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So if there are now two Megaplexes (one a Megatron decoy clone and one a Jhiaxus-made clone), and more than one Skywarp, and if the Autobots in this set are their true selves, yet the toys in this set are supposed to go with the existing 1997 toys...

Then WHAT was the confounded point in doing Hoist!?

If they wanted to just do Electro, they shoulda just done Electro, without doing Hoist!

If Hoist is supposed to be G1/MW Hoist, then what good now is the 1997 Hoist toy when they made it so the 1997 Megaplex and Skywarp toys still fit with the new clones of each?

Sabrblade wrote:So if there are no two Megaplexes (one a Megatron decoy clone and one a Jhiaxus-made clone), and more than one Skywarp, and if the Autobots in this set are their true selves, yet the toys in this set are supposed to go with the existing 1997 toys...

Then WHAT was the confounded point in doing Hoist!?

If they wanted to just do Electro, they shoulda just done Electro, without doing Hoist!

If Hoist is supposed to be G1/MW Hoist, then what good now is the 1997 Hoist toy when they made it so the 1997 Megaplex and Skywarp toys still fit with the new clones of each?

Well, it is the Wings universe we're talking about, Machine Wars had no fiction whatsoever, and how often do fiction and toy bios overlap anyway?

Knowing Jhiaxus, he probably made a second batch of clones after the G2 Gobot ones, which resulted in the MW Decepticons, tested them and decided to mass-produce at least the Skywarp one. Who knows?

My point is, if they made it so these new toys could go with the old ones by having Megaplex and Skywarp not be the same guys as the 1997 toys, yet Hoist IS the same guy, then what was the point in their making Hoist if it renders the 1997 Hoist's existence moot?

Sabrblade wrote:My point is, if they made it so these new toys could go with the old ones by having Megaplex and Skywarp not be the same guys as the 1997 toys, yet Hoist IS the same guy, then what was the point in their making Hoist if it renders the 1997 Hoist's existence moot?

I think you're making the mistake of assuming the folks at FunPub actually thought this whole thing through. And this exemplifies why I don't pay attention to the fiction: it's full of holes, contradictions, inconsistencies, and nonsense. It's just a bunch of crap they come up with to sell more toys. Trying to align the toys with the fiction and make sense of it is madness, a fool's errand.

GuyIncognito wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:My point is, if they made it so these new toys could go with the old ones by having Megaplex and Skywarp not be the same guys as the 1997 toys, yet Hoist IS the same guy, then what was the point in their making Hoist if it renders the 1997 Hoist's existence moot?

I think you're making the mistake of assuming the folks at FunPub actually thought this whole thing through. And this exemplifies why I don't pay attention to the fiction: it's full of holes, contradictions, inconsistencies, and nonsense. It's just a bunch of crap they come up with to sell more toys. Trying to align the toys with the fiction and make sense of it is madness, a fool's errand.

Agreed. The best thing to do when doing research and coming up with a far more valid conclusion is always separate the toy fiction from the series fiction. Especially when you have no clue what changes will be made in the end. Because for all we know, any characters that we may want to see will be seen in later sets. We may have an explanation to why a lazily made character looks like that. So yeah... I guess it is best to ignore all toy bios and focus on what the full story dictates.

In my inquiries about Hoist, I wasn't ever talking about the toy bios, guys. All I was talking about were what the Club has said in their Tweets about the identities of the characters in this set, in which they said this new Hoist is the same guy as G1 Hoist, which makes 1997 Hoist a pointless toy.

Sabrblade wrote:In my inquiries about Hoist, I wasn't ever talking about the toy bios, guys. All I was talking about were what the Club has said in their Tweets about the identities of the characters in this set, in which they said this new Hoist is the same guy as G1 Hoist, which makes 1997 Hoist a pointless toy.

Only in terms of lore. In a vintage MW line, MW Hoist is still quite useful.

I was hoping to see optimus prime.. I didn't know the set would only have this many figures either considering I'm still getting into the knowledge of all of this transformers culture. But still... it would of been awesome if they did machine wars prime in his non faceplate glory.

Okay, I know I've been saying over and over again which molds were and weren't available for the Club to use, and that I haven't provided any source for my claims. I'll admit that I was in error about the Unicron Trilogy molds not being available. Turns out the Club does have access to them, but they're just so old and worn out to the point of being no good to use.

I asked M Sipher (A.K.A. Greg Sepelak), who has worked with the Club with these things, about the matter, and here's what he had to say:

M Sipher wrote:I've been part of the group who's worked on the box sets and countless proposals thereof for several years now. I know from first-hand experience trying to put the sets together in the first place which groups are avoided, so we don't waste time pitching stuff that has a microscopic chance of happening.

On-screen movie stuff and a good chunk of non-screen Movie stuff is off-limits thanks to licensing concerns. UT molds are pretty much written off as unusable due to age and overuse (take a look at the Movie Breakaway made from Cybertron Hot Shot. That toy is ROUGH).

Believe me, nobody at FP is particularly keen on having LESS mold options, but that's the reality.


M "And You Can Never Tell When Any Individual Mold Might Suddenly Be Off The Table For Whatever Reason" Sipher

Sabrblade wrote:Okay, I know I've been saying over and over again which molds were and weren't available for the Club to use, and that I haven't provided any source for my claims. I'll admit that I was in error about the Unicron Trilogy molds not being available. Turns out the Club does have access to them, but they're just so old and worn out to the point of being no good to use.

I asked M Sipher (A.K.A. Greg Sepelak), who has worked with the Club with these things, about the matter, and here's what he had to say:

M Sipher wrote:I've been part of the group who's worked on the box sets and countless proposals thereof for several years now. I know from first-hand experience trying to put the sets together in the first place which groups are avoided, so we don't waste time pitching stuff that has a microscopic chance of happening.

On-screen movie stuff and a good chunk of non-screen Movie stuff is off-limits thanks to licensing concerns. UT molds are pretty much written off as unusable due to age and overuse (take a look at the Movie Breakaway made from Cybertron Hot Shot. That toy is ROUGH).

Believe me, nobody at FP is particularly keen on having LESS mold options, but that's the reality.


M "And You Can Never Tell When Any Individual Mold Might Suddenly Be Off The Table For Whatever Reason" Sipher

You realize what this really means, right?

On-screen movie stuff and a good chunk of non-screen Movie stuff is off-limits thanks to licensing concerns

Seibertron wrote:You realize what this really means, right?

On-screen movie stuff and a good chunk of non-screen Movie stuff is off-limits thanks to licensing concerns

Precisely. That's what I've been trying to say.

If it didn't come across that way in my previous posts, I apologize, but the molds of any on-screen characters and their redecos from all four Movieverse toylines, as well as any non-screen mold from the 2007-2008 Movie line (like Longarm and Incinerator), have licensing issues with Paramount that keep Fun Pub from being able to use them at their leisure.

Meaning that the only Movieverse toys they can use at their disposal are non-screen character molds from ROTF, 2010, and DOTM.

Sabrblade wrote:

Seibertron wrote:You realize what this really means, right?

On-screen movie stuff and a good chunk of non-screen Movie stuff is off-limits thanks to licensing concerns

Precisely. That's what I've been trying to say.

If it didn't come across that way in my previous posts, I apologize, but the molds of any on-screen characters and their redecos from all four Movieverse toylines, as well as any non-screen mold from the 2007-2008 Movie line (like Longarm and Incinerator), have licensing issues with Paramount that keep Fun Pub from being able to use them at their leisure.

Meaning that the only Movieverse toys they can use at their disposal are non-screen character molds from ROTF, 2010, and DOTM.

I don't think you understood what I meant with my question. You realize what "thanks to licensing concerns" really means, right? Like I've been saying, it comes down to $$$$

Seibertron wrote:I don't think you understood what I meant with my question. You realize what "thanks to licensing concerns" really means, right? Like I've been saying, it comes down to $$$$

I kinda figured that went without saying.

I know there are those of us who'd be willing to pay an additional $20 to an already $365 set, but there's still many (like myself) who aren't fond of that $365 price that only gets more and more pricey each year (minus '05 to '06).

Jhiaxus has a funny idea of cloning, and its practical application.

"Hey Optimus! Welcome back to base! I hope your mission was successful; when did you get the elaborate black and teal paint job? And the red optics?"

It's right up there with Skynet churning out thousands of infiltrators that all look exactly like Arnold Schwartzenegger.



And really, within the context of Transformers, I guess maybe you don't have to look much like someone to be their body double.

Megaplex, "Come, and face your doom at the hands of Megatron!"

Autobot soldier, "Hey, you don't look anything like Megatron!"

Megaplex, "Megatron? I meant Galvatron. I got blown up again last week and this is my new, super powerful body."

Autobot soldier, "Primus help us! Megatron has a new body! He's invincible until the novelty wears off!!!"

Caelus wrote:"Primus help us! Megatron has a new body! He's invincible until the novelty wears off!!!"

Same as it ever was.

The Autobots will need a bruiser to match up with Megaplex. Maybe the at-show exclusive Voyager will be a leader type? Such as UM?

TF PRID Ultra Magnus actually has some substantial similarities to Machine Wars Prime (COE truck, no face plate, no window chest).

I'm still confused about the licensing, but I could imagine Allspark Incinerator as MW Sandstorm, which would be a shame because that paint scheme would look better on Highbrow's body, and Obsidian's design would look better on Incinerator. In my opinion.

Almost anything else means going outside of Machine Wars - which they're obviously willing to do - but opens the field so much that who could guess?

EDIT - Doh! I forgot Skyhammer. Dark of the Moon Skyhammer would be a pretty logical choice for being repainted into Machine Wars Sandstorm.

I like Hoist, Strika and Megaplex. I could pass on Skywarp and Obsidian. Those are hideous. But "Megaplex?" Kind of a dumb name, so that pushed it to the pass option. After the awesomeness that was the Stunticon set in 2011, they have swung and missed 2 years in a row. hopefully for next year, BotCon will knock another one out of the park, as I expect the event itself to be like in 2011, due to the 4th movie coming out.

This set to me, looks like it doesn't know what it wants to be. Call me old fashioned, but i like boxsets to at the very least share the same aesthetics..Names, repaints dont bother me, but to have 3 different lines seems a bit of a stretch

Sabrblade wrote:Found this. Thought is was funny.

Somebody who's NOT going to Botcon should e-mail this to Brian Savage. (I would do it but Im going and I dont want to be purposly screwed for poking fun at their choice) Just like last years SG Soundwave Headband, Funpub can push out last minute extras if the fans call for it bad enough. I would even pay a little extra for a new head if it was an optional purchase at the club store.

And if not, Im sure Renderform, Beezleboss, or Dr. Wu will hook us up.

Caelus wrote:Jhiaxus has a funny idea of cloning, and its practical application.

"Hey Optimus! Welcome back to base! I hope your mission was successful; when did you get the elaborate black and teal paint job? And the red optics?"

Only the Decepticons are clones in this Fun Pub story. So Hoist, Strika, and Obsidian are their true selves, and Optimus (if he shows up but the brochuse says he's out of commission) would likely be himself too.

Sabrblade wrote:Only the Decepticons are clones in this Fun Pub story. So Hoist, Strika, and Obsidian are their true selves, and Optimus (if he shows up but the brochuse says he's out of commission) would likely be himself too.

Sorry, I was thinking of Straxus, you'll have to forgive me for confusing them, it just seems like Jhiaxus and Straxus are becoming oddly more and more similar as time goes by.

I mean, they were both bad@$$es in their day, but Straxus was like a poor man's Dr. Doom while Jhiaxus was portrayed as so unstoppable he was more akin to Thanos.

Jhiaxus was a physically imposing war machine, and then he was... the equivalent of MODOK? No, wait, now he's definitely MODOK. An awful lot like someone else.

strika and obsidian i hope we will get thrust tankor and jetstorm for a nice shelf

Axelbro wrote:strika and obsidian i hope we will get thrust tankor and jetstorm for a nice shelf

It's Machine Wars, not Beast Machines. We're getting backstory for the two generals.

Axelbro wrote:strika and obsidian i hope we will get thrust tankor and jetstorm for a nice shelf

Nope. Because Tankor, Thrust, and Jetstorm were Rhinox, Waspinator, and Silverbolt, respectively, in new bodies with shell programming hiding their true identities. We already have pre-Beast Wars toys of Waspinator and Rhinox.

RAcast wrote:

Axelbro wrote:strika and obsidian i hope we will get thrust tankor and jetstorm for a nice shelf

It's Machine Wars, not Beast Machines. We're getting backstory for the two generals.

Beast Machine... Wars?