I've been thinking a lot about how Hasbro is, according to rumor, going to be producing two Commander-class toys a year, going forward. Do we really need that many large toys? Are there that many large characters that need neo-G1 representation? Are there even enough legacy characters that would fit the size and price point (which is rumored to increase from $80 to closer to $100)?

I can't help but think that Ultra Magnus would benefit enormously from getting a Commander-class release. We've seen what they can do at the Leader-class scale (the Siege version, which was also retooled and rereleased for Kingdom). But it's not enough. Even running the Siege toy through a geewunnification filter didn't turn it into a great toy. However, a Commander-class Magnus could have the proper size truck mode, complete with accessories, and maybe even some extra gimmicks (spring-loaded suspension, an extra transformation or two for the trailer). Basically, the closer they get to producing a mini-Masterpiece, the better.

Optimus Prime is also a character they could get very, very right at the Commander-class level. The Leader-class Earthrise toy (also reissued for Kingdom) was a very good toy, but the trailer had to be shrank down to get it to fit in the existing packaging, and it was missing a lot of features and colors and functions (Roller being chief among them). A Commander-class Optimus could have a larger trailer that had a properly-painted artillary robot, Roller, and perhaps even a spring-loaded launching mechanism similar to the G1 toy.

Another version of Optimus that would work well at the Commander class is the Powermaster edition. We did get a good tribute to Powermaster Optimus Prime released during Power of the Primes, but the Evolutions gimmick dictated that the small robot transformed into Orion Pax, not Optimus. (This was corrected to some degree with the Magnus Prime release, who is arguably not the same character.) Regardless, a Commander-class toy, with a higher budget, could potentially be the ultimate reimagining of the 1988 release. Moreover, the consumer demand for Optimus Prime as a character remains high, so this wouldn't necessarily be perceived as a redundant release.

I very much want to see a new Darkwing and Dreadwind set. The initial Power of the Primes releases were recycled Aerialbots, but they were missing their legacy weapons and Powermaster partners, and Dreadwind's robot design was all wrong. An all-new mold homaging the G1 designs would be amazing, and a two-pack with a shared budget means that the combined Dreadwing vehicle form would be close to the standard Commander-class size while each individual robot might be the size of a small Leader-class toy or a large Voyager..

Broadside deserves a great, big toy... and one that's accurate to his cartoon appearance, which we still haven't gotten. Astrotrain is another Triple Changer character who got multiple redo versions, with each bigger than the last, until we arrived at a release that was acceptable. But, he's a more popular legacy character who features in The Transformers: the Movie. Broadside does not. He's more obscure and not in popular demand, except perhaps with hardcore collectors. I suspect a strongly-desirable pack-in character, perhaps one we've never gotten before (Slizardo? Skuxxoid?), would encourage consumers.

Skystalker and Countdown might work well in this format, but word on the street is that the Micromasters haven't sold well, so I doubt we'll see a return to them any time soon.

There are plenty of other neo-G1 toys I want to see (Monstructor, transformable versions of more Action Masters characters, et al.) but nothing that seems to fit specifically in the Commander-class framework.

Discuss!

Zob (doing my spring cleaning during the summertime)

Zobovor <zmfts@aol.com> wrote:
> I've been thinking a lot about how Hasbro is, according to rumor, going
> to be producing two Commander-class toys a year, going forward. Do we
> really need that many large toys? Are there that many large characters
> that need neo-G1 representation? Are there even enough legacy characters
> that would fit the size and price point (which is rumored to increase
> from $80 to closer to $100)?

> I can't help but think that Ultra Magnus would benefit enormously from
> getting a Commander-class release.

I think they would want to give him a break for a year or so, but after
that, sure.

> Optimus Prime is also a character they could get very, very right at the
> Commander-class level.

> Another version of Optimus that would work well at the Commander class is
> the Powermaster edition.

PowerMaster Optimus seems like a good choice — and the core robot might get
reused for Ultra Magnus a year or so later.

> I very much want to see a new Darkwing and Dreadwind set.

Sure.

It’s been a few years since we got PotP Optimal Optimus, and I think the
larger scale would really help the figure. So, depending on how successful
the Beasts in Kingdom are, I could see revisiting him.

Thunderclash would be a good choice, in the cab plus battle station genre,
along with Laser Optimus Prime, RID Scourge, Armada Optimus, etc.

Overlord got a Titans Return toy, otherwise he would be obvious. But that
toy was really good, and was roughly at the time of his prominence in the
IDW comics, so we might be good there.

TM2 Megatron… if they want to continue down the path of beasts.

Armada Tidal Wave. If they wanted to start a round of Armada excitement. We
would need a Megatron to combine with him, though, and I’m not sure whether
a Commander becoming armor would overwhelm a leader, or whether he would
need to be a Commander too. Maybe a small commander with a minicon set.

> Discuss!

Armada Laserbeak, as 1:1 scale video camera. A terrible idea, as he was
already a forgettable shelf warmer once, and now the alt mode doesn’t make
sense.

What I would really love to see, though, is something that combines Brave
Goldran with BW2 Galvatron — Galvatron borrows a lot from the Brave toy,
but adds a more recognizable name and less boring colors. Bury Goldran has
his own features — a car for a chest plate that is basically a G1-style
Cybertron Hot Shot, and then combining with other toys.

On Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 5:15:14 AM UTC-5, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> > I've been thinking a lot about how Hasbro is, according to rumor, going
> > to be producing two Commander-class toys a year, going forward. Do we
> > really need that many large toys? Are there that many large characters
> > that need neo-G1 representation? Are there even enough legacy characters
> > that would fit the size and price point (which is rumored to increase
> > from $80 to closer to $100)?
>
>
> > I can't help but think that Ultra Magnus would benefit enormously from
> > getting a Commander-class release.
> I think they would want to give him a break for a year or so, but after
> that, sure.
> > Optimus Prime is also a character they could get very, very right at the
> > Commander-class level.

So basically MP10

> > Another version of Optimus that would work well at the Commander class is
> > the Powermaster edition.
> PowerMaster Optimus seems like a good choice — and the core robot might get
> reused for Ultra Magnus a year or so later.
> > I very much want to see a new Darkwing and Dreadwind set.
> Sure.
>

The last Darkwing and Dreadwind we got in PotP was a disappointment, but I'd be fine if we got 2 Voyager toys

> It’s been a few years since we got PotP Optimal Optimus, and I think the
> larger scale would really help the figure. So, depending on how successful
> the Beasts in Kingdom are, I could see revisiting him.
>
> Thunderclash would be a good choice, in the cab plus battle station genre,
> along with Laser Optimus Prime, RID Scourge, Armada Optimus, etc.
>

Thunderclash would be undoubtedly be recolored as Scourge, but battle platform trailers that have more transformation than "open sides point gun" are going to be ok, especially with all the Titanmasters and Micromasters we've gotten recently.

> Overlord got a Titans Return toy, otherwise he would be obvious. But that
> toy was really good, and was roughly at the time of his prominence in the
> IDW comics, so we might be good there.
>

Would much rather have a Deathsaurus than another Overlord.

> TM2 Megatron… if they want to continue down the path of beasts.
>

I wanted this so badly for Kingdom. Rodimus with a boring trailer isn't going to cut it. A step down from hi PotP self if you ask me. Sure it's accurate to a G1 brick from 35 years ago, but so what?

> Armada Tidal Wave. If they wanted to start a round of Armada excitement. We
> would need a Megatron to combine with him, though, and I’m not sure whether
> a Commander becoming armor would overwhelm a leader, or whether he would
> need to be a Commander too. Maybe a small commander with a minicon set.
>

I would buy a Tidal Wave, even if it was a retool of Broadside.

> > Discuss!
>
> Armada Laserbeak, as 1:1 scale video camera. A terrible idea, as he was
> already a forgettable shelf warmer once, and now the alt mode doesn’t make
> sense.
>
> What I would really love to see, though, is something that combines Brave
> Goldran with BW2 Galvatron — Galvatron borrows a lot from the Brave toy,
> but adds a more recognizable name and less boring colors. Bury Goldran has
> his own features — a car for a chest plate that is basically a G1-style
> Cybertron Hot Shot, and then combining with other toys.

BWII Galvaron was amazing, we need some homage of him. Goldran tips just a tad too far into Gundam territory as far as the aesthetic. There could be some shared engineering between a BWII Galvatron and a Deathsaurus.

On Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 4:15:14 AM UTC-6, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> It’s been a few years since we got PotP Optimal Optimus, and I think the
> larger scale would really help the figure. So, depending on how successful
> the Beasts in Kingdom are, I could see revisiting him.
It's unfathomable to me that the original Optimal Optimus was only $30 when it came out. And that seemed like an exorbitant amount of money at the time.

Honestly, the original toy was the pinnacle of excellence. They've revisited his design twice since then (Titanium Series, PotP) and they've never managed to improve upon it. Here's an example of when a reissue would just make sense.

> TM2 Megatron… if they want to continue down the path of beasts.

The in-universe scale is wacky when you get to the Transmetal 2 characters. Everybody is a giant. According to the scale guide I have, if Predacon leader Megatron is a Leader-class toy, then so is Transmetal Megatron, and so is TM2 Dinobot. Depth Charge and Rampage are even bigger than that. So is Transmutate. Tigerhawk and TM2 Megatron are even taller. Optimal Optimus is about a head taller than everybody else. All those characters would have to be Commander-class.

I don't think it's necessarily a foregone conclusion that we'll get updates for every single Beast Wars character in every single body. I mean, it's still a pretty small group of characters, and they're already almost halfway there. But I wonder if it will keep going, or just peter out. But, collecting neo-BW has been way less expensive than collecting Masterbeasts, at least.

Zob (I'll buy all the ones they produce)

On Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 6:21:44 PM UTC-6, Ob1k...@att.net wrote:

>> Optimus Prime is also a character they could get very, very right at the
>> Commander-class level.
>
> So basically MP10

I mean, maybe? I guess? Only scaled for neo-G1?

> The last Darkwing and Dreadwind we got in PotP was a disappointment, but I'd be fine if we got 2 Voyager toys

I'd be okay with that, too. Hasbro can sell 'em separately if they want to. I was just trying to think of what toys would make sense in Commander-class packaging.

> I wanted this so badly for Kingdom. Rodimus with a boring trailer isn't going to cut it. A step down from hi PotP self if you ask me. Sure it's accurate to a G1 brick from 35 years ago, but so what?

It's not accurate. The brick had chrome hubcaps.

> I would buy a Tidal Wave, even if it was a retool of Broadside.

Didn't we do that already during Titans Return?

Zob (not a Tidal Wave fan)

Irrellius Spamticon <Ob1kenoby@att.net> wrote:
> On Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 5:15:14 AM UTC-5, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

>> What I would really love to see, though, is something that combines Brave
>> Goldran with BW2 Galvatron — Galvatron borrows a lot from the Brave toy,
>> but adds a more recognizable name and less boring colors. Bury Goldran has
>> his own features — a car for a chest plate that is basically a G1-style
>> Cybertron Hot Shot, and then combining with other toys.
>
> BWII Galvaron was amazing, we need some homage of him. Goldran tips just
> a tad too far into Gundam territory as far as the aesthetic. There could
> be some shared engineering between a BWII Galvatron and a Deathsaurus.

Having The reissue Goldran, along with Goldburd and Goldlion or whatever
they are called, I don’t see anything Gundam about the toys.

The colors are boring — gold, and gold plastic (I wonder how he is doing… I
should check) — but other than that he is really good late G1ish design,
bordering on G2 new mold tech. And then you see how much they cribbed some
other toys out of the set, some of the best toys, and it’s a little
ridiculous.

The dragon is slightly more Godzilla than Galvatron, because of the thick
neck. The tail to arms assembly is exactly the same as Galvatron, except
with a missile launcher gimmick being revealed on the shoulders.

One of my favorite toys, despite the colors, and the distinct possibility
he will crumble to dust.

Actually, what I really want is just a reissue of the molds with decent
colors. Maybe if some toy line play tests poorly, we will get another 1/2
reuse line like the original RID, and just drag out this mold.

On Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 5:35:58 PM UTC-4, Zobovor wrote:
> I've been thinking a lot about how Hasbro is, according to rumor, going to be producing two Commander-class toys a year, going forward. Do we really need that many large toys? Are there that many large characters that need neo-G1 representation? Are there even enough legacy characters that would fit the size and price point (which is rumored to increase from $80 to closer to $100)?
>
> I can't help but think that Ultra Magnus would benefit enormously from getting a Commander-class release. We've seen what they can do at the Leader-class scale (the Siege version, which was also retooled and rereleased for Kingdom). But it's not enough. Even running the Siege toy through a geewunnification filter didn't turn it into a great toy. However, a Commander-class Magnus could have the proper size truck mode, complete with accessories, and maybe even some extra gimmicks (spring-loaded suspension, an extra transformation or two for the trailer). Basically, the closer they get to producing a mini-Masterpiece, the better.
>
> Optimus Prime is also a character they could get very, very right at the Commander-class level. The Leader-class Earthrise toy (also reissued for Kingdom) was a very good toy, but the trailer had to be shrank down to get it to fit in the existing packaging, and it was missing a lot of features and colors and functions (Roller being chief among them). A Commander-class Optimus could have a larger trailer that had a properly-painted artillary robot, Roller, and perhaps even a spring-loaded launching mechanism similar to the G1 toy.
>
> Another version of Optimus that would work well at the Commander class is the Powermaster edition. We did get a good tribute to Powermaster Optimus Prime released during Power of the Primes, but the Evolutions gimmick dictated that the small robot transformed into Orion Pax, not Optimus. (This was corrected to some degree with the Magnus Prime release, who is arguably not the same character.) Regardless, a Commander-class toy, with a higher budget, could potentially be the ultimate reimagining of the 1988 release. Moreover, the consumer demand for Optimus Prime as a character remains high, so this wouldn't necessarily be perceived as a redundant release.
>
> I very much want to see a new Darkwing and Dreadwind set. The initial Power of the Primes releases were recycled Aerialbots, but they were missing their legacy weapons and Powermaster partners, and Dreadwind's robot design was all wrong. An all-new mold homaging the G1 designs would be amazing, and a two-pack with a shared budget means that the combined Dreadwing vehicle form would be close to the standard Commander-class size while each individual robot might be the size of a small Leader-class toy or a large Voyager..
>
> Broadside deserves a great, big toy... and one that's accurate to his cartoon appearance, which we still haven't gotten. Astrotrain is another Triple Changer character who got multiple redo versions, with each bigger than the last, until we arrived at a release that was acceptable. But, he's a more popular legacy character who features in The Transformers: the Movie. Broadside does not. He's more obscure and not in popular demand, except perhaps with hardcore collectors. I suspect a strongly-desirable pack-in character, perhaps one we've never gotten before (Slizardo? Skuxxoid?), would encourage consumers.
>
> Skystalker and Countdown might work well in this format, but word on the street is that the Micromasters haven't sold well, so I doubt we'll see a return to them any time soon.
>
> There are plenty of other neo-G1 toys I want to see (Monstructor, transformable versions of more Action Masters characters, et al.) but nothing that seems to fit specifically in the Commander-class framework.
>
> Discuss!
>
>
> Zob (doing my spring cleaning during the summertime)

Ideally, at that pricepoint, you want a character that appeals to the nostalgia-driven collector without foreclosing the possibility of an impulse buy from a deep-pocketed parent for his or her child.

For that, you need a character with name recognition, and not a deep cut, not at $80+.

My money would be on Armada Prime.

He's got name recognition in spades: he's an Optimus.

As Earthrise Prime has shown, it's difficult to do justice to cab+trailer at a Leader pricepoint.

We are nearly twenty years on from Armada, enough time in the nostalgia cycle for fond feelings and greater spending power to combine in an unholy union for Hasbro's benefit.

Remove the electronics, modernize the design, and you have a cab+trailer with super mode and base mode playability- even simplified, it's an easier sell from a value for money perspective than a deep cut character from G1.

Armada Prime or bust!

On Monday, June 28, 2021 at 9:20:13 PM UTC-6, Codigo Postal wrote:

> Armada Prime or bust!

I mean, your reasoning is sound. It's a logical choice. But I wouldn't buy it.

Zob (I don't ever see myself waxing nostalgic about Armada, honestly)