The Energon Pub

by **StealthBunny** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:08 am

Long-time TF fan... but not a toy collector. I found a bunch at a garage sale that I'm listing on eBay... but I don't know what these nifty "mood ring" type Predacon insignias are called that are on some of the Beast War/Machine (mid/late 1990s) toys like Retrax, Terrorsaur, Scavenger...etc. The ones that look like a black square until you touch them, and then they turn colors like a mood ring.

Do they have a specific name?

Thanks to anyone who can help me out on that!

News Credits: 8 · by **Liege Evilmus** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:28 am

you mean "rub Signs" ?

It was a idea back from G1 that you would rub that patch and see who's side the robot was on.

Of course most sticker sheets came with a million faction stickers, but that was the origional idea behind them.

The idea faded, but the sticker stuck around for a while, and even had a brief revival in Classics.

by **StealthBunny** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:35 am

er... rub signs? dunno, but the longer I leave my finger on the insignia, the darker the color of the background changes. I've only had one TF toy in my life, and never took that one out of the box, so I don't know what labels usually come with them, but on closer look, this probably was a sticker.

News Credits: 2 · by **Insurgent** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 12:22 pm

Yep. That's a rub sign, although the BW instructions called them 'Energon Chips'. After BW, they stopped, but reapeared on the classics. They are basically a sticker, and you can even order a batch of them from Reprolabels, a website that produces replacement stickers for G1. The rub signs are pre applied before you get them out of the box, whereas normal faction symbols would have to be put on yourself.

They work off heat, not rubbing (the rubbing would produce heat from friction, hence the term rub signs) but they have been known to work in hot temperatures by themselves. I got a couple of them a really dark blue, almost going black again in the summer heatwaves.

News Credits: 1 · by **Agent 007** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 5:27 pm

Insurgent wrote:Yep. That's a rub sign, although the BW instructions called them 'Energon Chips'. After BW, they stopped, but reapeared on the classics. They are basically a sticker, and you can even order a batch of them from Reprolabels, a website that produces replacement stickers for G1. The rub signs are pre applied before you get them out of the box, whereas normal faction symbols would have to be put on yourself.

They work off heat, not rubbing (the rubbing would produce heat from friction, hence the term rub signs) but they have been known to work in hot temperatures by themselves. I got a couple of them a really dark blue, almost going black again in the summer heatwaves.

happened to me when My little cos and I were playin wit em in the backyard, my tf incuding ways have payed off, he's hooked on em :grin: