The Energon Pub

Wed Mar 03, 2010 2:15 am

Is anyone disapointed in the new Universe/classic line? I mean just a little?? I didn't really see much from the Toyfair in my opinion. Thrust, awesome, already have the Henkei. Drift does look cool. Don't get me wrong, the new ideas with the power core combiners is great for new TF fans. Me personally i won't be buying them. I loved the TF Universe classics line. All those original characters with awesome articulation, great representaion of G1. Those of us not able to go to Botcon, past or present, are missing updated versions of characters. I would love to have a Kup, Scourge, a deluxe Warpath would be nice. New Stunticons and how about Blitzwing? How did he get overlooked? He should have came before Octane/Tankor. I'm sure I've left out plenty of other characters. Chime in if you want. Don't get mad, I just want to see other opinions. I appologize in advance if any of my TF toy lingo in incorrect.
Thanks

News Credits: 402 · Updated Oct 21, 2022

Well, to be fair, we've only seen the first 2 waves of figures of this new line. I would think that we'll be seeing several more homages in the future waves.

I'm not disappointed really, I just gotta look at it from a different point of view.

Power Core Combiners, like them or not, you gotta admit that they look fun. I mean, the play value for an 8 year old is astronomical. You get one of the 5-fig combiners and even one more scout, and the sky is the limit. THe more scouts you get (you know, one of the cheapest price points so parents can get them mostly guilt free), the more fun you can have. Get 2 5-fig combiners and then mixing and matching parts on a line that appears poised for extension? Hasbro really hit the ball out of the park with the idea. Do they appeal to us? Not as much, but we're not the target market sadly.

Now Generations; we've only seen two waves of deluxes, and I suspect we haven't seen them all either. Everyone wants to see their favourite characters in them, which is tough because there's I think at least 200 G1 figs, and that's probably conservative. You say overlooking, I say prioritizing. Blitzwing hasn't seen Classics-style yet because Hasbro didn't want to confuse children with both a Classics and an Animated on teh shelves at the same time. Look at it this way, we're getting figures which have never seen a toy EVER, such as Straxus. I'm excited that they may continue this trend once in a while.

You may be disappointed, and it's certianly your right to be so, but with ROTF coming to a very strong finish IMO with Brakedown, Mindwipe, Seaspray and several cool molds, and a Classics line starting up again? I'm stoked that it's happening. ROTF was a dry patch for me, and now I'm waiting to dive right back in!

Wed Mar 03, 2010 2:39 am

Disappointed with Hasbro's latest? Why no, I think Mindwipe, Skystalker and Brawn are just peachy.

Really, being disappointed in whatever we saw from the preview pics is like being disappointed in your kid when all you have yet is a sonogram.

Wed Mar 03, 2010 2:55 am

Dissapointment in TF's mean happier days for my wallet. So I guess whenever one loses, the other wins.

News Credits: 37 · Wed Mar 03, 2010 5:53 am

YES! Finally some one who understands me! I hate this line! G1 had Awsum toys, and this line whent in and screwed everything up! All of the robots look wierd, and parts plip and fly off all over the place. Hardly anything snaps in at all. The only fig I like that I have gotten from this line is Classics Starscream, and hes just a slight repaint. I got about 4 figs from this line and said "screw it". Prowl annoys the crap balls out of me. He is my least favorite transformer of all time, followed by universe classics Hound. Even Onslaught has problems, nothing snaps into place and joints are loose as crap!

News Credits: 1 · Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:34 am

I love the idea of Power Core Combiners. Ok, I'll admit it does hurt a little bit that the limbs don't transform. However, if they did transform, the combined form might not be sturdy(I don't have the Energon combiners, only two centers and one limb), and plus it could be expensive buying five different Transformers.

We might also get into trouble finding all the limbs again, like toward the end of Energon when distribution wasn't all around, and they never released all of them in the Dollar Store Universe assortment either.

Now in all honesty, if you have a combiner, chances are you're going to display it in combined mode, so one could argue that non-transformable limbs isn't that big of a loss. Add to the fact that since there's no robot mode they can make a more intricate looking arm that stays in place better, and you have more playability. Then there's the attractive $20 price point that has all the limbs with it, and in my opinion, that is fantastic. The ablility to have any other basic combine with limbs is just icing on the cake.

In my opinion, Power Core Combiners look like they're going to be great. They could turn out to be poor, but one never knows.

As for Generations, looks great, though why Straxus is a half track tank and not a flying turret is dumb. At least they could have made him a missle truck or stationary turret(that third mode doesn't count). There've been a lot of tanks recently, and they could have chosen something else for him.

Drift and Thrust will be greatly appreciated.

ROTF has a lot of fun alt. modes coming out, and the variety is welcome.

So all in all, I'm rather excited by Hasbro's current and future offerings.

News Credits: 37 · Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:39 am

SlyTF1 wrote:YES! Finally some one who understands me! I hate this line! G1 had Awsum toys, and this line whent in and screwed everything up! All of the robots look wierd, and parts plip and fly off all over the place. Hardly anything snaps in at all. The only fig I like that I have gotten from this line is Classics Starscream, and hes just a slight repaint. I got about 4 figs from this line and said "screw it". Prowl annoys the crap balls out of me. He is my least favorite transformer of all time, followed by universe classics Hound. Even Onslaught has problems, nothing snaps into place and joints are loose as crap!

oh, crap, im talking about the other line. This one looks AWSUM! Its the 2.0 I was ranting on about...

Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:54 am

The Powercore line sounds more exciting in principle than execution. I don't mind the limbs not having a robot mode, as someone already pointed out, gestalts tend to be displayed combined. What does bother me is the lazy scissor arms with pincers each one gets and the lack of elbow/knee articulation. The opportunity for Hasbro to provide a decently articulated combiner has been missed.
As for generations/classics/universe i am a little disappointed in the selection. I don't care much for Straxus, as i did not read the comics then, but it looks like a good figure. I am happy that Thrust will be released, as i do not own any henkei. I am hoping that more popular G1 characters see a modern representation in an appropiate scale (i'm looking down at you Astrotrain), especially more decepticons.

News Credits: 1 · Wed Mar 03, 2010 9:52 am

I see more win than anything.

Sespray? I remember him best as a diminutive loser, so his new incarnation is hillariously great.

Drift? I like swordybots. Even Mary Sue weaboo ones. I don't follow IDW much, but his design seems nice to me.

Straxus? Another win for me. I read some of the Marvel stuff with him when the comics were online here and Straxus won me over. It's great to see a ncie toy dedicated tot he guy.

Hopefully the expanded focus of the line means the leftover Animated molds can find a home in it. I need me some Animated Hot Rod.

Guys I'm disappointed with? Well, the Power Core Combiners. If the limbs don't have robot modes then there's no point in my eyes. Worse is that I'm not impressed with how the limbs look.

The bigger ones are a maybe for me. They're nice, but not really in my veign.

News Credits: 241 · Wed Mar 03, 2010 10:03 am

I wouldn't say disappointed per se, I'm just not as excited as I usually am. We've only seen the first three figures for the Deluxe range, no doubt more will be unveiled in the future. I'm saving my anxiety for when that day comes. Thrust is a must get though, but only if they release Dirge as well.

The Power Core Combiners look interesting, I may get a 2-pack and 5-pack to try out. But I have to agree some design choices are doubtfull, I'm not even sure if that's because each limb has to be either an arm, a leg or both (anybody know?). I'm sure the spring-loaded actions hampered some designs. But I must remind you guys of something: limbs that have no robot mode has been done before, even if only in the shows:

Masterforce
King Poseidon (Piranacon) consists of one sentient core, Turtler (Snaptrap) and one of each type of Seacon drone. The drones were mass-produced and didn't have robot modes, unlike the toys. As a matter of fact, Turtler, didn't have a robot mode either in the show, only in the manga.

Energon
Again, the combiner limbs don't have robot modes in the show, only the core figures do.

News Credits: 1 · Wed Mar 03, 2010 10:12 am

It not being a new idea as far as shows go hardly matters to me. Power Core Combiners still seems to miss the point of what made combiners clever. At least for me. If it works for other people, more power to them.

News Credits: 5 · Wed Mar 03, 2010 10:38 am

[quote="JelZe GoldRabbit"]The Power Core Combiners look interesting, I may get a 2-pack and 5-pack to try out. But I have to agree some design choices are doubtfull, I'm not even sure if that's because each limb has to be either an arm, a leg or both (anybody know?). I'm sure the spring-loaded actions hampered some designs. [quote]

QFT! I figure that if I don't like them, my 3 and 5 year old sons will get some new TF goodness!

News Credits: 1 · Wed Mar 03, 2010 11:05 am

a bit off topic but

disapointed ......... isn't it spelt DISAPPOINTED

:-?

cheers

News Credits: 387 · Wed Mar 03, 2010 1:26 pm

mesh wrote:a bit off topic but

disapointed ......... isn't it spelt DISAPPOINTED

cheers

It's just one p, no big deal.

I like Power Core Combiners, they're neat. The large sets are not nearly as good as the Energon gestalts, but the smaller ones look promising. I look forward to owning some.

Classics revival AKA Generations, in all honesty, is disappointing. This coming from someone who is mainly only collecting Classics these days. The first waves of Universe had ALL the charachters I'd hoped they'd make since first Classics. Powerglide, the twins, Ironhide, it was great. Now we get some comic character I don't care about, a re-release of an old toy (albeit one I don't have, it's still nothing new), and some new character I like, but's not G1 or something...

Then we have the fact that Generations will be lumped in with WFC giving us possibly less. I dunno, I think the way they continue Generations from here will really be important to my opinion of it.

Thu Mar 04, 2010 2:47 am

Nekoman wrote:
mesh wrote:a bit off topic but

disapointed ......... isn't it spelt DISAPPOINTED

cheers

It's just one p, no big deal.

I like Power Core Combiners, they're neat. The large sets are not nearly as good as the Energon gestalts, but the smaller ones look promising. I look forward to owning some.

Classics revival AKA Generations, in all honesty, is disappointing. This coming from someone who is mainly only collecting Classics these days. The first waves of Universe had ALL the charachters I'd hoped they'd make since first Classics. Powerglide, the twins, Ironhide, it was great. Now we get some comic character I don't care about, a re-release of an old toy (albeit one I don't have, it's still nothing new), and some new character I like, but's not G1 or something...

Then we have the fact that Generations will be lumped in with WFC giving us possibly less. I dunno, I think the way they continue Generations from here will really be important to my opinion of it.

Thank you Nekoman. That's all I'm saying.

Now in response to some of the other posts... I understand Hasbro's need to make toy's for targeted customers and age groups. I think they've done a wonderful job. I understand that the Toyfair didn't display every TF toy they will release this year. I'm not hating on any of the ROTF toys. Hey, any way I can complete my collection is the way I look at it. As soon as I can find Mindwipe and Brawn I'll have'em. Back to Blitzwing, when the TF universe classics first came out, I don't remember seeing any TF animated toys. As a child, my parents didn't buy me the TF comics. I would love to get into them now but, don't have the funds. I am happy for all the comic fans getting a figure in the Generations line. I hope there's more to come for you. I wish I knew that character. I had no idea who he was or where he came from so, thanks for the info and the posts.

Fri Mar 05, 2010 3:07 pm

Yea, I've pretty much given up on Hasbro and on finishing my Classics line. Sure I'll probably get the Generations toys but overall I'm becoming meh when it comes to Transformers. Lets rewind to last year: 2009, the 25 Anniversary. Should've been a big deal to Hasbro and all they do is put out a crappy overpriced G1 Optimus Prime (but they did redeem themselves somewhat with Perceptor and the Insecticons BUT they were exclusives).
I concluded some time ago that G1 fans aren't important to Hasbro. Add to that the fact that it would seem (from lack of product announcements) that the Encore line is all but dead and my hatred of Bayformers and I'm pretty fed up with the brand at this point.

News Credits: 402 · Updated Oct 21, 2022

SentinelA wrote:Add to that the fact that it would seem (from lack of product announcements) that the Encore line is all but dead and my hatred of Bayformers and I'm pretty fed up with the brand at this point.

Encore is Takara, not Hasbro.

No Announcements at Toyfair != No more Encore.

News Credits: 3 · Fri Mar 05, 2010 10:44 pm

I can understand how the author feels about Classics/Universe 2.0. One of the things I hated about 2.0 was the lack of quality control for 2008. Prowl, Bluestreak and Ironhide suffered from paint rubbing off the toy or smudging. There was several complaints of leg problems with Sideswipe. And 2.0 Starscream is very loose in joints compared to both Classics 1.0 and Henkei.

I replaced certain 2.0 toys with their Henkei counterpart. I can report zero paint problems with the toys before mentioned.

If you compare the quality of the original Classics line to the 2.0, 2006 offering was so much nicer. If I wasn't into the line, the original Classics brought me back full swing. Overall, the movie line bores me with chicken leg syndrome. The only ROTF toys that really got me were Dirge and Bludgeon. Bludgeon to me is more G1-ish that ROTF-ish. Animated I still on the hunt for Arcee, but not enough to pull the trigger on a second hand buy.

Fri Mar 05, 2010 11:35 pm

Hm, I wasn't all that disappointed(because I only get movieverse), I mean we get legends Ravage so it's in scale, Scout Insecticon, leader StarScream, Optimus with Hooks, the third bike...even if she is a repaint.

Only thing that disappoints me is no Leader Grind/Out, how can you have Hook-Imus Prime without someone's face to rip off?

I agree with SlyTf1...more or less, compare Grimlock G1 with classics. I don't know but to me classics Grimlock just looks odd...and no grimlock since G1 has gotten the Dino mode's face right.

News Credits: 20 · Sat Mar 06, 2010 12:24 am

Mkall wrote:No Announcements at Toyfair != No more Encore.

You know, sarcasm is like a second language to me.

Encore is fine for now. We just got several releases pretty close together. I'm excited to see if the rumors pan out. Papa needs a Sixshot!

Sat Mar 06, 2010 8:06 pm

The only thing that disappointed me is that Elita-1 is just a repaint of Chromia. I wanted a new mold to complete the bike sisters. It may shock some of you but I actually like their designs and I don't really care about the combined mode.

Sat Mar 06, 2010 9:14 pm

Evil_the_Nub wrote:The only thing that disappointed me is that Elita-1 is just a repaint of Chromia. I wanted a new mold to complete the bike sisters. It may shock some of you but I actually like their designs and I don't really care about the combined mode.

i love the bike sisters and am very dissapointed with elita-1's figure. even if it was a retool at least id be happy, but a remold? come on hasbro show the fans some respect!!!

Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:04 pm

Gasket wrote:Dissapointment in TF's mean happier days for my wallet. So I guess whenever one loses, the other wins.

+1 but like everything else there must be balance thus it is only a matter of time b4 you spend and spend i lot i dare say!!!

News Credits: 609 · Tue Mar 16, 2010 3:28 pm

Evil_the_Nub wrote:The only thing that disappointed me is that Elita-1 is just a repaint of Chromia. I wanted a new mold to complete the bike sisters. It may shock some of you but I actually like their designs and I don't really care about the combined mode.

Agree 100%.

Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:46 pm

I've been disappointed with Hasbro since Beast Machines. Animated is full of cheap plastic junk too. G1 isn't as celebrated as it should be and the company keeps moving further and further away from what made them good to begin with. I can't stand the high prices or the exclusivity of Botcon either. When Hasbro reissues Fortress Maximus then I might change my mind. But until then, I'm not interested in anymore new stuff from Hasbro. No thank you very much.