The Energon Pub

Like them? Hate them? I never really heard much on them and would like to know more on what collectors think of them.

I think they were pretty darned good for the era that made them. However nowadays I don't see much interest in holding on to them.

For its time, charming. Though paint chips are a pain,I prefer Binaltech for balance.

These came just before masterpieces starting showing up and I think they were the beginning of our masterpieces of today the full interior, motors,opening doors,opening trunks,opening hood,rubber tires, nice robot and great car mode I still think they are very nice some of the coolest transformers made, mind you not all of them but most were done very nice I never had a problem with paint chips or posing like binaltech which are very nice also.
binaltech I heard were top heavy and hard to keep a nice pose.
I still have a several in my display case and will keep them, smokescreen, Grimlock and Hound are my favs .
although I never did see a tv show or story's for them they are so well done I wish they could have kept on
this is my thoughts on them.
Clusterprime

I love them!

To me they didn't just breathe a new life into modern transformers, they blew it in with hurricane/cyclone strength winds.

Sure they weren't perfect, some were hard to transform without popping parts off, others suffered paint chipping. But it was a big change in direction. Developers learnt a lot from them, and we got our first batch of licensed vehicles in 20 odd years.

From what I have seen and been told, they're pretty cool figures. I don't think I'll ever be interested in them myself, though. I've already got a load of figures on my list from the passed couple of years, let-alone nearly a decade ago.

We are talking Alternators here so no worries regarding paint chips as that problem seemed to be based on the metal Binaltech versions.

I love the Alternators line and still collect them even today.
They have a lot in common with the current scaled Masterpiece figures and look great together in my opinion.

Despite the many repaints of some of the moulds used the individual characters really shone through.
Awesome robot modes and cool vehicle alt modes, the Alternator line really was special.

Searching Ebay offers plenty of these figures at very reasonable prices for official versions but you may also find the Metals Conversion/A&L versions which use some of the same moulds but with a variety of different paint apps which are great customs or repurposing.

Gotta catch Transform them all!

They were mostly great for their time, and notoriously difficult to transform. Of course, by today's standards they aren't that hard (apart from Grimlock/Wheeljack - those doors love to pop off!). A couple of molds had really badly designed legs that couldn't really bend at the knee but I still have all mine on display and don't feel like parting with them.

Nothing will make me part with my Binaltech and Alternator figures. They got me into collecting and still take pride of place in my small display.

The Mustang, RX8, Jeep and the Impreza were my fave designs but they all had some plus points......though its hard to think of Primes right now.

They are great for collectors that display their figures in alt mode since they are pretty darn accurate to the real thing. They are the only figures I display that way.

Nothing wrong with them. If you have space and money, they are worth of your purchase. I usually display mine in car mode. They are almost perfect that way.

Pretty much sold all of mine (due to my collection rule) but still keep kitty Ravage as an exception. Just like him so much.

If you want larger, highly detailed g1 inspired figures, it's not a bad lie to have. Prices were pretty low last I looked, so it would be a decent addition to your collection.

They were incredible for their time and a while after, and even are impressive in their own right today understanding that alt mode is the top priority and focus of the line...but they just seem unnecessary to me now. There are better representations of pretty much all the characters in the Classics and/or MP lines, and many of the alt modes, while nearly model-like impressive, honestly aren't really worth displaying. So if impressive toys are all you care about...yeah, they're mostly great. I just don't think they're worth the space they take up for display purposes anymore.

I feel like this line is very similar to G1 acceptable Robot modes. Awesome Alt modes! These were design to have accurate real life alt modes first so many times the bot modes are compromised.

In 2003, they may as well have been Masterpieces - to the point that even here on Seibertron, the gallery category was "Alternators / Binaltech" - and included MP-01! Then again, MP-01 was about 1/25 scale, not too far off from the Alt/Binalt scale of 1/24.

They were the price and approximate size of Voyagers (at the time), but were 'extra special' in terms of articulation (mostly) and detail, plus the realism of the alt modes trumped the "not quite a Bugatti Veyron", "not quite a Formula 1 car", etc of the contemporary lines.

On the other hand, there DID tend to be a lot of kibble. The car parts looked 'bolted on' to the robot (as compated to the solid blocks with car surfaces of similar alt mode bots from other lines, f'rex), and some had kibble that blocked otherwise potentially improved articulation.

As time went on, procedures and techniques have improved, and the current lines tend to have even more articulation, more complex transformations, and smoother fits between the car parts and the bot modes, best shown by several of no screen time figures from the Movie line, or the Generations line (not even looking at the MP line right now). However, they still deserve a nod and salute, and I remember this forum being TREMENDOUSLY excited every time we got a glimpse of a new Bin/Alt coming out.

Valandar wrote:As time went on, procedures and techniques have improved, and the current lines tend to have even more articulation, more complex transformations, and smoother fits between the car parts and the bot modes, best shown by several of no screen time figures from the Movie line, or the Generations line (not even looking at the MP line right now). However, they still deserve a nod and salute, and I remember this forum being TREMENDOUSLY excited every time we got a glimpse of a new Bin/Alt coming out.

I dunno...I think them looking to retain the car interiors and make them model-like cars had more to do with the shortcomings of bot modes than techniques at the time. When you can stuff robot parts in the interior of the car, that gives you a lot more options. Look at the HA line, most of those have a lot of compromises to bot mode and the interiors weren't even clean with those figures.

I have a pretty large collection of Alternator/Binaltech figures. I absolutely loved them at the time. I ran out of space awhile ago however, and they have been boxed up for years. If I had the space, I would display them for sure. As it is now, I might as well get rid of them.

Never liked em.

When they first came out, I completely ignored them. However, as time goes by, I begin to realize that they are actually quite good. They look close to scale with the original Masterpiece Convoy and Megatron. To me, Alternators are my version of Classics.

I love the Alternator line. Still, some are garbage while others are awesome.

Here's the must buys:
Rodinus
Hound
Skids
Shockwave
Smokescreen
Those are the best molds. Buy them or their repaints as a top priority.

Heck, Ive still got some Alternators (and KO A&L/Metal Coversions) still boxed due to space limitiations, but when Im sorted for space, time and another Ikea Detolf cabinet, thos bad boys are going to be released!

I also picked up a Hummer reshell of the Alternators Hound mold which has been customized into Trailbreaker recently which looks great!



Still have some Alternators and Binaltech on my Transformers wants list... still searching!

Love em. They are based on real cars and MP01 Optimus Prime went great with em. Wish they had made more - especially Cons. Still have most of mine