Spoiler: Mech biology speculation While it makes sense from a cool-factor perspective, the idea that different Transformers have differing weapon capabilities based on some sort of "power level" even for weapons that aren't physically attached to them is rather strange mechanistically. Like, for humans, the physical requirements to wield a gun are based on roughly 1: the ability to lift the gun, and 2: the ability to withstand the recoil. These requirements somewhat scale with the power of the gun, but only to certain extents. While it is possible that mecha have similar issues, unless they're constantly operating at the boundaries of their physical abilities, these shouldn't matter so much. But the power source for the gun is in the bullet itself, which makes it a marked contrast from weapons like bows that depend on the user's strength for the initial energy storage: provided you are above the necessary thresholds to use the gun at all, the power of the bullet doesn't depend on your personal attributes. Contrast to, say, Dragon Ball, where the energy beams are being directly drawn from and emitted by the physical bodies of the combatants, and hence the power of the beam is related to the power of the combatant. The combatant is the power source, not merely the scaffolding, and hence their ability to fire beams is not directly connected to the amount of recoil damage their bodies can withstand except at the very high end. So why is it that some mecha, despite not being physically larger and not having noticeably more recoil-mitigation, are capable of handling stronger weaponry? Well, what if there is a relation to power sources? Is it just the case that mecha happen to actually power their beam weaponry from their own bodies? That a stronger reactor for the mech as a whole also gets fed via some conduit into the gun? Again, these are weapons are largely detached, with their only point of connection to the mech being via the hands, or occasionally an arm mount, but are still easily detachable. Do mechs just have power-ports in their hands that connect to their guns? Do their ports continue to bleed energy if they're suddenly disarmed? Can those ports be used for anything else? Are TF kink authors unaware of yet another possible orifice?
So I'm usually a big fan of third-party toys and am willing to put up with complicated transformations in the name of clean modes and stable combined forms but uhhh I think these boatformers might be a tad over-engineered: Even with all of that, the combined mode's head is still just hanging off the robot-mode's back. On the other hand, the fact that the torso inverts for combined mode is bonkers in the "impressive but why" kind of way.
So I have little interest in the Flame Toys action figures, mostly because they don't transform, but also because they're extremely...dudeular. Which, fine, some people like muscular robots. But, uh, Spoiler not exactly my style.
[looking at the crotch] yeah dudeular is the appropriate adjective for that. hi guys spock is holding my hand through the thing
01-Studio is making an All-in-One Devastator! No combiner kibble! The chestplate is built into Long Haul, the head is built into Hook, the arms and hands are built into Scavenger and Bonecrusher! Kind of surprised that no one else has attempted this before. I guess the arm kibble has always been such a standard part of the Devastator aesthetic. I mean, the 01-Studio Bonecrusher is oddly long in vehicle mode because of the built-in arm. Spoiler: long
So I just read the first volume of the new Image Comics Transformers series and uh... Spoiler Apparently you can recharge the matrix by sticking a human in it? We're already doing the pink alchemy bit this early? Or does it have to be a voluntary sacrifice?
