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They did eventually do that for Battle Gaia and Guard City in Operation Combination.Bumblevivisector wrote:Yeah, if Takara had put more thought into different limbs and configurations bestowing different powers on each gestalt back in the day, all the limb-swapping in the Scramble City OVA and G1 manga would've been more interesting and less pointless, at the cost of being more jarring whenever it intersected with any western TF fiction that would've still ignored the whole concept.
But alas, no one had the time, it was a mad...scramble...to get the corresponding toys and fiction out at all.
Shadowman wrote:This is Sabrblade we're talking about. His ability to store trivial information about TV shows is downright superhuman.
Caelus wrote:My wife pointed out something interesting about the prehistoric Predacons. I said that everyone was complaining because transforming for them mostly consisted of them just standing up-right. She essentially said, 'So? That's what our ancestors did.'
Sabrblade wrote:Drag Strip: Speed boostD-Maximal_Primal wrote:ZeroWolf wrote:I do like your idea though of each component bringing with it an upgrade. Sounds very mini-con/ Japanese G1 ish.
Kinda came up with it this morning, it's a neat idea to justify 2 different types of Menasor designs and honestly makes me happier about this skeletal frame combiner with cars slapped on it. Adds extra layers to it that helps me enjoy it a lot more, both as a good toy and also with a fictional background to it
Dead End: Endurance boost
Breakdown: Physical strength boost
Wildrider: Fireblast boost
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Drag Strip: Speed boostD-Maximal_Primal wrote:ZeroWolf wrote:I do like your idea though of each component bringing with it an upgrade. Sounds very mini-con/ Japanese G1 ish.
Kinda came up with it this morning, it's a neat idea to justify 2 different types of Menasor designs and honestly makes me happier about this skeletal frame combiner with cars slapped on it. Adds extra layers to it that helps me enjoy it a lot more, both as a good toy and also with a fictional background to it
Dead End: Endurance boost
Breakdown: Physical strength boost
Wildrider: Fireblast boost
I'm guessing this is based on OG tech specs?
I prefer a different approach, almost like super power. Like Dragstrip with the speed boost works for a sprinting combiner, and I just like the idea of Wildrider being a total berserker, so he adds a sort of frenzy attack.
I might incorporate more of the multiverse into Dead End and Breakdown. Maybe Breakdown provides the strength boost you mentioned, but it's more a super slammer uppercut, and maybe he wields the trailer as a giant hammer. Dead End would lean more Cyberverse, so maybe he would give the combiner a sneakier stealth mode (he wasn't stealthy in the show per se, but he was able to help hide as part of the resistance and was good with the hit and run tactics), while also adding some personality snark to Menasor.
Cyberverse Dead End is my favorite, made me love the character and finally gave me a reason to like a Stunticon, though RiD2015 did give me some love to Dragstrip and Motormaster.
sol magnus wrote:D-Maximal_Primal wrote:I prefer a different approach, almost like super power. Like Dragstrip with the speed boost works for a sprinting combiner, and I just like the idea of Wildrider being a total berserker, so he adds a sort of frenzy attack.
I might incorporate more of the multiverse into Dead End and Breakdown. Maybe Breakdown provides the strength boost you mentioned, but it's more a super slammer uppercut, and maybe he wields the trailer as a giant hammer. Dead End would lean more Cyberverse, so maybe he would give the combiner a sneakier stealth mode (he wasn't stealthy in the show per se, but he was able to help hide as part of the resistance and was good with the hit and run tactics), while also adding some personality snark to Menasor.
Cyberverse Dead End is my favorite, made me love the character and finally gave me a reason to like a Stunticon, though RiD2015 did give me some love to Dragstrip and Motormaster.
Interesting, but I think I'll come up with yet another take.
Sabrblade wrote:They did eventually do that for Battle Gaia and Guard City in Operations Combination.Bumblevivisector wrote:Yeah, if Takara had put more thought into different limbs and configurations bestowing different powers on each gestalt back in the day, all the limb-swapping in the Scramble City OVA and G1 manga would've been more interesting and less pointless, at the cost of being more jarring whenever it intersected with any western TF fiction that would've still ignored the whole concept.
But alas, no one had the time, it was a mad...scramble...to get the corresponding toys and fiction out at all.
Bumblevivisector wrote:Sabrblade wrote:They did eventually do that for Battle Gaia and Guard City in Operations Combination.Bumblevivisector wrote:Yeah, if Takara had put more thought into different limbs and configurations bestowing different powers on each gestalt back in the day, all the limb-swapping in the Scramble City OVA and G1 manga would've been more interesting and less pointless, at the cost of being more jarring whenever it intersected with any western TF fiction that would've still ignored the whole concept.
But alas, no one had the time, it was a mad...scramble...to get the corresponding toys and fiction out at all.
"Eventually" =/= "During Scramble City in '86", so Battle Gaia, Guard City, and Baldigus will always be outliers in that regard. Therefore, any official attempt to retcon a power-configuration concept into gestalts from that era is unlikely to supersede Bob Budianski's original bios emphasizing non-interchageability when it came to combining their components' minds, no matter how much fun it is to swap our toys' limbs around. Cherry-pick whatever stats you like from the Stunticons' tech specs, configuring their personalities will still give Menasor severe mental problems, and it's those character quirks that endeared them to the hearts of Transfandom.
No, just on their names and altmodes.D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Drag Strip: Speed boost
Dead End: Endurance boost
Breakdown: Physical strength boost
Wildrider: Fireblast boost
I'm guessing this is based on OG tech specs?
Shadowman wrote:This is Sabrblade we're talking about. His ability to store trivial information about TV shows is downright superhuman.
Caelus wrote:My wife pointed out something interesting about the prehistoric Predacons. I said that everyone was complaining because transforming for them mostly consisted of them just standing up-right. She essentially said, 'So? That's what our ancestors did.'
Bumblevivisector wrote:To be clear, I'm not trying to crap on anyone's ideas for gestalt power configurations, I'm just pointing out that the reason this concept still hasn't been implemented across even Scramble-style combiners in general is that someone would have to put a LOT of thought into it to square it with what's already been established about TF gestalts, and to incorporate future teams that might use the CW system.
Note that Menasor gives wiggle-room for stat-inspired power configurations because none of the Decepticon gestalts in the Sunbow cartoon had a real explicit unique power (despite Soundwave's assertion that he had "special powers" in 'Masquerade'). All 3 of Hasbro's Autobot gestalts, on the other hand, did:
SUPERION: Flight (wouldn't be a "special" power for a Sunbow 'Con, but still)
DEFENSOR: Force Field
COMPUTRON: Analytical Abilities
Now, attach 4 bots from the same team to G1 Metroplex in bot mode using the toys's connectors, and the corresponding power-ups seem obvious (or at least, this is how I interpreted them as a kid): Aerialbots let him fly, Protectobots give him a force-field tailored to Autobot City, and Technobots allow Computron's analytical abilities to access Teletraan 2's database. Fans may never agree on the effect exactly (or care, since that toy configuration is tough to translate into fiction due to scale issues), but start switching the limb-bots around or swapping between teams, and what happens to the gestalts' established powers? Anyone would have to make a LOT of s#!t up to answer that, and even then it'd be partly dumb luck if enough fans accepted it for the system to stick in our collective consciousness past the next few reboots.
Titanmasters might provide an even better example of what I mean. Someone at Hasbro came up with a lot of neat powers for them to bestow on the stats of whoever they headed onto, all fun and good for personal play, but will that mean much of anything even if Legacy has a few figures return to the Headmaster gimmick? And what does that mean for all the characters used in TR who went back to not being Headmasters afterwards? Did any of that translate into fiction? And to the few who played the TR expansion in the TF CCG game before its unfortunate demise, how well did it square with the rest of the game?
Point is, lots of fans have wanted a gestalt-configuration power system over the decades, but even for fandom to come up with a large scale one that stands the test of time, it would take a LOT of us overthinking and playing around with it, then creating some fanfic or game that conveyed it to other fans for the system to actually mean anything, AND it would have to not be too at odds with prior TF mythos. If HasTak tried it officially, they'd just cast it aside after 3 years, tops. Heck, it took several years of 3rd party gestalts screaming at Hasbro in $700+ voices before they even did new official versions of them in Combiner Wars.
But if anyone wants to prove me wrong and show it can be done, I'd love to hear more. TF fiction never settled on consistent rules for gestalt endurance, what it takes to knock them apart, etc. (except for Bruticus's three dots, I guess), so there always will be enough official wiggle room. I just don't see it happening in a meaningful way for established TF combiners. Newer teams that want to try something similar, like the elemental powers of the female 'Cons that form Megatronia (still no actual team name for them?) giving her the ability to slice planets in half, sure, keep that coming! But do different limb configurations for Megatronia mean much of anything? Will they ever? Outside of every fan's personal headcanon, not likely.
Sorry that turned into a rant, but I just wanted to be clear that I'm not down on the concept, I just think there isn't a scraplet's chance in the Arctic Ocean of it actually working. Given this unique take on Menasor, I'm mostly curious to see how Legacy will handle its next gestalt team.
-Kanrabat- wrote:TF-fan kev777 wrote:First-Aid wrote:Okay, did anyone else notice that we all get a wonderful shot of Starscreams crotch anytime he sits in that throne? That's unnerving. Couldn't they have put n extra flap in there? It's....weird.
Its kind of like Basic Instinct, but not in a good way...
Goddammit, now I can't unsee it.
Yep. Voltron Force. The one that aired on Nickelodeon and is the least-liked Voltron series. The toyline never even saw release.First-Aid wrote:Didn't a Voltron series have something like that? They were able to switch what lion was the one making the torso and the result was a different set of powers.
Shadowman wrote:This is Sabrblade we're talking about. His ability to store trivial information about TV shows is downright superhuman.
Caelus wrote:My wife pointed out something interesting about the prehistoric Predacons. I said that everyone was complaining because transforming for them mostly consisted of them just standing up-right. She essentially said, 'So? That's what our ancestors did.'
Sabrblade wrote:Yep. Voltron Force. The one that aired on Nickelodeon and is the least-liked Voltron series. The toyline never even saw release.First-Aid wrote:Didn't a Voltron series have something like that? They were able to switch what lion was the one making the torso and the result was a different set of powers.
Sabrblade wrote:Yep. Voltron Force. The one that aired on Nickelodeon and is the least-liked Voltron series. The toyline never even saw release.First-Aid wrote:Didn't a Voltron series have something like that? They were able to switch what lion was the one making the torso and the result was a different set of powers.
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Just learned you can use the welding helmet as a Battle Mask for Warrior Engineer Mode
Shadowman wrote:This is Sabrblade we're talking about. His ability to store trivial information about TV shows is downright superhuman.
Caelus wrote:My wife pointed out something interesting about the prehistoric Predacons. I said that everyone was complaining because transforming for them mostly consisted of them just standing up-right. She essentially said, 'So? That's what our ancestors did.'
Sabrblade wrote:Speaking of Metroplex, TFSource has him on sale this weekend for $159.99, 40 bucks off (or 20% off) for their Labor Day Weekend sale.
primalxconvoy wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Speaking of Metroplex, TFSource has him on sale this weekend for $159.99, 40 bucks off (or 20% off) for their Labor Day Weekend sale.
When it's literally 40 bucks, I would say that it is finally worth it...
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:primalxconvoy wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Speaking of Metroplex, TFSource has him on sale this weekend for $159.99, 40 bucks off (or 20% off) for their Labor Day Weekend sale.
When it's literally 40 bucks, I would say that it is finally worth it...
Not even close. This is by far the best titan we have gotten in every way: weight, strength, posing, joint quality, plastic quality, presence.
This is worth that TFsource sale price at the very least, and I would argue it holds up under the new titan pricing system. $40 is an insult to it, the Sparkdrinker alone is almost worth that.
-Kanrabat- wrote:D-Maximal_Primal wrote:primalxconvoy wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Speaking of Metroplex, TFSource has him on sale this weekend for $159.99, 40 bucks off (or 20% off) for their Labor Day Weekend sale.
When it's literally 40 bucks, I would say that it is finally worth it...
Not even close. This is by far the best titan we have gotten in every way: weight, strength, posing, joint quality, plastic quality, presence.
This is worth that TFsource sale price at the very least, and I would argue it holds up under the new titan pricing system. $40 is an insult to it, the Sparkdrinker alone is almost worth that.
IMO Legacy Metroplex is not worth that newly increased price. He's sure is impressive but you have to pose him just right so he don't comes crashing down. Also, I just can't figure out how to make him hold his gigantic weapon effectively. Finally, those transformation joints in his shoulders are annoying when posing his arms.
Despite these flaws, he's indeed glorious. So despite "not being worth" full price or the future inflated secondary market price, he's definitely worth it when he's on sale. Like 15% off or over. Just enough to save taxes and shipping. That's what I paid at my local geek store.
Now, to be truly satisfied with him, I need Legacy Deluxe Drillbit to happen. He needs it to feel complete.
On a side note, the Titans who are worth their full price or even more are Siege Omega Supreme, ER Scorponok, and L Select Black Zarak.
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:primalxconvoy wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Speaking of Metroplex, TFSource has him on sale this weekend for $159.99, 40 bucks off (or 20% off) for their Labor Day Weekend sale.
When it's literally 40 bucks, I would say that it is finally worth it...
Not even close. This is by far the best titan we have gotten in every way: weight, strength, posing, joint quality, plastic quality, presence.
This is worth that TFsource sale price at the very least, and I would argue it holds up under the new titan pricing system. $40 is an insult to it, the Sparkdrinker alone is almost worth that.
primalxconvoy wrote:D-Maximal_Primal wrote:primalxconvoy wrote:Sabrblade wrote:Speaking of Metroplex, TFSource has him on sale this weekend for $159.99, 40 bucks off (or 20% off) for their Labor Day Weekend sale.
When it's literally 40 bucks, I would say that it is finally worth it...
Not even close. This is by far the best titan we have gotten in every way: weight, strength, posing, joint quality, plastic quality, presence.
This is worth that TFsource sale price at the very least, and I would argue it holds up under the new titan pricing system. $40 is an insult to it, the Sparkdrinker alone is almost worth that.
Lol, nope. Not by a long shot. IMO, it's the complete and utter opposite. Still, regardless of its poor design, if it makes you happy, have at it.
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