The Articulated Argument of Articulation
 

Reading through the Legacy Megazord thread, reading through the comments about articulation, made me decide to do this thread. Tigerzord had articulation, that's true. Some of which was due to it's transformation than anything else. The Thunder Megazord however couldn't have that level of articulation and still be as show accurate as a lot of the Legacy items are. Because the Thunderzords are basically just armor for the Red Dragon Thunderzord, it's not a Voltron-Limb style combined robot. They could've, possibly, had some articulation with the original MMPR Megazord. But that to would've compromised stability.
Look at Combiner Wars Devastator, as an example. Watch Peaugh's review or any number of reviews done on the toy since it's release this month. The individual figures are extremely compromised for the sake of the combined robot. And as the point was made on Twitter, posing combined CW figures at all is a challenge. Especially Defensor.
Returning to Tigerzord however. That figure could have articulation because it's not a combined robot. It has an animal and warrior mode. And even when it combined all the limbs that are articulated fold up in some way. (The arms don't, I know). The legs however do.

Would I like an articulated Megazord? Absolutely. But they already gave the line to us, Soul of Chogokin. And then Retrofire. But a combined, articulated, Megazord? I just don't see that happening. And if it does I promise you the toy will suffer because of it.

SRC is still doing Megazords? I thought they stopped after Dekaranger Robo.

Anyway, having articulated, combining zords is kind of a pipe dream. While it is possible, I doubt it would ever be satisfactory. Articulation has to work together. What good is a knee without universal thighs? Why include those without ankle tilts? What's the point of a bicep curl if your shoulders only move 90 degrees forward?

A megazord having articulation beyond the basic movements would feel pointless unless it's fully articulated so it can actually pose. It also risks stability, size, and price just to accomplish it.

Alas, since the rise of 3rd parties in the TF industry, some have seen transforming/combining figures with high articulation to be what should be the norm, so they'll keep on asking anyway.

Soul of Chogokin hasn't done any Sentai mecha. You're thinking of Super Robot Chogokin.

And the last release for that was Daizyujin in 2012. It's fair to say that Sentai died a long time ago in that line.

Daizyujin came out after Dekaranger Robo? Damn, I gotta get my timeline straight :lol

A highly articulated Sentai Mech that can transform would be super nice, and given that many transformations are super basic, they could pull it off, just look at SOC GaoGaiGar. The problem here is that to have it be fully articulated, I'd imagine Sentai Mechs costing at least twice as much.

SRC, right. Thank you. And my point was it happened.

Shinken Oh, Gokai Oh, Dekaranger Robo, Magiking, Daizyujin ;)

Bandai should make the Megazord Mini-Plas bigger and replace the stickers with paint and molded parts. With that, you have a articulated, transforming Megazord.

For some reason, I always thought he was last...Huh. I don't know why o-o

And a triple Legacy price point.

SOC had battle fever robo

Taken from a post I made on TFW2005.

Granted that's for CW Abominus and the like, but I'm fine with sized being compromised in the name of quality articulation and detailing.

So they did :lol that happened so long ago I completely forgot all about it.

Personally I just the bricks that are megazord and sentaiechs to be unacceptable at the prices they go for. While yes in the case of devastator a lot of compromises were made with the individual constructicons but that is not true for all CW figures. Most of them have good vehicle and robot modes, and as limbs they do their job well.

Which is why I think that the design teams should take a page out of the CW book and realise the zords individually so that way they can be better engineered as they won't have to share the same budget. Would it work for every design? No but I think it would be worth a shot.

...I just want hip articulation.

Surely that isn't too much to ask?

That wouldn't work.
A combiner limb on its own is still a fully functioning Transformer in its own right. In most cases a Sentai mechs component is a vehicle or animal with little function in its on right which barely appears on the show individually.

And the big draw for the mecha is that they are released in one big set. Having them released individually would hurt Bandai more than it would do them any good.

That title :lolol .

Then include incentive such as a pack in figure or what ever the morpher gimmick is

Stuff like that might work for collectors but its not something that will convince parents to go out and buy five expensive toys when in the past they just had to buy one big toy for their kids that was cheaper.

Plus that way Bandai has to restructure their whole way of releasing the toys. Toylines would be smaller but more expensive. Most likely resulting in less toys to be bought. Plus they would have to release the five individual Mecha over the course of the whole first quarter which is a risk instead of releasing the big important mecha upfront and have smaller and cheaper add-on mecha fill the rest of the quarter.

Hip or Head couldn't hurt.

How much do you want these sets to be? You realize that for every bit of articulation they add to a combined mech it's another piece of plastic they have to mold for it. That's more price added to manufacturing, which adds to the price of the figure itself. Now you're adding a figure or a battery.

I admit it is a bit far fetched but it would be possible I feel. Still adding even a head rotation would go a long way. And adding more ratchet points to the shoulders

Megazords have always had little to no articulation in them, so it's never really bothered me. Would it be nice to have some more articulation? Sure, but I'm gonna be super upset if it's not there (I mean heck most of the time only reason it's there is for transformation purposes.)

Also, yes the Combiner Wars combiners have decent articulation, but when it comes to actually posing them it can be kind of a challenge. You definitely have to fiddle with them to get them in a pose where they don't fall over (especially with Menasor :mad: ). It also doesn't help that some have tighter joints than others.

I don't think we'll see megazords split up into individual releases just to help front the costs of the added articulation. I'm pretty positive both children and parents alike would much prefer to drop $70 for one megazord up and done than $20-30 for 5 individual pieces (And, unlike combining transformers, are just expensive toy cars/animals until you own the other 4 pieces).

Remember this guy?

http://www.factasia.com/sentai/gao_ranger/gao_king.jpg

He was, IMO, perfectly articulated. Head, elbows, shoulders and wrists. While he understandably couldn't have a waist, that's not a complete loss. And even his smaller size I prefer.

Hell, being a brick from the waist down is okay if not a plus in my book. A brick from the wast down can always stand perfectly after all.
http://www.transformers-universe.com...charge_Map.jpg
I know TJOmega made a big deal about the legs, but honestly I don't find it that big an issue, if an issue at all.

Now I'm curious why Hong Kong(?) splits up the DX releases into individual releases.

I disagree. The only thing that may suffer is our budget.

What a lot of older fans want are SOC-style combining, fully articulated, diecast Megazords/Super Sentai mecha. This would obviously be reflected in price but this is the dream that collectors such as myself have.

The Legacy line IMO, makes MegaZord toys the way we wanted them BACK THEN, not necessarily the way we want them NOW.

The folks who want SOC-style Megazords are the older fans who grew up with MMPR, have seen toy companies up their ante and want something on par.

If Bandai Japan ever makes a SOC Super Sentai mecha, it wouldn't be on the compromised level of a Hasbro mainline toy like Generations Devastator. Would a Bandai of America released be downgraded in comparison? Maybe.

Are chances low for a SOC super Sentai mecha? Maybe. Who would they pick? There's over 35 years worth of super Sentai mecha to choose from. They weren't that popular in the SRC line and while different, Bandai unfortunately may have used that to gauge popularity/demand for SOC Super Sentai mecha.