Favorite Transformers Gimmick

DirtDigger324 · Post by **DirtDigger324** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 4:12 am

I know that maybe on this thread someone might have asked this question but since I am not willing to go back through the archive to find out who I will reintroduce it due to all the gimmicks and repaints lately. Throughout the years of Transformers what is your favorite gimmick and why? I really enjoyed the Headmasters and Pretenders. I like the Headmasters because of the idea of having the tech spec on the robot and Pretenders because of the idea of having two toys in one. There is more but I won't bore you with it all.

Alucard92 · Post by **Alucard92** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 4:26 am

My favorite gimmick is a multi-changer(to change into more then one vehicle mode)Because it's awesome.

Detective Barricade · Post by **Detective Barricade** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 4:29 am

Having to pick, my favorite gimmick (besides the whole "transforming" deal) is the gesalts. I personally find the idea of several smaller robots combining into the likes of Devastator or Tripredacus (Beast Wars gesalt) really cool. Especially Magnaboss and Tripredacus.

My second favorite would be the recent "Automorph Technology" for the movie line. When it works out, that is...

EDIT: Oh slag. I nearly forgot about the Triple-changers! that's an awesome gimmick as well. Thanks, Alucard92, for reminding me!

Post by **Warcry** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:20 am

Alucard92 wrote:My favorite gimmick is a multi-changer(to change into more then one vehicle mode)Because it's awesome.

Multi-changing is the best gimmick out there. From a toy perspective it doesn't always work out that well, especially when you go past two alt-modes. When it does work, though, it doubles the play value of the toy and (at least in my case) makes the guy a lot more likely to keep getting picked up off the shelf.

It's also the gimmick that makes the most sense from a storytelling perspective. Some of my favourite toys and some of my favourite characters are Headmasters, Pretenders and the like, but no matter what sort of spin you put on the ideas they just don't make very much sense (and yes, I'm including the recent IDW reinventions in that category too). Triple changers, on the other hand, are a natural outgrowth of the core theme -- increasing the number of alt-modes a TF can assume seems like a natural evolutionary step, which isn't something you can say about getting a little guy to turn into part of your anatomy or wearing a giant human suit.

secretcode · Post by **secretcode** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:51 am

I said it before I'll say it again. Transforming Weapons like Classic Prime's Windvane.

Treadshot A1 · Post by **Treadshot A1** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:58 am

Triple changer! Gestalts too. If they look good.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:11 am

Detective Barricade wrote:(besides the whole "transforming" deal)

I dunno, that's the best one. Just about every additional gimmick has been patchy in execution at best (there are two Triple-Changers worthy of the name; Takara have yet to create a combiner that didn't have enourmous design compromises; the *master gimmicks swayed between ruining good figures and being pointless accessories). I really fail to see why a figure needs more than a transformation. Considering they frequently struggle with that, I don't think we should be encouraging them to get any grand ideas. Why bother with a hundred and odd flavours when you can't get vanilla right?

Rack 'n Ruin · Post by **Rack 'n Ruin** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:43 am

Cliffjumper wrote:...there are two Triple-Changers worthy of the name...

Just out of interest, which two do you feel are up to it?

I'd say three: Blitzwing, Astrotrain & Sandstorm all hold up pretty well, iirc.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:48 am

I'd knock Astrotrain off the list because I don't like his robot mode, though I'd admit he's nearly there. The other two would be my picks, though. Springer's not a bad figure, but the third mode on him is an afterthought. Octane is awful in all three modes, Broadside is a passable Micromaster aircraft carrier and that's it. The Sixchangers are even worse... Things like Tracks, the Omnibots and Perceptor don't really count as the 'third mode' is obviously a desperate afterthought.

Sandstorm definitely deserves more acknowledgement, but as he appeared exclusively post-Movie, that's never going to happen...

Rack 'n Ruin · Post by **Rack 'n Ruin** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:54 am

Heh, guess I was one lucky kid then, as I had two triple changers - Blitzwing & Sandstorm. Result!

Sandstorm was always a favourite. His alt modes are quite different and relatively well disguised too. Only the tail rotor showing in car mode is a bit of a let down. But hey, great stuff... I may have to get hold of an Alt. Rollbar and make a Sandstrom homage...

I agree re. Tracks, Omnibots, etc. Not anywhere near real multi-alt TFs in my opinion. The Seacons' cannon modes were terrible too.

Vin Ghostal · Post by **Vin Ghostal** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:10 pm

Gestalts have always been great fun for me...sure, combiners like Menasor and Superion really are just two giant blocks of plastic to be slammed into one another, but the idea made for great fun for kids, and it looked cool in the cartoon.

Ackula · Post by **Ackula** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:32 pm

As an adult, I'd have to go with Cliffy on this one and agree that the transformation is really all that is needed. There haven't been too many things gimmick wise that didn't turn out badly. A transformer with a good transformation that also manages to retain good articulation is pretty much the best gimmick they can give us.

As a kid, I would have agreed with Vin Diesel and others that gestalts were the coolest, most fun gimmick. In retrospect they don't really work out that well, even when done in recent incarnations such as in the Energon and Classics line. However when I was a little kid they were better than sliced bread.

I never really liked headmasters or target masters as a kid, mostly because they didn't make a whole lot of sense, even in the Marvel comic they didn't make that much sense to me back then. Pretenders I did have a soft spot for as a kid, and especially loved some of the more gruesome and/or creepy Decepticon ones, but again in retrospect it really was a silly gimmick as there aren't too many humans the size of Transformers, or monsters running about. Thus the whole robots in disguise thing kinda went out the window.

Detective Barricade · Post by **Detective Barricade** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:33 pm

Cliffjumper wrote:I dunno, that's the best one. Just about every additional gimmick has been patchy in execution at best (there are two Triple-Changers worthy of the name; Takara have yet to create a combiner that didn't have enourmous design compromises; the *master gimmicks swayed between ruining good figures and being pointless accessories). I really fail to see why a figure needs more than a transformation. Considering they frequently struggle with that, I don't think we should be encouraging them to get any grand ideas. Why bother with a hundred and odd flavours when you can't get vanilla right?

I'm well aware of that, and I agree that it's the best gimmick number deus-ex-machina. But since (most) Transformers will of course have that one, I decided to pick something other than their primary gimmick.

And I personally would like to see where you think Magnaboss and Tripredacus have "enormous design compromises". I'm not too aware of many on them...

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:55 pm

http://www.tfu.info/1998/Cybertron/Magn ... naboss.htm ?

He looks like he's killed a bird and decided to wear is around. Presumably it goes well with the split elephant head he's wearing around his hips. He looks like he can barely see over the framework attached to his chest. By the look, again, it seems as if he has to reach around his own torso. Santon looks like he's been sat on by his own beast mode - in fact, if you were to ever remake Alien, but with elephants and angry-lookin' red robots, that's pretty much what that particular famous scene would look like. And those wings don't at all look cumbersome to Skywarp's robot mode - if he turns around, the four people fighting around him are floored. Great fun in battle, not so good knocking back a few slugs of Energon in the bar with your mates. I wonder if they have to modify doors for him?

Those are design compromises IMO. The closest Takara have managed to a decent combiner is either Sixliner (with two massive, massive cheat pieces) or Rail Racer (who'd be great aside from the one who makes up the hips and legs looking like a set of hips and legs with a head on the top)

Post by **Clay** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:02 pm

My favorite gimmick is clearance.

As for the two Beast Wars combiners, I think it's reasonable to say that Tripredacus is the best combiner that's ever been put out. To clarify the criteria, the component robots are solid pieces by themselves and the larger gestalt is articulate and does not have random parts hanging off like Magnaboss.

The Magnaboss set is hit-and-miss. The big robot would be better without the elephant head halves draped in the way of the legs. The individual robots are all lackluster.

Blitzwing · Post by **Blitzwing** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:49 pm

Apart from Triple Changers, I think Duocons are a pretty cool idea as well. Although it sucks when you lose one of them.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:23 pm

Again, to my mind, a good idea that the engineers were either unable or unwilling to execute... Which is a bit damning, as combining vehicles = single robot had been around for, what, a decade before the Duocons. Sentai fans get Dynaman, Transformers fans get two crappy bits of plastic that combine to give you a stumpy, monopod piece of crap with zero entertainment value. To me, they're the biggest disappointment of the line, because unlike a lot of stuff, the tech was out there to use the concept really, really well - HasTak just didn't bother to make production costs as low as possible.

*climbs down from soapbox*

martyboy70 · Post by **martyboy70** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 8:15 pm

Cliffjumper wrote:Again, to my mind, a good idea that the engineers were either unable or unwilling to execute... Which is a bit damning, as combining vehicles = single robot had been around for, what, a decade before the Duocons. Sentai fans get Dynaman, Transformers fans get two crappy bits of plastic that combine to give you a stumpy, monopod piece of crap with zero entertainment value. To me, they're the biggest disappointment of the line, because unlike a lot of stuff, the tech was out there to use the concept really, really well - HasTak just didn't bother to make production costs as low as possible.

*climbs down from soapbox*

Yeah the Gobot duets are contempary to(or maybe predate) them and are just so much more dynamic than the Duocons.
They could have been so much better if they had been executed properly but if you put them side by side with the Gobot versions they look very second best.
I only found out about them when I got one half of one of them in with an Onslaught I bought to start building my Bruticus and had to ask what it was.
Our resident Gobot Guru showed me where it came from and i think they look pretty good.
Cliffy has reviews on his site if you want a better look.

*Someone kicks away soapbox*

Civ · Post by **Civ** » Thu May 01, 2008 12:58 am

Favorite gimmicks? Force fields, coming back from the dead again and again...oh wait, you meant toy gimmicks.

I would say the Combiners as well. Personal faves are Predaking and Energon Constructicon Maximus/Classics Devastator. I'd also add Energon Bruticus Maximus but I don't like his helicopters for limbs.

Would City bots be considered a gimmick as well?

I also have to admit that I don't care for Headmasters, Targetmasters, Powermasters, or Pretenders. Didn't see much point to them and the best portrayal I thought made sense were in the Japanese Animes Headmasters and Masterforce.

Another gimmick I'm gettin' tired of seeing is the "SUPER MODE!" which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Why start out as a weaker robot instead of just going in as the big guy, squashing everybody, and be done with it? Worst instance of this was Energon Optimus Prime who was just a wimp and was even called on it by Megatron. Damn, I'm glad Animated hasn't done that. So nice to see an Optimus that is forced to use what he's got to beat the bad guy.

Speaking of Animated, is it intentional that none of the Autobots in the show come with guns already on them? I know Ultra Magnus has some guns but has yet to use them but I don't think I saw any of the other toys have them. The Decepticons sure do but why not the good guys? Melee weapons winning out against long range weapons is a bit hard to swallow.

Vin Ghostal · Post by **Vin Ghostal** » Thu May 01, 2008 1:13 am

Civ wrote:Speaking of Animated, is it intentional that none of the Autobots in the show come with guns already on them? I know Ultra Magnus has some guns but has yet to use them but I don't think I saw any of the other toys have them. The Decepticons sure do but why not the good guys? Melee weapons winning out against long range weapons is a bit hard to swallow.

Um....because the Decepticons are hardened super-warriors and the Autobots in question are maintenance workers? You know a lot of construction workers that carry around cannons?