The Energon Pub

I thought I would ask because it is intresting to see what people consider to be worst alt modes. I have seen some bad ones in my time but I'm sure what make a alt mode bad.

when it looks like a fat chick bent over reaching for her toes when its really supposed to be a car .
just kidding. but seriously, when it looks nothing like what its supposed to be.

Alt modes number one enemy is visible kibble from the bot mode. Nothing ruins a great alt mode more than having big fists sticking out of the vehicle. Or a poorly disguised head peeking out somewhere.

This applies to non cybertronian alt modes though, cybertronian alt modes can be forgiven for some exposed bot kibble.

1) Wheels don't role together.

2) Isn't realistic.

Here's an alt I hate:

WWI Megs



Titanium Soundwave(Not because the alt mode ain't cool, but the whole figure can't stick the damn together)



WWI Starscream: The buddy who I got this for is in love with Screamer, and he absolutely hated the whole visible head thing



Haha. Funny. They all are from the Titanium line. I wonder why?

one thing that can ruin an alt. mode for me is the scale, if its supposed to be a tank make it bigger than a damn car!!! i mean they did come out with leader brawl, but they should have gotten it right the first time before i wasted money on deluxe. lol. basically any figure that is realistic the scale is important to me, thats why i'm not into real gear, i dont want a game control bigger than a mustang, it doesnt have to be in perfect scale, but at least something i cant work with.

classic grimlocks robot mode.....honestly they could of used the same transformation for him as the G! or just made it better. his trex mouth/head as robot feet bad, his arm/shoulder sockets dont "click" so there always loose and his legs are bulky

While Triple changers are amazingly great, some can be ruined by one of the alt modes being sacrificed for the other. For instance I feel Springers "car" mode is terrible because, even though it isn't earth design but Cybertronian, they had to sacrifice it to make a car/helicopter triple changer.
On the other hand, Astrotrain's triple changing is good, as the two modes have similar enough design that they can look alright in each mode, not like someone's grounded a helicopter & removed the rotors.

Another thing that bugs me, alt mode wise, is those Transmetal beast modes that just don't look like the beast they're supposed to be. Case in point, Terrorsaur, the colour scheme confuses & confounds, it causes the Pterodactyl/Teranodon (don't even know which the TM's supposed to be) to look like a big mess of some sort of bird, that from the right angle, in the right light, looks like some sort of Dinosaur age creature of the sky. Another example is the TM Cheetor (TM1) who is supposed to be a cheater but looked more like a panther.

When the figure can't stay together. Or of course it could just be the illogical way it was designed in the first place. And WW Megs is definitely one of those.

- Robot mode limbs clearly visible whilst in alt mode
- Head clearly visible in the under-carriage (I dont mind so much if you can see the head through the windscreen)
- Hands/Arms clearly visible in the undercarriage
- Bad paint apps

WW Megatron has a awesome design and all but hard for him to stay posed or anything, hope Hasbro releases him in the Universe line in plastic and able to pose better. So love his tank and robot design =\ Titanium and plastic dont go together well it seems

Probably like what Tom Brakaw said.

How about two right or left arms or feet. would that make the alt mode bad.

Basically an alt mode is bad when it can't convince you that what it's supposed to turn into & what it actually turns into are the same thing. I.E. when a towtruck dosen't look like a towtruck, or a jet dosen't look like a jet.

Take Titanuim Soundwave, for example. His alt mode looks like they designed a robot mode similar to his G1 incarnation, & then folded it up to resemble his original alt design. The "speakers" in his alt mode really just look like they took two blocks & stuck them next to the body of the figure & said, "Well, there's Soundwave....he's a boombox...Can't you tell? Well, I'm going home for the day now."

Energon Ironhide would also probably be a good example, because despite the fact that the robot isn't all that bad, the Alt mode looks big & fat like a playschool truck, & what makes it worse is that his head is sitting in plain sight, with a face sheild over it.