New Configuration Found for Transformers Power of the Primes Dinobot Combiner Using Only 3 Robots

Interesting. Too bad it doesn’t fix anything.

Wow that actually works (I tried that with CW prime did not work that well) but I'm still going to get the rest of the dinobots

Looks like we found Dino Caesar indeed.

Edit: If each dino was colored differently, it would REALLY make me think of a three-man Power Rangers team who gets two more rangers down the line to upgrade their megazord.

Using Grimlock's first holes? Eh, the big head looks out of proportion with the now scrawny arms, plus the shoulders are sitting a bit low.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Using Grimlock's first holes? Eh, the big head looks out of proportion with the now scrawny arms, plus the shoulders are sitting a bit low.

Better thN across a footvakl field?

I may be a minority here... but I actually this combination a lot more than what the intended combiner is supposed to look like with five bots.

Well I for one agree with you. The train wreck that is Volcanicus is at least easier to look at now. The legs are a little longer, but this combination seems to work a lot better.
I’m not as sad about the money I spent on the Dinobota I’ve bought already.

Wow. That actually looks pretty good to me.

You know, this might be like a crazy PR/Sentai homage if Grimlock was painted like the Dino Thunder Tyrannozord or Gabutyra while having Slag and Swoop be painted blue and yellow (respectively), or Slag can be pink and Snarl could be blue to match up with Stegochi and Dricera (al biet relocated in the legs). It'd be weird (not helping id the already goofy design of the 3 bot combiner), but I hope Grimlockimus or Cheetimus can do something like that.

Upon completely cursory and presumably crappy examination, it appears to me that Grimlock's torso mode is barely slightly wider than the Menasor torso. Now granted, that one is apparently the worst CW torso but Grimlock's problem lies entirely in his twin waist and the need to bulk it up because if not for that I do think Volcanicus could have had a lot of neat things going for it. Unfortunately, whatever positives he has is ruined by his awful proportions and sacrifices made to his other modes.

Its a shame because he and his whole team have truly lovely color-matching and that sweet transparent-over-gold color so iconic of the Dinobots. If not for his awful shape he could have ended one of the more visually appealing and coherent Combiners of the CW/PotP line.

Skritz wrote:Looks like we found Dino Caesar indeed.

Edit: If each dino was colored differently, it would REALLY make me think of a three-man Power Rangers team who gets two more rangers down the line to upgrade their megazord.

The action poses these pics put him in make me think of him as like a Kamen Rider.

Well there was this thing....

Close Enough XD

Albatross250 wrote:Well there was this thing....

Close Enough XD

The 'curse of combining Dinobots' goes way back, man. Granted now I'd love to see a customizer do a Geister combiner from the POTP Dinobot to fight a customized Hot Rod/Rodimus made to look like Exkaiser. Granted he'd need some partsforming for the lion chest and some serious head remodeling but still...

Maybe with those lanky limbs, Volcandeetocaminus hits fast & furious.

But if you strike him there, he gonna fall apart.

The best thing about this Grimlock is the dinoface -- but the G1 figure did that pretty well, and had the body to boot. His robolegs were kinda janky tho

Volcanicus may have a crummy chest but it does make me wonder: could this be a prelude to a Monstructor/Dinoking with some shuffled-up positions, with Slog/Kakuryu as a torso and a new legends-class Birdbrain which would function as a torso-bulker of some kind?

Or am I just talking outta my ass trying to justify why Grimlock went so damn wrong?

I don't see how he went wrong if you view this as a Season 3 G1 cartoon Grimlock.

Who was fairly short-to-average in height and had a GIANT yellow crotch/belly and even had a wide badger tail.

FoC was the "badass" Grimlock. Masterpiece was a mix of Marvel Comics and early G1 animated Grimlock, all angles and oddly balanced threat. This is S3 Grimlock to go with Kup, Wheelie, Arcee, etc. He's the chubby comic relief. Get him an apron and chef's hat or a bow tie and a platter.

He'll be the first combiner I own not to be displayed in combined form..though, TBH don’t know if the lacklustre result has much to do with it. Though not horrendous, it was somewhat unnecessary, and I might’ve preferred a TR version. Would’ve been nice if they all got a size upgrade or if they'd have been a bit more imaginative with the combining pattern.. maybe havi g grimlock and sludge as voyagers who combine for the thorso, and slash as a deluxe limb might’ve worked out better

P.s. the thing I dislike most of volcanicus is the head... looks more like an insect icon gestalt head..

Albatross250 wrote:Well there was this thing....

Close Enough XD

THANK YOU for bringing up the Geisters, as they're based on the G1 Dinobots. I hope they're alternate heads for the Dinobots, if there are any.

frogbat wrote:P.s. the thing I dislike most of volcanicus is the head... looks more like an insect icon gestalt head..

The horns remind me of the ones for Engine-Oh G12 aka the RPM Ultrazord, made from the tusks of Kishamoth aka the Mammoth Paleozord. That's just me I guess.

heh, well it's still not great but it looks a lot more fun and oddly better proportioned than most CW combiners. Those dynamic pose pics are great. Still not worth the botching of Grimlock.

william-james88 wrote:

Aimless Misfire wrote:Hasbrotoyshop & Toys R Us gets them in stock. I check that same day & they're already sold out. I'm pretty sure they only got 1 **** case in. Just like when my Walmarts get anything in, they only get 1 case. I'm just gonna order from ebay or Amazon & skip the frustration & hassle.

We should all remember that these toys were not supposed to come out until December/January. Any case found out there before then is sheer dumb luck and so far these have not been found at the biggest toy retailer in the US (volume wise, which is Walmart) nor have these been found in any other country in the world. So we really should relax. its wave 1, the wave most ordered. Anyone remember when no one was finding Triggerhappy? I remember people being as desperate as Jennifer Connely in Requiem for a Dream, but now that toy is everywhere.

Well, seeing as every Walmart in my are still has 4 to 6 cases of TLK wave one on the pegs, PotP might not show up. I've taliked to a couple of managers, and they have been sending transformer shipments back to distribution warehouses until what's on the pegs sells.
My area has 3 Targets, 4 Meijer, and 7 Walmart stores. Out of those, only 1 store has moved beyond TLK wave 1, and TR wave 4.

TLK was one of the worst selling toy brands they've ever seen, and may have done long lasting damage.

The 3-bot mode for Volcanicus actually looks a lot BETTER. Well done

Ironhidensh wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Aimless Misfire wrote:Hasbrotoyshop & Toys R Us gets them in stock. I check that same day & they're already sold out. I'm pretty sure they only got 1 **** case in. Just like when my Walmarts get anything in, they only get 1 case. I'm just gonna order from ebay or Amazon & skip the frustration & hassle.

We should all remember that these toys were not supposed to come out until December/January. Any case found out there before then is sheer dumb luck and so far these have not been found at the biggest toy retailer in the US (volume wise, which is Walmart) nor have these been found in any other country in the world. So we really should relax. its wave 1, the wave most ordered. Anyone remember when no one was finding Triggerhappy? I remember people being as desperate as Jennifer Connely in Requiem for a Dream, but now that toy is everywhere.

Well, seeing as every Walmart in my are still has 4 to 6 cases of TLK wave one on the pegs, PotP might not show up. I've taliked to a couple of managers, and they have been sending transformer shipments back to distribution warehouses until what's on the pegs sells.
My area has 3 Targets, 4 Meijer, and 7 Walmart stores. Out of those, only 1 store has moved beyond TLK wave 1, and TR wave 4.

TLK was one of the worst selling toy brands they've ever seen, and may have done long lasting damage.

Then they should put them on clearance and get rid of them. I remember the "Beast Hunter" Deluxe figures from the TF Prime line. Those didn't sell either, and they wound up having to use packing tape, lashing two boxes together and selling them 2-for-1, at half price, just to move them out of stores.

Courtesy of some anon on 4chan, apparently Volcanicus looks a LOT better transformed like this:

Black Hat wrote:Courtesy of some anon on 4chan, apparently Volcanicus looks a LOT better transformed like this:

That looks infinitely better. Any idea how well the shoulders actually stay in that configuration? Like do they lock in at all or are they loose?

No idea, though I seem to recall him saying they stay in position just fine. Anyone with Grimlock wanna try this out?

Black Hat wrote:Courtesy of some anon on 4chan, apparently Volcanicus looks a LOT better transformed like this:

Volcanicus may yet be redeemable after all. Or was he always mistransformed?

Ironhidensh wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Aimless Misfire wrote:Hasbrotoyshop & Toys R Us gets them in stock. I check that same day & they're already sold out. I'm pretty sure they only got 1 **** case in. Just like when my Walmarts get anything in, they only get 1 case. I'm just gonna order from ebay or Amazon & skip the frustration & hassle.

We should all remember that these toys were not supposed to come out until December/January. Any case found out there before then is sheer dumb luck and so far these have not been found at the biggest toy retailer in the US (volume wise, which is Walmart) nor have these been found in any other country in the world. So we really should relax. its wave 1, the wave most ordered. Anyone remember when no one was finding Triggerhappy? I remember people being as desperate as Jennifer Connely in Requiem for a Dream, but now that toy is everywhere.

Well, seeing as every Walmart in my are still has 4 to 6 cases of TLK wave one on the pegs, PotP might not show up. I've taliked to a couple of managers, and they have been sending transformer shipments back to distribution warehouses until what's on the pegs sells.
My area has 3 Targets, 4 Meijer, and 7 Walmart stores. Out of those, only 1 store has moved beyond TLK wave 1, and TR wave 4.

TLK was one of the worst selling toy brands they've ever seen, and may have done long lasting damage.

I don’t understand why bigbox retail bets so hard on movie toys. Not just Transformers. Justice League. Guardians of the Galaxy. Every big box retailer overorders movie tie in merch by about 5-6x. And the toy companies aren’t even pushing it that hard. It’s retailers doing that.

Is no one going to mention Volcanicus' legs? They're just like Menasor's, except Volcanicus doesn't have those leg flaps that lock the upper and lower leg together. How in the hell does Volcanicus even stand without Grimlock's knees giving out?

man, if only we had a transformer that was made up of one long necked dinosaur, one winged dinosaur, and one t-rex dinosaur, that takara could make this fanmode into...

We have Magmatron

I may end up picking up Volcanicus after all if this fanmode fix the shoulder width issue AND if it somehow manage to remain stable.

Black Hat wrote:Courtesy of some anon on 4chan, apparently Volcanicus looks a LOT better transformed like this:

To me that looks even worse! His shoulders are now waaaay behind his back and at a slight angle. Plus his arms are being blocked by Grimlock's shoulders so you have to swing them out to the side to get clearance. It only looks good because of the perspective on these 2D images.

But it's fine if you think this looks good:



Emerje

william-james88 wrote:

SillyMcGilly wrote:I'm just thankful we now have a voyager Starscream with a nice robot mode.

I am still waiting for one

Gwumpy wumpus. He turns into a torso mode that actually looks halfway decent. He's of course bound to have a jet mode that's more or less sub par. But the robot mode actually looks good... Dunno where all the hate is from, but okay. I'm just happy we were listened to and got a voyager Starscream that isn't this guy:

Only problem to me is he's probably not gonna be redone into Skywarp and Thundercracker because of his scale.

I dont see how scale changed anything. Every other Generations Starscream got recoloured into those two other seekers and the scales were all over the place.

Plus, we have a listing for a TRU exclusive Thundercraker so I think both the redecos will be store exclusives.
So you may get your wish

My thought was that leader classes from CW were more side things to fill the size gap, and deluxes are the most numerous size class generally, whereas voyagers have the specific gimmick and combiner mixes to go with and only one or two per wave. Plus he's got King Starscream as the torso mode. Just didn't know how the other seekers would fit.

Plus, isn't it possible that the TRU exclusive Thundercracker is the third RiD warrior class seeker? We got Screamer and Warpy, but no Thunders.

SillyMcGilly wrote:Gwumpy wumpus.

Markiplier fan?

SillyMcGilly wrote:He turns into a torso mode that actually looks halfway decent. He's of course bound to have a jet mode that's more or less sub par. But the robot mode actually looks good... Dunno where all the hate is from, but okay. I'm just happy we were listened to and got a voyager Starscream that isn't this guy:

I've seen an English review of Voyager Starscream and... If you've seen Energon Storm Jet, you'll know what to expect with him. Really hollow and I kinda fear a repeat of the first runs of CW Silverbolt.

SillyMcGilly wrote:Plus, isn't it possible that the TRU exclusive Thundercracker is the third RiD warrior class seeker? We got Screamer and Warpy, but no Thunders.

The price point is that of a Voyager, besides RiD 2015 has effectively ended by now,.

It looks like Grimlock's hands are holding onto the combiner hands in the 3-bot version. There's nowhere else they could peg in on the bottom of the dino feet if they're retracted.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

SillyMcGilly wrote:Plus, isn't it possible that the TRU exclusive Thundercracker is the third RiD warrior class seeker? We got Screamer and Warpy, but no Thunders.

The price point is that of a Voyager, besides RiD 2015 has effectively ended by now,.

But Toys"R"Us is ESPENSIVE! Especially when it comes to exclusives.

Also Titans Return effectively ended before Arcee and Grotusque (Both Toys"R"Us exclusives) were released. So it's not exactly impossible.

And, who knows? The exclusive could be cancelled because of Toys"R"Us' loss of business. IMO, it kinda serves them right for jacking the prices up for so high when we now have Amazon to replace the online side, and Target and Walmart to mostly replace brick and mortar stores. I think bad business practice is killing the company, and that ain't our faults.

What bothers me is that around my place, the two Wal Mart and remaining Toys R Us still have entire shelves filled with unsold Transformers figures. Beside the movie ones, the rest is mostly RiD or endless waves of Galvatron, Octone and Blitzwing....and THEN there is the endless wave of crap like One-Step-Changer and other wastes of plastics not even little kids would buy.

This mean I sadly don't expect to see PotP stuff on shelves any time soon.

Skritz wrote:What bothers me is that around my place, the two Wal Mart and remaining Toys R Us still have entire shelves filled with unsold Transformers figures. Beside the movie ones, the rest is mostly RiD or endless waves of Galvatron, Octone and Blitzwing....and THEN there is the endless wave of crap like One-Step-Changer and other wastes of plastics not even little kids would buy.

This mean I sadly don't expect to see PotP stuff on shelves any time soon.

Fix: Buy em all, sell them on Amazon for the same price, POTP figures will appear in stock, profit.

I have to be honest and say that Starscream id one of the figures I was hoping for at first. As a replacement for the '06 Classics figure (since it's too small and not very poseable), I was looking forward to get him. While I would want that over the Cyber Commander one, I get Aero-Bot vibes from it.

Black Hat wrote:Courtesy of some anon on 4chan, apparently Volcanicus looks a LOT better transformed like this:

I like it!
Doesn't mean I'll buy Grimlock, but I see an improvement with this transformation.

Still no sign of the Prime Masters at Target or even TRU online. Bought the TR Arcee pack out of pure impulse, however, since I was at their website. And I really wanna see how she looks on Misfire's transtector.

SillyMcGilly wrote:IMO, it kinda serves them right for jacking the prices up for so high when we now have Amazon to replace the online side, and Target and Walmart to mostly replace brick and mortar stores. I think bad business practice is killing the company, and that ain't our faults.

Funny you say that, years ago TRU used Amazon as a platform and split off. Wasnt amicable

Black Hat wrote:Courtesy of some anon on 4chan, apparently Volcanicus looks a LOT better transformed like this:

Much better! But Inwonder how stable it is?

SillyMcGilly wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

SillyMcGilly wrote:Plus, isn't it possible that the TRU exclusive Thundercracker is the third RiD warrior class seeker? We got Screamer and Warpy, but no Thunders.

The price point is that of a Voyager, besides RiD 2015 has effectively ended by now,.

But Toys"R"Us is ESPENSIVE! Especially when it comes to exclusives.

Only collector targeted exclusives, they're reasonable when it comes to exclusives aimed at kids. In fact both times they did exclusive RID Warrior class figures they were cheaper ($14.99) than the regular mass retail figures ($16.99). If they were to do an RID Thundercracker at TRU there's no reason to believe it wouldn't be $14.99, not twice that.

Emerje

SillyMcGilly wrote:

Skritz wrote:What bothers me is that around my place, the two Wal Mart and remaining Toys R Us still have entire shelves filled with unsold Transformers figures. Beside the movie ones, the rest is mostly RiD or endless waves of Galvatron, Octone and Blitzwing....and THEN there is the endless wave of crap like One-Step-Changer and other wastes of plastics not even little kids would buy.

This mean I sadly don't expect to see PotP stuff on shelves any time soon.

Fix: Buy em all, sell them on Amazon for the same price, POTP figures will appear in stock, profit.

Well the only thing I'd honestly be curious to buy and fiddle with as desk toys are RiD Blugeon and Power Surge Optimus, the latter which I'd totally dig as fodder for practicing my painting skills. Beyond that, the movie figures are fine but unfortunately what I notice is that sadly Transformers just don't sell.

Of course I'm also a very strong proponent of the idea that Transformers has some serious 'brand fatigue' as it's arguably more popular and present on store shelves than it ever was, yes, even during the days of G1 I'd imagine. While to us older fans this is not a bad thing, do keep in mind that what killed G2 early on and forced the radical rebranding that was Beast Wars was simply that Transformers just weren't all that appealing combined with the fact most kids who had older brothers already had Transformers toys. And sadly, toys aren't so big anymore when every kid is a smartphone zombie.

As much as I hate to say this, all signs point to Transformers imploding hard in the coming years. The fact is, Transformers as a brand has been on shelves, often with several series or toylines on shelves for a decade now and has existed in this state since at least 2007.

Skritz wrote:As much as I hate to say this, all signs point to Transformers imploding hard in the coming years. The fact is, Transformers as a brand has been on shelves, often with several series or toylines on shelves for a decade now and has existed in this state since at least 2007.

I hate to think of it, but you make a valid point...the only upside to this would be a wildly successful resurgence/reboot in a few years (Beast Wars: Part Deux please).

Madeus Prime wrote:

Skritz wrote:As much as I hate to say this, all signs point to Transformers imploding hard in the coming years. The fact is, Transformers as a brand has been on shelves, often with several series or toylines on shelves for a decade now and has existed in this state since at least 2007.

I hate to think of it, but you make a valid point...the only upside to this would be a wildly successful resurgence/reboot in a few years (Beast Wars: Part Deux please).

The difference is in the advantage Beast Wars had: Transformers had been off the air since the end of G1 with 'The Rebirth' and only existed in the form of rerurns, while japan had its own series which rode the popularity of mecha in the '80 and '90 before having their own spinoff in the form of the awesome-yet-obscure Brave serie. When Beast Wars hit, it was brand new, the first new Transformers cartoon in so much as western audiences were concerned (or even knew, as the internet was young).

This effect is lost because since the 2007 movie, we had Animated, Prime, Rescue Bots, RiD, the ongoing Generations toylines, the Cybertron games and who knows what else I'm forgetting. At this point Transformers is just old hat and part of the expected pop culture landscape, even if most of its (intended) target audience generally only knows an incarnation or two.

Skritz wrote:

Madeus Prime wrote:

Skritz wrote:As much as I hate to say this, all signs point to Transformers imploding hard in the coming years. The fact is, Transformers as a brand has been on shelves, often with several series or toylines on shelves for a decade now and has existed in this state since at least 2007.

I hate to think of it, but you make a valid point...the only upside to this would be a wildly successful resurgence/reboot in a few years (Beast Wars: Part Deux please).

The difference is in the advantage Beast Wars had: Transformers had been off the air since the end of G1 with 'The Rebirth' and only existed in the form of rerurns, while japan had its own series which rode the popularity of mecha in the '80 and '90 before having their own spinoff in the form of the awesome-yet-obscure Brave serie. When Beast Wars hit, it was brand new, the first new Transformers cartoon in so much as western audiences were concerned (or even knew, as the internet was young).

This effect is lost because since the 2007 movie, we had Animated, Prime, Rescue Bots, RiD, the ongoing Generations toylines, the Cybertron games and who knows what else I'm forgetting. At this point Transformers is just old hat and part of the expected pop culture landscape, even if most of its (intended) target audience generally only knows an incarnation or two.

True, but I meant if it really took another plunge, like it did after the G1 Cartoon ended. I don't like the thought of another giant hiatus (even though I didn't experience the first one), but if it saves the brand again...*Shrug*

SillyMcGilly wrote: IMO, it kinda serves them right for jacking the prices up for so high when we now have Amazon to replace the online side, and Target and Walmart to mostly replace brick and mortar stores. I think bad business practice is killing the company, and that ain't our faults.

Toysrus had the best prices for POTP toys so far, beating out Target by a fair bit: https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... nds/40185/

Madeus Prime wrote:

Skritz wrote:As much as I hate to say this, all signs point to Transformers imploding hard in the coming years. The fact is, Transformers as a brand has been on shelves, often with several series or toylines on shelves for a decade now and has existed in this state since at least 2007.

I hate to think of it, but you make a valid point...the only upside to this would be a wildly successful resurgence/reboot in a few years (Beast Wars: Part Deux please).

They've been pumping out the live action movies for a while now. Even though I hear they suck (I've only seen the first one), I believe they still make decent money when factoring in the global box office. But if the #s keep going down, I can totally see them rebooting it. At the end of the day, it's robots that transform. Kids love that stuff.

It's hard to speculate on what the prices mean. Sure, they're lower than the Legends line, but that doesn't mean they'll be the same exact figures as Hasbro's. Just look at the TLK line, those ARE just repackaged Hasbro figures and even those prices aren't this low. My own theory is that these aren't the actual prices for Japan since the pre-order prices are much too low on BBTS. Instead I think these might be the Japanese discount prices and BBTS's prices may be based on an Asia retail release as an extension of UW. If these were coming directly from Japan then BBTS wouldn't price a 7,000 JPY figure for $65, they'd be closer to $85.

I'm crossing my fingers that Takara Tomy makes a Targetmaster combiner out of Artfire, Stepper, Crosshairs, Pointblank, and Sureshot. Since the last three didn't take Transtectors in the Legends comics they can easily say they had their bodies rebuilt as combiners instead. Their partners already exist in Legends so they wont need to come with them and since they're doing smaller Legends scale figures maybe they can make one that's a retool of Shockwave to go with the combined form.

Emerje

Moving on from the negative, does anyone that have the figures released so far have their own thoughts when compared to the previous lines (like QC issues or how stable they are)?