Transformers: Age of the Primes toyline discussion 10/27 Update: First look at Megatronus the Fallen

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
(checks wiki, which notes that "Alpha Prime" is connected to PrimON)
well, crap
Only via an AVP retcon from the AAII.

Besides, the last letter of the Greek alphabet is Ω, so wouldn't the opposite counterpart of Alpha Prime be Omega Prime? ;)
 

lastmaximal

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Only via an AVP retcon from the AAII.

Besides, the last letter of the Greek alphabet is Ω, so wouldn't the opposite counterpart of Alpha Prime be Omega Prime? ;)
But the Cybertronian alphabet goes from A-analogue to Z-analogue.

...Let's just call the whole thing off.
 
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Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
But the Cybertronian alphabet goes from A-analogue to Z-analogue.

...Let's just call the whole thing off.
Sure thing, as "Zed Prime" also called to mind images of this guy and we definitely do not want him getting his hands anywhere near a Matrix's power:

LordZedd.jpg

:p
 
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LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
I'm running my own continuity with the Renegade table top game. In my backstory, the majority don't know where Optimus came from. He just kinda showed up one day after one of Megatron's attacks. This had lead to a lot of rumors about his origins, with some conspiracy relgious nuts claiming he's a reincarnation of one of the original 13, but they're largely dismissed as nutjobs.
I love that idea.
 

lastmaximal

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And it's plausible too, in a "Clark Kent disappears in an emergency that Superman then shows up to save us from" kind of way.

"We have some dockworkers unaccounted for! Dion, Orion P-"

"Never mind that right now. Who's that red and blue beefcake jumping off those rooves"?"

Sure thing, as "Zed Prime" also called to mind images of this guy and we definitely do not want him getting his hands anywhere near a Matrix's power:

LordZedd.jpg

:p
Maybe if he were voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait.
 

CrockAlley

Well-known member
Citizen
I was always annoyed that The Thirteenth Prime was really Optimus, because Prima is already an Optimus archetype. The whole idea seems redundant.

I’m also sad that this new toy doesn’t have any abstract chest windows.
 

LBD "Nytetrayn"

Broke the Matrix
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Wow, this thread blew up after I left...

I love it when Sandstorm is mourning his home planet and Rodimus is just like "get over it, it sucked, Cybertron's where it's at."

Okay, I'm not going to lie to you: I got a kick out of that when I was a kid.

I'll also admit that I was kind of a dumb kid in some ways.

As I've gotten older, yeah, that's one thing Rodimus Prime said or did in G1 I wasn't really big on.

The Diaclone toy that would become Ultra Magnus could have even instead been sold as an upgraded armored version of Optimus, representing the form he took on after stepping down to become Rodimus's sub-commander (maybe named "Optimus Magnus" since Rodimus would be the new Prime). While this would have removed the new character of Ultra Magnus from the equation, the new toy would have still been sold (preferably in its original, more-Optimus-like Diaclone colors) in stores at the time. It also would have paralleled Megatron getting a new upgraded toy of his own as Galvatron (and kinda Hot Rod upgrading to Rodimus).

I had a similar idea the other day, but instead the movie would largely play out the same, with the same Name idea idea except that Prime's injuries don;t kill him, but are still gravely serious, and that need to get back to Cybertron/The Moonbases asap to get him proper medical attention. This still largely removes Prime for the movie for Hot Rod to shine, would slightly change their reason for leaving Earth. Optimus passes on the Metrix to someone, just in cases he doesn't make it. The armor would be revealed and basically be new life support armor created to help him heal. I would probably keep the idea of Vehicle to Armored Robot in the cartoon, with him having to stay in it until he's fully healed. Then if we still got PM Prime, that could be him after he's been fully healed.

Oh hey, it's my fanfic idea(s), brought back to life and expanded upon!

Okay, not actually a fanfic, but just an idea I've thrown around here over the years. I still like seeing people expand upon the idea, though. =D

My Deviations issue would be authentic 'nobody told Marketing what the movie is about' silliness played totally straight. Megatron and Galvatron are two different bots, with no time travel explanation. Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime are two different bots. The Battle of Autobot City is entirely replaced by Digital Doom on the Highway to Destruction. Things like that.

That's another one! Sometimes I like to pretend Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime are older/younger brothers.

I think I might have first gotten the idea from that Battle to Save the Earth video game for Commodore 64, where they're separate characters.

Hot Rod would basically be Hot Rod, but I think this version of Rodimus would be more like the Energon version.

If I ever had carte blanche to do an official Transformers story, doing these versions of things would be right on my list, along with a toy-lore version of Beast Wars.

😐

You know what? Sorry I brought it up. Clearly something I stated outright as being anecdotal and never presented as otherwise while taking great pains to let it be known that whatever side you fell on I wasn't trying to attack anyone clearly deserves protest responses about how clearly a story about non-fans and how they feel about things is totally countered by how fans feel. Thanks guys. Sorry I tipped over the sacred cow.

I'm sorry if my post made you feel wronged, that wasn't my intention. The Mr. Burns thing was just a playful response to the Poochie thing, and the rest? Well, that was just my experience with it.

I think Hot Rod taking the shot meant for Prime, or at least one shot, and Op getting distracted enough to get hit by the next one, would do a lot to improve the scene. (Just have his arm guns on empty or whatever; I'm going for as close to the original scene as I can manage for simplicity's sake.)

I mean, keep in mind that Optimus had to die... according to Hasbro, anyway. So naturally, the story was written to facilitate that first and foremost. They probably had Hot Rod play a negative role, as stated, to give him something to grow and mature from.

---

For a while, years even, I was afraid to show too much support for Rodimus/Hot Rod, due to the seeming ire around him. I'm glad he's been able to return and grow with further iterations, and I feel like the G1 cartoon is just one example of the character, one that didn't sit right with some people.

I really love how ReGeneration One did by him, though. I'm guessing I'm not alone in that, if they saw fit to include the sword representative of that story/version with Kingdom Rodimus. And what they did with Cyberverse was really good, too.

Speaking of which, I think Cyberverse has shown that there's room for not only two, but three kid-appeal characters to hang out and work together. Bumblebee, Hot Rod, and Cheetor hanging out were some of my favorite parts of that series.

All that said, I don't like it when people paint the whole of Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime with such a broad stroke of the brush, when there are so many different versions of the character now, more done well than not, I would argue. I know people will do it, but I also think those people are being narrow-minded about it. We have good versions and... let's say "less good" versions of pretty much all the major characters -- including Optimus, I think.
 

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
As I've gotten older, yeah, that's one thing Rodimus Prime said or did in G1 I wasn't really big on.
Thing is I kinda love it? Like maybe not the circumstances per se but I like the idea of Rodimus being a deadpan snarker. Helps set him apart from Optimus while strangely feeling true to form?

My favourite take on Optimus isn't the movie trailer quote machine Aligned turned him into but rather the well meaning genuinely good guy from Sunbow G1 who also cracks dad jokes and tells Blaster to turn down his damn music.

So Rodimus just being a deadpan snarker is suitably different but also fits.

I just like the idea that neither Orion or Hot Rod got stripped of their personalities when they became Primes.

I'm sorry if my post made you feel wronged, that wasn't my intention. The Mr. Burns thing was just a playful response to the Poochie thing, and the rest? Well, that was just my experience with it.
It's all Gucci, as the kids say.
Looking back I was just having a bad day yesterday, and let some molehills become mountains. My apologies.

I just find it interesting how fandom takes things and we as fans don't realize it because we're in the muck having these debates. Rodimus' discourse seems coloured by two extremes that were the result of internet flame wars so I was genuinely intrigued to hear a take from people for whom those flame wars never happened.

I suppose yes, the take that Hot Rod is Transformers Poochie is still negative (though I don't think it has to be... there's plenty of blatantly commercialized media I love in part because of how blatant it is) but I wasn't trying to present that as the undisputed truth or even my opinion.
It was just a perspective I don't think even the anti-Rodimus crowd in the fandom considers much, if at all.

For a while, years even, I was afraid to show too much support for Rodimus/Hot Rod, due to the seeming ire around him. I'm glad he's been able to return and grow with further iterations, and I feel like the G1 cartoon is just one example of the character, one that didn't sit right with some people.
Strangely despite me going on about how Sunbow did Rodimus no favours as a character I still like him. His snark gave him a personality, his potential for a good arc to grow as a leader is intriguing... all stuff I like and would like to see built on down the road should Hasbro ever decide they're not afraid to use him as a leader.

I just have a tendency to not like group think, even if it aligns with what I like. I see people bitching endlessly about how Hot Rod killed Optimus and therefore sucks... I roll my eyes and mutter "get over yourselves" under my breath.
But if I see everyone tripping over themselves to explain how Rodimus is Actually Good and you're just a Gewunner who can't let go of the 80s if you have ANY criticisms of the character... that also irks me?

I donno. I like nuance. I like perspectives. I like positive takes that don't get much time, I like negative takes that don't get much time. I don't think everyone who dislikes Rodimus needs to be talked down because of some dumb alt.toys.transformers threads from 1997 and a bad Deviations comic. And likewise I don't think everyone who likes the character only likes him because of a hyper reaction against that stuff... but those certainly seem to dominate and I think it's worthwhile to talk around those points and how they're not the only perspectives.

As late as 2009? Have we already forgotten? I mean, I can't say I'd blame anyone who really wants to block it out, but I think it's one of those things that must never be forgotten, lest we allow history to repeat itself. Already way too much of that happening.
Hot take.
Deviations making Hot Rod the butt of every joke is not unique in IDW comics.

MtMtE/Lost Light are beloved (justifiably) but let's take a look at Main IDW Timeline Hot Rod/Rodimus.
  • Swindle called him "Rodimus" because it rhymed with "Nominus" and "Optimus" and Hot Rod bought it and adopted it to feel important despite Swindle clearly playing him.
  • He thinks he's on a holy quest that will bring glory to his people even though it's a running joke about how little progress the Lost Light crew actually makes towards that goal.
  • He admits he's a "chancer," and that only Optimus is worthy of being a Prime.
  • He loses command of his own ship by having to share the Captaincy with a legacy 1984 character.
  • He hands out badges of his face like medals, and it's a running gag how he'll do it for the smallest things.
  • Willingly pushes Chromedome back into an addictive and destructive habit to further his own goals- and gets punched out by Chromedome's husband for it. A bot half his size.
  • Flies around in a spaceship modelled after his own head while yelling "TIL ALL ARE ONE!"

Both Brandon Easton and James Roberts took the piss out of Hot Rod/Rodimus. Roberts was just infinitely more clever about it, and so doesn't get pushback on it.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
Full disclosure: My legit favorite scene in the entirety of TFTM is the final scene, starting from when Hot Rod first grabs the Matrix from Galvatron and it starts glowing while "The Touch" starts playing for the second time in the movie. Everything from that point to the very end of the movie is the part that I like the most. In other words, the rise of Rodimus Prime, his defeat of Galvatron, and the destruction of Unicron, all while Stan Bush screams loudly in the background.

I associate that song more with Rodimus (or rather, with the Matrix itself) than with Optimus because of that scene, despite it first playing for Optimus earlier in the movie, because it played when the Matrix lit up in the hands of its chosen bearer.
 

Robogeek1973

An oldie but a goodie!
Citizen
I'm mostly liking Megatronus although his calves are a little short.

The Prima leak is interesting as his legs seem long.

Weird.
 

Gizmoboy

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I don't think there's nearly enough info to form an opinion on Prima yet. It looks like the person who took the pictures had a bag of parts and then tried to assemble them without instructions.
 
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LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
Prima's a headless prototype and we're probably not even seeing final colours. A long way to go before anyone can form an informed opinion.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
At the very least, we can probably anticipate that his (and those of the other Thirteen) altmode will probably be (in the words of Thew) some kind of a "Space Whatever".
 

CoffeeHorse

Exhausted, but still standing.
Staff member
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That is definitely a thigh swivel that isn't assembled.

Guy who took these pictures definitely just had a bag of parts. I don't know how someone could look at the assembled leg and fail to make the logical leap that the other leg should probably look like that one. So my guess is the parts are deformed and won't fit, hence this sample being pulled off the production line.
 


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