>>9985418I dont think it was Alpha Trion or Elita at all. I think the Titan's Return's Alpha Trion was *part* of the design team's original plan for POTP before it was vetoed by their bosses (near the end of CW/start of TR) for being too "obscure".
1) From "Leaked from Cybertron" we know Dinobots (and likely Terrorcons) and Rodimus were always part of the plan (first picture in the top row). And we know the front portion from that vehicle according to Hasbro from Hascon 2017? were suppose to be Prima/Primus (along with Megatronus that were retools of TR Overlord/Skyshadow). In the Hascon presentation, Alpha Trion/Vector Prime/Solus Prime/Primus/Megatronus/Liege Maximo were the major Prime names on the wheel/slide (the third picture on the top row).
2) If you look at the concept art for TR Alpha Trion, this is his intended Titanmaster (first picture in the bottom row). Which is completely different from what we got (second pic in the bottom row). Rather what we got was a homage to Vector Prime's Minicon. The most obvious explanation is it's a homage to the first Alpha Trion being a retool of Cybertron Vector Prime. Another suggestion that was bandied out during Titan's Returns before we even knew about POTP was that Vector Prime was intended to be retooled from TR Alpha Trion.
3) If you follow that previous line of thought and look at the 3 sets of the Primes on the wheel (Prima/Primus-Megatronus, Vector Prime-Alpha Trion and Solus Prime-Liege Maximo), two of the three are possible remolds of each other and either had toys planned or already had toys released (like Alpha Trion). So I think there's a strong possibility that Solus-Liege Maximo were intended as remolds of each other. And look at the concept art of this Solus (the Scythe robot 3rd pic bottom row). It's not close to any of the traditional depictions of her that Hasbro has used.
(cont)