# Autobots... transform and upgrade
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 18, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309 "2003-07-18T03:32:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/1 "2003-07-18T03:32:31Z")
Welcome to the next wave of Transformers.
These just hit the net. Something some people have been waiting 20 years for. Cartoon accurate Optimus Prime. Whee!
[http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/be-j/sin/bat/moto/RIMG0087.JPG](http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/be-j/sin/bat/moto/RIMG0087.JPG)
[http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/be-j/sin/bat/moto/RIMG0089.JPG](http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/be-j/sin/bat/moto/RIMG0089.JPG)
[http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/be-j/sin/bat/moto/RIMG0088.JPG](http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/be-j/sin/bat/moto/RIMG0088.JPG)
The first photo has the original Optimus Prime toy in the background, for comparison. Here’s a photoshop of it in final colors.
[http://boards.allspark.com/uploads/post-6-1058467191.jpg](http://boards.allspark.com/uploads/post-6-1058467191.jpg)
And they’re giving a few others an upgrade. Here’s Smokescreen as a 2000 Subrau WRX STI racing car.
[http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/be-j/sin/bat/moto/RIMG0085.JPG](http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/be-j/sin/bat/moto/RIMG0085.JPG)
(note the STI racing sticker)
[http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/be-j/sin/bat/moto/RIMG0084.JPG](http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/be-j/sin/bat/moto/RIMG0084.JPG)
[http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/be-j/sin/bat/moto/RIMG0086.JPG](http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/be-j/sin/bat/moto/RIMG0086.JPG)
Doors, trunk, and hood all open. That’s the gun tucked under the hood as part of the engine.
---
### Author:  [@JDeMobray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDeMobray)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/2 "2003-07-18T03:41:10Z")
There is no price I will not pay to own that Optimus Prime. I have almost every other incarnation of him in my office at work.
---
### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/3 "2003-07-18T04:09:44Z")
I saw these pictures this morning and had a geek-gasm! This really is The Perfect Optimus Prime, the Transformers collectors’ dream, realized!
I will be attending the Official Transformers Collectors Convention (formerly known as BotCon) in Chicago next week, so I’ll post here with any new information I get from Takara or Hasbro reps.
---
### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/4 "2003-07-18T04:25:19Z")
How does $40 sound?
Jacques DeMobray! Thou art avenged!
---
### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/5 "2003-07-18T07:10:49Z")
For the record, I believe this is part of Takara’s “Alternator” line of Transformers toys. Optimus does look sweet, certainly better than the non-poseable “Super Hybrid” figures from a few years back.
And I think the blue car is supposed to be Bluestreak, not Smokescreen.
---
### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/6 "2003-07-18T13:35:41Z")
Optimus is the 20th Anniversary figure, according to Orson. He is not an Alternator.
The blue car is and I’m hearing him identified as Smokescreen and not Bluestreak, though it was my first thought, at the time. We’ll see.
---
### Author:  [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/7 "2003-07-18T15:15:51Z")
how much for these bad boys? it beats the shit out of the new peterbilt style optimus that currently resides atop my G4 at work.
i, along with JDeMobray will pay good money for these things…
---
### Author:  [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/8 "2003-07-18T16:27:22Z")
Yes, but are they made with dye-cast metal like the originals as well, or are they completely plastic like all the other cheap toys that come out nowadays?
There was nothing better than having Optimus kick your friend and have him really feel that Cybertronian metal hit his forehead.
---
### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/9 "2003-07-18T16:44:03Z")
Unfortunately, die-cast metal is a lost art in toymaking. It’s heavy, which does cause certain issues for safety… a metal toy is more likely to shatter the plastic bits in a drop test as it weighs more and impacts with more mass, it makes the toy harder to have a low center of gravity, and it wears the paint off quicker. Not to mention more wear on the molds. They do still make all metal robot toys… they only cost $80 a pop. Not for the children. Plastics let the robots pose better, and are actually more durable, considering.
---
### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/10 "2003-07-18T17:04:13Z")
Where can someone in NYC get their hands on Optimus?
And where is the new and improved old school Megatron?
Soundwave (with built in mp3 player :D) would be nice as well.
---
### Author:  [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/11 "2003-07-18T17:27:45Z")
It will be mine. Oh yes. It will be mine
---
### Author:  [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/12 "2003-07-18T19:12:48Z")
Seriously, this will be in my office very, very soon or I will drop corporate law and start suing. I want this and I need a link to figure out where to buy. For the love of God please post a link!!!
---
### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/13 "2003-07-18T20:49:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by E-Sabbath \*
> Unfortunately, die-cast metal is a lost art in toymaking.
**Rattrap:** “That ship wasn’t built, it was _poured!_”
**Optimus Primal:** (to camera) “Die-cast metal – it’s a lost art.”
–“The Agenda,” part 3, _Beast Wars_
> [@](#):
>
> It’s heavy, which does cause certain issues for safety… a metal toy is more likely to shatter the plastic bits in a drop test as it weighs more and impacts with more mass, it makes the toy harder to have a low center of gravity, and it wears the paint off quicker. Not to mention more wear on the molds.
It also costs more to ship, because of the heavier weight, or so I’ve heard.
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by Lochdale_
> Seriously, this will be in my office very, very soon or I will drop corporate law and start suing. I want this and I need a link to figure out where to buy.
Cnsidering this is an unpainted prototype we’re looking at, I’d guess it wouldn’t be available for another 6 months at the earliest. You might be able to pre-order it through an import toy dealer such as [bigbadtoystore.com](http://bigbadtoystore.com)
---
### Author:  [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/14 "2003-07-18T21:38:52Z")
Yes, but does it TRANSFORM?
---
### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/15 "2003-07-18T22:27:13Z")
Yes, you can see the robot and vehicle modes in one of the pictures.
Like I said, hopefully I’ll get some more info about it at BotCon next week.
---
### Author:  [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/16 "2003-07-18T22:57:04Z")
Yeah, well, I saw a robot and I saw a truck. Not sure that means one transforms into the other.
On the other hand, if it DOES, for only $40…
---
### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/17 "2003-07-18T23:19:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Big Bad Voodoo Lou \*
> Like I said, hopefully I’ll get some more info about it at BotCon next week.
You mean “The Official Transformers Collectors’ Convention” next week, since “BotCon” is now the show being run by Jon and Karl Hartman after they split with Glen Hallit.
Oy, fandom politics give me a headache… :rolleyes:
---
### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2003, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/18 "2003-07-18T23:37:25Z")
That’s what I said in my previous post. I have my preregistration and everything!
---
### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2003, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/19 "2003-07-19T00:59:17Z")
It’s an unpainted _resin_ prototype. I can tell that much. But yes, it clearly transforms. If you work at it, you can figure out most of how. (Hint: Pelvis does a 180). Neat working pistons, too, on the elbows.
Smokescreen is hitting Japan with Alternators in a few months, here later. I think we have to wait till next summerish for Prime. Sorry, folks. This is the cost of finding the really early rumors… the long waiting pain. Don’tcha worry, I’ll remind you.
---
### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2003, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309/20 "2003-07-19T01:32:13Z")
So, wait … this is a model/toy … based on a cartoon … and the cartoon itself was in turn **based on a toy?!**
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/autobots-transform-and-upgrade/189309.md?page=2)