "Concordski", which had canards like the CW Silverbolt. I say ironically because the Concordski was a complete mess of a plane with glaring flaws (possibly through sabotage) which had a nasty habit of crashing. So G1 gives you four fast planes and one slightly slower one, and CW gives you two fast planes, a slower plane, a helicopter and a really, really craptacular plane.

If any member of the Aerialbots needs a jet mode change, though, I'd argue it's Silverbolt himself, for being the only civilian jet on a team of military aircraft (not to mention that the Concorde is tough to make a robot out of, let alone a combiner torso, due to being so bloody flat). I would argue the TSR-2 would make a good altmode for him, though my Britishness does bias me in that regard.


Bigger than a regular jet? Check. White (albeit because it never exited the prototype stage)? Check. Fast? You bet. Bulky enough to be combiner-capable without excessive undercarriage junk? Definitely.

Alternatively, for something more mainstream and less obscure, how about an F-111?

IIRC these were still in use in Australia until very recently, incidentally.

ON.THE.LIST.

Given all these posts about jets, the package I sent to Italy needs to hurry up and arrive so I can watch the meltdown and/or jubilation that occurs in this thread after.

ScottyP wrote:Given all these posts about jets, the package I sent to Italy needs to hurry up and arrive so I can watch the meltdown and/or jubilation that occurs in this thread after.

Given the location and the content of this thread...I'm guessing Va'al will be involved at some level

ZeroWolf wrote:

ScottyP wrote:Given all these posts about jets, the package I sent to Italy needs to hurry up and arrive so I can watch the meltdown and/or jubilation that occurs in this thread after.

Given the location and the content of this thread...I'm guessing Va'al will be involved at some level

I'm like parsley: always involved somehow.

You know, if people are going to send Admins Transformers that symbolises them in a way, I am quite ugly, some would say, Grotesque in appearance.

Just saying ...

Burn wrote:You know, if people are going to send Admins Transformers that symbolises them in a way, I am quite ugly, some would say, Grotesque in appearance.

Just saying ...

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO BUT I AM ALSO GEOGRAPHICALLY CHALLENGED

Alright calm down precious, I told ya it's no big deal to me. I ain't paying twice-triple the amount of a normal release anyway.

Burn wrote:Alright calm down precious, I told ya it's no big deal to me. I ain't paying twice-triple the amount of a normal release anyway.

You called me precious.