The Energon Pub

I was thinking about Starscream's toys, and I'm not a toy designer or engineer, but I find it a somewhat odd that they never seem to figure out what to do with his nosecone, when the answer was in the cartoon all along.

The G1 toy had it flip into his chest and come out of his back, leaving it stuck behind his head. Sure that predates the cartoon, but the Robot Masters Starscream kind of does the same thing.

And with the Henkei SS, you open his chest, rotate the nose/cockpit 180, place it in his chest and close it back. Leaving Starscream with a piece of "kibble" behind his head again.

And for the MP-11 there's that awkward back hood that attempts to hide his nosecone.

But, what if you pushed the nose inside (spring), flipped the cockpit to his chest like in the cartoon, and his head popped out like the G1 Hotspot toy? I'm not a toy-maker but I think that could work. (and be super fun to transform back and forth.)

Here's a rough sketch for fun:



I have ideas how to handle the rest of the toy, mostly taking notes from the Henkei version.

Heh. That's a good solution.

While you're at it, a moveable waist would be nice.

It's worth noting that the TFA mold did that, and it looks AWFUL. They made the nosecone smaller than it should have been to accommodate the transformation. And I suspect that kind of thing may be required, for the sake of clearance; it would be a very tight fit if it weren't at least a little bit smaller than it should be.

Of course, you could always have a hinged panel on the bottom of the nosecone section underneath of the cockpit and a double-hinged bar so that you could hinge it inside and backwards, if you know what I mean. I know I have -something- that utilizes that sort of thing for transformation, but I can't remember what at the moment.

RhA, thanks.

RAcast, I think a telescopic nosecone could be done better than the TFA toy.

Is this what you had in mind?


I don't own an MP-03, but I saw photos and videos, it kind of seem like they over-complicated things for no reason. The MP-11 looks like an improvement (don't have that one either) but still looks kind of over-complicated from what I could see.

I have two more ideas for the nosecone thing.

Cyberpath wrote:RhA, thanks.

RAcast, I think a telescopic nosecone could be done better than the TFA toy.

I don't own an MP-03, but I saw photos and videos, it kind of seem like they over-complicated things for no reason. The MP-11 looks like an improvement (don't have that one either) but still looks kind of over-complicated from what I could see.

I have two more ideas for the nosecone thing.

Ah yes, that exactly! Now if only I could remember an example of that actually being used! I KNOW I have something that does, that's the worst part.

The telescopic nose thing is used by the various decos of Universe/Classics/RtS Cyclonus, if that's what you're thinking of.

Va'al wrote:The telescopic nose thing is used by the various decos of Universe/Classics/RtS Cyclonus, if that's what you're thinking of.

No, no, the double hinge thing is what I'm referring to.

RAcast wrote:

Va'al wrote:The telescopic nose thing is used by the various decos of Universe/Classics/RtS Cyclonus, if that's what you're thinking of.

No, no, the double hinge thing is what I'm referring to.

PCC Skyhammer?

Va'al wrote:

RAcast wrote:

Va'al wrote:The telescopic nose thing is used by the various decos of Universe/Classics/RtS Cyclonus, if that's what you're thinking of.

No, no, the double hinge thing is what I'm referring to.

PCC Skyhammer?

Dont' have it, unfortunately! I'm thinking it's something Beast Wars era...

Cyberpath wrote:I was thinking about Starscream's toys, and I'm not a toy designer or engineer, but I find it a somewhat odd that they never seem to figure out what to do with his nosecone, when the answer was in the cartoon all along.

Over the years,you can that fiction depicted Starscream with the nosecone on his back.