The Energon Pub

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Sun Aug 06, 2023 4:57 pm

Sabrblade wrote:Behold, Masterpiece(-scaled) Metroplex!

News Credits: 461 · by **Sabrblade** » Sun Aug 06, 2023 5:02 pm

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:Behold, Masterpiece(-scaled) Metroplex!

As an added bonus, this 3D-printed gargantuan has a built-in practical function of also serving as a bookshelf.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Sun Aug 06, 2023 5:04 pm

It's taller than the TV cabinet behind it. Basically making it the size of a member of the household 8-}

News Credits: 101 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Sun Aug 06, 2023 5:18 pm

Sabrblade wrote:Behold, Masterpiece(-scaled) Metroplex!

Damn, that must be quite something to transform! And I do wonder how the joints works.

News Credits: 10 · by **sol magnus** » Sun Aug 06, 2023 7:59 pm

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Some of the community might turn their noses up at 3P (which is a uniquely TF issue anyway) but they did Unicron better and it cost a lot less.

Sabrblade wrote:

I do love how unintentionally versatile Megabolt continues to be. The newest one in particular, seems very apt in light of the original scale of the Grand Mal.

Firmly in the camp of opinion. I love my Unicron, don't hate on it.

News Credits: 1 · by **Gauntlet101010** » Thu Aug 10, 2023 9:33 am

I'm undergoing renos, but am looking forward to finding a place for Unicron. Also looking forward to starting a family and not looking forward to a kid inevitably breaking those spikes. No regrets on getting on my end, though. It didn't end my TF journey as I thought it might, but it's definitely a highlight as I start to stop.

So, still glad I backed Unicron. Is it huge and unwieldy and partsformery? Yes, yes, and yes. But I'm still glad I have the massive thing. I'm just impressed by big, stupid things.

As for the 3P option ... eh. Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I have Amazon Unicron. If I didn't have Amazon Armada would hit the spot decently well. If I didn't have Haslab, I'd be fine. I dunno why I'm not more crazy about the 3P. Maybe because it's not more perfect looking.

Grand Mal is great. I put it on Titan Fort Max. His legs can curl around and mostly secure it in place. Upped my enjoyment of that thing a bunch.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Thu Aug 10, 2023 9:58 am

Looking at the two together, which I haven't done til now. It reminds me of the Masterpiece collection split: Standard vs. Anime+

News Credits: 101 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Thu Aug 10, 2023 11:49 am

These two can't really be compared they are not of the same scale at all and fill in different purposes.

A "fair" comparison with the S.Cell would be with Amazon Unicron.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Thu Aug 10, 2023 12:09 pm

-Kanrabat- wrote:These two can't really be compared they are not of the same scale at all and fill in different purposes.

They can, because it is the same character. Same iteration. Fulfilling the same role. This also however, goes to what I was saying about scale earlier. The figure doesn't have to be the size of a cabinet to be effective. That's not the part designers should be focused on. It, as a Transformer, has to look good in both modes. Also for the price point, minimal kibble. They could do it for MP-36. He was both cheaper and a lot smaller. Therefore, there was no reason why HasLab Unicron should look like it does from the back.

As I have long championed with the Masterpiece line. If they are going to charge us a premium. No corners should be cut. The highest end figures should look good in both modes. Front and back. That isn't an unreasonable request.

01 Studio Cell (rear view)

HasLab Unicron (rear view)

-Kanrabat- wrote:A "fair" comparison with the S.Cell would be with Amazon Unicron.

Voila!

News Credits: 101 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Thu Aug 10, 2023 4:47 pm

Comparing Cell to HASLAB is like comparing ER Optimus to the Robosen Optimus. They are not even in the same ball park. HASLAB Unicron is too unique, too its own thing.

But Cell VS the OG mold is like comparing ER Optimus to MP-44. Both are not in the same category, but still much closer.

Regardless, if I'll have to pay the big bucks for a new Unicron, I'd go with the Cell. Despite having a complicated transformation, it's at least "handlelable", and it the most screen accurate to date.

News Credits: 461 · by **Sabrblade** » Thu Aug 10, 2023 4:55 pm

-Kanrabat- wrote:and it the most screen accurate to date.

Mmm, its redecos are. The first release isn't quite there, color-wise. Namely the blue squares and silver circles on its torso and hips are inverted from how they were light gray squares with blue/dark gray circles onscreen. Two of Cell's redecos got that right.

News Credits: 101 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Thu Aug 10, 2023 7:26 pm

Sabrblade wrote:
-Kanrabat- wrote:and it the most screen accurate to date.
Mmm, its redecos are. The first release isn't quite there, color-wise. Namely the blue squares and silver circles on its torso and hips are inverted from how they were light gray squares with blue/dark gray circles onscreen. Two of Cell's redecos got that right.

That's what I meant, obviously.

News Credits: 1 · by **Gauntlet101010** » Fri Aug 11, 2023 12:14 am

In regards to Cell, it kinda bothers me that the maw is the way it is. I haven't looked into it more since I knew I was never gonna get it. But did it really need to look like that? Was there no other way? The robot mode is really close to being on model, so it seems like a shame to miss that part of the planet mode.

If I check ebay Cell is now $500-ish. For me, for that money, the officialness matters.

Haslab doesn't try to be that on-model. Reproblabels helps there, though. A LOT. I did NOT appreciate how they handled the maw situation.

Not gonna lie about the cons. The unwieldiness and kibble hurt it. It's definitely a display piece. But, even if it didn't exist I don't think I'd buy Cell. It's just too much after shipping and conversion to Canadian. For me, anyway. I'd probably be content with Amazon Unicron as the scale is always gonna be so astronomically off that it's useless to bother.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Fri Aug 11, 2023 3:55 am

I've said the same with the City Bots. They are display pieces. Too Big and impractical not to be. That's worse for the Unicron's. Which I would assume are kept in Bot Mode by most owners.

News Credits: 101 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Fri Aug 11, 2023 4:42 am

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I'd probably be content with Amazon Unicron as the scale is always gonna be so astronomically off that it's useless to bother.

I'm in the same boat.
I have both Amazon and Armada Unicron, plus that kick-ass Throne of Chaos planet stand. For me, that's plenty enough for having a representation of the character.

At the time, and today, I still think that HASLAB Unicron is just a giant mess of kibbles in bot mode. As if the poor guy fell off in a pile of cardboard and all the sheets got stuck to him.
As for Cell, it's way, WAY too expensive for what it will bring into my collection.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Fri Aug 11, 2023 4:54 am

As much as I loved Unicron in The Movie, I'm not interested in a "modern" figure for him. Space is a premium for me and scale isn't a sensible way to view a figure of the Chaosbringer.
Armada Uni was a design for an iteration I didn't care for. To me, HasLab/crowdfunding was always the wrong way to sell this figure to begin with. In my view also about 400 more than he should have been. Studio Cell was ironically, considerably cheaper when he was first released. After Hasbro's sour grapes embargo, of course.

That said. Long ago, as a kid, I would have killed for this guy:

But he never came to be. I don't think any film selling merchandise has since botched selling representation of the star of a movie so badly as HasTak did in '86.

News Credits: 101 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Fri Aug 11, 2023 5:23 am

Hell yeah, that G1 Proto-Unicron!
I too, want it a lot. HASTAK will never make it but at least, Super7 did. It's better than nothing.

I wonder if a 3P would dare to make it, with the details, scale, and functions as faithful as the original? :-?

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Fri Aug 11, 2023 6:31 am

-Kanrabat- wrote:I wonder if a 3P would dare to make it, with the details, scale, and functions as faithful as the original?

No Orson Welles voice chip though. I do have to backtrack a little. Since my peak collecting was during the Beast Era, if this guy had made it to production. Discounting the Takara Series that I have no affinity for or acknowledgement of. I'd have added him to my collection then.

MyFigureCollection.net collection · by **Emerje** » Fri Aug 11, 2023 7:38 am

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:That said. Long ago, as a kid, I would have killed for this guy:

I still would. Call me Hasbro. :HEADHURTS:

I've had this long standing theory that by the time the movie hit they would have already been working on Fortress Maximus who would have towered over Unicron and been a better figure to boot (not to mention Scorponok) so they hesitated since the two would definitely be in stores at the same time. Then the movie ended up being a financial failure and that was that.

Emerje

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Fri Aug 11, 2023 7:40 am

The film might have been a financial failure. But he would have flown off the shelves.

News Credits: 1 · by **Gauntlet101010** » Fri Aug 11, 2023 9:03 am

Depending on price I still might be interested in G1 Unicron. It's historical and hilarious. But it would really depend on price.

Neo Unicron was awesome at the time and it's a shame he was passed over. But he's so small by today's standards. And you look at he side and the front of that planet and, if it's not powered by Unobtanium, I'm not sure it holds up.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Fri Aug 11, 2023 9:09 am

As what could have been the first Unicron toy, Neo would have been entirely his own thing. Different enough that (most) people wouldn't have complained that he wasn't G1 Unicron. I'm curious what his colour scheme would have been though. Also like you say, from the side view, I really hope the bot itself was heavier than the planet kibble. Otherwise it would have been a Magnaboss situation all over again.

News Credits: 1 · by **Gauntlet101010** » Fri Aug 11, 2023 9:17 am

Do you think people would have complained back then? I dunno. We hadn't gotten any large TF toys outside Fort Max; Supreme Class wasn't a thing. And Unicron wasn't a thing. Now we have so many we can complain about the biggest one, but back then there was a decades long gap and there wasn't screen accurate anything of anybody. Even BW characters weren't always screen accurate.

I think people woulda loved it. Provided it got the right hype of course. I remember thinking Armada Unicron was amazing and very G1. Compared to our standards now it really isn't, but at the time it hit the mark.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Fri Aug 11, 2023 9:29 am

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Do you think people would have complained back then?

This fandom? Absolutely. Especially the more active "Trukk not Munky" crowd during the Beast Era.

Gauntlet101010 wrote: We hadn't gotten any large TF toys outside Fort Max; Supreme Class wasn't a thing. And Unicron wasn't a thing. Now we have so many we can complain about the biggest one, but back then there was a decades long gap and there wasn't screen accurate anything of anybody. Even BW characters weren't always screen accurate.

I think people woulda loved it. Provided it got the right hype of course. I remember thinking Armada Unicron was amazing and very G1. Compared to our standards now it really isn't, but at the time it hit the mark.

To be fair, as far as I'm able to look up. Unicron didn't appear like that in Neo anyway. He was just an amped up Galvatron. That's why I am so curious about the colour scheme they would have used.

News Credits: 1 · by **Gauntlet101010** » Fri Aug 11, 2023 9:44 am

Yeah, fair point on that. I wasn't a part of the fandom proper; I just looked at some websites and kinda wondered why people people were so riled up.

They would need to have hyped Neo Unicron up more. They dropped the ball there and I'm sure there's a story behind it. It can't be that they made this (for the time) massive toy with zero plans to have it feature in-person in the show. Maybe plans were scrapped while the show was in production or something. Maybe one day we'll see color art. It can't be too off from G1 colors.