The Energon Pub

[guarayakha]

I still think it could be an update of Overlord.

That...actually makes alot of sense. A Shuttle and a Tank with 2 pilots, and being a part of Titan Wars (which presumably will be filled with big bots with Base modes). So...incoming updated Ginrai/StarConvoy/DaiAtlas in the future?

[Madeus Prime]

If they were offended, then I'd probably just have to ban them or make them read Madeus' comic.

[Burn]

What is that? A pile of crap crammed up against a window? It's soon going to burst forth and fall down on everyone below? It makes no sense!

[Poyguimogul]

Armada Jetfire I wager. Which I would buy, and display, and wait for a hopeful, Galaxy Shuttle retool. V. V.. Vic-a-tor-ee... Torrance formers victory!

[Madeus Prime]

What is that? A pile of crap crammed up against a window? It's soon going to burst forth and fall down on everyone below? It makes no sense!

[Munkky]

A boombox alt mode for Blaster is a surprise, I'm curious to see if Soundwave will be a repaint/retool of Blaster or a completely different mould.

[ThunderThruster]

Some interesting pic reveals.

Just throwing something out there into all the specualtion, be it crazy wrong or genius, but is perhaps one of those base modes a posibble StarConvoy?

[OptimalOptimus2]

Fortress Maximus and Bruticus! I am going to tear my face apart!

[Autobot N]

Where are you guys seeing the Titan Wars thing? I can't seem to find it.

[Mr O]

Apropos of nothing in particular, Broadside?

[Poyguimogul]

The display is by the Hasbrouck booth in the dealer room.

[Nemesis Maximo]

Madeus, I need that image of you screaming "Oh ma Gawd!!!" right now.

[Madeus Prime]

Madeus, I need that image of you screaming "Oh ma Gawd!!!" right now.

[Hero Alpha]

With all this Headmaster looking designs I am crossing me fingers for IDW headmaster Chromedome and Apeface. Both of them would make me very happy. I love the TFCC Chromedome but a headmaster one could be sweet.

[Dr. Chronos]

I don't know if anyone's brought this up yet, but it's interesting that Blaster gets a new mold, but Soundwave is supposedly going to use the CW Optimus/Motormaster mold.

[Bluespindash97]

Astrotrain, the literal definition of 'all aboard the hype train!'

Tiny transformers that drive transformer in giant transformers?!? Its madness, a good madness but still madness! Does this mean we'll see an Astrotrain that can actually fit other 'formers inside?!? LET INSANITY REIGN!

[Hellscream9999]

I don't know if anyone's brought this up yet, but it's interesting that Blaster gets a new mold, but Soundwave is supposedly going to use the CW Optimus/Motormaster mold.

There's actually been nothing to support this - other than that his vehicle mode vaguely resembles op/mm, and that the robot mode has similar proportions ad vaguely resemble the op/mm mold; so take what you will from all of this

[chuckdawg1999]

Wow. I guess the Bot Con news hasn't been split into the appropriate threads yet. Well here we go:

I wasn't planning on getting that new Voyager Optimus and the pics just support my decision. The individual limb bots look good but I'm disappointed new weapons couldn't be made for Sunstreaker, Ironhide, and Mirage. Nice touch these are based on the original toy designs from Diaclone I guess. The legends are the legends. Same molds, we know what we're getting.

3/5 of Bruticus is fantastic although a bit underwhelming since in 2015 the average fan is programed to look for retool possibilities. Blast Off is a major disappointment, while the colors are spot on the mold just doesn't work and I doubt by the time of release those hips will be able to support anything. Onslaught looks good, until you realize those cannons are Hot Spot's weapons meaning Onslaught, and by extension Bruticus, will have no hand held weapons (not counting Shockwave) if you want to keep the proper bot silhouette. I would've liked to have seen a new nosecone for Vortex making it look more like a gun ship, then I remembered the port under the vehicle body which I'm sure that's for. Brawl/Swindle, We knew Rook was going to be used, but did we realize it would be used this well? I'm holding out hope that the individual bot weapons can combine somehow, but I doubt it. I'm totally confused by the running change mentioned, is there really a demand for two different chest plates? We finally get a Classic Shockwave, that's Legends size. I've always said that the Legends class should be treated as its own world and this supports my thought. Show of hands, who was clamoring for an updated Chop Shop? Especially after the Targetmaster? Pipes is Pipes and that's all that needs to be said. I have no idea what Buzzsaw turns into but did we need a new one so soon?

The next wave of G1 cars looks nice but leaves me concerned that those Stunticon molds will be floppy messes, also how necessary were the updates need for Wheeljack and Trailbraker? Nice to see they remolded the hand on the latter. Lets just hope they did something for the Breakdown molds hips. Sky-Lynx looks fantastic, I don't remember in the cartoon if the character was represented as one or two components but this figure looks great. Then you transform it into torso mode... no. If Wreckgar has solid hips it should be fine but I'm just not in love with that mold.

Skywarp is Thundercracker in black. Looks good, that's all that needs to be said.

[Hellscream9999]

until you realize those cannons are Hot Spot's weapons meaning Onslaught, and by extension Bruticus, will have no hand held weapons (not counting Shockwave) if you want to keep the proper bot silhouette.

Meh, those guns looked terrible - proportion wise - with any combiners; beyond that mine WON'T stay together, so yet another reason to make better use of them.

As for Blastoff, it never ever made sense (both when I was a kid looking at old pics, and as an adult) so being a military vehicle makes SO much more sense. That being said, the name doesn't exactly make sense any longer, and it would've been really nice to have gotten vtol wings with missles (especially since the guy said a vtol jet during the presentation) so between all of that and no new head (especially since blstoffs head is so counter to quickslingers) it is starting to feel a tad lazy.

[DedicatedGhostArt]

Madeus, I need that image of you screaming "Oh ma Gawd!!!" right now.

OMG THAT'S HILARIOUS! XD

But what does this have to do with Combiner Wars?

What do you guys think about that Mirage?

[munkimus prime]

Bruticus is Beauticus.

Swindle out of Rook works surprisingly well.

You didn't need psychic powers to foresee that Vortex was going to be a repaint of Alpha bravo.

I like that they're using a dark green on Brawl. The mould looks good.

Blast Off being a repaint of Firefly was a surprise and looks a lot like a digi-bash I saw a while ago. He might be the least impressive of the Combaticons personally.

Onslaught's bot mode is perfect and I find the fact that he's being repainted into pretender Bludgeon hilarious.

I didn't see Sky-Lynx coming but he looks great.

[Hellscream9999]

I was gonna wait to see whether Blast-Off would be a reshell or a/b to pose this question; but does anyone's a/b's or blades' combiner port seem off by 0.5-1 degree? I noticed that when used as a leg a/b continually collapsed superion, and as an arm didn't match up in symetrical poses. This is especially irritating since every combiner seems to be using him (except Menasor) and only Victorion will have symmetrical limbs.

So I checked by seeing whether the combiner port is perpendicular in arm mode by putting him on a desk, and the port was raised by a fraction of a degree, I've noticed in Optibotimus' video of Defensor, blades kinda veered inwards.

So I was hoping I could get some honest feedback on this, thanks.

[Madeus Prime]

Okay, to avoid unleashing another

I'm going to withhold my enthusiasm (not the only "-asm" I felt after seeing the CW lineup here) and list what I like about each figure individually and whether or not I'm picking them up.

Battle Core Optimus Prime - Much nicer with a more then decent headsculpt then the previous user of that mold, but still suffers a crappy looking combined form. The headcrest, while cool, makes me think this might be what happens if Prowl became a Prime. A skip for me.

Mirage - Amazing looking, certainly better then the anorexic looking classics figure and I love that they remolded the front of the car to match his design better. I have no use for this guy, sadly, as I never much cared for his character or abilities. Pass, but I love the look.

Ironhide - A bit disappointing really, I like it, but the backpack looks really obvious with that red plastic, plus the head is turning me off for some reason, and the arms are a bit scrawny. Unfortunately, an easy pass.

Sunstreaker - SUH-WEET! I'm going to definitely pick this guy up, I love the vehicle mode in yellow even more so then the cream of Breakdown. Hope to shout that we get a Bob figure someday. Definitely going to pick up,

Prowl - Looks pretty damn good, I know he's not a traditional Prowl design, but he looks pretty sweet, might pick him up if he looks good in the official pics.

Onslaught - FREAKING PERFECTION. I honestly just thought they were going to only remold the head and trade the ladder for a set of anti-aircraft guns, not remold to whole thing! Must have.

Vortex - Kind of wish we got a bit more retooling, but considering the other four figures, it's a barely noticeable flaw. Must have.

Brawl - Absolutely brilliant looking, best Brawl I've seen, looks like they took a bit of inspiration from Heavytread for design, that's a very good thing. Perfect blend of badass soldier and thick plated bruiser. Also good to see the turret becomes a backpack, and the gun can go on it, ala G1. Must have.

Blast-Off - FINALLY, a Blast-Off that isn't a space shuttle! I know some fans will be whining about that, but I'm excited about it. I always thought his alt mode never fit in with the idea of Combaticons. I mean, when have we ever seen a military space shuttle? I kind of wish they'd given him a new head, maybe used Skydive, but overall a solid. Must have.

Swindle - You are gorgeous! I did not expect this much retooling on Rook, I thought they were going to just slap a new head on Offroad or First Aid's molds. I wise he was smirking, but totally a perfect Swindle. Must have.

Pipes - Meh, I loved his IDW character, but only for his death, otherwise, a pass.

Shockwave - Cool, but I'm going to stick with my FOC Shocky, I don't deny that he's awesome as a gun, but the toy is sports an awful lot of translucent plastic. Pass.

Chop-Shop - Neat, would buy if they remolded the antlers, the headsculpt is amazing though. A solid maybe, might be a buy on sight purchase.

Buzzsaw - Okay, well, VERY G1, but what the heck is that third mode? I see Bird, ____, thumb drive (or something like that). A maybe, until I can tell what that third form is and if there's going to be an accompanying Soundwave.

Skywarp - Great, but not interested in a huge set of Seekers. Pass

Sky Lynx - OMG YAAAASSSS!!!! FINALLY!! And he combines?!?! THIS IS TOO MUCH!!! *dies*.........Yeah, picking him up.

Wheeljack - Was a little meh on the bot mode but the vehicle won me over, goodbye Prime Jacky, hello Combiner Wars Jacky! Must have.

Hound - Ohhhh, very tempting, wish he had his projector, but might grab him. Maybe.

Smokescreen - Eh, never really cared about the character, pass, looks nice though.

Trailbreaker - Already got a better one, pass.

Wreck-Gar - Oh yes! Sleek sexy legends, with turbo handling! Must have.

[chuckdawg1999]

Blast off to me works as a space shuttle because all space shuttles are military. Pilots of shuttles are Col. in the USAF.

[Yotsuyasan]

Blast off to me works as a space shuttle because all space shuttles are military. Pilots of shuttles are Col. in the USAF.

While I prefer Blast Off as a shuttle myself, I feel I must interject, and point out that NASA is a civilian branch of the government. Yes, many of their pilots may come from the military, making things a bit murky there. But NASA itself is a civilian organization.