The Energon Pub

Well.


Yes.


It certainly is a memorable alt mode!

Break wrote:

vectorA3 wrote:

Break wrote:I thought of another possibilities

Cites/Fortresses: (Tryticon, Metroplex, Fort Max, G1 Omega Supreme)

dangit. I was thinkin that too. U beat me to it

Now, if I was doing it, I would mention the original Optimus' trailer, and the attempt to make the Scramble City leaders have a base mode, each of which was a fail (well, Onslaught's wasn't too bad).

Can't come up with any that isn't G1, but I'm old school. My first transformer was Starscream in Christmas 1984.

off topic slightly --but why is Scramble City so notable again? I saw the episode once on the 20th anniv. dvd TFTM and thought it was cool. But why does everyone reference this so much? Did it have all the combiner teams fighting? 4 combiners? i forget

vectorA3 wrote:

Break wrote:

vectorA3 wrote:

Break wrote:I thought of another possibilities

Cites/Fortresses: (Tryticon, Metroplex, Fort Max, G1 Omega Supreme)

dangit. I was thinkin that too. U beat me to it

Now, if I was doing it, I would mention the original Optimus' trailer, and the attempt to make the Scramble City leaders have a base mode, each of which was a fail (well, Onslaught's wasn't too bad).

Can't come up with any that isn't G1, but I'm old school. My first transformer was Starscream in Christmas 1984.

off topic slightly --but why is Scramble City so notable again? I saw the episode once on the 20th anniv. dvd TFTM and thought it was cool. But why does everyone reference this so much? Did it have all the combiner teams fighting? 4 combiners? i forget

"Scramble City" is an umbrella term for the combiner teams that have five interchangable parts and square connector pegs such as the Aerialbots and the Seacons. In Japan these figures and Metroplex were released with the Scramble City logo on the box, hence the name.

It's not so much the episode itself that's notable, more that it's a convenient way to refer to those specific figures.

Maybe add some arachnids to the "Bug" entry? (They all squish when stepped upon)

Blackarachina (Fembot spider in BW and Animated flavors)
Tarantulas (Technicolor spider)
Scorponok (1/2 Scorpion-construction vehicle, lummox 2nd in Command, and Bayverse-actually-looks-like-a-scorpion-scorpion)

Diem wrote:
It's a well known fact that any boy who has reached the age of five without developing an infatuation with dinosaurs is destined to become an interior designer. Every small boy loves the giant reptiles, and the T-Rex is literally king...

As a Transformers fangirl I must disagree that only young boys develop an infatuation with dinosaurs. There may not be many of us who were fascinated by dinosaurs, but I can still rattle off inane dinosaur facts by the thousands. And radioactive lizard/monster movie facts and quotes.

Love the list! Can't wait to see what your #1 is!

Dreamchylde wrote:Maybe add some arachnids to the "Bug" entry? (They all squish when stepped upon)

Blackarachina (Fembot spider in BW and Animated flavors)
Tarantulas (Technicolor spider)
Scorponok (1/2 Scorpion-construction vehicle, lummox 2nd in Command, and Bayverse-actually-looks-like-a-scorpion-scorpion)

Not to mention G1 Scorponok and that Mutants guy. Maybe arachnids deserve an Honourable Mention too.

Dreamchylde wrote:

Diem wrote:
It's a well known fact that any boy who has reached the age of five without developing an infatuation with dinosaurs is destined to become an interior designer. Every small boy loves the giant reptiles, and the T-Rex is literally king...

As a Transformers fangirl I must disagree that only young boys develop an infatuation with dinosaurs. There may not be many of us who were fascinated by dinosaurs, but I can still rattle off inane dinosaur facts by the thousands. And radioactive lizard/monster movie facts and quotes.

I didn't say only boys. I'm a teacher so I've seen more than enough girls with traditionally boyish pursuits (and vicey-versy). But I do love me some Godzilla. Especially when he uses Ebirah's own severed claw to make fun of him.

Diem wrote:

Ironclaw wrote:Stop the countdown. We have the best one right here.

*Picture of Swindler the Micromaster*

Admit it. It so is.

Maybe if his chest opened, matrix-style, to reveal a teeny tiny Flux Capacitor. Otherwise, no.

I wish I had 2 of this guy so I could do a tiny mod - that would be awesome!

Diem wrote:

vectorA3 wrote:

Break wrote:

vectorA3 wrote:

Break wrote:I thought of another possibilities

Cites/Fortresses: (Tryticon, Metroplex, Fort Max, G1 Omega Supreme)

dangit. I was thinkin that too. U beat me to it

Now, if I was doing it, I would mention the original Optimus' trailer, and the attempt to make the Scramble City leaders have a base mode, each of which was a fail (well, Onslaught's wasn't too bad).

Can't come up with any that isn't G1, but I'm old school. My first transformer was Starscream in Christmas 1984.

off topic slightly --but why is Scramble City so notable again? I saw the episode once on the 20th anniv. dvd TFTM and thought it was cool. But why does everyone reference this so much? Did it have all the combiner teams fighting? 4 combiners? i forget

"Scramble City" is an umbrella term for the combiner teams that have five interchangable parts and square connector pegs such as the Aerialbots and the Seacons. In Japan these figures and Metroplex were released with the Scramble City logo on the box, hence the name.

It's not so much the episode itself that's notable, more that it's a convenient way to refer to those specific figures.

Well, it was also memorable because you saw different pieces changing places on the gestalts, even Bot to Con (causing pain in the combined bot). I think that it demonstrated the capability for any piece, any where, even on the opposite team, was pretty memorable.

Diem wrote:For the following entry, I'm going to have to encourage all participants to both git theh modors runnin and geddout on the haahway!

#21 Motorbikes



"A ninja must move like water and sell figures like hot cakes"

Somehow, a miracle occured. A figure was released that combined posability, fun, show-accuracy and unbearable amounts of win in one, sexy, "If Niles Crane were a transforming ninja robot motorcycle-cop motorcycle it'd be the best thing ever" package. Symmetrical robot mode? Incredibly sexy motorcycle mode? Shuriken? There was no way this figure could get better.


"Well, there goes my second wish. Now, naked Megan Fox, or Fort Max reissue? I wish I didn't have to decide right now...GODDAMN IT!"

Yep, Prowl got reissued in a new, sexier motorbike form, now with a sidecar that turned into awesome armour. Well played Hasbro. Well played.

Sorry to join the conversation a little late in the game, but I absolutely have to agree here. As something of a transforming motorcycle aficionado, both Transformers and others, I have collected all of these that I could get my hands on/afford, and have to say that Prowl is BY FAR the most fun of all of them, best articulated, and amazingly animation accurate too.
And yes, upgrading him with a sidecar that turns into samurai armor... genius.

Even handled the wheels knees thing better than Viper's Creed.

Ironclaw wrote:Stop the countdown. We have the best one right here.

Admit it. It so is.

Oh dude, yer gonna post a pic of a Delorean TF and NOT TELL me its name?! That's harsh man. I thought we were buds.

Lucky for you I got mad interweb skills and right-clicked the pic to see the file name. We're all good now. (All in jest of course!)

Isn't it ironic that I won't post the figure's name? Allanis Morrisette, take note.

(Swindler, Micromaster Race Car Patrol)

Diem wrote:

WESITRON wrote:I loved Deluge when I was a kid! I remember in the commcercial the announcer calls him Deluge and it took me until probably '06 or '07 to realize that wasn't his name! I owned the damned thing and never knew his name was Drench. Thanks internets!

It's complicated. In Europe there were eight water-squirting figures: four 'Bots, four 'Cons. Deluge was the heroic LeMans. Then for some reason in America only the four Autobots were released, all being slightly redecoed and two of them becoming Decepticons. The LeMans mold was still an Autobot but was now called Drench while the name Deluge got transferred to the F1 car who used to be an Autobot called Speedstream but was now a Decepticon called, well, Deluge.

Oh, you wacky Americans!

I actually had to do a bit of searching to find the decepticon storm troopers as they were called. that name alone woulda had to go, but the figures were really rather nice. it's a shame they never made it to the states

Blurrz wrote:

Heckfire wrote:Isn't the Mini-Con Downshift (and his fifty repaints) a Le Mans racer, too?

Yup... so where's Waldo?

Right heres! There hes are! In the Red circles!

Protecticus Maximus wrote:

Blurrz wrote:

Heckfire wrote:Isn't the Mini-Con Downshift (and his fifty repaints) a Le Mans racer, too?

Yup... so where's Waldo?

Right heres! There hes are! In the Red circles!

Sup gang, I decided it would be fun to do a write up of one of my suggestions I made a long time ago when this list began. So without further ado:

Beasts. Love 'em or hate 'em, there's been a lot of them, and they've been in Transformers history since the very begining. Heck, Ravage had the first line of dialogue EVER. Pretty good for a guy who doesn't even talk in most of his appearances in various media.

However, despite Ravage's claim to fame, there's only been a few panthers. No, if there's one beast mode that's been used a lot that desesrves a spot on some list, it has to be this:


Honorable Mention #1: Rhinocerous

Also, I almost forgot Kid Rhino, the company that brought Transformers to a new generation of fans, and brought me back to the fold!

Back in the day, Soundwave was awsome because he had an entire army in his chest. Then Blaster came into the picture, and the war between the radio's began. Unfortunately, for the entire second season Blaster only had his Autobot commrades to rely on! But all that changed in Transformers: The Movie(and Scramble City for our Japanese readers) when we were introduced to this little guy:


Comin' through!

Like Ravage, Ramhorn actually spoke in one episode of the American TV series. Unlike Ravage he had several lines of dialogue. He had several other apperances as well, but for some reason he seems to get overshadowed by Steeljaw a lot. Kind of odd considering there's really nothing wrong with his figure. He's got weaponry that rivals any of Soundwave's tapes(unless you happen to lose them), and he's one of the most articulated Transformers. Counting the tail and head, he has 14 points of articulation. It's hard to find that on modern transformers!

On the Decepticon front, the Predacons gave us Headstrong:


Colorblind since 1986.

Don't have much to say on him, because I don't have his figure. However, he doesn't look very articulate, and the bright yellow and red makes me think the dayglo 90's took inspiration from him. Oh, and he has one horn. That makes him a...Unocerous?

Thing were pretty Rhino quiet over the next few years, but during the tail end of G1 Hasbro/Takara managed to give us not one, not two, not three, not even four, but FIVE Rhino Transformers!

The first was Stranglehold:


These horns look sharp enough to peirce dry wall!

The second was Rhino Breast, who came with Drillhorn, a Rhino inspired robot!


I can see the tagline now: From beast, to gun, to sports bra!

Also in the Victory line was Greatshot, a remold of Sixshot. His beast mode was modified to be, you guessed it, a rhino: http://www.tfu.info/1989/Cybertron/GreatShot/greatshot.htm
Next up is a double feature, in which Rhino's are the only beast to be used as partners to two seperate Action Masters with two different factions using two seperate molds! They are:

Top-Heavy, who came with Skyfall:

I'm surpsingly stable!

The other was Fire Beast, who came with Charger:


I become a hat!

Moving into G2, unless you were a dinosaur you didn’t get a beast mode! But no biggie, because Hasbro decided they needed to kick it up a notch(BAM!) and base an entire line around animals! Enter: Beast Wars.

The first Rhino-former to come from this legendary line was not actually Rhinox, but the aptly named Rhino:


My feet smell like crap!

Rhino’s an ok little Maxi, and really isn’t too bad for a McDonald’s figure. He less articulated than Panther, but has feet and hands that look like feet and hands, plus I guess his Transformation is the most intricate.

Putting him aside, let’s move on to one of the most memorable characters in Transformer history, Rhinox:


My grandma, what sharp teeth you have….


*Insert Smiling Bob joke here*

Now then, if you haven’t seen Beast Wars, your probably wondering why he was so memorable. To that I say this: Beast Wars really is quite awesome, and you should watch it to see why. But really, the reason why he’s memorable is despite having a Transmetal upgrade him and Waspinator are the only two characters to stay in their original form from the very first episode to the very last. Rhinox struck the killing blow to the Nemesis, and the Chaingun of Doom is a force to be reckoned with. Oh, and he beat Megatron and the Predacons by farting. By FARTING. You don’t get more hilariously awesome than that. He was also a top notch scientist, the most devious Predacon one episode, and was possibly the most physically strong of all of them.

Now I don’t’ have his original Beast Wars figure, but I have his Transmetal one, and it really is a pretty nice one. Well articulated, a somewhat sensible vehicle mode, and he has two horns, which look pretty deadly.

The next series, Beast Machines, avoided Rhinos entirely. Rhinox was still around of course, but he was Tankor now wanted to destroy the organic. A complete 180 from just wanting to smell the flowers, but I guess he was a scientist first and environmentalist second.

So, think that’s the end of the list? Not by a long shot pal! We’ve still got one more to go, and he’s both the best and the worst!!


My hand is also my butt….

Ladies and gents, I present to you, Backstop! I picked this guy up for $5 from the Dollar General. Mostly on a whim, and I gotta say, I love his beast mode!! Out of all the bunch listed, he’s my favorite. Good beast mode articulation, nice detailed sculpt, and generally looks powerful. His Cyber Key power is dumb, but that doesn’t matter. However, even though he has a fun simple transformation, his robot mode is…not good. Poor articulation, no neck, and just looks generally awkward. Almost charmingly so…

So gang, that wraps it up for Rhinos. Wait, you want more? All right, I’ll leave you with a look at what could have been:


Yep, that’s Animated Rhinox. Wonder how he would have fit in?

erm I thought that what was thought to be transformers animated rhinox was actually a early concept piece for Transformers Hero prime?

Its remarkably similar to early concept pictures for Op from Transformers Hero scetches.

Neurie wrote:erm I thought that what was thought to be transformers animated rhinox was actually a early concept piece for Transformers Hero prime?

Its remarkably similar to early concept pictures for Op from Transformers Hero scetches.

Nope, Duke's right.

Great entry Duke! It really excites me to see others' contributions to this thread!

Very good Honorable Mention post. Very creative. Diem still has the gold with some of his catchy comments though!

Diem wrote:

Neurie wrote:erm I thought that what was thought to be transformers animated rhinox was actually a early concept piece for Transformers Hero prime?

Its remarkably similar to early concept pictures for Op from Transformers Hero scetches.

Nope, Duke's right.

Great entry Duke! It really excites me to see others' contributions to this thread!

I think they're both right. TF Animated evolved out of Hero, so the early Animated concepts (which was what these prototypes are) used the Hero-style designs. Pretty sure this was explained in the Animated Almanac or Jim Sorenson's blog or something.

for a moment there I thought Duke was Diem Such similar presentation. I wish i had Ramhorn & all of Blasters tapes for that matter. (SW's too!)

number 1 of the 26 best alternate mode to me is easily

WOW!


Can't wait for the rest of it!

Duke of Luns wrote:The next series, Beast Machines, avoided Rhinos entirely. Rhinox was still around of course, but he was Tankor now wanted to destroy the organic. A complete 180 from just wanting to smell the flowers, but I guess he was a scientist first and environmentalist second.

Dude! Spoilers!

Hahaha okay so it turns out that when using a Mac unlike when using a PC if you are typing a reply, accidently go to another page and then hit the back button it doesn't retain the two hours' worth of writing you (ie. me) did for entry #2.





*sob*



Okay, entry #2 will be a while longer.

Diem wrote:Hahaha okay so it turns out that when using a Mac unlike when using a PC if you are typing a reply, accidently go to another page and then hit the back button it doesn't retain the two hours' worth of writing you (ie. me) did for entry #2.





*sob*



Okay, entry #2 will be a while longer.

I cannot even begin to describe how much I know how you feel. I have typed up lots of a big, descriptive posts only for them to be erased by some interference as what you've described. It makes me want to kill the computer.

That's why I almost always write big posts in Word or something similar. Not only does it autosave, but it spellchecks too!

We're all patiently (or impatiently) waiting, Diem, but you can't rush genius!

Autobot Strider wrote:That's why I almost always write big posts in Word or something similar. Not only does it autosave, but it spellchecks too!

We're all patiently (or impatiently) waiting, Diem, but you can't rush genius!

Yeah, I was using Word (or rather Open Office) on my old crappy computer because of its random overheat shutdowns. However I didn't think my shiny new Mac would have similar problems. Learn something new every day.