ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Tuned Agent wrote:ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Tuned Agent wrote:But Siege and ER molds for Optimus, Megatron, and the datsuns... don't. They're pretty much the same, the ER molds are just that much more G1-accurate in both modes.
1. For the umpteenth bloody time,
Smokescreen is the only confirmed ER Datsun so far. And Smokescreen's SIEGE version was A. extra-off compared to Prowl and Bluestreak and B. not as accessible.
Yes, technically Smokescreen is the only one confirmed yet. But if we're honest with ourselves, there's a better chance of a new
Animated Prowl being made and it being redecoed into Bluestreak and Smokescreen than the other two datsun bros not being made from the ER mold.
The same thing can be said for the seekers, Starscream is the only specific one that has been confirmed.
Except it's not exactly the same. The Coneheads all had appearances on Sky Lynx's boxart and Thrust is outright named in a listing. There have been no such hints of the other Datsuns. That's why in another post I said there hasn't been so much as a
whisper of them.
There was a listing for Thrust? I must have missed that, scratch that comparison then.
![Head Hurts :HEADHURTS:](./images/smilies/hammerhead.gif)
My point still stands about Prowl and Bluestreak, though. Barring a reduction of product production due to coronavirus, there's a 99.9% chance they're coming sooner or later.
ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Tuned Agent wrote:ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:2a. Optimus tries to be different with the giant roof lights that no Earth truck I've ever seen has, and the see-through grille, and I think it works.
2b. There's only so much you can do with G1 Optimus while sticking to the cartoon robot mode.
That's my point though. If Hasbro had truly intended Siege Optimus to represent a "different" look/design for the character, even if just for the alt mode, they easily could have done more to make him different that a few aesthetic changes to his G1 truck mode. They did it with the Siege seekers, why couldn't they have done it with others?
Because they were shackled by the cartoon robot modes. Optimus' robot mode is too boxy and too simple to be able to do too much else with his truck mode; there's not a lot to him that could have been repurposed like they did with the Seekers' ducts and wings.
If there's something the current design team excels at, it's coming up with creative transformation schemes. I'm pretty confident they could they could come up with something that isn't most of him folded into a box with his legs sticking out the back.
ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Tuned Agent wrote:He doesn't have battle damage splatter and his shins, pelvis and headsculpt are all more G1 accurate, so yes, by definition he is "that much more G1-accurate".
1. IMO battle damage doesn't count. 2. The shins are still tank bits rather than Bakelite-grip Walther handle, so not really. They're slightly more accurate at the front, but it's not enough to make a real difference. 3. The pelvis differences are trivial. 4. SIEGE Megatron's headsculpt is equally G1-accurate. Megatron's head in the cartoon is a bloody mess, because it's actually based on a misinterpretation of his toy's head as seen in the packaging art (the same thing that turned Hound's rifle into a small pistol); this results in a lot of inconsistency in how it's drawn. Whether the outer helmet's cheeks are angled in and by how much perpetually fluctuates from episode to episode and shot to shot (even in the damn movie!), same for whether it's drawn with the toy-accurate ridges on the back (which the SIEGE head has), the exact shape of it constantly changes... So there's a fair bit of wiggle room as far as the accuracy of Megs' stupid noggin. I personally favor the SIEGE head more, since it has that extra touch of toy detail.
You and I may not care about the battle damage, but there are people who do. It's removal
is technically more accurate. As for his legs, it's kind of unavoidable that they have tank bits. But the G1 cartoon never gave his legs much gun grip detailing, and that is what this figure is trying to emulate, not the original toy (for better or for worse). His legs were retooled to emulate the flat, near-detailless gun grip shins from the cartoon, though, making them more G1 accurate. The pelvis had a whole lot of sculpted detail removed, it's pretty noticeable. What I meant about the head had more to do with its general proportions. Compared to the Siege version, ER Megatron's head is a bit taller and skinnier, which is more consistent with how it was
generally depicted in the cartoon (though, as you mentioned, it fluctuated). I do also favor the Siege head, because I think it looks better with the slightly squatter proportions. I agree that the differences are relatively minor (since the rest of the toy is basically the same
![Frustration :BANG_HEAD:](./images/smilies/bang_wall.gif)
), but it's undeniable that the ER version is more accurate to the G1 cartoon.
ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Tuned Agent wrote:ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Tuned Agent wrote:And yes, ER Prime got a trailer, but I'm talking about the base figure. And the trailer doesn't necessarily give a reason for Siege Prime's existence. Siege Prime easily could have gotten the trailer treatment had he been leader class,
No, he couldn't have. Because
they had just done a G1 cartoon Optimus Prime with trailer at the Leader-class price point in Power of the Primes. Did you completely overlook that? Thanks to PotP, the Warden-obligatory Leader Optimus in SIEGE had to be something different. But they still wanted a more G1 Optimus in there (As far as Generations goes, Optimus is the new Bumblebee).
Also IMO it's less "the trailer justifies SIEGE Prime's existence" and more "The trailer justifies
Earthrise Prime's existence".
No, I didn't overlook that, it's just not relevant anymore. ER Optimus is no less different from PotP Optimus than Siege Starscream is from PotP Starscream
Whuh? ER Optimus is G1 cartoon Earth Mode Optimus, both cab and trailer. That gives him decidedly more in common with the PotP Evolution figure than SIEGE Starscream - who is a Tetrajet - has with PotP Starscream (an Earth jet). Or did you mean to say ER Starscream?
Because they couldn't have done another Voyager Earth mode Starscream immediately after PotP any more than they could have done another Leader G1 Optimus cab and trailer immediately after PotP.
No, I meant to say PotP Starscream. Dispite having different alt modes, they're still both voyager Starscreams with very G1-looking robot modes with transformation schemes that involve their robot modes pretty much just chilling under their jet modes. Meanwhile, ER Optimus is a voyager-sized G1 Optimus that also comes with a G1-accurate trailer that has a (mostly) G1-accurate base mode, while PotP Optimus is a deluxe-sized Orion Pax that combines with his trailer to form a G1 Optimus robot mode that is easily twice the size of ER Optimus' robot mode, and has a different-looking deco due to all the gray panels. They are completely different functioning toys, just as different as Siege Starscream is from PotP Starscream (even factoring in PotP Starscream's combiner gimmic), hence the comparison. ER Optimus has a lot more in common with Siege Optimus than PotP Optimus, even dispite the Siege version being in a different size class.
ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Tuned Agent wrote:Your point would have made sense a couple years ago, but not now.
How does my point that they couldn't have done another Leader cab-and-trailer G1 cartoon Optimus immediately after PotP, that the Optimus toys in SIEGE had to be different from the immediately-preceding Optimus, not make sense?
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Because the WFC trilogy is showing us that what came in previous lines is no longer a factor in what is made in the current one. I mean, we now live in a world where ER Megatron is a thing. Again, your point would have made sense a couple years ago, but not today.