Artist Ken Christiansen, via his Facebook account, have treated us with images of the concept art of the Transformers War For Cybertron Kingdom: Autobot Ark.
We have a look at an early idea for the latest Titan in robot mode as well as one of the first designs of Teletraan-1 robot mode. Another great addition to Ken Christiansen’s gallery of War For Cybertron concept art.
See the images after the jump and then sound off on the 2005 Boards!
Novaxmaximal
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WishfulThinking
I've already explained how #3 can be done at Titan scale. Or, at the least, a reasonably priced Haslab ala Jabba's Palace. Basically, you meet somewhere in the middle with option 1, you focus on several rooms that fold out rather than a massive room sized playset. It's not a difficult concept to envision and would be something akin to the GIJoe PIT.
Alternatively, we may eventually get a true diorama of the interior, now that we got the wildly not in scale with anything ship out of the way (of which, if I'm going to use an out of scale Ark, I'll use the Cyberverse one that's more in scale with the current titan class city modes).
As for The Last Autobot, he's not any more The Last Autobot than the last homage with Universe Vector Prime, which I already own. One has the face while the other has the alt mode.
Mainframe is nice but not worth the price of admission. I'll wait to get him if they release a corrected color version.
As for Teletran, I have waited this long, I can wait for the revisit.
BATTLEMASTER
I just remembered that Mainframe was the helmsman of the Lost Light in the last IDW continuity, so him turning into not only Teletraan I and the ship's bridge seems fitting
I'm still looking to buy the Ark to add to my Titan-Class collection since they're the only figures these days that I think are really worth their price.
SamuraiX
Mainframe almost looks like the Bumblebee Movie Studio Series Ratchet/Ironhide lol
Chaos Muffin
Could play Halo co-op on his knee computers.
cloudballoon
I see your point and its merit. Actually this Kingdom Ark is kind of an in-scale playset, just in a "bad" way. As in: this Ark can reasonably considered play-compatible with TR-era Headmasters and still borderline call it in-scale, (to be really in scale would be the included OP the size of a grain of rice & those that came w/ Unicorn and Reformatting Galvatron, but there's ZERO play value) but those TR headmasters got so little play value/articulation worth its (light)weight to be fun. And without any playset-minded gimmicks like those awesome, awesome TMNT/MOTU/Batcave playsets built into it, it's really more like a diorama than a proper "playset".
So how would a bona fide Ark playset look like? And play with what? I see 4 scenarios:
First, design something like the '11 movie-based Cyberverse Ark (Cyberverse Ark Picture Review – Transformers News – TFW2005) did. G1 Ark on the outside and turn into Teleraan-1 when the panels pop open. That's a fairly simple thing to design, and could be doable in Commander/Titan class price point (depending on the size & gimmicks Hasbro's willing to make it). Likely not in-scale with anything as the Ark but in Teletraan-1 mode can work well with Core Class figures.
Second would be a Playskool-style, chibi-fied Ark (like this Millennium Falcon: Playskool Star Wars Millennium Falcon Playset | Gadgetsin) to be play-compatible with Rescue Bots or those blind-bag Turbo Changers. This Playskool one is not what most of us would get to match our collection right? But for the kiddies, hell yeah!
#3: Hasbro go all-out bet the house and design a close-to-toon proportion Ark similar to the old Legacy Classic treatment for the Millennium Falcon (Star Wars Legacy Collection Millennium Falcon – Raving Toy Maniac – The Latest News and Pictures from the World of Toys) that works in-scale with Core Class figures. I dub this the "Moonshot Ark": A HasLab project needed to surpass Unicorn in scope to get anywhere good and play-compatible to Core Class figures to be fun. This thing will be ginormous and even more expensive than Unicorn. Oh, and you need to set aside a small room to have the play space for it.
Finally, another route to go is do a "Crashed Ark at St-Hilary" playset. Similar to the SDCC '14 Dinobots set (SDCC 2014 G1 Dinobots and Pop-Up Ark Gallery – Transformers News – TFW2005) but in plastic. This would look great and still be in scale with Core Class and doable at Titan Class price but likely there's near-zero gimmicks that increase the design & production cost for Hasbro. But this should be called an Autobot Base playset rather than an Ark playset though.
That's why I think this relatively affordable Titan sized G1 Kingdom:Ark is likely a once-in-a-decade thing. Mainly because I doubt the main "Generations" TF design team just don't have that "out of the box" creative/design freedom to get approval from the Hasbro Suits to do option #1, 3 or 4 WELL anymore. #2 Playskool is – if I have to bet – the option most in the realm of possibility, especially since Hasbro did give us this Kingdom Ark in the main Generations line.
I know Kingdom Ark is not what many of us imagined/wished it should be, but let's not discount its worth. Think of what would be a harder idea to come up with? Ark Playset or Kingdom Ark? We did get 4 instantly recognizable representation of the Ark, Mainframe, the Last Autobot and Teletraan-1 (Oh and one super-mini inedible gummy bear red OP, LOL!) in one tidy package. Honestly, how many of us can imagine Hasbro would give us modernized, physical representations of Mainframe & The Last Autobot? Yes, not many asked for these 2 "obscure" characters, but they're not unwelcome right? That must've took some rare "Eureka!" moments and creative & engineering efforts from the design team, so credit where credit is due. I'm not discrediting the Playset idea at all, but I sincerely consider getting Mainframe & The Last Autobot out of the Ark a pleasant surprise at its reveal announcement, so I supported with my wallet.
If I'm the head of Hasbro's TF products team and I buy into the idea of doing a Generations playset, I'd say "why revisit the Ark rather than make a Titan Class Nemesis into a playset instead?"
DubV
I don’t agree with your ideas but I’ll vigorously defend your right to espouse them.
AutobotJazz1
Both I guess
DubV
Which character? The Last Arkobot? Or Teleframe?
Roadbuster25
I really liked the idea of the Ark being the last Autobot. It was a cool nod. The open gaps in alt mode were not cool.
Applejacktimus
Still not a fan of the Ark being an Autobot unless it's Omega Supreme, but I do love the reimagined Mainframe design we got and it looks even better in this concept art.
cloudballoon
Haha, looking at my shelfs I can say I display 99.5% of my TFs in bot mode. The .5% are the cassettebots, 2 gnaws and Mainframe in Teletraan-1 mode!
ProfessionalIcee
Mainframe’s general appearance reminds me of BB Ironhide/Ratchet, what with the Screen chest as a window chest and especially the shoulders.
AutobotJazz1
What a waste of a character tbh
ScorponokIsHere
Hasbro, I want you to pay attention to everyone who was mad that commander Rodimus Prime came with a big box that did nothing and then for an ark playset only produce the box
WishfulThinking
Yeah, but those are arguably only a slight downgrade to the original trailers. I know they can do better.
Rodimus Prime
Might want to fix the thread title.
bearytrek
would like to see if his ark spaceship mode had side fillers…
Tanafor
I don't know. I take a look at the trailers we've gotten with recent Primes (G1 Op, Laser Op, Rodimus), and they are soooo boring… I don't think people in charge of Transformers these days know how to make a fun playset.
GAUGE
not gonna lie. Ken's concepts look so much more superior to the final result. Especially, in this case. Just… Wow!
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