Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

[ScottyP]

Looks pretty close to the inner robot to me.

To me it looks like the offspring of the inner bot and the Spotlight: Orion Pax Bludgeon and I'm totally cool with that.

[Gearslide]

So as someone who has never dealt with Club stuff, is the Subscription Service like $300 and includes seven figures? Or do I need to pay other stuff as well? And so I'm clear, the seven figures are:

-Armada Skywarp
-Triggercon Windsweeper
-Triggercon Ruckus
-Targetmaster Spinister
-Targetmaster Needlenose
-Pretender Bludgeon
-Mystery figure

Is that correct?

[ScottyP]

So as someone who has never dealt with Club stuff, is the Subscription Service like $300 and includes seven figures? Or do I need to pay other stuff as well? And so I'm clear, the seven figures are:

-Armada Skywarp
-Triggercon Windsweeper
-Triggercon Ruckus
-Targetmaster Spinister
-Targetmaster Needlenose
-Pretender Bludgeon
-Mystery figure

Is that correct?

You'll also need a club membership, which is just under $50. You will get Armada/Universe Ramjet as an incentive sometime late next Spring for signing up for the membership. The Armada Skywarp is a separate exclusive that will be available for purchase in their store sometime next year. I may have those two figures backwards.

The sub service is generally around $300. You have the option to pay all at once or in three installments. First installment due immediately, then the second and third don't go out until after the second/fourth figures in the sub service ship. Next year's is your list, minus Skywarp, plus another figure they are going to reveal in advance, and then the "Mystery figure" remains a mystery until they release it or until it leaks on eBay.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

So as someone who has never dealt with Club stuff, is the Subscription Service like $300 and includes seven figures? Or do I need to pay other stuff as well? And so I'm clear, the seven figures are:

-Armada Skywarp
-Triggercon Windsweeper
-Triggercon Ruckus
-Targetmaster Spinister
-Targetmaster Needlenose
-Pretender Bludgeon
-Mystery figure

Is that correct?

You'll also need a club membership, which is just under $50. You will get Armada/Universe Ramjet as an incentive sometime late next Spring for signing up for the membership. The Armada Skywarp is a separate exclusive that will be available for purchase in their store sometime next year. I may have those two figures backwards.

The sub service is generally around $300. You have the option to pay all at once or in three installments. First installment due immediately, then the second and third don't go out until after the second/fourth figures in the sub service ship. Next year's is your list, minus Skywarp, plus another figure they are going to reveal in advance, and then the "Mystery figure" remains a mystery until they release it or until it leaks on eBay.

Just so it's clear to everyone:

Free Figure
Ramjet

Club Store Figures
Skywarp
Rodimus & Arcee

Subscription Service 4.0
Bludgeon
Windsweeper
Ruckus
Needlenose with Targetmasters (Sunbeam & Zigzag)
Spinister with Targetmasters (Singe & Hairsplitter)
Unknown 6th Figure
Mystery Bonus Figure

[ScottyP]

Thanks for the assist! Didn't have time to verify everything right then.

[Gearslide]

So as someone who has never dealt with Club stuff, is the Subscription Service like $300 and includes seven figures? Or do I need to pay other stuff as well? And so I'm clear, the seven figures are:

-Armada Skywarp
-Triggercon Windsweeper
-Triggercon Ruckus
-Targetmaster Spinister
-Targetmaster Needlenose
-Pretender Bludgeon
-Mystery figure

Is that correct?

You'll also need a club membership, which is just under $50. You will get Armada/Universe Ramjet as an incentive sometime late next Spring for signing up for the membership. The Armada Skywarp is a separate exclusive that will be available for purchase in their store sometime next year. I may have those two figures backwards.

The sub service is generally around $300. You have the option to pay all at once or in three installments. First installment due immediately, then the second and third don't go out until after the second/fourth figures in the sub service ship. Next year's is your list, minus Skywarp, plus another figure they are going to reveal in advance, and then the "Mystery figure" remains a mystery until they release it or until it leaks on eBay.

Just so it's clear to everyone:

Free Figure
Ramjet

Club Store Figures
Skywarp
Rodimus & Arcee

Subscription Service 4.0
Bludgeon
Windsweeper
Ruckus
Needlenose with Targetmasters (Sunbeam & Zigzag)
Spinister with Targetmasters (Singe & Hairsplitter)
Unknown 6th Figure
Mystery Bonus Figure

Okay, that makes more sense. Thanks a lot.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

If the Club wants to get cheeky... Since Onslaught is used for Bludgeon, the Combaticon molds can be scheduled for Club use. Therefore... Quake out of Brawl, to join Spinister and Needlenose.

[Gearslide]

If the Club wants to get cheeky... Since Onslaught is used for Bludgeon, the Combaticon molds can be scheduled for Club use. Therefore... Quake out of Brawl, to join Spinister and Needlenose.

I would be totally down for a Quake from Brawl Figure. Here's hoping it would be more inspired by G1 Quake than Vehicon Quake (Given they might just use Brawl's existing head).

Would be kind of cool if, since they have access to the Bruticus wave of figures, they used the new Shockwave figure for something. Unless they couldn't have it be retooled to a Megatron or Browning figure. I don't think there would be much of a demand for a Cybertron Six Shot repaint of Shockwave.

WAIT, I TAKE IT BACK, I WANT A CRANKCASE REPAINT OF SWINDLE. That mold is so perfect for Crankcase, and Swindle's head could easily pass for Crankcase's if painted right. If we got Quake and Crankcase, we'd have a complete set of Triggercons and '88 Decepticon Targetmasters!

[chuckdawg1999]

This came to me last night as I was drifting off, the 6th figure or the mystery figure is a repaint/mold of Powerglide to be the targetmaster for the combiner.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

So as someone who has never dealt with Club stuff, is the Subscription Service like $300 and includes seven figures? Or do I need to pay other stuff as well? And so I'm clear, the seven figures are:

-Armada Skywarp
-Triggercon Windsweeper
-Triggercon Ruckus
-Targetmaster Spinister
-Targetmaster Needlenose
-Pretender Bludgeon
-Mystery figure

Is that correct?

You'll also need a club membership, which is just under $50. You will get Armada/Universe Ramjet as an incentive sometime late next Spring for signing up for the membership. The Armada Skywarp is a separate exclusive that will be available for purchase in their store sometime next year. I may have those two figures backwards.

The sub service is generally around $300. You have the option to pay all at once or in three installments. First installment due immediately, then the second and third don't go out until after the second/fourth figures in the sub service ship. Next year's is your list, minus Skywarp, plus another figure they are going to reveal in advance, and then the "Mystery figure" remains a mystery until they release it or until it leaks on eBay.

Just so it's clear to everyone:

Free Figure
Ramjet

Club Store Figures
Skywarp
Rodimus & Arcee

Subscription Service 4.0
Bludgeon
Windsweeper
Ruckus
Needlenose with Targetmasters (Sunbeam & Zigzag)
Spinister with Targetmasters (Singe & Hairsplitter)
Unknown 6th Figure
Mystery Bonus Figure

Thank you very much for the information. Legit appreciated.

I'm honestly waiting on pins and needles for Marissa and Old Snake to go up for preordering! I don't wanna miss those two!

[Sabrblade]

At last. The archenemy team of the Wreckers get a formal update.

[RodimusRex]

Completely unacceptable that mainline G1 transformer characters are only coming out for the "American Collectors' Club". Hardly anyone outside the USA can afford to get these.

This is "Botcon Coneheads" all over again.

I'm honestly shocked and disgusted.

Maybe the exclusivity is limited to COMBINER versions of these characters.

It's an inconvenience not to be able to collect EVERY VERSION of a character but it's not quite the same as limiting an ICONIC non-gimmick version of a character to exclusive status.

It's like... It'd bug me if they did a new major Rodimus figure as an exclusive. It wouldn't bug me (and I'd hunt it down) if they made the G2 UK comics deco Rodimus as an exclusive. (Which I'd actually want and track down.)

Likewise, it'd probably bug me if they released Terrorcon combiners as exclusives. Because the iconic version of the Terrorcons is combiners. It would bug me is a standard Swoop got released as an exclusive. BUT it wouldn't bug me if the Terrorcon characters popped up as non-combining exclusives or if a retail Terrorcon Cutthroat release got released as a combining Swoop exclusive. Because you're dealing with off-model versions as the exclusive.

That's what these are, in my mind: Off-model Triggercons and Target Masters. I'd like to think non-combiner versions could turn up at retail and I highly doubt this version of Bludgeon is going to stop Hasbro from doing retail Bludgeons.

[RodimusRex]

Completely unacceptable that mainline G1 transformer characters are only coming out for the "American Collectors' Club". Hardly anyone outside the USA can afford to get these.

While I agree with your sentiment here ONE HUNDRED PERCENT I have to disagree with the specifics. The odds of the likes of Windsweeper coming out at retail are insanely low; if the club wasn't releasing them they just plain wouldn't exist.

Sure, we had a nice little string of insanity for a while, with the likes of Thunderwing, Straxus, Scoop and Crosscut getting released, but with the exception of Armada Megatron the Combiner Wars line so far is pure 1984-1986. Even the most left field character shown so far, Sky Lynx, is still a prominent character with a number of cartoon episodes under his belt. Yeah, if they announce Joyride or Squeezeplay or someone tomorrow I'll eat every hat I own, but right now I feel like we're back on the Cartoon-Only Pony for a little trot.

I don't think we'll see that era come to an end, honestly.

What I think we're seeing is that Hasbro is mastering the art of PREpaints after years of taking flack for repaints.

You release a bunch of figures of less iconic characters first with repaints/retools planned well in advance for the iconic versions. You also slide in some of the reverse at the same time to keep interest steady. Hence, coming out with Skywarp before Starscream.

What that likely means is that iconic characters are probably being designed with less iconic repaints/retools in mind. Literally half the time, you release the iconic one first. Half the time, you release the obscure one first.

This keeps the shelf assortment looking diverse and balances out iconic character releases.

Also, I figure you'll always try to have periodic wildcards just to ping the interest of niche collectors. Laser Prime, Straxus, Goldfire, Scoop, etc. all appeal, I think, to fringe parts of the fandom. You take turns getting different fringe bases excited.

I figure we'll see 1-2 G2 or Machine Wars characters a year, for instance, going forward. Rapido or Pyro might be further out but a Thunderclash/MW Prime or maybe Thunderclash with slight Energon Rodimus redeco (ala the Armada Megs in CW) seems likely to me.

But what I see them doing is juggling in and out Season 3, G2, Target Master, Animated, Armada, IDW, etc. fandoms so that one of the splinter groups is always getting something while driving the core line and iconic 1984 and Bay movie characters at the core.

I think that's how they see the various splinter fandoms, though: as fringe-but-passionate segments they can take turns activating to keep interest in the core brand up.

Here's Mustang Bumblebee, Geewun Prime, and Tank Megatron... Oh! And have a new Prowl as a motorycle.

Here's Starscream, Soundwave, and Drift... Oh! And have a Sentinel Maximus while you're at it.

Here's Shockwave, Hound, and Ultra Magnus... And why not a new Dinobot?

They've got the CORE BRAND which IDW, Bayverse, and Geewun are the core of. But they're trying to keep everyone else JUST interested enough to support that. They're not gonna drop the obscure stuff. They'll probably plan some of it as repaints, some as prepaints, and some as wildcards to build excitement.

[prjkt]

Completely unacceptable that mainline G1 transformer characters are only coming out for the "American Collectors' Club". Hardly anyone outside the USA can afford to get these.

This is "Botcon Coneheads" all over again.

I'm honestly shocked and disgusted.

Apart from Bludgeon (who already has some pretty good mass retail releases) I wouldn't really call most of these characters "Mainline" - we haven't really had an update on any of them since the initial release, there hasn't been a lot of recent fiction covering them (apart from minor appearances in the IDW comics by Needlenose & Spinister) so they're pretty obscure by current standards - if you look at the TFSS releases over the last few years, I'd say other series would be more "mainline" with the likes of Breakdown, Scourge, Slipstream, Chromedome, Barricade, G2 Screamer, Rewind/Eject, most of whom have had a pretty big focus in the relevant cartoons/comics/movies but for the most part are unlikely to get mass released figures, just like the ones in question here.

I'm OK with these guys being exclusive - the appeal there is mostly only to those who know the characters from the Marvel comics of the late 80s, or total character completionists (like myself) so the chances of them selling as a mass retail release are pretty small, so I'd say having them as slightly pricier exclusives vs not having them at all is preferable. The combining factor is a bonus too, will be easier to find space to display them.

The Botcon Seeker saga is a totally different story, as they were core '84/'85 characters from the G1 series, and would inevitably get a mass retail release eventually.

I'd be interested in hearing what "non mainline" characters you think the club should be releasing.

[Sabrblade]

The Botcon Seeker saga is a totally different story, as they were core '84/'85 characters from the G1 series, and would inevitably get a mass retail release eventually.

Not at the time they wouldn't. The Classics line was dying back then, never intended to go beyond 2007, as it was originally only ever meant to be a smaller filler line to tide us over until the first Movie line was ready in 2007, what with the Cybertron line having ended at a point that required a year's worth of new toys to be on the shelves in the meantime. The BotCon 2007 set was done because the Classics was coming to an end but hadn't yet done Thundercracker, Dirge, or Thrust, so that set was meant to be the swan song of the line and the venue through which fans could complete their Classics Seekers. As far as Hasbro back then was concerned, that is. Takara's Henkei! Henkei! line wasn't a factor yet nor was the 2008 Universe line in the plans yet. The Universe line came as a result of Hasbro seeing how successful and desirable the Classics toys were, but only after the Classics line had died. That it did die back then, and without completing the last three Seekers, is why the BotCon 2007 set happened.

[ScottyP]

They've got the CORE BRAND which IDW, Bayverse, and Geewun are the core of. But they're trying to keep everyone else JUST interested enough to support that. They're not gonna drop the obscure stuff. They'll probably plan some of it as repaints, some as prepaints, and some as wildcards to build excitement.

A+, high effort post. Well done Just didn't want to quote it all because it's long.

Club stuff is a supplement to what Hasbro is doing with the core brand. This is what Hasbro wants from them - product that enhances and is complementary to the direction of the mainline, without getting in the way of it. I'm not making this up, they've said as much, though maybe in not as many words. I'd expect more product like TFSS 4.0 down the line, and much less product like TFSS 3.0 and this year's Botcon set, both of which mostly but not entirely consist of pretty darn obscure stuff.

[RodimusRex]

I think the QUANTITY of anomaly stuff we got was an anomaly, yeah. Doesn't mean we won't get the rare curveball.

And, thinking back, I have a feeling that maybe they ratcheted up the weird stuff because there was a big gap between movies, video games, etc. They can't rely on a lot of casual attention during a lull like that so they rely on the super-fan dogwhistle.

My guess is that the next time we see this level of obscurity, it'll be at another point between movies, shows, and major toyline rebrandings.

They were doing some really weird stuff near the end of Universe 1.0 too... And RiD itself was a BIG anomaly that got to do a lot of weird stuff by virtue of being a line inbetween BW and Armada, full of repaints.

I'd also say there was a time when, to the young fans, somebody like Bumblebee was an obscure callback too and Cliffjumper was even more obscure. Bumblebee had a reduced role in S3 and was thoroughly replaced by Hot Rod, Wheelie, Side Burn, and Hot Shot. The Bay movie kind of resurrected not just Bumblebee but Cliffjumper by association.

I think we got Scoop because of the IDW book. Or maybe it was the other way around but I get the feeling the comic is driving character churn, which is wild because the old comics and shows usually had character churn forced on them.

I bet we get at least one screwball G.I.Joe vs. TFs comic central character although I'd put money on G.I.Joe's core line getting one first. Like Serpentra or Cyborg Billy.

[Sabrblade]

I think we got Scoop because of the IDW book. Or maybe it was the other way around but I get the feeling the comic is driving character churn, which is wild because the old comics and shows usually had character churn forced on them.

We got Scoop because, when his wave of figures was being planned, Joe Kyde wanted a constructicon vehicle in the wave and felt that an orange bot like Scoop would provide a nice complementary color contrast with the other three figures of the wave (Armada Starscream, Skywarp, and the Mini-Con Assault Team).

[steals_your_goats]

So does anyone have a rough idea of how much these will cost on like ebay? I'm really only interested in Needlenose and maybe Ruckus.

[RiddlerJ]

Yeah, I'm not a real fan of Bludgeon. And he's already had a better figure with the ROTF version.

I think MAS member Roadblock would've been a better use for the Onslaught mold, plus he's due for a new toy that doesn't suffer from gold plastic syndrome.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Roadblock_%28G1%29

I also wonder if Generations Rhinox would work as a Classics Stranglehold. He has a rhino mold and he was a pretender so just have a fleshy rhino be his alt mode.

[SW's SilverHammer]

Yeah, I'm not a real fan of Bludgeon. And he's already had a better figure with the ROTF version.

I think MAS member Roadblock would've been a better use for the Onslaught mold, plus he's due for a new toy that doesn't suffer from gold plastic syndrome.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Roadblock_%28G1%29

I also wonder if Generations Rhinox would work as a Classics Stranglehold. He has a rhino mold and he was a pretender so just have a fleshy rhino be his alt mode.

Yeah i suggested that on twitter. The purple and black shell from PRID voyager Dreadwing, and Stranglehold himself being the bonus figure, a gold and grey generations legends gears.

[Sabrblade]

Yeah, I'm not a real fan of Bludgeon. And he's already had a better figure with the ROTF version.

I think MAS member Roadblock would've been a better use for the Onslaught mold, plus he's due for a new toy that doesn't suffer from gold plastic syndrome.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Roadblock_%28G1%29

I also wonder if Generations Rhinox would work as a Classics Stranglehold. He has a rhino mold and he was a pretender so just have a fleshy rhino be his alt mode.

Yeah i suggested that on twitter. The purple and black shell from PRID voyager Dreadwing, and Stranglehold himself being the bonus figure, a gold and grey generations legends gears.

I wanna see Stranglehold from Transmetal Rhinox. Mechanical rhino altmode, bare-chested organic robot mode.

[SW's SilverHammer]

Yeah, I'm not a real fan of Bludgeon. And he's already had a better figure with the ROTF version.

I think MAS member Roadblock would've been a better use for the Onslaught mold, plus he's due for a new toy that doesn't suffer from gold plastic syndrome.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Roadblock_%28G1%29

I also wonder if Generations Rhinox would work as a Classics Stranglehold. He has a rhino mold and he was a pretender so just have a fleshy rhino be his alt mode.

Yeah i suggested that on twitter. The purple and black shell from PRID voyager Dreadwing, and Stranglehold himself being the bonus figure, a gold and grey generations legends gears.

I wanna see Stranglehold from Transmetal Rhinox. Mechanical rhino altmode, bare-chested organic robot mode.

Wait, I just realized I was thinking about Roadblock but said Stranglehold, silly me.

[ScottyP]

I think MAS member Roadblock would've been a better use for the Onslaught mold, plus he's due for a new toy that doesn't suffer from gold plastic syndrome.

Not perfect, but there is a pretty good stand in already:

[Counterpunch]

I think MAS member Roadblock would've been a better use for the Onslaught mold, plus he's due for a new toy that doesn't suffer from gold plastic syndrome.

Not perfect, but there is a pretty good stand in already:

I think that's meant to be G2 Roadblock: http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Roadblock_(G2)