Jan 23, 2013

Transforming Egg Animals: Are they MOTU worthy?

I'm talking about the Mattel version of the Tamagora... AKA The Meteorbs... Mattel wanted a piece of the Transforming Toy pie... that Hasbro had a Huge chunk... Tonka had the Go-Bots, but as almost every 80s child knows, the Go-Bots sucked compared to the Transformers... sure the Go-Bots came first and were cheaper, but they didn't Have Optimus Prime!
So, Tonka released the ROCK LORDS!!


And Mattel released THESE GUYS!!

Not saying that Mattel ripped off the Rock Lords, but it's funny that Another Company has one type of toy and Mattel join in the action...
So it wouldn't be far-fetched to think that Swift Wind and the Princess of Power Horses are trying to ride the coattails of:


Since I have no insider knowledge I can't say for certain which came first: The Rock Lord or the Rock People... But the one thing I am certain of is that Mattel DID use The Tamagora as their Meteorbs. Most likely trying to get into the Transforming Toy pie during the Twilight of MOTU... And THAT brings us to our main topic: the Meteorbs.
Great balls of fire!
So, Are these guys WORTHY of being in MOTU Classics?
First, let me say that I'm NOT a Meteorb fan... I know that there's one or three Meteorb fans there who might be worried of what I'm about to write...

What makes a figure be "MOTU Worthy"? Aside the obvious being made as a part of any of the MOTU Lines (MOTU, POP,NA, 200X MOTU or MOTUC)
Is there a certain aesthetic that the characters need to fit in order to be MOTU? Can MOTU Accept Everything? Is there Room for Alien Meteor/egg things that transform into creatures? Is there space for a  Bald Detective from Planet Earth in MOTU?
It's not fair to compare Detective Lubic to the Meteorbs... One, Lubic Can't get made unless Mattel gets movie rights and two, the Meteorbs WERE MOTU toys in the 80s...

Here's where the thing gets very twisted and awkward.
I don't believe that EVERYTHING CAN BE MOTU... I've complained about Spector and how he doesn't work in MOTU (designwise and canonwise)... Bodywise he's MORE MOTU than the Meteorbs... Hell! Sir-Laser-Lot is MORE MOTU than the Meteorbs... FROM a Body use POV. Just because you can use the Basic MOTUC Body doesn't make that character Automatically MOTU...
Batman: He is now MOTU
See? This Dark Knight Returns Batman uses a buck similar to the MOTUC buck. (Allegedly he even shares some parts with MOTUC Figures) Does that make him MOTU? No. Using that same logic we can say that Shadow Beasts, Ram Man and Granamyr are NOT MOTU.

The Character's origin is NOT MOTU... Yes, this applies to the Meteorbs, but We could say the same thing about Transformers... IIRC the G1 Jetfire was a Macross Veritech Fighter... So, you get the idea. From these angle you could say that the Tamagoras are NOT MOTU...

Like the VF-1S Super Valkyrie, the Tamagoras were made to fit in MOTU... they were the animals from the Rock People's planet. Then again, Mattel found a way to shoehorn-in Spector and Sir-Laser-Lot...

They LOOK STUPID... Yes, they do, with their part Egg part animal. Only Earl Norem has made them look somewhat cool... and that's cause he added a trail of fire behind them... but back to the topic... The Meteorbs look stupid as hell... You know who looks stupid as Hell? Ram Man.

Yup! Stupid Looking Ram Man... It's not like the 4 Horsemen could
I don't know, make him NOT LOOK STUPID?
It's not like the Four Horsemen are able to take the dorkiest looking toy and make it a hunk of plastic awesomeness... They LOVE doing monsters and freaks! What's more challenging that a Gorilla that looks like she was impregnated by a planet and make her look awesome! (I know Gore-Illa is a dude! I changed his sex for the Joke's sake!) If the Horsemen COULD DO THAT to Ram Man, then you must wonder if they can use their sculpting magic on the Meteorbs...

Yes, Classics doesn't have action features... most of the time and Looks like the Meteorbs would not get theirs. Perhaps plug in pieces like they're doing with Snake Face, or did with King Hsss? You get the basic "Meteor" (Losing the B and making them slightly less Egg shaped) with certain pieces that you plug into it in Meteor form and you swap for the "Creature Mode" since most of them just look like an egg with head and limbs poking out at different sides.

The biggest reason for Mattel NOT To make these guys is the Tooling Budget.  Their second reason is the "Health of the line vs the unpopularity of the Meteorbs".
I kinda agree with Reason #2 but not completely. I am not a fan and if they were made I'm very likely to skip them. Just because I don't like them doesn't mean they shouldn't be made...
I mean they could make a basic "Meteorb core" buck and add a non-removable "Armor" to make each Meteorb Different... Add in the different plug-in parts and you COULD HAVE a MOTUC METEORB!

The path of what makes X a part of MOTU is a confusing path. There ARE a couple of strikes against the Meteorbs, which makes it even harder for them. Could they have worked as another toyline? YES, but they ARE MOTU... They were in the original MOTU line and they NEED Representation in MOTUC, the same way She-Ra and Friends, or the Denebrian Mutants need Representatives in MOTUC.
Like it or not, the Meteorbs ARE a part of MOTU... That is reason enough for them to get made. I want Josh and Glimmer in MOTUC, so I know an impossible struggle when I see one. THAT is the main reason Why I Can't say no to the Meteorbs... and the Energy Zoids too! (Cause they were Beyblades before Beyblades even existed.) I don't like them either, but they ARE MOTU...

They have a reasonable way to be part of the storyline, they CAN be made while sharing a lot of parts (Mattel needs to invest a bit on the basic buck system for them), they WERE Actual MOTU toys (not concept art or anything)... they could try with two-packs as non-sub items... If they're well-received, then Mattel can make more, if not.. well at least there's 2 Meteorbs in MOTUC!


UPDATE!!
Here's some Crude Drawings explaining my idea to work the Meteorbs
Rough drawing of the Meteorb core buck.
As you can see the base piece or core would be the same for ALL The Meteorbs. The "Armor" would wrap around the core and leave gaps for the pieces to plug in depending on the type of METEORB made. (Quadruped or Bipedal)

Black is core
Red is the plug-in limbs
Blue is the Armor (covers the holes not used on that meteorb)

Black is core
Red is the plug-in limbs
Blue is the Armor (covers the holes not used on that meteorb)

As you can see, we have the shared core while Armor and plug-in limbs make each figure different enough!





2 comments:

  1. omg just no. don't give them ideas on how to make these awful things. ugh. it's bad enough we have not one but two rock people, i don't want a bunch of these useless egg things.

    (also ram man is stupid looking, even the motuc version. they should have made the mini-comic ram man using the standard buck)

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  2. I wouldn't worry too much... Mattel hates me and will never listen to me...

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