The Energon Pub

He'd be great if not for the low-set shoulders, alas we have another combiner wars megatron on our hands

Yeah, letting this one go as well. It looks more like a guy wearing jet parts than is does a robot that turns into a jet.

Hasbro needs to try a little harder. Following the Gigawatt debacle and the parade of crap Arcee's with this half-a$$ed effort does little to inspire me to part with hard earned cash.


Oh, look! Already available on eBay for $369!

o.supreme wrote:Since the last 2 movie crossovers were retools of existing molds, what retool is this? I find it hard to believe Hasbro would create a whole new mold just for this.

Unless they plan to use the mold for other characters. (Cyberjets! wheeeee)

Alpha Weltall wrote:Looks almost like it was designed by the people who designed the Star Wars and/or Marvel Crossover figures.

Back when the boxed picture fist leaked, I read a comment by someone who thought they used Classics Jetfire as the base figure. They should have. Either that or T30 Jetfire.

Eh, T30 Jetfire, not so much. The way his legs end up in jet mode would kinda spoil it..

Alpha Weltall wrote:I'm thinking that in order to obtain a licence to make this they had to leave the jet mode as clean as possible. I believe the Star Wars figures had a similar limitation for their vehicle modes. Using either of the aforementioned Jetfire figures as a base wouldn't leave a clean undercarriage no matter how much you retooled or reshelled them.

I'm pretty sure that's exactly what happened, that making the jet mode super-clean was a major stipulation. T30 Jetfire has his entire robot mode visible on the undercarriage, and even Classics just has the arms kinda hanging there. This is obviously a figure designed to have as clean of a fighter jet mode as possible while still being a transforming, articulated robot.

Counterpunch wrote:Atrocious.

There is no way the current brand/design team made this...thing.

You sure?

Counterpunch wrote:I can already feel how disappointing it will be in hand from that nearly translucent plastic, to the junky forearms, down to the 1980's engineering knee joint.

1. What "nearly translucent plastic"? I'm pretty sure that's an optical illusion caused by the weathering. If the plastic was really nearly translucent, the wings wouldn't be reflecting as much light in this shot (and the shadows in some of the others would be tinted):

2. What's junky about the forearms? The fact that they don't have cover panels for the arms even though that's always been a rare luxury and the gaps the hands fold into are on the underarm rather than the side?
3. What's so "1980s engineering" about the knee joint? The fact that the lower legs halves are held together over it by a screw? Or the fact that they're not visible as knee joints when the legs aren't bent? If the latter, there's reason. This guy obviously had to have as clean a jet mode as possible - and there are unavoidable prices for that in terms of robot aesthetic. Maybe if he was Leader-class or larger, more could have been done about hat.. But then he'd be driven to $70 or more by the licensing markup, so...

Had a thought; what if this could be used as a new version of Generation 2 Smokescreen? Unlikely, I know, but with the right head (and maybe hopefully a Leader class partner ) it might could work.

Part of me wishes he was bigger and had lights and sounds. Also don't like how genericon it feels compared to Ectotron and even Gigawatt.

Quantum Surge wrote:Part of me wishes he was bigger and had lights and sounds. Also don't like how genericon it feels compared to Ectotron and even Gigawatt.

Bigger? He already looks to be Voyager-sized.

Quantum Surge wrote:Part of me wishes he was bigger and had lights and sounds. Also don't like how genericon it feels compared to Ectotron and even Gigawatt.

In fairness, he is based off a generic airplane as opposed to customized cars.

The helmet is heavily based off the movie.

Not sure how I feel about this one... It's a decent jet transformer, but I've never actually seen Top Gun, and the jet mode, while well-executed, is kinda generic, unlike the more iconic vehicles used for Ectotron and Gigawatt.

I do like the box, though. Would have been nice if the other Collaborative figures had individualized packaging like that instead of generic retro-G1 boxes.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:I thought Ectotron (who used a Voyager mold as his base) was $50 as well?

$40, at least from the original Pulse release and current restocking listing on entertainment earth.

Gamestop marked him up to $50 because they're Gamestop.

Zeedust wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:I thought Ectotron (who used a Voyager mold as his base) was $50 as well?

$40, at least from the original Pulse release and current restocking listing on entertainment earth.

Gamestop marked him up to $50 because they're Gamestop.

And eBay prices are currently at about $60. Which sucks because now that the Collaborative line is becoming more of an expansive thing I wouldn’t mind having a shelf of pop culture Transformers, even though I have little interest in the Ghostbusters in general (the GB/TF crossover comic was gold tho, not gunna lie).

Not feeling this one

Based on all the comments it sounds like this guy will be easy to get on discount. Which is good, because this figure does not seem like good value/bang for your buck, unlike Ectotron. It looks cool, but agreed the engineering and design is a bit simplistic/outdated and the color scheme is kind of bland. I have also never seen Top Gun (and forgot Tom Cruise was a Scientologist until now ), but I kind of like the idea of having a complete collection of pop culture transformers. So I'll probably still pick this up regardless, as long as I can get it in Canada from somewhere with cheaper shipping than Pulse.

This is the perfect (not Maverick but) Macross Transformers!

Looks like a perfect start for a custom version of Macross II Valkyrie.

I like it very much, except for the head but it has to be this way to hommage the movie.

I'm picking him up. I liked the movie, love the soundtrack. And Ectotron's a bit lonely.

Not quite sure what message you're trying to convey there. Do you feel it's a pile of rubber dog ****?

It's been said that the brown paint, splattered all over this figure, looks like excrement, plus (although it's actually made in Vietnam) one would assume that this toy plane "came out of Hong Kong" (factories).

love f-15s and and f-14s... which this is a great representation of. However the plastic reminds me of the ape face off white that made it feel cheap. Also, would it have been too much to ask for a little paint on the tyres?

Not a fan of the movie, so this will be a pass. Looking forward to more of these crossovers tho...

Did the they get the accessory count wrong? Listing says 5, but I'm seeing two guns, two spare volleyball hands, a volleyball and a motorcycle for 6... And yet the picture with the accessories doesn't count the guns (technically part of the jet, but that's never stopped them from counting integrated weapons before) so it's 4?

Emerje

Why does he have that odd speckling? That doesn't match the F-14 from Top Gun

transformers_va wrote:Why does he have that odd speckling? That doesn't match the F-14 from Top Gun

It's "rubber dog sh*t", from Hong Kong.

Burn wrote:...the only good thing about the original Top Gun was the soundtrack.

Completely disagree! Top Gun was a great mid 80s movie, that is still very enjoyable to watch.

I see possible leader 1 repaint out of it

transformers_va wrote:

Burn wrote:...the only good thing about the original Top Gun was the soundtrack.

Completely disagree! Top Gun was a great mid 80s movie, that is still very enjoyable to watch.

The cinematography, such as the opening scene, is a classic. I'm sure it, and many other such scenes in the film, inspired other filmmakers. Compare Top Gun's use of the military to a Michael Bay film, and Brukheimer's vision wins every time, IMO.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:1. Did you mean Cyberverse? You have clearly never held a Cybertron toy in your life if you make that mistake.
2. Looking at the photos, the only obvious hollows are in the forearms, where the hands fold away. Cover panels for that have long been a luxury design-wise.
3. News-flash for you, buddy: Everything these days, Studio Series included, uses lightweight plastic. If they didn't, regular deluxes would cost $40.
4. Funny you should bring up the F-14 mode. Given the source movie, the looks of the jet mode are obviously very important. So it seems very probable to me that the robot mode design was dictated by trying to have as clean a jet mode as possible.
5. A lot of the markup is probably licenseflation, with the movie rights owners wanting their cut.

Wow! Are you purposely antagonistic, or are you just a d**k? Over the past few days, I've read numerous posts from you that seem hostile towards other members.
I bet you're a real blast at parties lol