The Energon Pub

This Prime seems to share a lot with past versions of Optimus. He's got weapons from other Optimus Prime toys, Hi-Q from his Powermaster days, and a gorilla shell that evokes Optimus Primal. His color scheme is like laser Prime's, but with movie-style flames. Being made from Swerve's mold gives him higher shoulders like in Armada, as well as a pickup-truck alt-mode like his Alternators toy and the e-Hobby version of Orion Pax. Oh, and speaking of Armada, the deluxe Armada Prime had a silver Mini-Con partner named Over-Run who transformed into a jet and a gun, kinda like this version of Hi-Q does. Granted, several of these are probably coincidences, but even if they are, they're fun coincidences.

Got mine today. Did you guys know that there's enough room inside Megatron's Pretender shell for ALL of his accessories (including the big gun and sword from the two Titans Return Voyager toys) to fit inside there with Megatron and Spacewarp? The sword and big gun can just fit inside each of the shell's legs.

Doctor #9, Christopher Eccleston, really deserves a lot more credit than the fandom was initially willing to give him. It was a different take on the Doctor for sure, but he did it well and he succeeded in the unenviable task of putting the series back on the map. Tennant an Smith are just such hard acts to compare to, brcause they are fantastic actors who csn run through the emotional spectrum at a drop of a hat and show you such polar opposites like the Child-eyed wonder on the surface and the depths of guilt and loss that inecvitably follow an immortal, and one always thrust into action. A lot of folks liked or hated that fronting, sometimes because their Doctors were always "innocent", but many because it hit close or too close to home. I like Capaldi now that he has his show back. His character just wasnt strong enough to not be drowned out by Clara. Now that its his limelight, so much an improvement.

Anyway...

Got my boxset in yesterday, but didnt get to it until last night.

As you have all read, or skipped, I really had no interest in this set. I have no love for Pretenders or need tiny versiins of the Leaders. I just wanted the minicons.

But I pulled the Gorilla out of the box, and I was genuinely excited about him. This was my first experience with the mold, so maybe it was newness, or because its something the Club made, I dont know. But a figure I was so sure I would put on Ebay suddenly was waiting for me to find a shelf to Display him on.

Megatron, alrhough less so, really went the same way. I have no ibterest in Pretneder Shells suddenly but for a one-off exclusive I am surprised how excited I actually am about these two. Prime and Megs will probably be permanently inside their shells, while Hi-Q and Spacewarp will be joinging their Voyager or Leader Class counterparts. Still, I offer my congratulations, FunPub, you won this guy over.

Unrelated topic: for some reason, when I try to type on Seibertron with my phone, the text lags, types all at once, and then the next key I type erases everything that was written by the lag. Seibertron is the only site that is foing this and it does it all the time. I actuzlly wrote this in a Note app and copied it in. Could be my phone, but its seriously annoying.

Flashwave wrote:But a figure I was so sure I would put on Ebay suddenly was waiting for me to find a shelf to Display him on.

I know how that goes. That's how I felt about Ramjet. Dunno why I opened him, but glad I did.

Is anybody else having difficulty attaching any of Prime's weapons to the backpack holes of his Pretender shell? The hexagonal holes on mine seem just a smidge too small for any 5mm accessory to plug into them at all.

Conversely, I do not have this problem with the hexagonal holes on the backpack of my Oilmaster's Pretender shell.

Mine fit, but they're snug.

This is the reason why I signed up.

I've decided to end up selling off Prime and keep Megatron.

I just don't have much of a need or want for Prime in this form. The referential nature of the design doesn't really further any of the collections I have and in a way, makes Oil Master less unique as a figure.

Megatron is a curiousity. I like most all of the design, but I really dislike the contortion required to get him in the shell. I understand the reasons it's the way it is, but still. :/

Funny, I chose to keep Prime and sell Megatron for the exact opposite reasons. Prime's shell and inner robot is pretty perfectly scaled with the G1 classic pretenders (I do need a Grimlock now though), and I never did have Starscream, so Megatron feels out of place. Also, never owned oilmaster, so the shell is plenty unique for me.

So, this answers one question, but raises another. We now know it'll be Toxitron and Counterpunch in the last box. Now the new question is, who's the final bonus figure?

I'm sure the inevitable pre-order change that will come from BBTS will be less of a deterrent with this shipment since both Pretenders were shipped together. however...last time it took 20 calendar days (3/23 from when orders first started arriving until 4/11 when the e-mail announcement was sent)

How long will it take this time? --I'm sure most fans that pre-ordered these wanted both, but I feel sorry for any who only wanted one of them. the time/effort to be charged for both, then to sell the other *hoping* to get your money back is such a pain.

I think the *real* screwjob will come for anyone who has pre-ordered both Counterpunch & Toxitron...think you're going to get that 7th *bonus* figure without additional cost?...Think again.

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:So, this answers one question, but raises another. We now know it'll be Toxitron and Counterpunch in the last box. Now the new question is, who's the final bonus figure?

I didn't get the last two issues of the fan comic, but there's not really any indication that I can tell, other than it's a "head not used in the U.S." That's pretty specific though. We can rule out the new molds used for Takara's Computron and Bruticus, since why would they advertise a new head and not a new mold? I think that leaves us with either the seeker head from UW Grand Galvatron, or Thrust from the same set. I'd imagine we won't get Starscream out of the set, but any number of other seekers are likely.

Counterpunch wrote:I've decided to end up selling off Prime and keep Megatron.

I just don't have much of a need or want for Prime in this form. The referential nature of the design doesn't really further any of the collections I have and in a way, makes Oil Master less unique as a figure.

I never got my hands on Oilmaster, so for me the situation is the reverse, and to me, Pretender Optimus is new, unique, and impressive.

mazingaspidey wrote:

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:So, this answers one question, but raises another. We now know it'll be Toxitron and Counterpunch in the last box. Now the new question is, who's the final bonus figure?

I didn't get the last two issues of the fan comic, but there's not really any indication that I can tell, other than it's a "head not used in the U.S." That's pretty specific though. We can rule out the new molds used for Takara's Computron and Bruticus, since why would they advertise a new head and not a new mold? I think that leaves us with either the seeker head from UW Grand Galvatron, or Thrust from the same set. I'd imagine we won't get Starscream out of the set, but any number of other seekers are likely.

Don't forget the statement could include unrevealed or unused heads, including:

- "Brawl" or "Ironclad" for Rook
- "Hoist" for the Trailbreaker addons of Offroad.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

mazingaspidey wrote:

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:So, this answers one question, but raises another. We now know it'll be Toxitron and Counterpunch in the last box. Now the new question is, who's the final bonus figure?

I didn't get the last two issues of the fan comic, but there's not really any indication that I can tell, other than it's a "head not used in the U.S." That's pretty specific though. We can rule out the new molds used for Takara's Computron and Bruticus, since why would they advertise a new head and not a new mold? I think that leaves us with either the seeker head from UW Grand Galvatron, or Thrust from the same set. I'd imagine we won't get Starscream out of the set, but any number of other seekers are likely.

Don't forget the statement could include unrevealed or unused heads, including:

- "Brawl" or "Ironclad" for Rook
- "Hoist" for the Trailbreaker addons of Offroad.

Yeah, those four heads are really the only options that Fun Pub had to choose from at the time that they would have created the 7th figure. And like mazingaspidey said, there were no hints as to the 7th figure's identity in either the final chapters of "Of Masters and Mayhem" nor in the two-page Transformers Bonus Comic included in the Diamond Edition of the GIJoeCon 2016 "G.I. Joe vs. Cobra issue #9" comic.

Sabrblade wrote:Is anybody else having difficulty attaching any of Prime's weapons to the backpack holes of his Pretender shell? The hexagonal holes on mine seem just a smidge too small for any 5mm accessory to plug into them at all.

Conversely, I do not have this problem with the hexagonal holes on the backpack of my Oilmaster's Pretender shell.

Yep, not sure if it's the paint or what (the hole in the shell is fine), but nothing is fitting in those holes.

Anyway, just got billed for the final set. The end is nigh.

Emerje

I feel a furmanism is required here."It's over, finished."

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Is anybody else having difficulty attaching any of Prime's weapons to the backpack holes of his Pretender shell? The hexagonal holes on mine seem just a smidge too small for any 5mm accessory to plug into them at all.

Conversely, I do not have this problem with the hexagonal holes on the backpack of my Oilmaster's Pretender shell.

Yep, not sure if it's the paint or what (the hole in the shell is fine), but nothing is fitting in those holes.

Anyway, just got billed for the final set. The end is nigh.

Emerje

Same. And you're right. End of an era, the final curtain...

grimlockprime108 wrote:I feel a furmanism is required here."It's over, finished."

This works, too.

Sabrblade wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

mazingaspidey wrote:

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:So, this answers one question, but raises another. We now know it'll be Toxitron and Counterpunch in the last box. Now the new question is, who's the final bonus figure?

I didn't get the last two issues of the fan comic, but there's not really any indication that I can tell, other than it's a "head not used in the U.S." That's pretty specific though. We can rule out the new molds used for Takara's Computron and Bruticus, since why would they advertise a new head and not a new mold? I think that leaves us with either the seeker head from UW Grand Galvatron, or Thrust from the same set. I'd imagine we won't get Starscream out of the set, but any number of other seekers are likely.

Don't forget the statement could include unrevealed or unused heads, including:

- "Brawl" or "Ironclad" for Rook
- "Hoist" for the Trailbreaker addons of Offroad.

Yeah, those four heads are really the only options that Fun Pub had to choose from at the time that they would have created the 7th figure. And like mazingaspidey said, there were no hints as to the 7th figure's identity in either the final chapters of "Of Masters and Mayhem" nor in the two-page Transformers Bonus Comic included in the Diamond Edition of the GIJoeCon 2016 "G.I. Joe vs. Cobra issue #9" comic.

Watch it be Ironclad with a bonus Legends Afterburner, as they were mentioned in-fiction, and the former was the basis for Impactor's Combiner upgrade for Wreckage.

^That would work, I'm ok with any Autobot *edit* (or maximal) at this point. It would have to be a heroic TF for my perfect UW/CW symmetry to work. If it tunrs out to be an evil TF, then it will have to be a stand in for a Wreckage limb, and Bluestreak will go to my Optimus Maximus.

Someone on facebook mentioned that since they don't have Bluestreak, they plan on using Tigatron as Wreckage's last limb and have the combiner be made up of established wreckers from all continuities...

Now I'm hoping we get a maximal-era wrecker to do the same thing since I didn't have TFSS 4.0 and got my Impactor off of ebay.

mazingaspidey wrote:Someone on facebook mentioned that since they don't have Bluestreak, they plan on using Tigatron as Wreckage's last limb and have the combiner be made up of established wreckers from all continuities...

Once I get the last FSS installment and a Wheeljack (he has a sword, he's Prime Wheeljack to me), I'm gonna take that a step further. Cyclonus gets Wreckage's limbs, and Toxitron gets Rodimus, Alpha Bravo, Offroad, Wheeljack, and Tigatron. Universe Fireflight is also a Wrecker (albeit in something a bit obscure), so Firefly can substitute in a pinch.

Came across these pics someone else posted elsewhere and wanted to share them with y'all:

I never caught on to the idea these could be used for a classics pretenders lineup; that's awesome!

I also never knew the classics pretenders were generations legends scale. Someone gimme that Jazz

I Noticed that the other day... now I need Grimlock...