The Energon Pub

NotEnoughKibble wrote:They're mediocre to terrible as it is! At least a half@$$ed REAL combiner likely make it a set worth purchasing. As it stands, they're probably all a pass at full retail price for myself and many others.

Sooo... let me get this straight. You and many others won't mind the set to be totally half@$$ed beyond what it already is, and would consider buying it as long as the set has 6 Constructicons who turn from vehicle into robot modes that can combine as well? Seemingly just for that feature and nothing else?

On a figure excellence scale of 0 to 100 percent awesomeness depending on appearance, detailing, gimmicks, transformation complexity, stability, playability, poseabillity, paint apps, prescence of bot/vehicle kibble in both modes, etc., instead of having a non-robot combiner that may earn a general score of (I'm just making these up, there's no telling how good/bad they may actually be) 73% along with individual Constructicons whose average score may be 78% , you'd rather have them mashed together to create a 48% at best, 15% at worst-scoring kibble-strewn, flimsy and constantly-falling-apart monstrosity kids would throw into the garbage after 1 day's worth of attempted play, just for the combining factor? So it hardly matters that the gestalt becomes a shambling monstrosity, or the individual members have the poseability of a brick (which they then won't fit the movie line's general aesthetic of being highly poseable), you, and many others, just want the combining gimmick. Is that it?

What's happened has happened, the past is the past. No amount of complaining or writing letters/death threats to Hasbro is going to change the fact that we're NOT going to get a combiner with individual bot-members. Designing deadline's passed many months ago, prototypes are shown, stock photography is released, and that's that. I forgive them in this case since the designing of movieverse combiners is IMO akin to treading new waters here, but it would be just plain lazy if they don't manage a decent 3-mode combiner toy by the next movie.

Edit: I don't care.

I'm not buying ANY of the Constructicons from RotF.

Enough said.

Since I have yet to anyway, I will give my 2 cents on the ROTF Constructicons.

Hasbro could have made them accurate, combine, and transform, but they didn't and here's why: this line will sell. They are going to milk this line, and make as much profit off of it as they possibly can. Which isn't necessarily bad, but that's what they're doing.

With Devastator's individual bots not transforming, Devastator can be crammed with electronics, gimmicks, and other crap no one likes. This also gives Hasbro the chance to make more product, and fill the Deluxe and Voyager price-points with more toys. However, I'm sure that by sacrificing all the other gimmicks, and a slight amount of screen accuracy, they could make transforming, combining, Constructicons.

IMO, the Energon gestalts (referring only to Bruticus, Superion, and Constructicon Maximus) remain the best gestalts in this franchise. Given four long years of amazing technological advancements, they could make new and even better gestalts, and when they do I hope I won't be the only one completely knocked off my own two feet. This could have been it too, the one that knocks me off my feet.

I do really like how Devastator looks in the movie, and if they make something like a Robot Replicas Devastator I will likely buy it as I would enjoy a representation of this design in my collection. I'm just not buying the large Devastator, or most of the individual Constructicons. I'm pretty iffy on Mixmaster here, so he‘ll probably be one I pass on.

Warbreaker wrote: Sooo... let me get this straight. You and many others won't mind the set to be totally half@$$ed beyond what it already is, and would consider buying it as long as the set has 6 Constructicons who turn from vehicle into robot modes that can combine as well? Seemingly just for that feature and nothing else?

I can't answer for anyone else, but the simple answer for me is no, I wouldn't mind. Either it would improve it enough to become a "buy" or it remains a pass! Apparently the debate lies in the fact you think what's being released is potentially worth buying. That's great, we're happy for ya. And I'll be just fine, too...I won't have any issue saving my money. The whole reason I brought this up is the lame excuse that Hasbro couldn't pull it off if they wanted both sets to be quality...IMO they both suck so I find it a hilarious excuse. You're free to disagree.

Well, as I have said before, to each, his own. Or in other words, one man's trash is another man's treasure.

(You won't mind if I go pull a Wreck-Gar and pick around in what you perceive as a junk heap, right?)

Nekoman wrote:IMO, the Energon gestalts (referring only to Bruticus, Superion, and Constructicon Maximus) remain the best gestalts in this franchise.

I'll admit, those toys were good. But the point is that when Hasbro designed them, they had more-or-less a blank slate to work with. The Contructicons looked vaguely like construction vehicles. The Aerialbots looked vaguely like jets.

But the point people miss is that, with the movie line, Hasbro has no such freedom. They have to make the toys match what's on the screen.

Look at Demolishor. Bay has made him magically able to transform into a bizarro spindly robot AND a big, bulky torso. I just don't see how Hasbro can make one tractor shovel toy do both things, I really can't.

I'm positive that if Hasbro wanted to make a fantastic, fully-functional combiner using all the latest engineering technology available, then they could do it. EASILY.

But making it actually look like what Bay's presented on screen? That's a lot harder.

starfish wrote:Look at Demolishor. Bay has made him magically able to transform into a bizarro spindly robot AND a big, bulky torso. I just don't see how Hasbro can make one tractor shovel toy do both things, I really can't.

Isn't the big, bulky torso basically his alt mode upside-down? Doesn't see all that hard to pull off...

NotEnoughKibble wrote:

starfish wrote:Look at Demolishor. Bay has made him magically able to transform into a bizarro spindly robot AND a big, bulky torso. I just don't see how Hasbro can make one tractor shovel toy do both things, I really can't.

Isn't the big, bulky torso basically his alt mode upside-down? Doesn't see all that hard to pull off...

The argument for the other side of things basically states that the design will not allow for the legs to support the gestalt.

The two leg figures are the issue, but it boggles me because from what I understand about Devastator in the movie, he fights like a gorilla on all fours...

NotEnoughKibble wrote:

starfish wrote:Look at Demolishor. Bay has made him magically able to transform into a bizarro spindly robot AND a big, bulky torso. I just don't see how Hasbro can make one tractor shovel toy do both things, I really can't.

Isn't the big, bulky torso basically his alt mode upside-down? Doesn't see all that hard to pull off...

If you look at the pictures of Devastator (the toy), it appears that the Demolishor torso is a bit of a shellformer. Panels on the (notably boxier) alt mode open up to reveal all the robot body, plus the arm and leg connectors.

There's no way you can have the giant Devastator torso boxed up in that digger, whilst also having it unfold into the unwieldy robot mode.

Counterpunch wrote:The two leg figures are the issue, but it boggles me because from what I understand about Devastator in the movie, he fights like a gorilla on all fours...

What's the issue with the legs?

As I understand it, we've only seen the robot mode of one of them (Long Haul), the other is still a mystery.

Let's look at the toys we've seen seen so far. I already covered the torso in the last post, but what about the head?

It basically looks like the rear-end of the mixer opens up to reveal Devastator's head. Fine in theory, yet you also have to take into consideration that the mixer barrel must also contain lots of robot parts.

If anything, the limbs would probably be the easiest to achieve, not the hardest.

As I say, Hasbro do a stellar job in transferring the characters we see on-screen into fully-workable toys.

Look at the intricate and complex transformations of ROFT Starscream and leader Prime, for example. Hasbro have made great leaps in engineering, even since the first movie. I think that if they could make this guy, then they genuinely would've done.

Counterpunch wrote:I encourage people to avoid being apologists for this Constructicon issue.

If you like the toys, genuinely like them, and are happy to buy two different sets, then this post isn’t directed towards you.

If the idea that combiners should have a bot, alt, and gestalt mode aspect to their toys is rattling around in your head and you feel bad that you will have to buy two sets in order to get what once would have been one set, then don’t hold back.

I think the situation is absurd. If I learned anything from the BotCon seeker debate, it’s that Hasbro’s explanations of things ALWAYS have a ‘but…’ clause to them.

There’s no good reason to not have engineered a 3 mode combiner. They’ve managed to do it for years. While the G1 combiners were simplistic, Beast Wars and RiD both had complex combiners with significant size to them.

Now we have big budget, Hollywood backing, and more attention/capital than ever…and we can’t have a well-engineered three-mode combiner?

‘It’s too hard and the engineering won’t work’

…and we’ll never get a Soundwave reissue
…and Classics is a dead line
…and we’ll never see other releases of BotCon toys
…and running changes will correct Armada HotShot, Universe Ironhide, etc…

I can't agree more with you.