Extra weapons for your Transformers

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Warcry
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Extra weapons for your Transformers

Post by Warcry »

If there's one thing that's disappointed me with the Classics and Universe lines, it's that a lot of the toys have been woefully underarmed. Some of them (Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Hound) only come with a single small handgun, while others (Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, Ravage) don't have any weapons at all.

For the most part I've remedied that by arming them with weapons 'donated' by older TF toys, and often older versions of the same character. So, for example, Classics Hot Rod has G1 Hot Rod's guns to replace his uncharacteristic flamethrower, and Universe Hound has Alternator Hound's pistol in addition to his shoulder gun. In some cases I'll end up using something completely different, though: Classics Bumblebee is currently toting around a pistol that used to be part of an 80s TMNT Rocksteady's rifle.

Eventually I'm going to run out of old weapons to 'harvest', though, and that got me thinking. What do you guys do when you want to give your Transformers some more firepower? Are there any other toylines out there with weapons that scale nicely to TF toys?
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Sunstreaker2
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Post by Sunstreaker2 »

Darkov on TFW makes repro weapons, including much appreciated G1-style Seeker null rays for the Classics Starscream mold.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

A lot of knock-off lines have similar-sized stuff, or at least near enough that you can shave down parts... Though I tend to just cannabalise other TFs for some (Highbrow's guns look great with Classics Bumblebee). It doesn't bother me with Movie stuff so much, perhaps because it's easier to buy conventional shells or whatever coming out of Ransack's moulded guns etc., to the point where I don't display hardly any of the projectiles. It's also a bit easier to picture Movie figures just beating the crap out of each other...

To semi-hijack, though, I do wish Transformers would get over weapons storage... It's a nice trick if you can do it right, but following it regardless and leaving Sideswipe and Sunstreaker with those silly little pistols, or Mirage/Fracture waving around a front wing, or Hound holding that little rocket launcher that won't quite clip onto his shoulder... It means some brilliant figures are just that little bit unsatisfying.
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

Sunstreaker2 wrote:Darkov on TFW makes repro weapons, including much appreciated G1-style Seeker null rays for the Classics Starscream mold.
Crazy prices though, from what I've seen. :(
Cliffjumper wrote:To semi-hijack, though, I do wish Transformers would get over weapons storage... It's a nice trick if you can do it right, but following it regardless and leaving Sideswipe and Sunstreaker with those silly little pistols, or Mirage/Fracture waving around a front wing, or Hound holding that little rocket launcher that won't quite clip onto his shoulder... It means some brilliant figures are just that little bit unsatisfying.
No disagreement here. All three of those molds are good toys but they would be better if they came with a proper arsenal. Mirage is especially bad because his 'weapon' doesn't look like a weapon at all. Compared to Cyclonus and his big Targetmaster gun or Jetfire and his eight different weapons attached to different parts of his body...well, these guys wouldn't stand up very long in a fight, would they? Although I do wonder if 'weapons storage' is just a fancy way of saying "extra weapons cost too much money".

It's worse when they do it with the larger-scale figures, though. When you've got a toy as big as Onslaught that doesn't have a single detachable weapon, or one like Powerglide whose weapon is a missile launcher on one end and a machine gun on the other so they don't have to make two parts, that's taking it a bit too far.

FYI, if you've got an old G1 Silverbolt lying around I seem to remember trying his gun out with Mirage once and liking the results. It also lets you leave the front of Mirage's car mode attached while he's a robot, which IMO actually makes him look a lot more like Mirage.
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Notabot
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Post by Notabot »

I actually wish they'd do more weapons, but I appreciate the storage aspect. I like that movie Brawn's pistols have somewhere to go in vehicle mode (though I wish he had holster pegs for robot mode). I like when they have weapons, but I really don't care for the magically appearing ones that are supposed to just lay in front of them in vehicle mode. Even the "stuck on the side" ones like Cybertron Downshift, as ridiculous and unrealistic as they may be, sit better with me than something that has nowhere to go at all.
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Post by Heinrad »

Actually, I kind of like Mirage's little gun. I chalked it up to Mirage switching from a hunting rifle to a hunting crossbow. Energo-crossbow? Whatever. What I've been wanting to rig up is a shoulder launcher(or over the shoulder launcher) for him. I think a G1 Sideswipe launcher would work, if I had a spare.

I did wind up, as a result of losing both of the "miniguns", equipping my old Camaro Bumblebee with the rifle from a KO Raiden. I'd like to give the gun from my Concept Camaro Bumblebee to my Classics, but that's going to take tools I don't have at the moment. So for now, he's got the rifle from an Energon Rodimus

Te hard part, at least around here, is finding KOs that have weapons that look like they would work.
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

Heinrad wrote:Actually, I kind of like Mirage's little gun. I chalked it up to Mirage switching from a hunting rifle to a hunting crossbow. Energo-crossbow? Whatever. What I've been wanting to rig up is a shoulder launcher(or over the shoulder launcher) for him. I think a G1 Sideswipe launcher would work, if I had a spare.
After some boredom-induced testing, no, not really. Even if you could get it to mount on his shoulder pegs (which don't really have much clearance, so you'll have to force it) his back wheels mean that he'll only be able to shoot something if it's on the ground half a pace ahead of him.
Heinrad wrote:Te hard part, at least around here, is finding KOs that have weapons that look like they would work.
Same here...last time I checked, I couldn't find anything but KO Robot Masters and downsized Aerialbots, neither of which have the right size of gun handle to go with most modern TFs.
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Treadshot A1
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Post by Treadshot A1 »

I generally don't arm them with extra stuff, but if i need to, a 5mm styrene tube glued over any existing handle will do. Though, that runs the problem of theat weapon permanently stuck with a 5mm peg.

Otherwise, Knock offs. Still, i rearely find any KO's anymore with those pegs, so often the above method of styrene tubing is also required.
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Post by Heinrad »

When I was thinking of it(using G1 Sideswipe's launcher), I was thinking of clipping it on next to the tire, the way the weapon mounted on the original Mirage. Not sure it would work, though.

Strangely enough, using newer weapons to rearm older figures doesn't work as well. My G1 Nightbeat is currently wielding a Classics 2 pack Optimus Prime rifle. The peg fits, but the weapon lacks the bulk of a G1 Headmaster weapon.
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Notabot
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Post by Notabot »

Just got ROTF Skystalker, and that guy's got some nice weapon stowage! Granted the "weapons" aren't that great, but the way they hide/store them in vehicle mode is brilliant.
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borg72
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Post by borg72 »

Notabot wrote:Just got ROTF Skystalker, and that guy's got some nice weapon stowage! Granted the "weapons" aren't that great, but the way they hide/store them in vehicle mode is brilliant.
and afaik, they use the new 3mm clip system, too. though it seems a bit pointless when they are definetely 'his' weapons. still, the whole 3mm thing is a welcome addition. was told that scout breakbrakedown can also take 3mm clips on the underside of his hands, as well as on his back kibble just under the spoiler.

i've also found that £1 store fgs can come with some interesting guns; my breakdown (as i lack any figure that actually HAS the 3mm clip weapons) sports a chain-gun from a playmates terminator salvation t-600. its handy as it has both a handle and a wrist-clip, so mounts fairly securely to his right arm.
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Post by Treadshot A1 »

According to S70, Skystalker's weaons are usable on Brakedown (clip to his hands), Sonar/Depthcharge (there's a matching hole in his palm) and also (ironically) Autobot Scattershot.
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