The Energon Pub

No wait, we both got it wrong: it's a Beast Machine lion figure called Snarl.

Fun Pub gave the TR Alpha Trion toy a place in fiction by using it as SG Alpha Trion's upgraded form, lion mode and all, as many of their final prose stories of 2016 were giving heavy advertisement attention to mass retail toys (Combiner Wars in particular) from both Hasbro and Takara.

Sabrblade wrote:Fun Pub gave the TR Alpha Trion toy a place in fiction by using it as SG Alpha Trion's upgraded form, lion mode and all, as many of their final prose stories of 2016 were giving heavy advertisement attention to mass retail toys (Combiner Wars in particular) from both Hasbro and Takara.

Huh, guess I must have missed that detail. Oh well now I know. And kno- well you know how that saying goes.

Stuartmaximus wrote:whatdyamean planned? Legends Lio Prime was already released(a while ago)

Not a planned repaint of TR A3 into Leo Prime, what was mentioned was the planned repaint of Beast Machines Snarl (and/or Beast Wars Lio Convoy) into Alpha Trion - I can't find out how far back that scrapped idea dates to, but definitely way before Titans Return A3 came into being.

I myself had been under the impression the TR guy was an homage to both the redeco from Vector Prime, and the Botcon Alpha Trizer from Prime Thundertron; a short wiki-walk, however, informs me that the Alpha Trizer toy was itself an homage to the planned Snarl redeco so I guess I learned something today.

Personally I'd be all in favor of more of these unmade concepts being revisited later in toylines.

Qwan wrote:

Stuartmaximus wrote:whatdyamean planned? Legends Lio Prime was already released(a while ago)

Not a planned repaint of TR A3 into Leo Prime, what was mentioned was the planned repaint of Beast Machines Snarl (and/or Beast Wars Lio Convoy) into Alpha Trion - I can't find out how far back that scrapped idea dates to, but definitely way before Titans Return A3 came into being.

The earliest instance of the Snarl redeco proposal's existence dates back to near the end of January 2001, when Alpha Trion's "VEHICON ALERT!" dossier first went live on BotCon: Beyond.

Skritz wrote:Personally I'd be all in favor of more of these unmade concepts being revisited later in toylines.

Yes! And not only more of those, I'd also like to see those Asia exclusives we never saw in the States...at least we got 'Shadow and Overlord.

In general I really like the stuff-the-west-never-got side of Generations. Even with the internet making information and even physical copies of these older Japan- and Europe-exclusive toys easier to access and get, it still feels really fresh and new.

Snarl (speaking of GPS) is one of my favorite BM era figures and I'd totally be OK with TR Alpha Trion painted up in his colors. I'm a little surprised I can't find a custom or digibash of such thing. Maybe the guy wasn't as popular as I thought he was.

Emerje

While Generations has certainly focused on updating a lot of the more classic G1 stuff, we have nonetheless gotten a lot of these unique or novelty figures, such as (not counting conventions) previously toyless characters (Alpha Trion, Jihaxus, Straxus, Sentinel Prime), japan-only characters (Overlord, Metalhawk) and revisited/scrapped concepts (Alpha Trion again as well as G2 Menasor). Not to mention a few homages to non-G1 toylines (Armada Starscream, Sky-Bite, new Beast Wars figures and G2 Laser Rod Prime).

I hope Generations continues in some shape or form after Power of the Prime but I suspect it may get canned for the apparently 'evergreen' toyline. Just going to have to hope those aren't too visually-clashing with the Generations figure which form most, if not all of my collection not counting the old Beast-era stuff.

That said I need my Generations Star Saber, man. I need it like a junkie need his fix...

Nah, Generations has been confirmed to get another line after POTP.

Skritz wrote:I know, which is why his amalgamated design make me speculate all the more! He's the only retail Alpha Trion figure to exist and he's a big pile of crazy Botcon homages to boot, where you'd think that had they wanted a G1-accurate Alpha Trion figure they could have just retooled Scourge given that it is semi-canon that G1 Alpha Trion is some sort of space car and/or hovercraft.

Mind you I'm not complaining, he's certainly one of the most unique and unexpected releases in recent years.

I realy like reading from you Skritz, very glad to see how much you like talking to us, it feels like you have been with Seibertron all along

A few things you might find cool about Alpha Trion. He is the second transforming retail figure. The first from Hasbro, sure, but Takara had their take on him just a bit before, and he did have a space car/hovercraft type alt mode, as you would have predicted.





Another cool thing is that this alpha trion toy was designed a long time ago. He was meant to come out earlier and only have one alt mode:





I do find it pretty cool that even with adding a whole other mode, they ended up with a bot mode very similar to the initial vision from the artist.

It is interesting to note that this Alpha Trion concept art has a beastmode matching the Beast Machine era: techno-organic but symmetrical. Really goes to show they were committed to the idea of remaking that scrapped concept. His robot mode is pure modern Transformers design, however, rather than Beast Machine funk.

As for the Takara Alpha Trion: I was talking purely 'american/western retail', in other words, things you'd find in a brick and mortar store. Or maybe I'm just making up excuses! But anyway, the pre-existence of an Alpha Trion altmode independant of being a retool of somebody exist from comic concept art. That and, well, if you think about it, G1 Alpha Trion being a hovercar of some kind match up perfectly to what we see of the cybertronian altmodes of G1 Autobots in the cartoon. Of course, Alpha Trion may just have been originally intended to lack an alt mode by the writers back then. Still, that Takara figure is absolutely spot on in spite of being a recolored Minimus Ambus.

All in all this does go to show that, at least for me, Alpha Trion has been one of the standout figures in the Titans Return line. Sure, there were plenty which I loved and glad we got, but when it came to sheer novelty, he really was the one who stood out.

Oh btw, I have been here all along I just...barely posted for years.

I love all the A3 talk. That was my most anticipated figure of the early TR and remains my favorite of the line as a whole. That figure, with the detail, the paint, the character, and the modes, it was all so much fun. and he is great paired with Lione! They are a duo I intend to keep

Man, I really wish I could love that Trion as much as I want to. Something just feels off about him though, I think it's the proportions in the torso? Perhaps if I ever picked one up I'd feel differently about him in hand- I can deffo say that if he did match that concept art I'd be all over the dude

ArmadaPrime wrote:Man, I really wish I could love that Trion as much as I want to. Something just feels off about him though, I think it's the proportions in the torso? Perhaps if I ever picked one up I'd feel differently about him in hand- I can deffo say that if he did match that concept art I'd be all over the dude

I completely agree about something feeling off about the figure. But for me, it wasn't until I had the figure in hand that it felt awkward to me. The torso proportions do seem a little odd, as though the torso is too wide or something. To me it feels like an early Energon Autobot toy, which isn't an awful thing but not a very good thing either. People praised the Energon line for its toys, but its best ones were the Decepticons and later Autobot toys. The early-to-mid line Autobot toys weren't as good.

Skritz wrote:While Generations has certainly focused on updating a lot of the more classic G1 stuff, we have nonetheless gotten a lot of these unique or novelty figures, such as (not counting conventions) previously toyless characters (Alpha Trion, Jihaxus, Straxus, Sentinel Prime), japan-only characters (Overlord, Metalhawk) and revisited/scrapped concepts (Alpha Trion again as well as G2 Menasor). Not to mention a few homages to non-G1 toylines (Armada Starscream, Sky-Bite, new Beast Wars figures and G2 Laser Rod Prime).

I hope Generations continues in some shape or form after Power of the Prime but I suspect it may get canned for the apparently 'evergreen' toyline. Just going to have to hope those aren't too visually-clashing with the Generations figure which form most, if not all of my collection not counting the old Beast-era stuff.

That said I need my Generations Star Saber, man. I need it like a junkie need his fix...

Hoping that eventually we'll get Generations versions of the Rescue Bots for when my son gets older.

Kurona wrote:Nah, Generations has been confirmed to get another line after POTP.

I hope it's Titans Return 2.0.

I still think Alpha Trion is my favorite Voyager of the line, and it's because he is so out-of-left-field odd and awesome. Ancient bearded warrior king + giant energy sword + techno organic beast mode = FREAKIN' COOL in my book. Every time.

ArmadaPrime wrote:Man, I really wish I could love that Trion as much as I want to. Something just feels off about him though, I think it's the proportions in the torso? Perhaps if I ever picked one up I'd feel differently about him in hand- I can deffo say that if he did match that concept art I'd be all over the dude

The robot mode matches the concept art pretty well, he's just missing the cape, which was never gonna happen anyways.
But I can tell you this, if there is one toy which does not look better or feel better once in hand, its Alpha Trion. Optimistically, he is as good as he looks or worse. If you do not think the toy looks good, I recomend you buy another toy, he is not for everyone. I personally felt the takara Lio Convoy worked slightly better, if only because the colours were more uniform from one mode to the next and thus made for a better looking lion and spaceship.

He's certainly not a perfect figure by any stretch, I will concede that in terms of engineering he is quite average. I'd say it is more the circumstances around the figure and the character it represent and the sheer novetly of it which really sells the figure for those who are into any of its aspect, be they techno-organic beastformers or Alpha Trion as a character.

On the plus side he's a dude with a sword and wrist articulation, which is nearly nonexistent in Titans Return.

Skritz wrote:Apparently GPS has been fixed since 2007.

Are you sure it's not just because the 2007 toys are not old enough to start disintegrating ?

william-james88 wrote:I personally felt the takara Lio Convoy worked slightly better, if only because the colours were more uniform from one mode to the next and thus made for a better looking lion and spaceship.

Same here, Lio Convoy immediately replaced Trion on my shelves.

ExciKaiser wrote:

Skritz wrote:Apparently GPS has been fixed since 2007.

Are you sure it's not just because the 2007 toys are not old enough to start disintegrating ?

Protoform Starscream came out in 2007 and he was the last documented widespread case of GPS.

I'm pretty sure that's accurate. The only figure I had with this was G2 Slingshot which fell apart almost instantly after only being transformed a couple of times.

Cobotron wrote:I still think Alpha Trion is my favorite Voyager of the line, and it's because he is so out-of-left-field odd and awesome. Ancient bearded warrior king + giant energy sword + techno organic beast mode = FREAKIN' COOL in my book. Every time.

This is my reason, put into much better and cooler words.