Leonardo wrote:Take your lips off my pipe!
I had a lot of fun tinkering with his lamp post mode.Ironhidensh wrote:Soundwave is one of the better Generations figures made in a long time.
I have to agree. At first I wasn't very impressed, but after playing with him for a while, he's my 2nd favorite Siege figure behind Optimus.Ironhidensh wrote:Soundwave is one of the better Generations figures made in a long time.
chuckdawg1999 wrote:I wonder if the individual reflector figures can be used as guns for larger robots?
carytheone wrote:I'm trying hard to hold out for a slight discount on Starscream. Bot mode looked good (better than expected in person), but I'm still not sold on the tetrajet with legs.Ironhidensh wrote:I picked up Starscream today. While he isn't as bad as has been made out, he defiantly breaks the streak of Decepticon voyagers being freaking awesome.
Soundwave on the other hand is murdering it. I even like his weird space barge thing.
more
Fires_Of_Inferno wrote:So looking around online, I'm seeing the Deluxe size toys going for around $30 Canadian. Is that right? Can other Canadians confirm the price for me as I haven't been to any shops for a while due to no money.
We’re back with Part 2 of our Hasbro Pulse: Behind the Design with John W. from the Transformers design team. Read on for more designer details on the recently revealed War for Cybertron: Siege – Omega Supreme figure.
Hasbro Pulse:
Between the G1 show, comic books, previous Omega Supreme figures—how did you decide on the design for this figure?
John:
We had a couple of big meetings between Takara Tomy and Hasbro. I still recall a moment when I think Hasui-san came here to the United States and he brought a cut-out standee of the character based on the G1 cartoon style. Fans of the cartoon know that it’s simplistic, with a lot of smooth surfaces, and the proportions are slightly different. They’re subtle, but noticeable differences.
When we looked at that collectively as a team, our pushback was to have more of that concept art feel to it, with a lot more surface details to make it feel sophisticated and detailed, because the rest of the Siege line is covered with lots of little details that aren’t really evident in the G1 cartoon series. Hasui took that information back to Japan and worked with the designer, Kunihiro-san, who is a big fan of putting lots of detail into things – he really ran with this direction. He’s a scale modeler and is one of the original Transformers designers who worked on Star Saber, and some of the legendary characters from the late 80s and early 90s. We blended the world of G1 and the more concept art feel and brought to life this new style that is detailed and has lots of panels and extra pieces that weren’t there before.
One of the biggest challenges from an aesthetic standpoint is how do you not disappoint the G1 fans, but also continue to push the brand forward and keep it in line with the gritty, war-torn story that we’re telling with War for Cybertron: Siege. I’m really happy with the balance that we struck between the two – it hopefully satisfies the G1 fans, but it also pushes us into a cool new place for fans that are starting to collect this new Cybertron universe.
Hasbro Pulse:
Once you’ve decided, “OK, we’re doing a massive two-foot Omega Supreme figure”, what comes next? What’s the process like? How do we get from an idea to final product?
John:
We start with determining scale. How big is it, how big can we afford to do for the price point and still provide a good value to the consumer? What is the list of priority things we want to do? And then Takara Tomy comes back and they provide an early idea of their vision and how it’s going to convert.
Kunihiro would put together loose sketches on graph paper, figuring out all the major geometry of the figure. They come back to us with a proposal of the basic forms and we will provide extra reference on detail. Sometimes we’ll work with commissioned artists from around the world to bring a level of finish to it. Takara will take that and work with their model makers, taking some of the detail illustrations and build it into the 3-D model.
The 3-D model then allows them to test the conversions and identify any part interference. We go back-and-forth on a number of parts, details, and sketch in different areas -- “change this,” “make this piece bigger,” “make this piece smaller.” And then once we’re all in agreement, a gray model is created – this is the exciting part! Takara Tomy will create this literal, gray, one-of-a-kind prototype Transformer and they’ll send us a video – it’s always on this black, rotating platter – and they’ll slowly rotate the figure so we can get a sense of how big it is. With Omega Supreme…he was so big that his feet were hanging off the platter. As it rotates around, they stop the video and show how he converts.
It isn’t until this point that you really get a sense of the mass— you knew how tall he was going to be from the blueprints we had tacked around the office, and an impression of how big all the different elements are. It’s not until you see the designer converting it from robot to space station that you really get the “Wow, that rocket is huge, and that tank is a lot bigger than I thought it would be” feeling and it gives us a chance to see if there’s anything else we want to put into it. From there, they take that model and they create what’s called a final production model, a PT. They’ll take this model, refine it and make sure there’s no interference with the parts and pieces, and will also make sure it meets all the safety requirements
From that point, Takara Tomy puts it into production with the factory and we’ll start to see prototypes coming in. Simultaneously, we work here in our Rhode Island office to create what’s called a deco sheet where we spec out the molded colors, determine how many paint operations there are, and then try to bring that to life.
I work with a model artist here to create a painted prototype. This is the stage when the stars start to align. We’ll send that same deco spec to the factory; the factory will start to generate painted samples and then we’ll start to test out the joints and any QA concerns. We work closely with engineering at this point, to make sure all of the pieces are working properly.
After all this, we then get to reveal the figure to the fan at big events like the Entertainment Brand Preview event this past weekend in New York, and we have a chance to meet with fans and hear what they have to say. And then the whole process begins all over again with a new Titan character!
Hasbro Pulse:
That sounds like a lot of work.
John:
It IS a lot of work! Honestly, it takes months and months to do it, but it’s an incredible job and it’s great to be able to take something you’re passionate about and make toys for fans and work with awesome writers, creatives, engineering teams and stuff. We’re all fans and and we dig it. It’s a great job to do, it’s a ton of work, but it’s incredibly satisfying when a fan comes up to you, and you talk to them for an hour at a convention about how this toy really captures something for them – it is really something special. You come to realize that you’re doing more than just designing toys; you’re creating memories and you’re creating moments for people that they can spend with their kids, or they can spend bringing to life a battle on their shelf. It’s more than just a toy, it’s something so much more. I think that’s what I like so much about it.
This has been Hasbro Pulse: Behind the Design with John W. Hope you enjoyed this deep dive into the War for Cybertron: Siege Omega Supreme figure.
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Well now, courtesy of Hasbro Pulse, we have the 2nd part to that interview, which includes some more details on how the figure got all the technical details as well as a size comparison to the Combiner Wars Devastator toy, who is pretty much dwarfed by his rival.
william-james88 wrote:If ever Sabrblade decides to go on vacation, I am glad to know we can rely on you.
Wolfman Jake wrote:D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Well now, courtesy of Hasbro Pulse, we have the 2nd part to that interview, which includes some more details on how the figure got all the technical details as well as a size comparison to the Combiner Wars Devastator toy, who is pretty much dwarfed by his rival.
I wouldn't say that Omega Supreme "dwarfs" Devastator. He's just about a head taller, really. The height measurement of 24 inches that Hasbro is advertising is obviously referring to the wings on the back, which add a few inches in height. In terms of cartoon scale, again, looking at the height of the heads, this is actually pretty spot on.
I work with a model artist here to create a painted prototype.
carytheone wrote:I had a lot of fun tinkering with his lamp post mode.Ironhidensh wrote:Soundwave is one of the better Generations figures made in a long time.
I could never settle on anything else to do with his arms, but I did change the legs up from the official configuration. Speaking of, lamp post mode is an intended bonus as there are pegs that hold his arms only in this mode.
william-james88 wrote::shock:
Caelus wrote:Black Hat wrote:So here's a funny question- what non-Siege figures do you guys think would "supplement" this line well? I can actually see a lot of the old BM Vehicon toys making very good cannon fodder (for either side with some stickers, depending on individual colours and designs).
I can confirm that this is true, and its the primary reason I went on a Vehicon ebay-shopping spree after Christmas. Mega-class Tankors look great with Siege Megatron. Deluxe Jetstorms look cool with Shockwave if you can put them all on flight stands.
Also a cool looking display combo:
1 Siege Megatron
2 Cybertron Sideways
3 BM Tankors
6 Cybertron Scrapmetal Drones
1 PotP Predaking
william-james88 wrote::shock:
Decepticon Stryker wrote:william-james88 wrote::shock:
H- What? Combiner limbs? Wh- how? When? Bu- wha- ho- why? WHAT!?
william-james88 wrote:Great news, Siege Leader Cybertron Optimus Prime has been found in the US. he was found at a Walmart in Midland, MI. This toy is a heavy retool of leader Ultra Magnus. The figure's actual name is Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime, meaning this is still technically a G1 Optimus Prime figure, simply in an upgraded form, but that is merely the toy's bio and most fans see this as a Classics version of Cybertron / Galaxy Force Optimus Prime.
he retails for just shy of $50 USD. This sighting was sent to us by Manleybot who also spotted the latest Siege voyagers, Soundwave and Starscream, as well as the latest G1 minibot reissues, Warpath and Gears.
If you have found any of these, share your sightings with our community in the sightings section and on our boards in your region related thread.
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Decepticon Stryker wrote:william-james88 wrote::shock:
H- What? Combiner limbs? Wh- how? When? Bu- wha- ho- why? WHAT!?
We're getting two it looks like: Greenlight and Lancer, but exclusives and based on PotP Moonracer/Novastar. They go with Elita-1 to form Orthia instead of the mixed Elita-Infin1te.
Nemesis Primal wrote:JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Decepticon Stryker wrote:william-james88 wrote::shock:
H- What? Combiner limbs? Wh- how? When? Bu- wha- ho- why? WHAT!?
We're getting two it looks like: Greenlight and Lancer, but exclusives and based on PotP Moonracer/Novastar. They go with Elita-1 to form Orthia instead of the mixed Elita-Infin1te.
I think he was expressing confusion over how those CW boys were incorporated into that "Maximus Magnus", not anything about the line's releases.
Omegatron. wrote:Nemesis Primal wrote:JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Decepticon Stryker wrote:william-james88 wrote::shock:
H- What? Combiner limbs? Wh- how? When? Bu- wha- ho- why? WHAT!?
We're getting two it looks like: Greenlight and Lancer, but exclusives and based on PotP Moonracer/Novastar. They go with Elita-1 to form Orthia instead of the mixed Elita-Infin1te.
I think he was expressing confusion over how those CW boys were incorporated into that "Maximus Magnus", not anything about the line's releases.
Turns out, Combiner Wars combiner pegs fit very snugly into the prime master sockets of POTP combiner hands, so your combiner limbs are now 5mm compatible.
(I don't know why that image is sideways)
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