It's not an excuse, it's physics. Every Transformer we've ever had makes sacrifices; some get very close in both modes, but there are sacrifices nonetheless. MP-44 is the closest converting, animation-accurate Prime to date. His truck mode is really good, but not exact. Alternators Optimus Prime is a near perfect, 1:24 Dodge Ram but guess what? His bot mode is a long way off.
A train car may have "mass", but in the end, it's a rectangular tube. If the goal is to make it a perfect scale replica of a train car, that will dictate what it can do in its other two modes. It's certainly possible to make MP Raiden's combined mode look like 3P Radiatron, all it takes is money and lots and lots of tiny, folding panels.
I didn't say they were unrecognizable, but no train collector is going to confuse the two. Like I said, it's fine for me and maybe you, but - once more for the people in the back - the 3P version is not a replica which was one of Takara's stated goals.
Let's try it from another direction: remember the failed Haslab for the Engine of Vengeance? One of the big problems for collectors (along with the price) was that it wasn't a Dodge Charger. If it was significantly cheaper, people may have overlooked the look-alike design - but for the money, people wanted the car to look exactly right. Hasbro thought people wouldn't care, but they did and it failed.
A train car may have "mass", but in the end, it's a rectangular tube. If the goal is to make it a perfect scale replica of a train car, that will dictate what it can do in its other two modes. It's certainly possible to make MP Raiden's combined mode look like 3P Radiatron, all it takes is money and lots and lots of tiny, folding panels.
I didn't say they were unrecognizable, but no train collector is going to confuse the two. Like I said, it's fine for me and maybe you, but - once more for the people in the back - the 3P version is not a replica which was one of Takara's stated goals.
Let's try it from another direction: remember the failed Haslab for the Engine of Vengeance? One of the big problems for collectors (along with the price) was that it wasn't a Dodge Charger. If it was significantly cheaper, people may have overlooked the look-alike design - but for the money, people wanted the car to look exactly right. Hasbro thought people wouldn't care, but they did and it failed.
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