I actually have an entire toyline pitch built around a fan vote called “Transformers: Decide the Divide”. In this pitch, the Autobots fragment Civil War style into the Autobots (led by Optimus Prime) and the more extremist Magnus Brigade (led by Ultra Magnus and Prowl). Meanwhile, the Decepticons fragment into the Decepticons (led by Megatron) and the Ultracons (led by Starscream). Fans would be given the rosters for each faction and pairs of rivals to vote on- and the winners would get new upgraded forms in the toyline following DtD. Here’s the teams: Autobots: Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Hot Rod, Elita-1, Bulkhead, Ratchet, Jazz, Drift, Moonracer, Sideswipe, Evac, Countdown and Hound Magnus Brigade: Ultra Magnus, Prowl, Punch, Arcee, Blaster, Rook, Mirage, Sunstreaker, Pincher, Ironhide, Jetfire and Cliffjumper Decepticons: Megatron, Soundwave, Flamewar, Cyclonus, Skywarp, Slipstream, Lugnut, Oil Slick, Scorponok, Bludgeon, Wild Wheel, Shadow Striker and Clench Ultracons: Starscream, Thundercracker, Sunstorm, Wreckage, Knock Out, Barricade, Swindle, Sideways, Terradive, Lockdown, Black-Out and Toxitron
imagine if one part of the vote brings shockwave into the currently winning Decepticon side and then leads to a vote where you can choose which prisoners get experimented on, with the twins being fused into one bot being an option. Then if picked, the new “sidestreaker” or whatever they get called has to choose which Autobot faction to join up with.
I didn’t have a place for Shockwave in Decide the Divide since 1) he’s hard to make retools for and 2) his character fluctuates between “What is your command, Lord Megatron?” and loyal only to logic so often that I think he’d just sit out the events of DtD in his lab, planning out some world-ending atrocity. That being said, I like the idea of his experiments being something fans can vote for. If that’s how we get a Generations Clobber, then sign me up.
@ that’s why I thought he could be the wildcard. Just sorta being an antagonist for ethier the decepticons or the ultracons depending on who was winning at the time
The part that makes me wonder is that in all likelihood, they made design sketches of all of these toys. Even if they didn't get made, it would be nice to see what these characters would canonically look like as Prime.
While I don't think it was ever confirmed, it has been suggested that the reason Siege Shockwave had the extra parts, was because that would have been his Prime form had he won.
I think Star Saber would've been relatively unchanged. Saber as the base, combines with the V Star booster to make Star Saber, Matrix likely replacing the Brainmaster gimmick of the old toy. (i.e. the door on Saber's chest would open for the Matrix) Not sure on anyone else, especially Deathsaurus.
I believe if I remember correctly, Hasbro actually had protypes for ALL OF THEM already done before they even put that poll up. In fact I believe Siege Shockwave and Ultra Magnus were both just slightly retooled from those prototypes which is why they share the continued armor up gimmick. They just removed where the Matrix core would have gone. They showed the Star Saber prototype at a convention at one point and we still haven't seen that figure yet, unless I'm mistaken and that was actually the Haslab version. Also it's very clear from the way Power of the Primes came out that whoever won that Poll was ALWAYS going to be a Leader class with that same gimmick that Optimus and Rodimus have. That's the whole point of the Leader class in that toy line is to have one figure that represents both their original and Prime incarnations. Which brings to question, what would they even do with Arcee? Like that really should have been Elita-One in that slot I think cause she would make more sense as a potential leader. And it could have given us Elita-One Ariel to Elita-One making her a truck like she really should be. Arcee I just don't know how they would ever make her work into that gimmick. Hound... yeah I don't know what you do with that one unless you lean into how Bayverse Hound was basically Bulkhead and make the two the same character. It wouldn't even be the first time they took what was originally two entirely different characters and made one an upgrade of the other. Megatron... I'm convinced that would have been a Megatron into Galvatron and it would have been a Chaos Matrix since that was the thing that made Hot Rod into Rodimus Unicronus. Shockwave, again, I believe that just would have been the eventual Siege toy we got except with a Matrix chamber in his chest and the armor pieces he comes with would have been in Longarm Prime colors which is basically what I customized him into anyway. Star Saber I think would have worked the best with the gimmick they had in mind because the original toy already works that way. Also Saber Prime... you just said my fan fiction character's name. He's actually a repaint of Energon Rodimus with an Optimus Prime head and wields the Sword of Primus which is made up of 3 Mini-cons cause I based the sword on the Star Saber from Armada. Also because of the way I had him painted... the Bayverse Optimus kind of took my whole red truck with blue flames look. Thunderwing, yeah that would just be an modern update of his original toy. Deathsaurus, I don't know how they'd work an evolution gimmick into him UNLESS they make the base robot the G1 version and the upgraded version they make as the Car Robots Gigatron retool. That's really the only thing they can upgrade him into.
I remember there be so many comments on Facebook saying “why is Optimus Prime misspelled”, “I voted for Optimus Prime!” So many people thought Primal was just Optimus. I know BW is popular and very dear to some, but this really should have been Star Saber and I think most people didn’t really know who they were voting for.
Honestly with how Hasbro was at the time with the budget, Star saber got lucky. He would get the benefit of haslab engineering compared to how power of the primes would have treated him.
Everyone obviously had designs cooking and that's why he was revealed so quickly. We got a magnus and Shockwave in the next line. That were likely tweaked from the POTP designs. I also suspect they werent ENTIRELY surprised beast wars would win
the idea i had for Arcee as a Prime would be her core body being the basic pink racecar. towing a flatbed trailer that carries a trio of motorcycles based on her movie form. she then combines with the trailer and bikes into a Drider-like form based on her Botcon 2001 toy. Hound i suspect would have gotten a trailer that upgraded him into his Aoe body with a crapload of guns. Deathsaurus could have a core body made from his Breastmasters merged together duocon style. as for the vote itself, Beast Wars fans were starving for any rep in the Generations line back during the Warden era. so its no surprise that Primal won the vote. had Beast Wars Megatron been in the running, the vote no doubt would have been split the same way Star Saber and Deathsaurus split the Victory vote.
What about Cybertronian politics? I am against Functionism. And yea, *THUNDERWING* was my vote, too. I would have loved to get Stormbringer like Thunderwing. But ALMOST anybody else would have been a more interesting choice than Primal. Don't get me wrong. I laugh Beast Wars and if him winning that vote was the reason for us getting new figures since Kingdom I'm all for it. But if we would have gotten new BW figures for the 25th anniversary anyway I'm pretty disappointed. They could/ would most likely have made a Commander class Optimal Optimus.
A big super like towards the shout out at the beginning of the video. It pains me that the right for people to just live their lives is debated in this day and age.
I’d personally like to believe that Siege’s Leader Class Shockwave (aka “Doctor Shocktapuss”) was what the designers envisioned as a “Shockwave Prime”. Similar to Siege’s Ultra Magnus & “Galaxy Upgrade” Optimus Prime, the Leader Shockwave shares A LOT of DNA with the Prime Evolution gimmick from only a year prior.
I’ve been watching your Earth Spark videos as I’ve started watching the show. And with how this video opens I would like to say that I love how welcoming and wholesome you are. Thanks for teaching me some transformers toy history and your lovely reviews :3
Fun Fact: The Lead Designer for Power of The Primes said that if Arcee *had* won, her Prime name would have been “something similar to Arcana Magnus”. Simultaneously confirming that, just like Optimal Optimus, the term “Prime” isn’t necessary for modern Prime figures, but also *potentially* reference Solus Prime. Ultra Magnus was already in the running, so the only other Magnus that Arcana Magnus could reasonably reference would be the Magnus Hammer. Arcana obviously comes from arcane, and an “Arcane Hammer” feels like a pretty straightforward reference to The Forge of Solus Prime. It would be kinda interesting to see an upgraded Arcee wielding a big “F off” hammer as her badge of office
My theory on how it worked is that they (sort of) worked on toys for all of the characters from the vote. They figured that some (such as Magnus or Primal) were more likely to win so they simply got more attention. Primal had professional looking sketches drawn up while Hound got a scribble on a napkin.
I wish they had pulled from the 1.0 run of the IDW comics (2005-2018) for Megatron here in the POTP vote. With the Prime Pledge something along the lines of: "Having seen what the Great War has done to both sides, Megatron renounces his Decepticon faith and joined the Autobots. Wishing to end the war and re-shape Cybertron under a new order he envisioned of so long ago".
1) make Hound a satellite truck like they use for remote btoadcasting etc 2) team him up with blaster and possibly mirage as the autobot intel unit 3) jam the entire space bridge signal with reruns of leave it to beaver and/or blaster playing cold slither (again) while mirage, eject and rewind ransack Decepticon hq 4) Soundwave be like "crap i gotta get Reflector off the mothballs i guess"
I'm okay with the repaint of the Optimal Optimus mold and all that... but I had voted for Arcee back then, because I like the character, and it would have been the first female Prime that wasn't just a repaint of a masculine mold. It would have set an interesting precedent for future storyline and toy options to call back to in the future. Still, Optimal at least was nicer than most other options.
If they did Hound as the new Prime, they have a GI Joe crossover as a bigger deal. I am surprise that Grimlock was not in the vote. He was and still is very popular and with him being a leader at a time already, he could step aside from Dinobot leader and become the Prime. The new Dinobot leader could be either a new character or if they want the leader with a different letter at the beginning of the name then the rest, Paddles. Volcanicus still will be around, but with Paddles as the chest, instead of Grimlock.
Hound as a prime feels less weird than bee as leader, but still odd AF. Just imagine like swindle as leader of the 'cons... actually that's more plausible, but still lol
If Hound would have won, I wonder what his prime name would have been? I mean, Hound Prime is obvious, but what about something tangential to his name, something that feels like an evolution of "Hound." Maybe something like Cerberus Prime.
I thought Silvanus/Sylvanus would've been a good name for Hound (Roman god of forests, untouched forests, very nature-heavy for his appreciation of Earth's natural world); but Canis or Canis Major could also work (a genus of Caninae, so dogs & wolves & such), if a bit obvious in relation to "Hound" (Canis Major constellation>stars>light>holograms?); even if it wouldn't make as much sense to give Hound a Prime/Evolution toy in Age Of The Primes, the idea of Hound getting a similar upgrade would still be interesting to see
Feel like if one of the victory leaders won, both of them would be released and featured in the show. Probably not at the same time (well maybe) but it seems logical to me.
I think the reason Optimus primal is in chaos is: They wanted an autobot to be in that category,but couldn't think of any autobot characters who fit the idea of "chaos" so they just put him in as filler. Also,pitting decepticons in a contest to see who the next prime would have been? Kinda killed any chance of them winning. They should have made 2 different competitions for both autobots & decepticons.
i honestly wish they still gave us some of these figures, or atleast gave us concept art for the Primes, and these guys would still be in 1.0 IDW not 2.0, atleast still during the or before the Unicron Arc, because we know IDW 2.0 started around Siege time because that when we had the tease of the GUOP figure thanks to the 2.0 artwork ironically, same with Cyberverse not being around the time of POTP
I've always felt they stacked the vote a bit by including Primal. Like once he was on the list, it was pretty much a guarantee he'd win. I personally voted for Magnus, Star Saber, and Thunderwing initially. Thunderwing and Star Saber were both, I felt, pretty good choices for the evolution gimmick, though with the HasLab Sta Saber, I've come around to see it probably would have been unsatisfactory with that era's budget.
Looking at this with the presumption that characters would get an 'Evolution' Leader-Class toy like Optimal Optimus, I think the neatest option would have been Hound. They could have made a new 'normal' G1 Hound that turns into an interpretation of the grizzled veteran-type 'Movieverse' Hound. After that I would have loved to see their interpretation of a bigger Arcee, or Star Saber and Ultra Magnus (because theyre both a shoe-in for the gimmick). I fully believe they had concept for all of these toys on the table and the Shockwave/Magnus ones got recycled for Siege.
Honestly it seemed like they had the evolution gimmick for their leader. Megatron likely would turn into Galvatron Arcee likely would evolve into her Galvatron twin self from her ancient past Ultra Magnus would evolve from a Minus Shockwave could turn into Onxy Prime. As a major plot point in the comics was he was actually traveled back in time to replace Onxy Prime
I liked the potential of hound as a prime because of the military themes, his character in sunbow, my love of GI Joe, and something more unique than other options. (Also I am willing to talk TF with anyone, even if they think different than me about “real life” or TF!)
Much like Starscream in the G2 comics, the Matrix could drive Shockwave towards heroism. The Light of Primus flowing through him, restoring him to his complete emotional self as intended by the creator.
I voted for Star Saber, but part of me is glad that Primal won instead. Evolution Optimal Optimus essentially became Beast War's foot in the door for chug, and may have lead to Kingdom, which eventually broke the G1 stranglehold and lead to Legacy. Plus it also meant Star Saber got to be that sick Haslab later so who really won anyway?
Honestly, I can see Hound as a Prime. His character just seems like somebody who would feel like he's just a soldier but would be a very effective leader
idw 2.0 didn't start till the siege toyline. around this point during the prime trilogy, revolution was ending and first strike is about to happen setting up the 2018 unicorn comic series.
I needed that intro today!!! I appreciate so much how safe I feel here as a trans person. It really means a lot ❤. I recently got back into transformers, and my favorite I own is MP Road Rage! When I saw a corvette girly with a cassette player accessory, I never looked back!
To be fair, Ultra Magnus and Shockwave got what was essentially those fugures anyway the next year. Star Saber would have been easy to do as thats his entire gimmick, and it would have likely put pressure for Deathsauraus to show up in seige. Would have been intersting.
I'm sad we didn't get a new character for the 40th anniversary. We barely got anything. I'm guessing the 'Prime' vote was mostly for the giant throne toy?
I kinda wanna write a fanfic about a version of this situation where these characters are genuinely running for office as Prime because Optimus is dead and Primus called Rodimus elsewhere or something and they debate and stuff
@ Everyman forced into leadership would be a really good premise for a character becoming Prime honestly. Plus Hound is pretty inoffensive, friendly, and uncontroversial, I could see him unexpectedly pulling the vote. Hound is an interesting pick
@Cdr2002 He has to manage responsibilities in leading the Autobots and deal with a threat who's a dark mirror of him. The HHH to his Mankind or the Ric Flair to his Dusty Rhodes.
@Cdr2002 I'd make it more interesting and have Hound go up against two threats. One from within in the form of an Autobot who wanted the Matrix of Leadership, the one who almost became a Prime before Hound beat him out and believed the position is rightfully his'. He does not think Hound can cut the mustard. The external threat if Megatron isn't in the picture (Maybe Blitzwing?) is a Decepticon who wants to prove themselves to everyone around them and worthy of leadership.
TJ i think your sense of time may be a little off Neither Cyberverse or Idw 2.0 were concurrent with this vote, it was still Rid15 season 2 and idw 1.0 (i think this was just when mtmte relaunched as lost light, could be wrong) I dont blame ya tho, this franchise gets hard to remember straight
this was such a disaster. it was obvious primal was going to win, which prevented them from doing any interesting stories in the contemporary media because adding primal to any of the fiction at the time required too much explanation of why he exists and therefore prevented the stories from doing anything. i feel like onyx shockwave wouldn't have happened if primal hadn't won the vote. and the worst part is that the optimus primal they released wasn't even a good toy! it really should have just been megatron, it would have been the most narratively fulfilling option in the comics and the prime wars cartoons where megatron was like, the best part, and also absolutely have been easier to market to people and perhaps had a chance of making the line not a flop. hound probably would have been g1 hound that combines with a thing to become a big chonky boy like movie hound
I mean we can see obvious rigging of all the fan votes tbh. This one, the Kingdom Tigatron winning toy of the year before it was commonly available, Sky-Bite getting inducted into the hall of fame when there’s already one about to be coming out soon just like we saw here with Optimal winning his vote and getting a toy right away. I honestly do not believe even the Windblade creation process was legitimate, none of these feel like something that was created after the vote. This isn’t a comment on the toys themselves just that our votes in these situations aren’t really counted lol
The one thing that annoys me about this was the potentiality of us getting a Star Saber and/or Deathsaurus toy both before the Haslab ones and at regular retail price. Now we may never get one...
I could see Hasbro making retail leader-class versions of them later down the line, they do need to keep trademarks up and both of their Haslabs got funded.
I would of liked them to of include atlest one fembot as a prime I know others will probably think different but I think it would of been more excepted by the small female market that do also collect I'm all for females who collect but atlest one of the 13 Prime's should have been female to open the market more? that's just me though.
Actually, there is Solus Prime, who thankfully gets some of the most direct mentions out of the 13 aside from Megatronus. She even got to be an actual minor character in the Power of the Primes web series, and her hammer (“The Forge of Solus Prime”) is one of the more memorable relics in Transformers: Prime. That being said, as far as I know, there still hasn’t been any major female Matrix-bearer Primes (not even inserted as one of the random barely defined ones before Sentinel -> Optimus) and that’s CRIMINAL.
It's election themed. Even if he was trying to avoid bad vibes; which would have been an entirely valid decision too, it still probably would have benefited him in the algorithm
TBH I've grown to dislike Beast Wars because of these votes. The G1 characters always get Perot-ed out. And this has been historically infuriating because the Beast Wars characters have for the most part gotten good toys already that can just be reissued with a deco update or something. Not that people will actually BUY them, looking at YOU BW10 figures and Universe Rattrap 😒 This poll was especially bad because it was our chance to get a number of characters that had either never gotten a modern toy at all, like Deathsaurus, or in the case of Shockwave and Star Saber, had a figure that was mid at best because of the Unicron trilogy's all-consuming obsession with random gimmicks.
0:54 Freedom is the right of all sentient beings, and to attack that, is to invalidate your views
I actually have an entire toyline pitch built around a fan vote called “Transformers: Decide the Divide”. In this pitch, the Autobots fragment Civil War style into the Autobots (led by Optimus Prime) and the more extremist Magnus Brigade (led by Ultra Magnus and Prowl). Meanwhile, the Decepticons fragment into the Decepticons (led by Megatron) and the Ultracons (led by Starscream). Fans would be given the rosters for each faction and pairs of rivals to vote on- and the winners would get new upgraded forms in the toyline following DtD.
Here’s the teams:
Autobots: Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Hot Rod, Elita-1, Bulkhead, Ratchet, Jazz, Drift, Moonracer, Sideswipe, Evac, Countdown and Hound
Magnus Brigade: Ultra Magnus, Prowl, Punch, Arcee, Blaster, Rook, Mirage, Sunstreaker, Pincher, Ironhide, Jetfire and Cliffjumper
Decepticons: Megatron, Soundwave, Flamewar, Cyclonus, Skywarp, Slipstream, Lugnut, Oil Slick, Scorponok, Bludgeon, Wild Wheel, Shadow Striker and Clench
Ultracons: Starscream, Thundercracker, Sunstorm, Wreckage, Knock Out, Barricade, Swindle, Sideways, Terradive, Lockdown, Black-Out and Toxitron
Now this is something I'd put some serious time into.
There could be some great storytelling with sideswipe and sunny on opposite sides.
imagine if one part of the vote brings shockwave into the currently winning Decepticon side and then leads to a vote where you can choose which prisoners get experimented on, with the twins being fused into one bot being an option. Then if picked, the new “sidestreaker” or whatever they get called has to choose which Autobot faction to join up with.
I didn’t have a place for Shockwave in Decide the Divide since 1) he’s hard to make retools for and 2) his character fluctuates between “What is your command, Lord Megatron?” and loyal only to logic so often that I think he’d just sit out the events of DtD in his lab, planning out some world-ending atrocity. That being said, I like the idea of his experiments being something fans can vote for. If that’s how we get a Generations Clobber, then sign me up.
@ that’s why I thought he could be the wildcard. Just sorta being an antagonist for ethier the decepticons or the ultracons depending on who was winning at the time
Really wish they could’ve picked Thunderwing from that poll, because he’d fit the Evolution gimmick like a glove!
They really gave us jhiaxus before t-wing lol
The part that makes me wonder is that in all likelihood, they made design sketches of all of these toys. Even if they didn't get made, it would be nice to see what these characters would canonically look like as Prime.
While I don't think it was ever confirmed, it has been suggested that the reason Siege Shockwave had the extra parts, was because that would have been his Prime form had he won.
@@PepsiGolem And here I thought it was because he'd make a lame submarine or spaceship THAT'S TOTALLY NOT A GUN otherwise.
I think Star Saber would've been relatively unchanged. Saber as the base, combines with the V Star booster to make Star Saber, Matrix likely replacing the Brainmaster gimmick of the old toy. (i.e. the door on Saber's chest would open for the Matrix) Not sure on anyone else, especially Deathsaurus.
I believe if I remember correctly, Hasbro actually had protypes for ALL OF THEM already done before they even put that poll up. In fact I believe Siege Shockwave and Ultra Magnus were both just slightly retooled from those prototypes which is why they share the continued armor up gimmick. They just removed where the Matrix core would have gone. They showed the Star Saber prototype at a convention at one point and we still haven't seen that figure yet, unless I'm mistaken and that was actually the Haslab version.
Also it's very clear from the way Power of the Primes came out that whoever won that Poll was ALWAYS going to be a Leader class with that same gimmick that Optimus and Rodimus have. That's the whole point of the Leader class in that toy line is to have one figure that represents both their original and Prime incarnations. Which brings to question, what would they even do with Arcee? Like that really should have been Elita-One in that slot I think cause she would make more sense as a potential leader. And it could have given us Elita-One Ariel to Elita-One making her a truck like she really should be. Arcee I just don't know how they would ever make her work into that gimmick.
Hound... yeah I don't know what you do with that one unless you lean into how Bayverse Hound was basically Bulkhead and make the two the same character. It wouldn't even be the first time they took what was originally two entirely different characters and made one an upgrade of the other.
Megatron... I'm convinced that would have been a Megatron into Galvatron and it would have been a Chaos Matrix since that was the thing that made Hot Rod into Rodimus Unicronus.
Shockwave, again, I believe that just would have been the eventual Siege toy we got except with a Matrix chamber in his chest and the armor pieces he comes with would have been in Longarm Prime colors which is basically what I customized him into anyway.
Star Saber I think would have worked the best with the gimmick they had in mind because the original toy already works that way. Also Saber Prime... you just said my fan fiction character's name. He's actually a repaint of Energon Rodimus with an Optimus Prime head and wields the Sword of Primus which is made up of 3 Mini-cons cause I based the sword on the Star Saber from Armada. Also because of the way I had him painted... the Bayverse Optimus kind of took my whole red truck with blue flames look.
Thunderwing, yeah that would just be an modern update of his original toy.
Deathsaurus, I don't know how they'd work an evolution gimmick into him UNLESS they make the base robot the G1 version and the upgraded version they make as the Car Robots Gigatron retool. That's really the only thing they can upgrade him into.
I feel like Ironhide would have been a better choice than Hound.
“Treat people right. Don’t presume things about them just because they are not like you.”
That’s very true and goes for everyone, whoever they are.
This actually was around IDW 1.0. IDW 2.0 was around 2019, since nearly all the characters use their Siege designs.
Honestly this gimmick didn’t really matter in the end
I remember there be so many comments on Facebook saying “why is Optimus Prime misspelled”, “I voted for Optimus Prime!” So many people thought Primal was just Optimus. I know BW is popular and very dear to some, but this really should have been Star Saber and I think most people didn’t really know who they were voting for.
Honestly with how Hasbro was at the time with the budget, Star saber got lucky. He would get the benefit of haslab engineering compared to how power of the primes would have treated him.
My boy Optimal Optimus needs a “Age of the Primes” update, as personally I don’t feel that POTP gave our boy either what he needed or deserved.
My existence is not political, either.
Good on you, TJ.
IDW 2.0 was around 2019, a year after the this fan vote and the Power of the Primes toy line ended.
Everyone obviously had designs cooking and that's why he was revealed so quickly. We got a magnus and Shockwave in the next line. That were likely tweaked from the POTP designs. I also suspect they werent ENTIRELY surprised beast wars would win
the idea i had for Arcee as a Prime would be her core body being the basic pink racecar. towing a flatbed trailer that carries a trio of motorcycles based on her movie form. she then combines with the trailer and bikes into a Drider-like form based on her Botcon 2001 toy.
Hound i suspect would have gotten a trailer that upgraded him into his Aoe body with a crapload of guns.
Deathsaurus could have a core body made from his Breastmasters merged together duocon style.
as for the vote itself, Beast Wars fans were starving for any rep in the Generations line back during the Warden era. so its no surprise that Primal won the vote. had Beast Wars Megatron been in the running, the vote no doubt would have been split the same way Star Saber and Deathsaurus split the Victory vote.
0:39 TJOmega: the best Floridian
What about Cybertronian politics? I am against Functionism.
And yea, *THUNDERWING* was my vote, too. I would have loved to get Stormbringer like Thunderwing. But ALMOST anybody else would have been a more interesting choice than Primal. Don't get me wrong. I laugh Beast Wars and if him winning that vote was the reason for us getting new figures since Kingdom I'm all for it. But if we would have gotten new BW figures for the 25th anniversary anyway I'm pretty disappointed. They could/ would most likely have made a Commander class Optimal Optimus.
A big super like towards the shout out at the beginning of the video. It pains me that the right for people to just live their lives is debated in this day and age.
I’d personally like to believe that Siege’s Leader Class Shockwave (aka “Doctor Shocktapuss”) was what the designers envisioned as a “Shockwave Prime”. Similar to Siege’s Ultra Magnus & “Galaxy Upgrade” Optimus Prime, the Leader Shockwave shares A LOT of DNA with the Prime Evolution gimmick from only a year prior.
I’ve been watching your Earth Spark videos as I’ve started watching the show. And with how this video opens I would like to say that I love how welcoming and wholesome you are.
Thanks for teaching me some transformers toy history and your lovely reviews :3
God it hurts knowing Thunderwing was on the polls. He would've been perfect for that leader gimmick in PotP.
Fun Fact: The Lead Designer for Power of The Primes said that if Arcee *had* won, her Prime name would have been “something similar to Arcana Magnus”.
Simultaneously confirming that, just like Optimal Optimus, the term “Prime” isn’t necessary for modern Prime figures, but also *potentially* reference Solus Prime.
Ultra Magnus was already in the running, so the only other Magnus that Arcana Magnus could reasonably reference would be the Magnus Hammer. Arcana obviously comes from arcane, and an “Arcane Hammer” feels like a pretty straightforward reference to The Forge of Solus Prime. It would be kinda interesting to see an upgraded Arcee wielding a big “F off” hammer as her badge of office
My theory on how it worked is that they (sort of) worked on toys for all of the characters from the vote. They figured that some (such as Magnus or Primal) were more likely to win so they simply got more attention. Primal had professional looking sketches drawn up while Hound got a scribble on a napkin.
I wish they had pulled from the 1.0 run of the IDW comics (2005-2018) for Megatron here in the POTP vote. With the Prime Pledge something along the lines of: "Having seen what the Great War has done to both sides, Megatron renounces his Decepticon faith and joined the Autobots. Wishing to end the war and re-shape Cybertron under a new order he envisioned of so long ago".
1) make Hound a satellite truck like they use for remote btoadcasting etc
2) team him up with blaster and possibly mirage as the autobot intel unit
3) jam the entire space bridge signal with reruns of leave it to beaver and/or blaster playing cold slither (again) while mirage, eject and rewind ransack Decepticon hq
4) Soundwave be like "crap i gotta get Reflector off the mothballs i guess"
Unknown evil sounds ironic, and giving Thunderwing a matrix would be strange and unnecessary but I wanna see that.
I mean that was a whole arc in the Marvel comics. So Thunderwing actually has a LOT of precedent.
I'm okay with the repaint of the Optimal Optimus mold and all that... but I had voted for Arcee back then, because I like the character, and it would have been the first female Prime that wasn't just a repaint of a masculine mold. It would have set an interesting precedent for future storyline and toy options to call back to in the future. Still, Optimal at least was nicer than most other options.
If they did Hound as the new Prime, they have a GI Joe crossover as a bigger deal.
I am surprise that Grimlock was not in the vote. He was and still is very popular and with him being a leader at a time already, he could step aside from Dinobot leader and become the Prime. The new Dinobot leader could be either a new character or if they want the leader with a different letter at the beginning of the name then the rest, Paddles. Volcanicus still will be around, but with Paddles as the chest, instead of Grimlock.
Hound as a prime feels less weird than bee as leader, but still odd AF.
Just imagine like swindle as leader of the 'cons... actually that's more plausible, but still lol
If Hound would have won, I wonder what his prime name would have been? I mean, Hound Prime is obvious, but what about something tangential to his name, something that feels like an evolution of "Hound." Maybe something like Cerberus Prime.
I thought Silvanus/Sylvanus would've been a good name for Hound (Roman god of forests, untouched forests, very nature-heavy for his appreciation of Earth's natural world);
but Canis or Canis Major could also work (a genus of Caninae, so dogs & wolves & such), if a bit obvious in relation to "Hound" (Canis Major constellation>stars>light>holograms?);
even if it wouldn't make as much sense to give Hound a Prime/Evolution toy in Age Of The Primes, the idea of Hound getting a similar upgrade would still be interesting to see
Hound could get upgraded into something similar to Cybetton Defense Red Alert. Keeps the shoulder missile and everything
Magnus should’ve been Order and Saber should’ve been Honor
Power Of The Primes happened during the end of IDW 1.0
IDW 2.0 didn't start until Siege the next year
Feel like if one of the victory leaders won, both of them would be released and featured in the show. Probably not at the same time (well maybe) but it seems logical to me.
Probably because I'm an Arcee fan but I really wish we got Arcana Prime
I think the reason Optimus primal is in chaos is: They wanted an autobot to be in that category,but couldn't think of any autobot characters who fit the idea of "chaos" so they just put him in as filler.
Also,pitting decepticons in a contest to see who the next prime would have been? Kinda killed any chance of them winning. They should have made 2 different competitions for both autobots & decepticons.
i honestly wish they still gave us some of these figures, or atleast gave us concept art for the Primes, and these guys would still be in 1.0 IDW not 2.0, atleast still during the or before the Unicron Arc, because we know IDW 2.0 started around Siege time because that when we had the tease of the GUOP figure thanks to the 2.0 artwork ironically, same with Cyberverse not being around the time of POTP
I've always felt they stacked the vote a bit by including Primal. Like once he was on the list, it was pretty much a guarantee he'd win. I personally voted for Magnus, Star Saber, and Thunderwing initially. Thunderwing and Star Saber were both, I felt, pretty good choices for the evolution gimmick, though with the HasLab Sta Saber, I've come around to see it probably would have been unsatisfactory with that era's budget.
Looking at this with the presumption that characters would get an 'Evolution' Leader-Class toy like Optimal Optimus, I think the neatest option would have been Hound. They could have made a new 'normal' G1 Hound that turns into an interpretation of the grizzled veteran-type 'Movieverse' Hound. After that I would have loved to see their interpretation of a bigger Arcee, or Star Saber and Ultra Magnus (because theyre both a shoe-in for the gimmick). I fully believe they had concept for all of these toys on the table and the Shockwave/Magnus ones got recycled for Siege.
Honestly it seemed like they had the evolution gimmick for their leader.
Megatron likely would turn into Galvatron
Arcee likely would evolve into her Galvatron twin self from her ancient past
Ultra Magnus would evolve from a Minus
Shockwave could turn into Onxy Prime. As a major plot point in the comics was he was actually traveled back in time to replace Onxy Prime
I can see Hound as a future or past Prime honestly 😅
Hound would have been the coolest toy, maybe something like the Bay-verse Hound, without the beard. Thunderwing was the most appropriate choice.
Primal being chaos is a reference to "sometimes crazy works"
Beast Machines Optimus Primal had a chaotic leadership.
I liked the potential of hound as a prime because of the military themes, his character in sunbow, my love of GI Joe, and something more unique than other options. (Also I am willing to talk TF with anyone, even if they think different than me about “real life” or TF!)
0:49 Thanks, TJ, you are awesome. I also think that this was cool, because we got to chose a Prime.
Much like Starscream in the G2 comics, the Matrix could drive Shockwave towards heroism. The Light of Primus flowing through him, restoring him to his complete emotional self as intended by the creator.
I voted for Star Saber, but part of me is glad that Primal won instead. Evolution Optimal Optimus essentially became Beast War's foot in the door for chug, and may have lead to Kingdom, which eventually broke the G1 stranglehold and lead to Legacy.
Plus it also meant Star Saber got to be that sick Haslab later so who really won anyway?
Honestly, I can see Hound as a Prime. His character just seems like somebody who would feel like he's just a soldier but would be a very effective leader
I want a new commander optimal optimus
I imagine all had a toys in the works like Star saber could of had his reworked into the has lab
Shockwave and ultra magnus into the siege leaders
idw 2.0 didn't start till the siege toyline. around this point during the prime trilogy, revolution was ending and first strike is about to happen setting up the 2018 unicorn comic series.
Given PotP's leader class gimmick Star Saber shouldn't have even been on the vote. He should have been in by default!
It's his whole shtick!
I needed that intro today!!! I appreciate so much how safe I feel here as a trans person. It really means a lot ❤. I recently got back into transformers, and my favorite I own is MP Road Rage! When I saw a corvette girly with a cassette player accessory, I never looked back!
Ye I was the person who got shouted out:3
To be fair, Ultra Magnus and Shockwave got what was essentially those fugures anyway the next year.
Star Saber would have been easy to do as thats his entire gimmick, and it would have likely put pressure for Deathsauraus to show up in seige. Would have been intersting.
In my opinion Ultra Magnus, Thunderwing, and Star Saber were the only ones that made sense for the evolution gimmick.
Star Saber more than any other character would have been perfect for the gimmick
I'm sad we didn't get a new character for the 40th anniversary. We barely got anything. I'm guessing the 'Prime' vote was mostly for the giant throne toy?
I kinda wish they had done everyone and they were all evolution leader class figures regardless of how it made sense, even Arcee and Hound
A version of Smoke Screen from TF Prime as a prime would be cool since it almost happened.
Thunderwing's 2nd toy in the 2010s wasn't bad at all.
[insert radical political beliefs here]
"American flag rolls in on a skateboard" went through my head seeing this, lol
Man I really wonder what would've happened if Megatron won. D-16 to megatron gimmick perhaps?
I kinda wanna write a fanfic about a version of this situation where these characters are genuinely running for office as Prime because Optimus is dead and Primus called Rodimus elsewhere or something and they debate and stuff
Hound Prime. An Autobot who got forced into the role.
@ Everyman forced into leadership would be a really good premise for a character becoming Prime honestly. Plus Hound is pretty inoffensive, friendly, and uncontroversial, I could see him unexpectedly pulling the vote. Hound is an interesting pick
@Cdr2002 He has to manage responsibilities in leading the Autobots and deal with a threat who's a dark mirror of him. The HHH to his Mankind or the Ric Flair to his Dusty Rhodes.
@@rayvenkman2087 that could be interesting
@Cdr2002 I'd make it more interesting and have Hound go up against two threats.
One from within in the form of an Autobot who wanted the Matrix of Leadership, the one who almost became a Prime before Hound beat him out and believed the position is rightfully his'. He does not think Hound can cut the mustard.
The external threat if Megatron isn't in the picture (Maybe Blitzwing?) is a Decepticon who wants to prove themselves to everyone around them and worthy of leadership.
TJ i think your sense of time may be a little off
Neither Cyberverse or Idw 2.0 were concurrent with this vote, it was still Rid15 season 2 and idw 1.0 (i think this was just when mtmte relaunched as lost light, could be wrong)
I dont blame ya tho, this franchise gets hard to remember straight
I lowkey feel like all of the others could of been more interesting than Optimus Primal
Arcee as a Prime.
Arcmus Prime?
Iirc, they said that if Arcee had won, her name would’ve been Arcana Prime.
I once saw a fan art calling her Artimes Prime, don't know if it works better or not.
I first voted for shockwave, then when it came to the primaries, I voted for starsaber
This was not IDW 2.0, it was still just late 1.0. 2.0 began in 2019
Thunderwing not having a good big toy since G1 is a crime from Hasbro.
I was hoping for Star Saber to win or the Unknown just to see who it would be . The winner was last on my want list to win
Sorry if this is political, but that shoutout is dope as hell
Let your friend know they're valid and awesome
It would be cool to had gotten a retail star saber
this was such a disaster. it was obvious primal was going to win, which prevented them from doing any interesting stories in the contemporary media because adding primal to any of the fiction at the time required too much explanation of why he exists and therefore prevented the stories from doing anything. i feel like onyx shockwave wouldn't have happened if primal hadn't won the vote. and the worst part is that the optimus primal they released wasn't even a good toy!
it really should have just been megatron, it would have been the most narratively fulfilling option in the comics and the prime wars cartoons where megatron was like, the best part, and also absolutely have been easier to market to people and perhaps had a chance of making the line not a flop.
hound probably would have been g1 hound that combines with a thing to become a big chonky boy like movie hound
Still wishing Star Saber Prime got made…
I may have to try my hand at writing a story where Star Saber is bestowed the Matrix of Leadership
I still think Star Saber should've won the vote
I still wish we would get an Arcana Magnus figure.
I mean we can see obvious rigging of all the fan votes tbh. This one, the Kingdom Tigatron winning toy of the year before it was commonly available, Sky-Bite getting inducted into the hall of fame when there’s already one about to be coming out soon just like we saw here with Optimal winning his vote and getting a toy right away. I honestly do not believe even the Windblade creation process was legitimate, none of these feel like something that was created after the vote. This isn’t a comment on the toys themselves just that our votes in these situations aren’t really counted lol
The one thing that annoys me about this was the potentiality of us getting a Star Saber and/or Deathsaurus toy both before the Haslab ones and at regular retail price. Now we may never get one...
I could see Hasbro making retail leader-class versions of them later down the line, they do need to keep trademarks up and both of their Haslabs got funded.
@oliverhendrix8176 I sure hope so one day
@@MildlyAggressiveOni I hope so too because I want a Leader-class Deathsaurus.
Why do you keep bringing up IDW 2.0?
That was like 2-3 years after Power of the Primes
I can't remember if bumblebee was considered
As a trans woman to omega os a very safe community
Roz should be the next Prime
Deathsaurus Prime tho
I would of liked them to of include atlest one fembot as a prime I know others will probably think different but I think it would of been more excepted by the small female market that do also collect I'm all for females who collect but atlest one of the 13 Prime's should have been female to open the market more? that's just me though.
Solus Prime is female...
Actually, there is Solus Prime, who thankfully gets some of the most direct mentions out of the 13 aside from Megatronus. She even got to be an actual minor character in the Power of the Primes web series, and her hammer (“The Forge of Solus Prime”) is one of the more memorable relics in Transformers: Prime.
That being said, as far as I know, there still hasn’t been any major female Matrix-bearer Primes (not even inserted as one of the random barely defined ones before Sentinel -> Optimus) and that’s CRIMINAL.
I was here to talk about toys.Not to have the host wag their finger at me. I'm out.
Scourge
I agree with you! Politics suck!
TJ you should have dropped this shit last Sunday night
Why? What’s wrong with dropping it today?
It's election themed. Even if he was trying to avoid bad vibes; which would have been an entirely valid decision too, it still probably would have benefited him in the algorithm
TBH I've grown to dislike Beast Wars because of these votes. The G1 characters always get Perot-ed out. And this has been historically infuriating because the Beast Wars characters have for the most part gotten good toys already that can just be reissued with a deco update or something. Not that people will actually BUY them, looking at YOU BW10 figures and Universe Rattrap 😒
This poll was especially bad because it was our chance to get a number of characters that had either never gotten a modern toy at all, like Deathsaurus, or in the case of Shockwave and Star Saber, had a figure that was mid at best because of the Unicron trilogy's all-consuming obsession with random gimmicks.
Saw so many people voting for Primal not because of the character or the concept, but because "I just want G1 to lose".