The Energon Pub

Sabrblade wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:No visible wings...

It could turn out to be either Silverbolt or Scattershot (but not Cyclonus, his chest is different).

So, what are we looking at then? A wingless silverbolt figure? I would assume then that they might do something special in lieu of wings then...

It has to have wings. We just can't see them in this artwork. All I'm saying is that, because we can't see the wings, the mold could be one version or the other.

Hmm, that's unfortunate, was wondering if they might do some claw/lobster leg shaped engines or something else.

Yay, another use of that torso mold.

Nemesis Maximo wrote:Yay, another use of that torso mold.

Well, it is the best one.

And besides, what torso mold that Fun Pub can use hasn't been (or won't be) used over and over? (Sky Lynx is too far away to use).

Nemesis Maximo wrote:Yay, another use of that torso mold.

Which were you hoping for? There aren't exactly a lot out there to choose from. I'd have preferred Sky Lynx (in my head, still withholding any ultimate judgement until we see how it all turns out) but it's possible Hasbro shut that idea down with this convention being relatively close to the retail release of it.

Silverbolt seemed a weird mold choice at first, but...

If you turn him around in jet mode and stick guns in his hands, you've got the beginnings of a vaguely lobster/crawfish silhouette.

I wonder, given what they've done with Ram Horn, if this is the angle they'll take. If so, then

ScottyP wrote:

Nemesis Maximo wrote:Yay, another use of that torso mold.

Which were you hoping for? There aren't exactly a lot out there to choose from. I'd have preferred Sky Lynx (in my head, still withholding any ultimate judgement until we see how it all turns out) but it's possible Hasbro shut that idea down with this convention being relatively close to the retail release of it.

True, while there is the mm/op mold, the less that gets used, the better

ScottyP wrote:

Nemesis Maximo wrote:Yay, another use of that torso mold.

Which were you hoping for? There aren't exactly a lot out there to choose from. I'd have preferred Sky Lynx (in my head, still withholding any ultimate judgement until we see how it all turns out) but it's possible Hasbro shut that idea down with this convention being relatively close to the retail release of it.

Is there even a good answer? I'm not sure why this theme was agreed upon if molds weren't available to work with the characters they had planned. I honestly wish the whole theme plan would die. Just put 5 or 6 figures in a box that fit with what you have to work with. If the updates to characters we all love look nice enough, they won't need to be related/connected thematically to sell.

Hellscream9999 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

Nemesis Maximo wrote:Yay, another use of that torso mold.

Which were you hoping for? There aren't exactly a lot out there to choose from. I'd have preferred Sky Lynx (in my head, still withholding any ultimate judgement until we see how it all turns out) but it's possible Hasbro shut that idea down with this convention being relatively close to the retail release of it.

True, while there is the mm/op mold, the less that gets used, the better

It really was the one mold that could be used, with Lynx being too new, Thunder Mayhem being the hot spot/onslaught, mm/op sucks so this is left.

Doctor McGrath wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

Nemesis Maximo wrote:Yay, another use of that torso mold.

Which were you hoping for? There aren't exactly a lot out there to choose from. I'd have preferred Sky Lynx (in my head, still withholding any ultimate judgement until we see how it all turns out) but it's possible Hasbro shut that idea down with this convention being relatively close to the retail release of it.

Is there even a good answer? I'm not sure why this theme was agreed upon if molds weren't available to work with the characters they had planned. I honestly wish the whole theme plan would die. Just put 5 or 6 figures in a box that fit with what you have to work with. If the updates to characters we all love look nice enough, they won't need to be related/connected thematically to sell.

I agree with this. The themes haven't worked for me for quite a while. I'd like to just see good figures and have the themes tossed out the window. I think the Beast Wars set from 2006 and the Shattered Glass set from 2008 were the only sets that I thought the theme was good a really good fit for.

Seibertron wrote:

Doctor McGrath wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

Nemesis Maximo wrote:Yay, another use of that torso mold.

Which were you hoping for? There aren't exactly a lot out there to choose from. I'd have preferred Sky Lynx (in my head, still withholding any ultimate judgement until we see how it all turns out) but it's possible Hasbro shut that idea down with this convention being relatively close to the retail release of it.

Is there even a good answer? I'm not sure why this theme was agreed upon if molds weren't available to work with the characters they had planned. I honestly wish the whole theme plan would die. Just put 5 or 6 figures in a box that fit with what you have to work with. If the updates to characters we all love look nice enough, they won't need to be related/connected thematically to sell.

I agree with this. The themes haven't worked for me for quite a while. I'd like to just see good figures and have the themes tossed out the window. I think the Beast Wars set from 2006 and the Shattered Glass set from 2008 were the only sets that I thought the theme was good a really good fit for.

I liked the pirates/knights theme, since I love Cannonball; and I also found his crew to be pretty interesting too. Did you like this years where it was random figures as the theme?

Hellscream9999 wrote:

Seibertron wrote:

Doctor McGrath wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

Nemesis Maximo wrote:Yay, another use of that torso mold.

Which were you hoping for? There aren't exactly a lot out there to choose from. I'd have preferred Sky Lynx (in my head, still withholding any ultimate judgement until we see how it all turns out) but it's possible Hasbro shut that idea down with this convention being relatively close to the retail release of it.

Is there even a good answer? I'm not sure why this theme was agreed upon if molds weren't available to work with the characters they had planned. I honestly wish the whole theme plan would die. Just put 5 or 6 figures in a box that fit with what you have to work with. If the updates to characters we all love look nice enough, they won't need to be related/connected thematically to sell.

I agree with this. The themes haven't worked for me for quite a while. I'd like to just see good figures and have the themes tossed out the window. I think the Beast Wars set from 2006 and the Shattered Glass set from 2008 were the only sets that I thought the theme was good a really good fit for.

I liked the pirates/knights theme, since I love Cannonball; and I also found his crew to be pretty interesting too. Did you like this years where it was random figures as the theme?

Throwing in my 2 sense here, I loved that there were characters from 5 different families joined together in a miss-mash and it worked for me. I liked it, and I do like the theme this year with the Predacus council and their agents. It works for me (which is why I may try very hard to get the set)

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

Seibertron wrote:

Doctor McGrath wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

Nemesis Maximo wrote:Yay, another use of that torso mold.

Which were you hoping for? There aren't exactly a lot out there to choose from. I'd have preferred Sky Lynx (in my head, still withholding any ultimate judgement until we see how it all turns out) but it's possible Hasbro shut that idea down with this convention being relatively close to the retail release of it.

Is there even a good answer? I'm not sure why this theme was agreed upon if molds weren't available to work with the characters they had planned. I honestly wish the whole theme plan would die. Just put 5 or 6 figures in a box that fit with what you have to work with. If the updates to characters we all love look nice enough, they won't need to be related/connected thematically to sell.

I agree with this. The themes haven't worked for me for quite a while. I'd like to just see good figures and have the themes tossed out the window. I think the Beast Wars set from 2006 and the Shattered Glass set from 2008 were the only sets that I thought the theme was good a really good fit for.

I liked the pirates/knights theme, since I love Cannonball; and I also found his crew to be pretty interesting too. Did you like this years where it was random figures as the theme?

Throwing in my 2 sense here, I loved that there were characters from 5 different families joined together in a miss-mash and it worked for me. I liked it, and I do like the theme this year with the Predacus council and their agents. It works for me (which is why I may try very hard to get the set)

I liked some of the figures, but I didn't care about it beyond it.

And it's not difficult to get the set just go with the non-attendee set, or pay the price for it through bbts or the like - if you can justify it.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

Seibertron wrote:

Doctor McGrath wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

Nemesis Maximo wrote:Yay, another use of that torso mold.

Which were you hoping for? There aren't exactly a lot out there to choose from. I'd have preferred Sky Lynx (in my head, still withholding any ultimate judgement until we see how it all turns out) but it's possible Hasbro shut that idea down with this convention being relatively close to the retail release of it.

Is there even a good answer? I'm not sure why this theme was agreed upon if molds weren't available to work with the characters they had planned. I honestly wish the whole theme plan would die. Just put 5 or 6 figures in a box that fit with what you have to work with. If the updates to characters we all love look nice enough, they won't need to be related/connected thematically to sell.

I agree with this. The themes haven't worked for me for quite a while. I'd like to just see good figures and have the themes tossed out the window. I think the Beast Wars set from 2006 and the Shattered Glass set from 2008 were the only sets that I thought the theme was good a really good fit for.

I liked the pirates/knights theme, since I love Cannonball; and I also found his crew to be pretty interesting too. Did you like this years where it was random figures as the theme?

Throwing in my 2 sense here, I loved that there were characters from 5 different families joined together in a miss-mash and it worked for me. I liked it, and I do like the theme this year with the Predacus council and their agents. It works for me (which is why I may try very hard to get the set)

It's not that I don't like the theme, it's that there aren't molds available to do the characters justice, in my opinion of course. Sea clamp as a jet isn't cutting it. That said, I don't think I would have been any happier having him turn into a semi or a fire truck.

Sabrblade wrote:

Nemesis Maximo wrote:Yay, another use of that torso mold.

Well, it is the best one.

And besides, what torso mold that Fun Pub can use hasn't been (or won't be) used over and over? (Sky Lynx is too far away to use).

Funny you should ask:





Only the wings and nosecone have been changed, no major robot mode parts, and keeping in mind those parts may have been built in it's not too far of a stretch.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Nemesis Maximo wrote:Yay, another use of that torso mold.

Well, it is the best one.

And besides, what torso mold that Fun Pub can use hasn't been (or won't be) used over and over? (Sky Lynx is too far away to use).

Funny you should ask:

That's the same mold as this one. I was asking what other mold hasn't been reused or will be reused?

Scattershot is a reuse of the mold. I'm counting remolds as one mold:

• OP/MM/BC OP
• Silverbolt/Cyclonus/Scattershot
• Hot Spot/Onslaught

quick question , do you have to be a club member to buy the non attendee package from botcon direct ?

jamarmiller wrote:quick question , do you have to be a club member to buy the non attendee package from botcon direct ?

Yes you do.

Sabrblade wrote:

jamarmiller wrote:quick question , do you have to be a club member to buy the non attendee package from botcon direct ?

Yes you do.

What about the Primus package?

Decepticon Sunstorm wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

jamarmiller wrote:quick question , do you have to be a club member to buy the non attendee package from botcon direct ?

Yes you do.

What about the Primus package?

All BotCon packages are for Club members. Otherwise, non-members have to pay an even more expensive price.

Well that turned out as expected...now when do we get the money shots, I.e. The combined form.

Hellscream9999 wrote:I liked the pirates/knights theme, since I love Cannonball; and I also found his crew to be pretty interesting too. Did you like this years where it was random figures as the theme?

As with every year, there are some figures that I really like but I felt like the theme was forced. Cannonball was disappointing to me since we already had a deluxe class Cannonball so I didn't feel like we were gaining anything really whereas had Cannonball done as a voyager from Arms Micron Breakdown, that would have been something cool to have and would've been something that didn't already have. As for this year's set, I'm not a fan of Axiom Nexus, Shattered Glass, multi-verse or any other convenient plot devices that are similar to those, or are overused.

In all honesty, guys, what else could they have done? The fans wanted 2016 to be a Beast Wars set to honor the 20th anniversary, while Hasbro evidently wanted it to be a Combiner Wars set (as Fun Pub did state at this year's BotCon that they're now working closer with Hasbro in having Fun Pub's projects align more with Hasbro's plans). This set is even branded under the Combiner Wars label:



So with Hasbro having say over what they'd let Fun Pub do for this set, it more than likely that it was gonna be a Combiner Wars set regardless. And with there being such demand for another Beast Wars set to celebrate the anniversary, everyone would have complained if they had ignored the demand for more Beast Wars stuff.

So it would appear that they chose to go a route of fulfilling the desires of both Hasbro and the fans by doing a Beast Wars Combiner set. And since there just so happened to be a combiner in the Beast Wars toyline whose components did appear in the show but never got toys of their onscreen appearances, and whose fictional history had yet to be explored, who better to do than the Tripredacus Council?

I certainly wouldn't have wanted combiner versions of the show's main characters. And from all the backlash that the likes of CW Optimus, Cyclonus, Prowl, Sunstreaker, Mirage, Ironhide, Hound, Smokescreen, Wheeljack, and Trailbreaker have received, being called unnecessary additions to the line that "took away spots from the REAL combiners", I can imagine why the Club didn't go that route with this set.

So, it's perfectly understandable that they chose to go with the three council members and their two agents who appeared in the cartoon, as that was likely the safest route for them to take. I can understand the feeling of redundancy in their giving us another Pre-Beast Tarantulas so soon after the last one (I myself wish they had gone with another agent like Onyx Primal), but considering how the mass audiences familiar with Beast Wars most probably only know of the cartoon and are not as versed in the more obscure non-show Beast Wars fiction, the choice of show-character Tarantulas over some non-show nobody is, as I said, likely the safest route they could have taken. Ergo, a recognizable character is likely more appealing to most people than someone either completely unknown or someone known only to the TFWiki crowd.

On Episode #127 of the Twincast Podcast, someone made the suggestion of them having possibly instead made a combiner out of Beast Wars Neo Maximals Big Convoy, Break, Stampy, Longrack, etc., which was met with some positive feedback from the other podcasters. However, IMHO, that idea would not work as a Beast Wars 20th Anniversary set for two reasons.

1) Those characters are from a different Beast Wars show than the one that would be celebrated. That would be a Beast Wars Neo anniversary set, not a Beast Wars anniversary set.

2) Both of the Japanese Beast Wars cartoons (Second and Neo) take place in a completely different timeframe than that of the American Beast Wars cartoon. And I don't just mean how the American show is set in prehistoric times while the other two don't, no, I'm referring to the home time of the American Beast Wars show's cast. That "300 years after the Great War" setting that the American characters all came from before traveling back in time, that's not the same home time as the Japanese Beast Wars cartoons. Most of the Western fandom didn't know this at the time, but the Beast Wars Second and Neo cartoons established themselves as being set tens of thousands of years into the future, long after the "300 years into the future" setting of both Beast Wars and Beast Machines. So those Japanese characters are way off from the time period of Beast Wars.

Now, sure, some of the Japanese characters have cropped up in some of the 3H and Fun Pub Beast Era fiction (BWII Dirge in "Theft of the Golden Disk", for instance), but only in small roles and unattached to the events of the cartoons that they came from. And there's the Beast Wars: Uprising that just does whatever it wants with whichever characters, but that's a whole different setting from the American Beast Wars cartoon, which is what we're expecting this BotCon set to revolve around and celebrate.

To close, because what Hasbro wanted and what the fans wanted, it was inevitable that this set was gonna be a Combiner Wars/Beast Wars 20th Anniversary set. Yes, not everyone is going to be happy with the results (not everyone is ever always happy with the BotCon sets), but they tried with this one, and tried more than usual since we're getting a whopping five new headsculpts as opposed to the usual one, two, or three. And we're getting toys of characters based on cartoon appearances that never got toys before, and whose original toys were components of a combiner who hasn't received any kind of upgrade in 18-19 years. And aside from Tarantulas, all of these new toys are able to easily be integrated with all of the Pre-Beast Wars toys that Fun Pub has given us so far over the years. If you just plain don't like this set, that's fine, you don't have to like it. If you do like it, that's fine too. Just... Please understand what was trying to be accomplished here.

*Disclaimer*
I realize I am not speaking the opinion of the entire fandom.

As a pretty big Beast Wars fan, I would have rather them just forgone the anniversary like Hasbro did. Make a combiner using the molds given that makes sense. The homage feels forced here, IMO. If BW had to be a part, redeco CW Optimus Prime as Primal & BH voyager Predaking as trans-metal II Megatron in a souvenir set & call it a day. As a fan, that would have been more appealing to me anyway. Instead, as of this moment, I won't be buying the box set.

Easy Tiger wrote:Silverbolt seemed a weird mold choice at first, but...

If you turn him around in jet mode and stick guns in his hands, you've got the beginnings of a vaguely lobster/crawfish silhouette.

I wonder, given what they've done with Ram Horn, if this is the angle they'll take. If so, then

It doesn't seem a little stupid to turn a toy around or use a fan mode as the alt mode for a convention exclusive figure? The fandom that often freaks out over mistransformed figures in stock photos thinks it would be acceptable to half transform a fire truck or turn a jet backwards and have that count as an official transformation?