Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 3:59 pm**

Anyone who knows me well knows that I will be quick to call FunPub out on errors, but just as quick to jump to their defence. In every previous Botcon Boxset I found far more positives than I did negatives.

Not so this year's. In my oppinion Fun Pub messed up in their Boxset design. Here's why I believe this to be the case

First, only 3/5 characters are actually from Machine Wars. This is the Box Set that is teased publicly to every fan out there. They have been saying "Machine Wars" for the last 4 months which means the box set SHOULD BE Machine Wars, not Machine Wars and others... this was supposed to bring people to the event and cause excitement, not cause confusion. Don't get me wrong, I like Strika and Obsidian, but they should've been attendee-only figures in their own pack of two.

Second, the aesthetics are all over the place. There have one movie mold, one TF: Prime mold and 3 Universe/Generations/Classics Molds. Sure the molds may "work" for the individual character, but they don't work for those who like a unified look... If I get the box (big If right now), then I'm going to leave some in the box because they don't work with the aesthetics I collect.

I think I'm just going to get the few figures I like off of eBay this year. Sorry but this is a low set for me. The lowest in a very long time.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:13 pm**

This would have worked with a new G1 styled Megatron head. But without it, it doesn't look like a clone of Megatron at all. It looks like a recolored Dreadwing. Megaplex with a new head would have sold the set alone. I thought reveals 3 through 5 were supposed to be the ones that wowed us all?

:HEADHURTS:

And for good measure ...

:michaelbay:

And they wonder why there's such an explosion of 3rd party products over the past 1/2 decade. These poor decisions/choices to save a buck are really frustrating. Believe in your products, do them right so that no explanations are needed, toss in a modified weapon for Hoist so he's got a tow hook, a new head for Megatron Megaplex, and charge us 20 to 50 bucks more for the set.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:18 pm**

Think I say it every year.

Ever since FunPub took over, the BotCon exclusives have been boring.

3H may have crashed and burned in the end but at least they came up with ORIGINAL characters that EXPANDED on current mythos instead of unoriginal revamped existing characters slotted into a storyline that is just uninteresting. (And incredibly unoriginal in the case of Shattered Glass)

But that's just my opinion ...

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:21 pm**

Oh for 5.

I didn't think Machine Wars would interest me much, and I was right.

If I can get a Hoist CHEAP for a custom, I'm interested, but I won't spend big dollars on fodder figures.

Oh well, I get to save some cash for other stuff this year.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:24 pm**

I think it's a great choice of a mold, but they really should've put the extra time/effort/cost into a remolded head. But yeah, surprising indeed. And makes it even more unfortunate that Skyquake is so hard to get.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:28 pm**

Well... F**k me, I did not see that coming. Granted I think Dreadwing would be more suited as say, Machine Wars Starscream, rather than Megaplex and probably also Megatron... But still, pretty cool.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:31 pm**

I'm okay with the mold-choice and the color scheme, but I really really wish they'd have given him a different head D=

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:53 pm**

Well, Megaplex was an obvious choice... but did not expect that mold. Huh.

It kinda works I suppose, but like everyone else is saying, he should have a Megatron-esque head, if he's supposed to be a "clone" of Megatron.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:57 pm**

Skyquake was made into a Botcon exclusive out of some other guy, now they're making exclusives out of him. his circle of fame is complete.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 5:01 pm**

Burn wrote:Think I say it every year.

Ever since FunPub took over, the BotCon exclusives have been boring.

3H may have crashed and burned in the end but at least they came up with ORIGINAL characters that EXPANDED on current mythos instead of unoriginal revamped existing characters slotted into a storyline that is just uninteresting. (And incredibly unoriginal in the case of Shattered Glass)

But that's just my opinion ...

I disagree to some extent.

I like modern takes on old characters, so seeing a Red Tracks, or a new Pyro, Dreadwind in '07; even Thunderclash was neat. I would've been all for it had they kept the box set to Machine Wars characters in a similar style and I would've been appeased.

But they didn't. They took multiple characters from multiple eras and multiple toys from multiple lines and tossed them all in a box.

Recently finishing a discussion on what an "original character" is, I'd rather not do it again, but yes I would love FunPub to come up with new characters. This set would have been perfect to create a new unique set of Machine Wars-esque characters, but it isn't looking like they want to do that. They ripped characters from another series and retconned them in with very little originality.

It's lazy plain and simple.

I'm sure the comic will be good as it always is (after all, they have a year to write it) but whatever exposition they come up with is probably not enough to satisfy me that this is anything close to a good set.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 5:12 pm**

Mkall wrote:Recently finishing a discussion on what an "original character" is,

Apelinq, Shokaract, CatSCAN, Antagony, Fractyl, Packrat, Onyx Primal ... this is what I mean by "original characters", and they were all BotCon exclusives pre-FunPub.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 5:39 pm**

Mkall wrote:First, only 3/5 characters are actually from Machine Wars.

[...]

They have been saying "Machine Wars" for the last 4 months which means the box set SHOULD BE Machine Wars, not Machine Wars and others...

Nobody said that all 5 characters were going to originate from the original Machine Wars line up. They even told us in the very beginning that they would be adding new characters. That was no "tease." They gave us a fair warning. Plus, it's Machine Wars themed, not a Machine Wars redux.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 5:45 pm**

This is the only BC13 toy that does anything for me, and thats only cause I got Skyquake yesterday (for a steal I might add ($12)). Love this mold.

Still to bad he doesn't have a Megatron head.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:02 pm**

Seibertron wrote:This would have worked with a new G1 styled Megatron head. But without it, it doesn't look like a clone of Megatron at all. It looks like a recolored Dreadwing. Megaplex with a new head would have sold the set alone. I thought reveals 3 through 5 were supposed to be the ones that wowed us all?

And for good measure ...

And they wonder why there's such an explosion of 3rd party products over the past 1/2 decade. These poor decisions/choices to save a buck are really frustrating. Believe in your products, do them right so that no explanations are needed, toss in a modified weapon for Hoist so he's got a tow hook, a new head for Megatron Megaplex, and charge us 20 to 50 bucks more for the set.

So if Dr. Wu makes a Megatron head that installs easy without damaging the figure, are you in ?

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:03 pm**

PrymeStriker wrote:
Mkall wrote:First, only 3/5 characters are actually from Machine Wars.

[...]

They have been saying "Machine Wars" for the last 4 months which means the box set SHOULD BE Machine Wars, not Machine Wars and others...

Nobody said that all 5 characters were going to originate from the original Machine Wars line up. They even told us in the very beginning that they would be adding new characters. That was no "tease." They gave us a fair warning. Plus, it's Machine Wars themed, not a Machine Wars redux.

Very much so, and I expected non-MW characters in the set. What I did not expect was them taking two fairly prominent characters from the Beast Machines line and saying "These two are now in this set."

The original Machine Wars concept was taking G1 Characters and giving them facelifts. Strika and Obsidian were not treated with the same respect. For a Machine Wars: series 2 (as Pete called it) it is not a faithful continuation of what he said they were going for IMO.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:11 pm**

popular mold? i never even seen it in my area. One of the few prime figures i wanted and never saw it. But with that aside how come theres no remolding? If hes suppose to be a clone of megatron shouldnt he look like megatron? The original toy did.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:13 pm**

With a slight modification to the head connector, the GDO Megatron head can fit onto the Dreadwing mold.

Note: Not my pic.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:15 pm**

Megatron Wolf wrote:But with that aside how come theres no remolding? If hes suppose to be a clone of megatron shouldnt he look like megatron? The original toy did.

Because four new heads is the limit, and they already used them on Hoist, Skywarp, Strika, and Obsidian.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:27 pm**

Clarification on the decision to use this mold from Jesse Wittenrich's Twitter:

Initially there was some indecision about what mold to use for Megaplex. Character-wise there had to be a toy for him. But there weren't many of the available jets that worked. So there was some hemming and hawing as they were mulled over. And then Fun Pub got their hands on the Dreadwing mold! Pretty much everyone that had a chance to play around with it loved it. Seriously, if you never got TF Prime Dreadwing, go out and get one now. It's a fantastic toy. After the mold was decided, then came the discussion about the head. It's not your typical Megatron bucket head, but we noticed a few things about it that worked for Megaplex. Like the other Machine Wars fans out there, we really enjoyed the...quirks of the original packaging. And looking at Megaplex's original art. We saw something. Since Megaplex reused UK Falcon's box art, he had these funky eyebrows sweeping off the sides of his head. Megaplex art: http://tfu.info/1997/Decepticon/Megaplex/megaplex.htm … Falcon art: http://tfu.info/1992/Decepticon/Falcon/falcon.htm … Then we looked at Dreadwing. And he too had funky eyebrows sweeping off the sides of his head. But Dreadwing still had this very distinct styling to his helmet with all of its curvatures and ornamentation. Then we looked at Skywarp's styling (and a couple of the souvenir figures) and we saw that same style and ornamentation on Dreadwing's head. And putting them all together, they looked like a team. They looked very cohesive - the sculpts just fit together perfectly. So we stepped back and looked at everything. A fantastic mold, a head that - while not the first thing we thought of - still worked. And the decision was made. Megaplex had his mold!And yes, the mold came available VERY late in the planning stages. But there was still a little bit of time to discuss the head.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:38 pm**

Rated X wrote:
Seibertron wrote:This would have worked with a new G1 styled Megatron head. But without it, it doesn't look like a clone of Megatron at all. It looks like a recolored Dreadwing. Megaplex with a new head would have sold the set alone. I thought reveals 3 through 5 were supposed to be the ones that wowed us all?

And for good measure ...

And they wonder why there's such an explosion of 3rd party products over the past 1/2 decade. These poor decisions/choices to save a buck are really frustrating. Believe in your products, do them right so that no explanations are needed, toss in a modified weapon for Hoist so he's got a tow hook, a new head for Megatron Megaplex, and charge us 20 to 50 bucks more for the set.

So if Dr. Wu makes a Megatron head that installs easy without damaging the figure, are you in ?

Of course not ... just saying they should do it right the first time.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:42 pm**

Sabrblade wrote:Clarification on the decision to use this mold from Jesse Wittenrich's Twitter:

Initially there was some indecision about what mold to use for Megaplex. Character-wise there had to be a toy for him. But there weren't many of the available jets that worked. So there was some hemming and hawing as they were mulled over. And then Fun Pub got their hands on the Dreadwing mold! Pretty much everyone that had a chance to play around with it loved it. Seriously, if you never got TF Prime Dreadwing, go out and get one now. It's a fantastic toy. After the mold was decided, then came the discussion about the head. It's not your typical Megatron bucket head, but we noticed a few things about it that worked for Megaplex. Like the other Machine Wars fans out there, we really enjoyed the...quirks of the original packaging. And looking at Megaplex's original art. We saw something. Since Megaplex reused UK Falcon's box art, he had these funky eyebrows sweeping off the sides of his head. Megaplex art: http://tfu.info/1997/Decepticon/Megaplex/megaplex.htm … Falcon art: http://tfu.info/1992/Decepticon/Falcon/falcon.htm … Then we looked at Dreadwing. And he too had funky eyebrows sweeping off the sides of his head. But Dreadwing still had this very distinct styling to his helmet with all of its curvatures and ornamentation. Then we looked at Skywarp's styling (and a couple of the souvenir figures) and we saw that same style and ornamentation on Dreadwing's head. And putting them all together, they looked like a team. They looked very cohesive - the sculpts just fit together perfectly. So we stepped back and looked at everything. A fantastic mold, a head that - while not the first thing we thought of - still worked. And the decision was made. Megaplex had his mold!And yes, the mold came available VERY late in the planning stages. But there was still a little bit of time to discuss the head.

This sounds like rationalizing a poor decision. Where's the discussion about how much more money it would have cost to make a head instead and how much more that would have increased the cost of the set or concerns about making the set too expensive that it wouldn't sell, etc? You know, the actual business side of these decisions instead that allow cost saving measures such as this to go through?

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:43 pm**

Sabrblade wrote:With a slight modification to the head connector, the GDO Megatron head can fit onto the Dreadwing mold.

Note: Not my pic.

Please no. That is a horrible Megatron head.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:45 pm**

Jesse Wittenrich wrote:Seriously, if you never got TF Prime Dreadwing, go out and get one now. It's a fantastic toy.

Go out and get one? How? You can't find the damn thing.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:50 pm**

PrymeStriker wrote:
Megatron Wolf wrote:But with that aside how come theres no remolding? If hes suppose to be a clone of megatron shouldnt he look like megatron? The original toy did.

Because four new heads is the limit, and they already used them on Hoist, Skywarp, Strika, and Obsidian.

While I understand that, it's unfortunate that those choices were made. Megaplex should have had a new head over everyone else. He's the clone of Megatron. If he doesn't have a Megatron head, then he's not very clone like and definitely not very Megatron-like with a jet for a body. What made the original Machine Wars Megaplex believable was that he had a Megatron head so the jet mode worked. When you remove the Megatron head, the jet body goes out the window for Megaplex being a Megatron clone.

What's unfortunate about this choice is that I can easily see Megaplex/Dreadwing/Skyquake now being painted into "Megatron" to help pull off the whole Megaplex is a clone of Megatron bit. That's the part that really makes me cringe.

Order of importance for new heads: Megaplex, Strika and Obsidian. Hoist was a waist because they should've just used the Movie 2007 TRU Hoist in MW colors. If he wasn't available, they shouldn't have done him. Skywarp would've been fine as a MW colors Classics Seeker (which I'm sure a lot of you are extremely tired of getting the most used mold EVER) or figured out something else for him.

These sets are becoming increasingly frustrating year after year ever since the 2009 set (and arguably the 2008 and 2007 sets depending on where you stand with the Classic seekers and Shattered Glass).

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:51 pm**

Mkall wrote:Anyone who knows me well knows that I will be quick to call FunPub out on errors, but just as quick to jump to their defence. In every previous Botcon Boxset I found far more positives than I did negatives.

Not so this year's. In my oppinion Fun Pub messed up in their Boxset design. Here's why I believe this to be the case

First, only 3/5 characters are actually from Machine Wars. This is the Box Set that is teased publicly to every fan out there. They have been saying "Machine Wars" for the last 4 months which means the box set SHOULD BE Machine Wars, not Machine Wars and others... this was supposed to bring people to the event and cause excitement, not cause confusion. Don't get me wrong, I like Strika and Obsidian, but they should've been attendee-only figures in their own pack of two.

Second, the aesthetics are all over the place. There have one movie mold, one TF: Prime mold and 3 Universe/Generations/Classics Molds. Sure the molds may "work" for the individual character, but they don't work for those who like a unified look... If I get the box (big If right now), then I'm going to leave some in the box because they don't work with the aesthetics I collect.

I think I'm just going to get the few figures I like off of eBay this year. Sorry but this is a low set for me. The lowest in a very long time.

I merged your topic with the other 5 topics and turned it into a massive Machine Wars: Termination discussion topic.

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