The Energon Pub

william-james88 wrote:

Bumblebee21 wrote:Goodwill is a donation store.

The how come people across the country found this:



looks more like surplus than donations from random civilians.

that im not sure of.
mine never got any like that.
maybe hasbro just sent some to a few stores or something.

for us, Goodwill is usually solely donations, so everything is at least 2nd hand. Dunno about those sets; maybe someone bought a ton and gave them away

That is weird, Goodwill as far as I know is 100% donation. Now I've seen that platty intel set in mass at a place called Hudson's Dirt Cheap. Dirt Cheap is somewhere between thrift store and a TJ Maxx.

They are a blowed out mess with damaged boxes and returns that no one else could sell. I love em and I've hit some great deals there. Normally things are marked either at retail or below, but everything is some % off the marked price. Think a store that is walmart's clearance section. They used to be called "treasure hunts" which was a better fit because you're going get your hands "dirty" to dig through the mess to find something.

I spotted two CW Devy's around xmas time for around $80 or less.

Cobotron wrote:Awesome Billy! Man, they got there fast. Like under the 6 to 10 biz days, no?
I'm glad you like Voltron. thanks for letting me play before I shipped. I agree he is a good and fun toy for the value. There are some things that could be better, but over all a pretty solid package.

How do you feel about Brainstorm?

Right, brainstorm. I am very happy to finally have him and I think they did a great job to the deco. But you know me, I have a hard time feeling the same excitement for q mold I already know well. What I did rnd fun was that you cam fully transform him the oldsxhool way with leaving that long nosecone folded on his back. That was a fun wrinkle I had not realized we could do with blurr and it works well on brainstorm.

but mqn, that voltron is so damn fun. It makes such great use of electronics. While connecting the lions it makes sound about them latching on. And it tells you who it's missing too. Then when all are hooked on, it does a roll call and tells you its ready for action.

Well I had just hoped that box was full of happy.

I feared BS would be a tough one. A retool at that price is iffy, but I'm glad you found some positives.
That Voltron is all kinds of awesome. Best part about the sound features? The off button!

Cobotron wrote:Well I had just hoped that box was full of happy.

I feared BS would be a tough one. A retool at that price is iffy, but I'm glad you found some positives.
That Voltron is all kinds of awesome. Best part about the sound features? The off button!

You didnt care for the sounds? I agree that for just him as a black lion, they are not needed. BUT, they add a lot of fun as you build voltron. I really like building him, up. Reminds me of Devastator but even more fun (I am never fond of the part in CW Devastator where you have to attach the treads to Long Haul's arms). And the wings are awesome. Really good value with that toy, and very solid too. Plus, and I only found this later, you can open the black lion mouth without revealing Voltron's face. there is an underneath layer so you can hide the face until revealing just for robot mode. Little things like that mean a lot to me. Plus you get the diaclone type pilots to give a sense of scale.

It was a package full of happiness, Coban, thanks!

PS: My wife doesnt thank you though, now she is stuck with another giant robot in the house

william-james88 wrote:My wife doesnt thank you though, now she is stuck with another giant robot in the house

Pity, she should be used to it by now.

william-james88 wrote:You didnt care for the sounds?

No. Actually they WERE cool. I just really appreciate an on/off switch, because you don't always need loud robots waking up the baby.

thanks!

My pleasure. Always!

PS: My wife doesnt thank you though, now she is stuck with another giant robot in the house

Ya! As if the one she married wasn't bad enough!

My wife doesn't understand why I don't display my collection since I clearly love it -- but it's simple. I don't want my kids to break 'em!

They only get to play with some CHUGs.

The rest are in my mini-mancaves (cupboards).


Some day, they'll be displayed proudly....like when the kids are 15. :p

Hope you let them out once in a while. They might run out of fresh air in that cupboard.

bodrock wrote:My wife doesn't understand why I don't display my collection since I clearly love it -- but it's simple. I don't want my kids to break 'em!

They only get to play with some CHUGs.

The rest are in my mini-mancaves (cupboards).

IMG_4739.JPG

Some day, they'll be displayed proudly....like when the kids are 15. :p

God, Tarn is so pretty.

WreckerJack wrote:Hope you let them out once in a while. They might run out of fresh air in that cupboard.

Oh yeah, but only to take pics and share with our community here! And like two other people, IRL.

I need to check out Goodwill and some pawn shops, thanks to Will's great hauls.

I took my toys out of their plastic dungeons this week-end. I realized that I now had a bunch of Robot Lions that aren't even Transformers.






But man, Power Rangers alone has a ton of Dragons!!!! I even included some TF dragons I has on hand:





Now onto more Power Rangers. Here are all the Ninja Zords



I really love these since while the animals are robotic, they arent all that stylized unlike the later animal sets. The bear looks like a bear and the wolf looks like a wolf ect. Aside from Monkey though, who looks more like the monkey king and is very humanoid.

Anyways, here is them combined (I didnt put the falcon just yet)



And now I can show you the fun you can have with him and the universal port system Power Rangers uses:









Here is where it gets real nice













And here is Optimus with the monkey zord's swords



Now onto the Thunder Zords



There is a griffin, a dragon, a unicorn, a firebird and a lion (though very stylized). And the white tigerzord which is the white ranger's zord. Now the 5 do combine into a big guy but I wanted to combine them with the Tigerzord this time.





For size comparison



I love the giant weapon you get from the Dragonzord's tail (that tommy's zord from the first season)

Do you mind giving me a Voltron lowdown? I am putting serious thought into hunting him down, but I'd like some opinions

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Do you mind giving me a Voltron lowdown? I am putting serious thought into hunting him down, but I'd like some opinions

Sure I would love to. Do you have some specific questions?

The individual lions are very well articulated and you get a lot of toy for your money (with missiles and added giant cannons, that are show accurate). You even get small diaclone like pilots to store in each lion. So on an individual level, they give you quite a bit, and one would argue they give you more than your standard deluxe TF which costs the same (they transform, have diaclone pilots, big accessories, fireing missiles, and are bigger than deluxe TFs).

Transformation is fun, especially with sounds since they say they are docking in as you connect the lions. And at anypoint you can press the same button to know which lion you havent plugged yet.

The fully transformed voltron is big. Between the height of a scramble city combiner wars combiner and Devastator. You get a sword and I love how the wings are fully modifiable. My main problem with him is how he has no waist or head articulation. he has great leg poseability but you cant get a ton of poses since his head is always looking at one direction. You can lift it up though (with a double jointed neck) so that you can create a superman flying pose.

Also, I dont like the headsculpt. Its doesnt look robotic enough. That is the one aspect where you can see that this is based on a cartoon. If you are ok with the headsculpt on Animated TF toys then that should be fine.

Anyways, in the end, this is a hot series and we all know that toys are only on shelves for so long. Unlike TFs and Power Rangers, there isnt a ton of voltron to go around, so this toy will be hot regardless and surely command a high aftermarket price just like all other voltron toys do.

I think we are getting an amazing deal for $100. I mean think about it, even Devastator doesnt have electronics, missiles, as much paint, springs, as much accessories or individual bot articulation and was priced at $50 more (granted, I am well aware that he was one more bot, but then does one bot make that big a difference when considering all the extra stuff you get with Voltron?).

So thats my take on it: get this great deal while you still can.

How about the connectivity of the lions for Voltron and the stability? I've heard and seen that the arms have been snapping because people can't unhook the arms and I've heard mumblings that he's difficult to stay upright

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:How about the connectivity of the lions for Voltron and the stability? I've heard and seen that the arms have been snapping because people can't unhook the arms and I've heard mumblings that he's difficult to stay upright

He is not more difficult than any TF combiner for standing upright (although Devastator is still the champ in that department, wow is he stable).

I can always get him to stand upright, no mater what. And I can always get the arms out. Emgo gives the best technique so far.

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:How about the connectivity of the lions for Voltron and the stability? I've heard and seen that the arms have been snapping because people can't unhook the arms and I've heard mumblings that he's difficult to stay upright

He is not more difficult than any TF combiner for standing upright (although Devastator is still the champ in that department, wow is he stable).

I can always get him to stand upright, no mater what. And I can always get the arms out. Emgo gives the best technique so far.

Good to hear. Now do you know how you got him for $100? I've seen black lion for $40 in stores, so I'm curious

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:How about the connectivity of the lions for Voltron and the stability? I've heard and seen that the arms have been snapping because people can't unhook the arms and I've heard mumblings that he's difficult to stay upright

He is not more difficult than any TF combiner for standing upright (although Devastator is still the champ in that department, wow is he stable).

I can always get him to stand upright, no mater what. And I can always get the arms out. Emgo gives the best technique so far.

Good to hear. Now do you know how you got him for $100? I've seen black lion for $40 in stores, so I'm curious

Cobo got him for me at target, the individual lions were $17 a piece and black lion was $30, adding up to $100.

Here is the description back when they were announced:

There will be a larger scaled assortment as well, that will allow for full combining into a 16″ tall Voltron. There figures, called the Legendary Lion Assortment, will have about 18 points of articulation, with a larger Black Lion that has over 50 sound effects, with some available only when combined into Voltron. Removable pilots will also be included with these Lions. The four limb Lions will be priced at $17.99 each, with the Black Lion priced at an MSRP of $29.99.

Just go on target,s website and you will see those prices.

And by the way, the arms are tight, but you can still take them out without breaking them, just look at what Emgo does

Zord weaponry is the best weaponry!

bodrock wrote:Zord weaponry is the best weaponry!

Oh **** yeah! I adore how that dragon zords's tail becomes such an impressive weapon.

Bah, I looked, and it says only available in stores, not in the stores near you.

Time to start hunting. this convinces me to hunt

D, I had the pleasure of middle manning that very toy to Will.
And Will being Will, aloud me to open it and play before shipping. Good golly GREAT FUN! It's a really well designed toy. And it's BIG!

Size comps.



the WKoC is wearing ko PE shoes, but vOLDtron is exactly the height of a CW combo with stock HFGs.


He's solid and can hold some sweet poses.


The Lions are just as fun as the giant robo.


D, with 7% sales tax I paid 109.09 at Target, and every one of those bucks is a bang. Hasbro would charge Titan prices for this toy.

bodrock wrote:Zord weaponry is the best weaponry!

WORD ta dat!

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Bah, I looked, and it says only available in stores, not in the stores near you.

Time to start hunting. this convinces me to hunt

He is also available for the same price at TRU so hunt there as well if you can.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote: this convinces me to hunt

Baaaaah! Too late with the sell!