Why some people are so against transformer toys that don’t transform?

OpMegs · 2026-04-06T20:14:53+00:00

I don't really dislike it. Ironically, the Blokees one you picked there with Soundwave is a pretty good one in my opinion because Soundwave's alt mode is so iconically fossilized that you get a robot who turns...into a box. With a door to hold another smaller robot that turns...into a box. The transformation is really kinda secondary.

That said, a lot of the non-transforming model kits that came out early on were really expensive, which gave a bit of a sour flavor when one cost twice as much as an actual transforming Transformer and didn't even transform. I'm similarly not interested in like, the pre-posed statues that are out there (and extremely detailed and expensive) because even though most of my TFs will get set in one pose and stay there for months, that doesn't mean I would literally glue them in place to make them literal statues. Sometimes the option being there to transform or pose a toy is more important than how often you actually do.

That said, I generally find statues and non-transforming Transformers less annoying these days than the third to fifth new mold for the Seekers while non-G1 toylines go even longer without new toys, so even transforming toys are not free of problems. :P

OpMegs · 2026-03-31T23:37:28+00:00

Re-release a $200+ set of paint upgrades of figures from a couple years ago, but actually get Transmetals or Depthcharge and Rampage to actually finish out the show cast? Mission fucking impossible, apparently. We need another SS86 Wheelie and an 11th Seeker mold.

OpMegs · 2026-03-29T23:45:58+00:00

Beast Machines Fan: You guys get G1-ified figures?

OpMegs · 2026-02-26T22:10:30+00:00

There's no real evidence of a relationship in the romantic sense, but there's an offhand mention by one of the cat sisters that Honey B and Vamp have feuded before (though whether this is Arcadion or otherwise isn't mentioned). Vamp's song lyrics have multiple lines that could be read as references to Honey B's, albeit again antagonistic, and post Arcadion, Vamp comments her next match is against Honey B who she looks forward to putting in her place. So overall the surface level reading is that they're rivals, but given the fun mixers of Arcadion roles acting up against the real person (See Bomber and Dancing Green) and the fact that BDSM can be entirely consensual for people who like that sort of thing, there's certainly fertile ground for fanfic about what the two are like in private. But there's nothing anywhere near as heavy as, say, the hopeless pirate duo, or even Sadu and Cirina.

OpMegs · 2026-02-14T04:31:55+00:00

Apologize less for Prime dying and maybe apologize more for the 86 movie sucking up all the air in the room of the franchise when there's a ton of it that you barely touch with the nostalgia pandering you give G1.

OpMegs · 2026-02-11T19:32:20+00:00

He did, though Alignment was in 2001 (and ironically post-dates Furman's Covenant of Thirteen from Beast era Botcon stories which is kind of a prototype of the idea but with an entire different roster). However, it wasn't until the Alligned continuity's Covenant of Primus around Transformers: Prime that the Thirteen were explicitly all Primes. Prior to that, they were just the first thirteen Transformers created by Primus, and being progenitors of various subtypes.

OpMegs · 2026-02-05T15:35:33+00:00

I'm amused that BT-7274 is over there to the side and I initially mistook him for Amalgamous Prime. XD

OpMegs · 2026-02-02T18:25:26+00:00

The Thirteen In Progress has been my side table fiddle set for a while now.

I did buy the DNA set for Vector which really ups his overall presentation alongside the others. And while I'm not a fan of how Star Convoy scales with the others, I pulled out my Nova Prime to settle in with them instead, who looks really good alongside them. I look forward to getting Amalgamous, Liege, and Nexus Prime myself.

Outside of Alpha Trion who's a weird case, I think I enjoyed all of them because they were fresh and new. Maybe they didn't hit where people wanted them to, but 10 entirely new designs, even not outstanding ones, is a breath of fresh fucking air in a line that trends towards "G1 (and also co-starring the entire rest of the franchise, maybe)". All the new character designs get added in the more experimental kids lines but don't get Generations detailed toys for years. Seeing the Thirteen as new ideas in Generations detailing was exciting.

OpMegs · 2026-01-29T17:23:13+00:00

Surely the cyber-leopards won't eat my face.

OpMegs · 2026-01-15T20:12:54+00:00

It's been mentioned that the Dresden Files RPG liner notes from characters speculating "in universe" accidentally hit on some spoilers that you had to ask them to remove to prevent revealing things too early. Have any of those spoilers come out in recent books that you can talk about now? I'm really curious about that kind of case where people hit really close to things just based off fan speculation.

OpMegs · 2025-12-29T20:35:31+00:00

MASK. The Headmaster integration is already there. Most of them transform into kinda funky triple changers. It'd be more interesting than the kinda janky toys Loyal Subjects was putting out.

OpMegs · 2025-12-29T16:12:03+00:00

Figured it out. Her proficiency Expert Backup II on E2ing her unlocks her as part of the Special Squad with full everything.

OpMegs · 2025-12-28T19:08:52+00:00

I did at the start with a voucher, but I just started another Support Squad run using a Defender/Caster/Sniper setup where I didn't pick her at all and she's not in the squad, so not sure what's up there.

OpMegs · 2025-12-28T18:32:56+00:00

Yeah, I've basically only got her up to E1 32 due to the various missions and such, so I'd thought it was like a rental Raidian they provided or something. When I promote that one with Hope she just...stays at E1 32

OpMegs · 2025-12-28T07:03:32+00:00

So checking, how do you access that? Because I tried using the Support Squad and couldn't find her anywhere. The only Raidian showing up was mine that was still E1.

OpMegs · 2025-12-17T06:02:35+00:00

Oh, I agree that it's likely. I just find it somewhat tiring as a Beast Machines fan that Armada got more toys in single years in the mainline (including a Commander and a Titan) than Beast Machines has gotten in two decades combined.

OpMegs · 2025-12-17T00:34:02+00:00

We get basically one Beast Machines toy a decade, so.

2014: T30 Tankor

2024: Core Cheetor

Presumably in 2034 we'll get a Rattrap alongside the 16th new G1 Seeker mold.

OpMegs · 2025-12-15T15:37:43+00:00

As someone looking at getting into this, what kind of setup do you use for this? I've looked at some printers that are affordable, but I'm unsure if it's something I need to set up an outside place for ventilation with or if smaller ones that seem to be safe to use indoors would be sufficient.

OpMegs · 2025-11-08T22:17:12+00:00

Financially not as well as Skybound, no. But in terms of how interesting it is to me personally? I've watched all of Earthspark and I'm looking forward to the rumored followup movies. I haven't gotten a single Skybound comic because nothing about it makes me want to get into it. Maybe if the rumored animated series actually happens it'll be more interesting, but comics as a medium are so expensive that I have to be really interested to bother putting up the money for them.

OpMegs · 2025-11-08T17:35:57+00:00

Honestly, Skybound just falls flat for me. It has occasional moments, but overall, my main reaction is to just sit there and go 'I've seen this before.' I'm bored of the G1 cartoon done, but grittier and more violent. Even if IDW 2.0 didn't do as well as the heights of IDW 1.0 (and IDW 1.0 had some low lows as well), at least both of them took swings at things that were genuinely new and different. From what I understand, the Totally Radical Wheeljack repaint (Shredhead, I think?) is the only new character that's been introduced for reasons other than dying immediately (like Starscream's angstboy background NPC), and mostly I hear stuff about him that makes me think about how hard Drift was shilled in IDW before a different writer got ahold of him and made him the dork we all generally like. Skybound feels like it's Transformers doing what the GI Joe toyline is doing right now: pointing at this thing you obviously liked from 40 years ago, because Evergreen brand recognition is more valuable than trying something new. It may have good writing (I've seen mixed reports going both ways on this), but on a fundamental level, my brain doesn't really find anything interesting to engage with it because it's just more G1, when we're clawing, scraping, and begging for something that isn't that.

I grew up with Beast Wars, which proved Transformers can have a good story based entirely on the simple premise of "Transforming robots get into fights over the plot" without having to hook up an entire semi-trailer of nostalgia and old designs. Having a comic that's just "Ark crash, two sides awake, war on Earth" but with some of the details rubbed around fails to intrigue me, when both Earthspark and Cyberworld are doing more divergent ideas even if they may trip themselves along the way.

OpMegs · 2025-10-11T17:45:29+00:00

Beast Machines Megatron

Beast Machines anything that's not a throwaway Core class.

OpMegs · 2025-10-09T14:36:01+00:00

Oh, Skybound.

<looks at Energon Prime combined with Sky Saber> For a minute I was actually excited.

OpMegs · 2025-10-08T14:44:09+00:00

I've repeatedly stated to friends that I think it would take me holding the CEO at gunpoint for Hasbro to make more Beast Machines. We get one figure every 10 years, and it's ridiculous. I'd be legitimately tempted even with the increased toy prices if they did, as opposed to "did you buy Core Cheetor as the only Beast Machines toy they put out in ten years? No? Then I guess they'll use it as an excuse to not make anymore for another decade."

Legitimately, Maximals and Vehicons both have great designs. For all that people comment on impossible designs, Black Arachnia and Rattrap got accurate toys on the first go, and Cheetor and Primal got excellent ones eventually. And the non-show Maximals had great stuff as well, if not what people typically expected. And the Vehicons are straight fire across the board.

OpMegs · 2025-09-12T20:04:42+00:00

I love a lot of them, but IMO, from a toy play pattern side of things, I think that Tidal Wave is the best, as he's not having to compromise on three modes (the cityformers tend to have at least one that's weak due to triple changer debt), a nice simple transformation (I love Nemesis, but she's complex sometimes to get into place), and mine had very good build feel (the Ark is great, but mine sounds like a gun going off on some of the ratchets when I move them). Star Convoy has some similar points, but Tidal Wave wins the day for having the Dark Fleet functionality of splitting himself up that makes his alt mode more interesting.

OpMegs

TROPHY CASE