The Energon Pub

I've been wondering about the alternate forms of tf toys.

I know it's a long list but i figure someone should ask, plus im just really curious.

I know that basicly their are,
Robot form / Vehicle form / Beast form / Planet Form, / and Machine form, like G1 cassete bots Soundwave or the toaster bot Ejector from ROTF

I figure most people are likly to perfer Car from or Robot form.

personally I can't decide. so, could some others here share their opinoins?

what's the best thing about Beast form? or any of the other forms?

are Vehicle forms too common? or are Machine forms too rare
are any other forms too common or too rare?

should planet form be limmited to Primus and unicron? or could other bots someday share such a form?

do you think there should be more robots that don't have a humanoid robot form? or maybe no robot form at all?

perhaps there should be TF's that change from one vehicle to another,
like a truck into a speed boat for example, come to think of it, I'd like that!

What'your opinoin,
I know i;m asking alot... certainly I hope it's not too many stupid questions...

>what's the best thing about Beast form? or any of the other forms?

I like the idea of disguising themselves and hiding amongst us so I think vehicles and machines are the best modes. The trouble with the Beastformers is that they mostly involve rearranging the limbs whereas vehicle-to-robot transformations always seem more ingenious to me.

>do you think there should be more robots that don't have a humanoid robot form? or maybe no robot form at all?

Non-humanoid form? Yes, but I'm not keen on robots like Ravage as they're just not as much fun to pose without arms. I'd like a robot with four fully articulated legs and two fully articulated arms (RotFl Rampage doesn't count as two of his legs were just sticks and he didn't have elbows). I'd also like a biped with four fully poseable arms of similar size.

No robot mode? No.

>perhaps there should be TF's that change from one vehicle to another,
like a truck into a speed boat for example, come to think of it, I'd like that!

Or even better, TFs that change from robot to vehicle to another vehicle!

I'd actually split "Vehicle Form" up into different sub-categories:

Street Vehicle (cars and trucks, panel vans, tractor trailers)
Work Vehicle (construction equipment)
Fixed Wing Air Vehicle (planes)
Rotary Wing Air Vehicle (helicopters)
Military Vehicle (tanks, APC's and the like - jeeps and Hummers would be under Street Vehicle)
Motorcycles (Erm, well, motorcycles)

Why? Because, for example, I prefer Street Vehicles to Work Vehicles. I like FW Air Vehicles, but a RW Air Vehicle has to work hard to impress me. And so on.

"Machine Form" TF's aren't always machines, either - let's not forget the pretty durn awesome Longview ( http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... view/1100/ ). Anyway, I actually think that while some might be okay, there shouldn't be too many - if the alternate mode isn't capable of doing something the bot is without transforming, why would he ever transform except to conserve space?

And the worst thing about MOST Beast forms is they all have the same remarkably lazy transform - "Stand up, flip head down or back, stick tail in hand as weapon." Yes, a lot of the more 'legendary' figures don't have that scheme, but start surfing through the Beast War era galleries, and you see FAR too much of it. It's one reason I can't stand most Beastformers.

And there should ALWAYS be a robot form, otherwise it's not Transformers, it's MASK.

It's very much a matter of personal preference. I'd even say that while I personally prefer certain types of altmode styles, I also like to see a toy series have some variety of forms in it, because then I know it'll appeal to more fans. I don't care if there are molds I don't personally want, because someone else in the fandom will.

That said, I like multiformers, technobeasts with advanced (non-limbswap) transformations, and Cybertronian modes which don't look like a robot doing yoga or a random pile of parts. Shellformers and partsformers don't do much for me, and I'm not a fan of having detachable accessories form essential parts of an altmode.

That said, none of these rules are absolute - there will always be exceptions I'm willing to make because the rest of a design is so awesome.