The Energon Pub

Whilst some of us prefer to collect strictly based on particular media (be it the cartoon, the Marvel comics, IDW or whatever) there are those of us who like to just collect toys that appeal to our particular sensibilities, and maybe even make up stories/headcanons to justify why Cybertron Downshift is standing next to ROTF Ratchet as if we were still 8 years old.

So in this thread, fellow Seibertronians, I invite you to share those headcanons and made-up stories, be they repurposings, relationships and rivalries, entire carefully-woven homebrew continuities that justify your collection, excuses for buying two different toys of the same character or whatever.

So with all that out of the way, let's get started. Here's some of mine to start us off.

>Movie Bonecrusher (whatever version I end up getting) will represent earth-mode Strika in my collection, as Strika was always fairly inhumanly proportioned anyway and the vehicle mode and overall design kinda gives me Strika vibes.

>Likewise, Movie Deluxe Brawl (specifically that version) will be granted a new head via Shapeways and will represent my Original Character Do Not Steal, Ironsides, a Decepticon fembot with a seriously bad attitude and an even worse German accent (think Animated Blitzwing's voice but female and cuter). As for why that figure in particular, Deluxe Brawl actually has arguably androgynous proportions with his wide hips, narrow waist and shoulders, and, um, prominent chest. Plus, tanks are cool.

>All Swindles represent different members of the Swindle family, a vast clan of interdimensional crooks who specialize in wangling money, weapons and other goods out of their "customers". Every single toy named Swindle is actually one of these scoundrels, and all are shrewd businessbots with a razor sharp mind and a penchant for fraud. This includes Movie Swindle, whose bio painting him as an explosives-obsessed moron is a cunningly written bluff (he even went so far as to give himself a lens-head to achieve the ultimate "poker face").

>Seeker squadrons in the Decepticon army are ordered into threes of similarly-designed jets; for example, Movie Dreadwing, Movie Overcast and ROTF Fearswoop/Hooligan form a squadron in this way (I must reacquire Dreadwing and get the other two while I'm at it).

Anyway, that's just a few. Fire away with your own!

Repurposing can be extremely fun. For a while I had four CW Combaticons but was missing Vortex, so I used Alpha Bravo and said to myself that he was Vortex just painted like an Autobot for a prank

Tiny Turbo Changer Bumblebee, for my collection, is actually a G1 Bumblebee among my Legends figures. Because that makes sense.

TLK Nitro is now Titans Return Nitro Thunderwing in my collection. I think I lost the regular Nitro head already.

Cogman is jumping into my Prime Wars collection once I get him too.

Since I seem to like coming up with stuff for smaller accessories, here's a couple I just remembered:-
-The Twincast accessory that comes with MP Road Rage isn't an upgrade of Blaster, but rather a separate character that fights with her across space. This is why I was really wanting a Twincast version of TR Leader Blaster to complete that Headcanon! But now I'll never have her...

-Doomshot is just Megatron but smaller. He named himself 'Doomshot' because in this form he masquerades as a human supervillain, but because he has no concept of any human culture he has no idea that it sounds friggin' stupid.

It's an older one, but still valid in my head:

Universe Nemesis Prime (Big Convoy repaint) actually IS Big Convoy. After the events of Beast Wars Neo(which I hadn't seen at the time, but I suppose is still valid) Big Convoy went off on his own in the universe, his version of the Matrix still in hand. Eventually he encountered Unicron(who was revived because...I had the Armada toy). He used the Matrix to fight him off, but it was to no avail, for Unicron had developed an immunity to the sacred object. Instead of killing Big Convoy Unicron twisted him(and the Matrix) to fit his dark designs, and made him one of his Heralds, which now includes(in my collection anyway): Armada Sideways, Cybertron Sideways, Last Knight Infernicus, Quintessa, and RID '15 Megatronus.

Oh, and for a simple one, Fall of Cybertron SoundBlaster is a separate, hulking clone of Soundwave.

Here is a recent one. I have CW Red prime, CW white prime, TR PMOP, TR Magnus Prime and SDCC Skater Prime all coexisting in my collection and headcanon.

I have the toyhax Nova Prime sticker set for CW white prime, so he is that character, and CW red prime is my Optimus Prime.

For the 3 headmaster primes, they are all mech suits for smaller robots similar to Ultra Magnus in IDW. They were built by some of the more fanatic followers if OP in his likeness. The decepticons stole one of them, so with the power of a couple toyhax stickers Skater Prime became Power Master Nemesis Prime, because the decepticons needed another base bot and I like the color scheme for Skater Prime more for a decepticon anyway. The 2 remaining autobots are Power Master Optimus Prime and Ginrai, but in my headcanon (mostly G1 IDW-ish) they are just powerful grunt type soldiers, same with PMNP on the decepticons side.

I'm using prime ratchet and tit rodimus as my classics versions. No backstory, they just are. I also used to use alternators shockwave before i got wfc shocks.

When tav strongarm turns up, she is going on my classics shelf as a rookie cop assigned to train under Prowl. So she'll be hanging out beside him.


And i have a couple of shapeways targetmasters. Cliffjumper dual wields a pair of shotguns, Sawn-off and Twelve-Gauge. A pair of wonderers who met cliff on nebulos and got on like a house on fire. Spike has become a sniper rifle for bee (as headmasters aare japanese continuity) and a japanese ex military guy who befriended Drift and taught him about Japanese culture became his targetmaster. Though this guy will get changed into haywire.


Oh and super link scorpinok with a headmaster upgrade is my classics scorponok because scorponok wants to be able to interact with things instead of being an oversized shopping mall. With a headmaster cybertron dark scorponok as Black Zarak on my masterforce shelf because it's scorpomok upgraded. Lol.

Cyber Battalion Grimlock is not Grimlock, rather a random arms dealer that lives on Animatros. He makes a living selling Energon weapons and rarely uses his alt mode because said weapons are hard to reach when he's in that form.

Rysquad wrote:TLK Nitro is now Titans Return Nitro Thunderwing in my collection. I think I lost the regular Nitro head already.

Cogman is jumping into my Prime Wars collection once I get him too.

I should probably expand on this.

Nitro Thunderwing is Galvatron's muscle.

Oh and Titan Master Clobber really is Grimlock for me and my son. Clobber is just the bird.

My collection is quite recent, since I hadn't collected since being a kid during Beast Machine:

-'Battle Core Optimus Prime' is totally the earth mode of Nova Prime and I even intend to grab the reprolabels to complete the look.
-G2 Menasor, my only full combiner, is obviously miscolored due to forestonite.
-Mission to Cybertron/Last Knight Stealth Bomber Megatron is totally The Fallen/Megatronus.
-Voyager Class Alpha Trion...well I don't know for sure but to me this clearly represent an upgraded form of Alpha Trion as I really cannot imagine the old bot being such a bruiser. One explanation I can headcanon is that this is Transmetal Alpha Trion because he has both a techno-organic beastmode and a questionable third vehicular mode, making him overall fit quite in nicely with Beast Wars figures if you ignore the headmaster part.

Oh yeah, forgot about one of my earliest ones. CW Legends Wreck-Gar plus a few toyhax Decepticon stickers is Jester, a toady of Mega Empress and her 4 minions and bra-armor for Megatronia. His neon orange totally completes the missing highlighter for the theme the 4 limb bots have going on. He was originally named Joker to go with the 4 card suits in the limb-bots names better, but it just felt too Batman-ish, so I went with Jester instead.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:Oh yeah, forgot about one of my earliest ones. CW Legends Wreck-Gar plus a few toyhax Decepticon stickers is Jester, a toady of Mega Empress and her 4 minions and bra-armor for Megatronia. His neon orange totally completes the missing highlighter for the theme the 4 limb bots have going on. He was originally named Joker to go with the 4 card suits in the limb-bots names better, but it just felt too Batman-ish, so I went with Jester instead.

That's really clever and cool, dude.

Not sure if it's 100% in the topic. On my side I'm trying to create a team for each Optimus in my collection, composed each time of

- a scout (basic/legends)
- The right-hand man (usually a car. Yougster stuff à la HotShot)
- The warrior (Tank, 4x4.. a bot which looks heavy)
- The aerial support ( bot with a flight mode)

The goal being to keep the team in a theme (cybertronian, earth mode, beast modes etc..)

So it sometimes ends in strange assortiments.

So, a new one from an unexpected sale purchase: Last Knight Strafe has been given a new identity in my collection, or at least will as soon as any tiny Autobot symbol is removed. His new identity? Cryotek! His visored head even remind me a bit of the only illustration of Transtech Cryotek.

ExciKaiser wrote:Not sure if it's 100% in the topic. On my side I'm trying to create a team for each Optimus in my collection, composed each time of

- a scout (basic/legends)
- The right-hand man (usually a car. Yougster stuff à la HotShot)
- The warrior (Tank, 4x4.. a bot which looks heavy)
- The aerial support ( bot with a flight mode)

The goal being to keep the team in a theme (cybertronian, earth mode, beast modes etc..)

So it sometimes ends in strange assortiments.

I also create teams and sub-teams on a whim. ROTF Bludgeon had a "Mayhem Attack Squad" composed of green military Decepticons.

Energon Tow-line, G2 Hubcap, FOC Eject, and Energon Offshoot are a communications team.

For me, G1 Targetmaster Crosshair is actually G1 Orion Pax. Just look at him. It's the perfect vehicle, the perfect bot mode, and the perfect color scheme.

A missed opportunity at the time. So for me, G1 Crosshair don't exist. Only G1 Orion Pax.




Transformers G1 1987 Crosshairs Gallery


Transformers G1 1987 Crosshairs Gallery

I consider my G1 red Bumblebee and my G2 Ramjet to be completely new fan characters. My reissue Powermaster Optimus Prime with Apex Armor is actually Ginrai, and my reissue Star Convoy is actually Optimus Prime from another timeline. The same goes for my reissue Rodimus Prime and Universe Nemesis Prime. This way, I don't have continuity hiccups with other characters.

I don't know why I have to justify it in my mind, but it just feels right.

Thread revive time!
For me, Gen. Armada Starscream is Redwing, Energon Starscream is Bitstream, and Cybertron Thundercracker is Hotlink (although Cybertron Skywarp would work better). Between the colors for "Redwing", the circuitry patterns on "bitstream", and the giant orange missile-hand on "hotlink", these seem a lot more characterful than the average seeker clone. Also considered using Dark Energon Starscream as Spacewarp, but it didn't feel right.

I'm also building a repurposed, reborn set of 13 Primes. This is where the crazy begins.
FoC Soundblaster is Soundwave communing/merging with Logos Prime, in reference to his only non-Club appearance.
TR Alpha Trion is actually Trion's second body, reformatted by Vector Sigma from a dead broadside after Trion sacrificed himself in a prior adventure.
PCC pinpoint (yellow guy who looks like a powermaster) is my Micronus. More of a ghost than an actual body.
TR Kup, who barely resembles Kup IMO, becomes Macadam/Alchemist when he borrows scourge's head. Botcon Megaplex is Liege Maximo reborn in a protoform, hence the milky-see-through plastic and lack of a nose. The green and blue accents reminded me of his IDW look, and Megaplex's crest could be the stumpy beginnings of horns as the prime becomes more dominant.
The giant "Voyager" Predaking from 2014 was an ancient warlord possessed by Onyx Prime. His "brain pattern" was cloned by the decepticons to make G1Predaking sharper than other combiners - little did they know their super weapon now held the mind of a prime! Needless to say, I was thrilled when it was revealed PotP predaking would include Onyx.
No nexus Prime yet, but Victorion's sword is definitely his Cyber Caliber.
Murderbee is straight-up The Fallen.

How does TR Kup "Barely resemble Kup"? Sure, Hasbro was dumb and used the original toy's colors instead of the proper ones from the cartoon (which he was created for), but the sculpt is Kup all the same. The only major deviations are the square arms and the angular fenders.

With my collection, I have a narrative of the different series meeting up in one universe. In this narrative, the Decepticons of various universes have banded together out of pragmatism (and after some fighting). with Cybertron Megatron having overall command because of how powerful he is and because he can mind-torture G1 Galvatron. Krok was rebuilt to Skullcruncher's body pattern to bolster the Decepticon naval forces. Quake (who I don't have yet but I want) is a "she" because I want more Decepticon ladies. Among both factions, the movie characters have received armor upgrades and weapon upgrades to put them on an even footing.

As far as actual repurposings go, the only one I can think of right off is repurposing movie 1 Air Raid (Energon Skyblast redeco) as a Decepticon to bolster their ranks.

I've started displaying movie toys in the same cabinets as my Generations collection since the Studio Series began, my headcanon being the movie bots are visitors from an style alternate universe where things played out a bit differently, something like Injustice: Gods Among Us.

Latebrus-K wrote:
I'm also building a repurposed, reborn set of 13 Primes. This is where the crazy begins.
FoC Soundblaster is Soundwave communing/merging with Logos Prime, in reference to his only non-Club appearance.
TR Alpha Trion is actually Trion's second body, reformatted by Vector Sigma from a dead broadside after Trion sacrificed himself in a prior adventure.
PCC pinpoint (yellow guy who looks like a powermaster) is my Micronus. More of a ghost than an actual body.
TR Kup, who barely resembles Kup IMO, becomes Macadam/Alchemist when he borrows scourge's head. Botcon Megaplex is Liege Maximo reborn in a protoform, hence the milky-see-through plastic and lack of a nose. The green and blue accents reminded me of his IDW look, and Megaplex's crest could be the stumpy beginnings of horns as the prime becomes more dominant.
The giant "Voyager" Predaking from 2014 was an ancient warlord possessed by Onyx Prime. His "brain pattern" was cloned by the decepticons to make G1Predaking sharper than other combiners - little did they know their super weapon now held the mind of a prime! Needless to say, I was thrilled when it was revealed PotP predaking would include Onyx.
No nexus Prime yet, but Victorion's sword is definitely his Cyber Caliber.
Murderbee is straight-up The Fallen.

I thought about doing something like this once Power of the Primes Inferno comes out, if his Combiner form doesn't get an official name I was going to repurpose it as Nexus, and stick Prime Master Nexus (assuming one is ever made) on it for good measure.

Latebrus-K wrote:Thread revive time!
For me, Gen. Armada Starscream is Redwing, Energon Starscream is Bitstream, and Cybertron Thundercracker is Hotlink (although Cybertron Skywarp would work better). Between the colors for "Redwing", the circuitry patterns on "bitstream", and the giant orange missile-hand on "hotlink", these seem a lot more characterful than the average seeker clone. Also considered using Dark Energon Starscream as Spacewarp, but it didn't feel right.

Sounds pretty neat! I'm thinking of getting Energon Starscream as a semi physical "Half-Ghost" Starscream. So he has a physical form but it can become incorporeal and possess other Transformers.

I'm also building a repurposed, reborn set of 13 Primes. This is where the crazy begins.
FoC Soundblaster is Soundwave communing/merging with Logos Prime, in reference to his only non-Club appearance.
TR Alpha Trion is actually Trion's second body, reformatted by Vector Sigma from a dead broadside after Trion sacrificed himself in a prior adventure.
PCC pinpoint (yellow guy who looks like a powermaster) is my Micronus. More of a ghost than an actual body.
TR Kup, who barely resembles Kup IMO, becomes Macadam/Alchemist when he borrows scourge's head. Botcon Megaplex is Liege Maximo reborn in a protoform, hence the milky-see-through plastic and lack of a nose. The green and blue accents reminded me of his IDW look, and Megaplex's crest could be the stumpy beginnings of horns as the prime becomes more dominant.
The giant "Voyager" Predaking from 2014 was an ancient warlord possessed by Onyx Prime. His "brain pattern" was cloned by the decepticons to make G1Predaking sharper than other combiners - little did they know their super weapon now held the mind of a prime! Needless to say, I was thrilled when it was revealed PotP predaking would include Onyx.
No nexus Prime yet, but Victorion's sword is definitely his Cyber Caliber.
Murderbee is straight-up The Fallen.

I like it! As far as the Primes go for me, here's my planned lineup...

Prima: Will not be represented as in my timeline he long ago merged himself with the core of Cybertron.
Megatronus Prime/The Fallen: As this is a "modern day" collection he won't have a pre-fall/Megatronus Prime (or as I prefer "Umbrus Prime") figure. If we get a decent Fallen figure of some variety I'll just get him, if not I may represent him with Voyager TLK Megatron. However...
"Legion Prime"/Liege Maximo: I can't stand the "Robo-Loki" look he has now, much preferring the great cyber-satan look of the last page of G2. He is competing with the Fallen for the TLK Megatron Voyager unless a better option presents itself.
Onyx Prime: Cybertron Scourge sans insignias. Sure he's not a centauroid but he looks so damn cool and kingly.
Alchemist Prime: In my headcanon, Amalgamous Prime and Alchemist Prime (or as I prefer his name to be, "Chemos Prime") went on a quest to the centre of the galaxy and found something unspeakably horrific, perishing in the process. Liege Maximo reclaimed their sparks and corrupted the jolly scientist into the tormented being known as Toxitron, bringer of plague. So when I get some variety of Toxitron, that's who he'll be.
Amalgamous Prime: Probably not going to be represented due to literally taking any shape he likes, as per the above headcanon he is now Liege Maximo's great deciever, a being known only as the Formless, and appears in various guises depending on the situation.
Solus Prime: Technically, Solus Prime is extremely dead due to getting on the wrong side of the Requiem Blaster (albeit in my headcanon the circumstances were a bit different). I'm not sure if I'll bother with a representation of her as she should IMO be at least a Voyager and I have no idea what mold would even work as the basis for a custom (the MMC one is cool but a bit small). Most likely the last remnants of her existence will be her Matrix of Creation and her Forge Hammer.
Quintus Prime: Murdered by the Quintessons he called his sons and daughters. With the exclusion of his Matrix of Judgement, he is long gone.
Trion Prime/Alpha Trion: TR Alpha Trion. Simple enough.
Vector Prime: Cybertron Vector Prime. Again, pretty easy really, a great toy even for his age.
Nexus Prime: I MIGHT make a custom based on POTP Inferno for the torso and the cheapest available molds for the limbs. Might. Again, he's long dead (having been killed by the time travelling Galvatron) but his Matrix of Combination can possess existing combiners and allow them to act as a vector for his will.
Micronus Prime: Unlike the other Prime Masters, who represent the Matrix of their particular Prime, Micronus' Matrix of Unity actually IS Micronus. Being as he is a smol boi who enhances the power of his allies, it makes sense that he is his own Matrix.
The Thirteenth: Does not exist. Or may have existed, nobody knows. Regardless he doesn't get a figure.

For years I've been re-purposing figures I don't have other uses for to be my CHUG Go-Bots

Guardians
Movie Line Skyblast = Leader-1
Movie Armorhide = Road Ranger
Cybertron Ransack = Scooter
RotF Rollbar = Van Guard
Movie Warpath = Smallfoot
CW Windcharger = Street Heat

Renegades
Cybertron Ransack GTS = Cy-Kill
Universe Tankor = Destroyer
RotF Divebomb = Gunnyr
Rotf Ransack = Zero
Movie Fracture = Crasher
RotF Deadlift = Spoons
RotF Dead End = Spoiler
RotF Reverb = Dart
Cybertron Brushguard = Pow Wow
TLK Infernocus = Monsterous
Movie Meantime = Gong

Rock Lords
Movie Protoform Prime = Boulder
Movie Protoform Starscream = Magmar
RotF Ravage = a Gnarlie

Studio Series Grimlock for me is an evil, undead incarnation of the head dinobot -- who goes by Grimdark. :p

I actually forgot one: Sometimes, I have TR Hot Rod as just regular Hot Rod. Sometimes, I treat him as a replica of his original body built as a secondary body that he can control while he's Rodimus Prime.