Fuyoh!
Double the trouble, triple the fun
One of the great thrills of recent Transformers lines is seeing a new generation of designers rework old ideas with modern engineering. Some of these reinterpretations have been more successful than others. The Titans Return updates of the Headmasters and Targetmasters concepts were fantastic; the Power of the Primes updates of the Powermasters and Pretenders gimmicks significantly less so.
The Duocons concept was one of those ideas that could have gone either way. If G1 Battletrap and Flywheels seem insipid today, rest assured many thought they were underwhelming back then as well. The idea itself is intriguing: two separate vehicles combine to form one robot. The execution, however, left a lot to be desired. While giving a child a G1 Duocon may not have constituted child abuse in the eyes of the law, there was ample reason for the child to feel upset when appraising the combined robot mode.
The Power of the Primes version of Battletrap is notable for its designers' ambition and confidence. The decision to create individual robot modes for the separate vehicles and sell them separately is certainly indicative of that. (There's no guarantee someone would purchase both figures.) Both of these action figures must then combine to form another action figure.
The remarkable thing about all this is how it's being executed in a small tight package. The individual robots, Battleslash and Roadtrap, are Basic-sized figures and the combined Battletrap form is scarcely Deluxe-sized. The sheer genius involved in designing all the components necessary for three different forms -- robot, vehicle and combined robot -- with so little room to work with and so few parts to do so is astonishing. There are itty-bitty tabs that fit in tiny slots everywhere. The resulting Battletrap figure may not be the epitome of stability but it holds together remarkably well given what's being attempted.
(If you were so inclined, you could make a case -- not a very strong one, mind you -- PotP Battletrap's transformation harkens back to the Microman Micro Robot W figures.)
Hasbro and Takara Tomy decided to go a different route with Flywheels (or Skytread as he's been renamed). Siege Skytread is a less adventurous redesign compared to PotP Battletrap but it works well as an action figure and that counts for a lot when compared to the G1 version.
Double the trouble, triple the fun
One of the great thrills of recent Transformers lines is seeing a new generation of designers rework old ideas with modern engineering. Some of these reinterpretations have been more successful than others. The Titans Return updates of the Headmasters and Targetmasters concepts were fantastic; the Power of the Primes updates of the Powermasters and Pretenders gimmicks significantly less so.
The Duocons concept was one of those ideas that could have gone either way. If G1 Battletrap and Flywheels seem insipid today, rest assured many thought they were underwhelming back then as well. The idea itself is intriguing: two separate vehicles combine to form one robot. The execution, however, left a lot to be desired. While giving a child a G1 Duocon may not have constituted child abuse in the eyes of the law, there was ample reason for the child to feel upset when appraising the combined robot mode.
The Power of the Primes version of Battletrap is notable for its designers' ambition and confidence. The decision to create individual robot modes for the separate vehicles and sell them separately is certainly indicative of that. (There's no guarantee someone would purchase both figures.) Both of these action figures must then combine to form another action figure.
The remarkable thing about all this is how it's being executed in a small tight package. The individual robots, Battleslash and Roadtrap, are Basic-sized figures and the combined Battletrap form is scarcely Deluxe-sized. The sheer genius involved in designing all the components necessary for three different forms -- robot, vehicle and combined robot -- with so little room to work with and so few parts to do so is astonishing. There are itty-bitty tabs that fit in tiny slots everywhere. The resulting Battletrap figure may not be the epitome of stability but it holds together remarkably well given what's being attempted.
(If you were so inclined, you could make a case -- not a very strong one, mind you -- PotP Battletrap's transformation harkens back to the Microman Micro Robot W figures.)
Hasbro and Takara Tomy decided to go a different route with Flywheels (or Skytread as he's been renamed). Siege Skytread is a less adventurous redesign compared to PotP Battletrap but it works well as an action figure and that counts for a lot when compared to the G1 version.