The Energon Pub

ok i picked the the first 2 that came out. the aerialbots and the combaticons. the combaticons wernt that bad but the aerialbots were pure ass. i like the idea of dinobot combiners but id rather takara do one and then fans project swoop in and fix everything thats wrong with it.

You know, they look half decent. And i've made it no secret that I think previous PCC's have been complete and utter crap.

So let's see if this little set can redeem a massively flawed concept.

Now that I think of it, anyone notive how all their eyes are blue instead of being red? 26 years and they finally get the colors right on their eyes (with the exception of MP Grimlock, whose eyes can be switched to either cartoon accuracy or toy accuracy, I think).

They had me...


...until I saw the left arm.

The torso, the right arm and both legs are fantastic. They look solid and strong. The left...abomination just killed the whole damn thing for me.

What is wrong with you Hasbro? You couldn't have given him a claw hand like the right arm?

Do you not get that we're sick and tired of these odd gun arms, lack of hands, odd limbs?

A gun arm on Shockwave? Works.
The crappy "hands" and feet of the Energon combiners? Fail. On an epic level.

What good is a robot with a human shape and human proportions if they don't have actual limbs that function?

From the looks of it, to turn Grimstone into commander mode, all you do is stand him up and pull out the powerlink tabs. I wonder if it really is that simple...

I know a lot of people are excited about the Dinobots, but I've always just been "meh" with dinos. I guess I got my fill of them with Beastwars. I even pass up the several MP grimlocks I've seen. I thought about buying one and selling it later, but I don't want to be a scalper.

I'll still get this guy though cuz I love the PCC line even if there are tons of QC & Design issues, I enjoy them.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

PrimeGestalt wrote:Thank you, JelZe GoldRabbit! I was sick of people calling Grimstone a Triceratops! Wait, does he even have a horn on his face? I didn't see one in the image.

Great, so the non-dinosaur in this Dinobot team lived waaaaaaaay before the Dinosaurs themselves actually existed! And what's even more confusing is that Dimetrodon is part mammal! This means that the fully combined Dinobot team is only 90% mechanical reptile...and I LOVE it! So what if the left hand is feet? The whole charm of the PCCs (well, part of it) is that the Power Core teams combine into an anthropomorphic robot with non-anthropomorphic limbs! That's the whole look of the line, and I really like it! So far, I really like all the PCC sets - even the Rallybots!
Cue the rotten tomatoes...

Sooooooooooooooooo close... But no. Actual mammals came into existence around the same time as the Dinosaurs. Pelycosaurs like Dimetrodon did have mammalian traits like different kinds of teeth and similar build (legs downward instead of sideways).

hey, whatever man, they all ate cavemen so it doesn't matter right?

To the toy itself...feet hand? Really. You can't make the limbs have robot modes, or use the extra space available due to the lack of robot modes to make proper limbs? I really will not be surprised if they just start putting scrunched up bits of tin-foil on cards and trying to claim that they have unlimited conversion options.
I do like that the set has a uniform colour scheme though, and more Dinobots are almost always interesting.

Autobot032 wrote:They had me...


...until I saw the left arm.

The torso, the right arm and both legs are fantastic. They look solid and strong. The left...abomination just killed the whole damn thing for me.

What is wrong with you Hasbro? You couldn't have given him a claw hand like the right arm?

Do you not get that we're sick and tired of these odd gun arms, lack of hands, odd limbs?

A gun arm on Shockwave? Works.
The crappy "hands" and feet of the Energon combiners? Fail. On an epic level.

What good is a robot with a human shape and human proportions if they don't have actual limbs that function?

AMEN BROTHER!!!!! Honestly though this is a trend I see Hasbro/Takara not breaking for some time. For every awsome figure design they put out....one has to look just god awful (except the Energon Combiners are the exception with two crappy designs!!) but as long as the good outweighs the bad I'm ok with it.

actually, I think he's managed to mistransform the Paraceph...guy.

The image from the cons show his legs rotated up and his tail angled down as a blade weapon. I'm hoping this is accurate and that HasTak didn't screw with Paraman's automorph.

AutobotMR2 wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:They had me...


...until I saw the left arm.

The torso, the right arm and both legs are fantastic. They look solid and strong. The left...abomination just killed the whole damn thing for me.

What is wrong with you Hasbro? You couldn't have given him a claw hand like the right arm?

Do you not get that we're sick and tired of these odd gun arms, lack of hands, odd limbs?

A gun arm on Shockwave? Works.
The crappy "hands" and feet of the Energon combiners? Fail. On an epic level.

What good is a robot with a human shape and human proportions if they don't have actual limbs that function?

AMEN BROTHER!!!!! Honestly though this is a trend I see Hasbro/Takara not breaking for some time. For every awsome figure design they put out....one has to look just god awful (except the Energon Combiners are the exception with two crappy designs!!) but as long as the good outweighs the bad I'm ok with it.

There's the catch: The bad is becoming more prevalent.

There's not much on the slate for releases this Fall, and most of PCC is a bunch of repaints, and the original molds aren't all that great to begin with.

So...until TF3 comes along, we're not getting anything that will really wow us. Heck, we don't even know if TF3's toys will wow us.

Generations has most of the good figures, HFTD has a small handful that are worth buying, and PCC is just chock full of crap. If PCC were a person, they'd have the name of Sir Crapola Von Crap, The Crappiest.

But, even with Generations having most of the good figures, some of their offerings aren't the best either.

Scourge is rather underwhelming, and aside from Tracks and Jazz, I don't have a lot on my list of wants from Generations. =\

So yeah, for people like me, the good isn't really outweighing the bad. This is part of the reason why Impossible Toys and FansProject are getting so much of my money. And will again.

TakaraTomy is fulfilling our dreams right now. Not only are they continuing the Animated line, they're releasing molds that Hasbro hasn't even gotten to yet, and their Rodimus Prime Masterpiece might be the only way we'll end up with a complete version. (ToyArena says an insider at Hasbro has confirmed that the trailer will be removed and a slight color change. However, it's still a rumor and could be complete bull.)

I don't know, I'm just not much of a buyer in terms of Hasbro stuff right now.

This somehow does not look like what they revealed at Botcon. Whats with the weird looking indian head dress??? And the horns from the main dinosaur on the robots chest look like feathers, making him look like some kind of Aztec high priest.

Rated X wrote:Whats with the weird looking indian head dress???

Homage to the Japanese Beast Wars Stegosaurus? Saberback? Can't remember for sure; I got him as part of the Beast Machines Dinobots subline.

adamassc wrote:actually, I think he's managed to mistransform the Paraceph...guy.

The image from the cons show his legs rotated up and his tail angled down as a blade weapon. I'm hoping this is accurate and that HasTak didn't screw with Paraman's automorph.

Looks like his tail should angle down between the legs to make a three digit opening and closing claw.

Too bad its not a dromaeosaur of some form. Having raptor talons for fingertips might make the whole legs-as-fingers thing more sensible.

Im going to have to see more of this set before i decide if im going to buy it or not. My main gripe is the left arm, Why didnt they just have a hand or a claw thing that swivels out? Plus im still not that big of a fan of only the leader having a bot mode.

I think what tempts me here is that the 'drones' seem more acceptable as animals than vehicles.

The idea of having a whole bunch of remote control cars follow you into a fight seems... odd.

But having a small posse of robot animal familiars/pets running around after you? They've been doing that since G1.

Hmm... At that rate, I would also buy PCC sets inspired by Predaking, Piranacon, Abominus, and the Insecticons.

It looks very good except for that arm

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

PrimeGestalt wrote:Thank you, JelZe GoldRabbit! I was sick of people calling Grimstone a Triceratops! Wait, does he even have a horn on his face? I didn't see one in the image.

Great, so the non-dinosaur in this Dinobot team lived waaaaaaaay before the Dinosaurs themselves actually existed! And what's even more confusing is that Dimetrodon is part mammal! This means that the fully combined Dinobot team is only 90% mechanical reptile...and I LOVE it! So what if the left hand is feet? The whole charm of the PCCs (well, part of it) is that the Power Core teams combine into an anthropomorphic robot with non-anthropomorphic limbs! That's the whole look of the line, and I really like it! So far, I really like all the PCC sets - even the Rallybots!
Cue the rotten tomatoes...

Sooooooooooooooooo close... But no. Actual mammals came into existence around the same time as the Dinosaurs. Pelycosaurs like Dimetrodon did have mammalian traits like different kinds of teeth and similar build (legs downward instead of sideways).

Er...I know. I was making a slightly-sarcastic reference that Dimetrodon and other Pelycosaurs are referred to as 'mammal-like reptiles', and also to the fact that they are the ancestors of mammals.

Personally I'd have rathered something else...I mean, how cool would an Iguanodon Dinobot be? It's fairly well-known, and it has those cool thumb-spikes on its hand! Or maybe Muttaburrasaurus, it's Aussie cousin (You may want to look that one up, but it did exist!) If they're gonna be Dinobots, then they should be Dinobots...then again, Swoop...ooh! There should have been a Tropeognathus drone! Spoon-shaped beak-tip better than big-horn-jutting-out-of-back-of-head...that spot has been filled by the Parasaurolophus drone!

Forgive my Palaeo-babble, I was obsessed with dinosaurs between the ages of five and twelve...and Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers likely sparked my thirst for knowledge about the ancient world...and gigantic robots!

PrimeGestalt wrote:If they're gonna be Dinobots, then they should be Dinobots...

Well, if we're going to be picky, AFAIK "dino" just means terrible, so "dinobots" more or less means terrible robots. At that rate, most of the PCC gestalts so far qualify.


That said, if we're going to throw down obscure prehistoric organisms as transformers, Jeholopterus pwns!

this is kinda groovy

PrimeGestalt wrote:If they're gonna be Dinobots, then they should be Dinobots...

In popular culture, "Dinosaurs" include the Pterosaurs (flying reptiles), marine reptiles and the occasional oddball Saber Tooth Cat (Smilidons are not Tigers!), Mammoth or Mastodon, Dimetrodon and Archelon, a giant turtle. Who are we to argue with pop culture?

Aluus wrote:Am i the only one who thinks this is the best PCC set yet?

I agree!

I like him! Interesting beast modes, too, unusual. More beast-type PCCs would be great, maybe an updated BW Magnaboss.

And I think the need for proper hands/arms is overrated in this line, or really any TF line. These are giant killer robots, all they need is body parts to smash other giant killer robots with. They aren't going to be doing any typing or knitting or harp-playing.

I like it. This will be my first powercore combiner.

So yeah, for people like me, the good isn't really outweighing the bad. This is part of the reason why Impossible Toys and FansProject are getting so much of my money. And will again.

TakaraTomy is fulfilling our dreams right now. Not only are they continuing the Animated line, they're releasing molds that Hasbro hasn't even gotten to yet, and their Rodimus Prime Masterpiece might be the only way we'll end up with a complete version. (ToyArena says an insider at Hasbro has confirmed that the trailer will be removed and a slight color change. However, it's still a rumor and could be complete bull.)

I don't know, I'm just not much of a buyer in terms of Hasbro stuff right now.

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i agree....nothing left for me to buy from Hasbro. I'm Third Party, MP or vintage now. Generations is a maybe but i'll have to see.

Nice to see some obscure dinos being used for a change rather than the usual Triceratops, Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus etc. And better yet, not a 'raptor in sight.

Not been impressed with the Powercore Combiners so far. However will definitely be keeping a beady eye on this one.

I keep trying to convince myself to only buy one set of these and not three. The less logical side is winning this battle. I want to display combined mode, dino mode and Grimstone in bot mode singly. I might just be "special"

monstergrotusque wrote:i agree....nothing left for me to buy from Hasbro. I'm Third Party, MP or vintage now. Generations is a maybe but i'll have to see.

I feel a need to stress this point: I do not hate Hasbro. In the past they've offered us figures that were masterpieces in their own way, and it's not to the point where I'd say "I'll never buy another Hasbro anything!", but I'm seriously let down lately.

I look at the Leader Class Starscream sitting on my bed, and I'm awestruck by how incredibly good he is. (Not perfect, though.) I look at him, and then PCC, and it feels like a sucker punch. I look at some of the designs coming in the future (Jazz and Tracks) and I think "Yes! That's what I'm talking about!", and then I see PCC and I'm let down again.

I realize these are aimed at kids, and that's great, that's fine, but even kids can tell when they're being given crap. And PCC is crap.

I do think it could lead to innovations we'll come to embrace.
I do think the idea sounded good in their heads and on paper.
I do think it could be refined and modified to make this a really great line.

I think they should have three price points. 1.) $10.00 2-packs. 2.) $20.00 5-packs (as-is) 3.) $30.00 5-packs (Deluxe Class main figure, larger and more complex drones)

You can tell some of the design came from those stupid Bakugan things, what with the spring loaded gimmick and all, but Bakugan got it right. PCC ain't even close.