Optimus Primeunleashes theMatrix of Leadership, but at the cost of losing his memory, thereby allowing Megatron to manipulate him into joining the Decepticons' ranks. The Thirteenth Prime. Within the animation, this causes problems with their Mini-Con partners, who are depicted as human-sized in robot mode by themselves, but when shown directly interacting with their larger partners, are scaled up right along with their partner resulting in some temporarily gigantic Mini-Cons! With fighter jet alternate modes, the Seekers should be among the largest everyday Transformers and would tower over their Autobot adversaries; instead, the animation depicts characters such as Thundercracker and Wheeljack as about the same height. Their sizes is mesured as good as possible and I even manage to find a (proper) height in meters for each of them. At the time of Bumblebee, scaling concerns in relation between robot and vehicle modes were seemingly absent, at least in regards to airborne vehicles. Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner? Additionally, Fortress Maximus's main adversary Scorponok is considerably smaller as a toy. The robot mode scaling is generally very consistent to the chosen source, but there are still a few oddities, particularly when dealing with older figures being reissued or redecoed after MP-10. Megatronreturns having discoveredDark Energon, which grants him the power to resurrect the dead, but is injured, withStarscreamtaking command in his absence. . Optimus Prime was the first Prime to raise his hand in greeting, uniting all the Primes and becoming their official mediator. Other multiple-toy scale differences include intentionally simplified forms, such as the Fast Action Battlers, which simply make all the characters the same size, with no attempt at matching scales. The rather Coruscant-like shots of Cybertron in Beast Machines may be less distinctive or "Cybertronian", but are far more believable (some people reason that the Transformers' advanced technology, along with their large size and their not needing to breathe, means that buildings actually CAN be that big). While they're not shown next to humans in their jet and helicopter modes, their on-screen transformations do not indicate any notable size increase. Most such instances occur in the Beast Wars era. The Japanese Galaxy Force release of Metroplex, dubbed "Megalo Convoy", included an exclusive redeco of the Legends of Cybertron Optimus Prime toy to indicate the "correct" scale. The Autobots also contend with the human terrorist organization,MECH, headed by former military operative Leland Bishop, akaSilas, who targets the Cybertronians for their technology, capturingBreakdown,Bumblebee, and Starscream for parts, and building adoppelgngercontrolled by Silas. Ultimately, Megatron manipulates the Autobots into destroying the project when he discoversPredakingis intelligent, and therefore a potential power rival. Blaster becomes a human-scale radio; Megatron shrinks into a handgun scaled for either Transformer or human hands, depending on the situation. There is also a great deal of praise given to the serious, more mature storytelling ofPrimethat had not been attempted in Transformers media sinceBeast Machines. It was often shown in full and would be cut for time in some episodes. If Cybertron is the size of Earth's moon (and that's generous), and Unicron is about the size of Cybertron, his hands would be about the size of Europe and Galvatron (to the right) would be about the size of Denmark. The vehicle modes were (supposedly) Cybertronian vehicles which also helped ignore vehicle-mode scale issues. Transformers fiction commonly shrinks or inflates characters, relative to their toy sizes. Do you find it accurate? Numerous characters are explicitly shown to shrink or expand at various times. So in Hasbro terms, a Deluxe-sized fighter jet and a Deluxe-sized motorcycle are both considered the same "scale". Combiner characters are often depicted as far larger than the sum of their parts. Guess Who the Mecannibals Are Having for Dinner? Saber is also correctly the height of the Autobot cars, resulting in him being smaller than the original toy (despite the Star Saber mode being bigger). Qualities particularly celebrated include the cinematography, visuals and animation, voice acting (including the return ofPeter CullenandFrank Welkerto the roles of Optimus Prime and Megatron, something the actors themselves rejoiced over), and characterization. However, the term is not used, as one might assume, to refer to the size ratio between different characters and their surroundings, but to refer to size classes. As a side note, Unicron has been established in some continuities as having already devoured approximately 22.56% of known universes which is truly ridiculous if one takes actual planetary/galactic scale into consideration. There is no explanation for any of this. Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation -Jason Park, background design for "Orion Pax, Part 3". Instead, they're about the same size. The Animated franchise has its share of scale problems when comparing its toyline to the cartoon (not helped by multiple releases of some characters in different sizessee above), with several characters seeming roughly one size class too small, such as the Dinobots being a mix of one Voyager size and two Deluxes, Sentinel Prime looking rather diminutive as a Deluxe, and, most egregiously, Lugnut as a very squat Voyager who's shorter than even some Deluxes (as with Voyager-class Bulkhead, more of his mass went into his width, plus his weapon takes away some from his robot mode). Super mode Powermaster Optimus Prime was originally about Fortress Maximus-sized, until he too shrunk to the size of his inner robotwhich was never seen again. The Mini-Cons of the Unicron Trilogy are another race of small robots who stand approximately the same height as humans and, like the Micromasters before them, are clearly modeled to carry passengers. Whether that meant creatures of human scale or even smaller stature is never clarified, but the Micromasters' passenger compartments are presumably too small to accommodate human passengers. Although the Beast Warriors are consistent day-to-day in their relative size to each other (a consistency made more easy to achieve thanks to CGI used to animate), their scale in relation to their real-world animal equivalents is more complex. Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation -Arato Kato, character animation for "Hard Knocks". Similarly, Silverbolt (a Concorde jet) is dramatically undersized compared to his fighter-jet Aerialbot teammates. Scout Class, at US$8. Considering our ancestors really were smaller than modern humans, this is not extremely wrong, but it deserves noting. The Marvel Generation 1 comic sidestepped this issue by depicting Trypticon, Fortress Maximus, and Scorponok as merely "large-standard" characters. Discussion in 'Transformers Earthspark and Cartoon Discussion' started by Bountyan, Oct 23, 2011. These scale problems are necessary to avoid misproportioned gestalt forms. The Beast Machines' toyline was far worse in size discrepancies with the cartoon. In Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, Metroplex is portrayed not so much as the city, but a part of the city; with one hand being large enough to carry Optimus or crush Megatron. Though the Recon Team all originate from Gigantion, and seeing how partnered Mini-Cons seem to change size to fit their larger companions, a little size shift to accommodate a passenger doesn't seem too far-fetched compared to other scale issues. These out-of-proportion vehicle parts were necessary to give his robot mode show-accurate proportions. Here's is an unoffical Height chart of the famous Robot in Disguise From left to right, Here are his alt. These visual cheats are of course done for the sake of narrative convenience and good storytelling, so we can't really begrudge the writers and artists for this.[2]. Privacy Policy. 1.2k. File:Transformers Prime- Beast Hunters Intro, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program -Peter CullenasOptimus Prime, Outstanding Directing In An Animated Program -David Hartman, Supervising Director;Shaunt Nigoghossian;Todd Waterman;Vinton Heuck;Susan Blu, Voice Director, Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation -Vince Toyama, Background Designer, Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation -Christophe Vacher, Colour Designer, Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction And Composition -Brian Tyler, Outstanding Writing In Animation -Duane Capizzi, Writer/Producer;Steven Melching;Nicole Dubuc;Joseph Kuhr;Marsha Griffin, Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing (Animation) - Robbi Smith, Dialogue Editor, Robert Poole II, Sound Effects Editor, Roy Braverman, Foley Editor, Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing (Animation) - Ray Leonard, Re-Recording Mixer, Mike Bieriger, Re-Recording Mixer, Outstanding Special Class Animated Program -Roberto Orci,Stephen Davis,Shuzo Shiota,Alex Kurtzman,Jeff Kline,Duane Capizzi,Mandy Safavi,Rafael Ruthchild,Shinji Santoh,Meiko Sato,Therese Trujillo, Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program -David Hartman,Vinton Heuck,Shaunt Nigoghossian,Todd Waterman,Jamie Simone, Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation -Christophe Vacher. This could all be totally wrong and I still have no idea how tall characters like Brainstorm and Rodimus are EDIT: I already modified it 6 different times based on some suggestions. In terms of toys, the Studio Series line is designed to more-or-less avert these scale issues, as each figure is sized in relation to other toys, even in the same size class; Deluxe #18 Bumblebee is shorter than Deluxe Jazz and #01 Bumblebee, who are in turn shorter than Deluxe Ratchet and Lockdown. So, probably close to or at 40ft. A minority also lamented that the expensive animation budgeted the number of character models they could render, and thus led to a relatively small cast and an isolated setting. save. Beast Wars (Part 1) Law of the Jungle This makes them (and Cheetor in particular, since he's around more) the measuring sticks for the other characters. Whereas Fortress Maximus includes a Headmaster figure of Spike, who turns into the head of Cerebros (whose toy is roughly the same size as the regular 1987 Headmasters toys), who in turn becomes the head of Fortress Maximus, Scorponok merely comes with Zarak (whose figure is the same size as Fortress Maximus's Spike), who turns into a tiny head for Scorponok, covered up by a large helmet. Voyager Class, at US$20. Transformers: Primehas received widespread acclaim, even from outside of the Transformers fandom. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. You may wish to create or login to an account in order to have full editing access to this wiki. In the case of the Headmaster figures, the Headmasters set a rather consistent scale to their toys, but one that raises a lot of questions. For more information, please see our Conversely, Bumblebee is sometimes shown only a few feet taller than an average human, while in reality he would be 35 m (10'15') tall (the Marvel comic actually states he's 15' tall Plight of the Bumblebee!). Conversely, the Kmart exclusive Dark of the Moon "Autobot Daredevil Squad" multi-pack couples a redeco of the original Revenge of the Fallen version of Sam with a redeco of Revenge of the Fallen Deluxe Class Cannon Bumblebee, resulting in a large human with a small Chevrolet Camaro he couldn't possibly fit into even if the Bumblebee toy had its crude interior redesigned to house a driver. Seekers, most notably Blitzwing (who later scans an Earth-based fighter jet) are mostly the same size as bots like Optimus, who maintains his truck mode. Thus, Bumblebee comes up to Wheeljack's waist, which is show-accurate, but results in Bumblebee turning into a very small Volkswagen Beetle; were vehicle mode scale used, Bumblebee would actually be slightly larger. This is sometimes reflected in the choice of vehicle or the design of their robot mode. Further, Cheetor and Tigatron's toys use the same (Deluxe) mold, but Tigatron is a head taller in the show (both because tigers are larger than cheetahs, and because Cheetor is "a kid"). However, the presence ofTransformerson Earth is not generally known among the civilian population. If one were a cynic decidedly snarky, one might argue that the reason Hasbro has no sense of scale with regards to Transformers is because they don't even know what the term actually means. Toys at the lowest price points usually include "mini" or "micro" in their name. Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001 franchise), Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Unicron: Jupiter-sized (so approximately 140,000km in diameter). Aaaand then a Deluxe-sized Groove and a new Blast Off figure with a space shuttle alternate mode are added to the line in order to revert their teams to their "classic" configurations. It may just be that Titans vary in size like many other Transformers. Characters from any continuity are welcome however must be restyled to match the TFPrime universe. Nevertheless, shots featuring Thrust and Megatron standing on his neck are still farcically out of scale. The depiction of Unicron in Prime is another improvement - he is explicitly said to be the core of the planet Earth, which would be about 3470km. The overwhelming majority of franchises, fictions, toylines, or other incarnations of Transformers simply don't present scale in a logical or believable fashion (there are, of course, a few rare exceptions, detailed below). The newer versions of Astrotrain and Octane (aka "Tankor"), while changing the specifics of their alternate modes, really don't improve on the general size disparity all that much. Beast Machines, for example, featured three different Cheetor toys. After a few months (on and off) going through resource material OLD scale charts from Japan (both G1 and Masterforce/Victory), EVERY EPISODE from G1's More than Meets the Eye to Zone to the Manga of Battlestars this is as exhaustive as it gets! Some fans interpret the many otherwise-unexplained scale issues above to all be the result of size changing, but this is debatable. Hasbro could have made Jazz smaller, but since the main limit for a size class is the weight of a toy, not its size (as long as it fits into the standardized packaging, that is), they decided that scale problems are more acceptable than selling a tiny Deluxe Class toy when there's still room in the budget for more plastic. He was still considerably smaller than a city, however, but this was justified by him merely serving as the 'transformation core' for Autobot City: Earth, not the actual city itself. Predacons Rising concluded the show on October 4, 2013 and a follow up TV series called Transformers: Robots in Disguise aired on Cartoon Network in the United . Other toys with comparable alternate modes that are slightly out of scale with each other are Generation 1 Sunstreaker and Sideswipe (mentioned above), who have the same basic alternate mode (with a few differences), and Universe Legends Class Autobot Jazz and Rodimus. Autobot scale chart for The Transformers: The Movie, Chart of planets seen in The Movie relative to Earth, Season 3 scale for Rodimus, Predaking, Trypticon and Metroplex, Unicron compared to Jupiter, Metroplex next to the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge from Hobby Japan, Seasons 1 & 2 scales published in The Ark, Comparison of Fortress Maximus, Metroplex, Raiden, Chromedome, Wheelie and Daniel from the magazine, Scale chart for the Pretenders and Seacons, Scale chart for the Pretenders and their human forms, Maximal beast mode scale chart. Fortress Maximus suffered a similar problem, shrinking in size even though he was explicitly rebuilt to be twice as tall as the average Transformer. Sometimes, they are even out of scale in their own team; Bruticus's torso is an anti-aircraft truck, while one of his limbs is a Space Shuttle and another is a two-person offroad vehicle. E.g., Blaster's toy, in robot mode, is taller than most other Transformers. Anyone looking within the toyline for notions of a "correct" scale between the characters would be stymied by the multiple size classes and the lack of real-world scale references. The opposite problem is seen with Masterpiece Megatron, whose robot mode is in scale with Masterpiece Optimus Prime. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Conversely, if a new toy based on such a character is designed to be more in scale with other toys, such as 2008 Universe Ultra Class Powerglide or 2010 Transformers Voyager Class Sea Spray, some fans complain because they expect those new toys to reflect the original toys' sizes and, by extension, the depiction in fiction. Transformers Prime Scale Chart + Screenshots I made a comparison for all the characters in Prime so far and their scale/heights. The new scale for the driver figures continued with Dark of the Moon, which introduced Scout-sized robot figures that had one-man vehicle modes in a slightly larger scale, resulting in undersized drivers riding oversized motorcycles. For example, Optimus Prime can hold both Sam and Mikaela in one hand. The Alternators toyline, where every toy is a 1:24-scale representation of a real car, and thus in perfect scale with each other, was the first to buck the trend. However, it's hard to begrudge Hasbro not offering us a Primus toy the size of an asteroid. What do you think of the size of certain characters in the show? The creators of the live-action movie took great pains to avoid out-of-scale issues (well, greater than previous franchises). So either Fortress Maximus is supposed to tower over Scorponok, or Zarak grows in size during his transformation into Scorponok's head. He preferred instead to communicate with normal Transformers by possessing Sideways. Some of these were published in the character model guides The Ark and The Ark II.