The Energon Pub

Hey Seibtrono’s, today I come to you with a simple question: Is bigger always better?

I gotta admit, there is a certain allure to the small bots, be they Mini-cons, Legends, whatever. Maybe it’s just the ease of portability and small space needed for display, maybe it’s just cool having something so small that can move and transform.

Sometimes though, the small guys just outdo their larger counterparts, for one way or another.



Legends Ravage isn’t a bad place to start. I’ll admit, I don’t have either, but I plan to get Legends Ravage when I find him. To be honest, it’s all about scale. Ravage was just never meant to be that big. Plus his “vehicle mode” looks cooler on the Legend, in my opinion.



Moving on to scale again, Legends Scorponok. Ok ok, I don’t have Legends Scorponok and for whatever reason didn’t pick him up when he was out, but I do have the deluxe version, and well, I think I’d like to have the little Legends version someday just for scale. Plus, his robot mode looks slightly better, and the tail can be positioned on his back above his head, unlike the deluxe.



One more for scale. I don’t have the deluxe version, but if I did I wouldn’t really know what to do with a massive Wheelie. The smaller one also has a less frightening face.



Now we come to Devastator, and it’s scale vs. transformation. Personally, I like my Legends Devastator and it’s individually transforming limbs. He’s a fun figure, and I think is slightly better proportioned. Barring finding one at a yard sale or at the store for dirt cheap, no interest in the large scale version.



Substitute Dirge for Voyager Starscream(same mold, different colors), and I have all three of these figures. This is one case where all three figures are about the same, and that’s why I LOVE Legends Starscream. With the exception of elbows, he has pretty much the same articulation as his larger brethren. But he has something else, and that’s a light body that’s easy to pose/stand, and ball jointed arms with more range of motion than the larger one’s ratcheting joints. So because of this, the smaller version wins out.



Replace Starscream with Skywarp, and I have both figures. It could just be my Animated Skywarp, but he is floppy, has fingers falling off, head’ll fall off, legs pop off at the thighs cause the joints are too tight where they connect to the waist, and his missile launchers look ugly and will fire at the drop of a hat. Then there’s the transformation to jet mode, where his legs have to be “just so” in order for it to work. Oh, and the nose doesn’t always want to extend. Activators Starscream? Barring an arm that once in awhile pops off, excellent. Retains a good amount of articulation in comparison with the larger version, has a simple transformation that connects together pretty easily(I do have an issue with the legs not being flush, but it’s minor), and arm lasers! Plus, the arm lasers *gasp* actually translate over into vehicle mode. Granted the jet mode looks a little snubby, but overall I much prefer the Activator to the larger figure.

Just a small note here, I have two other Activators: Fire Blast Grimlock, and Bumblebee, but neither of their larger counterparts, so no comparison. However, these, and from the looks of it a lot of other Animated Activators, are excellent figures in their own right. If Hasbro had repainted them into new characters I would have so picked them up had I known at the time how great they were(I got both Starscream and Grimlock on clearance, and Bumblebee with Shockwave.)

Finally, a few special commendation:



Legends Sideways I got as a stand in for Runnabout(to go with Runnamuck), and is different enough from his Deluxe counterpart to be both good on it’s own, but maybe a smidge better. It’s just weird, deluxe Sideways is a decent enough figure, but doesn’t have much personality and the transformation is a little to consuming to be fun. The Legends figure is just cool, even if I were to consider it “Sideways”, and I enjoy it a lot for some reason, more than the deluxe.



*Granted, I have K-Mart Spinster, but as far as the mold is concerned* Legends “Blackout” may not have near the articulation, but I love the helicopter mode, the simple transformation, and the robot mode is just a simple joy.

Well that’s all my thoughts. What do you guys think?

Personally, I am picky about scale in my TFs. I simply can't stand when a figure is not in scale with the rest of the line. This will cause my to pass over pretty nice toys, and will easily stop good molds from being great. I like to think that ideally "normal" cars fit Deluxe class, larger trucks/smaller tanks fit Voyager, and large tanks/jets/construction vehicles as Leaders.

There are only a few instances were I give up scale and pick a larger mold. Cybertron Starscream: the fact that he is BIG makes me really like the toy, more so than any of the other sizes, in scale or not.

However, Deluxe class figures are always my favorite, scale or not, I find they have the best balance of size, features, transformation, and importantly pricepoint. I always feel I get my 15 bucks worth out of a Deluxe toy.

Jesterhead wrote:Personally, I am picky about scale in my TFs. I simply can't stand when a figure if no inscale with the rest of the line. This will cause my to pass over pretty nice toys, and will easily stop good molds from being great. I like to think that ideally "normal" cars fit Deluxe class, larger trucks/smaller tanks fit Voyager, and large tanks/jets/construction vehicles as Leaders.

There are only a few instances were i give up scale and pick a larger mold. Cybertron Starscream: the fact that he is BIG makes me really like the toy. Moreso than any of the other sizes, in scale or not.

However, Deluxe class figures are always my favorite, scale or not, I find they have the best balance of size, features, transformation, and importantly pricepoint. I always feel I get my 15 bucks worth out of a Deluxe toy.

This is my thinking as well.

I love My Legends devy over the Big one, Which I also Have. But no mention of the WST line, Seriously????

Scale is not an issue for me. I am not worried about what figures look like compared to other figures.

I like the increased detail and overall look of the larger figures. They have more room for painted and sculpted details.

I also like displaying larger figures. Movie Devestator just isn't devestating in the smaller size.

I don't collect anything smaller than deluxe.

Stixx wrote:I love My Legends devy over the Big one, Which I also Have. But no mention of the WST line, Seriously????

I have no WST's.....

So therefore, bring on discussions of WST vs. their larger counterparts as well!

And if you have a smaller figure you like over the larger version, post it up as well!

Or maybe you want to detail your love of Micromasters/Mini-cons.

This will hopefully be a good conversation thread.

Duke of Luns wrote:Or maybe you want to detail your love of Micromasters/Mini-cons.

Fluids are involved.

Duke of Luns wrote:This will hopefully be a good conversation thread.

It will be.

Scale means little to me, I go for overall best representation of the character.

I also go for the "overall best representation of the character" but for me that includes scale.

I prefer guys like Prime and Megatron to be larger than deluxes, typically voyager works well. But characters like Jetfire should be larger, at least Ultras, with room at the top for city-bots and other large scale guys in the leader and up sizes.

I do wish more Decepticons, especially the seekers, would be Voyager sized.

I don't mind scout class guys either, in fact I tend to like them, and I think more of the older mini-bots should be represented in these sizes.

A scout class, classics style Bumblebee and Cliffjumper would be much appreciated.

Legends and WSTFs are a whole different ball game and, for me, are usually displayed elsewhere. Specifically, I have those near my planet-bots, since that is the closest I can reasonably come to "in-scale".

Scale doesn't matter for me. It's transformers. Scale's been nerfed nine ways from Sunday already.

Although I own deluxe and legends Scorponok, and lemme tell you that the legends-class is far superior to the deluxe version.

For me, it really is about scale compared to the rest of my figures. Legends Classic Hot Rod looked better than the Deluxe version, but having a Wheelie size Hot Rod stand next to Voyager Ultra Magnus in his city commander armor would totally kill the coolness of the legends figure for me, not even as a Mircomaster Hot Rod stand in. (I can never understand why he would want to be downsized like that)

With the Generations line be only Deluxe figures, it does leave me wishing that WFC Optimus, WFC Megatron, and Darkmount (and possibly the upcoming Skullgrin [The Darkmount's mold alternate head]) were in the voyager class. However, the rest of line is pretty much spot on size wise.

Leader class Brawl wins because his tank mode lends itself well to such a large size. I think it might even be in scale too, but I dunno. And the same sad been said about Bludgeon.

Now Straxus looks like he really ought to be bigger.

In my display MP Prime and Megs are my primary one. Kinda like guiding figures, you know? Just towering over their troops.

Meanwhile the tiny renditions of Tripticon make me sad. He really needs to be large. That's his thing.

However, larger figures have one major drawback: they take up a LOT of room. So much so that I gotta be careful about which I get.

As a person looking to conserve space, assuming space is equal, you can fit many more small toys into the space than large.

There is a lot to be said for the small TFs. I like to see just how much detail, or how complicated they can make the transformation in them.

And as Duke pointed out, a lot of smaller toys are definitely better, when you are given the choice between them and a larger counterpart that is hindered by gimmicks or electronics.

Smaller toys generally cost less as well, minus the occasional rare micron, or lucky draw legend.

And finally, smaller toys are easier to store. No need to sell off my minicon or micromaster collections when I am running out of space because well, to store them is a 'piece of cake'.

I certainly support the supporters of the smaller size toys.

Chupacabra Convoy wrote:Legends Classic Hot Rod looked better than the Deluxe version, but having a Wheelie size Hot Rod stand next to Voyager Ultra Magnus in his city commander armor would totally kill the coolness of the legends figure for me, not even as a Mircomaster Hot Rod stand in. (I can never understand why he would want to be downsized like that)

I always pictured it as that Hot Rod didn't shrink to Micromaster size, but that Star Convoy was so fricking huge the MM HR was just a representation of the regular size Hot Rod in comparison to him, rather like the same reason Legends Cyb OP came with Cybertron Metroplex. Not sure if I'm right or not, though, never seen / read the fiction that Star Convoy appeared in.

Valandar wrote:

Chupacabra Convoy wrote:Legends Classic Hot Rod looked better than the Deluxe version, but having a Wheelie size Hot Rod stand next to Voyager Ultra Magnus in his city commander armor would totally kill the coolness of the legends figure for me, not even as a Mircomaster Hot Rod stand in. (I can never understand why he would want to be downsized like that)

I always pictured it as that Hot Rod didn't shrink to Micromaster size, but that Star Convoy was so fricking huge the MM HR was just a representation of the regular size Hot Rod in comparison to him, rather like the same reason Legends Cyb OP came with Cybertron Metroplex. Not sure if I'm right or not, though, never seen / read the fiction that Star Convoy appeared in.

Or you could approach it from the defunct Dreamwave fiction. Micromasters were efficient, and thus, ruled at times when energy/energon was hard to come by...'The Great Shutdown' or some such nonsense.

So he may have downsized to conserve energy, and be allowed to still function rather than go into Energon depleted catatonia.

But I am sure there is a better reason than that. Yours makes sense as well.

I'm picky about scale with my Animated figures - it's why the Dinobots and Lugnut are banished to a separate shelf from the rest. But my emergency vehicle collection isn't in scale at all, and I don't care.

However, I will say that over the last year Scout-class has become my FAVORITE size class. I suck at complex transformations, and I love all of the crazy alt-modes (Biplanes! Microscope! A FRIGGIN' TOASTER!) that Hasbro has explored with it. The toys have good articulation but I generally can transform them with no problem, and they click together nicely. Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em.

I agree with Legends Wheelie, compared to Deluxe. He looks so much better as a Legends Class.
Ravage, I'll have to wait and see in person before I decide.

So, no bigger isn't always better, but there are times when bigger is the only way to do it right.

ROTF Leader Class Optimus? No question. Absolute best version of this guy, my favorite TF figure (I mean that), and will probably be one of the most popular versions of the guy, ever. The Battle Blades Optimus (upcoming Voyager) does a respectable job, given the size, but he still can't top the Leader. Not in my opinion.

ROTF Leader Class Starscream? No question. As it was said over at TFormers in their review, you'll never pick up the Voyager Class again. (They're not wrong either.)

ROTF Devastator? Granted, he's not as detailed or as accurate as the Legends Class version, but he is massive just like he was in the movie, his transformation is the correct one (vehicle to giant robot, lacking individual robot forms), and he can actually swallow the Legends Class figures, which is why I bought Skids and Mudflap to go with him.

Cybertron Starscream? Much better as a Voyager. The Supreme Class was neat, and I loved that he came with the crown, but he was ridiculously sized (like he was in the show at one point) but it was much too much.

So, no, bigger isn't always better, but smaller does leave way too much to be desired on some of the characters. Sometimes you just need a bigger palette to have a beautiful masterpiece.

I actually might have to say that Deluxe Class figures might be my favorites by a long shot. They offer excellent detail, good transformation possibilities, fair price point, and they allow for a good use of available space.

Side note-I think Supreme Class Animated Optimus Prime is about the silliest waste of space in the history of TF toys. The Leader version is more than enough. In fact, Voyager is good enough in my opinion.

Since I favor collecting by size-accuracy as much as possible, no, bigger isn't always better, but there are times when it can be better. Best example is my Animated collection: the five main Autobots are five different size classes from Leader (Bulkhead) to Legends (Prowl).

For RotF, in my opinion, Wheelie, Arcee, and possibly Ravage are the only ones better tiny, and that's only if you're a size-accuracy nut like me.

Oh, and the best Scorponok is the one that comes with Blackout/Grindor.

I may be alone in the fandom, but I love the Supreme Starscream, and how he towers above most figures... Although I generally love big transformers(take for example, leader Brawl and G2 Megatron - both are one of the mnost awesome tanks ever built), deluxe class is just too limited in size.

Classics Galvatron should have been bigger!!!

How about Superlink Megatron/Glvatron vs. the Energon counterpart. Both versions are euqally good in thier own right. I don't own the Superlink versions, but Superlink Galvatron G has a pretty nifty paint job over E-Galvatron, but the deatil for the larger size versions make up for the ok paint jobs.

Hey how about this: what about figures that gave you both a big one and a little one?

Remember how Metroplex (G1 and Cybertron), Fort Max, Scorponok, Energon Omega Supreme, and all of Armada gave you both options?

Which one was the best partner or team?

G1: For me it's a tie between Soundwave, Blaster, and Fort Max. The cassettes get top billing because they're the ones that started it all, but Fort Max has too much going to be ignored.

Armada: I'm going to say Overlord and Super-Con Prime. Overlord because he looks so awesome. Granted the toy has very limited pose ability, but he's just too cool not to have in my G1-Neo Classic/Universe 2.0/Generations/Whatever Rodimus team. And the partner is a Godmaster/Targetmaster. I loved Super-con (deluxe) Prime, great detail, great articulation range, and solid proportions. Over-Run looked great in all modes too, and because Prime came with extra port on his "skirt" armor, I used to hook him up with Armada Prowl too.

Cybertron: I'm going with Metroplex, granted his mini-con was heavily based on on Armada Leader-1, but he has so many ports that he is just like that scene in Cloverfield where the monster sheds out all those little bugs and they attacks people. That alone puts him above Energon Omega Supreme.