First Look at Armada Red Alert Robot Mode from Transformers Age of the Primes

Glyph wrote:Via @CsbiaoO_ again, here are some new pictures of the AOTP Armada Red Alert test shot, giving us our first look at the figure in robot mode (still minus the head).

He's shown standing next to Legacy United Silverbolt (Voyager) and next to the AOTP Prima test shot, so this also gives us a relative size reference for them. Quite a difference given that they're both listed as Voyager class in the waves leak!

The original images come from Baidu.

Thanks a bunch for your work and passion, Glyph

Not seeing the value of a Voyager class figure yet. It's about SS86 Ironhide/Ratchet's height, but nowhere near their complexity from the look of it - it's about as involved as a typical car to bot transformation. Give us a good Minicon Longarm then that should make this worth it.

But, I'll probably get this anyway as I want to complete my main 3 Armada autobot, then I just wish to see Demolishor. That's the only design left that I want in Armada.

cloudballoon wrote:Not seeing the value of a Voyager class figure yet. It's about SS86 Ironhide/Ratchet's height, but nowhere near their complexity from the look of it - it's about as involved as a typical car to bot transformation. Give us a good Minicon Longarm then that should make this worth it.

But, I'll probably get this anyway as I want to complete my main 3 Armada autobot, then I just wish to see Demolishor. That's the only design left that I want in Armada.

It looks like this figure is going for cartoon-accurate scale, in which Red Alert was taller than Hot Shot but didn't tower over him nearly as much as the original toys did.

Ooooh... new gallery & commentary for AOTP Megatronus / The Fallen from Mark Maher! (Instagram link, via TFW2005)

Sabrblade wrote:It looks like this figure is going for cartoon-accurate scale, in which Red Alert was taller than Hot Shot but didn't tower over him nearly as much as the original toys did.

I like the toon-accurate size, just not its Voyager price. It's kind on like Earthrise Trailbreaker/Hoist - near "Voyager" size but simple "Deluxe" transformation. Unlike Hot Rod where he's "Deluxe" size with complex engineering and came with good number of accessories that's worth the Voyager price (at least I can't imagine it could've been been done with Deluxe budget). What make this Red Alert worth the Voyager price without packing with a Minicon?

I do hold a bit of hope though, as I saw there's an minicon peg in alt mode. Though why it's in the back and not on the hood/bonnet where the 5mm hole is now like the OG toy is beyond me, but I guess DOES make sense if it comes with Longarm and it converts into a towing crane. I'd love to be happily surprised!

Glyph wrote:Ooooh... new gallery & commentary for AOTP Megatronus / The Fallen from Mark Maher! (Instagram link, via TFW2005)

Mark seems to be implying that all of the non-Prime toys in the line (like Armada Red Alert and such) are supposed to be direct bloodline descendants of the 13 Primes themselves.

New lore: The Well of Sparks was created by the 13 uniting all of their artifacts together. No more "Murdered Girl Prime melts down to become Cybertron's babymaker."

Mister Meg T. Fallen's staff is the Spark Fuser instead of the Void Scepter.

This Fallen looks a lot like a heavy Tarn retool.

Sabrblade wrote:Mark seems to be implying that all of the non-Prime toys in the line (like Armada Red Alert and such) are supposed to be direct bloodline descendants of the 13 Primes themselves.

New lore: The Well of Sparks was created by the 13 uniting all of their artifacts together. No more "Murdered Girl Prime melts down to become Cybertron's babymaker."

Mister Meg T. Fallen's staff is the Spark Fuser instead of the Void Scepter.

Good spot on the staff, I missed that.

Bloodline lore is meh, I assume that'll be valid for the duration of the AOTP line and retconned at will by other media later on. (And will come with own set of issues in the meantime, I'm sure.)

It's good to see an update to the founding lore - even if it gets a bit close to "unite the planet keys!"-type McGuffinery that could maybe factor into a "collect the artifacts" idea sometime in the future? - to cancel out one of Aligned's ickier additions. Can't remember, was that a Furmanism originally?

Looks like we have a first look at Prima's head, from another test shot showing up on Baidu. As with the rest of the design, the head looks quite different from previous iterations of Prima and features an elaborate crown-like upper section.

Kind of interesting to me that the face & lower helmet have a classic G1 Megatron bucket look to them, versus the Optimus-style helmet from TFOne. Because of the sharp lines I did go back and check the Geoff Senior original version from the Marvel comic, but aside from the chin plate there's no real resemblance there either.

Glyph wrote:Can't remember, was that a Furmanism originally?

Furmanisms are phrases.

Yeah, I know what the term normally means, but somewhat poor approaches to gender have been kind of a cliché for him too. I figured "was that a Furman addition" was clear...

Glyph wrote:Yeah, I know what the term normally means, but somewhat poor approaches to gender have been kind of a cliché for him too. I figured "was that a Furman addition" was clear...

Furman had no hand in any Aligned media. He wasn't writing for Transformers at the time.

"Solus --> Well" was done by the author of the Covenant of Primus book, Justina Robson.

OK, cheers. I was a bit out of the deep fandom around that time and lose track of where the threads came together for Aligned/Covenant stuff.

Glyph wrote:

Kind of interesting to me that the face & lower helmet have a classic G1 Megatron bucket look to them

Speaking of Megatron(s), I was staring at his upper lip because the mouth shape looked a little weird and it started looking like a moustache and now all I can see is Soun Tendo staring out of a bucket helmet.

Send help.

Glyph wrote:

It's the "Powerful Robot" from "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4".

Ah, you're right. Nicely updated and embellished, but clearly the biggest design inspiration.

I always forget about that guy, because my brain refuses to process that image as anything other than Cyclonus.

After getting images of headless test samples of Transformers Age of the Primes Prima, we finally have a test shot that includes the head. It first showed up on on Baidu. Unlike the body, which was inspired by the Alligned Continuity design, the head is an homage to a character from the G1 Episode, "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4". This character was known as "Powerful Robot" and shared Cyclonus' body, but was later retconned to be "G1" Prima.

Now we know that there are at least 2 different heads on the same spru when making the toy, so with this being a test, we don't know if this is the head Prima will have at retail or a second head to be used for a G1 inspired redeco.

That's actually a pretty cool headsculpt. Even though I'm not a geewunner, I think I'd prefer his cartoon colors as opposed to what I've seen in the colored test figure. And in either color scheme, that's a pretty unique headsculpt

-Kanrabat- wrote:This Fallen looks a lot like a heavy Tarn retool.

Nope. It's a different sized figure for starters. It might share some engineering cues, but it's no retool.

ThunderThruster wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:This Fallen looks a lot like a heavy Tarn retool.

Nope. It's a different sized figure for starters. It might share some engineering cues, but it's no retool.

Thank God. Tarn is really thin.

So this means it is a leader?
A small leader like Primal and Bee Megs, or a larger one like Dragon Megs and the SS86 Dinobots?

-Kanrabat- wrote:So this means it is a leader?
A small leader like Primal and Bee Megs, or a larger one like Dragon Megs and the SS86 Dinobots?

Yes, he's a Leader. Going by the original list and wave breakdown, so far we have:

• Leader: Megatronus, Onyx
• Voyager: Prima, Alpha Trion
• Deluxe: Solus, Alchemist, Micronus

Couple of size references from the gallery:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

ThunderThruster wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:This Fallen looks a lot like a heavy Tarn retool.

Nope. It's a different sized figure for starters. It might share some engineering cues, but it's no retool.

Thank God. Tarn is really thin.

So this means it is a leader?
A small leader like Primal and Bee Megs, or a larger one like Dragon Megs and the SS86 Dinobots?

should be the same size/bulk as leader galvatron

Glyph wrote:

Oh, he will feel like a REAL leader at least.

There's high chances I'll pre-order him.

I don't know anything about AOTP, other than a brief mention in Transformers One, but that Megatronus figure looks very cool and like a must have!

We have even more images of Prima coming to us from Baidu. While one shows the body with the head, the others have a random Megatron head as substitute to show the articulation and scale. We also see how some of the joints work with the arms being attached to the clear plastic windshield.

Oh boy, can't wait for the endless complaints about clear plastic... But anyway, Prima is looking pretty cool. I like the grey version that's been going around, it's an interesting cybertronian alt mode and the robot looks good despite some hollowness.

The Fallen is looking impressive as heck, didn't realize he was that big! Gonna go check out that gallery right now...

kirbenvost wrote:Oh boy, can't wait for the endless complaints about clear plastic... But anyway, Prima is looking pretty cool. I like the grey version that's been going around, it's an interesting cybertronian alt mode and the robot looks good despite some hollowness.

The Fallen is looking impressive as heck, didn't realize he was that big! Gonna go check out that gallery right now...

I don't mind clear plastics. As long that they are not used for thin tabs or joints that have to endure stress.

BTW, despite all the fears, SS86 Ratchet and Ironhide remains rock solid even after numerous transformations.

On one hand, that's some chunky clear plastic that they seem to have reenforced it well so it's probably fine... but that test is already broken all the way around where it screws on. Hopefully that's from stress testing it and not something to watch out for.



Emerje

I like him so far. He comes with the Star Saber though, right? If not, I'll have to 3d print one of my own.