The Energon Pub

News Credits: 15 · by **galvatron00** » Sun Jun 05, 2016 7:44 am

Holy cats that Macross looks EPIC densh!!

And Cobo, you need to get into Diabattles Dianow!

News Credits: 1642 · by **D-Maximal_Primal** » Sun Jun 05, 2016 9:00 pm

Cobo, where's the pics of diabattles???? :MAXIMAL:

News Credits: 25 · by **Ironhidensh** » Sun Jun 05, 2016 9:03 pm

I think Cobs is curled up in a corner with it, repeating " my precious" :lol:

News Credits: 1642 · by **D-Maximal_Primal** » Sun Jun 05, 2016 9:05 pm

Given that this is Cobo we are talking about, and I feel like I somewhat know him, I believe you. Probably gonna be a few days before he overcomes the temptation and is able to reach back out to us :lol:

News Credits: 4838 · by **william-james88** » Sun Jun 05, 2016 9:30 pm

Platinum Cyclonus and Armada upon e-bay at standard prices: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DHL-Transformer ... Sw3R1XTe6J

News Credits: 41 · by **Cobotron** » Mon Jun 06, 2016 2:21 pm

WOW! Just WOW!

I'm huge fan of what I recently learned is called Takara SF Land. This is a collectors term that encompasses the rich history of all the science fiction toys Takara has designed over the last 40 plus years. The turn of the century was an awesome era of re-issues, and reboots from Takara. The reboots included Henshin Cyborg, Microman, and we could even consider Car Robots(RID) a reboot, as it was Transformers return to Earth based vehicle alt modes. It was a great time to be a TSF Land fan.
Well the ol' boys at Takara are at the reboot biz again, and they haven't missed a beat.

Diaclone Dia-Battles V2 is a fresh breath of old air. This figure captures everything that was great about the original Diaclone toys, but in a seriously updated Masterpiece level package. What we now refer to as "parts forming" had it's origins back in the Microman line. Modular vehicles that could be combined to form bigger ones, or even robots to some extent. They stepped it up a notch with the Diaclone line. By re-adjusting the scale to be smaller they could take that same modularity, but focus more on the detail of the combined forms.
This new Dia-Battles does that to a T, but with all the bells, whistles, grace, and style, We've come to expect in the modern engineering, sculpting, and articulation from our contemporary robot toys. Dia-Battles V2 is the ultimate parts former, and the bar has been raised.

Let's have a look.

The three main vehicle components that make up Dia-Battles.

Battles-01

Battles-02

Battles-03

Let's make a robot!

Hello you handsome devil.

The robot mode is absolutely fantastic! The articulation is top notch, and the connectors are amazingly well engineered, as some even double as articulation points. His pose-ability and balance are off the charts. Indeed making him a Masterpiece of a new kind.

Scout mission!

But WAIT! There's more modes!

Scramble Mode

Manual Mode

Both these modes can be achieved by transforming directly from robot mode.

More modular modes.

Battles Triser

This beautiful star cruiser leaves no unused parts.

Crawler

Hopper

Glide

This mode is one of my favorites. What? You need a flying monkey dragonman mode with Gatling gun hands? Sure! We can do that.

Last, but certainly not least.

Fortress

And of course what would Diaclone be without the pilots?

Dia-Nauts

These guys are amazing. For mini-figures an inch tall, they are articulated to the nines. They're rocking ball socket shoulders and hips, elbows and knees, and even have an ab crunch!

Meet and greet.

One last shot just to give a sense of the scale of Dia-Battles.

News Credits: 1642 · by **D-Maximal_Primal** » Mon Jun 06, 2016 4:20 pm

Hey Iron, I guess I was wrong. He left his corner to talk to us a day or 2 earlier than I thought!

But that guy does look really awesome. Like, just wow =P~

News Credits: 293 · by **shajaki** » Mon Jun 06, 2016 4:48 pm

And that's the kind of review I'd have done if I wasn't so lazy (and sick). You need to get in front of a VIDEO camera and put this show on Youtube

News Credits: 42 · by **Autobot N** » Mon Jun 06, 2016 5:03 pm

Man, that thing makes Sixshot look like a one-step changer.

News Credits: 41 · by **Cobotron** » Mon Jun 06, 2016 5:53 pm

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:Hey Iron, I guess I was wrong. He left his corner to talk to us a day or 2 earlier than I thought!

Oh man. It was so hard. It was just family demands that were keeping me from getting my nerd on.

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:Like, just wow

That's what I'm sayin', man!!!

shajaki wrote:And that's the kind of review I'd have done if I wasn't so lazy (and sick).

You still sick Hombre? I hope you called into work and played with Dia-Dude all day. :SICK:

sickjaki wrote:You need to get in front of a VIDEO camera and put this show on Youtube

Eeeeeh. The thought has crossed my mind once or twice, but I barley have time to do this kinda thing. And, nobody REALLY cares what I think. I don't. :lol:

Autobot N wrote:Man, that thing makes Sixshot look like a one-step changer.

But to be fare to Sixshot, he's not a parts former. Dia-Bro cheats in that regard.

News Credits: 1642 · by **D-Maximal_Primal** » Mon Jun 06, 2016 10:21 pm

Hey Cobs, you should totally get 2 more of those diabattles guys so you can do this:

News Credits: 41 · by **Cobotron** » Mon Jun 06, 2016 11:00 pm

THAT IS AWESOME, D!
So, the guy in the back is water sking? :lol:

News Credits: 1642 · by **D-Maximal_Primal** » Mon Jun 06, 2016 11:02 pm

Cobotron wrote::lol:
THAT IS AWESOME, D!
So, the guy in the back is water sking?

YEP!!

News Credits: 15 · by **galvatron00** » Tue Jun 07, 2016 7:42 am

DIA-BOLICAL!!

Wait no..

DIA-MAZING!!

That dude is seriously awesome Cobotron!! And that was a great pictorial review!!

He is smaller than I thought he'd be, but then again larger than any other Diaclone/Microman stuff right? MP Star Saber takes a lot of cues from that guy, or just Star Saber as a character in general! Swords?! A bunch of modes (including awesome jets/space cruisers)?! Little dudes as pilots (yes, I know the Brainmaster is a robot)?! I do wish those pilots could fit in the Diaclone based MPs..how did they not plan for that?!

He's very cool, I'm glad he's joined the Collect-o-tron!!! :APPLAUSE:

A question though, where does the "Moonbase" colored version fit into things?

News Credits: 293 · by **shajaki** » Tue Jun 07, 2016 2:21 pm

I'm so happy it was front paged too. I wasn't sure where it fell though. We've kinda sorta news'd these and the new Go-bots, but only intermittently 8-}

News Credits: 15 · by **galvatron00** » Tue Jun 07, 2016 2:26 pm

shajaki wrote:I'm so happy it was front paged too. I wasn't sure where it fell though. We've kinda sorta news'd these and the new Go-bots, but only intermittently

Well, can't have Transformers without Diaclone :lol:

News Credits: 131 · by **no-one** » Tue Jun 07, 2016 6:17 pm

Dia-Boss!

That thing looks like the most fun since fun was a son, son!

I think it's amazawesauce broke my brain =P~

News Credits: 4838 · by **william-james88** » Tue Jun 07, 2016 10:02 pm

itscramtastic wrote:
shajaki wrote:I'm so happy it was front paged too. I wasn't sure where it fell though. We've kinda sorta news'd these and the new Go-bots, but only intermittently
Well, can't have Transformers without Diaclone

Yup and plus we do like to spotlight community driven features and Cobotron is a very important part of our family here

News Credits: 293 · by **shajaki** » Tue Jun 07, 2016 10:14 pm

Question Coboclone:
Do you have all the Dia-inspired MP's so far? :-?

Errr... nope... I recall you don't have Tigertrack or Red Bee right?

News Credits: 41 · by **Cobotron** » Tue Jun 07, 2016 10:33 pm

Awe shucks Willy. Thanks man. And thanks for taking the time to news it, and process all 28 some photos. :lol:

Jak posted in the Dia-Thread, but if you guys didn't see it, Maz wrote an amazing article about the toy you really should read. It's where the pic D-to-the-MAX posted above came from.

itscramtastic wrote:He is smaller than I thought he'd be, but then again larger than any other Diaclone/Microman stuff right?

No not really. He is his own scale. 1/60 to be exact. (I don't really know what this means) He is the same scale as the original toys. Think of Microman as Star Wars figures. the average Microman is about 3 inches. The ones that sat in my sig forever are about 2.5 inches. Microman vehicles and Robots are scaled to match, so much bigger.

itscramtastic wrote:A question though, where does the "Moonbase" colored version fit into things

according to Maz'z article, the Waruder (Dia-Earth's enemy) invaded without warning and the Dianauts had to deploy the mechs before they could paint them. The set comes with an amazing book that has the fiction behind the toy. Maz linked to a translation in his article, which i will go back and read in a minute.

shajaki wrote:Question Coboclone:
Do you have all the Dia-inspired MP's so far?

Errr... nope... I recall you don't have Tigertrack or Red Bee right?

Right. No Tiger. No Red. And really no intentions at the moment to get Powered Convoy. So pricey, Magnus will have to do for now. Although I'm tempted to sell Magnus so I can, but I love UM. One of my fave TF characters of all time. Struggle = REAL

Thanks for humoring my pre-Transformers Takara toy addiction bros. Glad you all enjoyed the review. It was a labor of love.

Now I got modes to go through! SEE YA! :lol:

News Credits: 293 · by **shajaki** » Tue Jun 07, 2016 10:49 pm

Cobotron wrote:Right. No Tiger. No Red. And really no intentions at the moment to get Powered Convoy. So pricey, Magnus will have to do for now. Although I'm tempted to sell Magnus so I can, but I love UM. One of my fave TF characters of all time. Struggle = REAL

Well, you got me thinking. Since you don't like the direction the MP line is going (cartoon accuracy above all) have you considered focusing only on the Dia-themed MP's?

Also, I'll just leave this here....

That's easily 20 bones cheaper than my BBTS bought Red. And I have a couple spare Amazon Battle Masks lyin around you could have.
Anyways, have fun playin in the 'Tron

News Credits: 41 · by **Cobotron** » Tue Jun 07, 2016 11:05 pm

Well if Red is still there after Loudmouth and Iron Factory Notsun Brothers come in, I'd consider it.
Especially if you have an extra mask. ;;)

News Credits: 4838 · by **william-james88** » Tue Jun 07, 2016 11:50 pm

Cobotron wrote:Well if Red is still there after Loudmouth and Iron Factory Notsun Brothers come in, I'd consider it.
Especially if you have an extra mask.

Red is even cheaper from Lena.

News Credits: 25 · by **Ironhidensh** » Wed Jun 08, 2016 1:51 pm

shajaki wrote:
Cobotron wrote:Good Idea Jak! It'll be fine, I make pew pew noises in my sleep anyway.

And this here is what (I think) Densh bought. NOICE

A little background on why this is one of my grail's, if ya'll are curious. I love me some Macross. Of course, this started out as me lovin' some Robotech, but as an adult, I discovered the source material for Robotech, Macross, and just how much superiour it was. Plus, Macross has sequals. One of those is Macross Plus, and it is form this that we get the YF-19. Out of all the various Macross Valkyries (transforming aircraft), the YF-19 is by far my favorite, just as Marcross Plus is my favorite series.

Now, various companies have made Macross Mecha toys. Sadly, they are all in Japan, thanks to Harmony Gold (the American holder of Robotech/Macross liecense/rights) being greedy and stupid. These are already high end collectable toys, and the importing only makes them more expensive. Add to that, the fact that these toys are not made in high numbers. Now, the first really decent 19 toy was made by Yamato in the early to mid 2000's. While it looks amazing, joints were weak, connections were loose, and over all, it was a tad bit of a floppy mess. Average price: $150. They later made better versions, but they were of more anime looking versions from Macross 7. Not the incarnation I wanted. When Yamato went under, Arcadia picked up the riens, and made an improved version of Yamato's YF-19. This was better articulated, had more bells and whistles. It also came with hard points under the wings, and a **** ton of attachable missles and bombs so you could load this baby out to raze cities. The one flaw it had was extremely weak ankles, making it almost impossible to pose in Battloid (robot) mode. Average price: $350. I have had, and sold, both of these. Lost a little money on each. I simply couldn't justify keeping such flawed figures for so much money. KInda gave up on getting the 19 I really wanted.

Then, last year, Bandia came to the rescue. They make awesome Macross Forntier 1/60 scale high end figures under thier DX Chogokin line. the YF-19 made an appearance in this series as the VF-19 Advance. Same ship, just with added booster parts. From all reviews I've read, this is the difinitive version. All the good stuff from previous molds, non of the bad.

When it came out, I didn't really have the money, and it sold out in about 4 days. When it first arrived, import stores had it for $200 to $250. ON the secondary market, I havn't been able to find it for less than $300. Usually around $400. THen, last week, I got a dude on eBay to accept my offer, and now, at long last, my favorite Valkyrie will be joinging the Robot Room.