The Energon Pub

[william-james88]

Over in the UK, fellow Seibertronian CyclonusG1 uncovered some odd listings at Smyths, the big toy retailer on the other side of the pond.

Firstly, they found a series of Siege reissues all said to be exclusives.Those include Chromia, Hound, Mirage, Sideswipe and Refraktor. These will be Walmart exclusives in America and they are new battle damage decos of the toys we got in Siege. Mirage has a decepticon deco and Refraktor, now known as Scrapface has a "Smokescreen" style autobot deco. There was also a listing for an "unboxing" exclusive in the War for Cybertron line and that is a box with Ultra Magnus inside and a spoiler warning regarding the Netflix TV show.

There are also listings for Battlefield Megatron and Hotlink which are the siege molds packed with two battle masters. Megatron comes with a poperly coloured Lionizer. Hotlink is indeed that purple seeker.

The images of the toys come from fellow Seibertronian JTPrime17, who also provided UPCs.



Figures include
Ultra Magnus "Spoiler pack" EAN: 5010993695713
Decepticon Mirage EAN: 5010993695607
Hound EAN: 5010993695652
Sideswipe EAN: 5010993695638
Chromia EAN: 5010993695669
Scrapface (Refraktor repaint) EAN: 5010993695621
Megatron 3 pack EAN: 5010993695614
Hotlink 3 pack EAN: 5010993695645

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Oooooh! More specifically, Hotlink is the purple Seeker from the same "welcoming committee" as Sunstorm. He's the one who tries to obstruct Wheeljack and Bumblebee's progress by creating a ring of fire with his flamethrower.

[JomasterII]

So they made Hotlink... and the Rainmakers... and RED WING (!??!?!)...


...but not Sunstorm?!

Some day, my dear creamsicle seekerman... some day.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

He'll probably be one of the next Battlefield figures revealed, alongside Bitstream.

Hotlink probably got ahead of Sunstorm and Bitstream in line because his being purple makes him more distinct from the other Seekers released thus far.

[Jtprime17]

I found Images...
https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/ ... usive-wfc-“unboxing-images”.1189139/

[Sabrblade]

I found Images...
https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/possible-walmart-exclusive-wfc-%E2%80%9Cunboxing-images%E2%80%9D.1189139/

Fixed that for ya.

[Sabrblade]

So, the Siege reissues are actually redecos with even "grittier" battle damage, while Battlefield Megatron and Hotlink also come with extra Battlemasters.

Though, Mirage is now a Decepticon, and Megatron is also shiny.

[Jtprime17]

And Refraktor is actually a new character named Scrapface.

[Rainmaker]

That battle damage looks really nice, the battle damage on Siege figures suffered from just not being enough as to not draw away the average fan.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

The only highlights here are Hotlink, the Decepticon redeco of Mirage, and the orange Lionizer that comes with Megatron.

Sideswipe, Hound, and Chromia should be axed, because Hasbro could achieve basically the same result by just sending retailers stickers to amend the figures still on shelves.
They should be doing Detritus instead of Hound, Tigertrack, Clamp Down, or Deep Cover instead of Sideswipe, and a reissue of Greenlight instead of Chromia.

Megatron is less interesting than the color-corrected Lionizer he comes with. Although if he's shiny now that might be something.

Scrapface looks nice, but he should be held back in favor of a straight reissue of Refraktor.

[Deadput]

The only highlights here are Hotlink, the Decepticon redeco of Mirage, and the orange Lionizer that comes with Megatron.

Sideswipe, Hound, and Chromia should be axed, because Hasbro could achieve basically the same result by just sending retailers stickers to amend the figures still on shelves.
They should be doing Detritus instead of Hound, Tigertrack, Clamp Down, or Deep Cover instead of Sideswipe, and a reissue of Greenlight instead of Chromia.

Megatron is less interesting than the color-corrected Lionizer he comes with. Although if he's shiny now that might be something.

Scrapface looks nice, but he should be held back in favor of a straight reissue of Refraktor.

Why would they make figures of characters not on the Netflix show?

There is a reason that these characters are being made and why Scrapface and Decepticon Mirage is a thing.

[Albatross250]

They just revealed the contents and images, have you guys seen it?

Also Decepticon Mirage ? ?

[Deadput]

If they were not exclusives Decepticon Mirage and Scrapface could in theory make interesting troop builders I feel, Mirage as generic car Decepticons.

Scrapface by their colors seems to be an Autobot but I see no faction symbol so they could be a very colorful Decepticon.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

They just revealed the contents and images, have you guys seen it?

Also Decepticon Mirage ? ?

Presumably a new character. Or maybe he's Jolt. Or maybe it's a Cybertron Sky Shadow situation.

[Deadput]

They just revealed the contents and images, have you guys seen it?

Also Decepticon Mirage ? ?

Presumably a new character. Or maybe he's Jolt. Or maybe it's a Cybertron Sky Shadow situation.

Considering that we got the name Scrapface for the Reflector repaint I'm pretty sure Decepticon Mirage is the actual name, at least that's what other sites are calling him.

[Aimless Misfire]

Why won't Hasbro retool Mirage into Slapdash? Did they really not think of it? It's the most obvious & perfect repaint imaginable. Just like TLK Nitro would have made an excellent Needlenose.

[Deadput]

Why won't Hasbro retool Mirage into Slapdash? Did they really not think of it? It's the mot obvious & perfect repaint imaginable. Just like TLK Nitro would have made an excellent Needlenose.

Who says they didn't think of it?

There are several Hasbro concepts and alternate tooled heads that don't make the cut in toy development.

Plus like you said that would be a retool and not a repaint which would require more money to make, so ultimately it's about priorities and Slapdash probably wasn't a priority higher then anything else they would of had planned.

Also about TLK Nitro Zeus into Needlenose? It won't happen, Hasbro isn't allowed to make generation toys out of movie molds and there is no Needlenose in the movies so he wouldn't be a Studio Series toy either.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Why won't Hasbro retool Mirage into Slapdash? Did they really not think of it? It's the most obvious & perfect repaint imaginable. Just like TLK Nitro would have made an excellent Needlenose.

I don't know. While Slapdash/Road King does have something similar going on with the arms, he's not a perfect match. Especially not with how the legs work and look. As far as "Closest thing we've got" redeco matches go, Mirage into Slapdash/Road King isn't quite on the level of Ironhide into Crosshairs.

Frankly, I think Crasher AKA Fracture (because of precedent), and changing the blue to red, are more obvious things for Mirage.

[Aimless Misfire]

Who says they didn't think of it?

Nobody. I'm just asking.

Also about TLK Nitro Zeus into Needlenose? It won't happen, Hasbro isn't allowed to make generation toys out of movie molds and there is no Needlenose in the movies so he wouldn't be a Studio Series toy either.

What about Studio Series Thundercracker? Which movie was he in?

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

None of them, but Thundercracker is a bigger name in fandom consciousness.

[Deadput]

What about Studio Series Thundercracker? Which movie was he in?

Thundercracker was an exception and is still a "movie character" being a representative of the invading Deceptions from the Moon in Dark of the Moon and not a version of the G1 character which I thought was what you would be looking for in a Needlenose figure.

The only reason Thundercracker exists was to be a toy exclusive in a deal with Toys R Us, this so happen to be right before Toys R Us went down and all, with that happening the figure was picked up for other places.

He wouldn't have been made as a standard retail figure at all and only exists because of a deal with a toy store, if Needlenose was the character instead he would probably have a head just as monstrous as the one Thundercracker had.

Thundercracker was probably chosen because he's the second biggest jet Decepticon in the franchise, so if they were going to make an off screen character they probably were going to use a big name to sell it.

[blackeyedprime]

No one other than hasbro knows what can be done for studio series so it might eventually get updates to the video game characters, figures that were available under the film titles, g1 colors or just random stuff like the thundercracker and Chinese Red lorry guy.


As for hound and sideswipe (tho sideswipe decos noticeable) getting restocked for a third time especially with sideswipe just being restocked in the spinnister wave seems bizarre.

Mirage is something different but I'll pass with the alt mode being terrible and wait to see if earthrise gets an update and fracture.

Refraktor new color scheme looks nice so I'll pick him up. Would be nice if he came with toy reflectors add ons but unlikely. *would be awesome if there is a selects release in armada laserbeak colors would kill two birds with one g2esque color scheme

Megatron, not sure on. Really makes earthrise one even more of a miss.

Hot link, only if hasbro/amazon delivers on skywarp.

Chromia, looks better but still prefer tak legends.

Ultramagnus box thing... Could be very interested despite the price.

Last and final edit* these seem an awesome nod/throwback to the foxkids variants of the beast wars figures.

Suppose we better go talk about these in a war for cybertron netflix post before a grumpy Bur... Mod shows up :p

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Mirage is something different but I'll pass with the alt mode being terrible and wait to see if earthrise gets an update and fracture.

Speaking as a Mirage owner, I think the only terrible thing about the altmode is the potential for the Autobot sigil halves on the nose to be misaligned.

[blackeyedprime]

Mirage is something different but I'll pass with the alt mode being terrible and wait to see if earthrise gets an update and fracture.

Speaking as a Mirage owner, I think the only terrible thing about the altmode is the potential for the Autobot sigil halves on the nose to be misaligned.

Sadly I own the exclusive one to get the power dasher and it hasn't changed my mind on its alt mode from thinking it looked bad at Tokyo toy fair. I'd hoped removing the arms in alt mode would improve it but it just makes it look like a toddlers toy. Robot modes really nice.

[Tigerhawk7109]

Yes! Another obscure character from my beloved Siege Seeker mold! Here’s hoping for Nacelle, Sunstorm, and Bitstream too!