Emerje wrote:ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Emerje wrote:Triggerdick Megatron wrote:I would love to see Polar Claw reissued.
Considering they recolored Scorponok I'd like too see a proper Grizzly-1 figure. I completely disagree with Wikipedia calling Grizzly-1 and Barbearian the same "character" when one is a brown bear with yellow bot parts and the other is a black bear with white bot parts.
They
are the same
character, because both names refer to the same individual within fiction, just in different states; Grizzly-1 with the robot noggin, Barbearian with the mutant head and the berserk toxin going. Right there in the bio. He's not identical to the early prototype deco from the solicitation, but so it goes.
I don't see that as anything more than convenient name reuse for the bio. The preliminary art called Grizzly-1 and the figure released at BotCon Japan as Barbearian (or Barbearerian) on the box and Grizzly-1 on the bio card don't represent the same figure.
Then you're seeing wrong, I'm afraid.
According to Fumihiko Akiyama, the use of "Barbeareian" [sic] on the box was actually a goof. "Barbearian" was only ever supposed to be a pun in the bio. He is the only toy, the only character, to actually be released with and use the name Grizzly-1.
The preliminary art is ultimately just that, a preliminary art; it is no more a separate character than, say, Superion's prototype deco. Your liking it better doesn't make it a separate character.
Emerje wrote:I'll take it a step further and say either the bio was intended for the concept art and copy and pasted on to this figure or the figure was supposed to be based on the concept art and changed later because the first line in the bio refers to him as a black bear.
A. Fumihiko Akiyama's statement would seem to rule out the former, and the latter is just something that commonly happens with toys between concept art and release. B. Given the yellow on his snout, that could well mean "black bear" as in the species; being dark chocolate brown instead of fully jet black still fits with that.
Emerje wrote:And speaking of said deco... 1. The "black" in the early solicitation art looks to be actually just a darkly shaded brown victimized by the screwy saturation. 2. There's still yellow bot bits in that solicitation art. In places the Botcon Japan toy has molded yellow, even. 3. The white/silver actually corresponds with where the Botcon Japan version of the deco used darker brown (robot lower legs, robot head, robot abdomen and pelvis).
1. If it were bad saturation then everything would have been darkened, not just the fur, and I don't see that being the case. Again, the bio refers to Grizzly-1 as a black bear.
2. Just the knees (which aren't accurate on the early Grizzly-1 art anyway) and the top of his head, the rest of the yellow is lighting from the bat being launched.
3. I don't see how that proves they're meant to be the same character, that just separates them even more.
Emerje
1. I might have been using the wrong word. The main point is that it looks more like brown with excessive shading than black. Admittedly, it would be nice to have a scan of a non-discolored copy of the solicitation. As for the bio, see what I said above.
2. No, there's also some yellow spots on his chest that can't be accounted for by just lighting (Which also seems to come from the yellow bacground). And the kneecaps and top of the head are areas that still got molded in yellow. The other areas, it's hard to tell because of the art taking excessive liberties (the bat is freaking triplicated - it's present as itself, the weapon,
and the foreleg all at once! You don't see that bs with Scorponok's bee... the bat's head and body are colored like its wings, which is a cheat mold-wise... the hands and robot toes are drawn as furry...). Point is, the concept still indisputably shows yellow in places where the final toy has it molded. So, yellow was always in the plan and in at least some of the same spots.
3. That was more me pointing out an additional fault in your contrasting the white with yellow: it doesn't even correspond to the yellow in the first place. What proves they're meant to be the same character is the deliberate, intentional use of the Grizzly-1 name for the final toy.
Additionally, (and this was my overall point in breaking down the deco comparison)... the prototype deco seems closer to the final in the first place than you're giving it credit for.
