The Energon Pub

Overcracker wrote:Excellent List, but I would have to mention

Beastwars Ramhorn, and Energon Insecticon / Forest Type.






Two of my Favorite insects.

Ramhorn is such a great beetle, but I hate transforming him.
He sat half transformed for about a year cause I got so frustrated with him

Great list, always been a big fan of the Bug bots. Naturally I have all of the Beast Wars ones mentioned (other than Retrax, which I was told not to buy) and yet no mention of the only (?) Insect Triple-Changer: Transquito?



Bot



Antlion



Mosquito

Three in one creepiness! One of my all time favourites.

Wait is that antillion mode official? I had him and always wondered about the face on where the wings were.

ZeroWolf wrote:Wait is that antillion mode official? I had him and always wondered about the face on where the wings were.

Yeah, it was official (as far as I'm aware) hence why the wings open into mandibles the way they do. I used him in my own writing and I would have loved him to be in the show. I had a couple of Jetstorms (the Dragonfly) and as they share a head sculpt, I head-canon'd them as Transquito drones.

ZeroWolf wrote:Wait is that antillion mode official? I had him and always wondered about the face on where the wings were.

Officially it's an attack mode. It doesn't actually look like an antlion, that's just something fans have attached to it for lack of anything better to call it. Real Antlions don't have pincers nearly that big.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:Real Antlions don't have pincers nearly that big.

Emerje

Voila

Emerje wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Wait is that antillion mode official? I had him and always wondered about the face on where the wings were.

Officially it's an attack mode. It doesn't actually look like an antlion, that's just something fans have attached to it for lack of anything better to call it. Real Antlions don't have pincers nearly that big.

Emerje

The name actually came from the Japanese Bigmos release, where the "Mode-3" is dubbed his arijigoku or Antlion (lit. "Ant Hell") form. btw It's only the larvae that have them.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

Emerje wrote:Real Antlions don't have pincers nearly that big.

Emerje

Voila

I know what an antlion looks like, they don't look remotely the same and those pincers are tiny compared to its body. I'd sooner believe it was a wingless dobsonfly.



Emerje

The image was for those unaware, Emerje.

To that end, I know it will never happen, but I would really like to see Transquito remade. Either MP or not. Really add definition to the two altmodes.

Personally I always felt the design of the 'Antlion' altmode was based less on the real bug, than it's more pop culture namesake:

Transquito really should have been someone great and grandiose like, say, the emperor of the whole Predacon faction or something, since the faction's insignia is his Beast Mode face.

Only problem I would have had with that is his bot mode isn't very imposing... Though if you gave him a Cape...

Sabrblade wrote:Transquito really should have been someone great and grandiose like, say, the emperor of the whole Predacon faction or something, since the faction's insignia is his Beast Mode face.

That was my assumption too. It's weird how G1 went almost out of their way to assign a bot design to the Faction Symbols, yet Beast Wars was oddly silent on that. When trying to apply a Maximal face to their symbol, to this day I draw a blank.

ZeroWolf wrote:Only problem I would have had with that is his bot mode isn't very imposing... Though if you gave him a Cape...

I can't remember if you could actually do it with the figure or not, but just angle the wings down and you have your cape.

I always envisioned him being taller than Megatron, yet still just as gangly as he otherwise appears. Given his face sculpt and how Megatron already dwarfs everyone else in BW season one, I found that would work well enough to make him imposing.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
That was my assumption too. It's weird how G1 went almost out of their way to assign a bot design to the Faction Symbols, yet Beast Wars was oddly silent on that. When trying to apply a Maximal face to their symbol, to this day I draw a blank.

I always thought it was a bat, which is the first toy release of the maximal leader:



It works for both the robot and beast head.

I hve lots of replies to all the other great commetns, but not that much time, so it will have to wait for later.

He may not be amazing bug he was the first animal Transformer i had as a kid. Sometimes i miss him

A good list. I would've included the Tripredacus Council as a group, but oh well. One question, though. Why only Kickback and Shrapnel in number five? Did i miss why Bombshell wasn't included?

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:A good list. I would've included the Tripredacus Council as a group, but oh well.

Lobsters aren't insects, though.

Though they are eight-legged like Airachnid arachnids.

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:A good list. I would've included the Tripredacus Council as a group, but oh well. One question, though. Why only Kickback and Shrapnel in number five? Did i miss why Bombshell wasn't included?

I didnt write why since I only wanted to talk about why toys should be on the list rather than why one wouldnt be. I just dont think Bombshell is as good as the other 2. Its robot mode is very weak by comparison.

And the problem with Tripredicus is that he isnt made up only of insects and one of those insects, Ramhorn, is a toy I really dont like. I loves Beast Wars toys but Ramhorn was one of those toys I just didnt care for enough to figure out how to transform him. It didnt help that I didnt really own him until later and only saw him when playing at my friends' or cousins' house and they had gotten an adult to turn him into tripredicus and didnt want to bother undoing it knowing they couldnt do it again. We talk about elegance in transformations and toys and Ramhorn just lacks that.

But its not the insect mold I like least. That would go to the Energon insecticon. How this toy was made at the same time as the other energon scout gems is beyond me since he feels so limited and has such a lackluster transformation in comparison.

Bumblevivisector wrote:Unheard of, but also unstable. His design was indeed impressive enough to warrant Energon Insecticon being an update of him (and looking far more capable of unleashing a barrage), but when you handle him in bot mode, he just feels too delicate, fiddly, and liable to fall over.

This is true of all 4 to a slight extent once you actually handle them, but the team's rep is probably most hurt by Chop Shop. In stag beetle mode he actually looks scary, only to be undermined by an incredibly goofy bot mode, with arm articulation that only allows him to either flap like a bird or shoot Autobots standing directly beside him.

Thanks so much for describing everything so perfectly, Bumblevivisector (now THATs a username!). Everything you mentioned is exactly why the deluxe insecticons did not get on the list, for me. Thats definitely what I meant when I mentioned kibble, it was more in terms of how fiddly the transformation is when it comes to panels, and Chop Shop is definitely the one i was thinking of.

Sabrblade wrote:

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:A good list. I would've included the Tripredacus Council as a group, but oh well.

Lobsters aren't insects, though.

Though they are eight-legged like Airachnid arachnids.

We call them "bugs" up here so that must count for something. He's more crayfish than lobster anyway with his symmetrical claws.

Emerje

Well after getting Powerpinch based off this list I sure can say he's a really fun little guy. Only complaint is I feel like those legs need a little more room to get through for the transformation but both modes are great. Most of my experience with original Beast Wars toys have been with the Japanese only one but after finding the store where I got him still on card I'm definitely looking forward to getting more of the original Beast Wars line. Also the card says there's supposed to be an energon chip underneath that tail pincer weapon but I don't even see anything like that on there. Is this just a thing the first year of them did?

Railbomb wrote:Also the card says there's supposed to be an energon chip underneath that tail pincer weapon but I don't even see anything like that on there. Is this just a thing the first year of them did?

"Hidden Energon Chip" is what a rubsign was called in the Beast Wars line.

Sabrblade wrote:

Railbomb wrote:Also the card says there's supposed to be an energon chip underneath that tail pincer weapon but I don't even see anything like that on there. Is this just a thing the first year of them did?

"Hidden Energon Chip" is what a rubsign was called in the Beast Wars line.

Ahhhhh okay now that you said that I see where it its. It wasn't on the weapon at all but on the part that ends up inside the chest on the very top of it.

Yes, this is a list I can get behind! Late to the party as always but oh well.

For my money, Transmetal Waspinator is a superb insect toy. The robot mode is perhaps a bit weak but that wasp mode, oh man! Also he had a vehicle mode that actually looked kinda cool.

Black Hat wrote:Yes, this is a list I can get behind! Late to the party as always but oh well.

For my money, Transmetal Waspinator is a superb insect toy. The robot mode is perhaps a bit weak but that wasp mode, oh man! Also he had a vehicle mode that actually looked kinda cool.

To me, Transmetal Waspinator is a figure that would be cooler than it is if it wasn't so fragile. Mine and many others had their figures' large wings break off at the swivel joints that attach the wings to the figure's body. If the plastic had been made of a stronger and longer-lasting durability, it'd be much better in the long run.

Sabrblade wrote:

Black Hat wrote:Yes, this is a list I can get behind! Late to the party as always but oh well.

For my money, Transmetal Waspinator is a superb insect toy. The robot mode is perhaps a bit weak but that wasp mode, oh man! Also he had a vehicle mode that actually looked kinda cool.

To me, Transmetal Waspinator is a figure that would be cooler than it is if it wasn't so fragile. Mine and many others had their figures' large wings break off at the swivel joints that attach the wings to the figure's body. If the plastic had been made of a stronger and longer-lasting durability, it'd be much better in the long run.

Ouch, that sounds bad. I'd better be careful with mine.