#g1 doubledealer

[pocoslip]

How I imagine making a Deal with Doubledealer is like

(also i still HATE what they did to his face in the netflix transformers cartoon)

[blueikeproductions]

I’ve been going down a weird rabbit hole in TF WFC development, reading interviews and some leaked info from the art book.

Similar to Cyberverse, the show had no real budget to speak of. Apparently Hasbro was especially not in the mood to splurge for both, especially going by recent quarterly reports for that time showing a sharp decrease in sales…

The story being as stapled together as it was is partially owed to Hasbro just blithely giving vague suggestions and ideas on what to do and expecting the writers to make it work. Apparently Beast Wars wasn’t planned from the start, something fans picked up on via toys, and similar to TFP’s Beast Hunters was shoved in much later in development, screwing up the story flow that was being worked on.

At the time, Hasbro insisted on trying to make WFC fit in the canon of the original G1 and Beast Wars cartoon, but clearly someone realized doing so was fruitless, and they worked in a multiverse angle instead because it’s trendy as of typing. (In hindsight it does explain Legacy…). Indeed part of this initial lofty goal explains Earthrise’s original plan. The idea was Earthrise was to take place on modern day Earth, hence the vehicle modes, but because of budget the actual cartoon couldn’t do this (although early plans say the cartoon was supposed to end on modern day Earth), so it pivioted over time into the space adventure TO Earth and the toys similarly made a pivot to match.

A lot of scrapped and repurposed ideas are fascinating and also frustrating. Bumblebee, Elita and Galvatron originally weren’t intended for the show, Alpha Trion was originally supposed to be in Ultra Magnus’ role, Springer was supposed to do a Hi & Die with reinforcements, Spinister and Shockwave are rebuilt into Rotorbolt and Shockblast, and Omega Supreme was to be brainwashed into a Merc by DoubleDealer’s team.

I’m assuming the last one explains the messy storyline of Earthrise, as Deeseus and Scorponok feel incredibly tacked on, and I wonder if the original idea was for Omega Supreme to be used as the “kaiju” attacking the Autobots on the way to the Allspark instead. I like to think Omega’s Rocket Mode would’ve been the Mercs’ ship if so.

Elita and Megatron were originally supposed to have been a couple, and you can kinda see bits of this in-show, but with how things went with her crumbling relationship with Optimus (fans like to joke she basically divorced Prime by staying behind), I don’t think Elita has the best luck with guys…

I’m not really getting the logic of Spinister and Shockwave being rebuilt either. Neither were particularly standout characters, and in Shockwave’s case, what was he supposed to do in an arctic fallout? Just have the last laugh he lived instead of Elita while he cozies up with some cocoa? The final show seems to imply everyone on Cybertron is dead at that point, so unless Shockwave had the means to revive other Decepticons to join him in ice skating I’m not sure where that was supposed to go. They do say, prior to body reconstruction, Shockwave’s mind lived on in Cybertronic computers, but with Cybertron functionally dead I don’t know how that would’ve made a difference.

Another cut concept that I’m … not sure how this would’ve gone, was the Ark landing on a planet populated by spider Transformers. I’m assuming they would’ve been Every Color Blackarachnias because Tarantulus didn’t come out until Legacy, and depending on how literal this is, it opens the possibility to be also populated by Every Color Scorponoks (both of them). Apparently the Autobots refuel here so I’m guessing it was a friendly colony… Though friendliness denotes an emotion WFC isn’t capable of so more than likely the Autobots probably had to defend themselves from territorial Arachnicons…

While not said that I’m aware, it’s possible this was somewhat adapted into G1 Scorponok, being the last of a population of arachnid themed Transformers from another planet that was wiped out by the Quintessons.

A curious detail is the bones of WFC were partly born from scrapped projects, in particular some of the bones are from an early incarnation of the fabled animated prequel movie set on Cybertron that’s still coming guys, we mean it…! I … kinda wonder if we dodged a bullet to some extent, but we’ll find out 2024 (maybe).

Some Word of God that stuck out…

The reason most of the cast didn’t Transform is because they lack the proper physiology to contort into vehicles…Bumblebee’s UFO mode was denied immediately for reasons I assume was both aforementioned budget and probably because someone thought it looked dorky for their Very Adult War Show TM. The fact most of the cast were basically Action Masters is kinda depressing since the Battlemasters (kinda the MAIN play gimmick) were denied being in the show. I can’t help but feel Elita would be a cat person and be partnered with a Lionizer while Bumblebee has the pterodactyl or the minotaur as part of his Energon scouting days… Still the lack of Transforming is irksome, and it explains the peculiar design of Elita who just looks like she has random car parts bolted on her back…

G1 Scorponok apparently went back to his home planet after the Space Bridge incident, a planet named Pastel apparently. BW Scorponok apparently was second in command of the Predacons and was the basis for the clones that filled out the Predacons for lack of soldiers. Considering he barely appeared, the need of troopers is… dubious in practice. A side tangent, but I like to think Waspinator was in the show and was all cloned for air support, but as always the universe hates Waspinator and and his clones eventually died prior to Kingdom. Apparently the real reason Waspy wasn’t in the show was it was simply too late to include him. Certainly better than my assumption he was just to funny to be in the Serious Adult Show.

Alpha Trion is indeed one of the Primes and was leader of Cybertron prior to his murder. None of this is said in show, and it raises a question if Alpha Trion was just happy to let inequality happen if Megatron saw reason to kill him despite the show suggesting he was wise and kind but not without a fierce side as demonstrated with Sky Lynx.

Dark Energon exists and Galvatron runs on the stuff. I suspect this is part of Hasbro’s idea flinging but it ultimately was unused. Even under other circumstances I have no idea how Dark Energon would work or make sense here. Even TFPrime just kinda shrugged and gave up on it after a point.

Suffice to say, those involved were not pleased with the final product. The producers have a bitter account of things, and I’m guessing Netflix didn’t like it either as they passed on a Legacy sequel. Hasbro WAS onboard with it, so it’s possible a Legacy cartoon may happen at some point, possibly Paramount+ since they kinda need the content… Though I shudder to think what such a show would be. Beast fans weren’t happy with Kingdom, and Prime fans sure as sugar will riot if Knockout, Bulkhead and Arcee are handled poorly (and unless Hasbro throws money at it, I guarantee they will be). Legacy in general feels like Hasbro just throwing wild ideas out with no cohesion or direction like they did for WFC’s show, so I can’t imagine the Legacy show being anything but incoherent rambling…

I mean my own idea was Armada Optimus and Unspecified Comic Book Universe Tarn leading their own patch work teams to protect/conquer the multiverse but I’m sure that wouldn’t fly for someone…

[ndverse]

Cool-looking upcoming toys that I might get, and cool-looking upcoming toys that I won’t.

[wildrun-toys]

Doubledealer with Knok and Skar

[jazzluca]

E sempre a proposito di #doubledealer , come dimenticarsi della pretestuosa ma comunque bella versione uscita per Generations Thrillin 30 ? ^^ #transformers #generations #warforcybertron #wfc #gent30 #earthrise #powermaster #g1 #hasbrocommunity https://www.instagram.com/p/B88-Kf7KC0b/?igshid=1q87xmuyqiy7v

[elfdragon12]

Middle one is Smiling Fsce with Tear (saddest betrayal)

Ah~, that's so weird my phone wouldn't show it.

Saddest betrayal... Hm, part of me wants to say how the Quintessons took advantage of the broken and downtrodden Decepticons in s3 of G1 (they were all evil, yeah, but I felt really bad seeing them post-movie on Chaar), however, I think the betrayal of Hot Rod by Dealer/Doubledealer is more of that. (I am going by content I've actually read/watched.)

I would say Metalhawk betraying Bumblebee by heavily insinuating to NAILs returning to Cybertron that Bee was involved in the Lost Light exploding, but that makes me more angry than sad--especially because, when I looked it up, apparently this insidious and manipulative little move he makes is just never fully delved into outside of the immediate moment. That just ticked me off. Screw you, Metalhawk!

[jimclassicstoycollection]

Transformers War For Cybertron Trilogy

Generation Selects

Soundwave Spy Patrol 3rd Unit

by Hasbro

The Spy Patrol 3rd Unit (which is just an odd name) was an Amazon purchase I ordered back in August 2020 for about $40. I was SUPPOSED to get this back in March, because I had it pre-ordered with Big Bad Toy Store for about $20, but it was never fulfilled. The pre-order kept getting pushed back, and pushed back, and pushed back some more (for unexplained reasons) when I decided to cancel it all together, and buy it off of Amazon...for double the cost...

The outside of the box is pretty much exactly like any of other Generations Selects, however I’m really enjoying the cassette graphics on the inside. Nice.

Removing the four cassette-cons you get..well, four colorful rectangles. Like any good cassette.

Two of these cassettes are two of Soundwave’s established minions...the other two aren’t associated with Soundwave, but for this line they could be. We’ll get into that in a few minutes.

Ratbay (left) and Wingthing (right).

Ratbat you’ve already seen, but Wingthing...well you’ve already seen because he’s literally a repaint of Ratbat, however his origins are rooted in Actionmasters. Yes, Wingthing was Actionmaster Soundwave’s partner drone

Frenzy (the red one) and Rumble (the blue one)

Literally one is just a repaint of the other; I’m just happy to have the both of them reunited.

Skar (left) and Knok Right)

Skar and Knok are the odd men out...These two aren’t associated with Soundwave, however they’re supposed to be the Powermaster partners of the Doubledealer, and old, later G1 era arms dealer...someone we’ll get to to eventually.

Skar & Knok are Decepticon and Autobot, or they allow Doubledealer to be a Decepticon, or an Autobot? I don’t know; I never had the original toy, but that’s who these two are supposed to do. For the Selects line they’re cassettes, and I suppose, if you really want to they could hang out with Soundwave...if that’s your thing...

Anyway, Skar & Knok are the only retools of this set. Skar’s beast head has more of a demon/bat head and Knok has...definitely an Autobot vibe going on.

He’s got a retooled head and chest, and looks rather approachable with brighter colors. So I think it works.

[tyranno-creative]

Two digital edits of the upcoming Earthrise Doubledealer toy, as G1 Stalker and the Cybertron Defense Team version of Unicron Trilogy Red Alert. Stalker was a commission, but Red Alert was done just for fun. :)

Want a Digibash of your own? Remember, you can commission me! You can also support me or buy me a coffee.

[allspark]

All paid up and ready for battle in the Allspark studio today is traitorous backstabber, Doubledealer!  Will he only be loyal to the highest bidder on your shelf or will he set up a time share so everyone can enjoy?  Tune in after the break to find out!

I was solidly in 6th grade by the time Hasbro got around to making Doubledealer.  At that time, toys were super uncool.  I remember seeing a few Transformers and really wanting them, but “toys were for little kids”, and alas, at the age of 12, I was no longer a little kid (lol).

As I grew back into the fandom as a young adult, I started to learn about some of the figures and characters I had missed.  Doubledealer always seemed like a fun, “new” take on the Autobot/Decepticon dynamic, so I really wanted to get one.  Unfortunately, my experience with vintage toys was that they were either cheap and beat up or clean and super expensive.  I was a young teacher, and my salary would not allow for such indulgence, so I never bought the G1 figure.

Cut to 2014, and we got the first Generations Doubledealer out of the Blitzwing mold.  It was beautiful, but the mold’s shoulders really bothered me, and of course, he could not really swap factions, nor did he have any Powermasters (booooooo!).  Due to those factors he ended up getting boxed during one of our moves and remains in storage to this day.  That means no comparison shots, but I doubt you’d really need them.

The new WFC-Earthrise Doubledealer hits all the stops.  He fulfills the “triple-changing, missile carrier, robot/bird” categories.  He has a chest compartment where you can place either of his two Powermaster cassette companions at any given time, and I applaud TakaraTomy and Hasbro for making sure they got as many of the details right as they could.

Robot Bird Mode

The bird mode, which looks a lot like a vulture to me, does not have a ton of articulation, but that is OK.  The wings can flap up and down at the shoulders, flare out at the mid-point of the wing, and the tips can bend downward.  The bird head also has some limited poseability, along with the feet.

The sculpt really brings this mode to life, however.  It possesses a sinister expression.  The blood-red curved beak and teeth on a face frame dark, dead eyes.  The artillery, radar, and machine gun really drive home the “avian of death” look.  I would hate to see this guy flying behind me in the desert.

Both cassettes store well here, as you can place Knok in the compartment and Skar, who is the exact same shade of purple used on Doubledealer, blends well when placed in the space between the wings.

Missile Carrier Mode

This here is a nicely on spot update of the original carrier mode.  The missile itself lays flat or can be posed in “ready to launch” mode.

Skar can be stored in the compartment while Knok mans the launch of the missile, or he can be stored on the back of the ramp if you flip it over.  I can’t think of any complaints for this mode, other than the bird wings coming so close to ground.

Robot Mode

Following the “G1 with knees” style we have all come to know and love, Doubledealer is fairly stable in robot mode. The joints on mine are little looser than I would like, but nowhere near the floppy mess many people have reported.  Bullet dodged.

He has the following articulation:

“ankle tilts”

Knee ratchets

Thigh swivels

Ratcheted hips with swivels

Waist swivel

Shoulders with swivels on two planes for forward and outward movement

Double-jointed elbows, wrist swivels

Severely limited range neck ball-joint (still a recurring design problem…*sigh*)

The rocket from the vehicle mode becomes a smaller shoulder-mounted rocket and a rifle.  His radar pod and machine gun can mount on his shoulders, and the missile pods attach to the sides of his legs.  The ramp and stabilizer legs attach to the back of the robot mode, and to change faction, there are panels connected to his shoulders that flip up and down to reveal his current allegiance.

Since my figure is better off in the QC/part variance department, I have very few issues posing my Doubledealer, and he looks great in several action stances.  That being said, the thigh swivels on my figure and the ankle tilts make a larger range of poses impossible.  If these issues are paired with other reported problems of arms so loose they cannot hold up the rifle, then I would understand the frustration I have seen by some fans online.  There is also an issue with the knees being hard to transform correctly in bird and carrier mode, only adding to the difficulty.

Final Thoughts

Doubledealer gets 7.5 faction betrayals out of 10!  He is a greatly faithful update of the original and holds a significant amount of fun in the play value provided, but the issues with quality control and tolerance variance on many weight bearing parts in robot mode make him a coin toss when it comes to overall satisfaction of purchase.  While I think this is a toy you should hunt down, and it is a toy both young and adult fans will enjoy, you may have to add something to the joints post-purchase to improve articulation and really get the full value of the figure.

Want to interact with more Transformers fans? Be sure to check out our forums or you can join our discord by clicking on this invite link: https://discord.gg/ZnUQxya You can also follow us on Twitter via @AllsparkNews or join our Facebook group!

  Earthrise WFC-E23 Doubledealer Gallery and Review! All paid up and ready for battle in the Allspark studio today is traitorous backstabber, Doubledealer!  Will he only be loyal to the highest bidder on your shelf or will he set up a time share so everyone can enjoy? 

[tmwaspychats]

I think the comic writers for Transformers missed the opportunity to make Liege Maximo into a Double Spy a la TFA Shockwave, Punch/Counterpunch, Doubledealer, etc. His two guises could be the "criminal who speaks the truth that nobody believes" and the "judge who says what people want to hear and is always believed" with inspo from the Aligned and G1 versions of Liege Maximo, respectfully.

the "criminal who speaks the truth that nobody believes" and the "judge who says what people want to hear and is always believed"

that sounds cool

[pocoslip]

Sandstorm would trust any Mercenaries like Doubledealer if he was still a Peaceful Gullible Paradronian

(I'm Happy that Sandstorm and Doubledealer are Not just Repaints with New Heads anymore like their Thrilling 30 Toys)

[blueikeproductions]

Thinking of some character wishes I had for EarthSpark. My main concern is more Terrans, Autobot or Decepticon, and a quirk I had was most are Earthborn TFs in other media.

Some ideas were the Dinobots as a whole being Terrans, because of G1 cartoon and Animated, though that might depend on Grimlock. G1 Grimlock appears in an Instagram teaser alongside G1 Optimus so that feels too … deliberate to not include Grimlock as a Terran or natural born Cybertronian.

The twist I had with Terran Dinobots was a Movie style splitting of the difference by including Scorn and Slash somewhere.

Wreck-Gar ala Animated also came to mind, mostly just to see Junkions again in modern media. I don’t know why they don’t use Wreck-Gar and the Junkions anymore in cartoons. You’d think their TV Talk would have them fit right in modern audiences.

Kind of a long shot but Masterforce characters come to mind, but I feel the catch would be they’d still be their American counterparts. So Fangry and Horri-Bull instead of Wilder and Bullhorn. I feel like there’s a gag that Robbie and Mo give Terran Fangry and Terran Horri-Bull after seeing their behavior when coming online, lol.

Mo: That guy is totally called Horri-Bull. Optimus: Yes, he certainly is Terri-Bull, isn’t he?

This can extend to Beast Wars characters as well, but I can’t think of anyone I’d want to see specifically. Maybe Tigatron, but they’ll likely go with Cheetor because of his role in Cyberverse.

I don’t know how they’d pull it off exactly, but I’d love a return to Double Spies. In this case, it’d probably have to be Doubledealer because of his Beast Mode for both Decepticon and/or possible Mandroid purposes and because he’s consistently antagonistic.

Punch/CounterPunch can also work, but I think it would depend on how the Decepticons work in context since this is a post war straggler kinda thing atm, and I don’t think there’s much to work with for Counterpunch in this scenario, while as DoubleDealer can be spying on the Autobots for the Decepticons/Mandroid and get necessary intel for their plans.

Since Soundwave is here after all and as a stealth bomber, I’m wondering if he still has cassettes or if they’re the equivalent of Torpedo Mini-Cons. In any event, I want someone BESIDES Laserbeak. Bring back Ravage, RatBat, Slugfest, Wingthing, Flipsides, anybody!

On a related note, I wonder if Mini-Cons will be a thing here. I loved the variety we got in RiD, but they’ve been absent since and I dunno for sure how you’d have them work in EarthSpark, even if it was a toy only way. (Powerlinx hasn’t been much of a thing anymore, and I doubt RiD Cyclones will appear ever again because of Bakugan’s return). Still, Mini-Cons, I’m all for in some capacity in EarthSpark.

[therealtrashk]

I sort of love this: Earthrise Doubledealer with his partners Skar and Knok. When Doubledealer works with Skar he's fighting for the Decepticons and when he partners with Knok he's alined with the Autobots. I just love me some chunky G1 inspired to robo-animals.#hasbro #tansformers #earthrise #toyphotography#toycollector #toycommunity #toy #morethanmeetstheeye #autobots #Decepticons – from Instagram

[jazzluca]

Dalla #toyfair2020 i prossimi Mercenari per #earthrise versione #g1 ^^ #transformers #generations #doubledealer #runamuck #snapdragon #mercenaries #headmaster #tifon #powermaster #hasbrocommunity https://www.instagram.com/p/B86y1ECK3nq/?igshid=pyc9h0bqzyw5

[brews-and-bots]

G1 Doubledealer and #Boatswain Chocolate Stout. Dig that third mode! #g1 #transformers #craftbeer #beer #Doubledealer #clouder #masterforce #80s #Vintagetoys

[pocoslip]

I would not Trust the Mercenary Doubledealer with Minerva, even if he is Working with the Autobots

(Doubledealer would probably Trick Minerva if she thought he's DoubleClouder)