The Energon Pub

[Malikon]

I overheard an employee at KBToys say that he read in a toytrade magazine that Hasbro cheated the robot mode in alot of the movie toys so that they looked better as vehicles. Anyone hear anything about this? He used Jazz'z "baby hands" as an example, saying they cheated on the hands to make the vehicle look better. I know the hands on my Barricade do kinda suck a little bit, but I haven't found a Jazz yet so I don't know what he meant by "baby hands."

Just kinda curious about what really goes into designing a transformer figure and was wondering if anyone knew anything about this.

[shortround]

Well what he means is the hands are really tiny here a picture from the seibertron gallery of him hope it answers your question:

[Pontimax 01]

I would imagine that design is a trade off. Good robot might mean ugly vehicle. And with some of the great looking vehicles in the movie, it'd be smart to get a toy that looks like the movie version. The robots would never look like the movie versions just becauseo of how complex they were, but the cars they can do. Prime, Barricade, Bumblebee, even Jazz all have great vehicle forms. Bonecrusher, Blackout, Ironhide, Ratchet arn't bad either.

[Malikon]

thanks for the pic, very cool. I thought it was interesting though to here that Hasbro 'cheated' the robot modes. Perhaps it's alot harder to design a vehicle/robot then I realized.

[CyberTooth]

Its hard when you want to keep the figure within an eight dollar retail range. A transformers biggest selling gimmick, it's transformation, is also a pain in the ass to work around.

Personally, I think Jazz is kinda a lost cause all the way around.

[Slumble B]

Its hard when you want to keep the figure within an eight dollar retail range. A transformers biggest selling gimmick, it's transformation, is also a pain in the ass to work around.

Personally, I think Jazz is kinda a lost cause all the way around.

I agree. He looks like a giant silver immobile brick. Definitely my pick for the worst of the movie line. If it wasnt for the G1 repaint I would not buy a Jazz at all.

SB

[i_amtrunks]

It's a fair point, as I know that the Movie transformers look damn good in alt mode, yet not a single one of them (until 08 Bumblebee) had what I would call a great alt mode, there was always something on each figure that ruined them.

[Bumblebee-otch]

i think ratchet and arcee have great alt modes, too

[DeathAura]

Just look at energon Wingsabre.

To make a long story short, hasbro told takara "make it combine with prime."

Takara said it had to sacrifice posability and his arms and hands in general to meet hasbro's request.

In general, it would appear that hasbro submits a concept to takara, usually an altmode, and takara is left to figure out how to make it happen, making sacrifices in some cases along the way.

It looks awesome combined with energon prime though.

[DorkimusPrime]

for get Jazz's hands, his arms are the real cheat...fold half of hte hood in half and that's his arm, hollow and all. His FAB has better arms, and they're just inside the doors.

[softimus_prime]

well maybe to some toys...

[Creature SH]

I'd say they did what they could with those absurd robot mode designs.