by Wolfman Jake » Mon Feb 15, 2021 12:46 pm
- Motto: ""A mountain with a wolf on it stands a little taller."
-Edward Hoagland"
- Weapon: Retractable Mecha-Fangs
Tooling is a more generic term, and can be used to describe several parts of the figure manufacturing process, including creating the molds that will be used to cast the plastic parts. Re-tooling usually means creating new parts to change a character into a different character with a different head sculpt, accessories, or other changes, like re-shelling the alternate mode.
What we get into with some modern figures like Earthrise Optimus Prime and Studio Series '86 Hot Rod is complexity and parts count. Those figures have way more articulation and other integrated play features to expand the value beyond the size of the figure. For example, most Voyager sized figures don't have articulated fingers, but Optimus and Hot Rod do, allowing them to hold the Matrix of Leadership aloft. They both also have rather elaborate transformations that give them superior screen accurate looks in both robot and vehicles modes. Hence the term "Mini Masterpiece" that has become prevalent with the War for Cybertron line.
The core robots of Siege/Kingdom Ultra Magnus and Siege Shockwave are voyager-ish sized, and not any more complicated than other Voyager sized figures, but they have many more extra parts-forming pieces to integrate into the robot modes and alternate modes. Earthrise/Kingdom Optimus Prime has a trailer, but it's a rather simple accessory, that just opens up into a platform. It's only really used in truck mode or as a playset for Optimus Prime in robot mode. Since the extra parts don't attach to Optimus Prime and don't have to be reconfigured much for transformation, the extra "value" of the Leader Class price point instead goes into giving Optimus Prime more articulation and a better transformation and overall design. It's similar with Studio Series '86 Hot Rod, who is mostly a Deluxe sized figure, sold as a Voyager, with more articulation and accessories than a standard Deluxe Sized figure would normally have, giving us a Hot Rod with articulated hands and fingers that can "Light our darkest hour" AND recreate a lot of other iconic moments in The Transformers: The Movie with a plethora of accessories, like the Matrix of Leadership, two different guns, blast effects, and a circular saw blade. Plus, this is easily the most screen accurate Hot Rod toy we've received that's not a Masterpiece toy. There are complexities in the transformation that only exist to make sure everything looks as spot-on to the original character models as possible.
Wolfman Jake - Spendin' the day howlin' away.