The Energon Pub

ctrlFrequency wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:Okay, the first thing that popped into my head was how well they matched... identical... like little femmi-clones....

Considering the rest of the combiners (so called males) usually have the fashion sense of a blind bull in a paint shop, I'm wondering what they are saying here... cause I know men have more style

Seriously... I'm unimpressed.

To be fair, Hasbro only had, what, 3 colors, 4 colors to work with for the whole team? Not a whole ton of room for variation, so not sure just what you may have been expecting.

Actually, I like that they have similarities color wise, being a team and all, but it's too perfectly matched is what I'm saying.

What I'm not saying is that it sends a gender bias message (that boys don't have fashion sense) but that's just another facet of mother of two boys and staunch feminist that I'm sure no one wants to listen to me go into AGAIN.

Totally wasn't implying that; only that the color palette was revealed a while ago, so no surprises there, but I get what you're saying about the deco being super cohesive in combined mode, like it was predesigned and then split, or something.

fenrir72 wrote:

Nisus wrote:The head has a Gundam feel to it.

I was just talking about her/them at work Tuesday and was starting to wonder when we were going to see pics and/or new info. I figured it was going to happen during Botcon.

All in all, going to be interesting.

Gundm has the Samurai armor kabuto helmet influence. So no surprise.

The teal and orange DO remind me a bit of a GM or the Neros Gundam.

Shuttershock wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:Okay, the first thing that popped into my head was how well they matched... identical... like little femmi-clones....

Considering the rest of the combiners (so called males) usually have the fashion sense of a blind bull in a paint shop, I'm wondering what they are saying here... cause I know men have more style

Seriously... I'm unimpressed.

To be fair, Hasbro only had, what, 3 colors, 4 colors to work with for the whole team? Not a whole ton of room for variation, so not sure just what you may have been expecting.

Actually, I like that they have similarities color wise, being a team and all, but it's too perfectly matched is what I'm saying.

What I'm not saying is that it sends a gender bias message (that boys don't have fashion sense) but that's just another facet of mother of two boys and staunch feminist that I'm sure no one wants to listen to me go into AGAIN.

No, there's some merit to both design types. On the one hand, a unified design makes the combiner look like something that's MEANT to go together and denotes the bots as a team.

On the other hand, a lack of unification makes the bots feel like individuals, not incomplete parts serving a bigger robot. Much as I like them, the Constructicons and Predacons can look a bit superficially samey.

The article was quick to point out how they were all individuals, that might be a factor in my initial reaction to the sameness.

Hasbro just makes the look, they leave it to the writers for personality, so I get there's a disconnect there, Hasbro has their mind to make a unified team, the writers want to give them interesting personalities... which means they might have some conflict.

I do agree, though, there's much to be said for uniform vs individual. Cohesion is a good thing when you need to have a proper 'team', that's why we have uniforms. But I'm too much for being unique

Hellscream9999 wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

ctrlFrequency wrote:Okay, the first thing that popped into my head was how well they matched... identical... like little femmi-clones....

Considering the rest of the combiners (so called males) usually have the fashion sense of a blind bull in a paint shop, I'm wondering what they are saying here... cause I know men have more style

Seriously... I'm unimpressed.

To be fair, Hasbro only had, what, 3 colors, 4 colors to work with for the whole team? Not a whole ton of room for variation, so not sure just what you may have been expecting.

Actually, I like that they have similarities color wise, being a team and all, but it's too perfectly matched is what I'm saying.

What I'm not saying is that it sends a gender bias message (that boys don't have fashion sense) but that's just another facet of mother of two boys and staunch feminist that I'm sure no one wants to listen to me go into AGAIN.

Totally wasn't implying that; only that the color palette was revealed a while ago, so no surprises there, but I get what you're saying about the deco being super cohesive in combined mode, like it was predesigned and then split, or something.

Predesigned then split... yes, I think you hit the nail on the head there.

I'm not saying you in particular were implying anything, just that it feels that Hasbro might be unconsciously doing it (and I edited in a nice little story about my oldest and gender bias that is missing in all the quotes )

This is all very interesting but I will reserve judgement. I am not liking the design too much but, that may change with more fiction and better reveals; I hope!

Withholding judgement until we've at least seen the separate team members.

Do like the Ruination-style use of the interchangeable limbs. That said, wouldn't it make more sense if the helicopters let her fly when they were ARMS since it's easier to move stuff out of the way to open up and spin the rotor in that configuration, assuming they're going with Alpha Bravo/Blades as a design base. Unless there's Iron Man style thrusters in Victorion's soles, in which case never mind.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

Syn_13 wrote:I like the design, but it has to be said, repeating 2 of the same moulds is really lazy. I'm undecided until I see an actual figure.

Just caught this post.

To be fair to Superion, you can't really avoid it. He's genuinely made up of 4 jets as limbs. As I said in another CW related thread, they at least made the 3 retail jets slightly different. There's only so much you can do with jets. I also kind of get why Slingshot ends up being a retool as well since he's not originally one of the retail figures from Hasbro, however one could still argue that since Takara have made a completely new mould for Groove then they could've at least tweaked Slingshot's. Same goes for Wildrider

Nonetheless, we're getting so many repeated moulds now, it's starting to get really boring. Victorion is meant to have this really unique selling point in that she's a female combiner. It would've been nice for them to either have 2 different types of aerial and ground vehicles to make up her limbs (jet, chopper, truck and race-car, for example). Just repeating the same alt mode twice is dull, and seems lazy on their part.

In all honesty I would've much preferred new moulds to make the character feel more unique. However, I get that it'll cost Hasbro more to do it this way, although they could retool these new moulds in future. What would be quite cool is if they were done with a twist, so that they didn't have Earth based alt modes. Having Earth based alt modes wouldn't make much sense considering the characters in the story have never been to Earth (presumably), so it would be cool to see them try something a little different. Give it a different edge, kind of like the Cybertronian variations of the FoC Combaticons.

Loving the pistachio and burgundy deco... perfect for a fembot without being girly

Syn_13 wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

Syn_13 wrote:I like the design, but it has to be said, repeating 2 of the same moulds is really lazy. I'm undecided until I see an actual figure.

Just caught this post.

To be fair to Superion, you can't really avoid it. He's genuinely made up of 4 jets as limbs.

But there are so many models of jets that could be used. It's not like there's a shortage of jet aircraft from which to source designs. I don't recall if they were that lazy in the cartoon, but they could certainly choose from a ton of 3rd and 4th generation jets in USAF service including the F-4, F-5, F14, F-15, F-16, F/A-18, A-6 all in service during the '80s vintage and most of them similar enough to work well together. Even if they excluded the F-15 since it was used for the Seekers, there are plenty of others.

As for Victorion, using all repeat models means it's entirely skippable and I will certainly be skipping it for that reason alone. Had they come up with actual new and interesting models, I would consider it.

No need to be so harsh on the mold choices. I like the idea of a few shared molds since it means a symmetric combiner, which I like the looks of. They have also said since the very beginning this will be a retool of existing molds, so any disappointment at this point over that is ridiculous. I look forward to her, And I cannot wait to see what they have planned for her.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:No need to be so harsh on the mold choices. I like the idea of a few shared molds since it means a symmetric combiner, which I like the looks of. They have also said since the very beginning this will be a retool of existing molds, so any disappointment at this point over that is ridiculous. I look forward to her, And I cannot wait to see what they have planned for her.

All great points. And as for using the same mold for symmetry, it worked really well on LioKaiser who is considered by many to be the best G1 combiner toy.

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:No need to be so harsh on the mold choices. I like the idea of a few shared molds since it means a symmetric combiner, which I like the looks of. They have also said since the very beginning this will be a retool of existing molds, so any disappointment at this point over that is ridiculous. I look forward to her, And I cannot wait to see what they have planned for her.

All great points. And as for using the same mold for symmetry, it worked really well on LioKaiser who is considered by many to be the best G1 combiner toy.

I also really like the idea of a good color scheme. Superion is probably the one closest to an overall matching color scheme, But if this works out good, I will not mind the copter twins or the racecar sisters. It will be a nice cohesive unit.
Besides, that little article published said that this team is so used to working among themselves and used to using so little that they are the smartest combiner, smarter than even Superion. The color scheme would only help show that this team is the best and a good choice for combining.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:No need to be so harsh on the mold choices. I like the idea of a few shared molds since it means a symmetric combiner, which I like the looks of. They have also said since the very beginning this will be a retool of existing molds, so any disappointment at this point over that is ridiculous. I look forward to her, And I cannot wait to see what they have planned for her.

All great points. And as for using the same mold for symmetry, it worked really well on LioKaiser who is considered by many to be the best G1 combiner toy.

I also really like the idea of a good color scheme. Superion is probably the one closest to an overall matching color scheme, But if this works out good, I will not mind the copter twins or the racecar sisters. It will be a nice cohesive unit.
Besides, that little article published said that this team is so used to working among themselves and used to using so little that they are the smartest combiner, smarter than even Superion. The color scheme would only help show that this team is the best and a good choice for combining.

Are they smarter than Computron?

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:No need to be so harsh on the mold choices. I like the idea of a few shared molds since it means a symmetric combiner, which I like the looks of. They have also said since the very beginning this will be a retool of existing molds, so any disappointment at this point over that is ridiculous. I look forward to her, And I cannot wait to see what they have planned for her.

All great points. And as for using the same mold for symmetry, it worked really well on LioKaiser who is considered by many to be the best G1 combiner toy.

I also really like the idea of a good color scheme. Superion is probably the one closest to an overall matching color scheme, But if this works out good, I will not mind the copter twins or the racecar sisters. It will be a nice cohesive unit.
Besides, that little article published said that this team is so used to working among themselves and used to using so little that they are the smartest combiner, smarter than even Superion. The color scheme would only help show that this team is the best and a good choice for combining.

Are they smarter than Computron?

Here's hoping!

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:No need to be so harsh on the mold choices. I like the idea of a few shared molds since it means a symmetric combiner, which I like the looks of. They have also said since the very beginning this will be a retool of existing molds, so any disappointment at this point over that is ridiculous. I look forward to her, And I cannot wait to see what they have planned for her.

All great points. And as for using the same mold for symmetry, it worked really well on LioKaiser who is considered by many to be the best G1 combiner toy.

I also really like the idea of a good color scheme. Superion is probably the one closest to an overall matching color scheme, But if this works out good, I will not mind the copter twins or the racecar sisters. It will be a nice cohesive unit.
Besides, that little article published said that this team is so used to working among themselves and used to using so little that they are the smartest combiner, smarter than even Superion. The color scheme would only help show that this team is the best and a good choice for combining.

Are they smarter than Computron?

Who knows! Maybe! (Well, at least thinks faster instead of speaking the entire thought process then acting)

Shuttershock wrote:Transformers unfashionable? Bah! Perish the thought!

I'm not sure if we should count G2. Clearly whoever was responsible for the color schemes was dropping acid. A lot.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

Shuttershock wrote:Transformers unfashionable? Bah! Perish the thought!

I'm not sure if we should count G2. Clearly whoever was responsible for the color schemes was dropping acid. A lot.

G1 feels to me like they got the same guy who was doing GIJOE in the 90s to jump avoid Transformers and said "do whatever you want to do".

NuclearConvoy wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

Shuttershock wrote:Transformers unfashionable? Bah! Perish the thought!

I'm not sure if we should count G2. Clearly whoever was responsible for the color schemes was dropping acid. A lot.

G1 feels to me like they got the same guy who was doing GIJOE in the 90s to jump avoid Transformers and said "do whatever you want to do".

Generation 2 was the best, any one who says otherwise is a liar.

Yeah, '90s eXtreme decos are awesome

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

NuclearConvoy wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

Shuttershock wrote:Transformers unfashionable? Bah! Perish the thought!

I'm not sure if we should count G2. Clearly whoever was responsible for the color schemes was dropping acid. A lot.

G1 feels to me like they got the same guy who was doing GIJOE in the 90s to jump avoid Transformers and said "do whatever you want to do".

Generation 2 was the best, any one who says otherwise is a liar.

I like G2 a lot, it's just a touch ridiculous. Ridiculous is its charm.

I don't like it so I won't buy it.

This means that not only Hasbro will lose out but so will IDW as I won't buy comics that feature this new combiner.

I feel bad for IDW, the stories used to be great but now it seems creative control has been reigned in by Hasbro. The pushing of certain characters in every issue of each title has become very annoying especially the fembots. I felt the same push of chromedome and rewind killed the momentum in some MTMTE stories but now the momentum killer is nautica in MTMTE. They're adding nothing to the story except for taking up panels and pages.

I'm looking forward to IDW getting back to telling good stories with good characters rather than using gender as a gimmick to look politically correct in attempt to sell more products.

I accept your opinion but heartily disagree (for the most anyway...recent comic event was bad considering previous highs of the series)

I feel that characters like nautica have added to the series, windblade I'd an excellent foil for starscream and I love watching as she tries to be optimistic in the face of his power plays. Chromia and ironhide also have a wonderful think going on. Nautica has chemistry with several lost lighters (my favourite pairing would be night beat and her).

I also don't think rewind and chromedome were pushed on anyone.

Change in a series where robots can change form is good

Toy specific events may drive stories but that's to be expected I guess when they are being used much more as an advertising tool but as long as creators like James Roberts can continue to craft stories around that, then I'm a happy and contented reader

Prowl4 wrote:I don't like it so I won't buy it.

This means that not only Hasbro will lose out but so will IDW as I won't buy comics that feature this new combiner.

I feel bad for IDW, the stories used to be great but now it seems creative control has been reigned in by Hasbro. The pushing of certain characters in every issue of each title has become very annoying especially the fembots. I felt the same push of chromedome and rewind killed the momentum in some MTMTE stories but now the momentum killer is nautica in MTMTE. They're adding nothing to the story except for taking up panels and pages.

I'm looking forward to IDW getting back to telling good stories with good characters rather than using gender as a gimmick to look politically correct in attempt to sell more products.

You don't like it because... she's female? Can't please everyone. Your opinions are not facts, however... I love what IDW is doing, and so do many others. I hope they keep it up. It's also ironic that Chromedome, Rewind, and Nautica don't have toys... that's all IDW. Sure the Club did the couple, but that was BECAUSE of the comics. Hasbro did one little Rewind for FoC, but that had nothing to do with IDW. If Hasbro is pushing anyone, it's the male combiner characters.
The fans wanted a female combiner. Hasbro isn't pushing anything in that nature, just giving what is clearly in demand. Seems like you only want "straight male" characters because you're probably prejudice. There are many people who like the diversity IDW is offering. Female and "gay" representation has always been limited if not nonexistent in this franchise, so this is great for those fans and anybody else who gets bored with monotony. I hope you're ready for more gay characters, because a writer just confirmed Knock Out and "Breakdown" are coming.
You mention they're doing this to "sell more product"... if that's the case, then clearly this is what people want.

ZeroWolf wrote:I accept your opinion but heartily disagree (for the most anyway...recent comic event was bad considering previous highs of the series)

I feel that characters like nautica have added to the series, windblade I'd an excellent foil for starscream and I love watching as she tries to be optimistic in the face of his power plays. Chromia and ironhide also have a wonderful think going on. Nautica has chemistry with several lost lighters (my favourite pairing would be night beat and her).

I also don't think rewind and chromedome were pushed on anyone.

Change in a series where robots can change form is good

Toy specific events may drive stories but that's to be expected I guess when they are being used much more as an advertising tool but as long as creators like James Roberts can continue to craft stories around that, then I'm a happy and contented reader

I don't really enjoy the fembots chromia comes off as pushy arrogant and whiny, windblade has no real character to her. Arcee is decent because she's actually doing things. That last issue of mtmte had a really bad side story of nautica and firestar where they could have focused on the supposedly great thunderclash who has gotten very little page time. Hound is on the lost light among others that need a push more than nautica chromedome and rewind imo.

ZeroWolf wrote:I accept your opinion but heartily disagree (for the most anyway...recent comic event was bad considering previous highs of the series)

I feel that characters like nautica have added to the series, windblade I'd an excellent foil for starscream and I love watching as she tries to be optimistic in the face of his power plays. Chromia and ironhide also have a wonderful think going on. Nautica has chemistry with several lost lighters (my favourite pairing would be night beat and her).

I also don't think rewind and chromedome were pushed on anyone.

Change in a series where robots can change form is good

Toy specific events may drive stories but that's to be expected I guess when they are being used much more as an advertising tool but as long as creators like James Roberts can continue to craft stories around that, then I'm a happy and contented reader

MartianSpyGirl1996 wrote:

Prowl4 wrote:I don't like it so I won't buy it.

This means that not only Hasbro will lose out but so will IDW as I won't buy comics that feature this new combiner.

I feel bad for IDW, the stories used to be great but now it seems creative control has been reigned in by Hasbro. The pushing of certain characters in every issue of each title has become very annoying especially the fembots. I felt the same push of chromedome and rewind killed the momentum in some MTMTE stories but now the momentum killer is nautica in MTMTE. They're adding nothing to the story except for taking up panels and pages.

I'm looking forward to IDW getting back to telling good stories with good characters rather than using gender as a gimmick to look politically correct in attempt to sell more products.

You don't like it because... she's female? Can't please everyone. Your opinions are not facts, however... I love what IDW is doing, and so do many others. I hope they keep it up. It's also ironic that Chromedome, Rewind, and Nautica don't have toys... that's all IDW. Sure the Club did the couple, but that was BECAUSE of the comics. Hasbro did one little Rewind for FoC, but that had nothing to do with IDW. If Hasbro is pushing anyone, it's the male combiner characters.
The fans wanted a female combiner. Hasbro isn't pushing anything in that nature, just giving what is clearly in demand. Seems like you only want "straight male" characters because you're probably prejudice. There are many people who like the diversity IDW is offering. Female and "gay" representation has always been limited if not nonexistent in this franchise, so this is great for those fans and anybody else who gets bored with monotony. I hope you're ready for more gay characters, because a writer just confirmed Knock Out and "Breakdown" are coming.
You mention they're doing this to "sell more product"... if that's the case, then clearly this is what people want.

Wow you jumped on the "hur dur you hate because it's a female train" really quickly. Did you bother to read my post? Bad character = bad character for merregardless. Prejudice ha ha ha ha ha ha ha you're funny.
In simple terms hasbro have to now look pc to placate people like yourself the mudslinging folk.