The Energon Pub

ZeroWolf wrote:transectors

Wolfman Jake wrote:"Transector."

Carnivius_Prime wrote:Transector

Transtector.

Carnivius_Prime wrote:Aw jeez. I hope it isn't doing the Transector thing. I never liked that, far preferring the 'buddy system' of a TF with their human/nebulan companion. Having his own giant face on his back is just all sorts of silly.

I prefer the transtectors way over the nebulan approach as it's nice and uncomplicated. Especially if base modes are involved but of course you can change whatever hasbro say to what you prefer with the power of headcanon

Heh. Sorry. Transector rolls off the tongue (and maybe fingers) easier that Transtector.

Oh well, whatever happens I don't have to go by the official 'story' of the toyline. The heads can be human and nebulans if I so choose in my own collection. Hell if I want to I could just pretend the lil Blaster is me cosplaying Blaster... nah, that's too geeky.

Carnivius_Prime wrote:Aw jeez. I hope it isn't doing the Transector thing. I never liked that, far preferring the 'buddy system' of a TF with their human/nebulan companion. Having his own giant face on his back is just all sorts of silly.

But in that buddy system, is one just a headless guy? Or must they always connect when the main body is in robot mode? What if the nebulon just wants to go for a coffee run, does the bigger buddy have to revert to vehicle mode to not be seen as headless?

I personally found the transector made more sense to me in a cool scifi way. Like with Scorponok. He is a large mindless brute and when Lord Zarack wants to make things personal, he joins up with that giant body like it was an enormous exo suit (like Iron Man, or Apex Armour, or Gipsy Danger or Titan Fall). I am just saying that the idea of a small pilot manning a mech is easier for my to digest with the diaclone origins and it being a common sci fi genre. And Transformers kept that idea going with Overload in Armada.

william-james88 wrote:
But in that buddy system, is one just a headless guy? Or must they always connect when the main body is in robot mode? What if the nebulon just wants to go for a coffee run, does the bigger buddy have to revert to vehicle mode to not be seen as headless?

I've never been too sure why Transformers need heads other than to look somewhat humanoid and have a focal area to direct your eyes. They clearly have some other kind of communication, navigational and visualization functions in vehicle modes when the heads aren't visible. The Headmaster concept worked for me because it's two minds coming together merging the skills, experience and knowledge of robot and humanoid. Certainly made more sense to me than Targetmasters.

Carnivius_Prime wrote:

william-james88 wrote:
But in that buddy system, is one just a headless guy? Or must they always connect when the main body is in robot mode? What if the nebulon just wants to go for a coffee run, does the bigger buddy have to revert to vehicle mode to not be seen as headless?

I've never been too sure why Transformers need heads other than to look somewhat humanoid and have a focal area to direct your eyes.

Cuz they're living beings/people and most living beings/people have heads?

Another reason I would say they would have heads is so they are relatable to us. There is exceptions to this but when the characters are dealing with human traits and doing human actions, they're going to have heads. Plus as will said, if the nebulan wanted to he could just leave the bot he's connected to stuck. The transtector idea just works better, sort of like how the Japanese improved the pretender concept for their masterforce series

No, sorry. The Transtectors lose pretty much everything that I like about the Headmaster concept but hey that's ok. Your figures can be Transtectors and mine can be traditional Headmasters.

I just wish this Blaster figure would hurry up already. I'd like to sell my FoC one but not be without a Blaster in my Voyager team for too long.

Carnivius_Prime wrote:No, sorry. The Transtectors lose pretty much everything that I like about the Headmaster concept but hey that's ok. Your figures can be Transtectors and mine can be traditional Headmasters.

I just wish this Blaster figure would hurry up already. I'd like to sell my FoC one but not be without a Blaster in my Voyager team for too long.

Think you can wait until the later half of 2016?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Carnivius_Prime wrote:No, sorry. The Transtectors lose pretty much everything that I like about the Headmaster concept but hey that's ok. Your figures can be Transtectors and mine can be traditional Headmasters.

I just wish this Blaster figure would hurry up already. I'd like to sell my FoC one but not be without a Blaster in my Voyager team for too long.

Think you can wait until the later half of 2016?

I suspect it is coming later if combiner wars is lasting all of 2016.

Oh and Carnivius, does your statement mean that Scorponok is not a traditional headmaster?

william-james88 wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Carnivius_Prime wrote:No, sorry. The Transtectors lose pretty much everything that I like about the Headmaster concept but hey that's ok. Your figures can be Transtectors and mine can be traditional Headmasters.

I just wish this Blaster figure would hurry up already. I'd like to sell my FoC one but not be without a Blaster in my Voyager team for too long.

Think you can wait until the later half of 2016?

I suspect it is coming later if combiner wars is lasting all of 2016.

Oh and Carnivius, does your statement mean that Scorponok is not a traditional headmaster?

I'm not sure what you mean?

OK: Firstly, that looks really cool

Secondly: Does this mean that the current theory is that Titan wars is all about Head/Target/Power-masters? If so, I very much cannot wait. Brainstorm is lonely and I want the rest of the autobot headmasters.

I like the base mode idea. it also is cool if Buzzsaw is the introduction of the gimmick of the boombox-formers

william-james88 wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Carnivius_Prime wrote:No, sorry. The Transtectors lose pretty much everything that I like about the Headmaster concept but hey that's ok. Your figures can be Transtectors and mine can be traditional Headmasters.

I just wish this Blaster figure would hurry up already. I'd like to sell my FoC one but not be without a Blaster in my Voyager team for too long.

Think you can wait until the later half of 2016?

I suspect it is coming later if combiner wars is lasting all of 2016.

I thought Combiner Wars was only supposed to last through mid 2016 (though figures will still stick around on the shelves for a while). Didn't they say the comic was moving on next year and most of the recent announcements (Scattershot, more Autobot cars) have felt like filler just to get us that far. If Hasbro isn't going to keep making strange decisions (two eight Autobot cars but only one Technobot!?) then I'm ready for them to do something entirely new.

Actually, no I'm not. I'm not happy with the direction that Generations is going. I'm not too crazy about the idea of doing themes in a series aimed at collectors. Combiner Wars was fine at first, but when it turned out we can't have certain characters or figures that Takara Tomy is making because they don't transform it became less fine. I really want Generations to go back to being just straight up transforming action figures, that's gimmick enough. I don't need Optimus to be a combiner (twice) because that's what they're doing right now, or for Blaster to be a Headmaster that turns into a base because that's what Titan Wars is doing. This pattern of themes locks us into a particular path and locks us out of potential figures we do want. I mean, do we really want our first Nautica figure to be a combiner or Headmaster? I sure don't.

My real hope for Titan Wars is that only Voyagers and Leaders (and of course Titans) are Headmasters and Deluxe figures are left out and made into Targetmasters or something else less obtrusive.

Emerje

Not to poo poo that post, but with the announcement of a CW cartoon, I would guess that the line will continue. I mean we all know, no matter how good or bad a show is, it serves one purpose. A commercial for the toys. I doubt they would release the show after the line has run it's course.

The comics already moved on from combiner wars and are now gearing up for their respective fiftieth issues (and then onto titan wars presumably) plus the fans rarely decide what figures we get, or at least we don't decide the full range, after all hasbro still want kids to buy these toys, and kids love optimus prime.

Cobotron wrote:Not to poo poo that post, but with the announcement of a CW cartoon, I would guess that the line will continue. I mean we all know, no matter how good or bad a show is, it serves one purpose. A commercial for the toys. I doubt they would release the show after the line has run it's course.

The cartoon will be a YouTube series and probably not that long-lasting. It'll likely be a mini-series of short webisodes like how Cyber Missions was, which lasted for only 13 episodes (haphazardly) spread across eight months.

Sabrblade wrote:

Carnivius_Prime wrote:

william-james88 wrote:
But in that buddy system, is one just a headless guy? Or must they always connect when the main body is in robot mode? What if the nebulon just wants to go for a coffee run, does the bigger buddy have to revert to vehicle mode to not be seen as headless?

I've never been too sure why Transformers need heads other than to look somewhat humanoid and have a focal area to direct your eyes.

Cuz they're living beings/people and most living beings/people have heads?

His point is Botcon Bugbite. (albeit not actually a Transformer. Brain behind Windshield, he functioned just fine.

Metroplex also reloacted his brain. And with Prime reinforcing the idea of using mirrors as optic systems, you really don't have to have eyes above the neck. Just sayin'

Flashwave wrote:His point is Botcon Bugbite. (albeit not actually a Transformer. Brain behind Windshield, he functioned just fine.

Bug Bite's a GoBot. That story made a big deal about how those guys are physiologically different from Cybertronians.

Flashwave wrote:Metroplex also reloacted his brain. And with Prime reinforcing the idea of using mirrors as optic systems, you really don't have to have eyes above the neck. Just sayin'

Altmode laws of physics =/= robot mode laws of physics. 99% of the time, it's the robot modes that represent their true selves.

Sabrblade wrote:

Cobotron wrote:Not to poo poo that post, but with the announcement of a CW cartoon, I would guess that the line will continue. I mean we all know, no matter how good or bad a show is, it serves one purpose. A commercial for the toys. I doubt they would release the show after the line has run it's course.

The cartoon will be a YouTube series and probably not that long-lasting. It'll likely be a mini-series of short webisodes like how Cyber Missions was, which lasted for only 13 episodes (haphazardly) spread across eight months.

So a series of web based toy commercials? Well I hope they get it out before the toy line ends.

There's another way to approach this new "Headmaster" version of Blaster. It might be something different from Nebulan binary bonding or Transtector (happy now, Sabr? ), something that dates back to the origin of the Transformers in 1984. Think about Optimus Prime and his three components, the robot/truck cab, the trailer, and Roller. All parts are said to be part of Optimus' consciousness. He's not three people in one, but one mind who controls three aspects of himself. That could be the case with this new Blaster. The head looks like his own "mini me" version of his classic self and the larger base/boombox/robot may be just as much "Blaster" as the new little head-former is.

Wolfman Jake wrote:There's another way to approach this new "Headmaster" version of Blaster. It might be something different from Nebulan binary bonding or Transtector (happy now, Sabr? ), something that dates back to the origin of the Transformers in 1984. Think about Optimus Prime and his three components, the robot/truck cab, the trailer, and Roller. All parts are said to be part of Optimus' consciousness. He's not three people in one, but one mind who controls three aspects of himself. That could be the case with this new Blaster. The head looks like his own "mini me" version of his classic self and the larger base/boombox/robot may be just as much "Blaster" as the new little head-former is.

That's not too far off from the original Japanese Headmaster continuity. Characters like Brainstorm or Chromedome are the tiny Cybertronian heads, not just the body like in Hasbro G1 continuity. There is no Arcana or Stylor equivalent in Japan. The body is like an extension of the head bot, not a different character.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:There's another way to approach this new "Headmaster" version of Blaster. It might be something different from Nebulan binary bonding or Transtector (happy now, Sabr? ), something that dates back to the origin of the Transformers in 1984. Think about Optimus Prime and his three components, the robot/truck cab, the trailer, and Roller. All parts are said to be part of Optimus' consciousness. He's not three people in one, but one mind who controls three aspects of himself. That could be the case with this new Blaster. The head looks like his own "mini me" version of his classic self and the larger base/boombox/robot may be just as much "Blaster" as the new little head-former is.

That's not too far off from the original Japanese Headmaster continuity. Characters like Brainstorm or Chromedome are the tiny Cybertronian heads, not just the body like in Hasbro G1 continuity. There is no Arcana or Stylor equivalent in Japan. The body is like an extension of the head bot, not a different character.

Emerje

There is a small difference between Optimus Prime's relation to his component parts and the Transtector technology you're referencing from Headmasters and the like. Transtectors are inert, lifeless bodies when the head (the actual character) isn't attached to them. In the case of Optimus Prime, his trailer and Roller can function independently, even if not connected to Prime himself. They all share his consciousness. I'm proposing that a "Headmaster" Blaster would function similarly. He can separate into a smaller head unit and his body, which in turn can become a base that Blaster can operate remotely while his head unit goes elsewhere, or maybe the head can interact with his base body to more effectively target enemies or protect other bots within its walls. So, Blaster's body wouldn't be a Transtector as much as like Optimus' trailer. Heh, maybe it will just disappear into the background and appear out of nowhere just like Prime's when Blaster needs to transform now

Carnivius_Prime wrote:
I've never been too sure why Transformers need heads other than to look somewhat humanoid and have a focal area to direct your eyes.

They don't need heads or faces. They also don't need arms, legs, fingers, etc. They don't need handheld weapons, as weapons could be integrated into their bodies. They also don't need to speak vocally, or speak in English.

Let's not try to bring logic into a discussion about Transformers, or the whole thing falls apart.

An observation on scale.

All three robot mode figures in the Titan Wars backdrop have measurement marks next to the grid pattern. These seem to be pretty consistent across all the figures (each grid box is just a little over two of the larger units high). I don't know what units of measure are being used here; they might be purely for show. If, however, each of the larger units represents inches, it would put Fortress Maximus at just under 22" tall (Titan Class, as many have assumed he will be), and Blaster and the other bot (Sky Garry? Astrotrain?) at around 12" high.

Inchs would be a safe bet measure mentioned wise...now if only pictures of fortress maximus would find their way online like these blaster pics.