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[no-one]

I don't think that Quickslinger or Breck-neck were ever part of the game plan for Hasbro and they just attempted to sate fans. Big Groove and jet Blast Off seem to support this.

Where Groove was Tak's design, jet Blast Off may have just been a change of plans using the originally intended mold and colors. That figure may have been intended to be a new character in homaged colors with a new alt mode just like the other teams.

Was there any official word from Hasbro or just our fan speculation?

[RAR]

In part I was also intimating that Blast Off (Jet) should have had another name - Blackout say (for example) and That they should have released Takara's Blast Off too.

The reason being that then you can have an additional team-member so the combiner isn't rendered less useful if one member is else where.

In practical terms in means a team member can be broken off from the others to perform a specific task they are expert at.

I guess the idea is sort of in play with the Seacons to some extent.

It's just a shame the limbs don't also make guns as default I guess.

I guess what I am also asking is let suppose Hasbro eventually notice people are begging for an abominus - should said Abominus be just the usual 5 team-members or cold they or should they make a 6th one.

(especially if some of those moulds might get remoulded themselves).

[william-james88]

I don't think that Quickslinger or Breck-neck were ever part of the game plan for Hasbro and they just attempted to sate fans. Big Groove and jet Blast Off seem to support this.

Where Groove was Tak's design, jet Blast Off may have just been a change of plans using the originally intended mold and colors. That figure may have been intended to be a new character in homaged colors with a new alt mode just like the other teams.

Was there any official word from Hasbro or just our fan speculation?

Quickslinger and Brake-neck were totally part of the plan for Hasbro. But they preffered releasing them with new members to add some variety to the shelves. It was their designs and their headsculpts. And so was that starscream headsculpt

Deluxe Groove was not thier design and not part of the plans, that they did confirm. Scattershot was supposed to just be a voyager release with no computron. But that eventually changed when they saw the Groove mold Takara developped. That has all been confirmed by hasbro.

I have no clue if blast off was supposed to be a new character or not but I dont think so. Late name changes are easy to spot since the older name is sometimes still around somewhere on packaging or instructions or soemthing (like Lynx King instead of Sky Reign and Lione instead of Sawback). Also, his robot mode and colour scheme is dead on for Blast Off unlike the other new characters which do not homage the characters they are replacing.

[Kurona]

I don't think that Quickslinger or Breck-neck were ever part of the game plan for Hasbro and they just attempted to sate fans. Big Groove and jet Blast Off seem to support this.

Where Groove was Tak's design, jet Blast Off may have just been a change of plans using the originally intended mold and colors. That figure may have been intended to be a new character in homaged colors with a new alt mode just like the other teams.

Was there any official word from Hasbro or just our fan speculation?

I simply believe that Quickslinger and Brake-Neck were in the plan from the start, considering they had alternatives planned for Groove and Blast Off (Legends Class and new alt-mode). Just seems weird to me they'd try and deliver on those two from the start but not Slingshot and Wildrider.

[no-one]

Some helpful and interesting things

That is interesting and good to know.

I felt AB and Rook bared a passing resemblance to their predecessors and if I'm remembering correctly Offroad's bio stated he was wearing WR's colors in some creepy way.

I'm prefectly happy with the way CW turned out and I prefer Blast Off as a jet. His colors and deco really are amazing. I wouldn't mind getting my hands on the shuttle mold (cause I'm a plastic fiend) and I'd be happy with it being called Bob the shuttle bot.

[o.supreme]

Were in retrospect Alpha Bravo, Off Road and Rook a good idea or not ?

Could the idea have worked better if handled differently and should they have not chickened out doing the same thing with Bruticus or Computron too ?

I've mentioned this before, but I like the new limbs...but for me, it was Takara releasing the original ones that "saved" them IMHO. You see for me, It's all about having the original team (Thank You Takara), but I'm also always open to adding to an existing team, more than replacing. I've used the NBA analogy before -Most rosters have 12/13 active players, however only 5 are on the floor at any given time, and on most teams only 8-10 will play in a game.

With combiners, I see the war on a much more grand scale than has ever been portrayed on any Transformers media. I see in my minds eye, a grand glorious battle of Combiners and other various Giant Transformers occurring over a long period of time. There will no doubt be a lot of damage to limbs, so when they have to exit the battle, someone has to quickly be there to take a spot. If Fireflight, Slingshot, Air Raid, or Skydive gets hurt, Alpha Bravo has to be there to take up the slack. I wouldn't even mind if in the future more additional new members were added, as long as you keep the original 5.

Also for me, When all unique Hasbro/TT/Club and Con exclusives are combined together, you have a perfect army of 10 heroic combiners, and 10 evil ones, with no exact duplication, and no limbs left out. Equal symmetry in Transformers very rarely occurs, but I very much like how the final result of CW/UW worked out, and the new characters contributed to that, so yes, I am glad to have them for that reason as well.

[Evil Eye]

Honestly I like Rook better than Groove. That said, had I not ditched CW/UW for my Defensor needs in favour of Maketoys, I would have kept Rook AND Groove and ditched Blades, for a more coherently coloured Defensor.

As for Bruticus, I honestly wish that they'd made CW Blastoff a new character with a new colour scheme rather than Blastoff, or rather, Slingshot in Blastoff's colours. If they wanted Blastoff to be a jet, he needed a new mold. If they wanted to use the Fireflight mold, they could at least have given him a new head and a new colour scheme to show he wasn't Blastoff. I wouldn't mind Blastoff as a jet, and I wouldn't mind a new Combaticon jet character, but the sheer laziness of just painting Slingshot (not even the dude with the similar head) brown and calling it Blastoff sucked.

Honestly if they wanted mold mileage, and to avoid the whole shuttle dilemna, I'd rather they'd used the Skydive mold with the Seeker head and made Starscream a part of the team- it would make sense, too, given his affiliation with the Combaticons!

[Kurona]

I kind of want Shuttle Blast Off myself... but only if it got a release in the same shades of colour Jet Blast Off is in. The ones Takara have for him look just awful.

[Evil Eye]

I kind of want Shuttle Blast Off myself... but only if it got a release in the same shades of colour Jet Blast Off is in. The ones Takara have for him look just awful.

And you have to buy the nicely-coloured but horrendously-QC'd UW Bruticus to get him. Honestly the colours bother me less than the fact he's supposedly a floppy piece of junk.

If I hadn't sworn off official combiners I'd get Ruination instead though. Because RUINATION.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Ah, that debate again.

To start off, I'll repeat what has been said: Wildrider and Slingshot have always been in the original plans, because their head molds were "built in" the Dead End and Firefly toolings (tho I suspect the two were the original character bases given the alt modes, Harrier and Ferrari).

Rook also was planned from the start, but possibly as someone else. We have reason to suspect his alternate head mold is actually Brawl, which was nixed when he got his own mold (no alternate head). Brawl as an APC has been done before, his "GDO" redeco was based on 2010 Breacher. Rook replacing Groove? From the start. And that's probably what jumpstarted Alpha Bravo and Ruckus/Offroad as "replacement redecos", to avoid vehicle mode repeats in the same wave.

Blast Off is still a mystery though. For the jets, all alternate heads (Skydive/Starscream, Thrust/Air Raid, Firefly/Quickslinger) are accounted for, and I don't see a Blast Off-based head anywhere in my records. Just what was Hasbro planning with him?

[Sabrblade]

Rook also was planned from the start, but possibly as someone else. We have reason to suspect his alternate head mold is actually Brawl, which was nixed when he got his own mold (no alternate head).

And which might have seen use as a new Technobot named Ironclad before it was decided to use the Deluxe Groove mold instead of the Legends class Groove mold for Hasbro's Afterburner/Afterbreaker.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Rook also was planned from the start, but possibly as someone else. We have reason to suspect his alternate head mold is actually Brawl, which was nixed when he got his own mold (no alternate head).

And which might have seen use as a new Technobot named Ironclad before it was decided to use the Deluxe Groove mold instead of the Legends class Groove mold for Hasbro's Afterburner/Afterbreaker.

If there was a game of tennis between Hasbro and Takara, Combiner Wars and Unite Warriors is the ultimate example

For those curious, here's a recap of the speculated, unknown and unused heads:

Bombshell: ??? (could be Barrage, the Deluxe Insecticon Beetle)
Trailbreaker: "Hoist"
Rook: "Brawl"
Silverbolt: ???
Cyclonus: ???
Hot Spot: "Inferno"
Onslaught: Armada Demolishor

Brawl and Sky Lynx don't appear to have alternate heads, so they're left out.

[william-james88]

Rook also was planned from the start, but possibly as someone else. We have reason to suspect his alternate head mold is actually Brawl, which was nixed when he got his own mold (no alternate head).

And which might have seen use as a new Technobot named Ironclad before it was decided to use the Deluxe Groove mold instead of the Legends class Groove mold for Hasbro's Afterburner/Afterbreaker.

Where do you get the Ironclad idea from? Hasbro said there were no plans for the technobots aside from Scattershot originally.

[Sabrblade]

For those curious, here's a recap of the speculated, unknown and unused heads:

In relation to this, the final TFSS 5.0 mystery figure is said to be a CW Deluxe mold with a headsculpt that Hasbro has not yet used (and which has probably not already been released by Fun Pub).

That leaves us with the following options:

Skydive mold: 1984 Seeker head
Air Raid mold: 1985 Seeker head
Rook mold: Ironclad/SG X-Brawn head
Trailbreaker mold: Hoist/SG Checkpoint/SG Knights of Unicron Autotrooper head

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Rook also was planned from the start, but possibly as someone else. We have reason to suspect his alternate head mold is actually Brawl, which was nixed when he got his own mold (no alternate head).

And which might have seen use as a new Technobot named Ironclad before it was decided to use the Deluxe Groove mold instead of the Legends class Groove mold for Hasbro's Afterburner/Afterbreaker.

Where do you get the Ironclad idea from? Hasbro said there were no plans for the technobots aside from Scattershot originally.

the club Bluestreak story. It was really good. Brought up some ideas for several different combiners that would have seen the entirely of the original Ark crew combine in some form. And Bluestreak ended up in a body design meant for Lightsteed (yeah, they actually noted that the guy drawing up the plans was terrible at spelling), cause the way this continuity worked, Computron was supposed to form with Ironclad as the right arm and an "energy efficient" Afterbreaker combining with the limb. Sound familiar? The story ended up taking the CW round with Scrounge and Boltax/Cybaxx, but it also introduced the "replacement members" into each team as well

[Sabrblade]

Rook also was planned from the start, but possibly as someone else. We have reason to suspect his alternate head mold is actually Brawl, which was nixed when he got his own mold (no alternate head).

And which might have seen use as a new Technobot named Ironclad before it was decided to use the Deluxe Groove mold instead of the Legends class Groove mold for Hasbro's Afterburner/Afterbreaker.

Where do you get the Ironclad idea from? Hasbro said there were no plans for the technobots aside from Scattershot originally.

the club Bluestreak story. It was really good. Brought up some ideas for several different combiners that would have seen the entirely of the original Ark crew combine in some form. And Bluestreak ended up in a body design meant for Lightsteed (yeah, they actually noted that the guy drawing up the plans was terrible at spelling), cause the way this continuity worked, Computron was supposed to form with Ironclad as the right arm and an "energy efficient" Afterbreaker combining with the limb. Sound familiar? The story ended up taking the CW round with Scrounge and Boltax/Cybaxx, but it also introduced the "replacement members" into each team as well

Right as rain!

Here's the section from the story that describes both Ironclad and a possibly-discarded additional Autobot combiner named Firestormer formed by Inferno (Hot Spot pretool), Hoist (Trailbreaker pretool), Ratchet (who did get made), and Sideswipe (Breakdown redeco):

Impactor pulled a small crystal out of one of the storage canisters on his shoulders. He plugged it into a port on the Teklaan computer console. “This universe... I guess it still needs the Wreckers. And now the Wreckers need you. These are blueprints created by one of our former members. Ironclad was an architectural and engineering genius. He created these plans and submitted them to the Technobots themselves, who took them with great enthusiasm. They at one time planned to elect him as their new rookie – just like the Protectobots did with Rook and… The Aerialbots did with Alpha Bravo.”

Bluestreak held back his questions as Impactor took a moment. He had heard rumors of the Combiner
teams’ expansions, but didn’t know that they had gone far enough to actually accept candidates as potential replacements. It made a certain amount of sense to him though, given his own previous experience with the operation. Bluestreak had tried to stay expressionless during this lull but apparently failed to do so; Impactor raised his hand as a show that he was alright. Then the purple Autobot continued, “He had upgrades worked out for the entire team, with himself and a more energy-efficient Afterburner combining together to become an arm. That design was rejected, however the Technobots used the idea to create their own special arm instead – one that merged Strafe with a Minibot named Scrounge. And Scrounge with Cybaxx. Yup. We found him; he had uplinked his consciousness to the Underbase right as Megatron tore apart his body. That’s why we needed to manipulate Starscream to get us close to the database. With Cybaxx recovered, the Technobots added his vast knowledge to Computron’s own intelligence, hoping that intellect could defeat the Mayhem Attack Squad. Of course – ”

“Uh-huh.” Bluestreak was beginning to wonder if this was how the other Autobots felt when he was talking. “That sure is a lot of…history.”

“The point of it is,” Impactor emphasized his words with clicks as he scrolled through the information held on the crystal, “this has all of Ironclad’s designs. It’s where I got my new form from - I adopted the one he had designed for himself. I of course dropped his red faceplate, the crown, and swapped the mustard tan and gray for purple and yellow. There’s also this…”

Impactor pulled up a three-dimensional wire frame of a robot mode. He jabbed at the hologram and it converted into a high-speed pursuit vehicle.

“This was Lightsteed’s upgrade.”

Bluestreak scrunched his nose. “I thought it was ‘Lightspeed’?”

“Hmmm.” Impactor leaned in and shrugged. “Schematics say ‘Lightsteed’. Ironclad never was good with names though. Something he apparently had in common with you.”

Bluestreak stuck his tongue out briefly, then tapped the hologram again and the vehicle stood on its rear end with a foot then attached at the bottom. “Ah. There’s four of you. I get it. I got it. When you say ‘join’ you really mean join. Just like Ratchet, Hoist, Sideswipe and Inferno wanted me to do when Optimus went missing.”

Impactor inferred from Bluestreak’s tone that the other Autobot wasn’t thrilled by the idea of becoming a Combiner. He had always wondered why Project: Firestormer was never completed. Of course, Impactor couldn’t blame Bluestreak for not wanting to be part of such a thing; the Wrecker commander still had his ownreservations

[william-james88]

I dont get it, why would a club story be proof that Hasbro had a toy planned out?

[Jelze Bunnycat]

I dont get it, why would a club story be proof that Hasbro had a toy planned out?

It's not the first time FunPub has used discarded ideas for their own stories. And I wouldn't call it "proof" per se, more like "arguments supporting a theory".

[Sabrblade]

Yeah, and the "Of Masters and Mayhem" prose stories were heavily promoting the Hasbro CW toyline through the backstory lore each story would describe.

Why would this story go out of its way to drop such hints about discarded toy ideas if none of them were true?

[RAR]

So it looks like if Hasbro ever take up the idea I keep muting of Vs packs then they can fill them up with some interesting ideas and also bring in the bonus team member idea fully - which to be fair is highly desirable for Deathzarus's team. what with a Black swindle & another jet repaint being super obvious to do there. No to mention how nice it would be to have Takara's New moulds. I'd not mind at all if they added additional team members to the Technobots - though I guess you have that already if you mix the 2 sets up.

[Kurona]

So it looks like if Hasbro ever take up the idea I keep muting of Vs packs then they can fill them up with some interesting ideas and also bring in the bonus team member idea fully - which to be fair is highly desirable for Deathzarus's team. what with a Black swindle & another jet repaint being super obvious to do there. No to mention how nice it would be to have Takara's New moulds. I'd not mind at all if they added additional team members to the Technobots - though I guess you have that already if you mix the 2 sets up.

I'm not saying it's impossible... but Combiner Wars is long over, dude. I really wouldn't go holding your breath for even more repaints.

[RAR]

but Combiner Wars is long over, dude. I really wouldn't go holding your breath for even more repaints.

I wasn't suggesting the use for "Mainline products" I was thinking more along the lines of the small sublines like The Dark Energon line or some parts of Transformers Universe.
http://www.tfu.info/2006/Decepticon/Uni ... htower.htm

The same sort of thing that you get now with platinum boxed sets only not in sets of 3 or 4 or more - but in straight VS two packs that have long been a feature in Japan and were tried out before with concepts like Battle in the Box. - the same idea might also equally apply to RID toys too though - if it allowed things like the Takara version of Bumblebee to be released. There is also the TRU exclusive as seen in "Clash of the Transformers" I can't see any reason why some Combiner Wars moulds couldn't slip in there too.

But it does have me stroking my chin wondering what if anything Hasbro might do themselves in the way of Boxed set or exclusives - at the very least they can amp up the Comic Convention offerings - if they don't do G2 Defensor at some point i'd be pretty shocked.

Though the age old question there is what to do about Rook & the two options of Groove. which is why I come back to the idea of Vs Packs that utilise a variety of themes to fill in some of those combiner wars gaps.

I would ask though if you had a hypothetical G2 Alpha Bravo, Rook etc.. what would you like colour wise for them to be - the same colours as their equivalent was or a brand new colour ? (i.e. would G2 Alpha Bravo be gold or another colour ?) or would you like the character colours to be a homage to someone else like say Rotorstorm ?

What about Rook should he be Black or should he be perhaps dark blue as a G2 Roller homage.

[leokearon]

Combiner Wars Computron is available in SMYTHS toys in Ireland for €84.99. I found this one in my local Waterford store

[o.supreme]

I was just thinking what a missed opportunity it might have been not to include a combiner in the aesthetic of the original series based on the FOC Generations Wreckers that combined to form "Ruination"--show up in CW. But the more I thought about it, the more problematic, or at least confusing it would have been.

1. Whirl & RB had Voyager Generations figures just released in 2014 (or 13 cant quite remember...)
2. Ruination as an Autobot combiner would no doubt confuse more fans who are most familiar with him as the Bruiticus repaint from CR/RiD (originally named Baldigus in Japan)

Now obviously one of them (Impactor) is being used as part of the TFCC combiner "Wreckage" which is a loosely Wreckers inspired Combiner. But all the other members are obviously different. it would have been nice to have a more original group (Topspin/ Twintwist/ Roadbuster/Whirl). But oh well.

Besides, other than myself I think most fans are excited about getting the Jumpstarters as Deluxes in TR rather than as part of a combiner for CW.

[Kurona]

Do Offroad's legs split apart extremely easily for anyone else; especially in arm mode? Mine come apart from each other practically with a gust of wind. It's a problem I've had since the moment I got the figure and I'm wondering if it's a widespread or at least somewhat common problem.