Alt-modes that are just limbs tucked up

[Stomski]

Can we list the Transformers where the alt-mode is just robot limbs kind of just meh... With no attempt to make anything remotely resembling a realistic form with a cohesive shape and robot limbs still clearly visible.

And what is the term to describe figures of this nature?

Some examples-

Optimal Optimus
RiD Megatron/Gigatron/Galvatron
Movie Megatron
RotF Megatron


And what do people think of these alt-modes?  I'm not really a fan.  Despite typically having a good bot mode without having a decent form to transform into, they leave me feeling a little let down.

Somehow a figure like Sixshot managed to have 6 modes and not suffer from this syndrome!

[Philip Ayres]

PM Op's base mode - fold the legs out to the side then the back down and that's it

Cyberverse BB Battlesuit & Optimus Maximus don't even try.

[Stomski]

Don't really agree, I've always thought PM OP's base wasn't too bad. Star Convoy's on the other hand... The legs are ok, but the chest/arms/head are basically just the top half of the robot.

[kayevcee]

If we get into planes that are just robots folded up under their plane-shaped backpacks we could be here a while. Universe Silverbolt being the most egregious recent example I can think of.

-Nick

[Jim]

Do Cybertron Menasor and Metroplex count? Menasor isn't too bad but I always felt Metroplex's vehicle mode just looked like he was crouching on all fours.

[Toph]

Optimal Optimus never bothered me, as that fit within the rules of the Transmetals.
Don't forget that no Transmetal was trying to disguise anything in, or had a true vehicle mode.
The "vehicle modes" were just variations on the beast mode, and that's exactly what Optimal Optimus was. No more, no less.
So to include him is to include Cheetor, and every other Transmetal "vehice mode."
So on these grounds, I'd have to disagree with him being on the list.

A couple movie Starscreams deserve to be on it though. As do most jets.

[Stomski]

Well you said it yourself - "Variations on the beast mode". Cheetor had jets that come out, Rattrap had wheels come out of the side, Optimus Primal had a hoverboard, Megatron had roller skates, but their form was still that of the beast mode.

Optimal Optimus' alternate forms are not based on the gorilla, they're trying to be a different shape entirely.

But this is irrelevant to the discussion. I'm more interested in figures like RiD Megatron which is I think the best example of just limbs just hanging.

To an extent DotM Shockwave suffers, but his limbs blend in enough to just pass.

Prime Megatron also suffers a little bit from this syndrome.

[The Doctor]

The original MP Prime. That's not a truck cab!

-Ralph

[Stomski]

Hrm, maybe I haven't qualified what I'm looking for here. MP Prime has an attempt to hide the limbs.

I guess other good examples would be certain Pretender bots... Waverider for example. But Given the constraints of Pretenders it's forgiveable.

Agree with kinjacono about Cybertron Metroplex and Menasor.

Jets are kinda, I dunno an entirely different kettle of fish. At least they're typically viewed from above, so the robot parts are at least a little bit hidden, and the limbs do fold into the body rather than just hanging separately.

New entry - Generations Metroplex.

[Toph]

Feb 11, 2013 9:31:59 GMT Stomski said:

Well you said it yourself - "Variations on the beast mode". Cheetor had jets that come out, Rattrap had wheels come out of the side, Optimus Primal had a hoverboard, Megatron had roller skates, but their form was still that of the beast mode.

Optimal Optimus' alternate forms are not based on the gorilla, they're trying to be a different shape entirely.

I disagree. Optimal Optimus is very much exactly like the others. His jet and truck mode are very much just variations of the gorilla mode.
Because Primal barely used it in the cartoon, people often forget that the gorilla exists, but it was fully, 100 percent just a variation of the gorilla mode.
There was no attempt by the toy designers to disguise anything, because he wasn't a "robot in disguise." They were just following the rules of the subline that the toy belongs to (Transmetals). It really is a world away from Movie, or G1, or any other toyline that has the robot genuinely trying to disguise itself as a completely different form.

Generations Thunderwing is another for your list. No attempt to disguise or integrate the arms.

FoC Onslaught one of the worst. In both Torso mode and Truck mode, his robot arms just hand there, with nowhere to go. And only the slightest, most pathetic attempt to hide them with the cannon in truck mode. And NO attempt what so ever in torso mode. They just... hang there.

I would agree with Gigatron in some of his modes, but in most of them his robot limbs are part of his alternate modes. It's just that his alternate modes never look like anything, which is a problem with every sixchanger.

[Stomski]

Urgh, Beast Hunters Shockwave makes me a sad puppy.

tfwiki.net/wiki/File:BHtoy_Voyager_Shockwave.jpg
www.shortpacked.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/03/Shockwave1.jpg