Transformers Hall of Fame 2024 voting now open - until Sept 9
- Thread starter lastmaximal
- Start date
Ha, totally forgot to vote in this for like the third year in a row. I miss the days when we were picking new characters.
Anywho, I do find it very interesting how, despite the incredibly large presence the '86 film has within the public consciousness, the fandom and just the franchise as a whole: that Rodimus Prime so quickly got relegated to being the the exception more than the rule. Hell, even as Hot Rod, he frequently finds Bumblebee stealing his lunch out of the breakroom.
Anywho, I do find it very interesting how, despite the incredibly large presence the '86 film has within the public consciousness, the fandom and just the franchise as a whole: that Rodimus Prime so quickly got relegated to being the the exception more than the rule. Hell, even as Hot Rod, he frequently finds Bumblebee stealing his lunch out of the breakroom.
It's what happens when you traumatize a legion of children who, whether they grow up or not, become adults and dominate the discourse.
But more seriously there's the branding element of it as well; for better or worse they somehow didn't know what they had in Optimus and the rest of the brand at the time (to be fair, it was early days for the modern toy IP/brand framework), and Hot Rod and the New Generation was an unsuccessful attempt at reinvention at the wrong time. From then the corrective steps were to restore the status quo (or at least the Optimus Prime of it all), reinforce early-year presence in branding (84-85 characters would be in Pretenders and Action Masters, and led G2), and find ways to keep trademarked names active. But by the time all were in place, Transformers was in need of a refresh as a whole.
(I think the presence of the movie in the public consciousness is also a bit overstated there. At most casuals will recall they killed Optimus Prime, and also know they brought him back after. Many may not even recall Megatron becoming Galvatron; I've seen more cases of the next memory after OP being Unicron. It's more the fandom and franchise, and even then the trauma/distaste for that plot point and the need to restore and maintain the brand icon took precedence over novelty/change, ironically.)
But more seriously there's the branding element of it as well; for better or worse they somehow didn't know what they had in Optimus and the rest of the brand at the time (to be fair, it was early days for the modern toy IP/brand framework), and Hot Rod and the New Generation was an unsuccessful attempt at reinvention at the wrong time. From then the corrective steps were to restore the status quo (or at least the Optimus Prime of it all), reinforce early-year presence in branding (84-85 characters would be in Pretenders and Action Masters, and led G2), and find ways to keep trademarked names active. But by the time all were in place, Transformers was in need of a refresh as a whole.
(I think the presence of the movie in the public consciousness is also a bit overstated there. At most casuals will recall they killed Optimus Prime, and also know they brought him back after. Many may not even recall Megatron becoming Galvatron; I've seen more cases of the next memory after OP being Unicron. It's more the fandom and franchise, and even then the trauma/distaste for that plot point and the need to restore and maintain the brand icon took precedence over novelty/change, ironically.)
I never got to see TFTM in theaters. We rarely went to theaters back then. I'm sure I must have seen some movies before then, most likely Disney animated movies, but the first movie I actually remember watching in a theater was Jurassic Park. And that I mainly remember for how funny it was that my mom kept falling asleep during it. 
Instead, I got to see TFTM when it came out on video. I never got my own copy, but we had a video rental store nearby that I would often rent videos from, including several TF videos. I'm guessing that must have been in late '87, when I would have been 8. I remember bawling my eyes out when Optimus died. I'd continue watching till the end, then promptly rewind it and watch it again. And then I'd bawl when Optimus died again. Repeat until it was time to return the video...
Suffice it to say, his death really hit me hard. Despite that, I really liked Rodimus. I never got the hate for him. Today, he's my Prime. Optimus is great and all, but I'd happily leave him in the graveyard if it would get Rodimus back to center stage.
Instead, I got to see TFTM when it came out on video. I never got my own copy, but we had a video rental store nearby that I would often rent videos from, including several TF videos. I'm guessing that must have been in late '87, when I would have been 8. I remember bawling my eyes out when Optimus died. I'd continue watching till the end, then promptly rewind it and watch it again. And then I'd bawl when Optimus died again. Repeat until it was time to return the video...
Suffice it to say, his death really hit me hard. Despite that, I really liked Rodimus. I never got the hate for him. Today, he's my Prime. Optimus is great and all, but I'd happily leave him in the graveyard if it would get Rodimus back to center stage.
Hasbro PulseCon 2024:
Hall of Fame
Special guest host - Marcelo Matere!
Megatronus is the favorite of the Thirteen - shown with artwork of the Dreamwave The Fallen
Legacy United winner - Commander class Magmatron
Second place was Voyager class Animated Optimus Prime, third place was Deluxe class Gears
Studio Series winner - Commander class Optimus Prime
First official Studio Series Hall of Fame inductee
Exclusive toy of the year - Party Wallop
Human inductee - Marcelo Matere! He's so surprised because he was invited to be a guest host only. They deliberately didn't tell him that he won.
Hall of Fame
Special guest host - Marcelo Matere!
Megatronus is the favorite of the Thirteen - shown with artwork of the Dreamwave The Fallen
Legacy United winner - Commander class Magmatron
Second place was Voyager class Animated Optimus Prime, third place was Deluxe class Gears
Studio Series winner - Commander class Optimus Prime
First official Studio Series Hall of Fame inductee
Exclusive toy of the year - Party Wallop
Human inductee - Marcelo Matere! He's so surprised because he was invited to be a guest host only. They deliberately didn't tell him that he won.
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Pretty much what I expected.
My votes were Liege Maximo, reasoning that they made quite a bit of G2 characters in Legacy specifically Jhiaxus and the G2 Cybertronian Trooper, so why not the 13 member that was introduced at the end of G2.
Legacy United I focused on Silverbolt.
Studio Series, I figured Optimus would win, so I went with Steeljaw.
My votes were Liege Maximo, reasoning that they made quite a bit of G2 characters in Legacy specifically Jhiaxus and the G2 Cybertronian Trooper, so why not the 13 member that was introduced at the end of G2.
Legacy United I focused on Silverbolt.
Studio Series, I figured Optimus would win, so I went with Steeljaw.
Stop the count! Stop the count! Stop the count!
They did?
Because the Hall of Fame vote never yields a new toy?
Why? Did the Count make too much lightning with his laugh?
Likely to many numbers that he cannot consume all of them at once
It's highly likely we're getting toy of the 13, I just voted for the one I want to see more of.
I noticed the poll at the end named Prima Prime and I'm sorry, I hate it.
It feels like they named him Tom Thomas or something, and I know there are real people with that name, but this is the first prime and leader of them, Prima was fine.
"Likely" nothing. The leaks revealed it months ago, long before this poll was put up. We're getting Solus, Alchemist, Micronus, The Fallen, Prima, Onyx, and Alpha Trion, along with more Legacy-style multi-series characters.
Not just this poll, both his POTP toy and the PulseCon trivia challenge used that silly name too, unfortunately.I noticed the poll at the end named Prima Prime and I'm sorry, I hate it.
Bumping this thread because I just thought of something.
Remember back when I wrote this:
Lord GigaIce actually brought it up here before, too:
Looking at those who were first said to be among the "Thirteen Original Transformers" in The Ultimate Guide, there was Prima and The Fallen who were confirmed as such, Liege Maximo who was said to have been intended to be one (but at the time, "Alignment" was the sole publication that confirmed it, yet it wasn't official), and Maccadam was rumored to be one by his drunken patrons. And of those four, none of them have "Prime" in their name. Well, Prima could technically be considered one, but like LordGigaIce said, it was likely that the title of "Prime" was simply named in honor of Prima, as the official list of Matrix-bearing Primes in the first volume of Dreamwave's MTMTE profile books did not include Prima himself.
But you know what that list did include? "Alpha Prime". Nothing is ever given about this guy in anything Dreamwave ever published, while an Ask Vector Prime answer published in The AllSpark Almanac II book simply attributed the name as a title for Primon, the first Matrix-bearer in Furman's original BotCon fiction. But what if the name "Alpha Prime" was originally meant to indicate that he was none other than Alpha Trion himself? As in, what if Alpha Trion had been the first Matrix-bearer in Dreamwave G1 and went by the name "Alpha Prime" during that time, and only went by "Alpha Trion" after having retired and passed the Matrix to its next bearer, Guardian Prime? The G1 cartoon indicated that that version of Alpha Trion safeguarded the Matrix until it was passed to Optimus Prime, but never suggested A3 had been a Matrix-bearer himself. The Dreamwave comics could have easily made their version of A3 be a former Matrix-bearer in homage to his taking temporary ownership of it in the cartoon. He even served as a mentor to the lineage of Primes; who better to do so than the guy who was first in line?
And with that notion in mind, Alpha Trion having once been a Prime in Dreamwave G1 but not one of the Thirteen would further show that the Thirteen weren't originally supposed to have been Primes, either. So how did it end up happening that all of the Thirteen were Primes? Well, I'm pretty sure it happened when Vector Prime came about for the Cybertron series. He had "Prime" in his name despite not being a Matrix-bearer (and even had it in the original Japanese version of Galaxy Force, in which Optimus Prime was named "Galaxy Convoy" while Vector was still "Vector Prime"), and the Fun Pub Cybertron comics written by Forest Lee were the first to establish the notion of all Thirteen being Primes.
Then, Revenge of the Fallen doubled down on the notion of all of them being Primes (while decreasing the number from thirteen to seven), and then we got Nexus Prime as another Prime-named member, and the rest was history.
There were so many developments from other parties that just overrode the original creative vision for the group.
Remember back when I wrote this:
Well, I got to thinking more about how Alpha Trion wasn't supposed to be one of the Thirteen, and realized something else that's currently true about the Thirteen but likewise wasn't originally the case.
Lord GigaIce actually brought it up here before, too:
And that's just it. The Thirteen originally weren't supposed to all be Primes.
Looking at those who were first said to be among the "Thirteen Original Transformers" in The Ultimate Guide, there was Prima and The Fallen who were confirmed as such, Liege Maximo who was said to have been intended to be one (but at the time, "Alignment" was the sole publication that confirmed it, yet it wasn't official), and Maccadam was rumored to be one by his drunken patrons. And of those four, none of them have "Prime" in their name. Well, Prima could technically be considered one, but like LordGigaIce said, it was likely that the title of "Prime" was simply named in honor of Prima, as the official list of Matrix-bearing Primes in the first volume of Dreamwave's MTMTE profile books did not include Prima himself.
But you know what that list did include? "Alpha Prime". Nothing is ever given about this guy in anything Dreamwave ever published, while an Ask Vector Prime answer published in The AllSpark Almanac II book simply attributed the name as a title for Primon, the first Matrix-bearer in Furman's original BotCon fiction. But what if the name "Alpha Prime" was originally meant to indicate that he was none other than Alpha Trion himself? As in, what if Alpha Trion had been the first Matrix-bearer in Dreamwave G1 and went by the name "Alpha Prime" during that time, and only went by "Alpha Trion" after having retired and passed the Matrix to its next bearer, Guardian Prime? The G1 cartoon indicated that that version of Alpha Trion safeguarded the Matrix until it was passed to Optimus Prime, but never suggested A3 had been a Matrix-bearer himself. The Dreamwave comics could have easily made their version of A3 be a former Matrix-bearer in homage to his taking temporary ownership of it in the cartoon. He even served as a mentor to the lineage of Primes; who better to do so than the guy who was first in line?
And with that notion in mind, Alpha Trion having once been a Prime in Dreamwave G1 but not one of the Thirteen would further show that the Thirteen weren't originally supposed to have been Primes, either. So how did it end up happening that all of the Thirteen were Primes? Well, I'm pretty sure it happened when Vector Prime came about for the Cybertron series. He had "Prime" in his name despite not being a Matrix-bearer (and even had it in the original Japanese version of Galaxy Force, in which Optimus Prime was named "Galaxy Convoy" while Vector was still "Vector Prime"), and the Fun Pub Cybertron comics written by Forest Lee were the first to establish the notion of all Thirteen being Primes.
Then, Revenge of the Fallen doubled down on the notion of all of them being Primes (while decreasing the number from thirteen to seven), and then we got Nexus Prime as another Prime-named member, and the rest was history.
There were so many developments from other parties that just overrode the original creative vision for the group.
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Though it was Fun Publications who wanted Nexus Prime to have "Prime" in the name, proposing both that name and "Maximus Prime".
Hasbro originally wanted to avoid it, suggesting merging the non-Prime halves of the two names. (In fact the toy is named Nexus Maximus in his instructions.)
It was only after they realized that "Nexus Maximus" was...already being used that they changed his name to Nexus Prime.
Hasbro originally wanted to avoid it, suggesting merging the non-Prime halves of the two names. (In fact the toy is named Nexus Maximus in his instructions.)
It was only after they realized that "Nexus Maximus" was...already being used that they changed his name to Nexus Prime.
True, but, ROTF had also played its part in the matter during that same year, so Nexus's finalized name ended up aligning (hehe) with that.
That was a thought I had back when DW established their list of Matrix bearers because having "Alpha Prime" and "Alpha Trion" as separate guys didn't seem to click right. Especially considering that A3 having that space would be consistent with his traditional depiction.
When Hasbro canonized the Thirteen my tourettes and OCD rattled brain really didn't like that Liege Maximo and Alpha Trion were called "Primes" but didn't have the title... so I played around with the above idea.
Most of the Thirteen died/vanished never to be heard from again, but some of the survivors seem to have changed their identities, aside from Vector.
Megatronus Prime became The Fallen. Alchemist Prime changed his identity and became Maccadam. Why not follow this trend? Have Maximo Prime perhaps reject the "Prime" title at some point and become "Liege Maximo," and have Alpha Prime adopt the name "Alpha Trion" to obscure his identity.
After all this would allow him to continue to interact with Cybertronian society throughout the eons without people knowing he's one of the Thirteen, allowing the Thirteen to be those figures of myth and legend to new generations of Cybertronians as one of them secretly walks among them (and another owns a bar, but to each their own).
I don't think the Thirteen all have to be Primes, and I do like your idea of Prima being the first Matrix bearer and passing it to A3 who becomes Alpha Prime, only to become Alpha Trion after he passes it on and steps down... it's a really good idea that sidesteps the "they were all Primes" plot point but if Hasbro is going to insist that all of the Thirteen were Primes (even if they didn't all hold the Matrix) then at the very least they can all be named as such
I just figure that characters like Liege Maximo, Alpha Trion or the Fallen just became known by other names over time for various reasons. (Liege Maximo tried to set himself up as a god, Alpha Trion just hangs out with mortals and doesn't want to give the game away, the Fallen got his name stricken.)
More or less what I was getting at. Liege Maximo and Alpha Trion took new names- or altered theirs- to drop the "Prime" association for one reason or another while Megatronus got Akhenaten'd.