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[Sowndwave76]

Neither of those examples prove that you can do specifically the cartoon-style transformation of his hood without faux parts, because neither of those are particularly styled like the cartoon version. As is, cartoon Hot Rod's actual hood in vehicle mode and chest hood in robot mode are genuinely different shapes (robot mode has an angled bend about half-way through that the vehicle mode's doesn't have, as well as different shaping to the edge), so it's kind of impossible to pull it off as accurate in both modes as this figure does without faux parts.

This. This is pretty spot-on.

[-Kanrabat-]

Siege/Earthrise Astrotrain is a nice toy, but it's severily undermined by the line's gimmicks.

So any chances of a new Leader '86 Astrotrain that is a proper "mini MP" with no superflous extra bits for the SS line?

He was in the movie, in a short but important role. He should get a figure.

Absolutely the most he might possibly get is a clean redeco of the Siege/Earthrise figure. There's no way they're doing a second brand new Leader-class design in 2 years for Astrotrain of all characters.

Impossible for just a redeco in the SS line. It WILL be a new mold. Same thing for Arcee.
And as we all saw since years, the SS line is not and was never about rushing things. It may still be some years before we see a SS Astrotrain, Arcee, or even maybe Optimus and (gasp!) Megatron. But they WILL happen. And all in brand new molds.

[Jeddostotle7]

Siege/Earthrise Astrotrain is a nice toy, but it's severily undermined by the line's gimmicks.

So any chances of a new Leader '86 Astrotrain that is a proper "mini MP" with no superflous extra bits for the SS line?

He was in the movie, in a short but important role. He should get a figure.

Absolutely the most he might possibly get is a clean redeco of the Siege/Earthrise figure. There's no way they're doing a second brand new Leader-class design in 2 years for Astrotrain of all characters.

Impossible for just a redeco in the SS line. It WILL be a new mold. Same thing for Arcee.
And as we all saw since years, the SS line is not and was never about rushing things. It may still be some years before we see a SS Astrotrain, Arcee, or even maybe Optimus and (gasp!) Megatron. But they WILL happen. And all in brand new molds.

I think a lot of y'all are SERIOUSLY overestimating the breadth Studio Series 86 will have. It's only supposed to essentially be overflow to make the 86 Movie characters they wanted to make for the 35th Anniversary of the Movie, while making room for Beast Wars characters (for its 25th Anniversary) in Kingdom, while padding Studio Series out until the next movie comes. The fact they're repacking Earthrise Arcee, Wheeljack, and Optimus in Kingdom the same time they're starting Studio Series 86, and releasing other 86 Movie characters in Kingdom, should tell you they feel those molds are probably good enough to represent those versions of the characters at those price points for now.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Kanrabat, if we ever get another rehash of Astrotrain it'll be in whatever the regular Generations line is at the time. And I mean, looking at Hot Rod... I wouldn't bank on a mold made for Studio Series giving you any improvement but the non-C.O.M.B.A.T. feet.

Animated is a different look that isn't meant to represent the G1 toy/design.

Mm.. The look, no. But as for the design, his transformation layout owes a lot to G1 Hot Rod: The hood becomes the chest while the sides of the car become his arms, with the park lights ending up in his shoulders. And he has the engine flip away to reveal a chest panel, proving that that's not a valid reason for faux-parts. That's the main reason I brought him up, really.

TR/Legends has two different chest transformations that will give you a solid torso, or the chest you want with gaps in the torso. I think MP-09 was the only one to be able to pull off a proper hood/chest transformation.

The ideal is a hybridization of the two flavors of the chest transformation: The solid sides and tabs - and, if necessary, an altered version of the bumper tuck - of the TR version, combined with the no-cutout front and flip-away engine of the Legends version. Boom, perfectly good Hot Rod chest.

Neither of those examples prove that you can do specifically the cartoon-style transformation of his hood without faux parts, because neither of those are particularly styled like the cartoon version.

Animated Rodimus may not be styled like the cartoon version, no, but he's still strongly influenced by G1 Hot Rod's cartoon parts layout. Including hiding the engine, which was why I brought him up.

TR/Legends Roddy meanwhile is heavily designed to resemble the cartoon - that's why the canopy is hidden away in robot mode, that's why the rear wheels fold behind the legs to give a clean appearance, that's why he has 3 pipes to a side instead of the Classics version's two, that's why he has the cuffs, why the hood forms his chest just like in the cartoon and original toy, and why on the Legends version the exposed engine block flips around to be replaced by his chest panel. If he's not designed or styled like the cartoon version, then neither is the Classics Seeker mold.

As is, cartoon Hot Rod's actual hood in vehicle mode and chest hood in robot mode are genuinely different shapes (robot mode has an angled bend about half-way through that the vehicle mode's doesn't have, as well as different shaping to the edge), so it's kind of impossible to pull it off as accurate in both modes as this figure does without faux parts.

"The animation model doesn't draw the part consistently between modes" is not generally a good reason for using faux-parts - it falls under what I call "Cartoon accuracy to the point of stupidity". In cases like that, the designers should call the animation on its sheer nonsense and just use the actual part for the job it's obviously supposed to do rather than sacrifice the transformation quality for a questionable visual gain.
The angled bend in robot mode is nothing but a warped version of the hood's curvature in altmode, and can be safely discarded in favor just using the actual, curved hood. The pointed edge in altmode can be likewise thrown out or it can be accommodated by tucking the pointy part in (via the same mechanism as Titans Return, just cut differently). Ta-da! Hot Rod chest that looks plenty like the cartoon, without the transformation unnecessarily jumping through hoops or using faux-parts.

[ZeroWolf]

Siege/Earthrise Astrotrain is a nice toy, but it's severily undermined by the line's gimmicks.

So any chances of a new Leader '86 Astrotrain that is a proper "mini MP" with no superflous extra bits for the SS line?

He was in the movie, in a short but important role. He should get a figure.

Absolutely the most he might possibly get is a clean redeco of the Siege/Earthrise figure. There's no way they're doing a second brand new Leader-class design in 2 years for Astrotrain of all characters.

Impossible for just a redeco in the SS line. It WILL be a new mold. Same thing for Arcee.
And as we all saw since years, the SS line is not and was never about rushing things. It may still be some years before we see a SS Astrotrain, Arcee, or even maybe Optimus and (gasp!) Megatron. But they WILL happen. And all in brand new molds.

I think a lot of y'all are SERIOUSLY overestimating the breadth Studio Series 86 will have. It's only supposed to essentially be overflow to make the 86 Movie characters they wanted to make for the 35th Anniversary of the Movie, while making room for Beast Wars characters (for its 25th Anniversary) in Kingdom, while padding Studio Series out until the next movie comes. The fact they're repacking Earthrise Arcee, Wheeljack, and Optimus in Kingdom the same time they're starting Studio Series 86, and releasing other 86 Movie characters in Kingdom, should tell you they feel those molds are probably good enough to represent those versions of the characters at those price points for now.

Very well put, I feel they've reached the apex of what can be done with g1 prime for the moment, and megatron will be another tank if they do him again so don't be surprised if you never see him in the line. Same reason you won't see Cyclonus in Studio Series

[Jeddostotle7]

Kanrabat, if we ever get another rehash of Astrotrain it'll be in whatever the regular Generations line is at the time. And I mean, looking at Hot Rod... I wouldn't bank on a mold made for Studio Series giving you any improvement but the non-C.O.M.B.A.T. feet.

Animated is a different look that isn't meant to represent the G1 toy/design.

Mm.. The look, no. But as for the design, his transformation layout owes a lot to G1 Hot Rod: The hood becomes the chest while the sides of the car become his arms, with the park lights ending up in his shoulders. And he has the engine flip away to reveal a chest panel, proving that that's not a valid reason for faux-parts. That's the main reason I brought him up, really.

TR/Legends has two different chest transformations that will give you a solid torso, or the chest you want with gaps in the torso. I think MP-09 was the only one to be able to pull off a proper hood/chest transformation.

The ideal is a hybridization of the two flavors of the chest transformation: The solid sides and tabs - and, if necessary, an altered version of the bumper tuck - of the TR version, combined with the no-cutout front and flip-away engine of the Legends version. Boom, perfectly good Hot Rod chest.

Neither of those examples prove that you can do specifically the cartoon-style transformation of his hood without faux parts, because neither of those are particularly styled like the cartoon version.

Animated Rodimus may not be styled like the cartoon version, no, but he's still strongly influenced by G1 Hot Rod's cartoon parts layout. Including hiding the engine, which was why I brought him up.

TR/Legends Roddy meanwhile is heavily designed to resemble the cartoon - that's why the canopy is hidden away in robot mode, that's why the rear wheels fold behind the legs to give a clean appearance, that's why he has 3 pipes to a side instead of the Classics version's two, that's why he has the cuffs, why the hood forms his chest just like in the cartoon and original toy, and why on the Legends version the exposed engine block flips around to be replaced by his chest panel. If he's not designed or styled like the cartoon version, then neither is the Classics Seeker mold.

As is, cartoon Hot Rod's actual hood in vehicle mode and chest hood in robot mode are genuinely different shapes (robot mode has an angled bend about half-way through that the vehicle mode's doesn't have, as well as different shaping to the edge), so it's kind of impossible to pull it off as accurate in both modes as this figure does without faux parts.

"The animation model doesn't draw the part consistently between modes" is not generally a good reason for using faux-parts - it falls under what I call "Cartoon accuracy to the point of stupidity". In cases like that, the designers should call the animation on its sheer nonsense and just use the actual part for the job it's obviously supposed to do rather than sacrifice the transformation quality for a questionable visual gain.
The angled bend in robot mode is nothing but a warped version of the hood's curvature in altmode, and can be safely discarded in favor just using the actual, curved hood. The pointed edge in altmode can be likewise thrown out or it can be accommodated by tucking the pointy part in (via the same mechanism as Titans Return, just cut differently). Ta-da! Hot Rod chest that looks plenty like the cartoon, without the transformation unnecessarily jumping through hoops or using faux-parts.

I'm just gonna say: I prefer how Studio Series 86 Hot Rod looks a lot more than any of the Masterpiece Hot Rods, or even just about any other Hot Rod/Rodimus figure ever, including the TR and Animated molds you mention, and a good part of that is the use of the faux part for the chest to actually get his chest looking the way it does in the cartoon. Hot Rod is one of those few characters where the cartoon-style warping is really, really, really important to the look of the robot mode IMO, and unless they can figure out a hood that can change shape to mimic both forms, I think the faux parts are just the better option; same situation as Optimus' abdominal section. Maybe I would be more mixed or negative on it if the use of the faux part resulted in an obvious hood backpack or something, but he also cleans up so nicely that it's hard to care in this instance.

[-Kanrabat-]

I thing I learned with Transformers over the years is never say "never".
Just look through this TRHEAD. So many of these wishes have been granted! It may take years, but we never know.

[Gauntlet101010]

I'm just gonna say: I prefer how Studio Series 86 Hot Rod looks a lot more than any of the Masterpiece Hot Rods, or even just about any other Hot Rod/Rodimus figure ever, including the TR and Animated molds you mention, and a good part of that is the use of the faux part for the chest to actually get his chest looking the way it does in the cartoon. Hot Rod is one of those few characters where the cartoon-style warping is really, really, really important to the look of the robot mode IMO, and unless they can figure out a hood that can change shape to mimic both forms, I think the faux parts are just the better option; same situation as Optimus' abdominal section. Maybe I would be more mixed or negative on it if the use of the faux part resulted in an obvious hood backpack or something, but he also cleans up so nicely that it's hard to care in this instance.

I have to agree with pretty much everything here. The faux chest doesn't get in the way at all and it really does help bring the robot mode to life in a way the MP doesn't.

And, yeah, if we care about proportions and nailing the old character model then neither Animated or Titans really get the job done. I do like both as Hot Rods, but in terms of on-model accuracy Studio just nails it.

[blackeyedprime]

looking forward to seeing what those with painting skills can do with SS hotrod despite the car mode contours always being unmoddable. Chroming the pipes might substitute for replacing them but I still think I'd prefer replacements for accuracy in bot mode.

[ThunderThruster]

Something I'd not noticed before on SS86 Hot Rod, is how much his knee's stick out the back of his alt-mode. While it's not visible from some angles, it is still something I note against the figure.

[Sabrblade]

I thing I learned with Transformers over the years is never say "never".
Just look through this TRHEAD. So many of these wishes have been granted! It may take years, but we never know.

Still waiting (for 20 years) on my new Botanica, darn it!

[Gauntlet101010]

Geez, I forgot all about Botannica. Not even FunPub touched her.

[Overcracker]

Kanrabat, if we ever get another rehash of Astrotrain it'll be in whatever the regular Generations line is at the time. And I mean, looking at Hot Rod... I wouldn't bank on a mold made for Studio Series giving you any improvement but the non-C.O.M.B.A.T. feet.

Animated is a different look that isn't meant to represent the G1 toy/design.

Mm.. The look, no. But as for the design, his transformation layout owes a lot to G1 Hot Rod: The hood becomes the chest while the sides of the car become his arms, with the park lights ending up in his shoulders. And he has the engine flip away to reveal a chest panel, proving that that's not a valid reason for faux-parts. That's the main reason I brought him up, really.

TR/Legends has two different chest transformations that will give you a solid torso, or the chest you want with gaps in the torso. I think MP-09 was the only one to be able to pull off a proper hood/chest transformation.

The ideal is a hybridization of the two flavors of the chest transformation: The solid sides and tabs - and, if necessary, an altered version of the bumper tuck - of the TR version, combined with the no-cutout front and flip-away engine of the Legends version. Boom, perfectly good Hot Rod chest.

Neither of those examples prove that you can do specifically the cartoon-style transformation of his hood without faux parts, because neither of those are particularly styled like the cartoon version.

Animated Rodimus may not be styled like the cartoon version, no, but he's still strongly influenced by G1 Hot Rod's cartoon parts layout. Including hiding the engine, which was why I brought him up.

TR/Legends Roddy meanwhile is heavily designed to resemble the cartoon - that's why the canopy is hidden away in robot mode, that's why the rear wheels fold behind the legs to give a clean appearance, that's why he has 3 pipes to a side instead of the Classics version's two, that's why he has the cuffs, why the hood forms his chest just like in the cartoon and original toy, and why on the Legends version the exposed engine block flips around to be replaced by his chest panel. If he's not designed or styled like the cartoon version, then neither is the Classics Seeker mold.

As is, cartoon Hot Rod's actual hood in vehicle mode and chest hood in robot mode are genuinely different shapes (robot mode has an angled bend about half-way through that the vehicle mode's doesn't have, as well as different shaping to the edge), so it's kind of impossible to pull it off as accurate in both modes as this figure does without faux parts.

"The animation model doesn't draw the part consistently between modes" is not generally a good reason for using faux-parts - it falls under what I call "Cartoon accuracy to the point of stupidity". In cases like that, the designers should call the animation on its sheer nonsense and just use the actual part for the job it's obviously supposed to do rather than sacrifice the transformation quality for a questionable visual gain.
The angled bend in robot mode is nothing but a warped version of the hood's curvature in altmode, and can be safely discarded in favor just using the actual, curved hood. The pointed edge in altmode can be likewise thrown out or it can be accommodated by tucking the pointy part in (via the same mechanism as Titans Return, just cut differently). Ta-da! Hot Rod chest that looks plenty like the cartoon, without the transformation unnecessarily jumping through hoops or using faux-parts.

If we're comparing the rod chest, I still think Classics does it best, even over MP.



PotP is then other HR that goes thr faux chest route, I don't see it looking better or worse than any of the others.

MPs chest is still a bit awkward.

[Sabrblade]

Geez, I forgot all about Botannica. Not even FunPub touched her.

They almost did, but that proposal never made it past the hand-painted fan custom sample stage.

[Cyberpath]

I noticed that Grimlock has a slightly different deco in Takara's stock photos than in Hasbro's. Do you suppose that's not the final look -- or did they finally end the "Brand Unification" thing?

And why would Takara give him toy-accurate chest (translucent black) yet show-accurate dino neck (opaque)?

I rather like the luster finish of the yellow in Takara's version. Is Hasbro's just a flat yellow?

And finally, what's the release date for Hasbro? (Haven't posted in a while. )

[Sabrblade]

I noticed that Grimlock has a slightly different deco in Takara's stock photos than in Hasbro's. Do you suppose that's not the final look -- or did they finally end the "Brand Unification" thing?

Takara's been using a lot of wrong-color stock photos lately (red-faced BW Megatron comes to mind).

[Cyberpath]

I noticed that Grimlock has a slightly different deco in Takara's stock photos than in Hasbro's. Do you suppose that's not the final look -- or did they finally end the "Brand Unification" thing?

Takara's been using a lot of wrong-color stock photos lately (red-faced BW Megatron comes to mind).

Is there a chance that Takara's stock photos of Grimlock have the final deco colours? It's consistent with this video review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kArX86kzUSg

(wow, the regular figures are becoming more and more "Masterpiecey.")

[Jeddostotle7]

I noticed that Grimlock has a slightly different deco in Takara's stock photos than in Hasbro's. Do you suppose that's not the final look -- or did they finally end the "Brand Unification" thing?

And why would Takara give him toy-accurate chest (translucent black) yet show-accurate dino neck (opaque)?

I rather like the luster finish of the yellow in Takara's version. Is Hasbro's just a flat yellow?

And finally, what's the release date for Hasbro? (Haven't posted in a while. )

Never trust the colors of any of the photos until someone gets the figure in-hand. The initial renders, Takara physical stock photos, Takara in-hand Twitter photos, multiple stages of Hasbro physical stock photos, etc., have all been unrepresentative of the final product in at least some cases; ER Optimus being the most egregious example, with all of the different sets of photos conflicting with each other, and the final figure's blue eyes, and metallic blue hands and codpiece being unrepresented in any of them.

[Gauntlet101010]

Yeah, don't trust the photos. There were some photos of a very differently colored Alicon and, as far as I'm aware, it was changed to match Hasbro's.

There's a lot of examples.

[Sowndwave76]

I think a lot of y'all are SERIOUSLY overestimating the breadth Studio Series 86 will have. It's only supposed to essentially be overflow to make the 86 Movie characters they wanted to make for the 35th Anniversary of the Movie, while making room for Beast Wars characters (for its 25th Anniversary) in Kingdom, while padding Studio Series out until the next movie comes. The fact they're repacking Earthrise Arcee, Wheeljack, and Optimus in Kingdom the same time they're starting Studio Series 86, and releasing other 86 Movie characters in Kingdom, should tell you they feel those molds are probably good enough to represent those versions of the characters at those price points for now.

Good point, however I'd also say the SS86 line has cracked open a new door...
So while the branding of "SS 86" may be dropped, I think there's a good chance that future figures that would have qualified for placement in this line will come to light.
As was previously said, it may take time... While there are a lot of in's and out's as to why, it's still taken since what, '07 to get this caliber of figure? I mean I truly don't understand how it's taken this long to get a quality Grimlock, even relatively speaking.
Now, I have no doubt that I (and others) will be on a collecting hiatus again soon when Hastak releases some line centered on some major gimmick. Quite possibly many many days will go by before another round of these mini-mp's are unveiled. But I believe it will happen...
Then part of me thinks this new SS 86 type of line could be closer than I'd think. Hastak must have some thought that the kids of the 80's are getting older. And there will come a day when collectors like myself will call it quits... It's a matter of time that feels pretty close in the grand scheme.
Not to mention, it won't be long before a deluxe figure is pushing $30... Which will definitely nudge me towards the collecting outro.
The closer and closer I get to retirement, the more my sights are set on painting, re-building my drumming chops (and my drumkit), and traveling with my wife. If something's going to give, it's going to be collecting toys.
If Hastak wants much more of my money, they're going to have to give me good reason; I'm well past buying tickets to a gimmicky show.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

I gotta say, I can't believe I almost missed out on Stinger, thankfully Kroger had one on sale long after it had disappeared from retail. It's a really fun figure; it does lack a little in the accuracy department, but I really appreciate what they tried to do with the figure. Painting it up was really fun! (except where part of one of the shoulder pieces broke off. That's not good.)

I am right there with you, I passed on him and didn't get him until this past spring, and boy am I glad I did get him. He's a lot better than people at the time gave him, and he's a really fun mold. BBTS still has the KSI Sentry and I've been thinking about getting that one too. It's one of maybe 4 retail SS releases I don't own/haven't preordered, and I am warming to it by the day

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Only reason I haven't got Stinger is because of my collecting priorities. KSI Sentry I'm iffy on... On the one hand, rank filler. On the other, wrong altmode.

If we're comparing the rod chest, I still think Classics does it best, even over MP.



PotP is then other HR that goes thr faux chest route, I don't see it looking better or worse than any of the others.

I don't think it looks better or worse, no. But then, by that same token the ones that actually use the hood don't look better or worse either.

At least on PotP Hot Rod the faux-parts chest is mechanically necessary; it's because of the Rodimus Prime mode needing the real hood.

Classics and as-is TR both have the same problem of leaving the engine block exposed. At least it's not Titrod, who shouldn't have had the engine block in the first place, but still.

I'm just gonna say: I prefer how Studio Series 86 Hot Rod looks a lot more than any of the Masterpiece Hot Rods, or even just about any other Hot Rod/Rodimus figure ever, including the TR and Animated molds you mention, and a good part of that is the use of the faux part for the chest to actually get his chest looking the way it does in the cartoon. Hot Rod is one of those few characters where the cartoon-style warping is really, really, really important to the look of the robot mode IMO, and unless they can figure out a hood that can change shape to mimic both forms, I think the faux parts are just the better option; same situation as Optimus' abdominal section.

Well, that would be where I disagree with you hard. I think using faux-parts to emulate the shape-warping stylizations is as worthless as trying to emulate parts magically changing color between modes or trying to emulate the Technobots' cartoon backs.
Cartoon accuracy shouldn't be taken to the point of hurting a figure - and in my book, the damage faux-parts use like that does to transformation scheme qualifies. Same for trying to emulate where the animation model is oversimplifed - because what were simplifications in ink-and-paint form always end up turning into overcomplications in plastic form (see: all MPs of G1 Optimus to varying degrees, MP Hound, SIEGE and Earthrise Optimus Prime...). Trying super-hard to emulate the stylizations seems especially foolhardy to me when considering how inconsistent those stylizations can be (Megatron's head is really bad about that, to give an example).

How a figure transforms is important to me, and I strongly favor altmode parts forming the robot mode parts they're obviously supposed supposed to form when mechanically possible over using unintegrated pieces to replicate the deformed appearance inflicted on parts by G1's cheap, stylized animation...

Maybe I would be more mixed or negative on it if the use of the faux part resulted in an obvious hood backpack or something, but he also cleans up so nicely that it's hard to care in this instance.

It still throws hoop-jumping into the transformation process that really didn't need to be there. And is quite possibly responsible for that one hinge piece ending up on the yellow sprue.

And naturally, despite cartoon accuracy being so allegedly important to them that they used a faux-parts chest, he's still not slagging magenta. I think we should all ask them what their excuse is.

[Jeddostotle7]

If we're comparing the rod chest, I still think Classics does it best, even over MP.



PotP is then other HR that goes thr faux chest route, I don't see it looking better or worse than any of the others.

I don't think it looks better or worse, no. But then, by that same token the ones that actually use the hood don't look better or worse either.

At least on PotP Hot Rod the faux chest is mechanically necessary; it's because of the Rodimus Prime mode.

Classics and as-is TR both have the same problem of leaving the engine block exposed.

I'm just gonna say: I prefer how Studio Series 86 Hot Rod looks a lot more than any of the Masterpiece Hot Rods, or even just about any other Hot Rod/Rodimus figure ever, including the TR and Animated molds you mention, and a good part of that is the use of the faux part for the chest to actually get his chest looking the way it does in the cartoon. Hot Rod is one of those few characters where the cartoon-style warping is really, really, really important to the look of the robot mode IMO, and unless they can figure out a hood that can change shape to mimic both forms, I think the faux parts are just the better option; same situation as Optimus' abdominal section.

Well, that would be where I disagree with you hard. I think using faux-parts to emulate the shape-warping stylizations is as worthless trying to emulate parts magically changing color between modes or trying to emulate the Technobots' cartoon backs.
Cartoon accuracy shouldn't be taken to the point of hurting a figure - and in my book, the damage faux-parts use like that does to transformation scheme qualifies. Same for trying to emulate where the animation model is oversimplifed - because what were simplifications in ink-and-paint form always end up turning into overcomplications in plastic form (see: all MPs of G1 Optimus to varying degrees, MP Hound, SIEGE and Earthrise Optimus Prime...). It's especially foolhardy to me when considering how inconsistent those stylizations can be (Megatron's head is really bad about that, to give an example).
How a figure transforms is important to me, and I strongly favor altmode parts forming the robot mode parts they're obviously supposed supposed to form when mechanically possible over using unintegrated pieces to replicate the deformed appearance inflicted on parts by G1's cheap, stylized animation...

Maybe I would be more mixed or negative on it if the use of the faux part resulted in an obvious hood backpack or something, but he also cleans up so nicely that it's hard to care in this instance.

It still throws hoop-jumping into the transformation process that really didn't need to be there. And is quite possibly responsible for that one hinge piece ending up on the yellow sprue.

And naturally, despite cartoon accuracy being so allegedly important to them that they used a faux-parts chest, he's still not slagging magenta. I think we should all ask them what their excuse is.

I also generally prefer using alt-mode parts actually on the robot mode, and get frustrated when it feels like a figure is essentially just a complicated plastic version of a "turn inside-out plush", but I do personally think faux parts are occasionally necessary to pull a certain aspect of the robot mode if that part is an essential and iconic enough aspect of their look. I genuinely think this Hot Rod looks like a better figure than any other Hot Rod we've gotten in the past, because it doesn't try to wade into the muck of unsatisfying compromises that is trying to match how the cartoon had the chest looking while using the actual hood as the chest.

It's ok if you don't agree, we have somewhat different priorities when it comes to these toys.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Evidently.

I don't see warping and dumbing-down like Hot Rod's angled chest or Optimus Prime's diaper and abdomen slopes as "essential and iconic", I see it as animator's folly. And all the bigger folly for a 3D object to try and pursue. Especially in cases where it's inconsistent and/or the result of the cheap animation blending a part with the part behind it. So to me, using extreme faux parts and overcomplicated transformation in pursuit of that is the unsatisfying compromise

I'll probably still get him... But I'm not as hyped as I was..

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Last night I actually went through the full list of Studio Series, and outside of 7 retail figures and 6 exclusives, and excluding SS86 and including preorders, I have all of the SS figures.

Problem is, I am now tempted to go back and try to get the ones I missed for completionist sake