The Energon Pub

Wow, easily the best movie design so far.

But I somehow figured that Scorponok would be bigger in comparison. After all, his claws do look like they're the chopper's turbine engines.

Zuko wrote:

stormrider wrote:On a different note - I like the background that is used. Any ideas how to duplicate that without buying a professional grade photography paper/cloth?

Wallpaper. Get a 4'x4' sheet of it and pin it to a wall.

Cool, thanks. Now, to find some dark wallpaper.

Yup, still the coolest of all the movie bots I've seen. The chopper tail hanging off his back isn't pretty, but isn't exactly unusual in regular TFs. Pity about the Mickey Mouse gloves and the poor paintjob on Scorponok, given the colours of the rest of the figure. And the Sauron head, but that goes without saying...

There must be a logical reason why the hands are white.

I hope the Hands are recast in Black in the final version, as well as a detailed painted Scorponok toy..

I really liked the Head sculpt, I was looking at all the pictures and then I realized something.. I think that Blackout is the secretly the reformed first decepticon.. his head is almost exactly like the Decepticon symbol on his chest.. i know ... I know.. I'm giving him too much credit, but it does very much look like that symbol.

I love how the back detaches and becomes a chopping weapon of sorts and I doubt seriously that it swings and is still attached... that just doesn't make any sense..

The fact that when his back pack is on and the tail section hangs down is very disappointing, from a toy engineering stand point I wonder why they just couldn't have it split down the middle and form a weapons platform over top the ones on his shoulders???

Still i like him very much, his legs and arms are great looking, the head is a little busy, but very much a decepticon in form.

Final Verdict:
(Scale of 1-10)
1=Bad horrible design! / 10= excellent a must buy!

The White hands, and un-detailed blue body coloring makes him loose a point -1
The abnormally long tail makes him loose a point -1
Half a point is awarded for the tail section detaching + .5
One point deduction for a non-posable unpainted scorponok. -1

Total points awarded: 7.5 Not the best toy, but definately on its way, if they could fix at least the unpainted hands, body coloring and scorponok, I think this figure would be a 9.5 easily..negative one point for the tail, but awarded half a point for the detachable feature.

Is it just me or does it look like the head was just slapped on?

He looks great!

You can see that he was obviously going to be Soundwave, that head.

Despite the fact that he is tripod with the rear section of the chopper attached I think he looks all the better for it. The blades hanging down are very smart.

But why the white hands?

The pic of him using the fan blades as weapons reminds me of Cop-Tor from GoBots.

Hairball178 wrote:The pic of him using the fan blades as weapons reminds me of Cop-Tor from GoBots.

I thought the same thing when i saw it. Now i want to find my Cop-Tor figure. They need to bring back the Go-Bots.

Must have!!!!!

Everything I have seen and heard about Blackout is awesome. He's going to steal the show.

I don't know if it's been posted in other threads about this toy, but for all the complaints about his tail, I'm surprised nobody noted the button on the back, which probably drives the propeller blades. Think Ultimate Battle Megatron, except with a weapon that actually makes sense.

This guy is 31 flavors of cool. Definitely going to be the first figure I get.

Megatron_Wolf wrote:Is it just me or does it look like the head was just slapped on?

That was my feel - same with Barricade. The Toys look like traditional TFs for the most part (smooth lines, unbroken pieces, etc.), due to engineering limitations, but then they stick on the wierd movie head, that doesn't sync/blend with the rest of the toy's look.

Caelus wrote:

Megatron_Wolf wrote:Is it just me or does it look like the head was just slapped on?

That was my feel - same with Barricade. The Toys look like traditional TFs for the most part (smooth lines, unbroken pieces, etc.), due to engineering limitations, but then they stick on the wierd movie head, that doesn't sync/blend with the rest of the toy's look.

The head also looks like a rough sculpt. The hole figure is smooth and finished but the head looks like it was just added befor the pics were taken.

why, in 5 pages, has nobody said anything about the legs sucking every form of ass imaginable? those are so poopy and halfassed. from the waist up, this thing is great. i dont even mind the whole tri-pod effect. but he's got massive feet that dont sit flat. that ruins the entire piece for me.

Syclone wrote:why, in 5 pages, has nobody said anything about the legs sucking every form of ass imaginable? those are so poopy and halfassed. from the waist up, this thing is great. i dont even mind the whole tri-pod effect. but he's got massive feet that dont sit flat. that ruins the entire piece for me.

Because we've had terrible feet that don't sit flat in the last 3 lines of toys?

i guess thats what i get for only buying masterpieces. but is it really so hard to make flat feet?

Syclone wrote:i guess thats what i get for only buying masterpieces. but is it really so hard to make flat feet?

Yup it is. You need to add another ball joint or ratchet joint. Which means you then have to make another section to the mold for the extra feet and new tolerances around where the joint will be so nothing will interfere with it pivoting. It's more engineering than is needed for a $20 toy.

maybe a ball joint on THOSE feet but if the whole toy was properly designed from the get-go that wouldnt be a problem.

its just stupid, why even make a toy that cant stand properly? or even poorly. not in a completely innacurate way. why even bother?

and if people quit accepting inferiour products, maybe companies would stop producing them.

Syclone wrote:maybe a ball joint on THOSE feet but if the whole toy was properly designed from the get-go that wouldnt be a problem.

its just stupid, why even make a toy that cant stand properly? or even poorly. not in a completely innacurate way. why even bother?

and if people quit accepting inferiour products, maybe companies would stop producing them.

Because these toys are made for 8 year olds who aren't worried about feet sitting flat.

yeah except every toy i ever had growing up, from transformers and gi joe to ninja turtles and star wars could stand up. there's no just reason for a toy to be doing the splits to stand up straight, doesnt matter who its marketed to, it should still do what its supposed to.

even so, there is one pic in that set where the toy has its feet firmly planted.

I just wet myself in the presence of Blackout's awesomeness.

Megatron_Wolf wrote:

Hairball178 wrote:The pic of him using the fan blades as weapons reminds me of Cop-Tor from GoBots.

I thought the same thing when i saw it. Now i want to find my Cop-Tor figure. They need to bring back the Go-Bots.

*hugs*

Friend!

Syclone wrote:yeah except every toy i ever had growing up, from transformers and gi joe to ninja turtles and star wars could stand up. there's no just reason for a toy to be doing the splits to stand up straight, doesnt matter who its marketed to, it should still do what its supposed to.

even so, there is one pic in that set where the toy has its feet firmly planted.

I have TFs from evrey line and you can clearly see that hasbro is getting cheaper and cheaper on the building of the figures. These days it coast to much to make a bunch of parts to a figure. Thats why they stoped useing metal parts like G1 and putting rubber tires on the toys. This is also why not all figures are perfect. Its not coast effective. If hasbro were to make evrey toy perfect they would coast to much and no one but collectors and people with good jobs could buy them.I hate hasbro for doing this but as long as i can get a good figure for $10 then i'm happy. Hell i got pissed when the scout class whent fro $5 to almost $8. But thats what had to be done to keep the line going and to keep the $10 and $20 figures the same prices. And if we fans stop buying them it wouldnt matter much. There are still a bunch of kids out there that will beg there mom and dad to buy them the new transformer. So it will never end im sad to say.

i agree 100% with things getting cheaper and more cost effective. its a smart business move and just the way of the world.

sometimes its good in the long run: paint flakes off of die cast parts and rubber tires get brittle and fall apart.

i have no problem with that in any way, shape, or form.

im just bitching about poor design. there's plenty of transformers of late that are cheap and can stand upright. there's also a few that arent. and sure, there's gonna be duds from time to time, but it seems more often than not lately, they cant even get the basics right. thats all i ask for. and also, being blocky robots, feet arent always going to sit perfectly flush, such is life, but it shouldnt look like that thing does.

which sucks because the rest of it, along with all of the movie toys ive seen so far except for starscream, look to be designed pretty well. so well, in fact, im thinking about getting off my Masterpiece high-horse and buying some....if i can get past the poopy head sculpts. thanks micheal bay.

I was nearly sold until I saw picture 3.