The Energon Pub

So Fansproject made upgrade kits for the Energon Combaticon and Aerialbot molds, both of which were pretty awesome. however, the poor old Constructicons never got such an upgrade, and I kinda think they should to be honest.

I mean yeah, you can't exactly make them G1-accurate (as they only have 5 members) but I reckon they could at least make it a better toy. I have Steamhammer and he's a great figure, and I have handled the other 2 Energon Constructicon molds as well (both of whom were a lot of fun) and I think they deserve better. They're already most of the way there- you can already make a decent (albeit clawed) arm out of Heavy Load/Duststorm, and he actually looks pretty imposing even vanilla. All he'd need is 2 new limb molds, some hands and feet, and maybe a few extra accessories to bulk up the combined mode and give them more weapons when separated.

How would you go about making an upgrade for them? Do you think there's any existing characters they resemble enough that they could be made to homage (Sixbuilder perhaps)? Or do you think an upgrade kit should make them into a set of original characters?

If a kit was to be designed around these guys I would prefer a character / set of characters separate from the Constructicons. In fact, that's probably why we never got an upgrade was due to Maketoys and TFC putting out full reimagined figures.

The biggest problem though would be how to bring them a point of desirability. As the other two energon combiners had a firm spot as Aerialbots and Combaticons, this set has a bit of difficulty fitting in regardless of how they're upgraded. I guess Sixbuilder would be an option, but it would take a lot to make it work.

Might be more successful just doing something like a brand new set of characters or perhaps simply upgrading him to be a better Constructicon Maximus, but since Energon wasn't that big of a hit I doubt the effort to engineer a more suitable upgrade wouldn't be worth how many would actually invest in it.

I just dont see a market for such a kit. Its not GEEWUN enough to appeal to the masses. Your best bet would be to comission a custom if you like the energon character that much.

The problem for me is they're the worst of the Energon combiners, and that is saying something. Updating them into a G1 team is mostly impossible, so I have little interest in an upgrade kit.

Alas, it is true that continuities outside of GEEWUN (and to a lesser extent the IDW comics and BEast Wars) don't really have the same appreciation. Obviously show-accuracy isn't a problem as the show models were basically carbon copies of the toys, I'm just thinking of ways to make a decent toy into a great one. I think there's a lot of people who have the Energon Constructicon Maximus and like it but wish it was a tad better (IIRC it was the best recieved out of the 3 Energon combiners) so I don't think the market is totally non-existant, just smaller than the market for GEEWUN figures (although I reckon if people started making non-G1-based products and they were good it could very well increase the demand for more variety in the 3P market, thus allowing for a great deal more innovation and representation of other continuities and even totally original ideas- Planet X's Genesis opened the door for WFC/FOC stuff, and now we have Planet X's Dinobots, 2 different FOC Bruticus upgrade kits and that upcoming line of WFC/FOC Legends class figures).

TL;DR: Yes, at present the market for non-G1 3P Transformers is small, but that could very well change and it would be cool if it did.

(In any case the chances of CM getting an upgrade kit are very slim, but it would be nice if he did).

Anyway, here's how I'd do it:

For the 2 extra limb-bots, I'd make one of them a rockwheel trencher and the other a front-pouring cement truck.




In addition the kit would come with 2 feet (which would peg onto the sides of Steamhammer's legs/excavator mode via his knee minicon points, and would also store a bunch of little 5mm tools and gizmos in addition to hiding the hands a la Quantron), shoulder blocks to give him more poseability in combined mode (attaching to the feet unit's ankle joints and disguising as missile pods/searchlights whilst decombined), various extra weapons and equipment that could be pegged onto the individual vehicle modes and also combined into various super-weapons (or components, connectors etc) for combined mode, and a flail on a chain (that could become a wrecking ball for the crane bot when not combined).

In combined mode, the trencher-bot would become the arm and the mixer-bot the leg. In arm mode, teh trencher-bot could retract/remove his hand and fold up the rockwheel for SAW HAND ACTION (because replacing parts of ones body with cutting instruments is cool). In addition to the various weapons formed out of the equipment of the smaller 'bots, the mixer-bot's barrel could detach and transform into a huge cannon for him.

So...yeah. I dunno, I think he'd look pretty neat, and more combiners is always fun. Steel Core was awesome and he was totally original, so...

Dont get me wong the unicron trilogy is cool and all. But it's stuck in that category where its too old to be popular but not old enough to be a classic. The kids who grew up with energon are going to college, getting married, etc. Maybe when they hit their mid 30s there will be a huge 3rd party market for the unicron trilogy. But as you pointed out, cartoon accuracy doesnt really factor into the need for 3rd parties to even touch these lines. Are there any "gaps" that need to be filled ? Seems like the toys were made in conjunction with the cartoon unlike G1. If you just seek better figures, then more unicron trilogy fans need to come out of the woodworks and show the 3rd parties that a market really exists.

You could always just make your own, like I did.

http://www.seibertron.com/energonpub/custom-classics-devastator-t99444.php

Trust me it's not as hard as it looks.

Funny you should mention that leaky, as I did have an idea for a ShapeWays kit that would enable PCC Sledge to become a limb for him (albeit one without a hand but that's par for the course). He's just the right size and he looks pretty good with other UT figures. Of course I'd need to brush up on my Blender skills but hey, it's possible...

Delta Magnus wrote:Funny you should mention that leaky, as I did have an idea for a ShapeWays kit that would enable PCC Sledge to become a limb for him (albeit one without a hand but that's par for the course). He's just the right size and he looks pretty good with other UT figures. Of course I'd need to brush up on my Blender skills but hey, it's possible...

Nice idea! I'd like to see an add on kit for this Shapeways or otherwise, I think there's still a bit of life in the old dog yet however I fear that combiner wars will be the final nail in the coffin for poor old Constructicon Maximus.

Yeah, Combiner Wars will probably be the death of Constructicon Maximus, but on the plus side the aftermarket prices will go right down on him, so I can finally get the limbs for him (and a replacement Steamhammer, as mine has a broken leg).

Question is, if Sledge were to be one of the limbs, who would be the final 4th figure? I suppose a Shapeways kit could concievably turn the Energon Brawl mold into a bulldozer...

Delta Magnus wrote:Yeah, Combiner Wars will probably be the death of Constructicon Maximus, but on the plus side the aftermarket prices will go right down on him, so I can finally get the limbs for him (and a replacement Steamhammer, as mine has a broken leg).

Question is, if Sledge were to be one of the limbs, who would be the final 4th figure? I suppose a Shapeways kit could concievably turn the Energon Brawl mold into a bulldozer...

Funny I remember at the time of making my custom I came up with an elaborate back story to explain away the lack of a 6th member and the presence of duplicate molds, something along the lines of Shockwave despising the erratic nature of Devastator when combined and cloning the strongest members of the team to make him as efficient as possible... Damn I'm such a geek

Suppose 3rd parties could add the 6th member like Combiners Wars did. By having it be a legends scale gestalt chest wing or Targetmaster.

Think 3rd parties would have to create 3 new molds. to make this as close to G-1 as possible. With some combiners accessories like hands, feet, head, weapons and so on.

Tsutsukakushi wrote:Suppose 3rd parties could add the 6th member like Combiners Wars did. By having it be a legends scale gestalt chest wing or Targetmaster.

Think 3rd parties would have to create 3 new molds. to make this as close to G-1 as possible. With some combiners accessories like hands, feet, head, weapons and so on.

It's a nice idea T and I would buy them in a heartbeat, but with combiner wars gathering momentum this guy is as good as extinct. On the plus side I am pretty sure we're going to get a brand new Devy, and if the new Mensor and Superion are anything to go by then he'll be very G1 accurate.