The Energon Pub

As it's been pointed out, SEVERAL people in this forum are awaiting what seems to be the inevitable upgrade sets for Combiner Wars Victorion. Most likely, we'll be seeing the foot and hand upgrades from Perfect Effect (even though the official new molds for these seem rather awesome).

What would you like to see added to Victorion? Is much else needed? Are we not asking for much since this is a new character and therefore there's not much to make her more G1 accurate as is the case with legacy sets such as the Constructicons, Aerialbots, etc? Sign off below folks (and let Autobot032 get some sleep).

I know it's not 3rdp related but a Takara paint job . Hasbros is too G2 esque and they're two of the worst colours i could imagine putting together , i would hope Takara would use much more subtle pastels making the colours look much more feminine .

Female chest plate , Yes boobs to resemble the female anatomy and maybe a chasity belt .

Articulated hands . The feet are ok they have a decent size to them but some ankle pivot would be nice so if anyone does make some i would like them to be in the same design.

A new sword . I really dont like the giant ott sword the design is fine it's just to wide ,i would like something of the same design only much more slimline .

Autobot Genocide wrote:I know it's not 3rdp related but a Takara paint job . Hasbros is too G2 esque and they're two of the worst colours i could imagine putting together , i would hope Takara would use much more subtle pastels making the colours look much more feminine .

I don't completely disagree but wasn't Hasbro who picked the colors on this one. It was we, the fans, who went with the Rapido palette.

Doctor McGrath wrote:

Autobot Genocide wrote:I know it's not 3rdp related but a Takara paint job . Hasbros is too G2 esque and they're two of the worst colours i could imagine putting together , i would hope Takara would use much more subtle pastels making the colours look much more feminine .

I don't completely disagree but wasn't Hasbro who picked the colors on this one. It was we, the fans, who went with the Rapido palette.

Your right the fans did pick the colours but Hasbro chose the colours for us to pick from leaving only one option which looked feminine , which is really only one option for those who wanted a female combiner .

Me, I'd like a whole new set of figures that actually look like fembots. Save us MakeToys/TFC/MMC/whoever!

Doctor McGrath wrote:

Autobot Genocide wrote:I know it's not 3rdp related but a Takara paint job . Hasbros is too G2 esque and they're two of the worst colours i could imagine putting together , i would hope Takara would use much more subtle pastels making the colours look much more feminine .

I don't completely disagree but wasn't Hasbro who picked the colors on this one. It was we, the fans, who went with the Rapido palette.

To be fair, Hasbro pulled a fast one with regards to the colour scheme. The impression they gave was that the primary colour was going to be cyan (since it was represented by the biggest block) with red and white being secondary colours. Victorion simply looks red, with cyan being the secondary colour and barely, if any, white.

Personally, I'd have preferred the colours to be varied by team member a bit more. The main colour for the torso could be cyan (as suggested) and it's used as a secondary colour for the limbs, whilst the limb main colours are red or white, which is the secondary colours for the torso. The Voyager leader could've been cyan with a bit of red and white. One of the fly gals white/cyan, the other red/cyan. One of the vehicles white/cyan, the other red/cyan. Basically, just mix it up a little to differentiate between characters.

I get that they wanted a Devastator vibe where the whole combiner would generally be a uniform colour, rather than mix'n'match like Superion, Menasor, Bruticus et al. However, I wouldn't have minded this if they stuck to what they suggested would be the colour scheme.

Autobot Genocide wrote:The feet are ok they have a decent size to them but some ankle pivot would be nice so if anyone does make some i would like them to be in the same design.

Ummmmm, they did

Delta Magnus wrote:Me, I'd like a whole new set of figures that actually look like fembots. Save us MakeToys/TFC/MMC/whoever!

This. All this.

As usual, we need someone to put on the big boy pants and give the fans something that does this character justice. There aren't enough makeovers and aesthetics you could clip on this fembot to make her any less of an eyesore.

Also . . . new colors . . . Not a fan of the Christmas tree inspired color scheme.

necr0blivion wrote:

Autobot Genocide wrote:The feet are ok they have a decent size to them but some ankle pivot would be nice so if anyone does make some i would like them to be in the same design.

Ummmmm, they did

VYTFktQ.jpg

Ha! Ok they did somethig right , lol

I must have missed this pic , guess i can scratch that one off the list

It’s good to see the Victorion feet have ankle tilt, but how tall are they ? The thing I love about Perfect Effect boots is that the added height gets rid of the monkey arms look that all stock Hasbro CW combiners suffer from. I plan on displaying Victorion with the helicopters as arms like the artwork showed. Im not digging the bulked up car arms look because it is super masculine. With that being said, I want a wider boot that looks good on the cars as legs that doesn’t taper to silly proportions. But I want it to have some sort of high heel effect to emulate the popular “fembot” look. I feel Hasbro came close with their boots but there’s still room for improvement. I definitely want articulated fingers. Hasbros new hand seems to be a big improvement over the current CW monkey hands, but once again I still see room for improvement. And once again, I need breasts. I have no desire to place a flattened motorcycle on her chest. I haven’t even bothered to do so with Groove on Defensor. Im not a fan of the 6th member as a chest plate. Not for TFC Uranus, not for Menasor, and not for this mold either. Just give me some damn breasts to pin into those holes. Maybe something that’s a one piece and looks like a breast styled chest plate like Arcee has. And make it turn into an accessory for the fire truck so a certain somebody doesn’t go ballistic.

Honestly I'm more or less happy with Victorion as I've seen her.

Mkall wrote:Honestly I'm more or less happy with Victorion as I've seen her.

I agree. I'm pleased with all of the retooling and new parts Hasbro put into this. I honestly don't need all of my female transformers to look like human females to associate gender.

Rated X wrote:It’s good to see the Victorion feet have ankle tilt, but how tall are they ? The thing I love about Perfect Effect boots is that the added height gets rid of the monkey arms look that all stock Hasbro CW combiners suffer from.

Probably better pics in the BotCon'15 gallery, but here's something a bit official:

So I don't think anyone has their measuring instrument out, but these seem to act like heels and look significantly larger/wider (and more appropriate) than the previous feet available. I don't think we're gonna need any upgrades, PE or otherwise, for these feet.....

necr0blivion wrote:

Rated X wrote:It’s good to see the Victorion feet have ankle tilt, but how tall are they ? The thing I love about Perfect Effect boots is that the added height gets rid of the monkey arms look that all stock Hasbro CW combiners suffer from.

Probably better pics in the BotCon'15 gallery, but here's something a bit official:

1436481009_v4.jpg

So I don't think anyone has their measuring instrument out, but these seem to act like heels and look significantly larger/wider (and more appropriate) than the previous feet available. I don't think we're gonna need any upgrades, PE or otherwise, for these feet.....

Heres my thing...

If the comics show the helicopters as arms, why do these official images use them as legs ?

Of course those new hasbro feet are gonna look good with the helicopters as legs because the alpha bravo mold forms a slender leg. But how will those same feet look on the much bigger car molds as legs ? Will the tapering make it look "toyish" like it does with the current CW feet ? I believe it wont look so great, which is why hasbro might have chose to ignore the comic art and make the helicopters legs for their "sell the toy" photoshopped glamour shots.

So im very open to some upgrades. I like my figures to look like they could come to life with realistic proportions and articulated fingers. Just because it is a toy doesnt mean it has to look like one.

Rated X wrote:If the comics show the helicopters as arms, why do these official images use them as legs ?

I seem to recall something in the official lingo that Victorion can take two configurations - if the Helicopters are on the arms she gets gravity-altering powers and if they're her legs, then she can fly.

Or some convoluted thing like that.

Mkall wrote:

Rated X wrote:If the comics show the helicopters as arms, why do these official images use them as legs ?

I seem to recall something in the official lingo that Victorion can take two configurations - if the Helicopters are on the arms she gets gravity-altering powers and if they're her legs, then she can fly.

Or some convoluted thing like that.

Ah yes, the two configurations! Mkall, you are correct.

And X, because of the dual nature of Victorion I would have to agree with your previous statement that having the new boots for the car-bots might not look that great. I was purely going off of the helicopters as legs (and I'm far behind on reading the TF comics right now). My suggestion would be to lose the boot/weapon gimmick and just give us a sturdy boot that encapsulates the entire bottom of the leg bot. Anything that would help stabilize the ankle/foot region.

Any other ideas?

necr0blivion wrote:

Mkall wrote:

Rated X wrote:If the comics show the helicopters as arms, why do these official images use them as legs ?

I seem to recall something in the official lingo that Victorion can take two configurations - if the Helicopters are on the arms she gets gravity-altering powers and if they're her legs, then she can fly.

Or some convoluted thing like that.

Ah yes, the two configurations! Mkall, you are correct.

And X, because of the dual nature of Victorion I would have to agree with your previous statement that having the new boots for the car-bots might not look that great. I was purely going off of the helicopters as legs (and I'm far behind on reading the TF comics right now). My suggestion would be to lose the boot/weapon gimmick and just give us a sturdy boot that encapsulates the entire bottom of the leg bot. Anything that would help stabilize the ankle/foot region.

Any other ideas?

I agree with you 100%. I have all 3 sets and have never used the guns feature. I took em right out the box and put them on my combiners. The guns feature is only to appease those people who go nuts over parts integration. Im not one of them.

Or, you know, people that appreciate actual engineering and effort being put into their figures as opposed to vast chunks of the toy being totally useless outside of one mode.

The epitome of female Transformers: Strika!

In general I do like the stock hands and feet on Victorian. Since it appears that they do nothing more than be hands and feet, they look good as hands and feet. It is too bad that they are not more multi-functional like the other CW hands/feet or the PE Upgrades hands and feet. But, PE would have to put out something truly awesome for me to consider swapping Victorian's stock hands and feet. If they just do a re-color of the Superion/Menasor/Superion-Defensor hands and feet, I'm pretty sure I'll pass.

Now, can I write "hands and feet" more? I suppose a foot in the hand is worth two in the mouth....or something like that....

Agamemnon wrote:The epitome of female Transformers: Strika!

Ah Strika , forgot about her .. the Awesome Kong of the fembot divas

Autobot Genocide wrote:

Agamemnon wrote:The epitome of female Transformers: Strika!

Ah Strika , forgot about her .. the Awesome Kong of the fembot divas

Strika belongs in an energon bar drinking Brawn and Ratrap under the table.

NOS wrote:

Delta Magnus wrote:Me, I'd like a whole new set of figures that actually look like fembots. Save us MakeToys/TFC/MMC/whoever!

This. All this.

As usual, we need someone to put on the big boy pants and give the fans something that does this character justice. There aren't enough makeovers and aesthetics you could clip on this fembot to make her any less of an eyesore.

Also . . . new colors . . . Not a fan of the Christmas tree inspired color scheme.

I have a couple problems with this line of thinking.

First, there's no fiction behind this character yet. Outside of a mockup of the toys, we have little information on how these figures will be released, how they'll fit into the fiction, and if they'll even be popular. Why would 3rd Parties even touch this, and why are people clamoring for 3rd Parties to get involved? If that's really your first impulse, maybe you should just start buying converting robots, and not Transformers. Because who cares who makes them, am I right?

Second is this whole assumption that female Transformers need to be feminine looking. Which, by the way, the Victorian remolds try very hard to do.

Does Strika look feminine?
Does Road Rage?
Does Strongarm?

In this day and age, where womanhood and manhood are more widely acknowledged to be about chemistry in your brain or a state of mind rather than the reproductive organs you were born with, it strikes me as narrow minded to demand a female combiner be composed of characters with overtly womanly characteristics.



Third, on a separate note, the colors. I'm not saying I love Victorian (despite my first & second points, I would not claim to be in love with Victorian - I just really dislike the knee jerk reactions against her), but I do think the colors are appropriate, especially coming from the Sea of Rust. It's reminiscent of a typical Middle Eastern (maybe Turkish or Persian) color palette. Based on the photoshopped pictures, I would expect the colors be toned down a bit from the original, hand-painted reveal.

To me at least, the problem with Victorion is the bare bones effort that was put into her. If they'd made her all original molds and she'd still looked kinda bulky I wouldn't have minded so much (Strongarm and MP Road Rage pull off the bulky fembot look very well IMO, mainly because they do still have some gynoid characteristics). The fact that they were minimal effort retools of existing (VERY obviously male) figures with new heads and boxy tits slapped on is extremely lame. They could have at least given them proper reshells so they at least looked different in vehicle mode from their mould donors, as opposed to just being "red and teal Dead End" and "red and teal Alpha Bravo x2".

And more to the point, they look great in the comic art, which makes me very disappointed that they don't look better in toy form.

(I do like her combined mode though, I will give them that.)

As for Strika, Road Rage and Strongarm, both Strongarm and MP Road Rage do have fairly feminine proportions despite being bulky and well armoured (though G1 and CHUG Road Rage are both pretty awful). As for Strika, she gets a pass by virtue of being a Vehicon General, and like her fellow generals not even looking particularly humanoid. Their whole thing was how unusual they looked, with Jetstorm's blade legs, Thrust's monowheel, Tankor's claws and tread feet and Obsidian's...everything.

Doctor McGrath wrote:

Mkall wrote:Honestly I'm more or less happy with Victorion as I've seen her.

I agree. I'm pleased with all of the retooling and new parts Hasbro put into this. I honestly don't need all of my female transformers to look like human females to associate gender.

Thirded. She looks fine to me overall. I'll be getting her first chance I get.

megatronus wrote:

NOS wrote:

Delta Magnus wrote:Me, I'd like a whole new set of figures that actually look like fembots. Save us MakeToys/TFC/MMC/whoever!

This. All this.

As usual, we need someone to put on the big boy pants and give the fans something that does this character justice. There aren't enough makeovers and aesthetics you could clip on this fembot to make her any less of an eyesore.

Also . . . new colors . . . Not a fan of the Christmas tree inspired color scheme.

I have a couple problems with this line of thinking.

First, there's no fiction behind this character yet. Outside of a mockup of the toys, we have little information on how these figures will be released, how they'll fit into the fiction, and if they'll even be popular. Why would 3rd Parties even touch this, and why are people clamoring for 3rd Parties to get involved? If that's really your first impulse, maybe you should just start buying converting robots, and not Transformers. Because who cares who makes them, am I right?

Second is this whole assumption that female Transformers need to be feminine looking. Which, by the way, the Victorian remolds try very hard to do.

Does Strika look feminine?
Does Road Rage?
Does Strongarm?

In this day and age, where womanhood and manhood are more widely acknowledged to be about chemistry in your brain or a state of mind rather than the reproductive organs you were born with, it strikes me as narrow minded to demand a female combiner be composed of characters with overtly womanly characteristics.



Third, on a separate note, the colors. I'm not saying I love Victorian (despite my first & second points, I would not claim to be in love with Victorian - I just really dislike the knee jerk reactions against her), but I do think the colors are appropriate, especially coming from the Sea of Rust. It's reminiscent of a typical Middle Eastern (maybe Turkish or Persian) color palette. Based on the photoshopped pictures, I would expect the colors be toned down a bit from the original, hand-painted reveal.

To address your first point, I don't really have a defense for that. You make a strong case regarding how they don't really have any real fiction as characters yet. Although we both know it is right around the corner since they've been pumping out new characters left and right these days. Saying that we shouldn't clamor for 3rds to step in and looking down on those of us who are voicing such wants is unfair as a lot of characters are getting the 3rd treatment. Turmoil, DJD, Drift in both modes, Solus Prime. Granted, these characters don't have official figures from hastak, but it isn't unreasonable for us to want something a bit more . . . artistic.

On to your second point, hastak has made plenty of strides as far as feminizing characters to such an extent to where their gender is mostly obvious with Strika being the only example of not meeting that criteria. Yet, even Strika, with her overly masculine frame works as a butch, military, female stereotype so in a way it still works. Yes, you are correct about Strika for the most part, however, the Roadrage MP was remolded to give the figure a more slender and feminine frame. Strongarm also has a subtle feminine appearance even though a recolor and lack of lipstick could easily change her to a male figure if need be. Now these Victorian-bots do have subtle hints here and there so, that's fine, but if you can look at these girls and not think they're lacking in certain areas, whether that be sexual overtones or just poor design, then you're ignoring the obvious.

As for the colors . . . Christmas Tree-tron. It. Looks. Bad. I have never seen cherry red and sea-foam green rust.