Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

For those on this site that's played HMW since near the beginning, you've seen that color scheme on Cyclonus before...

Remember the member called Scantron?
http://custommasters.com/MadeInCanada.htm



Is he still on the boards?

Seibertron wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

ScottyP wrote:Cool mold, comes with a Minicon, but character I totally don't care about. Kinda feels like Flak and Landshark out of the '09 set.

This difference this time being, unlike Landshark, they used an existing character to make this instead of making up a whole new one.

Yah, it exists, but it's so obscure that I doubt many people care. Plus the poor color scheme doesn't help much. It looks like a KO.

Pretty much what I was going to respond with, but to expand a bit - Yes, technically, they didn't make up a brand new character, I was aware of that. Word choice I used:

ScottyP wrote:feels like Flak and Landshark

I've read the media this character was in, but I had to go look it up again to know who it was. Absolutely zero name recognition. Squadron X is just such background filler, you know? Do we really need them immortalized in plastic form? It's be like if the Star Wars folks released an X-Wing in a deco that homages a random Mos Eisley Cantina denizen - you might be able to go find the character deep in the annals of who-gives-a-damn and establish a connection, but on the surface it's just there and will be forgotten within weeks.

I think the toy will look better irl than the digibash ending up in a pretty neat product, and as long as this isn't the harbinger of what to expect with this set, then cool. As filler for the set? Yeah ok, I can deal with it.

Anyway -- https://twitter.com/BotCon/status/443390204586389504

For everyone who wants that character EVERYONE knows of and really needs an update, don't worry, he is on his way...

I really like it. Both figures so far seem excellent.

Seibertron wrote:We are different types of collectors then because this isn't what I want as a collector, nor as someone who wants to see BotCon succeed. It's the 30th anniversary of Transformers and the 20th of BotCon ... this set should have knocked it out of the park. An extremely nice premium edition set of Transformers Prime characters or something way more mainstream would be far more appropriate for an anniversary year set. Again, doing an Encore/TRU Stunticons set and BotCon/e-Hobby G2 Stunticons exclusive set would have been a really nice way to do something to honor both the 30th anniversary and the 20th (though if Hasbro and Takara wasn't onboard then I don't know what you can do about that).

I guess we'll have to disagree on that. Since the 2007 backlash against Thundercracker, Ramjet and Dirge, FunPub has been offering "extras" instead of "must have" figures. I think that's overall a good thing for them and fans in general, especially where the hobby is today. I mean, Hasbro gave us a Straxus for crying out loud. Who'd've guessed that 5 years ago? Who knows (other than HasTak) what we'll get in the next 5 at this rate?

Sure it can lead to some pussyfooting by The Club in terms of their offerings, but it also saves them from reams upon reams of fan-hate. "OMG why did they do that? Now it's too expensive for me to get it! That's something Hasbro should've done instead." Maybe offering more "must haves" would boost their membership rates, but it would also attract the unhappy fan element like honey and flies.

If the rest of this set plays out like this, I do think that this is a set homaging the last 30 years; just not in the way most people were originally thinking. It's shining a spotlight on the extra characters who have played a minor, mostly uncredited role throughout the lore. Maybe I'm reading too much into this set, or maybe it's what Pete's vision was. We won't know until their panel at the show.

I'm going to speak heresy for a minute, but I think this is going to be more interesting than a premium deco set, or a Diaclone set. That is of course my opinion, but I like Ferak a lot more than a black Ironhide.

Sabrblade wrote:Anyway -- https://twitter.com/BotCon/status/443390204586389504

For everyone who wants that character EVERYONE knows of and really needs an update, don't worry, he is on his way...

It's going to be Hot Rod isn't it?

Mkall wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Anyway -- https://twitter.com/BotCon/status/443390204586389504

For everyone who wants that character EVERYONE knows of and really needs an update, don't worry, he is on his way...

It's going to be Hot Rod isn't it?

I'm hoping for Devcon.

Sabrblade wrote:

Mkall wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Anyway -- https://twitter.com/BotCon/status/443390204586389504

For everyone who wants that character EVERYONE knows of and really needs an update, don't worry, he is on his way...

It's going to be Hot Rod isn't it?

I'm hoping for Devcon.

I'd love a Devcon, but the word "update" suggests to me that whatever figure it is already has a toy, but an outdated one.

Maybe it'll be Energon Ironhide

Mkall wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Mkall wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Anyway -- https://twitter.com/BotCon/status/443390204586389504

For everyone who wants that character EVERYONE knows of and really needs an update, don't worry, he is on his way...

It's going to be Hot Rod isn't it?

I'm hoping for Devcon.

I'd love a Devcon, but the word "update" suggests to me that whatever figure it is already has a toy, but an outdated one.

Maybe it'll be Energon Ironhide

I really want Tidal Wave and I want him to be the pirate ship and have an eye patch and have his Minicon decorated like a parrot.

I also want a toilet made out of solid gold and a winning Powerball ticket.

Sabrblade wrote:

Mkall wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Anyway -- https://twitter.com/BotCon/status/443390204586389504

For everyone who wants that character EVERYONE knows of and really needs an update, don't worry, he is on his way...

It's going to be Hot Rod isn't it?

I'm hoping for Devcon.

But they say EVERYONE knows?

Who's Devcon? time to look it up =X


EDIT:

Oh WTH! I saw this episode (the Gambler) an completely don't recall every seeing him. time to re-watch.



if there is going to be an updated Rodimus I will buy the whole set!

Mkall wrote:I guess we'll have to disagree on that. Since the 2007 backlash against Thundercracker, Ramjet and Dirge, FunPub has been offering "extras" instead of "must have" figures. I think that's overall a good thing for them and fans in general, especially where the hobby is today. I mean, Hasbro gave us a Straxus for crying out loud. Who'd've guessed that 5 years ago? Who knows (other than HasTak) what we'll get in the next 5 at this rate?

I think that business strategy is a mistake. They should be offering "must haves" at the conventions or early shots at figures Hasbro will release at a later date. That should be part of the business strategy so that you put butts in seats at an event like that. When you look at what appears to be stagnant attendance numbers from the past 7 years meanwhile the live action movies have churned about 2.6 BILLION dollars and while a Transformers convention in Asia drew in over 15,000 (double or triple BotCon attendance levels depending on who you talk to), you have to look at this lackluster strategy as being one that should be put to bed. There's no winning this discussion ... I can't convince any of you who feel one way to see it another, but I think the attendance levels alone should speak for themselves. From a business perspective, "must have" convention exclusives should be a "must have" feature for any convention.

If this is just a throw away figure and there is a "must have" figure in this set, then I go back to one of my other statements about how these reveals are "rolled out" every year. This "let's generate some negative discussions by showing the lackluster reveals first" and then reveal the more popular choices is a really poor marketing strategy. If you've got some lackluster repaints, the entire set would be better served by simply showing the set as a whole. "Here you go folks, here's this year's entire BotCon set!" If there's a lackluster figure amongst the set, it'll just get overlooked by the more favored choices.

I'd love to hear from some of you who actually work in marketing to get some professional responses and opinions about these marketing choices that I perceive as being poor choices. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is the way to go. Just 9 years of this yo-yo negative marketing just seems really counterintuitive to me.

Regarding "must haves" at conventions ... I have never said that must haves shouldn't be released to the public in some manner at some point in time. I love that the BotCon 2007 exclusives made their way to retail shelves. They should have ... and I think the reaction from the fandom is what led to their eventual release and might even have played a part in why Classics/Universe/Generations continues to this day (because Hasbro saw how much fans wanted these things). Convention exclusives should be must haves. If they get released at some point, then the special BotCon packaging and the ability to get them months in advance should be perks enough. If an occasional one slips through that doesn't get released to the public and it's really really important that you get every figure you want, then all the more reason why attending an event like this should be on your annual list.

Seibertron wrote:I think that business strategy is a mistake. They should be offering "must haves" at the conventions or early shots at figures Hasbro will release at a later date. That should be part of the business strategy so that you put butts in seats at an event like that. When you look at what appears to be stagnant attendance numbers from the past 7 years meanwhile the live action movies have churned about 2.6 BILLION dollars and while a Transformers convention in Asia drew in over 15,000 (double or triple BotCon attendance levels depending on who you talk to), you have to look at this lackluster strategy as being one that should be put to bed. There's no winning this discussion ... I can't convince any of you who feel one way to see it another, but I think the attendance levels alone should speak for themselves. From a business perspective, "must have" convention exclusives should be a "must have" feature for any convention.

If this is just a throw away figure and there is a "must have" figure in this set, then I go back to one of my other statements about how these reveals are "rolled out" every year. This "let's generate some negative discussions by showing the lackluster reveals first" and then reveal the more popular choices is a really poor marketing strategy. If you've got some lackluster repaints, the entire set would be better served by simply showing the set as a whole. "Here you go folks, here's this year's entire BotCon set!" If there's a lackluster figure amongst the set, it'll just get overlooked by the more favored choices.

I'd love to hear from some of you who actually work in marketing to get some professional responses and opinions about these marketing choices that I perceive as being poor choices. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is the way to go. Just 9 years of this yo-yo negative marketing just seems really counterintuitive to me.

No, you're right from a marketing standpoint they are stagnating, however it doesn't seem the Club is overly concerned. The reason they aren't concerned is because of the group of hardcore fans who've attended since the beginning are steady checks for the club, so they're at least earning enough of a profit from them alone to continue production on other exclusives. However because of this business strategy, they're always going to be stagnate with the same group of fans who went in 1994, 2004, and now 2014, not growing by much, but just enough.

I'm curious about the future of the Joe club given Hasbro's supposed breaking up of that brand team. Any Joe fans with insight?

Why I'm curious - if that club is in any real jeopardy, that's a lot of cash out of FunPub's coffers, could affect how they have to do business moving forward.

Mkall wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Mkall wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Anyway -- https://twitter.com/BotCon/status/443390204586389504

For everyone who wants that character EVERYONE knows of and really needs an update, don't worry, he is on his way...

It's going to be Hot Rod isn't it?

I'm hoping for Devcon.

I'd love a Devcon, but the word "update" suggests to me that whatever figure it is already has a toy, but an outdated one.

Maybe it'll be Energon Ironhide

You can't improve on the perfection that was Energon Ironhide. The Playskoolian head assembly pops on and off so easily that all of your favorite TFs can take turns decapitating him, making it the greatest possible toy for a character that f*@&ing irritating. Don't you wish we had a Nightscream that could withstand that dozens of times without irreparably breaking?

Maybe our newest cassette molds aren't off limits, and we're getting Masterpiece Shattered Glass Ravage? It's been almost 4 years, so he's surely starved for attention.

Bumblevivisector wrote:Maybe our newest cassette molds aren't off limits, and we're getting Masterpiece Shattered Glass Ravage? It's been almost 4 years, so he's surely starved for attention.

No can haz LOL!

cannonball does nothing for me.

the cyclonus mold however, could be sold in hot pink and be called arcee and id still buy it. i love it THAT much.

Sabrblade wrote:

Mkall wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Anyway -- https://twitter.com/BotCon/status/443390204586389504

For everyone who wants that character EVERYONE knows of and really needs an update, don't worry, he is on his way...

It's going to be Hot Rod isn't it?

I'm hoping for Devcon.

Assuming the rumor about Energon molds is true, this may finally come to light:

Henry921 wrote:

That wouldn't be my first choice for Devcon, but it's leaps and bounds better than a new version of Cannonball and some random UK character the majority don't care about. Devcon is LONG overdue for a toy.

Ferak wasn't a UK character.

Sabrblade wrote:Ferak wasn't a UK character.

You know what I meant. His random robot mode was taken from the UK comics. He didn't have a robot mode in his brief generic drone mode in Transformers #17.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:Rodimusprim ... denied.jpg

Seibertron wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Ferak wasn't a UK character.

You know what I meant. His random robot mode was taken from the UK comics. He didn't have a robot mode in his brief generic drone mode in Transformers #17.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:Rodimusprim ... denied.jpg

Right, forgot about that guy.


On a different note, those wishing for more a lavenderish shade instead of basic white might be in for disappointment, as Pete Sinclair has weighed in on the decision to make Ferak white:

So. We played around with Ferak's colors today, to see if even a SLIGHT lavender hue would be ok. Yeah. Even a little purple and it's Cyclonus.

So, chalk it up to being "Wings Universe" version of the character lol. Either way, I think he looks very sharp!

Sabrblade wrote:
On a different note, those wishing for more a lavenderish shade instead of basic white might be in for disappointment, as Pete Sinclair has weighed in on the decision to make Ferak white:

So. We played around with Ferak's colors today, to see if even a SLIGHT lavender hue would be ok. Yeah. Even a little purple and it's Cyclonus.

So, chalk it up to being "Wings Universe" version of the character lol. Either way, I think he looks very sharp!

OK, so not lavender, but did it have to be white? Couldn't it be a combo of a couple of different colors?

Rodimus Prime wrote:

OK, so not lavender, but did it have to be white? Couldn't it be a combo of a couple of different colors?

Its white AND silver

I get it. The mold cant be lavender because three versions of the mold were already lavender (Henkei,RTS,E-hobby clear) This happened with Flak as well. In G1 Flak was green, but the mold they chose had already been done in green (Overload) So I guess going white was the next best thing. Maybe a new head could save this mold. Any resin guys or 3rd parties want to take a shot at it ? Just please sell it online because Im skipping Botcon this year. Pasadena sucks...

IMO, they should have gone with some light shade of blue instead of white since Ferak's Marvel appearance had him in blue and Tornado's body details were definitely depicted in blue.