Head On!

[Philip Ayres]

or "Is the Toy or the Comic/Animation head better?"

Inspired by debate when Crosshairs was announced!

A	What is the best Bumblebee head?	Toy
B	What is the best Brawn head?	Toy
C	What is the best Windcharger head?	Toy
D	What is the best Huffer head?	Tied
E	What is the best Gears head?	Toy
F	What is the best Ratchet head?	Comic
G	What is the best Ironhide head?	Toy
H	What is the best Trailbreaker head?	Toy
I	What is the best Red Alert head?	Toy

---

First up:

Is Bumblebee's Toy or Comic/Animation head better?

[Benn]

They are both good, but in different ways. His animation model makes him much easier to relate to as the focus on d appeal character, and the toy head is just cool. I liked issue two where he had it when he revealed himself to the Witwikies. It's also got the novelty factor of being the lesser seen, so you do go 'coo' when you see it.

But Bumblebee wouldn't be the giant he is, friend to all without the animation face.

Hmm.

[The Doctor]

TOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

-Ralph

[Shockprowl]

Toy is good, animation is better.

[Dezzeh]

Toy wins!

[Toph]

I can't vote, because I like them both. However Hasbro seems to have massive difficulties with the animation style head, lately. The last several have been total bombs.

However the animation model head is so over represented, that I get a huge thrill every time I see something with an update of the toy head.

I guess my preference depends on context.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

They should have made it so they all had alien faces before coming to Earth, but then with the option of activating human or semi-human faces (3D holograms?) for dealing with humans, if they so wished. You can say that's what happened with Bumblebee, Brawn and a few others in the comics.

I'm voting toy though.

Martin

[The Doctor]

'Toy head' as that was the Bumblebee I had a child (it annoys me that subsequent reissues have the cartoon/comic head). Weird alien madness.

-Ralph

[Llama God]

A lot of people have made interesting points about the animation face, in that there's the possibility that Bumblebee wouldn't be the friendly, kid-association character without it. And that's a fair point, it does make him easier to relate to. On the other hand, though, in the hands of a good creative team, you can still relate to and engage with something without a human face - just look at R2-D2 or WALL-E.

So my vote will, of course, have to go with the toy face. It's what the toy had, for starters - it's what we saw on shelves. And it's also what we kind of saw in the first few issues of the comic (in the UK especially). And it's just *alien*, which is kind of the point - these are, after all, alien robots...

[Benn]

Yeah but R2 or Wall-E weren't trying to emote through the animation studios that did G1!

[Toph]

Counter argument. Bayverse murderbee has no face, and is still super popular kid character. Meanwhile Bumblebee hadn't been a thing for fifteen years when he popped onto the scene, so kids at the time had never even heard of him.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Regardless of his face in robot mode, Bumblebee always had more personality in his VW Beetle form.

Martin

[The Huff]

I can sort of understand why they'd want to put faces on the robots with masks but why do it the other way around?
I mean why take Dead End or Crosshairs toy faces away?

[Shockprowl]

Ooohhh yeah! I thought that about Dead End (my first Stunticon) back in the day!

[The Huff]

Dead End was my first Stunticon too!

[Philip Ayres]

Phil has a list of characters with different faces.

Should you think of any, please PM me with them.

[Shockprowl]

Jul 23, 2019 21:18:53 GMT The Huff said:

Dead End was my first Stunticon too!

We are brothers now....

[Pinwig]

Dead End must have been my first because he was the only one I had until a couple of years ago.

[Shockprowl]

You're one of us tooooo.....

[Pinwig]

What a disturbing thought.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

And me! Dead End was my only Decepticon for a while. It was him against Prime, Sideswipe, Tracks, Snarl, Air Raid, Skydive and a bunch of Mini Autobots.

Martin

[Llama God]

Jul 23, 2019 8:34:58 GMT Benn said:

Yeah but R2 or Wall-E weren't trying to emote through the animation studios that did G1!

Well yes, it wouldn't have been animated with as much technical skill, but the point still stands. I hope. It doesn't need a humanoid face to convey or elicit emotion.

[Llama God]

Jul 23, 2019 10:19:30 GMT Toph said:

Counter argument. Bayverse murderbee has no face, and is still super popular kid character. Meanwhile Bumblebee hadn't been a thing for fifteen years when he popped onto the scene, so kids at the time had never even heard of him.

That would have been a better example to use, yes.

[Shockprowl]

Jul 24, 2019 5:33:12 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

And me! Dead End was my only Decepticon for a while. It was him against Prime, Sideswipe, Tracks, Snarl, Air Raid, Skydive and a bunch of Mini Autobots.

Martin

We grow...

[Pinwig]

Jul 24, 2019 5:33:12 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

And me! Dead End was my only Decepticon for a while. It was him against Prime, Sideswipe, Tracks, Snarl, Air Raid, Skydive and a bunch of Mini Autobots.

Martin

No wonder he was depressed.

[Shockprowl]

Jul 24, 2019 15:41:11 GMT Pinwig said:

Jul 24, 2019 5:33:12 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

And me! Dead End was my only Decepticon for a while. It was him against Prime, Sideswipe, Tracks, Snarl, Air Raid, Skydive and a bunch of Mini Autobots.

Martin

No wonder he was depressed.

AAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!!!


BRILLIANT!!! Brilliant Dead End joke!!!

[Bogatan]

I'm pretty sure Dead End was my first Stunticon too, its the only reason I can think of him being my favourite.

[Pinwig]

*bows*

[Shockprowl]

Welcome

[Philip Ayres]

Finishes tomorrow!