The Energon Pub

I like this a lot, especially the alt mode. But it's just this pet peeve I have against fake kibble. He's got fake chest kibble, and the actual kibble is on his forearms in two huge chunks.

I'd personally like to see more cohesion between the onscreen designs and the actual toys.

Other than that, he's awesome, and I'm still tempted to buy the toy.

DO. WANT.

WOW! Without all the crap on him Smokescreen looks pretty awesome. Better than the Takara version. I can't believe I just said that.

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:I like this a lot, especially the alt mode. But it's just this pet peeve I have against fake kibble. He's got fake chest kibble, and the actual kibble is on his forearms in two huge chunks.

I'd personally like to see more cohesion between the onscreen designs and the actual toys.

Back in the day the designer for Macros worked with Takatoku to make the transforming VF's and they were fantastic. I really think if the Has/Tak guys worked with the designers the toys would be brilliant.

Bulkhead looks too much like Man at Arms

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:I'd personally like to see more cohesion between the onscreen designs and the actual toys.

The only characters that haven't gotten "spitting image" toy representations are Knock Out and Airachnid. Otherwise, all the other characters have been represented as accurately as they could be.

jamiko wrote:WOW! Without all the crap on him Smokescreen looks pretty awesome. Better than the Takara version. I can't believe I just said that.

Do you think you and everyone else have the right to insult Takara just because they made that kind of SS at the time!? NO! AM SS was made because his own toy wasn't made yet. Now that said company made him in the BH toyline, you give all the crappy thanks to the lazy Hasbro!? Unbelievable!

To hell with your propaganda, Hasblow! You can't simply take Takara's like 123!

I think I'll get both. So, I guess it's safe to say Bulkhead won't be coming in Voyager class?

XDMan wrote:

jamiko wrote:WOW! Without all the crap on him Smokescreen looks pretty awesome. Better than the Takara version. I can't believe I just said that.

Do you think you and everyone else have the right to insult Takara just because they made that kind of SS at the time!? NO! AM SS was made because his own toy wasn't made yet. Now that said company made him in the BH toyline, you give all the crappy thanks to the lazy Hasbro!? Unbelievable!

To hell with your propaganda, Hasblow! You can't simply take Takara's like 123!

Kid, please stop trolling. Takara is not some picture perfect "god among men"-type company that's free from any and all criticism.

We know why Takara made their Smokescreen the way they did. Doesn't mean it's excused from proper fan critiquing or that we aren't free to express our feelings about it, be they positive or negative feelings.

Kindly grow up and let us bask in this Hasbro figure's coolness.

XDMan wrote:

jamiko wrote:WOW! Without all the crap on him Smokescreen looks pretty awesome. Better than the Takara version. I can't believe I just said that.

Do you think you and everyone else have the right to insult Takara just because they made that kind of SS at the time!? NO! AM SS was made because his own toy wasn't made yet. Now that said company made him in the BH toyline, you give all the crappy thanks to the lazy Hasbro!? Unbelievable!

To hell with your propaganda, Hasblow! You can't simply take Takara's like 123!

This is hardly Hasbro's only victory over Takara. If you'll recall, Hasbro was also the first to release Masterpiece Starscream in the proper colors.

XDMan wrote:Do you think you and everyone else have the right to insult Takara just because they made that kind of SS at the time!? NO!

He didn't insult Takara, he voiced his opinion. Don't like it, that's your problem. Get over it.

Now that said company made him in the BH toyline, you give all the crappy thanks to the lazy Hasbro!? Unbelievable!

Because we get a stateside Smokescreen in his own mold before Japan does? Screw it, let's all move to Japan and bow before Takara's feet.

To hell with your propaganda, Hasblow! You can't simply take Takara's like 123!

I'm quite frankly sick and tired of your bull. You force your personal opinions on other people. As Sabrblade stated, Takara isn't free from criticism; they're not gods. Now, quit bagging on everyone just because you prefer everything Takara spoon-feeds you.

Okay. You guys have had your say, please get this topic back on course. We all know where everyone stands on this issue now. And ganging up on XDMan is not allowed. Him or anyone else, for that matter.

Now, on topic...

BBTS has raised the price in just a few hours. $18.99 before the preorders went live, now $21.99 for Smokescreen and $19.99 for Ripclaw. I'm more than a little disappointed in them. And I have no problem being VERY vocal about it. I know Hasbro's been raising prices, but they haven't raised them that high. That's bull.

one thing i noticed about the starscream, don't know if anyone else did, but he's the only one being released so far that has the show-accurate red headcrest

Hypershock wrote:one thing i noticed about the starscream, don't know if anyone else did, but he's the only one being released so far that has the show-accurate red headcrest

Red headcrest - Blue missiles.

Autobot032 wrote:Okay. You guys have had your say, please get this topic back on course. We all know where everyone stands on this issue now. And ganging up on XDMan is not allowed. Him or anyone else, for that matter.

Now, on topic...

BBTS has raised the price in just a few hours. $18.99 before the preorders went live, now $21.99 for Smokescreen and $19.99 for Ripclaw. I'm more than a little disappointed in them. And I have no problem being VERY vocal about it. I know Hasbro's been raising prices, but they haven't raised them that high. That's bull.

W-whoa, seriously? o_O I know retailers have to make a profit but ohhhh MAN. That's REALLY high... How much do they have the VOYAGERS up for preorder!?

Autobot032 wrote:Okay. You guys have had your say, please get this topic back on course. We all know where everyone stands on this issue now. And ganging up on XDMan is not allowed. Him or anyone else, for that matter.

Now, on topic...

BBTS has raised the price in just a few hours. $18.99 before the preorders went live, now $21.99 for Smokescreen and $19.99 for Ripclaw. I'm more than a little disappointed in them. And I have no problem being VERY vocal about it. I know Hasbro's been raising prices, but they haven't raised them that high. That's bull.

Pre-order has already sold out

Not that it matters to me, I want him, but not going to let BBTS rip me off like that... Same reason I'm glad I didn't pre-order Lazerback and not getting Ripclaw. If they show up later on for the same price as the other less popular deluxes then I might bite, but if this price crap continues then Prime really is over for me.

Ah well, more money to through at third party offerings

RAcast wrote:W-whoa, seriously? o_O I know retailers have to make a profit but ohhhh MAN. That's REALLY high... How much do they have the VOYAGERS up for preorder!?

$27.99 each. Slightly higher than TRU.

Arctorro wrote:Pre-order has already sold out

Not that it matters to me, I want him, but not going to let BBTS rip me off like that... Same reason I'm glad I didn't pre-order Lazerback and not getting Ripclaw. If they show up later on for the same price as the other less popular deluxes then I might bite, but if this price crap continues then Prime really is over for me.

Ah well, more money to through at third party offerings

I'm sure other sites will compete with BBTS. BBTS is getting out of hand. Amazon is excellent for TFs, price wise.

Autobot032 wrote:

RAcast wrote:W-whoa, seriously? o_O I know retailers have to make a profit but ohhhh MAN. That's REALLY high... How much do they have the VOYAGERS up for preorder!?

$27.99 each. Slightly higher than TRU.

Arctorro wrote:Pre-order has already sold out

Not that it matters to me, I want him, but not going to let BBTS rip me off like that... Same reason I'm glad I didn't pre-order Lazerback and not getting Ripclaw. If they show up later on for the same price as the other less popular deluxes then I might bite, but if this price crap continues then Prime really is over for me.

Ah well, more money to through at third party offerings

I'm sure other sites will compete with BBTS. BBTS is getting out of hand. Amazon is excellent for TFs, price wise.

I'm throwing Captured Prey out there. They don't have any BH stuff right now, but I'm sure they will in the near future. As I undestand it they're still fairly new-ish, but their prices are at or less than BBTS for most things that I've noticed and their shipping rates are definitely at least a few bucks cheaper.

For the sake of saying something on topic, I really do want a better look at Starscream. Hopefully we'll get images here soon. I'm hoping he's not as derpy as he looks in that pictures, haha.

Autobot032 wrote:

RAcast wrote:W-whoa, seriously? o_O I know retailers have to make a profit but ohhhh MAN. That's REALLY high... How much do they have the VOYAGERS up for preorder!?

$27.99 each. Slightly higher than TRU.

TRU.com has been selling PRID Voyagers for $29.99 the past several weeks. The stores in my area have been trying to sell them at the same price.

Autobot032 wrote:I'm sure other sites will compete with BBTS. BBTS is getting out of hand. Amazon is excellent for TFs, price wise.

I'm not that fond of buying from Amazon. I often have trouble not only getting stuff shipped to Australia, but getting it shipped together to save a little cash

RAcast wrote:I'm throwing Captured Prey out there. They don't have any BH stuff right now, but I'm sure they will in the near future. As I undestand it they're still fairly new-ish, but their prices are at or less than BBTS for most things that I've noticed and their shipping rates are definitely at least a few bucks cheaper.

Some of Captured Prey's prices are quite nice, but their version of BBTS's PoL (from what I've read in their FAQ) is quite frankly a joke and at least half of my pre-orders on BBTS they don't even have listed. The policy of putting in-stock items aside only if you have something else on pre-order is one of the reasons I try to avoid TFsource, at least BBTS will put everything aside for 6 months. Captured Prey will continue to sell in-stock items until sold out even if some are supposed to be put aside for you

Considering they have Hegemon and Mobain Chaos Paladin arriving soon I might give them a go if I have the funds when those two items are in-stock. But without a proper PoL system and greater variety of stock I would rather pay a tiny bit more sometimes for better service.

Arctorro wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:I'm sure other sites will compete with BBTS. BBTS is getting out of hand. Amazon is excellent for TFs, price wise.

I'm not that fond of buying from Amazon. I often have trouble not only getting stuff shipped to Australia, but getting it shipped together to save a little cash

RAcast wrote:I'm throwing Captured Prey out there. They don't have any BH stuff right now, but I'm sure they will in the near future. As I undestand it they're still fairly new-ish, but their prices are at or less than BBTS for most things that I've noticed and their shipping rates are definitely at least a few bucks cheaper.

Some of Captured Prey's prices are quite nice, but their version of BBTS's PoL (from what I've read in their FAQ) is quite frankly a joke and at least half of my pre-orders on BBTS they don't even have listed. The policy of putting in-stock items aside only if you have something else on pre-order is one of the reasons I try to avoid TFsource, at least BBTS will put everything aside for 6 months. Captured Prey will continue to sell in-stock items until sold out even if some are supposed to be put aside for you

Considering they have Hegemon and Mobain Chaos Paladin arriving soon I might give them a go if I have the funds when those two items are in-stock. But without a proper PoL system and greater variety of stock I would rather pay a tiny bit more sometimes for better service.

That's fair. Hopefully they'll improve on the system where they feel they need improvements, we'll see. I can understand how a PoL system would be good, but I can also understand wanting to not sit on stock for a long time, if that makes sense? I'm sure that most people will follow through on the proposed purchase, but if some people don't, then you're stuck with stock after the initial hype has died down. Maybe it will still sell easily, maybe it won't; so I can understand their (apparent?) reluctance to commit to putting a 6 month hold on in-stock items.

I just wanted to throw CP out there, since I have no idea how well known it is yet, and I certainly had a good experience buying from them.

RAcast wrote:That's fair. Hopefully they'll improve on the system where they feel they need improvements, we'll see. I can understand how a PoL system would be good, but I can also understand wanting to not sit on stock for a long time, if that makes sense?

I can understand that, it is taking up space for stock they could be shifting.

RAcast wrote:I'm sure that most people will follow through on the proposed purchase, but if some people don't, then you're stuck with stock after the initial hype has died down. Maybe it will still sell easily, maybe it won't; so I can understand their (apparent?) reluctance to commit to putting a 6 month hold on in-stock items.

Paying up front for anything that is sitting in the warehouse and having a limited window to cancel is a good way to get around that. I'm happy to pay and be locked-in for anything I buy that is in-stock

RAcast wrote:I just wanted to throw CP out there, since I have no idea how well known it is yet, and I certainly had a good experience buying from them.

It was a good suggestion. I'd heard of them, but never checked them out (I think ) and with a few small improvements they go from (my point of view) the third best retailer, behind BBTS and TFsource, to the single best.

That arm kibble is severely disappointing. That's some of the worst kibble I've ever seen.

I'd prefer that arm kibble somehow swing up to fill his hollow back too but this is already leagues ahead of the Knockout repaint and more than adequate.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:I like this a lot, especially the alt mode. But it's just this pet peeve I have against fake kibble. He's got fake chest kibble, and the actual kibble is on his forearms in two huge chunks.

I'd personally like to see more cohesion between the onscreen designs and the actual toys.

Back in the day the designer for Macros worked with Takatoku to make the transforming VF's and they were fantastic. I really think if the Has/Tak guys worked with the designers the toys would be brilliant.

Yeah, the divide between show and toy designers is starting to widen more than ever.

At least back in the days of the first and second movies, Hasbro had the resources and budget to make the toys look as close as possible to their CG/animation designs. But in light of all this recent cost cutting, the designers simply don't have the leeway to make the toys resemble their onscreen designs, and the guys who made the CG aren't making their jobs any easier.