Scale

[Philip Ayres]

VOTE NOW

[Toph]

Alternate modes to within reason to each other.

Like, what I mean by that is that a legend motorcycle and a deluxe car are not in true scale, but it certainly looks more appropriate than a deluxe motorcycle.

Also, i don't mind two different scales within a line, simply because it's unreasonable to expect every jet to be leader or titan class. But within those seperate scales, they should mesh amongst themselves.
If you're hellbent on a character being inappropriately tiny, then update the vehicle mode to something that works (instead of a warthog, make powerglide a predator drone. Virtually identical shape, smaller than conventional jetfighters)

[legios]

Neither of the above!

I don't want all the alt-modes to be the same scale - because that way lies madness. For example - if you were going to do a set of ten Autobot cars in the same 1/34ish scale that the Classics Autobot cars seem to be roughly at then pretty much any jet with an F-22 derived alt mode would _have_ to be the size of CW Jetfire/Starscream. A movie Blackout in that scale would likewise have to be a similar size, so almost no Movie Autobot would be taller than upper thigh/crotch to it.

Most of the Combiners would be impossible to make under those rules. CW Air Raid would be significantly larger than CW Skydive in every dimension, and you couldn't use them both as legs without having one stumpy leg and one long leg. Of course, Powerglide would need to be a similar length/height to Skydive, but have a wingspan of approximately twice that of the other Autobot.

I'd need to look up the numbers for what this would do to Alpha Bravo but it wouldn't be pretty. Of course, the Tomy CW Defensor is flat out impossible if one maintains alt-mode scales. A motorcycle is not going to make the same size limb as a police car if they are to the same scale. It just aint.

At the same time, I'm not that bothered with the robots being the same height. It also means that base-formers would be impossible for exam,ple - a Fortress Maximus that is the same size as Bluestreak won't make a very satisfying base for the latter to interact with. You also can't have "smallest, weakest Autobots" under that kind of set-up.

I'm happy with the status quo to be honest. With the exception of Alternators/Binaltech and Alternity, Transformers has never even attempted to maintain a consistent scale, it has never promised a consistent scale across all the toys, and I don't see why - in terms of play value - scale matters. Given that most Transformers are sold as toys, into the same marketplace as other toys, and not into the "grown-up" display market like diecast models are these days I just don't it as important. They just aren't positioned in the kind of market-place where scale is a "thing"(and their pricing reflects that - if they were aimed at the same market as scaled diecast vehicles you wouldn't be seeing your Hot Rod for £17.99 and your Voyager Megatron would be in the £40+ bracket at least rather than the £30 one).

Karl

[Baron B of Triple B]

I'm with Karl. These are mostly toys to be played with, they aren't centrepieces for a life-representative display.

I'm happy with the current model of class sizes and characters mixing between them. For me that helps more with character interaction than exact scale does.

[Pinwig]

It's always been about the characters to me, so robot size is key. Alt modes in my head are always subject to mass shifting, so they're always right in the fiction but the limitations of plastic mean sometimes the toys don't quite match up.

[Shockprowl]

'Robot size correct to My Mind's Eye' isn't an option, so robot by cartoon/comic is close enough,

[Shockprowl]

Dec 21, 2017 20:03:25 GMT Pinwig said:

It's always been about the characters to me, so robot size is key.

Yes, this.

[Llama God]

Also that. Also whatever looks best.

Although city bots should always be bigger than normal bots. Because they're cities.

[Bogatan]

Yeah I just want the toys to look good together. Sometimes thats affected by comic/cartoon representation. Sometimes by their alt mode, but mostly just comes down to the toys themselves.

[Toph]

It occured to me tonight that the Kingdom BW robots are in approximate scale with the old playmates Star Trek figures.

The treks are a tad too small, but they're close enough for crossover displays.

[Shockprowl]

I love crossovers.

[The Huff]

If everything started from scratch (or there was a series with brand new characters - hah!) then I'd love to see them scaled to the things they turn into. So if you need a small guy - they are a motorbike etc. Need a big guy - tank or plane etc.

But Transformers the way they are, I just squint and say to myself that Seaspray is just a smaller than usual hovercraft and Groove is a slightly bigger than normal bike.