The Energon Pub

Burn wrote:I see Stalker and his Scope gimmick have been over-looked.

The bias continues.
(It's a on-going joke between Billy-Jim and myself for those who might get all uppity)

You joke but I finally found a list to place him in.

Nostalgically speaking, I always loved the "Mech Alive" gimmick from the ROTF line. My brother had Sidearm Sidewsipe when we were younger, and nothing fascinated 10-year-old me more than the moving, "realistic" cables on the figure's legs.

william-james88 wrote:They would be compartmentalized as their own gimmick, since its done in a specific way for that line. Would you have incorporated them in your notion that combining is the best gimmick? Would you include them in the same spot with CW Superion?

I'd still count them as part of the overall combining gimmick, just not the greatest example like how you didn't seem to include the '88 Headmasters on your list, just the '87 ones.

Emerje

william-james88 wrote:

Burn wrote:I see Stalker and his Scope gimmick have been over-looked.

The bias continues.
(It's a on-going joke between Billy-Jim and myself for those who might get all uppity)

You joke but I finally found a list to place him in.

I'm sure it will be something insulting.

It's okay, I know you're only acting on Va'als orders.

Emerje wrote:

william-james88 wrote:They would be compartmentalized as their own gimmick, since its done in a specific way for that line. Would you have incorporated them in your notion that combining is the best gimmick? Would you include them in the same spot with CW Superion?

I'd still count them as part of the overall combining gimmick, just not the greatest example like how you didn't seem to include the '88 Headmasters on your list, just the '87 ones.

Emerje

Once again, we are coming at this from two very different angles. As you state, I have chosen to be exclusive in my examples. I only counted the 87 headmasters, this is specific. While you are inclusive and bringing all aspect of a gimmick under one. These are two different lists: you are going at a generalist stance, I am not.

Burn wrote:I'm sure it will be something insulting.

It's okay, I know you're only acting on Va'als orders.

You will be very surprised. Did you know that Takara never released Stalker? That character's toy is Hasbro exclusive ...

Sigmus Prime wrote:Nostalgically speaking, I always loved the "Mech Alive" gimmick from the ROTF line. My brother had Sidearm Sidewsipe when we were younger, and nothing fascinated 10-year-old me more than the moving, "realistic" cables on the figure's legs.

Mech Alive is a great gimick, I love it a lot too. I personally like it best on voyager starscream.

Head Masters are the bomb! ...Pretenders are pretty great too. They're kind of goofy, but fun.

what about the auto-morphing gimmick from 2007 movie line or the always fun soundwave and blaster with the data disks from fall of cybertron gimmick where the disks pop out and automatically change on impact

Sigmus Prime wrote:Nostalgically speaking, "Mech Alive" ROTF line. 10-year-old me

.... Good god, this makes me feel old. XD

Combiners should be up there....Its the best TF gimmick.

arnie001 wrote:Combiners should be up there....Its the best TF gimmick.

Which combining toy do you feel best represents the gimmick?

I may be the only one, but one of my favorite gimmicks of all is BW Optimus Primal's chest beating/sword slashing arms. I always thought the fact that you can change gears to change the motion was genius. And I never found it too obtrusive to normal play and pose-ability.

Also, it's funny, but I never really think of light piping as a gimmick. It just became standard issue in my mind. I actually feel a little short changed when it's omitted.
Tankor's LP is definitely some of the best around.

Yeah, I have to disagree on light piping, sometimes it is great (BM Tankor), sometimes it's annoying (I'm trying to think of examples, but everything is packed for moving). I'm all for it when it helps the eyes stand out from the face. When they add it in, but paint over it, that's irritating. Worse, when you can't distinguish the characters eyes except at very peculiar angles. It needs to be a limited gimmick, not a just because gimmick. Plus, with how many figures have done it, I almost match up light piping with the c-joint gimmick, with Jazz being the standout.

How about carrying around your own super armor like Ultra Magnus, practically every OP after the first, and others?

I'm a fan of motivators like Topspin, Twintwist, and the battle chargers for simple things although I'm on record as coming out against 1-steppers and titans. Being able to send them rolling into enemies makes them so much funner in my book.

Good list, but I'm surprised Animated and Universe Blitzwing's head-shifting gimmick didn't make it on the list. I would rank that higher than Crumplezone, which at the end of the day is just another over-the-shoulder cannon.

Cobotron wrote:Also, it's funny, but I never really think of light piping as a gimmick. It just became standard issue in my mind. I actually feel a little short changed when it's omitted.
Tankor's LP is definitely some of the best around.

Thats why I made sure to go specific. Light piping itself isn't the entry here, its instead the gimick on Tankor which uses lightpiping. There is also a cool lightpiping gimmick on Generations Whirl where you can switch it on and off by adjusting his antenna.

How do you feel about combiner wars not having done any lightpiping?

william-james88 wrote:

Cobotron wrote:Also, it's funny, but I never really think of light piping as a gimmick. It just became standard issue in my mind. I actually feel a little short changed when it's omitted.
Tankor's LP is definitely some of the best around.

Thats why I made sure to go specific. Light piping itself isn't the entry here, its instead the gimick on Tankor which uses lightpiping. There is also a cool lightpiping gimmick on Generations Whirl where you can switch it on and off by adjusting his antenna.

How do you feel about combiner wars not having done any lightpiping?

They didn't? Wow, I completely failed to notice that.

JazZeke wrote:

william-james88 wrote:[
How do you feel about combiner wars not having done any lightpiping?

They didn't? Wow, I completely failed to notice that.

"That's not entirely accurate...". Points to whoever gets the reference.

CW Deluxe Groove has very nice light-piping.



But yeah, pretty much everything else is painted eyes or visors.

william-james88 wrote: do you feel about combiner wars not having done any lightpiping?

Judging by the pile of CW toys over here, I'd say it wasn't a deal breaker.

Overcracker wrote:

JazZeke wrote:

william-james88 wrote:[
How do you feel about combiner wars not having done any lightpiping?

They didn't? Wow, I completely failed to notice that.

"That's not entirely accurate...". Points to whoever gets the reference.

CW Deluxe Groove has very nice light-piping.

But yeah, pretty much everything else is painted eyes or visors.

Haha, yeah, and he happens to be one of the few molds Hasbro didnt design

Overcracker wrote:Not really. if we are talking about the Matrices themselves. Top 5 best removable matrices would require the figure to actually have one. since he uses the one from MP-10 that would be considered with MP-10.

Otherwise I guess we could be talking about the "Top 5 best transformers that can accommodate a Matrix in them even if they don't come with one". And that's not really a good top 5 list title. A little long don't you think.

Yes of course. I should've known better than to question the person with the figure in question in his sig.

I have to agree that combining is a great gimmick when done right. Energon didn't do it very good but Armada and Combiner Wars did the gimmick justice.

Triple changing and more is also a great thing ala Generations Springer.

Double spy is a good one as well, with Punch/Counterpunch and Longarm/Shockwave.

Man... so many gimmicks. I guess when you've been around as long as Transformers have you start stockpiling.

I always liked the Headmasters, Powermasters and Targetmasters gimmicks.

Combiners, rub-signs, Powerdashers and Triple changers I guess are gimmicks too.

Pretenders, Mega Pretenders and Ultra Pretenders were interesting too.

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:I have to agree that combining is a great gimmick when done right. Energon didn't do it very good but Armada and Combiner Wars did the gimmick justice.

Triple changing and more is also a great thing ala Generations Springer.

Double spy is a good one as well, with Punch/Counterpunch and Longarm/Shockwave.

Wow, I didnt even consider Triple changers. I saw them more, as a general type of TF not tied to a line. Like a beast or a base/planetoid. And like the more general types, I will make sure triple changers are getting their own list (which was pretty hard since there arent that many amazing ones out there aside from the obvious). I find it really cool how the idea of a gimmick in the TF line can mean something different to many people.

The menton of a rubsign also made me do a double take. I guess that could be considered a gimmick as well.

The one gimmick I REALLY want to see done with modern designs is the Duocons.

Two vehicles with no individual robot modes until they combine. I know logistically it's a stupid idea (how do you form the robot mode if one vehicle is missing?) but with every other gimmick being updated, I'd like to see how they'd treat a modern version.

Burn wrote:The one gimmick I REALLY want to see done with modern designs is the Duocons.

Two vehicles with no individual robot modes until they combine. I know logistically it's a stupid idea (how do you form the robot mode if one vehicle is missing?) but with every other gimmick being updated, I'd like to see how they'd treat a modern version.

I agree. It would be cool to see Flywheels and Battletrap updated and done right.

And yeah, having more than 1 mode is what I consider a gimmick. Adds a whole new dimension to the character