Reflector: What could have been. (picture heavy)

Animation Reflector; known as Reflector(s)

We all know and love Reflector, right?  One of the original Transformers, straight from the original Diaclone figure range and revised for the Sunbow original cartoon.  Trouble is, when they released the figure, they didn't quite look like what we saw on screen.

What would be the collective noun for all three together?  A Snap of Reflectors?

A bit different to the animation model.

This is how we received Reflector in toy form.  Only available in the UK and US in exchange for "Robot Points" and some money, around $10 / £7.  Despite his use in the cartoon in 1984, we didn't receive the offer to buy this exclusive, non-retail trio until 1986, right about the time when he was fazed out of the fiction altogether.  Because of his exclusive mail-away nature, he was only available in his limited edition white packaging, labeled imaginatively; TRANSFORMERS CAMERA.

Diaclone Joustra release with lovely packaging.

In this form, he is known by his independent component pieces, Spectro, Spyglass and Viewfinder, who - only when combined - become the composite entity known as Reflector.  As you can see, the toy is a repackaged version of Camera Robo from the Microman line, because Microman is the common thing beside us.  Gotta love bad translation.

The characters use in fiction has varied since the re-popularising of the G1 franchise in the early 2000's, Dreamwave Comics (responsible for making Transformers the only comic outside of DC, Marvel and Image to top the sales charts on its month of release, seeing a massive four print runs and countless variant covers, before losing everything and forgetting to pay the creators) were the first to use not only Reflector since his mid-eighties hiatus, but were also the first to use him in fiction coloured like his toy release and component identities.  IDW Comics returned him to his more iconic and recognisable semi-identical / shared deco guise.

Perfect Effect not-Reflector.

Although not the most popular of characters, or the most useful of story-telling foils, Reflector remains a cult favourite of the Transformers line, this is partially due to the scarce nature of his release and the fact that in 27 years of Transformer toys, we have had only one toy representing the character.  This is a rare feat indeed with the various interpretations of the TF mythology, especially over the last decade where the Movie franchise, Animated series and Unicron trilogy has given us various re-interpretations of classic characters, with even second-string characters such as Beachcomber and Lockdown seeing multiple interpretations.  A version of Reflector as a re-deco of the RTS Perceptor mold was mentioned by Hasbro staff in a Q and A at Botcon, I was there, they definitely said it,but this has unfortunately never surfaced.  In fact, it wasn't until 2010 that we finally saw a different interpretation of the character, and it had to come from those divisive third parties we've been talking about.

From the combined form of Edge, Shield and Bullet we receive Scouting Force X.  Tiny figures with a matching deco which ties-in to the original cartoon, but a combined form and accessories which pay direct tribute to the original toy.  This piece really is the best of both worlds, and has made hundreds, if not thousands of people happy to have a more modern day interpretation of Reflector, complete with loads of add-ons and accessories for increased playability.  This figure was also available as a (VERY unofficial) exclusive Botcon toy for 2011 in a black redeco.

We never got these either.  Shame.

Not everyone is happy with the mold of course, a lot of people find it far too small and would be happier with deluxe sized Reflectors, and then of course there is the price.  Some odd $90 on release,some felt this was too much for three not even Scout-sized Transformers.  Some detractors such as myself eventually caved, and fell in love with the toys upon receipt of them,others remain reticent, hoping that at some point Hasbro will cave and release their version of the character, others wait for the anticipated TF Club Reflector, a second third party company offering.

What a lot of people don't realise, is that before the Perfect Effect came on the scene and dominated the marketplace, and before the announcement of the TFClub figure, another third party company had also commissioned a development of these potential fan favourites.

For the first time, I can reveal the full gallery of a potential Reflector design, by Shapeways seller and Customs designer Calloway Customs.  Although some of these have been shown before on TFW2005 and a few other Transformer fan websites, this is to my knowledge the first showing of the full gallery.

Based on a modern-day digital camera.

Like the cartoon design, the middle figure is a slightly different design.

The idea was to include multiple stickers for the "screen", but look how solid this is.  Now compare this to the back of the G1 toy.

Spectro...or Spyglass.

I love the backpack look.

Guess this makes him Spyglass as he has the flash.

Viewfinder, the boss of the three.

Back kibble, about the same as RTS Perceptor or Classics Ironhide

I can't remember if the lense would have been detachable to cut down on kibble.

Viewfinder keeps the crazy trapezoids as a tribute to the original.

Generic action pose.

How many left?  I'm running out of things to say.

Phew!

Obviously, these try to pay homage to both the cartoon and toy predecessors, and I think it makes a very nice blend into one package.  The back-packs would have been used to store weapons and add-ons, though I dare say not as many as the PE offering.  Perhaps more importantly would have been that all important Deluxe sized, meaning that people could have used them as modern-day Classics at the same height as other Classics, or even as small Masterpieces depending on peoples preferences.  All that is opinion and choice though, what exactly are we looking at?  Well, this isn't just a drawing, or a 3-D shell of what the toy might look like.  This is the full 3-D design, absolutely every piece of this toy has been designed as an individual piece which, when molded, can be assembled to make the toy.  Every single panel has the fine detail and design which you would see on the final product.  With this design, the developers could have looked at every single piece individually, expanded them in and out to see how they work and how they move.  After receiving feedback the designer would then go back and tweak things here and there before applying final details and moving on to smaller detail work such as faces and weapons.  This is how it is done, and I know of a third-party designer who has had to re-start a project three times in the bid to nail the perfect figure.


The reason why these were never developed beyond their initial first attempt, is because the third party company who commissioned these decided to stop replying to e-mails, and indeed never paid the designer for his work, and as such they never received the full 3-D design model breaking the item down into it's component parts.  Although the toys were based as a hybrid on both version, the third party in question must have been working closer to the Dreamwave model...business model of not paying people for work that is.


So there you have it, the Reflector who never was.  Obviously it wouldn't have been everyone cup of tea because you cannot make everyone in the TF fandom happy at the same time, but I would have been very interested to see this idea develop and materialise beyond this, especially as I would have pushed for a re-deco / re-tool in original colours with different heads.  I am interested in hearing your thoughts on the piece.

The designer holds no grudges with the bastards who didn't pay him, but I do.  He works full time in design, but is still an active member of the TF community and still develops add-on parts for Transformers through his Shapeways site, advertised in a previous blog.  I can't put it here again, as you'd think I was just whoring my buddy out.  I'm not a pimp.



Hmm, I have forgotten to mention one last Reflector, to date the only official Hasbro release to use the animation accurate purple colour scheme, Decoy Reflector.  I might have to save that for my next blog entry.