Dudes made up of five other dudes.
As Hasbro's Transformers team wrapped up its upcoming products panel at Botcon 2014, they teased the audience with a silhouette that looked an awful lot like the original Generation 1 character Superion: the massive combined form of the "Aerialbots" team. Just over a month later, the company kicked off their San Diego Comic Con 2014 showing with a bang by revealing the toy in full! The upcoming Transformers: Generations Superion was shown off at the SDCC 2014 Hasbro Breakfast Event alongside a corresponding Menasor, the famous "Stunticon" combiner. We were also hit with the news that the overarching theme of next year's toy releases would be "Combiner Wars," meaning there are more to come!
"Combiner Wars" is a solid idea for the Generations line, as the combination gimmick is always one of the most clamored for amongst the Transformers collecting community. The sheer number of third party attempts to fulfill that demand over the years — as well as how much cash fans were willing to shell out for them — should make that crystal clear. I can imagine the idea will still resonate with kids as well.
While restrictions such as staying within retail price points in a less than forgiving economy and meeting strict safety regulations might keep them from matching some of the higher hopes of adult collectors, I think Generations Superion and Menasor look promising thus far. There's a nice overall balance between paying homage to the original designs and adding a bit of modern sensibility. As such, I figured it'd be fun to assemble a quick comparison of the new toys with their original counterparts (both toy and character model alike.) Let's go!
Silverbolt: now available for purchase!
Generations Silverbolt (the Aerialbot leader with a fear of heights) looks to have been approached similarly to his 2008 Universe counterpart. I recall that being an unpopular toy given its simplistic transformation. The engineering doesn't look much more complicated here, but I'm sure the ability to combine will do a lot to win over collectors that worry over such things.
Legendary poster warlords Mondo released a handful of Guardians of the Galaxy prints for San Diego Comic Con 2014, and my favorite of the bunch is undoubtedly Mike Mitchell's "Tree Hugger" featuring Rocket Raccoon and Groot. While I'm sure there are comic fans that would cringe at the idea, this incredibly cute aesthetic makes me clamor for a series of slightly tongue-in-cheek children's books featuring all sorts of adventure and awesome bro moments.
