The Energon Pub

Hello all,

This question came into my mind recently while I was discussing Transformers with a co-worker of mine. He's not a big collector but he wanted to get some kind of jet to play around with now and again, but primarily to leave on display on his desk at home. I recommended one of the MP Seekers, but he's on a budget and ultimately decided that Universe Starscream would be the way to go.

Since I had just bought Universe Cyclonus, we were talking about Alt modes, and how he prefers the more discreet "Robot in Disguise" style of toy, where you might mistake it for a model car or airplane while in alt mode. I guess my preference would lean the same way, but I'm really impressed with Cyclonus.

It seems to me that there are two distinct styles of Transformers: Those designed based on a convincing alt mode that then become a robot, and those designed based on their robot mode which convert to an alt mode. It seems that the former have a bit more kibble when in robot mode, making concessions for their vehicular form (awkward parts like hoods or doors sticking out, like Alternators Sideswipe), while the latter have sleek robot modes but might suffer somewhat in the alt form because of their design (like how Cyclonus's engines/legs are somewhat free-floating).

What type do you prefer? What are some of your favorite toys in both modes? Please discuss!

Interesting topic. I think I prefer robot mode, but the MP and Alternators look really good in disguise. On some robots, it's not really any question. Who would display G1 Megatron as a robot? Who would display Fortress Maximus as a base?

Soulgem wrote:Interesting topic. I think I prefer robot mode, but the MP and Alternators look really good in disguise. On some robots, it's not really any question. Who would display G1 Megatron as a robot? Who would display Fortress Maximus as a base?

Exactly, that is why I leave my MP04 meg in alt mode. I actually love ROFT Barricade, its the same one as TF1 Barricade. I just love the fact that it's a cop car. It's still one of my figures that I love staring at everyday.

While I usually display my TFs in Bot mode (for space reasons), I DO prefer alt modes that don't look like robot yoga. This does NOT mean I don't like "Cybertronian" alt modes, however.

G1 Misfire, Cybertron Vector Prime, Uni/Cl Cyclonus all have 'Cybertronian' alt-modes, but good ones - they LOOK like space fighters / starships.

ROTF Megatron, Ravage, and The Fallen are just Robot Yoga. ROTF Soundwave is a TOUCH better, but not much.

On the other hand, I ALSO dislike "real" alt modes that just plain suck - like TF07 Starscream (Voyager), and any other figure with massive amounts of robot parts visible from a "normal" viewing angle.

I've always preferred the robot mode getting the 'preferred' treatment. Although too much sacrifice isn't good either.

I've got G1 Metroplex in city mode, and love him like that.

I like a figure to have a great bot mode AND a great alt mode. There is no point in calling these things Transformers if they are awesome in both modes. I think the Masterpiece Seekers are awesome figures due to both modes being very accurate. Then there is Masterpiece Prime; his alt mode is totally compomised in order to make his abdominal area look correct (cartoon accurate) in bot mode. I think we should be able to have our cake and eat it too.

It depends on the figure. I generally prefer robot mode, but sometimes I like to put my G1 prime in quasi-disguise (with his head still out). It amuses me.

Prime Riblet wrote: Then there is Masterpiece Prime; his alt mode is totally compomised in order to make his abdominal area look correct (cartoon accurate) in bot mode. I think we should be able to have our cake and eat it too.

It is? Not to my eyes. I think they pulled him off as close to perfect as you can get. Beautiful in robot and alt mode.

I think a lot of the post-G1 Optimus Prime/Convoys look kinda lame in disguise-mode. The Cybertron Prime, for example, looks pretty darn EEEHHH in disguise mode, but looks killer with Lio Convoy as his arm in robot mode.

I prefer the Cybertronian Alt. mode style.

Sure, the RID approach has some pretty badass Alt. modes, I.E. F-16 and Porsche 922 (G1 Jazz. IDR the model off the top of my head). Whereas Cybertronian is where you can see imagination come out. Cybertron Vector Prime, ftw.

Before I was a TF collector, I was a car guy (among other things). It follows, then, that I am a total sucker for a nice car alternate mode. Deluxes in particular, but Alternators, Voyagers, G1, whatever. The more detail the better, of course, but the G1 cars are getting my attention more and more lately. Simple or complex transformation, either way.

It's a case-by-case thing for me.

Obviously, whichever mode looks better on that TF will be the main mode it'll be displayed in, although for MP figs, I prefer to have them in bot mode. I almost always dislay MP Starscream in bot mode. Most of all Bayverse figures are in bot mode, due to the rather questionable alt modes of some. The only exceptions are Jetfire, and particularly Arcee and Chromia, whose bike modes far better than their twisted-up unicycle modes.

personally i dislike animal alt modes. mainly because of the curves,i mean robots in my estimation look best with clean lines sharp details and convincing vehicle modes in my whole collection the only "beasts" i own are dinobots from animated and masterpiece animated for nostalgia sake. as far as specific alt mode i much prefer the classics line for the color choices and vehicle modes.

alternator77 wrote:personally i dislike animal alt modes. mainly because of the curves,i mean robots in my estimation look best with clean lines sharp details and convincing vehicle modes in my whole collection the only "beasts" i own are dinobots from animated and masterpiece animated for nostalgia sake. as far as specific alt mode i much prefer the classics line for the color choices and vehicle modes.

Gotta admit, I don't much care for most Beastformers, either, but not because of their organic shapes.

No, what irks me is the "Stand up, flip head down or back, and stick tail in hand as weapon" school of "transformation". At least the Dinobots had more imagination than that in their designs.

I don't like beastformers either, but it's gotta be hard to think up new transformations for four limbed things that transform into four limbed things.

As long as the alt mode is a convincing earth vehicle I'm happy. I never cared for alien vehicles.

Like others have said, I prefer alt modes that actually look like something recognizable as opposed to "robot yoga" (great term Valandar!). I think it's engineering laziness to make a great-looking robot like Cybertron Metroplex and then have the alt mode look like... I don't know what exactly that's supposed to be and that's why I didn't buy it. G1 isn't immune to this either; Fort Max's alt mode is a bit of a disappointment; for all of its cool gimmicks the overall transformation is really simplistic.

I'm usually disappointed by the alt modes of the larger toys. You take Universe Galvatron or ROTF Ransack, which have great transformations and look very good in both modes, and then they're squeezed into these teeny tiny toys that break too easily because the detailing is too fine for their size. And then a larger toy like ROTF Megatron is just a big dumb hunk of plastic.

I generally prefer alt modes that are recognizable reproductions of real-life vehicles, but that said there's plenty of non-Earth vehicles that look really great like Universe Cyclonus or Animated Ultra Magnus. I guess as long as it looks like the transformation was designed based on the alt mode and not vice-versa, I'm OK with it. I buy these things because of the engineering and the detailed designs and ingenious transformations, and if they transform into something as gorgeous (in either mode) as the Masterpiece seeker mold, that's what gets me really excited about a toy.

I hate kibble too. Cybertron Jetfire and Crossovers X-Wing fighter all have what I call "a bad case of wings" in their robot modes. I don't mind the "backpack" concept or small pieces of kibble on the arms and legs because it all has to go somewhere, as long as it doesn't majorly detract from the robot mode like Blackout's Big Kickstand. There's so many toys that I don't even consider because they have a ridiculous amount of kibble.

Mykltron wrote:I don't like beastformers either, but it's gotta be hard to think up new transformations for four limbed things that transform into four limbed things.

As long as the alt mode is a convincing earth vehicle I'm happy. I never cared for alien vehicles.

Yeah, that's why the Supreme Cheetor was so annoying. For the transformation you just... stand it up.

But then there's G1 Tantrum or G1 Headstrong or G1 Doublecross, where the alt modes don't share any limbs with the robot modes. I agree with you that it's probably a bit difficult, but I don't think it's any more difficult than figuring out what to do with a set of wings from a plane.

And really this is why I hardly ever buy any "creature" toys: the transformations are usually so unimaginative.

More often than not I prefer realistic alt. modes. I tend to appreaciate TFs that have a real slick, great alt. And you don't always have to compromise. Univer Inferno and Sideswipe have both. I think Bludgeon has a great alt. I picked up Movie 1 Barracade twice, and his FAB, and I'll pick up HA *just* for the alt. mode (and ditto the icecream truck and the toaster on that). But, since I dislike the 'bot modes of the movie toys so much, I leave them as-is.

That said, when it comes down to it it's a character-by-character basis. Grimlock *has* to be a robotic grey and gold dinosaur or I won't get him. Alternators? Beast Wars? No thank you, sir! A Galvatron without his gigantic, phallic orange canon? say it ain't so! I'm a big fan of good robot modes and, to me at least, they tend to have to look good. I buy many of the third party add-ons to enhance the robot modes of the figures. And, of course, "Springer" sold me mostly on his robot mode, not his alt. mode.

That said, however, it seems there need not be a compromise, expencive MP line nonwithstanding. Universe Galvatron has many flaws, but they relate more to the downscaling of the figure and not his choice of alt. mode; I think both modes look fantastic. Bludgeon makes for an impressive tank and his robot mode is a very nice hom,age to G1. Classics Bumblebee is another great figure any way you slice it.

I prefer realistic earth-based alt-modes. I don't mind well-done Cybertronian molds either. Strangely enough, if a tf has a beast mode, I prefer a mechanical looking beast rather than a fleshly looking one.

Giant Purple Griffin wrote:I prefer realistic earth-based alt-modes. I don't mind well-done Cybertronian molds either. Strangely enough, if a tf has a beast mode, I prefer a mechanical looking beast rather than a fleshly looking one.

This is why I think every subsequent dinosaur TFS have failed to be anywhere as near as popular as the G1 Dinobots. They looked like mechanical monstrosities, with the chrome and bolts and such, that's what made them so cool.

Constantine wrote:

Giant Purple Griffin wrote:I prefer realistic earth-based alt-modes. I don't mind well-done Cybertronian molds either. Strangely enough, if a tf has a beast mode, I prefer a mechanical looking beast rather than a fleshly looking one.

This is why I think every subsequent dinosaur TFS have failed to be anywhere as near as popular as the G1 Dinobots. They looked like mechanical monstrosities, with the chrome and bolts and such, that's what made them so cool.

I think the TV show helped a lot as well. Every time the Dinobots were shown there was a sence of awe and dread from eevryone ... until Season 3 came out, that is.

Obviously I would like my tfs to look good in both modes. However, if the robot mode is great and the alt mode is questionable I will still pick that guy up. However, if the bot mote doesn't look like the character it is supposed to I will pass on it.

I prefer G1 or Cybertron-styled Animal modes, Earth Vehicles and Cybertron Vehicles for my neo-G1 line.

I share the love of mechanical animals. There's a part of me thinks it's stupid and applauds easy Beast Wars for actually making the animal modes somewhat credible. But it wasn't until the Transmetals (I think Cheetor in particular) that I really started taking notice. The recent Beast Wars comics have a few pages with Leo Convoy in his Cybertron-mode, which is basically the same but with a G1/Zoids style altmode. I'd have bought that toy in a second.

I think the problem is that it's very hard to marry a somewhat realistic animal mode with a robot mode that doesn't look like it's wearing half a Halloween outfit. In my mind these things are robots first. If they can't turn into something and keep more or less the same, then they should choose another disguise.

As for modern Earth-vehicles vs futuristic, Cybertronian vehicles...I'm torn. I still think Hot Rod's alt is one of the coolest cars never built, and a lot of the less-realistic vehicles are really cool and can transform from one mode to another with little obvious kibble. Then I think about how great it was that some of the G1 toys I had would have been virtually indistinguishable from a non-transforming toy of the same vehicle were it not for an Autobot or Decepticon logo somewhere. Tracks, Inferno, Prime, Prowl and many more (Blaster's toy originally was a cassette player for goodness sake!) made you feel kind of cool around grown-ups as a kid, because they didn't know that in a few seconds that innocent little police car toy you were playing with could become an uptight killer robot from outer space!

I believe Blaster was originally an AM radio.

Beast modes ... they just never won me over. "Haloween costume" is right! There's a select few that work and a truckload that don't. I have very, very few Beast Wars toys as a result (even though I loved the show).