Kurona wrote:I'm sorry, but I really don't see how the vast majority of the line - literally every single Deluxe and above figure aside from the 1987 headmasters - could have been designed for a different line and then shoehorned into this one. It just seems a little ridiculous. I have no doubt that some of them were designed for a different line - again, Galvatron and Alpha Trion have been confirmed for that - but you're essentially saying, unless I'm misinterpreting here; that Chromedome, Brainstorm, Weirdwolf, Mindwipe, Skullcruncher, Highbrow, Hardhead, Fortress Maximus (and if rumours hold true, Nightbeat, Apeface and Snapdragon) were the only figures designed for Titans Return. That's... that doesn't make any sense. If it is true and all of them besides that handful were last-minute decisions, then Hastak has some extremely serious problems.
Hasbro's current line of thinking currently seems to be at least one titan per line. Metroplex for Thrilling 30, Devastator for Combiner Wars, Fortress Maximus and Trypticon for Titans Return. Devastator fills that spot, there's nothing more to it. There's a lot more to suggest he started out as a titan class toy than not.
That's exactly what I'm saying. It would not be strange to think the designers had a vision of the "2005/Movie/ 2010" G1 cartoon cast as figures, complete with different headmasters, targetmasters, etc, while other designers were working on generic headmasters (new characters) and then, later on, but not late in the design process, for one play pattern to be settled on, both to unify the designs, help with repaints and save money in design.
Trypicon's design, for example, was almost finished prior to Hasbro asking the fans what the next "Titan" was going to be. Strangely enough, that's the one the "fans" chose. I have it on good authority from an ex-employee of Hasbro that Trypicon was almost ready, prior to the announcement (and they told me that was the next intended Titan, although they didn't mention Fort Max, which might have been due to my surmised idea of a later decision for Titans Returns).
In conclusion, I don't think it would be strange for a new range of the "2010" bits to be designed, with a later decision to homogenise them into a singular play pattern. I believe that this style of thinking has evolved from the time of releasing such figures as "Springer", "Darkmount", etc (with the inclusion of multiple heads for remolds/recolours), Combiner Wars (similar designs and engineering, plus multiple recolours and remolds) to now this. I suspect this allows designers to suggest more obscure characters and for managers to allow them, due to less risk relating to the ease of inclusion in a range (as they can share engineering and production with multiple other figures).
To fit my hypothesis, it wouldn't surprise me if many TR figures were being designed around the time of Springer and Jetfire's release, and then amalgamated into Hasbro's new design ethnic of canabalising, assimilating and reusing designs to get the most out of them.
All good stuff. I hope to be judge of that soon when Alpha Trion shows up in Canada. In the meantime, here are the TF toys I found to be truly majestic, let me know if there are any else you can think about:
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