The Energon Pub

News Credits: 241 · Mon Feb 11, 2013 2:17 pm

Bowspearer wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Hasbro has made a few jet molds available to FunPub, and they just had to make due.

Did they? Honestly the smoking gun here is the upcoming Slipstream figure. That figure proves that they had access to the TF Prime moulds (at least some of them anyway), meaning that the Starscrem mould (and quite possibly the Soundwave mould) could have been used here. That raises the question of it wasn't chosen for Thundercracker and Skywarp.

The FE Starscream mold is currently in use for the production of the Slipstream figures. Besides, the style of the robot modes does not fit what they're going for, too lanky.

Mon Feb 11, 2013 2:36 pm

All I am saying is that they didn't necessarily plan or design these in the order they reveal them.

I'd wager they thought Electro is a good design and match, then planned this black one as an easy repaint.

Either way, we'll not know until they reveal the rest - so no need to argue about it.

Mon Feb 11, 2013 3:05 pm

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
Bowspearer wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Hasbro has made a few jet molds available to FunPub, and they just had to make due.

Did they? Honestly the smoking gun here is the upcoming Slipstream figure. That figure proves that they had access to the TF Prime moulds (at least some of them anyway), meaning that the Starscrem mould (and quite possibly the Soundwave mould) could have been used here. That raises the question of it wasn't chosen for Thundercracker and Skywarp.

The FE Starscream mold is currently in use for the production of the Slipstream figures. Besides, the style of the robot modes does not fit what they're going for, too lanky.

And since when has that stopped them before? Case in point - FP had no problems having the mold in production for Runamuck and Runabout and then using it for SG Tracks. Yet suddenly a year later it can't be done? Honestly - I don't buy that for a second.

Furthermore even if it is a little lanky, it's far closer to the aesthetic of the MW small Seekers than the mould they've chosen.

Mon Feb 11, 2013 3:12 pm

gothsaurus wrote:All I am saying is that they didn't necessarily plan or design these in the order they reveal them.

I'd wager they thought Electro is a good design and match, then planned this black one as an easy repaint.

Either way, we'll not know until they reveal the rest - so no need to argue about it.

Oh I'm sure they did decide to do things on the cheap here if that's what happens. However considering what they've done in the past, it shouldn't be used as an excuse to let them off the hook here for a poor/lazy mould choice.

Furthermore for everyone talking about costs; if they can get a mould made for an original head sculpt for these guys, then there's no reason they couldn't simply get Armorhide's gun recast in the same mould with the new head sculpt to minimise production costs. At which point it's simply a case of cutting both the gun and head from the same sprue tree.

News Credits: 241 · Mon Feb 11, 2013 3:17 pm

Bowspearer wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
Bowspearer wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Hasbro has made a few jet molds available to FunPub, and they just had to make due.

Did they? Honestly the smoking gun here is the upcoming Slipstream figure. That figure proves that they had access to the TF Prime moulds (at least some of them anyway), meaning that the Starscrem mould (and quite possibly the Soundwave mould) could have been used here. That raises the question of it wasn't chosen for Thundercracker and Skywarp.

The FE Starscream mold is currently in use for the production of the Slipstream figures. Besides, the style of the robot modes does not fit what they're going for, too lanky.

And since when has that stopped them before? Case in point - FP had no problems having the mold in production for Runamuck and Runabout and then using it for SG Tracks. Yet suddenly a year later it can't be done? Honestly - I don't buy that for a second.

They weren't made at the same time, roughly right after another at best. I don't know which molds are currently in use for production and in what order the 6 Subscription figures are being produced. To me, the 6 molds used are nevetheless disqualified.

Furthermore even if it is a little lanky, it's far closer to the aesthetic of the MW small Seekers than the mould they've chosen.

Going over the list of past exclusives, I've noticed that FunPub selects molds from a pool starting at 1 to 2 years old, and the older the mold, the better the chance of usage without Hasbro having other plans.

Mon Feb 11, 2013 3:36 pm

Really, so Runamuck and Runabout weren't produced at roughly the same time last year? Furthermore there's at least a month's gap between Slipstream's release (May) and Botcon (end of June). Considering the tiny production run of Convention exclusives, a month (allowing the same amount of post production time needed for both figures) is more than enough time to switch the plastic over for the second run.

Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:38 am

I love Botcon mold speculation as much as just about anyone, but this is what I hate. Everyone suddenly knows everything about all matters concerning mold selection, and then discussions turn more into what can't be done rather than what may be done, and most of the 'experts' end up being wrong anyway.
"They can't use this becuase it was used five years ago for an in store exclusive in Peru..."
"They can;t use this because it was first produced on an even numbered day in an odd numbered month, so it's obviously licensed for the live action movies..."

For starters, the Club may attempt for unity in designs or aesthetics, but if it doesn't work out, they don't seem to care too much. Look at last years' set....ROTF Bludgeon? I think it really was out of the aesthetic the rest of the Generations-style figures presented. (Thank you JelZe, but I don't care what lines they belong to or were marketed under and I know Bludgeon and Tracks essentially shared the same HFTD line. I just don't care.)
In the even they can not match up a figure with the aesthetic of the rest of the set, are we honestly supposed to believe that they just cancel plans on the figure until a more unified set of toys becomes available down the road? Well, they failed with the Kup and ROTF Dirge mold. Those two aren't really presenting a unified front.
Secondly, yes, TFCC Runabout and -amok did come out within the same time frame as SG Tracks, so I'm not entirely convinced that it is impossible for the Club to make multiple uses of the same mold in the same time frame.

News Credits: 12 · Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:44 am

There are some people on this board who appear to be determined to turn EVERY thread into an argument that they feel the need to "win".

Tue Feb 12, 2013 11:48 am

Here's a thought. Instead of flame-baiting me across multiple threads for the purposes of trying to mock me into silence (which btw, isn't going to work), why not just put me on ignore- like I plan on doing right now with you.

News Credits: 5749 · Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:20 pm

BotCon 2013 has posted an image of their recently revealed convention exclusive Machine Wars Skywarp in jet mode. Check him out in image mirrored below.

News Credits: 12 · Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:29 pm

Meh. Hoist is growing on me, but this one is boring.

News Credits: 7 · Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:38 pm

Love the warping effect, but not much else.

News Credits: 402 · Updated Oct 21, 2022

Noideaforaname wrote:Love the warping effect, but not much else.

Agreed. However I don't display my TFs in vehicle mode, so he'll be in the box.

News Credits: 241 · Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:47 pm

The warping effect is a nice idea I admit, but I don't like how the deco suffers on the tail fins. >:oP

News Credits: 3 · Tue Feb 12, 2013 2:55 pm

Maybe they would have been better off just retooling the original molds. Other than a lack of head articulation, those figures hold up pretty well against their modern counterparts.

News Credits: 3 · Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:51 pm

You've had yourself redecorated! I don't like it.

News Credits: 1082 · Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:14 pm

So far, no interest in owning this set.

News Credits: 1 · Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:20 pm

RRGH! This is bugging the heck outta' me: Does anyone else keep seeing the pic and thinking it's supposed to be Slingshot?

I mean, I know what MW Skywarp looks like, but with that tapered tail in those colors, the jet mode just keeps screaming Slingshot, like the theme is G2 Redux continued and the purple bits are actually side-effects of the nano-mechs or SG Scraplets that cured his gold-plastic syndrome. Maybe it's partly the mistake that briefly identified him as Dirge and made me think Machine Wars was intentionally blurring into Beast Wars II because they used the same flip-changer jet molds, but it just keeps looking like some Slingshot-Space Case hybrid.

Maybe I'd feel different if I had either MW Skywarp or this Bayniverse mold, but so far this just has me hoping they're saving their best reveals for last.

News Credits: 32 · Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:30 pm

Oh, Geez! Kill it! Kill it with fire! Or at least take it away and give me the obvious and eventual pre-BW Waspinator repaint.

Tue Feb 12, 2013 8:48 pm

Tresob wrote:Maybe they would have been better off just retooling the original molds. Other than a lack of head articulation, those figures hold up pretty well against their modern counterparts.

That was always going to be the thing with the smaller figures of this line. Let's face it, the small Machine Wars figures were pretty advanced for their time. They were the first figures designed with the "auto-transform" gimmick which became standard in BW and the articulation is on par with a Beast Wars Basic figure - unsurprising when you consider that these are unproduced G2 figures which were made at the end of the G2 line (iirc).

When you're starting from that point, then unlike G1 figures and even the early G2 figures, you don't have improved articulation to fall back on if you make a bad mould choice. As such, this really was a line where they really had to get the mould choices right if they were going to redux the original MW characters. However as I think the majority of us agree on, that simply hasn't happened here.

Tue Feb 12, 2013 8:51 pm

Bumblevivisector wrote:Maybe I'd feel different if I had either MW Skywarp

Trust me, I own MW Thundercracker and if anything it's actually made me do even more of a double-take when I saw this failure of a figure.

Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:26 pm

Lots of hate for this mould eh?

I actually like the Dirge version, if not for the elbow/palms being oriented monkey-style.

Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:13 pm

MINDVVIPE wrote:Lots of hate for this mould eh?

I actually like the Dirge version, if not for the elbow/palms being oriented monkey-style.

Agreed. I like looking at this as an upgraded Skywarp. I've always liked this mold and now I like it even more. I don't give a hoot about his vehicle mode not looking like the original, as the original, along with all the other Machine Wars figures look like cheap pieces of dollar store crap.

Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:37 pm

The warping effect was poorly executed imo. It just looks like his paint has been torn away to me.

Also, why wasn't this revealed with the robot mode? It never hit me until now. :???:

Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:42 pm

Nemesis Maximo wrote:The warping effect was poorly executed imo. It just looks like his paint has been torn away to me.

Also, why wasn't this revealed with the robot mode? It never hit me until now.

For Botcon, they shoulda made it something like this. Come on botcon, make those "collector" figures actually worth something.