The Energon Pub

I was also hoping that his Dino mode would somehow be bulkier & also taller; both the height of his head & back…
But still, even so, he does look incredibly good.
Man I’m hoping we get him here in the states in May…

Also, it’s nice to hear people sharing thoughts that Snarl will be leader class…
I get there’s no proof, but it makes sense & should happen.

i can't believe we still don't have a Sludge toy with googly eyes.

Mechastrike wrote:i can't believe we still don't have a Sludge toy with googly eyes.

Well, maybe the release of these will get Takara to stop wasting engineering dollars on crappy overly-cartoony MPS for a bit and make MP versions of the other Dinobots.

Sludge's transformation scheme has been almost completely changed. I can't see a reason for them to have done so in the context of Sludge himself - looking at Grimlock, pics of Slag, and the PotP versions, I don't see anything that would have stopped them from doing "the G1 engineering but improved" as with Grimlock and Slag; that may in fact have been a bit cheaper.

So I think the changes made may mean he's been set up with a moldmate (possibly in the extreme parts-swap way, but still). I guess we'll have to see.

Even with the odd re-engineering, he's still definitely on my get list.

Mechastrike wrote:i can't believe we still don't have a Sludge toy with googly eyes.

To do true justice to the scene, this is the shot that needs to be represented, and I think this is beyond Hasbro and Takara's engineering capabilities.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:

Mechastrike wrote:i can't believe we still don't have a Sludge toy with googly eyes.

Well, maybe the release of these will get Takara to stop wasting engineering dollars on crappy overly-cartoony MPS for a bit and make MP versions of the other Dinobots.

It's been over a decade without any other MP Dinobots, and in that time probably a dozen unlicensed versions have come out. I think that ship has sailed.

AcademyofDrX wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:

Mechastrike wrote:i can't believe we still don't have a Sludge toy with googly eyes.

Well, maybe the release of these will get Takara to stop wasting engineering dollars on crappy overly-cartoony MPS for a bit and make MP versions of the other Dinobots.

It's been over a decade without any other MP Dinobots, and in that time probably a dozen unlicensed versions have come out. I think that ship has sailed.

Never say never, but I think the ship has definitely docked long-term, especially with the release of these figures. Isn't it the consensus that these are pretty much MP quality in terms of design and engineering? The only way the MP would do them better is if they included some diecast parts and gave them all their accessories along with Takara packaging.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:

Mechastrike wrote:i can't believe we still don't have a Sludge toy with googly eyes.

Well, maybe the release of these will get Takara to stop wasting engineering dollars on crappy overly-cartoony MPS for a bit and make MP versions of the other Dinobots.

It's been over a decade without any other MP Dinobots, and in that time probably a dozen unlicensed versions have come out. I think that ship has sailed.

Never say never, but I think the ship has definitely docked long-term, especially with the release of these figures. Isn't it the consensus that these are pretty much MP quality in terms of design and engineering? The only way the MP would do them better is if they included some diecast parts and gave them all their accessories along with Takara packaging.

It doesn't seem like MP Dinobots are on Hastak's docket, however, who knows the reasoning.
These SS86 figures may play into it, but considering the current MP trend, I think more realistically it boils-down to reasons like these:

1. The pure size of an in-scale, MP Dinobot would mean each figure could cost $500+, if not very close to $600 (maybe minus Swoop, who could still be close to $300).
2. We're not just talking 2,3, or even 4 figures, but 5... 5 where each is its own individually unique mold, that has limited potential to re-tool or even repaint.
I'm also not sure how favorable to is in terms of business/marketing that it would basically take 4-5 years to release them all. I'd assume it could be longer if they want to add in any variety.
And yeah, we've all waited for multiple years to get a figure of a certain character (and are still waiting for some), but I don't know that anyone enjoys the waiting game.

I started typing-out why I don't think these guys are MP quality... But I stopped and deleted all of it.
I'll just say I don't quite see that level.
But for being mainline releases, I'm not at all complaining. They're really on point. They're probably m favorite mainline figures of my collection.
While we could probably say they're still overpriced, I can look past the things I see as negatives, and pretty easily at that. In fact, I'm double-dipping on all of them. Which I haven't done since CW/UW.

I was happy about getting BzzWrthy Cliffjumper, Kup, and SS86 Perceptor.
I'm decently anxious to get Kickback and Dragstrip.
But I'm beyond excited about Sludge.

So, I'll admit, I checked out of SS86 while I focused on Kingdom and now Legacy's lines, but is SS86 Spike out/have pre-orders? I assumed he was out but only in Asia, and no on the pre-orders/online listings but I haven't really seen anything about him, so I'm not sure. Do we have any idea when his wave is?

Perceptor arrived today from Pulse, didn't open it until the one from Amazon arrives to pick which one has more damage to packaging. So I hope it gets here real soon!

I do like the smaller packaging compared to previous SS86 Deluxe, I just never understood nine miles of packaging for a four mile toy.

Here's an odd question, and dilemma I'm in. What does is the consensus on how you display Movie figures like
Cup and Hot Rod, only with Magnus, Springer and Arcee? Or do you buy two so you can put those two in along with the Classic characters like Prime etc. Being as they had screen time with both?

Right now I have all G1 separate except for Hot Rod is in there next to Prime because I'm tight on space ATM. And it got me to thinking I should have two setups, one prior to Prime's death and one after. lol

I do like to group the movie-introduced characters together (as room permits) because I think they look nice that way; I have G1 Ultra Magnus, T30 Arcee, TR Hot Rod, TR Blurr, TR Kup, TR Wheelie, SIEGE Ultra Magnus, SS86 Hot Rod, and SS86 Wreck-Gar together on one shelf and Armada Unicron, TR Galvatron, two TR Scourges serving as Sweeps, SS86 Scourge, and Kingdom Cyclonus together on another. But I'm fine with mixing them with others as well; heck, the shelf that has Unicron and the Unholy Trinity also has Nemesis Breaker and TR Triggerhappy on it, and G1 Magnus is currently carrying Red Alert, Sunstreaker, and G2 Sideswipe.

I'm not the type to buy duplicates for display purposes, only for army-building and customization.

I only buy one each of non-army builders, but I keep buying updated versions of the same character, so that means I have backups for secondary displays. TR Perceptor and Blaster and the PotP Dinobots are the season two / '85 versions of the movie cast, while TR Hot Rod, Kup, and Blurr are season four / '87 versions of the same. SS86 and Kingdom are for season three / TF:TM / '86.

They're sorted out that way in bins until I get more shelves.

Does anyone have a photo of Sludge in his box? I’m struggling to find one online to add to my wishlist folder (so my wife knows what to look for ).

Sludge looks strong, glad they did away with the little partner, that thing sucked. Amazing how some more molded detail and paint apps on his chest makes him look so much better than Slug. He looks good, looking forward to finding him

With the video/photo reveal of Blitzwing, although I'm really happy with how he looks, it still seems like Sludge is still in-line to be my favorite figure of the year.
But the images of Blitzwing also had me thinking back to the possibility of Swoop being voyager size...
Yes, I understand why Blitzy is being released as a leader class figure.
But the figure itself in terms of his size, both height and bulk, are still pretty close to being what we've known to be voyager class.
Blitzwing is just taller than the ER seeker mold, but just shorter than OP and Megs.
Seeing this figure's size in comparison to others, only has me feeling even more strongly that Swoop really needs to be sized much closer to the other Dinobots.
Knowing they're going for screen-accuracy, if Swoop is only as tall as Blitzwing, he's going to look ridiculously small compared to the rest of that group...
He's already less stout than the other 4 Dinobots. So to make him look decent with his own proportions at voyager-size, the difference is going to be so drastic, that it's going to look like a sad, half-assed miss of an attempt.
I know this means his dino mode will be more out of scale from the others.
But I'll take this over having Swoop look like a deluxe compared to the others in bot mode.
I hope they put 3 pinned hinges in each wing, with obviously removeable missiles.

The one reason I'm feeling pretty confident Swoop will be large like the others, is that Hastak will get to charge $55+ per figure instead of $33-ish per.
Swoop may not match the amount of plastic, parts count, or engineering of the others, but Hastak could still charge leader class price.
And I'll happily pay it.


Also, totally unrelated, I went into two Targets today; the first my go-to location, still has SEVEN Coronation Starscreams... There have been 7 here for about a month.
Another Target that I've never been in, had 6...
I know this figure has been relatively popular around here and maybe among collectors in general.
But I think this is a pretty tough sell to kids who probably don't know much about TF, on top of the $53 price tag.
I'd assume by before the end of April we could see this guy on clearance.

Studio Series 86 leader class Sludge is probably the most anticipated Transformers toy of 2022. Hasbro is finally giving the fan favourite Dinobots the toys they deserve at affordable price points and in great scale so fans, including me, just want to finally complete that collection and Sludge brings us ever closer to that. For some reason, we had not had official images of the packaging he comes in which is more important than standard releases since he is the first of the SS86 Dinobots to come in a windowless package. So his package needed more dedicated art than usual. Well here it is below, thanks to a post form In Demand toys. This toy is due out in August and while preorders are sold out from a few places, there are still preorders available at some online stores like BBTS. Enjoy!

Looking very nice. I can't wait to get my hands on him.

I've heard rumors that they WILL do Snarl, but that it will be Voyager sized. I hope that's not true. I can see Swoop making it as a Voyager sized Dinobot for the Studio Series, but Snarl? He has to be in scale with Slag and Sludge at least. Anything less would be an insult.

I absolutely love the art on Sludge's box. I use a few boxes as "art" hanging on my wall, as well as using them as shelves for smaller bots. Not sure if a leader box would be big enough,(I just use titan and commander boxes) but it looks super sweet.

As far as Snarl being a voyager, I dont think so at all. No way, if are in their right minds, would they do that. I also am pretty sure Swoop will be leader class as well, with just being a bit shorter with his huge wingspan. Hopefully

DeathReviews wrote:I've heard rumors that they WILL do Snarl, but that it will be Voyager sized. I hope that's not true. I can see Swoop making it as a Voyager sized Dinobot for the Studio Series, but Snarl? He has to be in scale with Slag and Sludge at least. Anything less would be an insult.

That seems to be just an unfounded rumor started by Prime vs Prime in his YouTube review of Studio Series Sludge. He made a comment that was based on misremembering the Swoop as a Voyager rumor. He included Snarl in that comment too, even though no one had mentioned Snarl being a Voyager in the rumor mill previously.

Yet another reason to avoid giving that guy views, I suppose.

The one thing we know about Snarl is that he'll probably have a gallery here before the PotP version does

DeathReviews wrote:I've heard rumors that they WILL do Snarl, but that it will be Voyager sized. I hope that's not true. I can see Swoop making it as a Voyager sized Dinobot for the Studio Series, but Snarl? He has to be in scale with Slag and Sludge at least. Anything less would be an insult.

Don't worry, those rumours are false. Thet were just someone guessing.
Here's another rumour: he'll be a leader class figure

william-james88 wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:I've heard rumors that they WILL do Snarl, but that it will be Voyager sized. I hope that's not true. I can see Swoop making it as a Voyager sized Dinobot for the Studio Series, but Snarl? He has to be in scale with Slag and Sludge at least. Anything less would be an insult.

Don't worry, those rumours are false. Thet were just someone guessing.
Here's another rumour: he'll be a leader class figure

Starting rumors is easy! Here's another one while we're at it - Studio Series leader Snarl will have a segmented tail that can be flexed/posed!

DeathReviews wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:I've heard rumors that they WILL do Snarl, but that it will be Voyager sized. I hope that's not true. I can see Swoop making it as a Voyager sized Dinobot for the Studio Series, but Snarl? He has to be in scale with Slag and Sludge at least. Anything less would be an insult.

Don't worry, those rumours are false. Thet were just someone guessing.
Here's another rumour: he'll be a leader class figure

Starting rumors is easy! Here's another one while we're at it - Studio Series leader Snarl will have a segmented tail that can be flexed/posed!

Here's another one: Studio Series 86 Snarl will have electronic voice clips recorded by Hal Rayle. We'll think they're brand new recordings, but they'll just turn out to be old ones ripped from random G1 cartoon episodes.