The Energon Pub

[Rogue-Primal]

Unfortunately Dinobot 2 is severely hindered by the mechanical pipes on his his joints since they are so stiff in a way they return into a neutral position and thats a problem for posing his thumbs in robot mode.

[Burn]

Dinobot II is one big ol heap of mess. There isn't a damn thing right about that toy.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

I would be quite happy for them to bin the scale of it meant masterpiece transmetals

The scale issue means that "Lack of planning" can be added to the list of reasons to thump Yuki Ohshima.

Unfortunately Dinobot 2 is severely hindered by the mechanical pipes on his his joints since they are so stiff in a way they return into a neutral position and thats a problem for posing his thumbs in robot mode.

And flaws of the original toy would be guaranteed to repeat on a hypothetical MP because...?

[D-Maximal_Primal]

I would love to see a new take on Dinobot II. I really enjoy that mold despite its flaws, and the aesthetic of that character model is perfection.

Considering we are getting a MP Lio Convoy, it gives me a sliver more hope that someday we may see a MP Hardhead from Dinobot. Sliver I know, but its there if they so choose

[Stargrave]

When I was younger I just clipped the hoses and the small peg that prevents the robot mode thumb from moving past a certain point to get articulated hands which wasn’t all that common at the time despite its other faults Dinobot II is a pretty sweet raptor Terminator I always dug him.

[Evil Eye]

Dinobot II is one big ol heap of mess. There isn't a damn thing right about that toy.

I mean he LOOKS cool, it's a shame he isn't really that great a figure to handle.

Speaking of TMIIs, am I the only one who thinks TMII Scourge would make a great Bugly?

[AllNewSuperRobot]

Dinobot II is one big ol heap of mess. There isn't a damn thing right about that toy.

I mean he LOOKS cool, it's a shame he isn't really that great a figure to handle.

Speaking of TMIIs, am I the only one who thinks TMII Scourge would make a great Bugly?

Since I recently bought him, I think Scourge had a lot of wasted potential. According to the Wiki, he was never redeco'd or even released to Asian markets (I don't know if the latter remains true). He, Transquito, Cybershark and Ramulus really got a raw deal considering how interesting their toys were.
I also agree with Burn, when it comes to Dinobot . Personally I think Optimal Optimus, TM 2 Megatron and TM 2 Dinobot were the three worst designs of the Transmetal lines.

[Rogue-Primal]

I also agree with Burn, when it comes to Dinobot . Personally I think Optimal Optimus, TM 2 Megatron and TM 2 Dinobot were the three worst designs of the Transmetal lines.

Agreed i can live with his silly alt-modes but Optimal Optimus had too many primary colors. I don't know which ones should have been kept aside from the blue but maybe more black instead of silver and red could have worked.

Megatrons dragon head arm is just a floppy heavy mess and and on some were reported with the locking switch coming misassembled and requires taking apart fix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGlYQqtOmVE

[AllNewSuperRobot]

I also agree with Burn, when it comes to Dinobot . Personally I think Optimal Optimus, TM 2 Megatron and TM 2 Dinobot were the three worst designs of the Transmetal lines.

Agreed i can live with his silly alt-modes but Optimal Optimus had too many primary colors. I don't know which ones should have been kept aside from the blue but maybe more black instead of silver and red could have worked.

Indeed. I don't get what they were going for with his colour palette. TM Primal was Blue/Brown and silver. Optimus Prime is Red, white and Blue (huh, never thought about the symbolism of that before ) So Optimal Optimus is:

Megatrons dragon head arm is just a floppy heavy mess and and on some were reported with the locking switch coming misassembled and requires taking apart fix.

That arm is the main reason I don't like the figure. Honestly I think it would have been better akin to Quickstrike, as a series of hard plastic ball jointed segments.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Re: Optimal Optimus' colors
G2 may have been over, but it was still the '90s.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

Re: Optimal Optimus' colors
G2 may have been over, but it was still the '90s.

But that is the thing, in that respect OpOp is an oddity. The Beast Wars palette was consistently toned down and uniform. Usually playing off two colour choices, three at the most:





Compare the big three: Tigerhawk, TM 2 Megatron and Optimal Optimus
From memory alone: White, Red and Skittles

[Burn]

Personally I think Optimal Optimus, TM 2 Megatron and TM 2 Dinobot were the three worst designs of the Transmetal lines.

The colours of Optimal Optimus never bothered me, I remember being pretty bloody stoked when I got him, found him to be a pretty cool figure. Definitely not one of the best Transmetals though.

TM2 Megatron is a fun figure, yeah he has that big annoying dragon tail/pony tail which, like Dinobot II there's not much you can do with it because it's practically solid rubber. But otherwise he's a good figure.

His Cryotek recolour though ...

[AllNewSuperRobot]

Personally I think Optimal Optimus, TM 2 Megatron and TM 2 Dinobot were the three worst designs of the Transmetal lines.

The colours of Optimal Optimus never bothered me, I remember being pretty bloody stoked when I got him, found him to be a pretty cool figure. Definitely not one of the best Transmetals though.

OpOp was probably the first Beast Wars toy that I felt the Beast Mode was a completely redundant feature. Like he was made for another line. That, the colour scheme and general aesthetic ranks him very low to me. Which is a shame as Primal is the only Optimus I actually like. As a figure and a character

TM2 Megatron is a fun figure, yeah he has that big annoying dragon tail/pony tail which, like Dinobot II there's not much you can do with it because it's practically solid rubber. But otherwise he's a good figure.

His Cryotek recolour though ...

Oh yes, that recolour is Nice

[Burn]

OpOp was probably the first Beast Wars toy that I felt the Beast Mode was a completely redundant feature. Like he was made for another line. That, the colour scheme and general aesthetic ranks him very low to me. Which is a shame as Primal is the only Optimus I actually like. As a figure and a character

I completely agree about the redundancy of the beast mode. But to me, it makes sense because of the story. He was essentially ... tainted? Influenced? I don't know what you'd call it, but he took on traits of Optimus Prime because of the Matrix. So it was a blending of Optimal Optimus and Optimus Prime, and story line wise, it makes sense for the toy to be like that.

[Stargrave]

Yes, totally. He evolved as a character and as a transmetal life form. The Matrix across or through time was almost like the pendulum will now swing back to the bigger G1 more mechanical less organic being. But at the same time the gorilla mode was his roots. He even acted more stuffy and stoic I loved it and he towered over the others and oh man, that first shot of the matrix in the cockpit in his jet mode still sticks with me.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

But, Megatron was the realisation of the exact opposite of that. He was ALL Beast Mode. Excluding "dragster mode" and how you even evolve from T-Rex to Dragon (assuming that is even the reasoning behind the alt mode switch). Obviously they were made for different Transmetal lines. Yet to the casual observer, OpOp was a lone giant at the end of the TM line. Meanwhile, TM 2 Megs was made counterpart to Tigerhawk?

...Even advertised as such:



EDIT: Fixing links!

[Stargrave]

And the head shape the blue on the lower half with the red on the upper half and of course a truck mode, so totally an Optimus power up.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

And the head shape the blue on the lower half with the red on the upper half and of course a truck mode, so totally an Optimus power up.

But THIS colour palette:



Would have been better as an Optimus Primal power up

[Burn]

Except his power up was powered/influenced by Optimus Prime.

I mean, what you're saying makes sense, but we're talking story line here.

Which becomes completely pointless when you bring up a T-Rex evolving into a Dragon.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

Except his power up was powered/influenced by Optimus Prime.

I mean, what you're saying makes sense, but we're talking story line here.

Which becomes completely pointless when you bring up a T-Rex evolving into a Dragon.

What were they thinking with Megatron? If they wanted a Dragon, just make one. There was no corroborating design influences from G1 Megs at all in there.
You don't bake a T-Rex in Magma, add the Spark of a G1 Gun Bot and out pops a Dragon

One thing that has always intrigued me about the Primal designs though, is that canonically he died. His original body was destroyed. So the TM body was always someone else. They could have really experimented with that for OpOp.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Wrong! His TM body wasn't anybody - the protoform was specifically established to be a sparkless blank!

I also agree with Burn, when it comes to Dinobot . Personally I think Optimal Optimus, TM 2 Megatron and TM 2 Dinobot were the three worst designs of the Transmetal lines.

Agreed i can live with his silly alt-modes but Optimal Optimus had too many primary colors. I don't know which ones should have been kept aside from the blue but maybe more black instead of silver and red could have worked.

Indeed. I don't get what they were going for with his colour palette. TM Primal was Blue/Brown and silver. Optimus Prime is Red, white and Blue (huh, never thought about the symbolism of that before ) So Optimal Optimus is:

Transmetal Optimus is blue, orange, brown/purple, and gray:


https://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:BWtoy-PrimalTM.jpg

Optimal Optimus is blue, orange, purple, and gray:



It's basically a "Same colors but flashier and laid out differently" deal.

I think that with Optimal Optimus and TM2 Megatron, they were going for contrast: Optimal Optimua is heavily vehicular, TM2 Megatron is heavily bestial.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

Transmetal Optimus is blue, orange, brown/purple, and gray:


https://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:BWtoy-PrimalTM.jpg

Firstly, the tan (a brown more than an orange) is a decal. Not a base colour of the figure. That might seem like semantics but, as I see it, the tan on his chest/mouth scratches off with a nail, the Brown, blue or grey don't.

Optimal Optimus is blue, orange, purple, and gray:



It's basically a "Same colors but flashier and laid out differently" deal.

Secondly, The Yellow/orange and Red are brand new inclusions. The lighter colours in particular don't relate to either G1 Op or Primal. Much like the green eyes.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Transmetal Optimus is blue, orange, brown/purple, and gray:


https://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:BWtoy-PrimalTM.jpg

Firstly, the tan (a brown more than an orange) is a decal. Not a base colour of the figure. That might seem like semantics but, as I see it, the tan on his chest/mouth scratches off with a nail, the Brown, blue or grey don't.

First, the "tan" looks more like orange and was rendered as orange in the show. Same for the brown as a dark purple (which is what's seen on the Metals toy pictured in the Seibertron gallery). Have a look.
Second, gosh then by that brilliant logic the original Optimus Prime toy is only red and blue aside from his plain gray pectoral region! And Sideswipe's rear third is actually a plain gray! And the Seekers all have plain gray chests!
Painted on or not, it's still part of the color scheme.

Optimal Optimus is blue, orange, purple, and gray:



It's basically a "Same colors but flashier and laid out differently" deal.

Secondly, The Yellow/orange and Red are brand new inclusions. The lighter colours in particular don't relate to either G1 Op or Primal. Much like the green eyes.

Oh yes, the purple and orange that were on the previous form are totally new inclusions. And the lighter colors (like, y'know, gray/silver) don't have anything to do with Optimus Primal because his last body totally didn't have gray limbs.

[AllNewSuperRobot]

Firstly, trying to be a smartass doesn't really work here because we are talking about the toys, NOT the show. It is a Tan decal on the toy. Which is what matters.

Second, I've already mentioned that G1 Ops base colour palette is Red, White and Blue. So just to mention it again, isn't really following a trail of "brilliant" logic, you are actually just paraphrasing an earlier comment.

Third, The Yellow/Orange and RED* are new inclusions. The lighter colours I mentioned, clearly directly referring to the Yellow/Orange and no other colour, again, that has already been discussed. Which were completely new to OpOp.

*
Red, not brown. Seeing as this was the same Transmetal chrome red used with OpOp, Dinobot II and Ramulus.




It is really better to positively take part in conversations than try to undermine.

[Stargrave]

I just loved how Transmetal Optimus came with a mace firing hair dryer. He’s your friendly neighborhood jet surfing robo gorilla cosmetologist.