I Play With My Toys

So, to talk about new stuff a bit... I'm really looking forward to the Combiner Wars subline that Hasbro announced a little while ago for the Transformers Generations toyline. It will help me with my Super Secret Project* of getting modern remakes of classic toys. I have great expectations for the line. What they've already shown looks great, and I have my ideas about what else is going to show up, and what I think they *SHOULD* do.

They've already announced the Aerialbots and Stunticons as the first two waves of the subline. Based on previous experience (that is, looking at how Hasbro seems to do things), I think we can reasonably expect 4-6 "waves" of figures; deluxes, that is. (But that's what most of the Combiners are going to be, so I'm using that as my baseline.) They seem to frequently release two waves of new molds, then a wave of redecos/retools, then repeating. Sometimes, the latter waves are abbreviated, but the pattern of a few new molds, then about half that many redecos/retools seems to hold. That is, assuming the Combiner Wars subline is a whole year's worth of product, like the Fall of Cybertron line and the "Thrilling 30" line.

So, who else will they do? I have some ideas about that too. Considering the name of the line, they're all going to be Combiners, or somehow related. I'm hoping they'll continue to follow the "pattern" they've started on, and continue releasing remakes of the "Scramble City" combiners, likely in roughly the same order as the original 1980s releases. So, Aerialbots, Stunticons, Protectobots, Combaticons, Technobots, Terrorcons, Seacons.

Of course, they did just do a version of the Combaticons in the Fall of Cybertron line, but those were pre-Earth mode toys, so I don't think that will affect the likelihood of including them in this line. On the other hand, I could see the fact that the Terrorcons were just remade in the Prime Beast Hunters line affecting their chances in this one, especially since the "monsters" theme has kind-of been done, and they've moved away from it for now.

On the other hand, while we're hoping and speculating, it would be awesome if they redo the Constructicons as well, and maybe even the Predacons. Of course, that would make the line awfully Decepticon-heavy. To balance things out a bit, they could throw in something like the Trainbots from the Japanese Headmasters line. I would love to see a version of them done for the US. (Yes, I know about Team Bullet Train from RID, they're not quite the same. 8^)

The big question is, how would this pattern be affected by the redeco tendencies I mentioned above? Frankly, I don't think it would be a big problem. In fact, I think they may be already planning ways to do at least the main teams above and still utilize redecos and retools. Here is what I think they should do, and may, in fact, already be planning to.

So, they already have the Aerialbots and Stunticons. Each team has a "new" member, replacing one of the original characters with something nominally similar, but different altmodes. And, then there's the Legends-class add-on characters. Plus, the Voyager-class "torso" figures.

Right, so, for the rest of the teams (at least the "main" ones, which is what I'll talk about here), I think they could do them using a fair number of redecos/retools. For the Protectobots, the "Alpha Bravo" mold (i.e., the Aeralbots' new guy) already looks to me a lot like Blades, so there's one easy redeco. They could retool one of the Stunticons to make Streetwise, basically to add the lightbar. Groove and First Aid would probably have to be new molds. They might be able to retool "Offroad" (the Stunticons' new guy) into an ambulance, but that would be a bit of a stretch.

Likewise, the Combaticons could be done with about half redecos/retools. (I'm not counting the Voyager-class leaders. They look like they would pretty much have to be all new molds.) Similarly to the Protectobots, Vortex could be done as an Alpha Bravo retool. (Getting a lot of mileage out of that mold. 8^) Then take Offroad and retool him into something like a Humvee for Swindle. Yeah, a bit of an altmode change, but not severe. They might be able to do Blast Off as an extensive retool of one of the Aerialbots, but that might be a bit of a stretch. Brawl would have to be new-mold.

Finally, the Technobots could be done as about 50% retools, I think. They could retool the new Groove mold above to make Afterburner. (Kind-of like how they recently retooled Prime Arcee into Generations Chromia.) Then, a fairly extensive retool of one of the Stunticons could make a good Lightspeed. Again, Strafe might be possible as an extensive retool of an Aerialbot, and Nosecone as an extensive retool of Brawl.

The Terrorcons and Seacons would pretty much have to be all-new molds, which probably reduces their likelihood even more. Similarly, the Constructicons, Predacons, and Trainbots would probably have to be all-new, but with all of the retools and redecos above, they might have the budget for these. 8^)

Yeah, so, that's my take on things. Feel free to agree or disagree (politely) in the comments.

* Not really a secret, I just haven't gotten around to talking about it here yet. 8^)

Edit: Oh, I almost forgot to mention one of my slightly more out-there theories... Considering the Optimus Prime that has been announced in this line, as a retool of Motormaster**, I wouldn't be surprised to see all of the Stunticons redecoed as some of the Autobot Cars, per the G1 cartoon episode where the Autobots captured the Stunticons, then had Optimus, Jazz, Sideswipe, Mirage, and Windcharger repaint themselves to impersonate the Stunticons. Especially considering the Windcharger Legends-class figure already announced for that line. 8^)

** Yes, I know the Optimus was announced first and is slated to be released first, which technically makes Motormaster the retool, but I don't really like the Optimus Prime version that much, so he's the retool in my Personal Canon.